Elementary: A Controlled Descent Recap

Synopsis for 3×24: Alfredo goes missing, and Sherlock’s old drug using pal Oscar is the only one who knows where he is. Separated from Joan and forced to search for Oscar’s sister, the rest of the team fights to find Alfredo before everything is lost.

Rating: ★★★★★

Alfredo and Sherlock took their new friendship thing for a spin with a rooftop movie night. However, it ended rather abruptly when they got into a bit of an argument regarding Alfredo’s latest lost love. They parted ways, with Sherlock getting a bit of input from Joan on new friendships.

The next day he went to meet Alfredo but when he showed up at the garage, there was a gentleman who claimed Alfredo stole his car. When Sherlock found Alfredo’s smashed phone in the garage, he began to become suspicious. It wasn’t like Alfredo to steal cars, or to go somewhere without his phone. So, either he’d relapsed and was off making bad drug-inspired decisions, or something terrible had happened.

Naturally Sherlock went poking around to see if anyone had heard from Alfredo. He went to Alfredo’s mom’s place and she was ready to believe the worse. However, even she warned Sherlock about investigating. She didn’t want Alfredo’s potentially bad decisions to lead him down a bad path.

The next place to check was with someone who had left Castle Automotive over a disagreement with them and Alfredo. It was the very same man who had been spreading around rumors that Alfredo was using again. However, the guy was able to talk himself out of it because he had an alibi.

In a disturbing turn of events, Oscar called Sherlock and requested his help. If you don’t remember, Oscar was one of Sherlock’s old drug using buddies from when he first came to New York City. We met him a little earlier in the season and the pair had left on less than good terms, considering Sherlock’s low opinion of the man. Oscar insisted that Sherlock help him, and Sherlock refused, until Oscar brought up Alfredo.

Apparently he’d been the one who orchestrated Alfredo’s abduction and refused to give up his whereabouts until Sherlock helped him find his sister. Reluctantly, and for his friend, Sherlock agreed against his better judgment and went to meet up with Oscar.

Gregson was understandably ticked off when he heard Sherlock had just gone for it and was worried he’d get himself into trouble. Joan admitted she had her worries, but they had no other choice. They all had to do what they had to do to find Alfredo, and there would not have been a way to convince him to do anything less than pursue Oscar since Oscar would have the answers.

Oscar’s sister was named Olivia, which amused me simply because the same actor played the little brother to Olivia Benson on Law and Order SVU. There’s a fun fact for you.

Sherlock and Oscar began their search at a rehab facility, which just so happened to be where Sherlock had gotten clean. While Sherlock was clearly uncomfortable, he seemed alright as they talked about Olivia’s last known location with her roommate, who gave them what little information she had. She informed them that an old druggie friend had come to pick Olivia up and after that, she had no idea where they could have gone. Oscar seemed to know, and led Sherlock to the pits of hell in the form of a heroin den and proceeded to use right in front of him.

As Sherlock worked with Oscar, Joan worked with Bell as they went over every inch of Oscar’s place. Even though there wasn’t anything inside except a suspicious knife, they were able to track down the stolen car across the street. A fast food bag led them to Long Island with the hope of more leads to Alfredo’s location.

Unfortunately, the Long Island lead was a bust and they weren’t able to find Alfredo. All the while, Sherlock was stuck with Oscar in triggering circumstances as he was brutally reminded of the life he used to live. Thankfully, he found the ID of a man who picks up women for nefarious reasons in the heroin den and considered it a lead. They followed it to Jonathan Bloom, a man with a reputation of finding vulnerable women and using them in exchange for drugs.

When Bloom refused to give them the information they wanted, Sherlock became violent and managed to get it out of him within moments. He admitted that Olivia had been in his place, but claimed she had attacked him and robbed him. She’d taken his money and his stash and gotten into a car before he was able to stop her. She was in the wind, but he was able to give them the name of the car service that had taken her.

After some more investigating and a lot of dead ends, Joan thought perhaps Alfredo may have been stashed where they cut headstones. It was really going to be their only lead. When they reviewed the images from Oscar’s uncle’s house, which had been one of the first places they’d checked in Long Island, they found a coat for an old headstone company. They rushed to get there.

Sherlock got taken to where Olivia was dropped off and stopped short of a sketchy tunnel. He told Oscar to hold back as he went in and found that Olivia had died from an overdose. After being clean, she’d no doubt done what so many drug users do and had taken her old dose. It destroyed her body and killed her. Yet Sherlock realized something as he stared at her, no doubt with Oscar’s taunting words rattling around in his head.

Oscar had known his sister had been dead the entire time. Getting Sherlock to find her again had all been part of some sick game he’d been playing. When Sherlock confronted him, Oscar admitted to everything, and then claimed that the only way to save Alfredo was for Sherlock to use. He wanted to watch Sherlock fall, wanted to drag Sherlock back to his rightful place in the world of substance addiction, and Jonny Lee Miller’s performance here is to be commended because he is a still statue of silent rage throughout the entire speech.

Alfredo was found before he had to use and finally Sherlock’s rage came pouring out of him as he proceeded to beat the crap out of Oscar. However, once Oscar was down for the count, Sherlock reached down and picked up the heroin that had been left there. He then made his way toward the tunnel, representing a physical descent back into the dark life he’d lived.

The last scene, which concluded the season, was Joan checking in on Sherlock three days later. He looked worse for the wear, more unshaven than usual, dressed in a hooded sweater and over-all casual clothes. He’d relapsed, and his father was on his way from London to see him.