Television: Elementary, "You Do It to Yourself"

Nothing worse than a sick Sherlock Holmes. He's already a brat; not feeling well makes him more impossible than ever. Not that it slows him down as he sniffs out the murderer of a university professor with a gambling addiction.

Meanwhile, Watson gets pulled in by an old client boyfriend who asks for help clearing his name in a hit-and-run. Her utter reluctance to come to his aid is interesting given that she's usually written as emotionally generous, which leads viewers to believe there is more to this relationship than we've been given (or, alternatively, the writing on the show has gotten so sloppy as to sacrifice truth in character development for convenience in plotting). Holmes calls Watson out on her assumption that her ex must be guilty and gives her his file so she can come to a more informed conclusion.

The murder investigation moves forward at lightning speed: video footage of an Asian gambling parlor reveals the shooter, who was hired via cell phone, ostensibly by the professor's TA . . . But of course we all know (Holmes included) that this can't be true because the hour is only half over.

Can I just take a moment to say the attempted humor between Bell and Holmes ("Do you want to ask me how I knew that?"), while appreciated, fell flat. Write it funnier next time guys, and have the actors deliver it better.

After going through the standard Rolodex of potential perpetrators, Holmes finally concludes the victim arranged his own murder. I suppose it was only a matter of time before we had one of those storylines.

Nicely understated in this episode was that interplay between Holmes and Watson that I've come to enjoy: not only his nudging her to use the data rather than her assumptions, but his interest in the idea she might have slept with a client is a balletic step toward the idea that he might be interested, and the way his fuss about Watson's herbal tea later morphed into grudging admittance of its potency, and the turned tables in the final scene in which Holmes is the one to be there for Watson . . . All very well done. More of that if you will, writers.

But please, let's not make the product placement so very obvious. And if you're going to have Holmes sick and feverish, do something with it as a plot point (herbal tea notwithstanding). That could have been put to so much better and more entertaining use as a setup.