Elementary kicked off its fifth season without the detritus of the previous season hanging over it. In previous seasons, there’s often some big kerfuffle to recover from — invasion of privacy, moving out, relapse, beating someone, etc. Some trauma that provoked change at the start of the next season. Now don’t get me wrong — Morland taking over a big criminal enterprise at the end of season 4 wasn’t small, but it wasn’t affecting Sherlock and Watson as directly as previous season finales.

Season 5 starts with a bomber setting off bombs around a neighbourhood of NYC, similar to bombings that went off six years before. The Bensonhurst Bomber has returned, and is targeting Flushing. It doesn’t take much to find a suspect — Sherlock chases someone from the crime scene, the guy leaves some prints, but he’s cool as a cucumber. But Sherlock is convinced, even when he has an alibi for a new bomb. They zero in on an accomplice, put 2 and 2 together, round it off to 5, and crack the case. Nothing extravagant, and the deductions are a bit basic for them.

The only real “new” element is that Joan is feeling a little out of sorts that she’s missing the social / psychological perk of helping people the way she used to as a doctor or sober companion; now that she’s in the punishment business, she feels there is something missing from her life. The episode ends with her finding a possibility — as a mentor / reintegration companion for someone newly released from prison. It may mean she gets her own Baker Street Irregular, but for now, she has someone to help.

Okay episode, not the strongest, but still pretty good. Now, what’s going on with Morland?????