‘Elementary’ episode recap –“Lesser Evils”

We open with Holmes choking someone. But, don’t worry, the person is already dead, he’s just testing out post-mortem bruising in the morgue. He then teases Watson about being uncomfortable about him conducting his experiment, which she denies though he tells her that her body language says otherwise. As Holmes and Watson are leaving, the morgue attendant is examining another body that just came in. Holmes asks the morgue attendant when that person will be autopsied. The morgue attendant replied that the man wouldn’t be. Holmes then guesses that the man died of a heart attack and Watson notes the “tiny blue dot on the patient’s head…That’s a tattoo used to target radiation treatment, which means the patient had brain cancer, blood clots are a common complication. He threw a clot, which led to a pulmonary embolism which led to a heart attack.” Holmes agrees with Watson that a heart attack was the cause of death, “but as to how it happened you’re completely off base,” Holmes tells Watson. Holmes then asks the morgue attendant what room the man was in when he died. “704,” the morgue attendant replied.

Shoot to Holmes racing out of the morgue with Watson close behind him asking him what was going on. As they walk down the hospital corridor, Holmes tells Watson that the heart attack “was intended to look natural but wad induced with epinephrine.” Watson reminds Holmes that epinephrine is adrenaline and given in all cardiac codes. “Perfect,” Holmes replies. He then asks a nurse if anyone was in the room with the man when the code alarm sounded. She replies, “No,” but Holmes goes into the room anyway despite the nurse’s protests. Holmes tells the janitor to stop cleaning the room immediately. The janitor asks who Holmes is and then he throws a substance outside the room so the janitor has to clean it up then locks himself and Watson inside the room. He then asks Watson to look at a picture he took with his phone of the dead man’s finger and asks Watson to identify the mark on the man’s finger. “It’s ischemia. Tissue death due to constriction of the blood vessels in the elbow. Probably caused by the epinephrine going into his arm.” Holmes notes that if the man received after his heart had already stopped then “It wouldn’t have had time to cause the ischemia,” Watson finishes. Holmes then replies that they are going to investigate a murder. Then, the security officers start pounding on the door for them to open it but Holmes says if they do their crime scene will be ruined. Holmes then reiterates that the nurse said the man was alone when his code went off, “but epinephrine is fast-acting so how did our killer escape before the onset of the heart attack?” Watson suggests if the epinephrine was injected into the IV, the killer would have at least 10 minutes before the patient coded. Holmes then checks how many CCs the IV pump was infusing an hour. Holmes and Watson see that the infusion rate is lower than it should have been meaning someone tampered with it. As the security officers continue to try to break down the door, Watson tells Holmes that she doesn’t want to be arrested. Finally, the security officers’ break down the door but Holmes just calmly asks them to point them in the direction of the administrator’s office.

Shoot to Gregson trying to smooth things over with the hospital’s officials. Watson tells Holmes that he should be grateful that Gregson showed up when he did or he could be spending the night in the psych ward. Then, a female doctor friend of Watson, Dr. Carrie Dwyer, says hello to Watson. They make pleasant conversation until Holmes says that he could tell that they must have had a falling out but used to be friends. Carrie then asks if Watson was applying there, since her suspension was over, but Watson says she’s “done with medicine and I decided to move on.” Gregson then calls Holmes and Watson into the administrator’s office. Watson and Carrie say goodbye. Gregson introduces Holmes and Watson to Mr. Sanchez, the hospital’s administrator, “aka the guy who’s still not convinced he shouldn’t press charges against you for barricading yourself in one of our rooms.” Holmes then asks the name of the other man in the room. He introduces himself as Dr. Baldwin, Head of Surgery. Holmes then asks Baldwin if he treated the dead man. Baldwin replied that he didn’t but because he was “pre-surgical, it does fall under my departmental purview.” Gregson then asks Holmes to apologize to Mr. Sanchez, which bothers Holmes because he’s alerted him to a murder in the hospital. Gregson goes on to say that once Holmes has apologized, Sanchez will release the dead man’s body to their medical examiner and allow “CSU full access to the room.” Sanchez then chimes in that they’re lucky they are getting that much. But, then Holmes says that they need the dead man’s name, access to his medical records but Sanchez that would be a violation of HIPAA guidelines and the patient’s privacy. Holmes fires back that since the patient is dead he doesn’t think he cares about his privacy.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson leaving the hospital with Holmes still fuming that he had to apologize to that “pencil pusher.” Watson replies if he would have rather Sanchez press charges against him. Holmes then tells Watson that they need to find the woman who brought the man coffee before he was murdered since he noticed two empty coffee cups in the room’s trash basket and one had lipstick on the lid. Watson asks Holmes if he thinks the woman killed the man. Holmes replies that it’s possible but “at the very least she can tell us his name!” Watson then asks Holmes how they will find the woman and he replies by pulling out a receipt for the coffee, which was obviously also in the trash, with the name of the barista, Dave, who served the woman at Think Coffee, who was obviously flirting since he wrote his phone number on the receipt,.

Shoot to Dave at Think Coffee. Holmes watches Dave and says to Watson, “These coffee orders, the Magna Carta was less complicated.” Holmes then asks Watson about Carrie and Watson told him that she chose to let her medical license expire. Holmes replies that he hadn’t realized how traumatic it was for her to lose a patient and to walk away from a career that required 12 years of training. Watson replies, “It’s hard to be a surgeon when you freeze up every time someone hands you a scalpel. I just didn’t trust myself anymore.” Holmes and Watson get up to Dave and ask him why he wrote his number on the receipt. Holmes describes the woman’s lipstick and when she would have been at the coffeehouse. Dave remembers her saying, “Cleavage, tight white shirt, heels and her perfume. I mean how often do you meet a sexy doctor?” Holmes then asks Dave how he knew she was a doctor. “She was wearing a white lab coat under her jacket,” Dave replies.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson leaving the coffeehouse as Holmes tells Watson, “Ms. Cleavage was not a doctor.” Watson agrees saying that a doctor wouldn’t wear their lab coat outside of the hospital “Nor would she wear revealing attire or perfume, which could trigger an asthma attack or chemical sensitivity,” Holmes adds. Holmes is still puzzled by the lab coat but Watson isn’t.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson going to a chain store where the employees wear lab coats and Watson adds that there are only two of that chain’s stores in New York City so they have two chances to find the blonde. Then, a blonde walks past them in a lab coat. They talk to the woman, Jacqueline, who tells them the dead man’s name was Trent Kelty and that they were neighbors. She tells Holmes and Watson that Kelty told her that he was having trouble seeing a few months ago, he thought he just needed new glasses but then they found the tumor. She then added that when he lost his eyesight completely, she started visiting him more, that she used to read him the sports section of The Post and that she felt bad for him. Holmes then asks her what time she left the hospital that morning. “A little after 9:30, why?” she replies. Holmes then tells Jacqueline they think Kelty “succumbed to something other than natural causes.” Jacqueline was surprised to hear that Holmes thinks Kelty was murdered but Holmes replies that he was sure of it. Watson then asked Jacqueline if anyone saw her leave the hospital. Jacqueline replies that she didn’t know but offered her Metro card, which would show what time she caught her train after she left. As she goes to get the card, Holmes and Watson rule her out as killer because she was there too early for the epinephrine dose. When Jacqueline comes back with the card, Holmes asks her if she knew of anyone who might have wanted to harm Kelty. Jacqueline said she visited him so much because he was alone with no family and hardly any friends. She did add that the only other person Kelty talked to “was a doctor that used to come by at night. Not his oncologist just another doctor at the hospital and they talked about his cancer and how to manage the pain. It seemed like he was helping Trent cope with what was coming.” Holmes then asked Jacqueline if Kelty’s cancer was terminal. She replied that he had only a few months to live. Holmes then asked Jacqueline if she cut up his food for him and she replied that the pancake was cut that way when she got there.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson leaving the store and Holmes tells Watson that whoever cut up Kelty’s breakfast for him came back after Jacqueline left and killed him. Holmes is reluctant to tell Watson his theory while it’s still in its “formative stages” but he does anyway. He tells Watson that Kelty’s killer had some degree of medical expertise and that he was visited almost exclusively by a man claiming to be a doctor. “A man who I believe cut an adult man’s food into child-size bites. Now, why would a killer do that?” Watson asks Holmes, who replies that it reflects “a particular mindset. An individual who tended to Trent’s needs not out of empathy out of a craving for his dependence, which reflects the mindset of a particular type of killer. One whose victims, he believes, are doomed to die.” He then adds that the killer’s “hunting ground” is the hospital because it provides an “endless supply of victims.” “You’re talking about an Angel of Death,” replies Watson. Holmes then replies that if he’s right, Kelty won’t be the Angel’s last kill.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson taking Holmes’ theory to Dr. Baldwin and why they believe Kelty was murdered since his epinephrine levels were higher than they should have been. Holmes then insists that to prove that people are being murdered within the hospital he’s going to need access to medical records and all “logs relating to the supply and usage of epinephrine.” Baldwin reiterates that Sanchez handles all of the records. Holmes replies that they came to him because Holmes knows Sanchez will tell him no and because Baldwin smiled when Holmes made fun of Sanchez, which Holmes concluded meant that Baldwin dislikes Sanchez. Watson adds that since Baldwin is the head of a whole department, his opinion carried a lot of weight. Baldwin then says he’ll “talk to Sanchez. When I say ‘talk’ I mean I will threaten to hold a press conference to express my grave concerns regarding this hospital’s apparent indifference to the possibility of a murderer that may be stalking its halls.” Baldwin then adds that Holmes should have everything he needs in a few hours.

Shoot to Holmes looking through the hospital’s files and writing up all of the patients who were terminal and died of heart related events at the hospital. There are 73 but Holmes says that he can’t develop a pattern off the information he has. Then, Watson suggests that he look into any epinephrine missing from the pharmacy but tells her that he already has and nothing turned up. Watson then says that the epinephrine could have been taken from the crash carts and pulls out another file that would list when it showed up missing. They find that the dates that the epinephrine disappeared from carts coincide with nine of the deaths. Using work schedules, Holmes and Watson narrow it down to 23 suspects.

Shoot to the hospital. Watson leaves to get coffee with Carrie and Holmes runs into the janitor in the elevator and awkwardly apologizes for his earlier behavior. The janitor accepts his apology, but on the way out at his floor, hits a few extra elevator buttons.

Shoot to Holmes going to interview Baldwin, who is surprised that he’s a suspect, but Holmes notes that he had quite a few of the victims under his care, had a 75% failure rate for a new experimental procedure and two strikes on his record. Baldwin defends himself by saying that he takes on patients that no one else would. Plus, he has an alibi for the day Kelty was killed, he was on a train.

Shoot to Carrie inviting Watson to come with her on a coffee run then to the pre-op counsel. Watson then meets Morgan, who tore her ACL. Watson notices Morgan’s feet as Carrie examines her. Watson points out to Carrie later, saying it could indicate a congenital heart defect and she that could crash during surgery. She suggests that Carrie run an echocardiogram on Morgan and Carrie agrees. Carrie then teases Watson about her continued interest in medicine.

Shoot to Detective Bell interrogating a surgical resident, who seems odd and twitchy but and says he it’s because he’s sleep deprived and that he just wants to go home and Holmes dismisses him. He says he did so because he was relaxed when the murder came up so it wasn’t him.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson leaving the hospital late with no leads. When Holmes asks about Carrie, Watson admits that being around her hospital friends was difficult and that she lost a lot of them, especially Carrie, who couldn’t understand her pulling away. Then, she gets a text from Carrie telling her that Morgan’s echocardiogram was clean. Watson is dismayed that she was wrong.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson noticing the car of the surgical resident, which they matched up by his key ring and bumper sticker. Holmes was surprised since he had wanted to leave and go home so badly. They then rush back into the hospital and track him down and find him in a room… with a syringe. Then, the orderlies grab him, but Watson notes the syringe was empty. He wasn’t injecting anything, he was siphoning off morphine.

Shoot to Holmes being annoyed that he didn’t recognize the addiction symptoms in the man, but Watson says he still caught a doctor who was taking morphine and should be pleased. But he’s not. Back at the brownstone, he takes down all the other suspects, but Watson stops him, noticing an anomaly. All of the victims were terminal but one. She was recovering from heart surgery, but she was definitely recovering.

Shoot to the surgical resident, now caught but eager to talk to the police. He explains how a few months ago he was stealing morphine and hid in a bathroom when someone came in the room. It was someone who spoke like a doctor and talked to the patient about outcome. The patient died the next day. This confirms that the killer talks to victims and gets to know them before he kills them.

Shoot to Watson finding Carrie again and insisting that she do another test on Morgan, but Carrie says she’s fine and wouldn’t perform an invasive test because of Watson’s hunch. “She’ll be fine, Joan. I’m operating on her, not you.”

Shoot to Watson, who is discouraged, but Holmes isn’t. Holmes has Watson go over a form he discovered from one of the victims. He notes that the signature and the body were filled out by two separate people. The patient only spoke Ukrainian, and since the killer liked to speak to his victims, so he must have Ukrainian roots or the ability to speak it fluently. But, Holmes already checked out all of the doctors and none speak Ukrainian.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson bringing in the janitor. Holmes notes that he saw the blue and yellow flags on his cart, which are colors of the Ukrainian flag. Holmes then says that his accent is hidden very well, but that they know he’s from the Ukraine once they thought to look into him. They also tell him that they found medical notes in his home about all of the victims. “I freed them. I freed them from the pain-wracked prison their bodies had become,” screams the janitor, who then gets angry, insisting that the girl was dying and was in terrible pain. He then accuses Holmes of making up lies to suit him, and refuses to talk any more. Then, Holmes and Gregson leave. “He’s telling truth or thinks he is,” Holmes tells Gregson, who is troubled. The janitor was convinced the girl he killed had terminal cardiac cancer. But why?

Shoot to Holmes’ brownstone, the doorbell rings. It’s Carrie. She tells Watson that she was right. The lab found Morgan’s heart condition when they ran the tests… a request which had anonymously been added to the chart. “You were always a good friend, Joanie. But you were a better doctor,” Carrie admits as she leaves. Holmes then tells Watson that she did a good job saving the girl by altering the chart and that it gave him an idea of why the Angel might have killed the girl.

Shoot to Holmes and Watson going to see Baldwin again. Holmes surmises they weren’t the first to realize that the deaths were occurring. He hypothesizes that Baldwin made a surgical error and left a clamp in Samantha’s chest during the surgery. This would have him the earned third strike and ended his career and since Baldwin had realized the Angel was killing terminal patients, he reduced Samantha’s pain medication and altered her chart to say she had cancer. When she died, he removed the cancer results. Holmes and Watson then add that they can prove it because they already exhumed Samantha’s body and found the surgical clamp in her rib cage. Baldwin insists that all that Holmes and Watson proved was that he made a mistake and that there was no evidence that he faked records and killed people. Luckily, Holmes visited the Angel (the janitor) and got copies of the photographs he had taken of the medical charts. He was more than happy to help when he found out he was manipulated into killing someone who was healthy. Baldwin was no looking at a sentence of 20 years to life.

Shoot to Holmes’ brownstone, he and Watson watch Baldwin’s arrest on the television. Watson is happy for Holmes, but exhausted. Holmes tells her he enjoyed getting to see her in her element at the hospital. Then, he gently says that maybe she’ll give it another go one day.

Shoot to Watson, in bed, thoughtfully looks through pictures of herself and her friends at the hospital on her tablet. Hesitantly, she hits “delete all” and they vanish.