'Elementary' Season 1, Episode 23: 'The Woman' Recap

Holmes grabs Irene, but she panics. He yells her name, and tries to caress her, but she pushes him away, both fighting and relenting.

London: Two years ago.

Holmes goes into an apartment, introducing himself as a consulting detective. Irene is painting. As a top restorer, she is the person he needs to talk to. She tells him he is beautifully symmetric, but unfortunately the paintings in question are forgeries. He is surprised he had missed that. He admires her work of replicated paintings, lingering. He realizes that she has kept an original painting and sent a museum back a forgery. She admits the museum wanted to change something in the painting that would have ruined the artist’s intent. He bargains—he picks out which paintings are hers and which she has stolen, and she will go out on the town with him.

Holmes takes the confused Irene to the hospital—she does not realize it is 2013. The doctor speaks to her. He tells her “Mr. Stapleton” has lied to her. Gregson comes in. He hasn’t found much at the house. The doctor comes out and tells them that Irene seems to be suffering from PTSD. She was abducted and subjected to advanced psychological pressure tactics—someone has attempted to destroy her personality. Mr. Stapleton tinkered with her mind in the day and left white peonies at her bed at night—making her oddly dependent on him. He wore a mask when he spoke with her.

Holmes knows it was because of him this all happened. How did he not realize she was still alive? Watson tells Holmes he can help Irene, but he says he won’t be consulting in this case. He needs to look after her. Besides, Moriarty is clearly smarter than he is.

Holmes brings Irene home and shows her the room she can stay in. Watson asks Holmes about her family, but she basically has none. Watson wants to help however she can; should she stay? He tells her it is her home, but he has no answers for her. They will work it out as they go along. He wants her to help find the people who took Irene. Watson lingers, worrying about a relapse trigger.

Watson and Gregson go to the house. The person who owns the home lives in Austria and inherited it—he has never visited.

Watson finds a bottle of paint, the color “gamboge.” It’s rare, she knows from the reading Holmes has given her. She thinks only a few places would carry it. Maybe they can find him that way.

Back in London, Irene  goes to leave as Sherlock comes back. He’s not used to being rebuffed after a sexual escapade. She wants to just preserve the integrity of their original encounter. He offers her another unique experience. They go to tunnels under the city. They bust through into a Roman canal.

Back home, Holmes awakes by Irene’s screaming. She yells that Mr. Stapleton changed rooms again and didn’t tell her. She asks Sherlock to sit with her. She asks him to fill her in on his life, and why he moved to New York.

Gregson calls Watson; they found a specialty paint store. They sold the color to someone named Duane Proctor who has a short record and did a stint in Sing Sing. He admits he bought paint but doesn’t know Irene. His brother, a tutor, needed paint for his student’s art project. They hear gunshots in the house and run back in—the officer who was with the brother is shot. The brother is missing.

They bring Duane in, who has no idea what has happened. They found an arsenal of weaponry, and the brother is baffled. They ask Duane about Moriarty, but he hasn’t heard the name.

Irene doesn’t recognize the face or voice. They ask about the brother Issac, but she can’t tell from him picture. Holmes hustles her out. Watson asks about the officer who was shot—Gregson said Issac is a pro and could easily have killed him.

Issac, after shaving and cutting his hair, gets a call. Moriarty can protect him but he needs a favor.

Back in London—in bed, Holmes is working on the “M” case, but Irene wants his attention. He points out the birthmarks on her back make the constellation Auriga. He is surprised he hasn’t noticed it before—he likes that he can still discover things about her. He asks her about the new project she is hiding from him. Could it be an original? She says she feels differently about doing originals now. He will see it when it is ready.

In New York, cold and quiet, Irene watches television. She notes it must be hard for Holmes to have her there. He admits that he became a drug addict after her “demise.” Scotland Yard fired him. He came to New York to hide. His father forced him into rehab. He wishes he could say he honored her memory, but he didn’t, and he holds himself accountable for all that has happened to her. He will always try to make it up to her. She says he was broken and he fixed himself—that gives her hope. She goes upstairs and screams. Holmes runs up. She says Mr. Stapleton was in her room. There is a white peony on her pillow.

In London—Holmes gets a message from Irene. Her original piece is ready for him to see. He goes to see it. He finds a note from Moriarty, and a huge puddle of Irene’s blood.

NY—Holmes takes Irene to her safe place: an old garage. Holmes says the flower is a message to him—he can and will use Irene against Holmes. Holmes says he needs to let her go. They need to send her somewhere far away, and he will come find her when he is through with Moriarty. He sees no other way. She asks what if she does?

Bell shows video footage of Issac, shaved and clean, putting the flower in Irene’s room. Watson gets a text from Holmes to meet her. He tells her Irene is safe, but he needs to keep his whereabouts quiet. She tells him that Issac’s job was a front for the CIA. He specialized in psychological tactics. She saw on the video that he knew exactly which room was Irene’s. Holmes tells her Irene will only go somewhere safe if he will go with her. He is leaving.

“Is this what you want or is this what you think you owe?”

Watson wants him to stay and help.

Issac goes to his rendezvous point, collects a car, money, and a phone. They’re sending him elsewhere to await instructions. Issac asks if he can call home—sirens start, and he shoots two of the men. He says he knows they will kill him. The last man says he got sloppy. He shoots the other man and tells him to report back to Moriarty, and tell him Holmes is a dead man.

Holmes goes to see Irene. They can get to Maine, and then to Newfoundland. She changes, and he stops, noticing her back. He asks her how long he has been working for him. One of her birthmarks is gone—Holmes realizes it must have been pre-cancerous, and she had it removed, because why would Moriarty remove it? She tells him he looks too closely and sees things that aren’t there. Holmes remembers that Watson asks about how Issac knew which room was hers. She accuses him of inventing excuses to not go with her. She tells him he is an awful lot like Moriarty. She tells him not to find her; she doesn’t want to see him again.

Holmes calls Watson, but as he leaves a message, Issac shoots him. Holmes says he was wondering why he would make his acquaintance—Issac says they met once before. They fight. Holmes runs upstairs and tries to escape, locking himself in a room, but he can’t get out the window. Issac says he was the one with the sniper scope; but he was under orders to keep him alive. But, then “she” ordered him killed.

Gunshots from behind kill Issac. Irene comes in, with a British accent, and says she bets Holmes wishes he had just run away with her now.