'Elementary' Season 2, Episode 21: 'A Landmark Tale' Recap

An old man jots in a journal. Behind him, a younger man comes in and pours himself a drink. The older man presses a button on his laptop. The man falls in pain.

The older man tells him he has been studying him. He has been dependant on a pacemaker for seven years. He presses the button a few times, giving the man pain. He asks what he wants.

The older man says he’d be happy to see him die, but he’s not there on his own orders. He forces the man to vote.

The other logs into the New York Historical Registry and votes on Prop #834. The other thanks him, and then presses the button again.

In prison, the man Sebastian Moran (from the earlier M. episode) comes into the room. Everyone quiets. He demands the television be turned to the football match, then stops it on the news, where the news of the man’s death is announced—he is noted philanthropist Phillip Van Der Hoff.

Holmes dislocates his shoulder trying to escape from a straightjacket. Watson fixes it as the phone rings. Gregson tellshim Moran just got out of a stint in solitary, and he wants to give them information on Moriarty’s orders to kill more. But he will only talk to Sherlock.

Moran tells Sherlock they both want the same thing—to get rid of Moriarty. He shows Sherlock the article about Van Der Hoff, and says Moriarty arranged it.

“You find out who killed Van Der Hoff, and you’ll be one step closer to him. To Moriarty.”

Moran prepares to go, he tells Sherlock to keep quiet what happened… and then he breaks the guard’s neck before anyone can stop him.

Sherlock lies to Gregson about the meeting, saying Moran insulted him and called it off; since the guard was killed, no one know what happened. Watson points out she know he was lying. Angrily Sherlock fills her in.

Holmes wants to go to the funeral home to examine the body of Van Der Hoff, since there was no autopsy. Sherlock finds four small bruises on his fists—Watson says it is not consistent with a heart attack, but is with electrocution. Watson refuses to autopsy him, but when Holmes does a crap job she steps in. He tries to compliment her.

“NO! I am dissecting a body in the middle of the night we are not having a moment.”

She sees that his blood was boiled near his heart, and Sherlock understands what happened.

He finds online that the lead company for pacemakers is working on a design that can’t be hacked, which implies that one can. And was.

Van Der Hoff, they learn, voted to keep landmarks. Currently the vote was on the Taggart Speakeasy Museum preserved from the 1920’s. Sherlock adds that city records show that as a council member changed their vote over the years, they also applied for a home remodeling permit. Robert Baumann, he finds, would bribe the council members. Van Der Hoff changed his vote right before he died.

Robert Baumann walks down the street on his phone, yelling. A man waits until he is positioned, and drops an air conditioner on him from a building.

Watson says no way it was planned. It would require an expert grasp of physics—Holmes throws one out his own window to prove her wrong. Baumann had served his purpose and been killed.

They watch a video of Hillary Taggart advocating to keep her grandfather’s building as a landmark. Is she the next target? Holmes says the best way to keep her safe is to observe her, and figure out how she would be killed.

They watch her do very slow laps at the park. Watson notes she has a medical alert bracelet. She probably has an allergy. This may explain why Holmes believes he saw an Africanized honey bee, a “killer” bee. He finds the hive that has been planted, and the sugar water planted. Holmes thinks the murderer would probably have swiped her with something before a run to make the bees attracted to her. They stake out the bee hive to see who comes to refill the sugar water.

Watson confronts Sherlock about what he plans to do with the man. He says that his situation this time around is different—before, Watson was about to leave, and he would have gone back to his old habits. Now, he enjoys their “partnership.”

The older man comes to refill the sugar water, and Holmes goes up and says he is with the police. He takes the notebook and notes it follows the calculations of a falling A/C. He tasers the man.

At home, he interrogates him, with info from his wallet—he is Daniel Gottlieb, a retired engineer. Holmes texts Moriarty from his phone, and they tell him if he gives them information, they’ll get him special treatment in prison.

Gottlieb tells them he doesn’t know many things about Moriarty. He was recruited by a tall, striking British man, who knew he was a serial killer and wanted to discuss it. Moriarty mentioned time in a reform school. He says he got a text with Sherlock’s picture. He had an overdose lined up for him—but the job was cancelled. It was the only time one had ever been.

Holmes gets a text. A meeting has been arranged. They stake out the diner, and note a guy pretending to be strung out but clearly well-to-do, who goes off to tell Moriarty that Gottlieb didn’t show. The man drives behind a train for his meeting, cutting off Holmes and Watson. Holmes takes as many pictures as possible as the train goes by.

He collects the photos, taking as many strips as he can from between the train and putting it together into a face. Gottlieb says that is the man.

John Douglas. While in a reform school, his roommate was beaten to death. He disappeared from the system at 18.

Watson wakes to find a note from Holmes—he admits he was onto more than he told her, and apologizes for leaving her.

Holmes goes to see the man. John Douglas says he is not Moriarty; he didn’t kill Irene, but he knows what happened. He says that she had to die because of Holmes—and is shot from behind by a sniper. The bead goes onto Holmes, then disappears.

Holmes turns Gottlieb over to Gregson, where the man is happily telling them about all his 31 murders. Holmes gets a text, but Gottlieb can’t read the code. Holmes goes to Moran, but he doesn’t know the code either. Holmes thinks he is lying, but Moran tells him to leave it.

Holmes attempts to decode it himself. He realizes Moran asked for the time the text was sent, and realizes the time is the encryption.

He realizes the code says that Moran never mentioned he had a sister. Either Moran dies or the sister does.

In prison, Moran slams his head against a mirror. Holmes calls Gregson, but it’s too late. They realize that Holmes delivered the message.

Gottlieb’s phone rings—it is Moriarty. He believes it is time for a chat.