The CBS detective series Elementary, a modern adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, is now available to stream for free on the Roku Channel. The show, which concluded in 2019, relocated the iconic detective to present-day New York City, with Jonny Lee Miller starring as Holmes and Lucy Liu as his companion, Dr. Joan Watson.
Elementary began with Holmes newly sober and residing in Manhattan after a stint in rehab. His father hired Dr. Watson, a former surgeon and addiction specialist, to serve as his sober companion. This arrangement quickly drew Watson into Holmes' unconventional methods as he consulted for the NYPD, solving complex homicides. The series ran for seven seasons.
A Modern Take on a Classic Character
Miller's portrayal of Holmes is characterized by brilliance, a sharp intellect, and a socially maladjusted demeanor, tempered by his ongoing recovery and past traumas. Liu's Dr. Watson initially finds herself drawn into Holmes' chaotic world but soon proves invaluable, with her medical background often providing unique insights into cases.
The show featured a mystery-of-the-week format, often presenting intricate cases that viewers could attempt to solve alongside Holmes. While the series explored themes of addiction and recovery, which some critics noted could become repetitive in later seasons given contemporary perspectives on trauma, the core mysteries remained a consistent draw.
Elementary represented a wave of idiosyncratic crime-solving shows popular in the 2010s. However, the landscape of network crime dramas has shifted, with changing audience preferences and discussions around the portrayal of law enforcement leading to a decrease in such programming. The availability of Elementary on Roku offers a chance to revisit a critically acclaimed series from that era.