The world is not starved for Sherlock Holmes adaptations, but Elementary still manages to stand out from the crowd. Debuting on CBS in 2012, this modern-day take on Arthur Conan Doyle's temperamental detective stars Jonny Lee Miller as a blunt yet protective Holmes and Lucy Liu as a tough and intelligent Watson.
Last December, CBS announced that Elementary's next season, Season Seven, would be its last. With just thirteen episodes to go, there isn't much time left to wrap up loose ends, and for fans to say goodbye to this version of the world's most famous detectives. Here are ten things that absolutely, positively must happen before Sherlock and Joan solve their last case.
RETURN TO NEW YORK
One of the most notable changes Elementary made from its source material was to move Holmes and Watson from London to New York. At the end of last season, the show moved them back to England, as Sherlock fled to avoid a murder charge and Joan followed.
We're sure this dynamic duo will spend at least the first episode or two in England, solving murders and perhaps even tangling with Sherlock's old frenemy, London cop Gareth Lestrade, one last time. But Robert Doherty, the show's creator and executive producer, has already confirmed that Holmes and Watson will return to New York sooner rather than later.
RESOLUTION WITH GREGSON
Captain Thomas Gregson (played by Aidan Quinn) has been Holmes and Watson's greatest ally in the New York Police Department since day one. But Season Six saw their relationship strained to what very well might be the breaking point. Gregson's daughter, Hannah, murdered Michael Rowan, a serial killer, and Gregson tampered with evidence to protect her.
Gregson blamed Sherlock for his daughter's actions, since Michael only murdered people to get Sherlock's attention. This upcoming season is our last chance to see a resolution to this conflict. Will that resolution involve a scene where Sherlock and Gregson make up? Or has this affair driven a permanent wedge between these two old friends?
MURDER!
Well, duh. The show wouldn't exist if Holmes and Watson didn't have murders to investigate every seven days. But because Season Seven will be the last, we expect the showrunners to up the ante in terms of the murderers' creativity, motives, and general weirdness.
Ordinary, run-of-the-mill murders never interest Sherlock, and they certainly won't do for Season Seven. We want to see the show really go out with a bang, maybe even literally. The previous season featured a serial killer obsessed with "helping" Holmes by orchestrating murders for him to solve. What will Elementary come up with to top that?
MORLAND HOLMES
Sherlock did not have the happiest childhood, in large part thanks to his distant and demanding father, Morland (John Noble). The Holmes patriarch first appeared in Season Four, when Sherlock fell off the wagon at the end of the previous season.
After annoying his son for a while, Morland left to take over Moriarty's criminal empire in the hopes of dismantling it from the inside. We haven't heard too much from him since. Surely Season Seven will devote some time to how Morland has been getting on in the criminal underworld, and perhaps even have him achieve his goal of destroying Moriarty's organization.
ARE YOU THERE, MORIARTY?
No Sherlock Holmes adaptation would be complete without an appearance from his most infamous nemesis, Moriarty. Played by Natalie Dormer, Jamie Moriarty once posed as an artist, Irene Adler, to get close to Holmes and determine how much of a threat he was to her illegal activities.
Last we heard, Moriarty was in prison and nursing an obsession with Joan Watson. Sherlock managed to get her to agree to a ceasefire so long as his father was alive, but Morland is old and not in the best of health. So it seems like Moriarty may soon come back and try to wrest her criminal empire from the Holmeses.
BELL'S CAREER
Aside from Gregson, Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) works the most with Holmes and Watson. But he has been a detective for a while now, and more than once he has expressed interest in advancement. And yet he has been reluctant to leave his current position, afraid that his friends and his boss would feel like he was abandoning them.
In Season Six, Bell applied to join the U.S. Marshals Service, with some help from Sherlock. Certainly, no one deserves a successful career more than Marcus Bell, and we hope Season Seven sees him settle into whatever role he wants.
CLYDE
This could very well be the most important item on the list. Clyde has been Sherlock's -- and, by default, Joan's -- pet turtle for several seasons. He may have but a small role in Elementary, but he has provided critical, albeit unwitting, assistance on more than one occasion.
But what happened to Clyde when Sherlock and Joan fled to England last season? Did they take Clyde with them? If so, how is he adjusting to life across the pond? If not, who is looking after him while they're away? The showrunners wouldn't be so cruel as to leave us hanging on the all-important subject of Clyde, would they?
BABY YES, BABY NO
In Season Six, Joan decided to try to adopt a baby. Sherlock was supportive in his own way, and Joan went ahead with the application process. If you've seen the show, however, you already know that she has encountered more than her fair share of obstacles on the road to motherhood.
Last time we checked in with Watson's efforts to adopt, things weren't going well, and Joan was confronted with the very real possibility that her unconventional profession and living arrangements might get in the way of her becoming a parent. Will Season Seven see her finally adopt a baby, or will she have to accept that motherhood is not her destiny?
SAY GOODBYE TO OLD FRIENDS
In addition to the core cast of main and supporting characters, other characters have come and gone through the years. One of the most prominent is Kitty Winter, Sherlock's former protege. Her story arc was nicely resolved in Season Five, when she retired to raise her son, but not everyone was so lucky.
The characters we would most like to see return in Season Seven include Alfredo, Sherlock's former sponsor and current good friend; Ms. Hudson, another close friend who makes sweaters for Clyde; and Fiona Helbron, an autistic computer hacker who dated Holmes before abruptly disappearing from his life.
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER
Sherlock and Joan have grown closer as the series has progressed. While Sherlock hardly wanted anything to do with Joan at first, by the end of Season One he named a new bee species for her. Refreshingly, the duo isn't involved romantically or physically. But they are as close as two people can be.
The show often focuses on their evolving relationship and just how far each will go to ensure the other's safety. Season Seven won't feel satisfying without another affirmation of their deep love for each other. We look forward to one last, big, unconventional display of affection between these most unusual besties.