This week’s episode of “Elementary” follows a similar format to a few second-season episodes. “Ears to You” has a twofold storyline that features two investigations. These cases are consequently solved in rapid succession without ever being fully realized as intriguing cases. 

The first, predominant case is Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) and Watson’s (Lucy Liu). Four years ago a man named Gordon Cushing was accused of murdering his wife. Since a body was never found, he never faced conviction or prison. However, the media frenzy surrounding the case morphed him into a social pariah. Jump to present day, Cushing, still haunted daily by the trial, receives a pair of human ears in the mail that are identified as his wife’s and a demand for one million dollars. 

Cushing had received a kidnapper’s ransom before though. In 2011, he received another demand for the same amount of money. He complied fully and never contacted the FBI or police. As a result, when he contacts the police in this instance, Sherlock, Watson and Captain Gregson (Aidan Quinn) are dubious at best. In fact, throughout the entire episode Sherlock seems to lack the typical flare and motivation; his heart just wasn’t in this one. 

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The gang sets up a meeting for Cushing to hand the money to the kidnapper in the subway. When the kidnapper takes the money down the subway tracks, Cushing fears the police will lose track of him and chases the man down. By the time Gregson and company reach the men, Cushing has murdered the kidnapper, claiming he made a run for it. It should be noted that by this point Cushing had admitted to not caring about getting his wife back; he just wants to clear his name, which means murdering the one man who knows her location is the best way to do this. 

At this point, Cushing disappears from the episode. Sherlock and Watson continue the investigation to find Cushing’s wife, Sarah. The murdered kidnapper had tattoos, implying that he attended anonymous meetings for addicts. Sherlock and Watson search meetings across the city before stumbling upon one attended by Sarah, but with slight altercations to her appearance and a new name.

Turns out, Cushing was right in thinking his wife had simply run out on him without warning. Their marriage had reached its endpoint and she feared for her safety around Cushing. The only issue now was the ears. Whose ears were they? The DNA matched Sarah’s, but her ears were in tact!

In a stunningly irrelevant reveal, the DNA matched Sarah’s because the ears had come from her body, just not from her head. She had sent the ransom notes to Cushing in order to steal the money from him and decided to do it again, but with a little more incentive. Sarah’s new plastic surgeon husband created grafts that formed cartilage in the shape of an ear. These grafts were placed under Sarah’s skin on her back to ensure her DNA was used in their production (think the ear on the back of the mouse experiment). And that’s basically the end of that investigation. Random solution with little consequences. Thud. 

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The other investigation involves Lestrade (Sean Pertwee), who has been staying at the brownstone since the previous episode’s conclusion. When Watson discovers Lestrade had a secret stash of alcohol at the home, she feared for Holmes’ sobriety and asked Lestrade to leave. Since his confidence had been destroyed, she provided him with the case files for two muggings that had similar MOs to his own mugging. 

Lestrade calls the two men who had been mugged before and finds a simple connector: a yellow bike with green handlebars. He apprehends the culprit; case closed. However, as he arrests the mugger, he finds a chicken feather similar to those at Holmes’s apartment. Lestrade returns to the brownstone accusing Holmes of orchestrating the whole thing. He also informs Holmes and Watson he has accepted a position with the Irish police force and will be leaving for good. 

Holmes, in a moment of uncharacteristic humility, admits defeat even though he had nothing to do with Lestrade’s case. He gives Lestrade a jolly “Well played, sir.” and leaves, closing the door on the relationship between Holmes and Lestrade. Thud.

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Reach Staff Reporter Michael Huard here.