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He was a pain in the ass. But he was also very, very good.

While You Were Sleeping is the second episode of Elementary's first season and the 2nd episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Holmes uses his powers of deduction to consult on the murder of a young man who is shot upon entering his apartment. Meanwhile, Watson has dinner with ex-boyfriend Ty Morstan.

Plot[]

Holmes and Watson attend his first addict group support meeting. She notices that he is staring straight ahead, almost as if asleep. When she taps him on the shoulder, he bolts to his feet and yells "AMYGDALA!" Fortunately, the meeting was wrapping up anyway. As they are walking home, Watson is upset to learn that Holmes hypnotized himself to avoid cluttering his mind with the group's prattle. He uses a glass with water and oil to explain "Attic Theory," where too much useless information crowds useful data out of his mind. Watson doesn't believe his theory and says she'll be seeing a friend for dinner, so Holmes will be alone that evening. Captain Gregson calls Holmes, requesting he attend a murder scene.

S01E02-First crime scene

"This was a robbery and a homicide."

On the top floor of an apartment building, Gregson shows Holmes the victim, Casey McManus, dead from a single gunshot to the forehead. Holmes meets Detective Bell, who believes that McManus surprised a burglar who shot him and then took his watch and wallet. Holmes examines the scene and deduces the killer was sitting in McManus' apartment, waiting for him, and that the killer is a woman from the deodorant he smelt on the chair. Holmes also believes the robber is a different person who also stole an antique armoire. Gregson and Bell are doubtful, until Watson shows them a photo taken inside the apartment, showing the armoire. Holmes follows the skid marks on the floor to the door of a neighbor who called 9-1-1 and is speaking to police. Over the neighbor's protests, Holmes kicks in his door, revealing the armoire.

In the box at the 11th Precinct, the neighbor admits to the thefts, but not the murder. Bell is disbelieving, but Holmes forcefully provides evidence the neighbor is being truthful, annoying Gregson. Watson tactfully asks Holmes to get her a bag of chips and, once out of the room, Watson asks Gregson about his past acquaintance with Holmes in London. Gregson praises Holmes' abilities but not his behavior, and Watson discovers Holmes lied to Gregson about where he was when he called to ask to work with him in New York City. In the hallway, Bell informs them that the neighbor says he saw a woman on the stairway whom Bell believes he made up after overhearing Holmes' theory. Holmes asks for a sketch artist which Gregson approves over Bell's objections. Leaving the precinct, Watson reminds Holmes about her dinner. Holmes deduces the friend is an ex-boyfriend and advises her to sleep with him to improve her mood.

Watson's dinner with her ex, Ty Morstan, doesn't go well as he expresses worry about her current career and Watson's parents had contacted him with similar concerns. Ty believes that Watson became a sober companion as penance for the loss of one of her patients, which cost her her medical license. The next morning at the Brownstone, Holmes views photos from the coroner's report on Casey McManus. He notices Casey had a rare genetic deficiency, a clouding of the cornea of his eye. Watson asks why Holmes didn't tell Gregson he was in rehab. Holmes believes Gregson wouldn't let a recovering addict work on sensitive cases and threatens to sue Watson if she tells Gregson. They are interrupted by a call from Detective Bell, who says he's found the woman the neighbor described for the sketch artist.

S01E02-Hospital w Yvette

"You think she's faking?"

Holmes and Watson meet Bell outside a hospital. He explains that a uniformed cop recognized the woman in the sketch, Yvette Ellison, from an incident he was involved in. Bell shows them into Yvette's hospital room, where she has been lying in a coma for three days, after a failed suicide attempt. Bell concludes the neighbor must have lied and states the obvious, that Holmes was mistaken as Yvette couldn't have killed McManus. Bell leaves and Holmes sniffs Yvette's armpit, recognizing the same brand of deodorant as he'd smelled at the crime scene. He looks for a syringe to stab Yvette in the thigh, convinced she must be faking her coma. Watson performs a simpler test that demonstrates the coma is real. They leave just as Yvette's doctor enters.

Exiting the hospital, Holmes tells Watson that Yvette has a twin, Rebecca, which he deduced from a book by her bed. They are the surviving children of shipping magnate Charles Ellison. Rebecca administers the family's charitable foundation and both sisters are only days away from receiving their father's vast fortune. They visit the Ellison Foundation, and Holmes is taken aback to meet Rebecca, who is Yvette's fraternal, not identical, twin. The two women do not resemble each other closely enough that the neighbor could have mistaken one for the other. That evening, Holmes is practicing his lockpicking skills while puzzling over the case. Watson brings him a violin she found in a closet and suggests he play it. Holmes is evasive and when Watson is interrupted by a call from Ty, Holmes sets fire to it. They argue until a call from Gregson beckons them to a murder scene with the same M.O. as the first.

At the scene, Holmes examines the body of Anna Webster. He notices the same deodorant on a chair the shooter used and medication for the same condition Casey McManus had. Holmes realizes Webster and McManus are related, and the time of death rules out McManus' neighbor as the killer. The next day at the precinct, Gregson reports the DNA tests confirm McManus and Webster were half-siblings, both born out of wedlock. Their mother is deceased, but Webster reported to police that a man was following her who, from a picture she provided, Gregson recognizes as a law firm investigator named Michael McGee. They visit McGee, but despite Gregson's relationship with him when they were on the force together, McGee won't provide details as to why he was following Webster. Holmes pulls McGee aside and threatens to expose his meth usage (which Holmes had deduced) unless he cooperates. McGee leaves the file on Webster on his desk for them to peruse and then leaves.

At Rebecca Ellison's office, Gregson, Bell, Holmes and Watson ask Rebecca why she hired attorneys to investigate Casey McManus and Anna Webster, whom they know were her father's illegitimate children and could have shared in his estate. Rebecca admits to the investigation, but did so only to discover what kind of people they were. However, her sister Yvette became depressed and attempted suicide, resulting in her coma. Holmes thinks Rebecca is lying and used the investigators to learn personal details and kill them, resulting in a slap to his face. Returning home, Watson is surprised to see Ty standing outside their door with a bottle of wine. Holmes is meddling in her life and has invited Ty to a supposed party. Watson walks an angry Ty away and then turns on Holmes. He proposes that they stay out of each other's personal lives. Gregson calls and reports that camera footage confirms Rebecca was at home when the murders occurred.

S01E02-The ruse

"Daddy's third bastard. I figured out who she is."

Attending another group support meeting, Watson forces Holmes to pay attention. An addict named Elaine tells her story, which sparks a breakthrough on the case with Holmes. He leaves the meeting over Watson's objections and finally she threatens him unless he trusts her with the breakthrough to which Holmes sighs assent. Holmes bursts into Yvette Ellison's hospital room, where Rebecca is reading to her. He causes a scene, saying he knows how she committed the murders and he gives details about an unknown third heir. A crowd gathers, including Yvette's doctor, until Holmes pushes Detective Bell, who places him under arrest and carts him out. That evening, a woman carrying a gun breaks into a home and targets another woman until the lights are turned on to reveal Gregson, Bell, several officers, and Yvette Ellison.

At the precinct, Rebecca stares in confusion at her sister, who is being held in custody. Watson explains that Yvette's coma was drug-induced by her doctor, who put her under and brought her out of it as needed. Holmes explains that during the group meeting, Elaine's story in which she used her doctor's medical expertise made him realize that Yvette had done the same thing. The drug-induced coma left Yvette quite weak, which is why she had to sit down while lying in wait for McManus and Webster. Holmes realizes Rebecca wanted to share the fortune with her unknown siblings while Yvette didn't. Holmes also explains his ruse in which he provided details, including the address, of a made-up third heir so the doctor could overhear. He pushed Bell so it would appear he would be in jail, providing a window of opportunity for Yvette to try to commit a third murder. Holmes then tells Rebecca that it's likely Yvette also intended to kill her, which shocks Rebecca.

As Holmes and Watson are heading out, Gregson and Bell meet them, and Gregson invites them out for drinks. Holmes is surprised by the offer, but declines politely. That evening, Holmes and Watson sit down to a takeout dinner. With prodding, Holmes admits that listening at the support meeting helped him solve the case. Watson believes that Holmes closes himself off to relationships as a form of penance for his drug use, not because of his Attic Theory, even if he doesn't realize he doing it. Holmes states that if one doesn't realize why one is closing themselves off to connections, then it isn't a penance. Later, as Watson is reading in bed, she hears the violin being tuned and then tentatively played. Realizing she's made an impression on Holmes, she smiles.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Guest cast[]

Music[]

Main article: List of songs

Quotes[]

I just think it's sad that you can't be honest with the man who, as far as I can tell, is the closest thing you have to a friend, that's all.

— Watson to Holmes about Captain Gregson

You're right about the stress relief. I felt like Jimi Hendrix for a second there.

— Holmes after setting his violin on fire

We know what our killer smells like. Too bad we can't put out an APB on an armpit.

— Detective Bell to Holmes

Trivia[]

  • Detective Marcus Bell debuts in this episode.
  • The amygdalae (singular "amygdala") are a pair of nuclei in the brain, responsible for, among other things, memory function and decision-making.
  • Holmes' "attic theory" was first pronounced by the original Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, when John Watson expresses surprise that Holmes has an encyclopedic knowledge of many subjects, yet remains ignorant of several fundamental facts, such as Copernican theory (i.e., the fact that the Earth revolves around the sun).
  • Ty Morstan's last name refers to Mary Morstan, Dr. John Watson's wife introduced in Conan Doyle's The Sign of the Four.
  • Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes also played the violin while thinking.
  • When Holmes tries to burn his violin, he facetiously compares himself to Jimi Hendrix, who famously set two of his guitars on fire at three shows, most notably the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
  • A similar premise was used in the episode "Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect" of the USA mystery series Monk, in which the person with the clearest motive for murdering the victims had been lying in a coma for six months.

Gallery[]

Screencaps[]

Promotional images[]

In other languages[]

Language Title Translation
čeština Czech Zatímco jsi spala[1] Same as English title
suomi Finnish Kooma[2] "Coma"
français French Le Grand Sommeil[3] "The Great Slumber"
Deutsch German Während du schliefst[4] Same as English title
magyar Hungarian Hétalvó[5] "A Night Sleeper"
italiano Italian Mentre dormivi[6] Same as English title
日本語 Japanese あなたが寝てる間に…[7] Same as English title
русский Russian Пока ты спала[8] Same as English title
slovenčina Slovak Zatiaľ čo si spala[9] Same as English title
español Spanish Mientras dormías[10] Same as English title
українська Ukrainian Поки ти спала[11] Same as English title

References[]

  1. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Sherlock Holmes: Jak prosté (Czech). Wikipedia.
  2. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Holmes NYC (Finnish). Wikipedia.
  3. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Elementary (série télévisée) (French). Wikipedia.
  4. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Elementary (Fernsehserie) (German). Wikipedia.
  5. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Sherlock és Watson (Hungarian). Wikipedia.
  6. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Elementary (serie televisiva) (Italian). Wikipedia.
  7. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). エレメンタリー ホームズ&ワトソン in NY (Japanese). Wikipedia.
  8. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Элементарно (Russian). Wikipedia.
  9. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Sherlock a Watsonová (Slovak). Wikipedia.
  10. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Elementary (Spanish). Wikipedia.
  11. Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). Елементарно (телесеріал) (Ukrainian). Wikipedia.
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