Andrew Bernstein

Cancel the Golden Globes. Cancel next year’s Emmys. Heck, cancel the Oscars just because. And give all the awards to Jonny Lee Miller, Jon Michael Hill and Jason Tracey for acting in and writing “All in the Family” – and this scene, specifically. If it’s ridiculous to clap while watching something by yourself, then call me ridiculous. In an episode of Elementary that couldn’t possibly live up to last week’s epic Moriarty adventure, the CBS Sherlock Holmes procedural returns wearing its two hearts on its two sleeves.

Part of the virtue of Elementary’s 24-episode season structure is that there is no pressure to dump on character development every week. Like a sitcom that tacks on its short, sweet heartwarming moments late in the third act, Elementary shifts its narrative camera from the weekly crime plot to remind us that Holmes and Watson are real people dealing with personal conflict. Occasionally, that conflict will take center stage, but more often than not – and in the case of “Poison Pen” – it is painted in light strokes on the episode’s much larger canvas.

“Snow Angels” has it all; gun action, robbery, new characters, snow…it all begins with an interesting cold opening – forced entry, a tall blonde and a would-be homicide. But it seems that this little snippet of action is easily overshadowed by the remaining 40 minutes or so.