History Characters / Elementary

* SuperOCD:
** She conjectures that she has a "touch of OCD" that flares up after bad break-ups, leading to her cleaning the entirety of Holmes' and Watson's apartment.
** She organizes Sherlock's library alphabetically by author in descending order of intellectual rigeur.

%% * SexyWalk

* TeamPet: Instead of eating him, Sherlock decided to adopt him.

* BrutalHonesty: Sherlock has many admirable qualities, but tact and diplomacy are not among them. He also asks people to be honest with him and with themselves. And when he's called in to help {{Asshole Victim}}s, particularly {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, he lets them know ''exactly'' what he thinks of them.

* ChildHater: He's visibly uncomfortable with children, something that is implied to be caused by his own unhappy childhood. His reaction to seeing Watson look at a picture of a mother and her baby is a disdainful "who's the breeder?", and when [[spoiler:Kitty]] brings her son to meet him he gets a look on a face that she describes as "like I'd brought a giant spider into his house." [[spoiler:Subverted in the latter case - it wasn't the kid he had a problem with, it was that she had had a child and not bothered to tell him until now, which he interpreted as her not seeing him as a friend anymore.]]

** His surname combines this trope with MythologyGag. He shares the name of Reichenbach Falls, famously known as the location of Holmes and Moriarty's final showdown and (presumed) death. The confrontation itself took place in the story "The Final Problem", the intended GrandFinale to the original Conan Doyle stories. Appropriately enough, he's the final BigBad of the ''Elementary'' series.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: {{Subverted}} in "Miss Taken". She claims that she has discovered that the family she has conned her way into is abusing their other daughter and that she couldn't stand by and watch. However, Sherlock and Joan quickly work out that this is a lie she made up to distract them.

* ShesGotLegs: Her collection of skirts, high heels, and tights display them quite well.

* {{Nerd}}: A brilliant, calculating minded man with a plethora of tastes and interests, but has some trouble with certain social expectations because he doesn't think much of them.

->'''Played by''': Rob Bartlett

* TurtlePower: He's adopted by Joan and Sherlock after his owner is murdered. Sherlock thinks he makes a [[FlippingHelpless good paperweight]] and a good ambulance.

* {{Troll}}s: Most of the tasks they have Sherlock do in exchange for favors are petty, immature, but ultimately harmless pranks. Highlights include making Sherlock dress in drag, and having him stand on a street corner with a sign instructing people to hit him.

* AllWomenAreDomsAllMenAreSubs:
** In the first episode we first see him after a dominatrix has left his house, though he seems to have more of an academic interest in bondage than a sexual one.
** And in the beginning of "The Deductionist", he is being entertained by two dominatrixes, who handcuff him to a chair. Unfortunately they are there for [[ClassyCatBurglar other reasons...]]
** He's apparently friendly with a dominatrix, who called him first when she discovers a client's body.

* OffTheWagon: He relapses and uses heroin at the end of the third season after being forced to spend extended time with his "[[ToxicFriendInfluence friend]]" Oliver. He gets clean during the break between seasons and is determined not to let it happen again. [[spoiler:After a TimeSkip in the GrandFinale he reveals to Gregson that he relapsed again while he was in hiding. His fear of doing so for a third time is why he's stayed away from Joan and her son.]]

* TheMedic: Watson usually has medical knowledge that Sherlock lacks, noticing things he doesn't (such as the insulin pump in "Flight Risk" and the unhealthy food in "The Deductionist". She also fixes him up when he's hurt (his dislocated shoulder in "A Landmark Story" and his bullet wound in "Heroine"). In "A Landmark Story" we also saw her performing an autopsy, receiving compliments from Sherlock.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: In "Pilot", Joan discovers the whole reason of Sherlock's drug addiction and despair with ''one look''. As the series progresses, her background as a doctor has actually allowed her to notice certain aspects about a case and correctly deduce the facts before Sherlock. This was first shown in "The Deductionist" when Joan realizes that [[spoiler:Patricia Ennis deliberately destroyed her kidneys in order to aid her brother's escape]], Mycroft being [[spoiler:a cancer survivor from IV scars on his arms]], and in "Alma Matters" when she [[spoiler:deduces from Morland's eating habits that he had part of his stomach removed and that the the injury came from a failed assassination attempt.]]

** UpToEleven with Sherlock in "Ancient History", when he flat out admits that he used to follow her around and spy on her in the beginning of their partnership and that he lied and ''slept'' with a close friend of hers.

* AdaptationalVillainy: His orginal counterpart was already a nasty piece of work, a serial philanderer who was implied to have murdered his wife. UpToEleven here, where he's a outright rapist and serial killer.

** Following the tradition of depictions of Sherlock, his brain literally seems to work differently than other people. He has a lot of common personality traits with UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome--socially awkward and extremely gifted within a certain area (in his case detective work), straightforward and with a lot of BrutalHonesty, often oblivious to others' feelings but not lacking in empathy. He also has certain physical tics like the way he stands hunched in on himself sometimes, his jerking head movements and the way he grips his hands which are also consistent with someone who has Aspergers or Autism. He falls into this trope since he hasn't specifically been diagnosed on screen.

* UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar: According to Sherlock, he had a hand in starting it.
-->'''Watson:''' Look, I think it's nice that he wants to help, but you know we can't go back to the department-- it's not possible.\\
'''Holmes:''' Neither was war in the Falklands, but the old man tends to get what he wants.

[[quoteright:169:[[labelnote:Click here to see May Holmes]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s05e23_may_holmes_outside_church_7.jpg]]

Note that while we've tried to keep all spoilers marked, due to the nature of the show it's very difficult to keep everything hidden, and it's quite possible that by merely looking at this page at all you will spoil yourself, especially due to the WalkingSpoiler nature of certain characters. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

Normally Captain of the 12th Precinct, he briefly takes over command of the 11th in Season Seven, when [[spoiler:Gregson is shot and seriously injured by a suspected perp]].

* OverarchingVillain: She is the most recurring and dangerous antagonist that Holme and Watson has ever faced. Aside from being the ArcVillain for season one, her influence is felt throughout the subsequent seasons, where she helps the duo track down her subordinates in season 2, arranges someone's death when she tried to kill Watson in season 3, serves as the GreaterScopeVillain of season 4, finds a way to escape prison in season 6, and becomes the FinalBoss of the series where she fakes her death and Sherlock and Joan are determined to find her once more.

Normally Captain of the 12th Precinct, he briefly takes over command of the 11th in Season Seven, when [[spoiler:Gregson was shot and seriously injured by a suspected perp]].

* RiddleForTheAges: In "Miss Understood" she implies to Watson that she believes that she is Holmes's daughter via a one-night-stand with the woman that was probably her mother. She never brings this up with Holmes, and it is never resolves whether this is true, something false that she genuinely believes, or a lie she made up to mess with Watson.