What a crazy season! And here we are at the end – our very last episode of Elementary season 7, number 13, “The last bow.”

But before we start, make sure you are up to date.  Click here for last episode where Odin Reichenbach is arrested for Sherlock’s possible murder.

And so, we start, three years later with the news that Reichenbach has been found guilty of multiple crimes (none to do with Sherlock) and Joan being interviewed as having a hand in helping bring Odin to justice.  Sherlock is assumed dead and Joan wrote a book in his honor “The case files of Sherlock Holmes.”

Marcus calls Joan after the interview and says: “he’s back!” Then we assume it’s Sherlock, but it’s Joan’s son, Arthur, who loves the precinct as much as she does. (good fake out!)   At least one of her dreams came true.  And Marcus is now Captain.  A lot has happened in three years.  Marcus asks Joan if the Delvecchio case is on track to which she says yes.

Joan arrives with Arthur and Rose, his nanny, to the partially updated brownstone. Joan’s assistant, Sean, tells her she’s trending and that there is an attorney wanting to talk to her about Jamie Moriarty. The attorney, Ronald Adair, tells Joan that Moriarty is dead and he’s the executor of her will.  Since Sherlock is “dead” and he named Joan as his sole heir, Adair hands her a package.  Joan doesn’t want it since Moriarty was a bad person.

Rose asks Joan why she looks down.  Joan says she has not had to think about Sherlock so much in one day and now she has the package that was left for him. Joan tells Rose that the package was from someone who cared about Sherlock and who is dead now.  Rose says if they cared about each other, at least they are together.

Joan then goes to the cemetery and breaks Sherlocks tombstone – why???

The next morning, she is awakened by various TVs coming on, and Sherlock!!!  Yay!  He’s back!  He tells Joan that he got her message (must be the broken tombstone) and he wants to know who wants to kill her and how he can help.

Joan tells Sherlock about the package.  Sherlock reminds Joan she was only to call him if her life was in danger to which Joan replies that it’s Moriarty. Sherlock opens the package and it’s a painting.  Sherlock says his plan worked and that Odin is in prison.  Joan then starts on Sherlock because he was supposed to call her once a month and he only did that for the first year.  She was worried about him for two years.  Sherlock tells her he assumed different identities and helped solve crimes in various countries.

Sherlock then tells Joan that after his father’s death, Moriarty took over her old group and he has been after her.  Per Sherlock, Moriarty is alive and probably assumed Sherlock was as well and that is why she sent the picture to Joan – to lure him to New York.

Sherlock tells Joan that Moriarty succeeded, and the place is probably being watched.  He comments on the new décor and asks if the secret exit to the street is still there.  Then Arthur calls for her, while she replies, Sherlock is gone.

Joan arrives at a crime scene.  Marcus tells him the body is by the water and was shot execution style.  It is Moriarty’s lawyer, Ronald Adair. Before Joan tells Marcus about Adair, Sherlock calls her and tells her not to say anything and meet him at the brownstone.

Sherlock is surprised that Joan kept the bees in their roof. He tells her he owes her an explanation for the loss of contact.  They share tea as Sherlock tells her about his time away.  He took on different identities and helped solved crimes but not a consulting detective because that would have been obvious.  Joan had heard of some of the results of his exploits.  Sherlock tells her he stopped contacting her because of Arthur.  When the adoption got approved, Sherlock didn’t want to risk Joan trying to help him, so he stopped calling. Then, he gets her to admit that the book she wrote in his honor was revenge – (lol, these two!)

Joan says Sherlock seems happy to which he agrees.  He tells her she looks happy too and that his “death” was probably good for both.  Joan asks if his life is in danger because Moriarty now knows he’s alive. To that, Sherlock says they should break into Adair’s home to see if they can find anything.  Joan tells her Marcus can do it.  Then, Sherlock finds out Joan told Marcus and Gregson about their plan.

When Marcus sees Sherlock, he punches him and tells Joan he is helping for Joan not Holmes. As they investigate in Adair’s office, Sherlock and Marcus talk about what has happened.  Gregson retired about a year ago, and his wife passed away.  Marcus became captain and has a wife and child.

Joan finds that Adair had gotten a wire transfer and the forwarded the money to Hernan Selenko.  Marcus says maybe Adair was acting as an intermediary.  Sherlock says he is familiar with the bank and it will take days to see who sent the money to Adair.  So, they start with Selenko.

Selenko is surprised to hear that Adair is dead. Marcus tells him they did their homework and know he keeps his nose clean, but he has associates with ties to organized crime.  He continues to say he won the money Adair sent him in a card game.  When Marcus asks him for the information on the card room, Selenko refuses and says he will call his lawyer.

Joan and Sherlock continue to investigate, and Sherlock thinks it’s not Moriarty who lured him to New York but a third party who used Adair. He uses chemicals to expose the playing cards and shows Joan how they can be used to cheat – which Selenko did to have Adair owe him.  Sherlock says they would need sensors to use the cards thus Joan thinks they need to go to the card room.  Since it is run by a mob family that has “no beef” with Sherlock, then he thinks somebody else installed the equipment without them knowing.

He sends a picture of the cards to some friends to see if they can identify them and proposes to Joan that maybe they need to contact someone in Moriarty’s organization.  Joan meets Hilary who works for Moriarty.  Joan tells her Adair came to see her and told her Moriarty is dead, but she doesn’t believe it.  Joan asks Hilary who would want her to think that Moriarty is dead.  Hilary tells Joan that one of her jobs is to keep an eye on operations in New York.  When she saw Adair leave Joan’s place, she confronted him.  Joan realizes Hilary was the one who killed Adair.  Hilary thanks her because she confirmed that Adair had been compromised.  Hilary also tells Joan that they know Sherlock is alive and tells her that they knew in the Vatican job when Sherlock got a scar over his eye.  Hilary also tells Joan that they have not done anything about it since he is helping take care of their enemies or business rivals and because of how Moriarty is with Sherlock.

Joan calls Sherlock to tell him he was half right because Moriarty didn’t send Adair, but her people killed him. Sherlock tells Joan his contact has found the card room.  Joan complains that their connection is terrible, and Sherlock says it’s because it’s underground.  As he is explaining, he loses connection and gets a blue screen on his phone.  The door closes and Sherlock is face to face with McNally, the NSA agent who was working for Odin.  He comments Sherlock looks pretty good for a dead guy.

Sherlock asks McNally about the blue screen since he thought that was Reichenbach’s, but McNally says it was technology that the NSA gave him.  Sherlock asks how come McNally’s name did not come up during the trial.  He replies that Odin knew what to keep to himself. Sherlock then congratulates McNally on his promotion to director of foreign affairs. McNally tells Sherlock he was watching all these cases being gift wrapped for law enforcement and realized Sherlock was alive.  Then, he offers Sherlock a job working for him and tells Holmes he doesn’t have to change a thing.  Sherlock says he has been working internationally to which McNally responds that everything affects the US and Sherlock has helped the US by doing the work he had been doing.  McNally says he wants to make it official and give Sherlock the tools he needs. Sherlock asks him what the catch is.  McNally says there is no catch.  Sherlock has helped them for the past three years.  He just wants him to continue for the rest of his life.

Joan is catching up Marcus.  She tells him Moriarty’s people killed Adair and that she lost her phone connection with Sherlock the night before.  Marcus says he’s not good at keeping in touch and comments that it’s probably strange to have Sherlock back.  Joan says that it is different, but that Sherlock seems happy.  Marcus asks Joan if she’s going to tell him to which she replies that she’s not.  (I wonder what she’s keeping from him?)

Sherlock is waiting for Joan at the brownstone when she walks in with Arthur. They officially meet.  When they are alone, Sherlock tells Joan he found out who was looking for him and what director McNally told him.  Joan is concerned that two dangerous groups – the NSA and Moriarty’s organization, knew about him being alive.  Joan also tells Sherlock they knew about a scar he got and where he got it. Sherlock tells Joan he is thinking about taking McNally’s offer.  When Joan starts to protest, Sherlock tells her that he could peak inside the agency and if there is something off, he can expose them.  Also, he could pit the NSA against Moriarty.

Sherlock then tells Joan he’s leaving the next day and asks her and Arthur to have dinner with him since they may not see each other again for a while.  Joan asks about McNally’s offer to which Sherlock replies he’s playing hard to get.  Joan agrees to have dinner with him.

Sherlock then goes to visit Gregson since he has not seen him to pay his respects.  Sherlock tells him that Marcus hit him when he saw him and that he’s free to do the same.  However, Gregson hugs him and says it’s nice to see him. Gregson asks Sherlock why he’s leaving when Joan, the only person Sherlock loves, is in New York.  Sherlock tells him that he told Joan it was difficult at the beginning of his exile but didn’t tell her he relapsed. He tells Gregson he can’t let Arthur see him like that so he can’t go back. Gregson tells Sherlock that when Paige, his love, told him she was diagnosed with cancer, he asked her to marry him although she wanted to leave and not put him through what was coming.  Gregson says it was the best decision of his life and wouldn’t change it for the world.  Sherlock tells Gregson his analogy is flawed because Paige offered him a choice while Sherlock won’t let Joan do that. Gregson then says Sherlock must know something about Joan.

Sherlock returns to the brownstone.  Joan is saying that she was going to order in, but choices are limited. Sherlock says he knows and asks why Joan wouldn’t tell him.  She says she didn’t want him to feel like he had to stay.  Sherlock tells her he knows she had a lump removed and that Delvecchio is the name of her oncologist. She tells him she’s starting chemo in a few days.  Sherlock can’t believe she would have let him go without telling him. She stands and says they are going to see each other again.  Sherlock hugs her and says he’s staying. She hugs him back.

We cut to one year later with Sherlock at a graveside.  Director McNally stops by to give his condolences and asks Sherlock what he wants to do now that she’s gone (oh no, Joan?)  Sherlock says he has things to do and that it wasn’t good to see him.  McNally asks him if he regrets not taking him up on his offer.  Sherlock tells him not for a second and leaves.

As he arrives at the brownstone, Joan is there (yay!) and with shorter, black hair. She asks him how it was. Sherlock says it was interesting to which Joan replies that she expected more from Jaime Moriarty’s funeral.  Sherlock says she’s not dead, but probably doing what they did so she can carry out some agenda.  Sherlock asks Joan where the shovel is, but she tells him that he’s not digging up her grave.  Sherlock says they want proof that she’s alive.

Sherlock and Joan are in the elevator going to see Marcus.  Joan is anxious since she wants to get her job back.  Sherlock asks her if she brought the report from the doctor that says she’s cancer free, but she didn’t. She’s worried about schedules and that maybe it won’t work for Marcus.  Sherlock reassures her and says they will work it out and that nothing matters as long as they are together.  They walk into Marcus office and our favorite show ends.

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Questions for this episode

• Are you glad Sherlock and Joan ended up together?
• Are they together, together (like Arthur’s daddy and Joan’s hubby?) or just working together?
• Is Moriarty really dead?