Snow Angels

"Snow Angels"
Season 1
Season 1
Episode 19
Episode 19
Directed by	Andrew Bernstein
Written by	Jason Tracey
Aired	April 4, 2013
Viewers (millions)	10.48
Episode guide
Previous	"Déjà Vu All Over Again"
Next	"Dead Man's Switch"

Cast

Main cast

Jonny Lee Milleras Sherlock Holmes

Lucy Liuas Joan Watson

Aidan Quinnas Tommy Gregson

Jon Michael Hillas Marcus Bell

Featured cast

Lonnie Quinnas TV Reporter

Nick Sullivanas Frank Dempster (Security Guard)

Jill Flintas Alysa Darvin / Elle Bastien

Candis Cayneas Ms. Hudson

Scott Aielloas Uniform #1

Christina Rouneras Denise Castor

Bill Buellas Private Maggio

Karl Milleras Squatter (Architecture firm)

Howard McGillinas Davis Renkin

Becky Ann Bakeras Pam

Andy Grotelueschenas Nurse Vince

Curt Bourilas FRP #1

Frank Woodas EROC Supervisor

Daniel Loeseras Uniform #2

Mark Elliot Wilsonas Joseph Leseur

Slate Holmgrenas Uniform #3

Samuel Smithas EMT #1

Russian Tortoisesas Clyde

Plot

"You have to admire the ingenuity of the plan. If they hadn't killed someone, I'd have half a mind to let them get away with it." — Holmes

At the Flatiron, a security guard, Frank Dempster, reads while a weather report warns of a major blizzard. Hearing a blond woman calling for help, he exits the building and brings her in. She points a pistol at him and demands he let in her two accomplices. He reaches for his gun and she shoots him. She lets her accomplices in, who drag Dempster's body behind his desk. As they head up stairs, Dempster fires a shot at the woman's back. At The Brownstone, Watson returns from shopping to find a distressed woman, Ms. Hudson, in the library. A friend of Holmes, she's having relationship problems so Watson leaves to get her some tea. In the kitchen, Holmes explains that Hudson was one of his Irregulars due to her expertise in several ancient languages. She often finds herself with rich, powerful men and her latest lover has evicted her from an apartment he kept for her. Holmes has taken her in and as Watson asks for more notice, Captain Gregson calls.

I'm a mess.

At the scene, Holmes reconstructs most of the events and leaves it to Watson to finish with the shooting of one of the criminals by Dempster. Detective Bell indicates the thieves stole hundreds of a new phone model. From a wig hair strand, Holmes deduces one of them was a woman, and there were at least three total to have carried the phones and a wounded person out. Given the banal nature of the crime, Holmes wonders why they were called, but when the lights go out as the storm hits, he welcomes the challenge. At the 11th Precinct, Gregson introduces his command to Denise Castor, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), sent to co-ordinate the snow storm response. Castor indicates the power will be out during the storm. On his phone, Holmes finds a social media post from someone who bought one of the stolen phones and from the pic, he knows where it was sold.

He got off one shot before he took a second wound.

Holmes and Watson discover the phones are being sold by a homeless man, Private Maggio. He retrieved them from a dumpster after two white men dumped them. Holmes gives him some money and leaves, convinced the phone theft was a cover and the thieves stole something else in the Flatiron. From Dempster's access card, they trace the thieves path to an architectural firm, where the lock has been picked. As Watson picks the lock, the door is opened by an employee. Holmes discovers which blueprints were stolen and has the employee provide duplicates. At the Brownstone, Ms. Hudson helps Watson build a fire and as she discusses her lover, Davis, he arrives, begging to see her. Hudson has Watson let him in. Upstairs, Holmes examines the blueprints in a tent, trying to keep warm. He hasn't found what the thieves were looking for and Hudson and Davis start arguing.

Then they stole blueprints.

The next morning, Holmes wakes Watson and has her dress while he explains his findings. He found a job the architecture firm bid on but didn't get, for EROC (East Rutherford Operations Center), which contains the world's largest supply of U.S. cash. He believes the thieves planned a heist to coincide with the snow storm which will hinder police response and, he thinks it is currently underway. With no way to reach the NYPD, they'll have to find a way to East Rutherford on their own. Bundling up, they trudge down snow-covered streets. Encountering a snowplow, Holmes asks the driver, Pam, to give them shelter. Once inside, he has her raise the NYPD by radio and leaves a message for Gregson with his deductions. He still insists on proceeding to EROC and tries to commandeer the plow. Pam tells him to leave so Holmes produces cash and asks if he can rent the plow.

I'm on standby. Who the hell are you?

Bell visits a hospital looking for any patients with gunshot wounds. Finding none, he expands the search to stomach wounds and finds a woman who was stabbed. In her room, Bell questions the brunette woman, Alysa Darvin, who is about to be discharged. Bell finds a blonde hair on her coat which she claims is from a friend. When Bell holds the hair under a lamp, it melts, showing it's from a wig. He accuses Alysa of being stabbed after being shot to disguise the gunshot wound and takes her to the precinct. In the snowplow, Holmes and Watson argue about Ms. Hudson who Watson has taken a shine to until they reach EROC. In "the box" at the precinct, Bell pressures Darvin to name her partners in the phone heist until Gregson interrupts, having received Holmes' message, and asks her about EROC. In the control room of EROC, the supervisor won't let them on the automated cash floor but checking a terminal, he notices an unscheduled cash sort of $1B was done. Although unusual, no money is missing.

Real hair doesn't do that.

When Holmes finds out that money is destroyed at EROC, he asks to see where. The supervisor shows them $33M of shredded money and insists everything is accounted for. Holmes and Watson examine the shreds and find they are ordinary paper, not the cotton-linen mix that money is made of. Holmes explains the thieves entered EROC, deserted due to the storm, looped the camera footage, ran the shred with counterfeit bills and took the real ones. This avoided detection of the theft as the shredded fake bills would have gone to a landfill. Holmes examines the ground outside EROC and finds an access tunnel the thieves used. He also finds snow tracks from the vehicle they used and the unusual axle configuration reveals it to be an ambulance. From the depth of the tire tracks, Watson believes they left less than two hours ago, enough time to find them before they escape.

This is regular paper.

At the precinct, Bell and Gregson tell Darvin they have her file from Interpol. Her real name is Elle Bastien and she's wanted for crimes in other countries along with her husband. They invite her to give up his location but she refuses. In the snowplow, over the radio, Holmes has reported EROC's robbery and learns of Bastien from Bell. As she made calls to a race track manager, Holmes has Bell stake out the manager's home looking for an ambulance. He believes the manager will exchange the stolen bills for others at the track. The storm lifts and as an ambulance appears, police arrest the drivers. The drivers insist they were called and when the back of the ambulance is search, it's empty. Pam drops Holmes and Watson off at the Brownstone and invites them to hire her services again. Watson is delighted to find Ms. Hudson has thoroughly cleaned and organized the entire house. Hudson says that she and Davis broke up.

We've been duped.

Later, Watson finds Holmes pondering a map of Manhattan, with his collection of padlocks placed to represent road closures and police checkpoints, and Clyde bearing a cross of red tape on his back to represent the ambulance. Holmes explains that the ambulance was sighted driving past several incident scenes, but then disappeared and did not pass any checkpoints. Watson comments that would only be possible if the checkpoints weren't there and he comes to a realization. At the precinct, with Watson reading checkpoint closures from the police duty log, Holmes shows Bell and Gregson on a Manhattan map that someone was clearing an escape route for the ambulance. Holmes suggests that FEMA official Denise Castor may be part of the heist and Bastien is refusing to talk as she has confidence that Castor will help her escape.

I'm not trying to create a visual pun.

In the box, Bell tells Bastien they have proof she murdered Dempster when the lights flicker. Loud noises are heard and Gregson rushes in, reporting a stabbing in the holding cells and a prisoner riot. He asks Bell to help, leaving Bastien alone but Gregson says "the box" door will lock from the outside. Holmes and Watson are watching her through the two-way glass. Away from the box, a group of police are clattering chairs, banging on chain link fencing, and yelling to simulate the sounds of a riot. Once the floor is deserted, Castor slips into the box, and leads Bastien out. Holmes reports the escape to Gregson by radio. Gregson tells the officers to wait until they've left the floor so they can be charged with escaping. Leading Bastien into a stairwell, Castor asks her if she told the police anything. As they descend, Bell and a group of police are waiting for them.

Say anything about what?

Later at the Brownstone, Holmes is using a paintbrush to simulate blood splatters on the floor of the library. Watson enters to report that Castor and Bastien gave up their accomplices' location and the ambulance has been found with the stolen money inside. Hearing a horn outside, Watson looks out the window and sees Pam waiting in her snowplow. Holmes explains that some of the roads are still dicey, and Ms. Hudson needs a ride to her cousin's in upstate New York. Ms. Hudson comes down with her suitcase, thanking them for their hospitality and that she'll see them Tuesday. Holmes has engaged her to clean the Brownstone on a weekly basis which Watson finds surprisingly caring. (♫ Hanni El Khatib - Penny ♫) He then announces she'll have to pay for Hudson's fee with increased casework. Watson hasn't agreed to this so Holmes modifies it to half. He then asks Watson to leave, get a blindfold and come back for a lesson.

That's very considerate.

Music

• Hanni El Khatib - Penny plays at episode end.

Trivia

• The opening scene was shot at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
• Jonny Lee Miller improvised Holmes giving the homeless man cash so that he could find shelter.
• When on the radio in Pam's snowplow, Holmes says "Over" to end his message but should have said "Out."
• Holmes tells Watson that Detective Bell played Sky Masterson in his high school production of Guys and Dolls. This biographical detail is in fact true of Jon Michael Hill.
• Holmes' quote, "Life is infinitely stranger than anything the mind of man could invent" is from Conan Doyle's short story A Case of Identity.
• Holmes bluffs the employee at the Flatiron by claiming that Watson "holds several black belts." Lucy Liu has trained in Escrima, a Filipino martial art, since her early twenties.

Quotes

The driver had a lazy eye, the other two met at basketball camp, and one has canine lupus. You see how it feels? Just tell me how you know.

— Watson to Holmes

Gallery

Behind the Scenes

• Answers from Tuesday's quiz! You'll see that the "dodgy egg" line wasn't in the script: it was an improv from Jonny.

  Go to https://twitter.com/ELEMENTARYStaff/status/380377105143320576/

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