The Five Orange Pipz

"The Five Orange Pipz"
Season 3
Season 3
Episode 2
Episode 2
Directed by	Larry Teng
Written by	Bob Goodman
Aired	November 6, 2014
Viewers (millions)	7.07
Episode guide
Previous	"Enough Nemesis To Go..."
Next	"Just a Regular Irregular"

Cast

Main cast

Jonny Lee Milleras Sherlock Holmes

Lucy Liuas Joan Watson

Aidan Quinnas Tommy Gregson

Jon Michael Hillas Marcus Bell

Featured cast

Ophelia Lovibondas Kitty Winter

John Rothmanas Elias Openshaw

Chris McGarryas Agent Vince Boden

Zak Orthas Gabe Coleman

Sonya Walgeras Angela White

Shayan Shojaeeas Mr. Azeem

Roger Rathburnas Defense Attorney

Plot

"They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains. It's a very bad definition but it does apply to detective work. You wanna be a detective, Kitty, accept that you'll be taking pains." — Holmes to Kitty

At the 11th Precinct, Detective Bell watches as Captain Gregson interviews Kitty Winter and kids with Holmes that he's really back working with the NYPD again. Later, Elias Openshaw returns to his remote home and finds a package in the mail containing five orange beads. Terrified, he calls his lawyer, Theo Fordham, but Theo's phone is answered by Gregson. Confused, Openshaw hears a noise and Gregson hears him plead for his life until shots ring out and the connection falls silent. Gregson and Bell are at Theo's office where he's been shot and a package with five orange beads is spilled in front of him. Heading to the Morgue, Holmes finds Watson has already been assigned the Openshaw case. Allowing him to join in, Holmes explains that the beads, "the Pipz", were made by Openshaw's company and when ingested, metabolized into GHB. A hallucinogen used as a "date rape" drug, nine children had been killed or poisoned by swallowing the Pipz. Watson notices Openshaw has bruising consistent with being hit by a car.

Two bodies, two detectives?

Meeting Gregson in his office, they're introduced to FBI Agent Vince Boden who indicates the FBI had proof Openshaw knew the Pipz were poison but sold them anyway. He'd skipped bail and had been a fugitive. The FBI seized all of the Pipz and Boden has no suspects other than a list of the parents of the children who'd been poisoned. Kitty examines Theo's murder scene and reacts strongly when Bell touches her arm. Receiving the list from Holmes, she recognizes that the zip code on the envelope sent to Theo matches that of one of the parents, Gabe Coleman. Gregson, Holmes and Watson question Coleman who had a break-in at his place the night before. He denies killing Openshaw despite his son dying from the Pipz and his wife leaving him. He refuses to co-operate with Gregson's request to search his home.

I know what I'm doing.

At The Brownstone, as Kitty paints a dresser, Holmes reports on their questioning of Coleman and says he believes Coleman is innocent. (♫ Dead Sara - Weatherman ♫) At the precinct, Coleman turns himself in and claims to have killed Openshaw and Theo. Holmes questions Coleman in his jail cell while Kitty watches. He's deduced that the break-in at his home was to plant evidence as Coleman provided the weapon that killed the two men. Holmes believes Coleman realized he was being framed and decided to go along with it to assuage his guilt over not doing anything about the death of his son. Bell and Watson discuss their negative initial impressions of Kitty. Holmes texts Watson to join him at the office of US Attorney Angela White, the prosecutor of the Pipz case. As Watson arrives at White's office, Kitty becomes defensive and jealous. White indicates they had a paper trail proving Openshaw knew the Pipz were poison.

If that were true, I'd take that fall.

She's heard about Coleman's confession but is surprised to hear they think he is innocent. She denies Holmes' request for access to surveillance video of Theo, citing privacy concerns, and Kitty accuses her of not wanting them to find the real killer. Offended, White ends the meeting. Outside, Holmes rebukes Kitty for allowing her jealousy of Watson to interfere with the case. She also believes they should allow Coleman to take blame for the killing to which Holmes points out that she, of all people, shouldn't want a killer roaming free. Bell brings in a taxi driver, who he saw from traffic video, hit a pedestrian. The driver, Azeem, admits that Openshaw ran in front of his vehicle and he hit him. He tried to help him, but Openshaw saw a woman, who Azeem identifies as White, and fled. Confronting White, she denies seeing Openshaw when he was on the lam even though the offices of her campaign for Congress are close to the accident scene and, she orders them to leave.

Your people can't do the job that we can.

At the precinct, Holmes has doubts as to White's honesty and evades questions from Watson about Kitty's background. Holmes believes that given the surveillance of Theo by the FBI, Agent Boden should have known about the encounter between White and Openshaw. Questioning Boden at his home, he denies knowing about the encounter but says that White had motive to kill Openshaw and Theo. He claims that White's office lost the evidence against Openshaw and without it, she would have lost the case against him, killing her aspirations for Senate. He also says that after Openshaw skipped bail, he saw White and Theo having secrets meetings which she claimed were attempts to have Theo to get Openshaw to turn himself in. In "the box" at the precinct, White is shown bank transfers from her to Theo, as once Theo discovered the evidence against Openshaw was missing, he blackmailed her, knowing as a future senator, she'd be useful to him.

I'm gonna have your badge for this.

White admits to the missing evidence, blackmail and agreeing to Openshaw skipping bail. However, she denies committing the murders and shows that the money transfer happened after the murders. She also points out that she knew the FBI surveillance schedule and she wouldn't have met Theo when they were watching. She also never told Boden about the missing evidence so believes he may have taken it. Boden's home is raided and he's found to have fled. At the Brownstone, Kitty watches jealously as Holmes and Watson converse in front of an evidence wall. Noting that Boden was assigned to the Openshaw case after his arrest, Kitty points out that it makes no sense for Boden to help Openshaw by stealing the evidence against him, only to kill him months later. After Holmes shows his annoyance with her, Kitty jokingly says she should eat a Pip and take a nap and then leaves.

I'm not allowed to look at the Pipz?

Holmes takes Watson to his bedroom and removing bricks in the fireplace, takes out a file on Kitty and gives it to Watson. He explains that Kitty was the victim of a horrific crime and was taken by a man who is still at large. The training Holmes is giving her is meant to provide a constructive outlet for the anguish she is feeling. Watson comments that Kitty had a good point about Boden which makes Holmes realize that perhaps Boden was trying to end the proceedings against Openshaw. Gregson and an ESU team catch Boden leaving a waste facility in a truck filled with boxes of the Pipz. Watching his arrest with Kitty, Holmes remarks that since the Pipz were seen as toys and not drugs, they weren't subject to a high level of security. Boden realized that if he ended the case against Openshaw, the Pipz would be sent to a waste facility with no security.

It's a shame you weren't there when the solution presented itself.

After stealing the evidence against Openshaw didn't end the case, killing him and Theo did. He then acquired the Pipz by paying off a facility worker and intended to sell them as the drug GHB for millions. Holmes compliments Kitty on the points she made that helped with the solving of the case. He warns her that becoming a detective is hard and that she'll be subject to many pains. Later at the precinct, Watson sees Kitty going through old cases Holmes and Watson worked on. (♫ Sharon Van Etten - Everytime the Sun Comes Up ♫) She gives Kitty the file Holmes gave her and indicates she never read it. Kitty insists that Watson read it to get a better sense of her. Later at her apartment, Watson open the file and begins to read.

Just read it.

Trivia

• Holmes' hiding place in the hearth of his bedroom fireplace at the Brownstone is first seen. He retrieves a file on Kitty from it to give to Watson.
• The title is a reference to the Conan Doyle story The Five Orange Pips from which the character Elias Openshaw is taken.
• The "infinite capacity for taking pains" quote is from the Conan Doyle story A Study in Scarlet which in turn is taken from Thomas Carlyle's Frederick the Great. It's also the title of the Season Six premiere, "An Infinite Capacity for Taking Pains".

Music

• Dead Sara - Weatherman plays as Kitty paints a dresser in her bedroom.
• Sharon Van Etten - Everytime the Sun Comes Up plays as Watson tells Kitty that she didn't look at the file on Kitty's background.

Quotes

I never guess. It's a shocking habit. Destructive to the logical faculty. We observe and then we deduce.

— Holmes

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