The One Percent Solution

"The One Percent Solution"
Season 2
Season 2
Episode 16
Episode 16
Directed by	Guy Ferland
Written by	Bob Goodman
Aired	February 27, 2014
Viewers (millions)	8.66
Episode guide
Previous	"Corpse de Ballet"
Next	"Ears to You"

Cast

Main cast

Jonny Lee Milleras Sherlock Holmes

Lucy Liuas Joan Watson

Aidan Quinnas Tommy Gregson

Jon Michael Hillas Marcus Bell

Featured cast

Roosteras Remus

Roosteras Romulus

Sean Pertweeas Gareth Lestrade

Sarah Goldbergas Miss Truepenny

Maggie Laceyas Michelle Forrester

Bhavesh Patelas Neetzan Mehmet

Bill Irwinas Richard Balsille

Roselyn Colemanas Hotel Manager

Parker Pogueas John Bowden

Don Sparksas Lawyer

Justin Morckas ESU Leader

Robert Jiminezas Orderly (Guillermo)

Plot

"I don't care which cock I'm holding, I just want to know how it got there. Okay, congratulations. You got me to say it." — Watson

Under a crowded restaurant dining table, a bomb explodes. At The Brownstone, Watson arrives and finds Holmes has broken up a cock fighting ring. He's feeding two roosters, Romulus and Remus and intends to experiment if they can be trained to stop fighting. Captain Gregson calls them to the scene of the explosion which killed several people from the Dept. of Labor (DoL) and a bank whose CEO is Richard Balsille. Gregson informs them that Balsille has a "security czar" they'll have to work with which, to Holmes' revulsion, turns out to be Gareth Lestrade. Despite Holmes' having saved his career and kept Lestrade from jail, he is arrogant and challenges Holmes to see who can solve the bombing first. Lestrade has an aide, Miss Truepenny and orders a helicopter to take them to the hospital to interview the survivors.

You ready to match wits?

Together at the hospital, they question Michelle Forrester, a DoL undersecretary. Seated at the end of table, she escaped with minor injuries and mentions a seating plan which Holmes asks for. Holmes and Watson leave Lestrade to employ deductive pseudo-science, a "deep dive", with Forrester. They interview a waiter who mentions that a peer, John Bowden, left work just before the explosion and, can't be found. Lestrade catches up with them and hands Holmes the seating plan while a call from Gregson informs them that the city's newspaper received letters from a serial bomber, Aurelius, who takes credit for the bombing. At the Brownstone, Holmes watches a video of Lestrade giving a lecture which employs many of Holmes' teachings. Watson tries to break him out of his funk by suggesting he confront Lestrade so he can focus on the case. She learns that Holmes believes that the real Aurelius didn't write the letter to the newspapers.

It's not about changing him.

The next morning, by examining the seating plan, Holmes has deduced that Lawrence Iver, a rising executive at Balsille's bank who died in the blast was the likely target. He's also accounted for all guests at the Griffin hotel, which adjoins the restaurant, except for a Jacques St. Teton. Lestrade calls wanting to find Bowden but Holmes intends, to Lestrade's concern, to question Lestrade's boss, Richard Balsille. Lestrade beats them to Balsille's and while entering Balsille's office, Miss Truepenny tries to demean Watson by declaring her an assistant who can't go in with Holmes. Balsille confirms Iver was a rising executive who had enemies but when Holmes see a book Balsille wrote entitled "Teton", he calls Lestrade out of the office. Holmes threatens to confront Balsille about being at the Griffin Hotel as Jacques St. Teton and committing the bombing that killed Iver to eliminate him as a contender for CEO. Lestrade has Truepenny get security and has Holmes and Watson seen out.

Did he have any enemies at the company?

At the Griffin Hotel, Holmes and Watson see on video that Lestrade checked in as St. Teton. At the Brownstone as they ponder how complicit Lestrade is in the bombing, he arrives. Apologizing for having them thrown out, he tries to find out what they've discovered. Holmes lies that they couldn't find out who St. Teton was and Lestrade says Balsille has affairs and checked in as St. Teton. Somewhat warily, they agree to work together to find Bowden and as Watson sees Lestrade out, he tries to recruit her to work for him. Watson pick-pockets Lestrade's phone which she gives to Holmes to find out why he lied about Balsille checking in as St. Teton. The next morning, Holmes tells her he found evidence on Lestrade's phone that Balsille had him monitoring Iver who was plotting to oust Balsille as CEO. Lestrade calls them to the 11th Precinct, having found Bowden. Watson goes alone and finds Bowden very co-operative.

He's more than just an annoyance now.

He unwittingly provided information as to who was at the restaurant to an associate of Aurelius' but isn't a good suspect. Holmes is waiting for Lestrade in his hotel room and shows Lestrade evidence of his monitoring of Iver. Confronted that he's a suspect in Iver's murder, Lestrade tells Holmes that Balsille has sex with many different people who he pays off with whatever they want. Lestrade does the approaching and arranges the hotel room. Embarrassed, he kept this from Holmes and knows that if Balsille's secret was revealed, it would ruin them both. At the Brownstone, Holmes fills Watson in and decides that he's going to find Aurelius even though the FBI hasn't been able to for years. The next morning, Holmes wakes Watson by placing Remus at her bedroom door. Coming downstairs, he shows her that with the help of a NASA contact he did a favor for, she provided him with thermal images of NYC. He's found a heat spike in a location a week before each of Aurelius' bombing.

I was acting as a rich man's pimp.

Lestrade meets them at Aurelius' home, upset that Holmes didn't inform him. Holmes rebukes Lestrade for complaining instead of developing his deductive skills like Watson. Aurelius is found to have died before the restaurant bombing. At the Brownstone, Holmes is frustrated with not finding the bomber, made worse by constant phone calls from Lestrade which he ignores. (♫ Daniel Powter - Bad Day ♫) Banging on their door, Lestrade enters and accuses Holmes of leaking Balsille's secret. He shows them a blackmail threat complete with details of Balsille's encounters and demands to discretely make hundreds of stock trades. Holmes realizes that the date the threat demands the trades be made matches that of the government's jobs report and that he's deduced who is behind the bombing and the blackmail.

He wasn't planning an attack on a restaurant.

At Balsille's office, they inform him that Michelle Forrester is the criminal. With her boss having been killed in the blast, she now has access to the jobs report. Years previously, she worked for Balsille and he'd forgotten that she was one of his conquests for which he arranged for her job at the DoL. She'd found others who had slept with Balsille and paid them for details. They demand that Balsille tell the police his secret which would identify those that Forrester paid and prove her guilt. He refuses but Lestrade indicates that he'll provide the details. Balsille threatens to ruin him but Lestrade vindicates himself as he doesn't want a murderer to go free. About to leave the hospital for the airport, Gregson arrests Forrester. At the Brownstone, Lestrade arrives, having been fired and asks if he can stay. Holmes' experiment with Romulus and Remus is a success.

She was at the table when the bomb went off.

Music

• Daniel Powter - Bad Day is Holmes' and Watson's ringtone for Lestrade.

Trivia

• Lestrade's phone password is "1991", the last year that the Tottenham Hotspurs won the F.A. Cup.

Quotes

The man has chosen vanity and the pursuit of the spotlight. Nothing I say is going to change that.

— Holmes about Lestrade

Gallery