Worth Several Cities

"Worth Several Cities"
Season 5
Season 5
Episode 2
Episode 2
Directed by	Guy Ferland
Written by	Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Aired	October 16, 2016
Viewers (millions)	5.21
Episode guide
Previous	"Folie a Deux"
Next	"Render, and Then Seize Her"

Cast

Main cast

Jonny Lee Milleras Sherlock Holmes

Lucy Liuas Joan Watson

Aidan Quinnas Tommy Gregson

Jon Michael Hillas Marcus Bell

Featured cast

Nelsan Ellisas Shinwell Johnson

Pierre Jean Gonzalezas Driver

Jon Huertasas Halcon

Raymond Maas Captain Pak

Francis Jueas Hu

Derek Gohas Kyle

Ryan Andesas Lead Bodyguard

Shelley Thomas-Hartsas Ms. Lawler

Ron Rifkinas Wayne Vachs

Variousas Everyone

Annie Q.as Wendy

Russian Tortoisesas Clyde

Stacey Sargeantas Laila Kalifa

Jane Alexanderas C.

Michael Mulherenas Detective

Madai Chakellas Chivonne

Plot

"We don't want to kill you Holmes. We want to hire you." — Halcon

As Shinwell looks over an apartment that Watson's sister Lin secured for him, Watson tells Shinwell that his desire to change his life will take time. Having been kidnapped, Holmes is brought to a warehouse by members of the Mara Tres gang. Meeting their leader Halcon, he shows Holmes the bodies of four murdered men, three of his gang members and a smuggler, Reymundo Torres. Indicating that Torres' death will hurt his business, he hires Holmes to find the killer. Examining the scene, Holmes finds a secret cache that is empty but used to contain crystal meth. He is able to deduce that at least five men committed the murders. In exchange for Halcon finding a drug dealer that is selling poisoned heroin, Holmes agrees to find the murderers. Later at The Brownstone, Watson is incredulous with the deal Holmes has made.

So who did it?

Indicating that Mara Tres set the warehouse on fire after he left, Holmes believes he'll be able to bring down several criminal organizations as he pursues the case. While watching live footage of NYC's ports from a helicopter business owner who owes Holmes a favor, he mentions that he saw prints at the murder scene from boots made in North Korea. Knowing that North Korean ships are registered in Tuvalu, they are able to find a ship and bring its captain, Pak, into the 11th Precinct. With Captain Gregson, Holmes and Watson question Pak who quickly confesses to the meth robbery and murders, however, all of Pak's answers indicate he's lying. Saying that his employers will kill his family if they are implicated, Torres threatened him to stop bringing meth into NYC. Forced by his employers to return, Torres and his men robbed Pak's ship of the meth and a metal box.

North Koreans favor the flag of Tuvalu.

Pak came upon the murder scene and the meth, but the box was missing. He doesn't know the box's contents but says it came from a high party official and was very important. Taking Pak's phone, Holmes shows Detective Bell, Gregson and Watson that one of the locations that Pak and his men surveilled trying to find the box, was a home in Woodbury which Holmes believes is for Torres' mistress. Watson meets Shinwell at the Brownstone to have him sign the lease for his apartment. He asks for Watson's help finding his daughter, Chivonne, whose mother is dead. Three men from Taiwan arrive at the door and indicating they know that Holmes and Watson are searching for a box, offer $50M if it is given to them. However, they won't say what's inside the box. Bell and Holmes arrive at the home of Torres' mistress who is a young man named Kyle.

We would happily pay you a finder's fee.

Distraught to learn of Torres' death, he says Torres had the box and was auctioning off the contents, a heavy green rock with dragons on top. Learning that Torres rested the item on a blotter, Holmes spreads fine sand on the blotter and blowing the sand away, is able to read an impression the item left in Chinese. He identifies the item as the most valuable missing object in human history, the Imperial Jade Seal of China. At the Brownstone, Holmes and Watson review the history of the Seal and surmise that the Taiwanese were one of Torres' bidders. Kyle indicated that Torres met bidders at one of his properties and by reviewing Torres' credit card transactions, Holmes is able to find the property. Visiting it, they see that a metal floor rail beneath a garage door was bent by a very heavy vehicle, a custom-built luxury armored car.

The Chinese emperor once traded it for 15 cities.

Holmes deduces that the car belongs to Wayne Vachs, CEO of a large energy company who he looked into years before. Noting that Vachs has a passion for Asian art, they wait outside his office building where Watson relates she's helping Shinwell find his daughter. While questioning the wisdom of helping someone she knows so little, Holmes sees Vachs and a security team heading for his car and are blocked from talking to him by Vachs' security lead. Vachs' lawyer, Ms. Lawler, serves them a restraining order forbidding them to come within 50 yards of Vachs or his properties. At the Brownstone, Holmes comments that Vachs has a history of shady business deals and Watson proposes that Everyone look into him. The daughter of a senior Chinese politician visits and passes on a message that China is willing to pay twenty times more than Taiwan for the Jade Seal. Receiving a call from Halcon, Holmes meets him at a remote location.

He's not interested in speaking with you.

Showing Holmes the dismembered body of the drug dealer who was selling poisoned heroin, Halcon tells Holmes he has two days to find who killed Torres or else he and Watson will be killed. In the kitchen at the Brownstone, as Watson feeds Clyde, Holmes reports that Bell is handling the drug dealer's death and adding it to a case being built against Halcon. Watson shows Holmes what Everyone has found on Vachs. Outside Vachs' building, Holmes uses a megaphone to announce the names of workers killed in a mine collapse due to Vachs' company's negligence. Ms. Lawler tries to stop him but threatening to name co-conspirators, including politicians, who helped Vachs escape justice, she accedes to arranging a meeting with Vachs. Vachs indicates that he doesn't provide funding for politicians anymore and agreed to meet Holmes as he wants him to find the Jade Seal.

I asked you to identify him, not murder him.

Music

• Miner - Paper Moon plays at episode end as Shinwell watches his daughter and tells Watson that it's not the right time to meet her and later, as Holmes hangs the stamp of the Jade Seal on the wall of The Brownstone.

Trivia

• Holmes reads and speaks Chinese in this episode.
• Watson notes that Wayne Vachs applied for a restraining order against her and Holmes at the time when they looked into the Atherton Foundation, a federal office which helps coordinate FBI and Homeland Security investigations with the internal security departments of major U.S. Corporations. Vachs founded and provides most of the funding for Atherton. ("One Watson, One Holmes")

Quotes

I would rather not start a second Chinese civil war.

— Watson

Gallery