Elementary: 5 Characters Who Got Fitting Endings (& 5 Who Deserved More)

For seven seasons, Johnny Lee Miller played Sherlock Holmes in Elementary. He is a recovering addict and consultant living in New York City, relocated from London where he was a consulting detective for Scotland Yard. Using a contact he made in London (who now happens to be the police captain where he resides in NYC), Holmes begins consulting as a private detective for Captain Gregson. This activity keeps him from turning back to his heroin addiction.

Dr. Joan Watson is hired by Holmes’s father to be his sober companion but quickly becomes interested in his work as a consulting detective, eventually becoming a private detective in her own right. They make many enemies and build many friendships over the course of their work. Some of them met a fitting end by the time the series finale was over, and some deserved much more.

10 Deserved More: Shinwell Johnson

In season 5, Shinwell Johnson was released from prison on probation and he and Joan became acquainted once again. He was a previous patient of hers and he sought out a familiar face for help, unaware of her change in profession from sober companion to private detective.

Before prison, Shinwell had been involved with a gang called SBK and, while on probation, he became a confidential informant, undercover with the gang again. Sherlock found out that Shinwell was responsible for the death of Sherlock’s friend in his time with the gang before prison. Shinwell had just written out his confession of this crime in an attempt to redeem himself with Sherlock when SBK shot him to death. He deserved to have been able to make up with Sherlock and atone for his crime.

9 Fitting Ending: Michael Rowan

After Sherlock receives several blows to the head throughout his life, one of them leads to post-concussive syndrome. He befriends Michael Rowan when this happens at the end of season 5, a man who attributes his sobriety to Sherlock’s inspiration.

Like Sherlock, he uses his “work” to keep his cravings at bay. That “work” turns out to be killing women. When he is discovered by Joan in season 6, Michael comes after her and is seriously injured. Later, Captain Gregson’s daughter kills him in retaliation for one of his earlier murders, her roommate. His end was cathartic for a lot of characters and quite fitting.

8 Deserved More: Fiona Helbron

Fiona is a computer programmer and hacker that is involved in one of Sherlock and Joan’s cases in season 4. It turns out that she is on the autism spectrum and she also finds Sherlock fascinating. They have a relationship that lasts into season 5, but has a few awkward moments.

Sherlock, not great at social connections himself, is extremely careful with Fiona and that makes her feel that he’s treating her differently because of her condition, but it’s really because he hasn’t had good luck with romantic relationships in the past. In the end, Sherlock realizes that he doesn’t love Fiona, even though her feelings for him have developed further, and he breaks up with her over video chat.

7 Fitting End: Odin Reichenbach

Odin was only a villain for one season but fans agree that he was one of the absolute worst throughout the entire show. He used data mining to discover people he believed to be about to commit crimes and executed them before they could do it. But he wasn’t always right and many of his victims were innocent people, one of whom is Morland Holmes, Sherlock’s father.

Sherlock lets Odin believed he succeeded in killing him and went into hiding for three years. In that time, evidence was gathered and Odin was finally convicted of his crimes. In the series finale, he was sentenced to 146 years in prison.

6 Deserved More: Mycroft Holmes

Presented first as the annoying younger brother to Sherlock, Mycroft builds a relationship (at one point romantic) with Joan and attempts to do the same with Sherlock. Ultimately, he loves his brother, even if he appears to be sort of clumsy about his endeavors, like the numerous restaurants he opens that don’t seem to be very successful.

It is later discovered that he works for MI6 and his death was faked in order to preserve his cover. Sherlock finds out some time after this that his brother died, for real, of a brain aneurism. Mycroft never had the chance to reconcile with his brother or Joan and died alone, although quickly. He deserved more.

5 Fitting End: Captain Marcus Bell

Marcus Bell is a detective for most of the show but in the finale, it is revealed that he is the new Captain. He is a steadfast friend and perfect partner for Joan and Sherlock. At first, Marcus isn’t too happy about having consultants help him out and it took him a long time to warm up to the pair. Sherlock always appreciated Marcus and talked about how great of a detective he was.

Captain Gregson remarked at one point that Marcus tempered Joan and Sherlock so that they didn’t bend the rules too much and they helped him open up just enough to find new ways of solving cases. It is a fitting end for him to be a celebrated Captain of the unit he so diligently worked for all those years.

4 Deserved More: Captain Thomas Gregson

At the beginning of the show, Captain Gregson is the connection to cases for Sherlock. He gave him a chance when no one else would and when it appeared that even his father had shunned him. He found out about Sherlock’s addiction and didn’t hold it against him.

He let Joan assist Sherlock on cases, although she wasn’t a private detective or an apprentice, at first. He took their help and he didn’t have to. In the end, he is shot and retires after his injuries to take care of his dying wife. Captain Gregson and his wife both deserved more than that.

3 Fitting End: Joan Watson

Joan is Sherlock’s “sober companion” at the beginning of the show, but she quickly becomes a main character and the story becomes both of theirs. Eventually, she becomes a private detective in her own right and takes cases on her own. When Sherlock fakes his death in the last season, she writes a book, collects a tidy sum from his estate, and finally adopts the child she always wanted.

The series finale does show that she battled cancer for a year, but she won that battle, and Sherlock, who became her confidant in everything, helped her through it. Having her own family, getting rich, and beating cancer are all components of the perfect fitting end for Joan Watson.

2 Deserved More: Jamie Moriarty/Irene Adler

Irene Adler was a serious love interest for Sherlock Holmes before the show began. He believes her to have been murdered, which is what had him spiraling into addiction. Sherlock later discovers that not only is Irene alive, but she is a criminal mastermind who orchestrated her own murder scene … and her name is really Jamie Moriarty.

She sees Sherlock as her equal, the perfect adversary. In the end, she fakes her death again and runs her vast criminal empire from the shadows. She’s did spend several years imprisoned, but she had a cushy safe house and many luxuries during that time. She never answered for her crimes and, since most believe her to be dead, she never will.

1 Fitting End: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock goes through many ups and downs throughout this series, including post-concussive syndrome and a relapse in season 6. His father is killed. His brother dies alone. The love of his life turns out to be a criminal mastermind who deceived and betrayed him. After all that, he is forced to fake his own death and leave the friends and family he has built in New York City in order to catch the worst bad guy he ever came up against.

When he is tricked into coming home, he finds that his best friend has cancer. But he helps her through it, the bad guy goes to jail, and he gets to have his life back and a happily ever after.

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