Elementary: Are Craig Bierko and Molly Price Murderers?

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The fall season’s new Sherlock Holmes series, Elementary, is sure to bring in a number of curious viewers based purely on its premise – I’ll get to that in a bit – but more is needed beyond a quirky set up. For a Sherlock Holmes show to work you need very interesting guest characters to highlight the various cases Sherlock will have to crack. A sure fire way to go about finding the absolute best is to pluck the most memorable actors and actresses from other shows. The fourth episode of the freshman series has done just that by snagging Craig Bierko and Molly Price of Boston Legal and Third Watch respectively.

As reported by TVLine, Bierko will be playing Fowkes, the imposing CEO of a big time Wall Street financial firm. He’ll be involved in a murder investigation because, well, this is a Sherlock Holmes story. There’s almost always a murder. And Price will be right by his side as his Donna, Fowkes’ trusted executive secretary. Are either of them actually involved in a murder? Who knows? If it’s a true Sherlock story, things will be much more complicated than they first appear. Fowkes could likely be a red herring in the investigation, but that doesn’t mean he’s entirely innocent. Perhaps he’ll have a different kind of skeleton in his closet.

Elementary will be a very different reimagining of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories, and not because it takes place during modern times. It’s hardly the first work of fiction to modernize Sherlock, but it is the first time Dr. Watson has been played by a woman, in this case Lucy Liu. That would make Elementary’s Watson Dr. Joan Watson. As you can imagine, the change will attract some curious viewers, but it is essentially the same role. More will be needed to draw viewers in than just a change of gender for one of the main characters. Solid stories and well cast guest actors will be what makes Elementary a success.