Season four was very closed-ended.
We told a season-long story about Sherlock and his father,
and their very tortured relationship.
You know, there was a very natural end point.
There was nothing we intended to carry over into this season.
So when we got together at the beginning of this year,
and started to look at season five,
we wanted to tell stories that were closer to the ground.
We wanted to tell stories that were more about New York,
or felt more New York than the kinds of things we did with Morland.
Those conversations led to the idea of bringing Shinwell Johnson
into, uh... into the season, and wondering if that's...
you know, if that was a character that could sustain,
is that someone who would let us tell
a very different kind of arcing story in season five.
Mr. Johnson, I presume.
Cal! me Shin well.
We wanted to play a little bit with Joan's...
...impulse to save people.
That's the thread that binds together
all the things that she's done in her life in some ways.
Being a surgeon, being a sober companion,
being a detective, for her, is really about
making the world a better place, helping people.
So we wanted to find something that would push those buttons a little bit
and bring her into conflict with Sherlock.
- Hey. - Hey, Doc.
Uh... what are you doing here?
Shinwell comes on as someone that she knew in the past,
that she saved in... in surgery.
And because she's son of searching for something to do with her life,
like not sure if she's gonna become a detective for the rest of her life
or, you know, is medicine something she still wants to do?
You know, the fact that she feels like she's just surrounding herself
with murderers and bad people all the time, and criminals,
Shinwell becomes someone that she can save
and she could help and work towards making a better person.
He tries to protect her, and their dynamic is...
...she tries to protect him from himself.
You think you know everything. You don't.
You just walked into a criminal's apartment in the middle of the night.
A basement apartment. You could shoot a gun down here and nobody'd hear it.
It's not your world, it's mine.
Ultimately, Shinwell's character has a lot of different colors in his past,
and we discover that along the way.
At that point, I think it's very difficult to go back in time.
And we don't have proof. It's a giant question mark.
And I think, ultimately, Watson is a very optimistic person,
and I think she's hoping for the best.
And she wants that outcome.
ELLIS: At his core is an honorable man.
Even though he's been a gangster, a murderer,
had done all these things, sold drugs,
he thinks SBK is...
He doesn't believe in what they do to other people.
What they do to the community.
And he's angry because...
...they tricked him into killing his friend.
And yet you, crime scene, police pursuit, discarded handgun...
- I can explain that. - I can explain, too.
You're back in SBK. More than enough reason
- to wash your hands of him, no? - No.
The story along the way with Shinwell, as was our intention,
creates all sons of conflict between Sherlock and Joan.
Obviously, as always, both of their heads are in the right place,
but what that actually means on the ground
is different for each of them, and they get into real fights
over whether Shinwell is redeemable,
whether they're going t0 hurt themselves trying t0 redeem Shinwell,
whether that's gonna come between them.
You know, Shinwell is very “of the streets,“
and is a recently-paroled criminal... or convict,
someone who's trying to walk a certain line.
His crossing with Sherlock and Joan in the first episode
really set us up for the rest of the season.
It probably goes without saying that Shinwell's murder hits Joan
a lot harder than it does Sherlock.
You know, she started a relationship with him
with the absolute best of intentions.
She stuck with him through the reveal
that he was actually trying to work undercover as an informant.
She set him up with someone in the gang unit.
You know, she was a champion to this guy all season long.
Obviously, things changed when he assaulted Sherlock.
But she remained helpful with respect to the objective.
As far as the state of the partnership goes,
you know, we knew it was only season five,
but I was also intrigued by the possibility
of a seven-year itch in season five.
And that Sherlock would notice that Joan has now been a detective
for as long as she's done almost anything else.
You miss it, being a surgeon, you've been missing it.
- Why do you keep doing that? - Doing what?
Worrying that I'm thinking about some other job.
This is my job. This is what I do.
I think she has some questions about what she's doing and where she's going.
I think that's normal for her. She questions things.
She's not someone who stays still. And you know, he might have a point,
that she does change careers quite often.
And I think that's nice that he checks in with her.
It's Holmes and Watson, so they don't antagonize each other
as much these days, it seems.
But, you know, enough, sometimes,
'cause otherxmise it would be very boring.
But I do think they have found more of a peace working together,
as it used to be much more abrasive, I think, the relationship.
I'm better at the work I do because of you.
But over the years,
the relative importance of those two values has flipped.
I now value the work that we do, first and foremost,
because I do it with you.
She misses helping people the way she helped them
when she was a surgeon and the way she helped them
when she was a sober companion.
And for all the great work they do as consulting detectives,
the brand of help they deal in is different.
It gives her a different sense of satisfaction.
A half hour ago a man with a shotgun walked in and took the place over.
- WATSON: What does he want? - You.
A lot of times we tell stories, we want the stakes to be as high as possible.
And that's why, oftentimes, it's murder or kidnapping.
You want there to be a real emotional stake in what's happening.
If Sherlock Holmes is investigating someone's lunch money getting stolen,
it's hard to get invested in hoping he pulls it off.
So we ran into that issue a bit with this episode,
because it's one of the few we've ever done that has no murder in it.
When they go to the diner for the first time, what if he takes Joan?
The reason he'd take her is not just because it's an easy story point,
but because, the way we saw it, from his point of view is,
Sherlock is gonna be really motivated to do this.
The other thing that it did, that was a blast, that was really fun,
was it put Lucy Liu, the brilliant Lucy Liu
into a room with the brilliant Isiah Whitlock for a whole episode.
I think those scenes came out beautifully.
So, how long have you been sick, Jack?
The red lesion behind your right ear, it's a marker for basal cell carcinoma.
Skin cancer.
I think, in the show, Joan has a lot going on, emotionally,
and she, in some ways, is the head of the show.
So when there is a story that is
connected to a person, who's a good person,
but is in pain and clearly struggling,
she really is able to sympathize with that person.
And that sometimes could be good,
maybe in this case, that happened in “Over the Barrel,“
or it could be bad, like with Shinwell.
And I think this man, who ultimately is not just a man, but he's a father,
and he lost his son and he felt like he was not...
Nobody hurt him.
It's an incredibly painful thing to not be heard.
And then to feel like you lost something because nobody was listening to you.
It's terrible to feel invisible.
And I think she understood that and she understood
that he was doing all these things because he was in so much pain.
Kitty, Oh, my God. What are you doing here?
I'm still not a hugger, Watson.
First, I love that Ophelia came back. I missed her.
I love having her around. She's so much fun.
I love, sort of, the friction they also have between each other.
I think that's impoflant, sometimes, to have that,
because it creates this, you know, humor,
as well as an interesting dynamic between characters.
It brings out the best and the worst.
So I was sad that she was only here for two episodes,
but just glad that she could come at all.
We knew that we would have Ophelia for two episodes,
and so we wanted to tell a two-pad story.
And we needed a reason to bring her back.
And Jason, who wrote the first part,
had this really interesting idea about individuals that connect to a case
that Sherlock and Kitty worked together in London
are getting picked off one by one. And nobody really knows why,
primarily because nobody has even noticed this pattern.
Kitty is the only one who's been paying attention
and has grown suspicious of this string of deaths.
That brings Kitty back to New York and back to the brownstone.
I thought it was funny, you two having the same weird name.
You're hardly in a position to mock other people's names,
or are you no longer going by Kitty?
We were very excited to get Ophelia back.
You know, she's a lot of fun, but you know, it's...
the way it goes here, it's like, all of a sudden she's gone again.
[LAUGHING] She was only here for a couple of episodes.
So it was a little bit... a little bit too short for all of us,
'cause she's such a lovely person to have around.
You know, she's got such a lovely energy.
As is so often the case with our two-parters,
you know, we need a second stage to that rocket.
Jason's idea was that we would... by the end of the first episode,
we'd go from a more traditional murder mystery
into something that was much higher stakes.
We're dealing with the government and the DIA
and implicate another country in a crime.
A great way to bring Kitty back, but it was also a fun way
to escalate from one episode into the next.
You think I'd let my favorite cop get tripped up over some nonsense like this?
We're really lucky here that we have a great cast,
you know, all the way through.
And Johnny and Lucy get lots of oppoflunities to show that.
And when we can do an episode that gives Jon Michael
the opportunity to show his chops, Aidan the opportunity to show his,
that gives us the oppoflunity to show them our appreciation
and to let the audience see who these guys are,
then we always want to do that.
If you'd told me you had a crush on Ms. Milner before we came here,
I could've told you to wear a different color shirt.
There's ample literature on which colors women are most attracted to,
and purple isn't one of them.
That was a business meeting, not a speed date.
We liked the idea that the kind of person Bell would fall for
is smart and driven and powerful.
And we liked doing a love story that's not googly eyes and flirting
and, like, "Isn't she pretty?" That doesn't matter to Bell.
He's the kind of cop that is impressed with Chantal
because she's good at her job and because she's a bad-ass.
And we wanted to reveal that side of Bell and show that piece of him.
I don't know, I think Bell got lucky.
He... it's a working relationship, they're colleagues,
he brings oases to her, she prosecutes, she's the ADA.
I bet it was a very, very slow-developing romance.
'Cause we want to keep it professional,
but you just eventually couldn't deny that there was something there.
Much as our relationships are messy sometimes,
it's not a clean start
She's going through a divorce, and they're trying to hold off.
So, I like... that's just kind of real life details he put in there.
We had this idea to, uh, a story line with Bell this season,
where we start out giving him a new love interest, Chantal,
discover, then, in another episode,
that she has an ex-husband,
who is an ex-cop and is creating problems for them.
Roy would increasingly become a problem.
- What the hell, man? - I was just about to settle up.
How about I buy you another one?
I don't want another drink. I want that drink.
Look, man, I'm a cop. I don't want any trouble.
Let's just take this down a notch, before...
Before what? You think just 'cause you're a cop
you ain't got to watch where you're going?
You try to save the drama for your mama.
We're real chill guys,
marlin!!!
So we've got a little drama with Chantal's ex-husband,
who confronts Bell at a bar, and they get into it.
And I think Rob Doherty's kind of having fun with that.
I think he's excited about where he could take that.
GOODMAN: What comes out over the course of this episode
is some things about Bell's past that none of us knew before,
that Bell's mom, and Bell as well,
were victims of abuse at the hands of Bell's dad.
And it's really shaped a lot of who Bell is,
in ways that we hope are surprising,
but also make sense to the guy that we've known now for five seasons.
Not only does Sherlock help Bell solve the case,
but he helps Bell face these issues
that he has been burying and not dealing with.
So, Watson mentioned a story you told her
about your mother being severely injured after being hit by a car.
She wasn't hit by a car though, was she?
Did your father strike her frequently?
Not just her.
Jon Michael just did a phenomenal job.
There are scenes, when we were editing it, that I would just stop
and just watch his performance, because it's so good.
I'm just saying, if I was investigating this, I'd look at me first.
I went at Roy at the hospital yesterday.
Yeah, well, you're not investigating. We are. And we aren't idiots.
What I like best about playing Gregson
is getting to work with this cast and this crew, who are top-notch,
and wonderful directors and great guest stars that we...
we get to work with every week, so...
You know, batting it around with them is fun.
I think you should propose marriage.
[LAUGHING] Excuse me?
The sooner you pop the question, the sooner her treatments
will be covered by the city's health plan.
I think the time might have come for a new Mrs. Gregson.
Sherlock Holmes decided to intercede
on Virginia Madsen's character's... Paige's... behalf to...
When he was able to glean from a meeting with her
that she was gonna lose her health insurance,
and with her degenerative disease, it was going to become very hard.
So he ends up being the instigator of
me producing a ring at the end of the episode.
Where that will go, nobody knows.
I mean, maybe the writers know, but I certainly don't.
So...
POLSON: Aidan is just one of the guys...
Anybody on the cast and crew will tell you this.
We'll all do anything for Aidan. He's just such a wonderful guy.
He's a legend, so he's got that sort of history to him,
as just this incredible movie star.
So when we first started talking about him directing an episode,
I mean, there was a lot of excitement, a lot of support.
On the one hand, it's not easy t0 walk straight in t0 direct television,
on the other hand, it's Aidan Quinn.
It was a phenomenal story that I got to work on,
with phenomenal actors, and...
this cast, of course, and Nelsan Ellis,
who was also featured very heavily in my episode.
It was hard work, and great fun.
LIU: It's the fifth season, so it can get a little bit draining and taxing,
but he was like a kid. I was just thrilled to see that.
And thrilled to see him be behind the camera
and able to son of engage with us on another level, and with the crew.
POLSON: One thing that can happen with first-time directors,
or newer directors... he has directed some things...
is they get nervous and they kind of shoot too many takes, too many shots.
And of course, they want all the options in the world.
And Aidan just didn't do that. He was very confident.
Obviously, his rapport with the actors is great,
and I would say, and as an old actor myself,
I'd say one of the things that's most important
in any TV show or movie or anything is the performances,
and that's why actors like Aidan and Lucy make incredible directors,
'cause they're so focused on performance.
And if you can get that right,
and we all know that Rob and his team are getting the scripts right,
then the rest can sort of figure itself out
with the support of the team.
IN' e
That is disgusting.
A 2011 study concluded that chewing gum for five minutes
and then discharging it produced a 15 minute window
of improved cognitive function.
I need all the focus I can get.
I'm proud of creating something... collectively, with a group of people,
and it's done well enough to stay on the air.
You know, like, we talked about 100 episodes, you know,
so I'm really proud of that.
It's not just down to me, it's down to a lot of people.
KING: For season five, the thing that I'm proudest of is that
five years into a show, I still feel like we're treading new ground
and making things fresh and exciting. It's hard. We do 24 episodes a year.
And obviously, it's always tied to a case of the week,
and procedural television has been on for decades.
That is the staple of the American television diet,
is procedural television.
So t0 be on a show that is that and yet feels different,
and even feels different five years in is something I'm incredibly proud of.
GOODMAN: I think when people look back at season five, one of the highlights
that people will remember is that we got to see Kitty again,
that we have this lovely, little story with its own little surprise.
And then personally, I love that we had our hundredth episode,
I love all the people that we work with here,
and it really was a great cake.
It was a stunning cake.
My name is Sherlock and I'm an addict.
GROUP.' Hi, Sherlock.
Some time ago, my business partner and I...
we started working with a man who needed to change...
...but just couldn't.
We are most proud of the fact
that we were able to develop
a storyline for Shinwell
that would impact Sherlock and Joan in meaningful ways,
that we were able to develop that at the beginning of the season
and really stick to the plan.
We knew who he was, we knew how he would...
help and hurt, you know, the partnership
that is at the very head of our show.
Why do you look like my mother?
I'm the part of you that wants to get better.
Who else would I look like?
Bob Goodman had this really interesting idea,
that we mess with the wiring in Sherlock's brain.
He would start to experience certain symptoms
that would make it difficult for him to...
not necessarily be a detective, but be "the" detective
that he always has been.
So these are all things we'll wrestle with as we get into season six.