‘Elementary’ Season 5, Episode 11 Sneak Peek: Shinwell Loses His Focus On His Informant Training With Sherlock, Joan

Joan (Lucy Liu) notices that Shinwell (Nelsan Ellis) has become less enthusiastic about his informant training with her and Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) in Season 5, episode 11 of “Elementary.”

In a sneak peek from the episode, titled “Be My Guest,” Joan straightforwardly asks Shinwell why he has lost his focus on his training. And it turns out that it isn’t the kind of training her former patient was expecting when he asked for the pair’s help.

“What’s going on with you?” Joan asks Shinwell as she times the ex-con’s lock picking exercise. “Two weeks ago you asked us to train you so you can take down your old gang. You said you would do whatever it takes.”

Shinwell then admitted that he expected the training to be about something else aside from picking locks. He said he thought Joan and Sherlock would train him on more practical stuff like reading micro expressions and conjugating verbs in Spanish.

Joan, however, insists that lock picking is a very helpful skill too. “You gonna want to know who’s lying and you might need to listen to a conversation between SBK leaders and their Dominicans suppliers. What if you have to get behind a locked door?” Joan tells Shinwell.

Also in the episode, according to the installment’s synopsis, Sherlock and Joan race to find a woman who’s been held captive for years.

In the trailer for the episode, Sherlock catches the kidnapper. But since the arrested guy won’t disclose the captive’s secret location, Sherlock and the rest of the team must quickly identify the kidnapper’s partner in crime before something bad happens to the poor detainee.

“Elementary” Season 5, episode 11 airs on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 10 p.m. EST on CBS. It is directed by Maja Vrvilo from a script written by Maja Vrvilo. Watch the sneak peek and trailer for the episode below: