‘Elementary’ Season 5, Episode 23 Spoilers: What Does Sherlock Think Of Shinwell’s Death?

Although Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) was assaulted by Shinwell (Nelsan Ellis) before the latter’s shocking death at the end of last week’s episode of “Elementary,” executive producer Rob Doherty said that the private investigator doesn’t think that the ex-con deserved to die.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Doherty said that “Sherlock takes no pleasure in the news that Shinwell has been killed” but the British sleuth’s true feelings about his death will be clouded by personal matters that he has to face in Season 5, episodes 23 and 24.

“As we’ll see in these last two episodes, his own plate is very full,” Doherty said of Sherlock. “He’s very distracted with some things that have been going on for him personally, so it’s difficult for him to commit to this case to the degree that Joan (Lucy Liu) might want him to. It’s not going to go unnoticed by Joan, who is going to take some offense with respect to his commitment to solving Shinwell’s murder.”

READ: “Elementary” EP talks Shinwell’s shocking death in Season 5, episode 22

As previously reported, this week’s episode 23 will see the introduction of a significant woman from Sherlock’s past. Doherty told TVLine that the mystery lady, played by “Narcos” star Joanna Christie, is so important to the British sleuth that “her resurfacing is going to disorient” him during the investigation of Shinwell’s murder.

In a separate interview with TVLine, Doherty said that the introduction of Christie’s character will ultimately cause some tension between Sherlock and Joan. “We’re going to see a frost developing between the partners that we really haven’t seen before,” Doherty said. “It’s not that Sherlock is unaffected by Shinwell’s death. It’s that, as we will see, he is dealing with some surprises in his personal life. He’s very distracted and isn’t able to commit to this investigation the way he typically would.”

“When you’re distracted and you’re keeping it to yourself, there’s room for misinterpretation,” Doherty continued. “And Joan will misunderstand some of his decisions over the last couple of episodes, thinking that he’s unmoved by Shinwell’s death. But that’s really not the case.”

Doherty revealed to Entertainment Weekly that fans will meet Christie’s character “over the course of a support group meeting.” “It’s someone who Sherlock will know, but the audience won’t,” Doherty said. “We’ll use these two episodes to tell a story of who she is and why she’s significant to him.”

Doherty added that it’s hard to describe what kind of relationship this mystery woman had with the British sleuth. “Is there or was there a romantic involvement?” the exec producer teased. “She and Sherlock have some overlapping damage. There’s also something that will seem potentially malevolent. What interested me most about introducing this woman is that she’s someone that I think our audience probably assumed they would never get to see.”

Although Doherty didn’t label the kind of relationship Sherlock had with Christie’s character, the exec producer told TVLine that the actress’ mystery role is “a woman who, once upon a time, meant a great deal” to the private investigator.

“Elementary” Season 5, episode 23, titled “Scrambled,” airs on Sunday, May 14 at 10 p.m. EDT on CBS.