Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 2 Traded Its Usual Formula For A Bizarre Hostage Situation

Critic’s Rating: 2.5 / 5.0

2.5

I need to be careful what I wish for.

I was ready for a break from Columbo-style mysteries, but the world’s goofiest hostage situation wasn’t it.

Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 1 started out with a murder that was never explained, only to quickly devolve into something else altogether. 

The Hostage Situation Was Ridiculous

I know Elsbeth is a comedy, but this situation leaned a little too far into the absurd.

Jokes like the hostage-taker having to use a megaphone that made silly voices were funny, but also took me out of the story.

This was obviously meant to be a parody of hostage situations, but something about it was just far too exaggerated to work well.

I also didn’t understand why Nolan took hostages in the first place.

At the beginning of the story, it seemed like Elsbeth and that cop noticed something that clued them into Nolan’s involvement with a murder,  but that was dropped as soon as Nolan grabbed the cop’s gun.

At times, it didn’t seem like Nolan had any idea why he was doing this either.

He said he hadn’t meant for it to happen, talked about his daughter, and had to take Elsbeth’s advice on what to demand of the cops.

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I probably would have liked the goofy aspects better, or at least tolerated them more, if the reason for all of this made any sense.

Elsbeth’s Involvement in This Was So Contrived

Supposedly, Nolan thought she was a cop and wanted her because the hostage dressed as Raggedy Ann was too annoying.

If he found that woman annoying, though, I don’t know why he put up with Elsbeth.

Sure, he put tape over her mouth at one point, but since no one was tied up, that didn’t last long.

The tape was disposed of as soon as it was no longer convenient for the plot, which pretty much sums up the problem with this entire episode.

There was no real reason for Elsbeth to be in the toy store during the hostage crisis, but there would be no show without her being involved, so she went inside, and it all went downhill from there.

The Fight Between Captains Tully and Wagner Were The Best Part of Elsbeth Season 3 Episode 2

Captain Tully was the stereotypical hostage expert who would rather kill the perp than try to negotiate, but his scenes with Wagner were more interesting than whatever was going on in the toy store.

Wagner doesn’t often leave his office, so it was refreshing for him to be out and about, especially since he was trying to find a way to stop Tully from making the situation worse.

There was a lot here worth watching, despite the goofy premise.

I especially enjoyed Wagner’s interactions with Teddy.

I haven’t had much use for Teddy despite him being Elsbeth’s son. However, his concern about Elsbeth and insistence on being at the scene made him far more endearing.

It broke my heart when Wagner told Teddy there wasn’t much he could do, and it infuriated me when Tully had no empathy whatsoever for Teddy.

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Teddy will have to learn that he can’t change his mom, but it was so sweet that he cared enough to try.

The Final Few Minutes Suddenly Got Serious

Wagner clearly made an enemy out of Tully, or, at least, reopened old wounds.

It’s not yet clear how bad this will get, but something will come of whatever phone call Tully made.

Wagner is not exactly popular with the NYPD. Elsbeth Season 1 was all about how Elsbeth was secretly investigating Wagner, and though he was innocent, that investigation could be leveraged if someone wanted to destroy his career. 

The new threat could be a season-long arc. If so, I hope it’s handled better than the end of the Judge Crawford arc.

But could we be getting a visit from Diane soon?

Marisa Gold has been confirmed, but not her.

Still, Elsbeth promised to ask Diane to take Nolan’s case, and it’s unlikely Diane’s name came up for no reason.

It would be so much fun for Diane to come to New York. Her no-nonsense personality is the opposite of Elsbeth’s free-spirited style, yet the two of them are always a strong team, and Diane would probably be in her element in Manhattan.

I don’t want to get my hopes up too much since Diane hasn’t been confirmed as a guest character, but the idea is so exciting I can’t help speculating.

Do you want Diane to visit? 

Sound off about that and anything else about this episode in the comments, and be sure to share this article with your friends so they can join in the fun!

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If you love Elsbeth, you might also enjoy our coverage of Watson. Other shows that have had similar hostage-situation stories include Chicago PD and Law & Order: SVU.

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