- When a body is found in a barrel, Holmes and Watson launch an investigation into the Mafia's ties to the murder. Meanwhile, Sherlock attempts to make amends with Detective Bell. Featuring Peter Gerety and Paul Sorvino.
- Holmes and Watson talk to a guard at the Aster museum armed with a court order to examine his leg. Watson accuses him of having stolen a Faberge egg, Cape of Good Hope Stamp and a scrap of ancient Egyptian Papyrus.
They knew who was selling the stolen goods on the Japanese black market and saw her signal the guard at a Tiffany exhibit tonight. He reluctantly reveals his prosthetic leg. Holmes quickly finds the hidden compartment. Detective Nash interrupts and kicks Holmes and Watson from the room, ready to take all the credit.
They go to Captain Gregson with their complaints, saying that Nash is terrible to work with. Gregson points out they've gone through half the detectives since Bell transferred. Holmes suggests they work with Gregson himself, but he declines.
In Bell's new job with Demographics, Deputy Commissioner Frank Da Silva sends Bell to an oil recycling facility to investigate a man with "dark looking features" rolling a barrel onto the premises.
At the facility, the supervisor says the tipster probably just saw one of their Indian employees working late at night. Bell looks over the green barrels, for "semi-toxic" waste. He finds one that doesn't look right and has it opened. They find a headless body inside. Bell calls Gregson.
Later, with Holmes on the scene, he's curious why Bell was suspicious of the barrel. The UPC was low and it was older and dented but with a fresh coat of paint. He's cool toward Holmes.
Holmes looks over the body, which is missing hands as well as its head. Holmes starts examining layers of paint to try to trace the barrel, when Joan looks at the leg and recognizes a scar as belonging to "Handsome Bobby."
Back at the station, Gregson explains Handsome Bobby was last seen 21 years ago walking out of court after his father was acquitted of racketeering. His body shows signs of lap band surgery, but he also had multiple knee operations after he was kneecapped.
Watson knows a lot about the mob, and explains she grew up in Queens and following the mob was like a soap opera.
They bring in Handsome Bobby's father, Robert Pardillo (Paul Sorvino). He explains they stayed in touch through email that they made look like insurance spam.
Holmes goes to the "Demographics Unit" to see if he can track down the tipster. Deputy Commissioner Frank Da Silva tells Holmes the person who called in the tip can't ID the man they saw. It was traced to a pay phone. Analysis says the person was old and from the area. He gives Holmes a number to try to follow it up and says he's at his service.
Holmes explains he wanted Da Silva to know he's at his service as well. Bell sees Holmes leaving and asks what he's up to. Holmes tells Bell that he will now be splitting his time between Demographics and Gregson. Bell is annoyed.
"You seem incapable of accepting my sincere apology. A bit petty, don't you think?" Holmes says.
Bell doesn't understand why Holmes has to invade his territory and is angry.
Back at the Brownstone, Holmes has determined -- by "attacking a ham hock" -- that the killer was left handed and tall. Watson, reviewing files, says it was Dante Scalice, a capo in the Ferrara family. Watson remembers Pardillo's outrage that his son wouldn't get a proper burial, and his reference to the "mutt" that killed him. Scalice's mother is from Israel.
She also has crime scene photos from a raid on a club Scalice owned, in which there's a sky blue barrel -- the color the green barrel was before it was painted.
Holmes thinks they need more.
In the snow, Watson and Holmes dig through Scalice's trash until his dog barks and he comes out. He demands a warrant for anything they might want.
As they're walking away, Scalice gets in his car. It's explodes behind them.
Later, Gregson says the explosive is the one used in building demo, like that used by the company owned by Pardillo.
Inside, Holmes shows Gregson and Watson a piece of bone -- all that remains of Handsome Bobby. Gregson wants them to pin the murder on Pardillo quickly before a mob war breaks out.
Holmes points out that Scalice had Pardillo's phone records and emails to his son, which Holmes says were a "carepackage from your National Security Agency."
They meet with Dean McNally, with a web development company that Holmes has ID'd as a front for the NSA. McNally insists he doesn't know what they're talking about. As they're leaving, Holmes says he'll be subscribing McNally to Plushie fan sites.
At the station, Watson runs into Bell. She's didn't know Holmes volunteered their time at the Demographics unit. Bell asks her to ask Holmes to back off.
At the brownstone, Watson comes home and hears a loud noise. Holmes is detonating explosions using Tovex, the material that killed Scalice, in a deep freezer.
Watson accuses Holmes of trying to force a reunion with Bell by volunteering for Demographics. Holmes is about to make excuses when he gets a cryptic text and leaves, cryptically.
Holmes goes to meet McNally at a construction site. McNally says Da Silva was the one who requested Handsome Bobby be located. But some of his bosses are uneasy now about things are going now.
In the morning, at the brownstone, Watson and Holmes try to figure out how to go after the fourth highest-ranking police commissioner in the city. Holmes thinks they need help.
Watson and Holmes asks Bell to come to talk about finding the body, but instead talk about Da Silva. Bell is annoyed to find out their real agenda.
Holmes points out that Da Silva was the one who assigned Bell to investigate the tip that lead to Handsome Bobby's body.
Bell has had enough and goes to leave. Holmes follows him, in a huff. He belittles Bell's work behind a desk and tells him he only went to Da Silva to get a rise out of Bell, to remind him he's a detective.
"You transferred from Major Crimes either because your pride would not allow you to occupy the same space as me, or because you were feeling sorry for yourself. In either case, a pathetic excuse," Holmes says.
Bell angrily reminds Holmes of the tremor he has in his hand as a result of being shot.
Holmes tells him he should have stayed until he completed his rehab, which Holmes is sure would have been successful because he has faith in Bell.
"Be my friend, don't be my friend -- whatever! But don't be so foolish so as to confuse punishing me with punishing yourself," Holmes says.
Bell tells Holmes that it doesn't come as easily to everyone as it does to him. Bell turns to leave, so Holmes volunteers that he's a drug addict, but with Watson's help he has put his life back together. He challenges Bell to be true to himself.
Holmes and Watson pay a visit to Big Teddy Ferrara, to find out what cop he's paying to get the info on Handsome Bobby. Ferrrara tells them he didn't pay anybody, that the packet just arrived on Scalice's doorstep one day. He wasn't even looking for Handsome Bobby.
Back at Demographics, Bell goes to talk to Da Silva, using Holmes' argument to suggest that maybe the tip about the barrel was fake. He says such questionable theories is why he doesn't think Holmes would be a good fit. Bell gauges Da Silva's reaction as he says he can't consider Holmes gone.
Later that night, Bell drops by the brownstone. He says he thought something was off in Da Silva's answer about the tipster, so he searched his office and found proof that Da Silva is dirty.
Da Silva had a file on three decades of unprosecuted crimes committed by Pardillo. Holmes talks it through, concluding that Da Silva wanted a mob war to take out Pardillo so he'd be out from under his thumb.
The next day in the office, Bell tells Da Silva that they connected the explosives to Pardillo's company and he'll be picked up shortly.
Later, Da Silva goes to meet Pardillo on a boat. He creeps up on Pardillo with a gun drawn when suddenly police surround him.
In Gregson's office, he tells Watson and Holmes that Da Silva made a deal to spend life in minimum security in exchange for testimony against Pardillo. Gregson thanks Holmes for getting Bell back.
Out in the squad room, Bell settles back in to his old desk.
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