Tonight’s Elementary set an entirely new pace for the series! Our full recap examines how to move forward from season 3, episode 12.

Spoilers ahead!

The structure of Elementary‘s season should have set episode 12 to be a striking mid-season finale. However, due to CBS’s deal to air eight weeks of NFL football, the arc of the story places Kitty Winter’s tale in span of all new episodes. Whatever the circumstances, Elementary season 3, episode 12 will go down as one of the cornerstone episodes of the series history.

Elementary introduced Kitty Winter as Sherlock’s new protege willing to take a baton to Watson at the drop of a hat. The Kitty Winter we meet in tonight’s flashbacks is the shell of a woman struggling to recover from her recent trauma.

A stray backpack does not lead Kitty to her suspect in a kidnapping case, but it does lead Sherlock to her flat. Still hesitant to take any man at his word, Kitty starts up her partnership with Sherlock, knife at the ready. In due time, Sherlock calls Kitty to the Scotland Yard to present her with the recovered child. He congratulates her on her findings, but points out that focusing on pinning the case on a registered sex offender proved to be a hazardous blind spot. Before heading out, he makes Kitty an offer.

The first person he made that offer to sits across from him as they work through Gruner’s infiltration of their lives. The company phone that Joan received from Leda is nothing more than a listening device that Del makes one final call to thanking her for her service.

Joan heads off to the station to speak with Gregson and Bell, but Sherlock sticks around the brownstone to offer his companionship to Kitty. Sherlock calls himself out for how he behaved in the morgue and offers Kitty his apology. But Kitty expresses her interest in returning home. Sherlock does not bat an eye at her decision.

As slick in an interview as he is with discarding evidence, Del weasels his way out of questioning. However, Joan’s certainty on pinning him for multiple crimes leads her to push Sherlock past his own blockades in reasoning. It is not often, but we have seen Sherlock miss read evidence when it comes to matters of the heart. Creating a pool of potential victims, Del’s dirty work is all over New York, but they still need physical proof.

One unlikely victim, seeing as she is still alive, is the beacon of hope left for Joan. For a narcissist like Del, the possibility of having a son would immediately trigger red flags with his choice of victim disposal. A partner in charitable work is the adoptive mother of Del’s child from another of his victims. It is only when Joan confronts Del at a public gala that she gets a taste of the brutality he is willing to inflict on others.

The not so subtle reminder of the nutmeg concoction rears its ugly head as Kitty prepares her own Sherlock style warehouse torture chamber. The two characters are virtually indistinguishable near the close of the episode. Recognizing that Kitty took some of their training from London to infiltrate Gruner’s apartment, Sherlock keeps quiet about his next stop. Just as Joan knew where to find Sherlock during his confrontation with “M,” Sherlock tracked Kitty’s phone and was aware of her presence in New York. He goes alone to pay his last respects in person.

Sherlock is a man of very few words and even fewer emotions. When he first paid Kitty a visit to her flat, Sherlock mentioned that if she wanted to bring the kidnapper to justice he was her very last hope to achieve that. Now, faced with Del tied to a chair and nutmeg concoction at the ready, Sherlock arrives once more to offer himself as her last hope to bring the man who hurt her to justice.

More than that, however, Sherlock is there to explain what Kitty has been to him over the course of their partnership. She saved him in London from the failures that running away led him to face. Kitty brought him back to life. She made it possible for him to toss away his cocaine, move forward with her training, and ultimately return to New York. He may not know exactly how she is feeling with Gruner at her feet, but he does know what it is like to see the other side of avoiding murder.

Sherlock put himself and Joan to work on the case to offer Kitty with an alternative way to get Gruner incarcerated. The final decision is up to her.

“Whatever you decide, you must understand that you will always be special to me. You will always be my friend.”

A call comes in to Sherlock that Del was found tied to a chair in a warehouse on Staten Island. Asleep in the bed, Gregson explains that some form of corrosive liquid ate away most of his face. There is mounting evidence against Gruner, including a book containing all of his exploits, but when he wakes up Gregson is going to ask for a name. Whatever name comes out, that is who he has to go after.

Kitty rings a short while later from the phone Sherlock is tracking. This time, the call comes from the airport and is their official goodbye. Before she goes, Kitty admits that Sherlock gave her a great gift, one that she plans to use wherever the road takes her. For the longest time she never uttered, “I love you,” to anyone, but leaves those three words with Sherlock before she disconnects.

Stray Observations:

•CBS’s decision to not treat Kitty as a larger part of the show on CBS’s promotional end all make sense now.

•We’re going to miss her so much!

Watch Elementary season 3, episode 13, “Hemlock,” Thursday, February 5 at 10:00 p.m. ET on CBS.