Elsbeth Recap: Touch Grass and Get a Hobby, Already!

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About a quarter of the way through the first season of Elsbeth, it’s clear the show follows a familiar procedural format, similar to Columbo. However, the writers are also building larger storylines to add depth. So far, the season seems to be making two main points. First, that staying connected, trusting others, working as a team, and being open-minded are essential for maintaining our humanity, especially in difficult times. Second, the extremely wealthy – both those who are and those who want to be – are making a dangerous mistake by isolating themselves and hoarding resources, believing it will protect them from the world’s problems.

The villain in “Bunker Down” is a pathetic, wealthy tech entrepreneur. Tony Hale plays Craig Hollis as a deeply unlikeable and privileged man who has shut himself off from the outside world – specifically, the perceived dangers of the Upper East Side and protests against the wealthy. He uses advanced technology to try and calm his growing paranoia. Craig’s intense dislike and distrust of others are so strong that Lieutenant Connor, a character I’ve come to appreciate, even sharply criticizes him for using his intelligence for pointless and harmful goals.

Hollis was prone to bizarre ideas that consistently led to poor choices – excessive drug use, replacing his employees with AI, and building a panic room expecting a violent revolt. But his worst decision was locking up his PR specialist, Anders, inside that panic room (which Hollis cheerfully called his ‘riot retreat’). It wasn’t intentional, exactly. Anders got trapped when a high-tech device in the room’s entryway – powerful enough to seriously harm someone – malfunctioned, leaving him with burns. Thankfully, despite his ordeal and constant cries for help, Anders was at least well-supplied with snacks from Hollis’s extensive stockpile.

Stuck in the panic room, Anders has time to reflect on how his career led him here and how to escape the world of crisis management. He hadn’t anticipated how deeply paranoid Hollis was, even after working with him for years. The truth about Emily Fogarty’s story – that Hollis locked her in the panic room after being annoyed by a beeping smoke detector, then gave her a four-hour lecture about his security measures – is even more disturbing than her TikTok suggests, making the whole situation both ridiculous and frightening.

Anders’s description of the situation as “diabolical” immediately makes Hollis suspicious of his PR advisor. Hollis jumps to the conclusion that Anders is a double agent – seemingly trying to counter negative press about Emily, but actually spying on Hollis for the company board. Hollis is already under immense pressure to boost the company’s digital wallet market share from 20% to 30% in the next two years, and this added stress isn’t helping him cope – it’s breaking him down instead.

Hollis is completely out of touch with reality – he actually thought a chirping smoke detector meant someone was breaking in! He’s obsessed with security, having drones equipped with bullets and a gun safe, though he keeps failing to enter the correct code. There was one slightly sympathetic moment when he confessed to Elsbeth that he’s never read The Great Gatsby, despite owning a first edition. He only reads AI summaries of books – which isn’t surprising, considering he acts like a twelve-year-old! It’s a shame that despite having plenty of free time thanks to his wealth, Hollis doesn’t use it for enriching activities like reading or exploring his city. And his hobbies are entirely focused on himself; he’s only interested in technology that benefits him personally.

It would have been a clever joke if Hollis had put retina-scanning technology into a first edition of The Great Gatsby, considering the book’s themes. (Though damaging a first edition is terrible, the idea is amusing.) Instead, he’s using the eyes from the book’s cover art – a painting called Celestial Eyes by Francis Cugat, which evokes the iconic eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg – to scan his own eyeballs, and without any sense of irony. Interestingly, this is happening just after a *Gatsbythemed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago, at a time when over 40 million Americans lost their SNAP benefits. It’s probably safe to assume the party hosts hadn’t actually read the book.

It’s especially sad that Anders died because he was planning to leave his stressful job in crisis communications and pursue something new. Hollis knew he was leaving, but didn’t bother to ask what he planned to do next. Anders might not have had a clear plan himself – as his coworker Blair explained to Elsbeth and Connor, the job was so demanding that it left little room for personal interests or future planning.

We’ll never know what might have happened next with the character Anders, but there are some great scenes of collaboration between Elsbeth, Connor, and Officer Reynolds. Elsbeth actually overhears Reynolds talking to a skip tracer – someone who tracks people down – who first alerted them that Anders was missing. Similarly, Elsbeth only figures out what was inside Hollis’s panic room after they visit an escape room together. Several clues – a substance found under Anders’s fingernails, a special spray used on fruit, and even some fruit flies – all come together when Reynolds points out that people sometimes leave hints for others in escape rooms. It turns out Anders scratched “DRAC 125” into a banana peel, getting the substance under his nail. This was a message revealing that Hollis, known as “Drac” by his company, killed Anders, with “125” being the legal code for homicide – a code Anders used at work.

While investigating Anders’s kidnapping and death, Elsbeth also deals with her personal life and lingering feelings for someone she can’t forget. This is complicated further when Alec Bloom, a potential mayoral candidate, visits the police precinct to invite her to a private fundraiser for the city’s law library. He’s charming and thoughtful – he even remembers she likes Shirley Temples – but this episode only offers a brief glimpse of their connection.

We meet Winnie Crawford, who is holding the fundraiser to remember her late husband, Judge Milton Crawford. It’s clear Milton was a murderer, and he continues to cause trouble even after his death. Winnie (played by Henny Russell) appears truly sorry and repulsed by her husband’s crimes and sincerely wants to connect with Elsbeth. However, in a surprising turn, she destroys the blood-stained fanny pack that was being sent for testing. People are complex, aren’t they? It’s one thing to want to distance yourself from a murderer’s reputation, but quite another to destroy potential evidence that could reveal the truth. Perhaps Winnie believes maintaining the current situation is the best course of action as Milton’s widow? It’s possible she suspected the fanny pack was important even before Elsbeth mentioned it was missing. While it’s unlikely, there’s also a chance Winnie’s shocked reaction was just an act to gain Elsbeth’s trust, and she’s actually just as bad as her husband, but I’m hoping that isn’t true.

From the Tote Bags!

It’s great to see Connor and Reynolds becoming genuine friends with Elsbeth. Reynolds stepping in to prevent a fight between Connor and Hollis was a particularly strong moment, and the little connections between them – like Connor and Elsbeth joking about Toontown, and Elsbeth and Reynolds celebrating with a flyswatter – are really sweet and show their growing bond.

Elsbeth’s outfits in this episode are fantastic, especially the small details. The bolero or capelet she wears to the law library event is a standout, covered in a vibrant mix of sequins, beads, and feathers. Even underneath, the dress has beautifully detailed, puffy sequined sleeves. Back at the precinct, her worry about Winnie is reflected in another striking look: a sheer blouse, a tailored jacket, and simple pants, all in bright citrus colors and contrasting textures. It’s a truly memorable ensemble.

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2025-11-14 06:55