“Elementary,” CBS’ contemporary take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective Sherlock Holmes, ended its third season with Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) falling back after a good period of sobriety into full-on drug use.

Beyond just upsetting everyone who knows what an irritant Holmes can be when he’s high, the relapse has changed his relationship to Watson (Lucy Liu), who has been acting as his sober companion since the series started.

Executive producer Robert Doherty said, according to Entertainment Weekly, Watson’s role in helping to maintain Holmes’ sobriety is now over.

“Joan will not revert to sober companion mode,” Doherty said. “She’s past that now. Yes, she can and will be helpful to Sherlock, but primarily as a friend and a partner.”

Over the years there has been, especially if you include a show like “House M.D.,” no shortage of updated versions of the late Victorian-era detective, but what makes “Elementary” stand out in many ways is its inclusion of a female version of Dr. Watson.

Although she had boned up on her "Hound of the Baskervilles" when she was first cast as arguably the world’s most famous sidekick, Liu, a child of the late 70s and early 80s, seems to have had her detective aesthetics shaped by a lighter fare of TV kitsch.

“I remember more of the old school Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys sort of thing," Liu said, talking about her influences to Interview. "I also grew up with the Scooby-Doo mysteries. Remember when the villain would go, ‘I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you rascal-y kids!’ Those were the kind of the things I immersed myself in.”

The fourth season of “Elementary” comes to CBS in the Fall.