Have Sherlock and Joan finally met their match?

That sure seemed to be the case after Elementary Season 7 Episode 6.

Imagine if Mark Zuckerberg were using his social-media empire to eliminate evil people.

That's exactly what Odin Reichenbach was doing with his program designed to predict future crime.

He was essentially having people killed for what they've threatened to do online.

Thought equals action. That's very "1984" of him, isn't it?

And he wanted Sherlock and Joan to help him work out any bugs in the system.

Naturally, they were appalled. But Sherlock and Joan had to play along until they found some agency with the resources to take on Odin.

Related: Elementary Season 7 Episode 5 Review: Into the Woods

Therein lies the rub.

Social media is global. To bring down Odin would require international cooperation, not just Sherlock sneaking to the NSA, among the most morally flexible U.S. agencies.

The fact that McNally showed a stunning lack of interest when Sherlock brought Odin's program to him should have been a clue to Sherlock.

But instead Sherlock brushed off McNally's indifference as bureaucracy in inaction, as he sent the idea up to his boss.

After all, Sherlock had worked with McNally before and figured he could trust him, as much as he could anyone in the intelligence apparatus.

So when McNally told Sherlock that the NSA needed Odin confessing on tape, he went along with it. He philosophically jousted with Odin to get him to spell out every illegal act he had sanctioned based on his program.

Sherlock also correctly pointed out that Odin didn't always have the necessary certainty of guilt to have someone killed.

It was all for naught, however, as Odin had already co-opted McNally who was just stringing along Sherlock. McNally also made sure Sherlock understood what could happen to his family and friends if he continued to try to obstruct Odin's efforts.

That was what made Sherlock lie to Joan, to keep her safely in the dark by blaming the slowness of the NSA investigation on bureaucracy.

Besides, to get out ahead of Odin and his organization, Sherlock is undoubtedly going to have to take a lot of morally dodgy actions, of which he wants to keep Joan clear.

Frankly, this sounds like a job for Morland. What Odin is doing certainly would threaten many of Morland's illegal enterprises.

It also might be an opportunity for Mycroft, who knows his way around enough intelligence agencies to rise from the dead at just the right time.

Related: Watch Elementary Online: Season 7 Episode 5

But Sherlock is definitely up against two major problems.

One is that Odin has his technology tentacles in everyone's pie. He has access to the electronics of whoever might be helping out Sherlock, so it will be hard to hide his plan unless they go back to paper.

Second is that most members of Odin's organization have yet to get revealed. So far, it's Odin, the soldier Mears and now McNally.

But a worldwide conspiracy is going to require a lot more people than we've met yet. And more likely than not, Sherlock will keep blindly running into them.

And at this early juncture, who can say for sure that Odin is in charge? 

So it will be a clue or two uncovered each week for the remaining seven weeks until the true scope of this insidious plot gets unveiled.

Sherlock may not be the smartest man in the room this season, and it will be intriguing to see how he handles this change in status.

He's also got to find a way to undo how the corrupt assistant FBI director went about clearing Sherlock's name on Elementary Season 7 Episode 3.

At least there was an enjoyable case of the week to keep Sherlock and Joan occupied between meetings with Odin.

The case swung from a missing veteran to a boxer with a rare genetic condition to world-class coffee. That's quite the range for any episode.

Marcus was just doing a solid for a former co-worker whose veteran son was missing. Then Marcus discovered the soldier was making a sniper rifle in his wood shop.

"Soldier with PTSD and a sniper rifle" is seven words you never want to see together.

Related: Get CBS All Access via Amazon Channels for Hit Shows, Exclusive Originals & Live TV! 

Just to make things more interesting, the would-be video technician was also a porn star and producer on the side. Bow chicka wow wow!

But the veteran proved just a passing narrative device, as he was getting blackmailed into scaring the actual victim of the case -- a boxer with a rare genetic condition that turned fat into muscle, rather than the other way around for most of us.

At first, it appeared that Baron was killed by a greedy researcher who had determined how to duplicate his mutation and could now sell it. So Baron wasn't needed any longer.

No, it turned out that wasn't right either. Baron, who was adopted, was also the sole heir to a coffee estate in Guatemala worth millions.

Well, sole living heir, anyway. His replacement was still incubating in the belly of the actual killer, the pregnant research assistant for Baron's endocrinologist, who was also a piece of work looking to cash in on Baron.

I wonder if the unborn kid will still inherit the estate or if it would be "fruit of the poisoned tree."

To piece together Odin's conspiracy, watch Elementary online.

What should Sherlock do next about Odin and Company?

Is he wrong not to tell Joan?

Are you ready for Gregson's return to work next week?

Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.