'Elsbeth's Season 4 Premiere Keeps the CBS Procedural in the Perfect Sweet Spot | Review

Published Oct 8, 2026, 9:00 PM EDT

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Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Elsbeth Season 4, Episode 1.Elsbeth's third season is arguably the best to date, finding its sweet spot with a formula that works: Easter eggs for the Fanscioni's, meta moments, exceptional writing, a treasure trove of villainous guest stars, and Carrie Preston, who made Elsbeth a truly rounded character. Now our favorite redheaded NYPD consultant is back with Season 4 premiere "Crazy in Love," guest starring singer and actress Nicole Scherzinger. Will Season 4 maintain the expectations built up over Season 3? Read on.

A Couples Therapist Doesn't Practice What She Preaches in 'Elsbeth's "Crazy in Love"

"How do you keep it together?" couples therapist Serena Collyer (Scherzinger) asks the audience at her seminar. "I can help improve your marriage," she then claims, pointing to couples she'd helped that are in her new book under pseudonyms. She then shows a picture of her husband of 11 years, Graham (Benjamin Eakeley). "How do we do it?" she says, and after a pregnant pause, adds, "It starts with trust." Trust has apparently been tossed aside, with the scene changing to Serena getting hot and heavy with another man, Casey.

The scene flips between Serena's "do as I say, not as I do" speech and her latest tryst with Casey, a struggling musician who would rather play video games than talk. He does, however, notice she still has the ring he got her from Costa Rica over 20 years ago (the only gift he's ever given). After another horizontal tango, Serena asks Casey when he's going back to California. Good news: he's not. Serena doesn't share his enthusiasm, demanding he go home, adding, "I can't function with you in my city." Casey calls her bluff, knowing she'll just come back like she always has. And she does.

One more illicit rendezvous later, Serena is cleaning Casey's apartment. Then, she takes a gun out of the drawer and opens Casey's phone. After ensuring her name isn't in the contacts, she sends a text: "I'm hooking up with your wife." The text goes to Luke, who, with his wife Lauren, is one of Serena's success stories as "Jack and Jill." The text drives Luke into a rage, and, with the address provided, he goes over to Casey's and beats him to a pulp, despite Casey having no clue who Lauren even is. Luke leaves Casey in a heap on the floor, and once he's gone, Serena, who was watching from the street below, comes in and shoots him dead.

Elsbeth Keeps the Open-And-Shut Case From Closing in “Crazy in Love”

Detective Smullen (Danny Mastrogiorgio), Officer Hackett (Lindsay Mendez), and Elsbeth (after a squirrel moment with a hacky sack) are in the apartment the next day. Casey was killed by his own gun, with no sign of forced entry, and he looks like hell, apart from being dead. The place is spotless, Elsbeth notes, and, oddly, there's an expensive bottle of wine amid the cheap beer. No fingerprints either, except for the bloody ones on the doorknob which, with the angry text replies, implicate Luke.

It's an open-and-shut case, but Elsbeth isn't so sure. Luke's fingerprints were on the doorknob, but the gun was clean, and why would Casey send a text like that anyway? Lauren only muddies the waters more, given she's cheating with Steve, not Casey. Luke admits to having words and to beating Casey, but insists he left after. Elsbeth asks him about the "Jack and Jill" case in Serena's book that colors him as a violent hothead, but Luke insists that he had gotten help and was better.

At Luke's behest, they approach Serena to vouch for his transformation. Bad call, as Serena throws him under the bus, saying she's not surprised that he'd return to his hotheaded ways. Elsbeth then asks why Lauren admitted to having an affair with Steve, not Casey. Serena chalks it up to Lauren lying out of shame, cheating with a musician instead of her typical trysts with financially stable men. But when Smullen calls Casey a "bum," Serena goes on the attack, saying he shouldn't judge, as you might miss the beautiful, creative soul inside. Back at the precinct, Hackett says she looked through the phone, but there's no connection between Casey and Lauren. There is, however, a "Coreena" in the contacts, and she has Serena's number.

"Sexually Transmitted Insanity" Closes the Case in 'Elsbeth's "Crazy in Love"

Image via CBS

Smullen and Elsbeth go to confront Serena at a couple's workshop, only for their bickering to lead a workshop leader to mistake them for a married couple, inviting them into a "relationship roundtable." It's a brilliantly funny moment, talking as if they were a married couple. Lessons learned, they meet up with Serena, who now remembers Casey, dating briefly in grad school. She's surprised that her name is still on his phone (a genuine reaction since she looked). But she was on a serenity walk the night of the murder.

Hackett brings in Viper Jeff, a drummer in Casey's band. He says Serena and Casey were on and off for years, an intense and toxic relationship likened to an addiction. She'd go crazy if she couldn't contact him, prompting him to get a cell in 2014, five years after she said they dated. To Elsbeth, the relationship sounds similar to another couple in Serena's book, "Sam and Diane," a dysfunctional but real love story, and anytime they got together, "Diane" would put on the only gift he ever gave her: a ring from Costa Rica. She still can't quite connect the pieces, though, until Elsbeth sees surveillance video from the specialty wine shop near Casey's. Gotcha.

Elsbeth beelines for Serena at another workshop. She knows Serena loved Casey, but his being in New York threatened her life there, so she "eliminated temptation" and used Luke as a fall guy. Then there's the video of her buying the wine, which in itself proves nothing, but the ring on her hand certainly does, a ring that has Casey's blood and gun residue. With that, Serena goes mental, shouting about him ruining her life while begging to know if he actually did call her his girlfriend. With the case closed, Elsbeth and Smullen talk at the precinct, where he admits that his wife left him. In the tender moment, Elsbeth says she's there to talk to if he needs it, and he's open to it. Elsewhere, Teddy (Ben Levi Ross) and his groom-to-be finally set a wedding date, with Teddy saying Elsbeth's mom keeps trying to get a hold of her and she should call her back. From the look on her face, that's unlikely.

If "Crazy in Love" is any indication, then Season 4 promises to live up to expectations. And like many of the guest stars last season, Scherzinger delivers as the villain-of-the-week, clearly having fun with it. It does leave us with two questions, however. What's the deal between Elsbeth and her mom? And are we ready for "Smullscioni"? Lots to look forward to!

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  Elsbeth Tascioni

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  C.W. Wagner

Season 4 premiere "Crazy in Love" keeps the high mark set by Season 3 while setting the stage for storylines to watch for.

Pros & Cons

• Nicole Scherzinger steps up her game as the villain-of-the-week.
• There are genuinely funny and sweet moments throughout.
• The return of Gloria Reuben as Claudia, a character not seen often enough.

• The jury's out on setting up a "will they/won't they" between Elsbeth and Smullen, aka "Smullscioni". A con for now.
• An episode called "Crazy in Love", with a musical artist that isn't Beyonce seems like a wasted opportunity, doesn't it?