Finally! A Scandal in Belgravia
So the BBC's Sherlock is finally airing on PBS, which means I just finished watching "A Scandal in Belgravia" and yes, also means that I'm literally *months* behind much of the rest of the fandom. Staying away from AO3's Sherlock offerings has been a *chore,* let me tell you. Fortunately it has plenty of other fandoms to help distract me, lol.
I blame the really big fight that Arthur and Alfred had back in 1776 for depriving me for this long.
But it was also probably a blessing in disguise since I've been so busy with RL stuff until just a few weeks ago that I wouldn't have had time to properly enjoy the 221B goodness, which would have been a crying shame.
Now that I have......I'm flailing all over the place because I want to watch it again, and you can't do that with TV that isn't On-Demand, on-line, or on disc. Honestly, how *did* we survive for all those years without broadcast control?
Out of deference to fellow Sherlockians who might not have seen it yet.....assuming there *are* any.....I'm going to put my flail!commentary behind a cut to preserve the antici.......(say it!).....pation.
Item the first, so the whole bomb-at-the-pool scene ended in a much less explosive fashion than I had imagined it would, which was kinda disappointing, but then we get Moriarty's ringtone.......just.......Ahahaha! and also, what the hell? The Bee Gee's "Stayin Alive," srsly? As if we needed more confirmation that Jim is majorly cracked.
Item the second, Sherlock in nothing but a bed-sheet.....in Buckingham Palace....with Mycroft standing on the other end of it demanding he put clothes on.......I'm pretty sure that this, right here, explains most of their relationship, and I *will* be looking for "5 Times Mycroft Made Sherlock Put Clothes On" fics (and related clothes off fics as well 'cause I'm totally willing to roll like that). So hilarious. Also, I think I have been corrupted by too much Hetalia!fic and too much knowledge of English history. I kept wanting to be like, "Mycroft, why so stuffy? I'm sure Arthur's gotten up to way weirder things that this. Look, here he comes with the tea tray now, you can ask him if he minds Sherlock being buck-naked in Buckingham."
Item the third-----John, just give up and admit that your sexuality is defined by Sherlock. Irene was totally right about you two being a couple. Need evidence? If you actually wanted to keep a girlfriend, you wouldn't be bringing them home for Sherlock to insult/endanger/terrify. Granted, I'm sure he could totally find ways to sabotage your relationships on his own, but the point is you basically do it for him. So yeah, you're fooling no one. Also, your fight with Sherlock? Hysterical. "Hit me" indeed....such boys.
Item the fourth---Sherlock taking vicious revenge on the CIA goon who hurt Mrs. Hudson. His quick vital points assessment and dropping of the man out of the window (apparently more than once) were just so awesome. Since I like a good killer!Sherlock fic, it's no surprise that I loved the heck out of this. Oh hell yes, Sherlock would be a possessive bastard when it comes to protecting and avenging anyone he considers his. And you know Lestrade was totally thinking, "I always expected something like this was going to happen, but at least he didn't kill anyone. Yet." And apparently those broken ribs and punctured lung were a lot less debilitating than I would have imagined.....what, run out of extras?
Item the fifth--"The Geek Interpreter"......tell me someone has written this. Please.
Item the sixth---You Holmes brothers, so very fucked up with one another, sheesh.
Items that were not so liked:
Needs more John. Yes, I get that this ep by nature is all about Sherlock and Irene, but John spends most of the time being a third-wheel/comic relief---something he's perfectly aware of. (Hamish!). But it still doesn't seem right to have John fading so far into the background. So of course I need to go look for fic that gets at Johns POV throughout this whole Irene thing. I bet his inner commentary is utterly hilarious and snarky. But John, when are you going to realize that you can't let people keep edging in on Sherlock like this? You can't trust them and you can't trust Sherlock to take care of himself, clearly.
Mycroft telling Mrs. Hudson to shut-up. Was this a major OOC moment for anyone else? I honestly can't picture Mycroft being so crude and.....gormless?.....like this. Not to Mrs. Hudson. Granted, maybe it was meant to be an expression of how much stress he's under with the Bomb-The-Plane-Full-of-Dead-People-Plan, but still......Ick.
The Christmas Party---Okay, so maybe this is just a product of me watching this in May while it's 80-some degrees in my apartment, but I totally thought some freak time-warp or dream-sequence was going on there. I mean, it felt like a major time skip to me, and the fluctuating weather and the broken blog-counter weren't helping to dispel that opinion. Just me? or bad plotting?
Molly---Do we really need to keep dragging her out to be Sherlock's verbal punching bag? Come on, writers, give the poor girl a break (and a spine). This is just sad and really kind of misogynist. And given the content of this episode, that's saying something.
Irene--I have a feeling that I'm going to need to rewatch this episode a few more times before I can figure out how I feel about this particular interpretation of Irene. On the one hand---watching her find ways of one-upping Sherlock? Awesome; the overlapping photo/clothing montages (and body types)? also cool; the rescuing Irene, "protection" thing, the slave to "sentiment" thing.....not so good 'cause to me Irene's always been about winning, having the power, and not needing anyone else or even being threatened by others; and while she was certainly sexy......there was something cold (?) about it....largely to do with lighting/clothing, so much black and white and gray....even the red lipstick and turquoise eyeshadow (awesome) had a dead feel to them....where's the fire? the passion?
So overall it was a good episode that I'm looking forward to watching again, and I'm thrilled that the wait is finally over and there's more to come, but I'm going to have to get back to fandom for the stuff that was lacking or could have been interpreted differently, which is what fandom is all about in the end.
I blame the really big fight that Arthur and Alfred had back in 1776 for depriving me for this long.
But it was also probably a blessing in disguise since I've been so busy with RL stuff until just a few weeks ago that I wouldn't have had time to properly enjoy the 221B goodness, which would have been a crying shame.
Now that I have......I'm flailing all over the place because I want to watch it again, and you can't do that with TV that isn't On-Demand, on-line, or on disc. Honestly, how *did* we survive for all those years without broadcast control?
Out of deference to fellow Sherlockians who might not have seen it yet.....assuming there *are* any.....I'm going to put my flail!commentary behind a cut to preserve the antici.......(say it!).....pation.
Item the first, so the whole bomb-at-the-pool scene ended in a much less explosive fashion than I had imagined it would, which was kinda disappointing, but then we get Moriarty's ringtone.......just.......Ahahaha! and also, what the hell? The Bee Gee's "Stayin Alive," srsly? As if we needed more confirmation that Jim is majorly cracked.
Item the second, Sherlock in nothing but a bed-sheet.....in Buckingham Palace....with Mycroft standing on the other end of it demanding he put clothes on.......I'm pretty sure that this, right here, explains most of their relationship, and I *will* be looking for "5 Times Mycroft Made Sherlock Put Clothes On" fics (and related clothes off fics as well 'cause I'm totally willing to roll like that). So hilarious. Also, I think I have been corrupted by too much Hetalia!fic and too much knowledge of English history. I kept wanting to be like, "Mycroft, why so stuffy? I'm sure Arthur's gotten up to way weirder things that this. Look, here he comes with the tea tray now, you can ask him if he minds Sherlock being buck-naked in Buckingham."
Item the third-----John, just give up and admit that your sexuality is defined by Sherlock. Irene was totally right about you two being a couple. Need evidence? If you actually wanted to keep a girlfriend, you wouldn't be bringing them home for Sherlock to insult/endanger/terrify. Granted, I'm sure he could totally find ways to sabotage your relationships on his own, but the point is you basically do it for him. So yeah, you're fooling no one. Also, your fight with Sherlock? Hysterical. "Hit me" indeed....such boys.
Item the fourth---Sherlock taking vicious revenge on the CIA goon who hurt Mrs. Hudson. His quick vital points assessment and dropping of the man out of the window (apparently more than once) were just so awesome. Since I like a good killer!Sherlock fic, it's no surprise that I loved the heck out of this. Oh hell yes, Sherlock would be a possessive bastard when it comes to protecting and avenging anyone he considers his. And you know Lestrade was totally thinking, "I always expected something like this was going to happen, but at least he didn't kill anyone. Yet." And apparently those broken ribs and punctured lung were a lot less debilitating than I would have imagined.....what, run out of extras?
Item the fifth--"The Geek Interpreter"......tell me someone has written this. Please.
Item the sixth---You Holmes brothers, so very fucked up with one another, sheesh.
Items that were not so liked:
Needs more John. Yes, I get that this ep by nature is all about Sherlock and Irene, but John spends most of the time being a third-wheel/comic relief---something he's perfectly aware of. (Hamish!). But it still doesn't seem right to have John fading so far into the background. So of course I need to go look for fic that gets at Johns POV throughout this whole Irene thing. I bet his inner commentary is utterly hilarious and snarky. But John, when are you going to realize that you can't let people keep edging in on Sherlock like this? You can't trust them and you can't trust Sherlock to take care of himself, clearly.
Mycroft telling Mrs. Hudson to shut-up. Was this a major OOC moment for anyone else? I honestly can't picture Mycroft being so crude and.....gormless?.....like this. Not to Mrs. Hudson. Granted, maybe it was meant to be an expression of how much stress he's under with the Bomb-The-Plane-Full-of-Dead-People-Plan, but still......Ick.
The Christmas Party---Okay, so maybe this is just a product of me watching this in May while it's 80-some degrees in my apartment, but I totally thought some freak time-warp or dream-sequence was going on there. I mean, it felt like a major time skip to me, and the fluctuating weather and the broken blog-counter weren't helping to dispel that opinion. Just me? or bad plotting?
Molly---Do we really need to keep dragging her out to be Sherlock's verbal punching bag? Come on, writers, give the poor girl a break (and a spine). This is just sad and really kind of misogynist. And given the content of this episode, that's saying something.
Irene--I have a feeling that I'm going to need to rewatch this episode a few more times before I can figure out how I feel about this particular interpretation of Irene. On the one hand---watching her find ways of one-upping Sherlock? Awesome; the overlapping photo/clothing montages (and body types)? also cool; the rescuing Irene, "protection" thing, the slave to "sentiment" thing.....not so good 'cause to me Irene's always been about winning, having the power, and not needing anyone else or even being threatened by others; and while she was certainly sexy......there was something cold (?) about it....largely to do with lighting/clothing, so much black and white and gray....even the red lipstick and turquoise eyeshadow (awesome) had a dead feel to them....where's the fire? the passion?
So overall it was a good episode that I'm looking forward to watching again, and I'm thrilled that the wait is finally over and there's more to come, but I'm going to have to get back to fandom for the stuff that was lacking or could have been interpreted differently, which is what fandom is all about in the end.