Sherlock 2.1 Scandal in Belgravia (review)
[84] Sherlock 2.1 A Scandal in Belgravia was released yesterday to public television stations in the US, who showed it on Masterpiece Mystery, and my husband and I watched it in realtime. (Idk what bits were left out, it seemed to work pretty well.)
I love spoilers, so I already knew most of what happens -- I recently read a fic that apparently followed it almost word for word! So there were not too many surprises.
What I loved about the episode was watching it alongside my husband and for the two of us to compare our reactions to The Woman, The Virgin, and the Flatmate.
Spoilers under cut.
I had no trouble with making Irene a Domme. It's better than an opera singer in this day and age, and probably, better than a rockstar as well. I found some of the shots pretty expectable and cheap (glossy red fingernails, her assistance painting her lips, the way she stroked Sherlock with her crop). But I thought the actor, Lara Pulver, did a great job with the character she was given. I thought she created a nice amount of heat with Sherlock in their one scene together, where he was taking her pulse.
One thing about this version of Irene Adler which bothered me, is the question of making her one of Moriarty's tools instead of a free agent. In the books, as I understand it, Irene was on her own, and she stood up to Sherlock on her own, and some people have thought for many years that Nero Wolfe was Irene and Sherlock's child! which I think is fun. Here, Moffat rewrites Irene into a blackmailer who is propelled into a much more dangerous world of terrorism and counter-terrorism. He also makes her run scared before Moriarty in terms of faking her own death, tricking Sherlock, and eventually, fleeing to Karachi -- where she would have been killed if Sherlock hadn't tracked her down and intervened. I literally haven't seen anyone complaining about that ending -- which to me is the absolute worst moment of the whole thing --- if we are supposed to be so proud that she stymies Sherlock by parading herself before him in the nude (I both liked and disliked the comparison of all the clues he deduced from John's appearances vs the ??? he got from her nudity, more on that below) --- then does no one have anything to say about the fact that she is literally on her knees, covered head to toe in black, and about to be beheaded, when Sherlock swoops in upon her ultimate damselling???
In a lot of ways I don't mind that Sherlock unlocks the code on her phone... he is supposed to be the super-genius after all, and we do get a kick out of seeing her play him. She's very good, and I like that. What I don't like, is that we get to see Sherlock deduce Irene's attraction in her blown pupils and speedy pulse -- but we don't get to see her deduce the opposite case for him -- because we can't be sure he isn't just high on the game, like usual. She is reduced to a sexual creature in a way that he isn't, which does bother me, MORE SO because her professed lesbianism is erased. He gets to keep his presumed asexuality -- but she is het for him!! Argh, please.
In terms of John vs Irene, I liked it. I liked John defending his heterosexuality (poor guy, he really still believes he's not in love with Sherlock!!) and I liked Irene calling him on it. I like the way John is constantly seething over Irene in the background, counting the texts (erotic sigh #57!) and the way he is always so stalwart and protective of Sherlock. I simply love John Watson for his love of Sherlock, whether it is slashy or bromantic or whatever. John Watson kicks all the asses, and Irene's is no exception. [oh and btw, when the three of them all simultaneously kicked ass, I thought Sherlock was pretty excited there!! I know I was. :D]
So that's why, in no undercertain terms, I am still a slash girl. Because! In this telling, Irene Adler is NOT A REAL GIRL (she's Moriarty's puppet, attempting to puppeteer SH) and John Watson is MOST DEFINITELY A REAL BOY. Given, that Sherlock is the love object (objections? anyone? just take it as a given) then Watson trumps Adler in about a million ways. John is steadfast, loyal, true. He cares for Sherlock, literally. He lives with him and puts up with his crap. He deals with his crazy brother and his crazy archenemies. He is suitably impressed at Sherlock's genius and unafraid to decry him when he is bad and awful to Molly. All Irene has is one moment of Sherlock showing off, and several whiles of him being quite distracted, which, as John says, is par for the course for Sherlock. I don't think this version succeeded in making Irene Adler all that compelling. They chose instead to represent her with ????? -- the mystery of the femme fatale. As a real woman myself, I'm not that interested in women being portrayed as unknowable and inscrutable. I'd rather get into the heart of John and live there, watching Sherlock, being amazed and perturbed and heartbroken and wholly alive with him -- than to be this painted enigma who pulls Sherlock for a moment into her dance.
If, after all this time, people are still wondering why Slash continues to trump Het on the internetz, this is why: our media don't give us legitimate women heroes to pair against our men heroes. We still need to be out there, demanding better women characters -- women MAIN characters, women heroes, whose stories represent the lives of real women. This is why I ship Doctor/Rose -- because Rose is a real girl, and she moves universes, and that is AWESOME. This is why is ship Lisa/Dean -- because Lisa was bigger than the darkness in Dean, strong enough to make room for him in her heart and in her family. And it's why I was so blown away by the second XFiles movie -- because Scully is so smart, so strong, and even though Mulder's seedy and hiding out, Scully's still keeping on. WOMEN CHARACTERS, PEOPLE. REAL ONES. The women of Firefly. Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Sarah Jane Smith --- and as much as I'm kind of fond of Amy, I was not fond AT ALL of the Doctor when he deleted the version of her that survived all those terrifying years alone.
Ahem. So, anyways, we liked the episode and rank it #2 after A Study in Pink (which we really liked a lot). We can still like something even if we have a lot of problems with it. I liked it. But I am gonna keep on shipping John/Sherlock even harder now. Just keep on protesting too much, John. You're so cute when that obnoxious text alert sighs in Sherlock's pocket!
I love spoilers, so I already knew most of what happens -- I recently read a fic that apparently followed it almost word for word! So there were not too many surprises.
What I loved about the episode was watching it alongside my husband and for the two of us to compare our reactions to The Woman, The Virgin, and the Flatmate.
Spoilers under cut.
I had no trouble with making Irene a Domme. It's better than an opera singer in this day and age, and probably, better than a rockstar as well. I found some of the shots pretty expectable and cheap (glossy red fingernails, her assistance painting her lips, the way she stroked Sherlock with her crop). But I thought the actor, Lara Pulver, did a great job with the character she was given. I thought she created a nice amount of heat with Sherlock in their one scene together, where he was taking her pulse.
One thing about this version of Irene Adler which bothered me, is the question of making her one of Moriarty's tools instead of a free agent. In the books, as I understand it, Irene was on her own, and she stood up to Sherlock on her own, and some people have thought for many years that Nero Wolfe was Irene and Sherlock's child! which I think is fun. Here, Moffat rewrites Irene into a blackmailer who is propelled into a much more dangerous world of terrorism and counter-terrorism. He also makes her run scared before Moriarty in terms of faking her own death, tricking Sherlock, and eventually, fleeing to Karachi -- where she would have been killed if Sherlock hadn't tracked her down and intervened. I literally haven't seen anyone complaining about that ending -- which to me is the absolute worst moment of the whole thing --- if we are supposed to be so proud that she stymies Sherlock by parading herself before him in the nude (I both liked and disliked the comparison of all the clues he deduced from John's appearances vs the ??? he got from her nudity, more on that below) --- then does no one have anything to say about the fact that she is literally on her knees, covered head to toe in black, and about to be beheaded, when Sherlock swoops in upon her ultimate damselling???
In a lot of ways I don't mind that Sherlock unlocks the code on her phone... he is supposed to be the super-genius after all, and we do get a kick out of seeing her play him. She's very good, and I like that. What I don't like, is that we get to see Sherlock deduce Irene's attraction in her blown pupils and speedy pulse -- but we don't get to see her deduce the opposite case for him -- because we can't be sure he isn't just high on the game, like usual. She is reduced to a sexual creature in a way that he isn't, which does bother me, MORE SO because her professed lesbianism is erased. He gets to keep his presumed asexuality -- but she is het for him!! Argh, please.
In terms of John vs Irene, I liked it. I liked John defending his heterosexuality (poor guy, he really still believes he's not in love with Sherlock!!) and I liked Irene calling him on it. I like the way John is constantly seething over Irene in the background, counting the texts (erotic sigh #57!) and the way he is always so stalwart and protective of Sherlock. I simply love John Watson for his love of Sherlock, whether it is slashy or bromantic or whatever. John Watson kicks all the asses, and Irene's is no exception. [oh and btw, when the three of them all simultaneously kicked ass, I thought Sherlock was pretty excited there!! I know I was. :D]
So that's why, in no undercertain terms, I am still a slash girl. Because! In this telling, Irene Adler is NOT A REAL GIRL (she's Moriarty's puppet, attempting to puppeteer SH) and John Watson is MOST DEFINITELY A REAL BOY. Given, that Sherlock is the love object (objections? anyone? just take it as a given) then Watson trumps Adler in about a million ways. John is steadfast, loyal, true. He cares for Sherlock, literally. He lives with him and puts up with his crap. He deals with his crazy brother and his crazy archenemies. He is suitably impressed at Sherlock's genius and unafraid to decry him when he is bad and awful to Molly. All Irene has is one moment of Sherlock showing off, and several whiles of him being quite distracted, which, as John says, is par for the course for Sherlock. I don't think this version succeeded in making Irene Adler all that compelling. They chose instead to represent her with ????? -- the mystery of the femme fatale. As a real woman myself, I'm not that interested in women being portrayed as unknowable and inscrutable. I'd rather get into the heart of John and live there, watching Sherlock, being amazed and perturbed and heartbroken and wholly alive with him -- than to be this painted enigma who pulls Sherlock for a moment into her dance.
If, after all this time, people are still wondering why Slash continues to trump Het on the internetz, this is why: our media don't give us legitimate women heroes to pair against our men heroes. We still need to be out there, demanding better women characters -- women MAIN characters, women heroes, whose stories represent the lives of real women. This is why I ship Doctor/Rose -- because Rose is a real girl, and she moves universes, and that is AWESOME. This is why is ship Lisa/Dean -- because Lisa was bigger than the darkness in Dean, strong enough to make room for him in her heart and in her family. And it's why I was so blown away by the second XFiles movie -- because Scully is so smart, so strong, and even though Mulder's seedy and hiding out, Scully's still keeping on. WOMEN CHARACTERS, PEOPLE. REAL ONES. The women of Firefly. Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Sarah Jane Smith --- and as much as I'm kind of fond of Amy, I was not fond AT ALL of the Doctor when he deleted the version of her that survived all those terrifying years alone.
Ahem. So, anyways, we liked the episode and rank it #2 after A Study in Pink (which we really liked a lot). We can still like something even if we have a lot of problems with it. I liked it. But I am gonna keep on shipping John/Sherlock even harder now. Just keep on protesting too much, John. You're so cute when that obnoxious text alert sighs in Sherlock's pocket!