Reaction post: Sherlock 2x01
Holy crap. I do not think a piece of media has ever so fully delivered on every expectation and desire I had.
1. IRENE ADLER LIVES!!! IN YOUR FACE, GUY RITCHIE!!!!! Writers of the world take note - you do not have to fridge the lady to give the man interesting angst. Live awesome lady > dead awesome lady. And I love this Irene always and forever. She's so tough and smart and hard-boiled, living by her wits, and she never lets her fear show -- even though I know she must have been afraid. I know what my next fic-writing project is going to be. Or I will, as soon as I get a prompt post up next week. Please to be formulating your prompts now.
2. I really admire the pacing and editing of this show. Somewhere around the thirty minute mark, I thought I had been watching for an hour, but in a good way. The show is so dense and every interaction so loaded with chemistry that each minute developed both the plot and the characters. I feel like I got so much insight into the people I wanted most to know about.
3. Mycroft. Possibly a bigger piece of work than even Sherlock. Geez. I'm guessing Mummy Holmes is dead if he's drinking alone on Christmas? Works, I think. "You're the one who upset Mummy" - very loaded statement if we're talking about someone recently deceased. I think the backwards way he cares about Sherlock is the only way you can care about Sherlock (openly would probably not work) but it's also the only way Mycroft knows how to care about someone. And, clearly, he does care but his casual coldness about Sherlock and sex was chilling. Guess Sherlock is not the only asshole in the family.
4. Sherlock. Obviously so much more human than he pretends, and Mrs. Hudson seems to understand that better than anyone. When Mycroft told her to shut up and Sherlock yelled, it immediately added ten times more definition to his character. It's not that Sherlock doesn't care about people; it's that he's very, very picky about whom he cares. And then his loyalty is absolute. Also, I think fandom may well have called it right on the asexuality and/or virginity -- or, as Sherlock implied at the end of the episode, "almost." Maybe there has been one partner, but only the one? Which could be because Sherlock is asexual, but also because he genuinely could alienate everyone who was ever interested in him. Ouch, Molly. It hurt him to hurt her that way, but he just blundered into it because he doesn't seem to think of people as being interested in him. (And also because he was showing off because he is an arrogant ass who doesn't like to host Christmas parties in his flat.) I also was intrigued by the confirmation of the past drug problem. Again, one of those things I knew was there, but so satisfying to have it fleshed out a little.
5. John. Oh, John. When are you going to figure this out? And how awesome are the writers for actually being willing to go there? I loved the scenes where he's watching Irene whisper in Sherlock's ear, no doubt telling himself it's observational data, when he is quite clearly jealous. I would have loved a bit more story for John; I don't think he got quite the development that Sherlock and Mycroft did in this episode. Still, I like what they did with him in this episode - just the one conversation with Irene is very telling. "I'm not gay" = "I could not possibly have feelings for a man." Interesting that he thinks in that binary, and also logical given the time he would have grown up in. No doubt military life did not provide many opportunities for exploring his sexuality. I need to dust off that story I was writing about all the reasons John doesn't recognize his attraction for what it is.
I hope we get to see Sally and Anthea in the coming episodes. I hope my favorite ladies don't turn out to be throwaways.
1. IRENE ADLER LIVES!!! IN YOUR FACE, GUY RITCHIE!!!!! Writers of the world take note - you do not have to fridge the lady to give the man interesting angst. Live awesome lady > dead awesome lady. And I love this Irene always and forever. She's so tough and smart and hard-boiled, living by her wits, and she never lets her fear show -- even though I know she must have been afraid. I know what my next fic-writing project is going to be. Or I will, as soon as I get a prompt post up next week. Please to be formulating your prompts now.
2. I really admire the pacing and editing of this show. Somewhere around the thirty minute mark, I thought I had been watching for an hour, but in a good way. The show is so dense and every interaction so loaded with chemistry that each minute developed both the plot and the characters. I feel like I got so much insight into the people I wanted most to know about.
3. Mycroft. Possibly a bigger piece of work than even Sherlock. Geez. I'm guessing Mummy Holmes is dead if he's drinking alone on Christmas? Works, I think. "You're the one who upset Mummy" - very loaded statement if we're talking about someone recently deceased. I think the backwards way he cares about Sherlock is the only way you can care about Sherlock (openly would probably not work) but it's also the only way Mycroft knows how to care about someone. And, clearly, he does care but his casual coldness about Sherlock and sex was chilling. Guess Sherlock is not the only asshole in the family.
4. Sherlock. Obviously so much more human than he pretends, and Mrs. Hudson seems to understand that better than anyone. When Mycroft told her to shut up and Sherlock yelled, it immediately added ten times more definition to his character. It's not that Sherlock doesn't care about people; it's that he's very, very picky about whom he cares. And then his loyalty is absolute. Also, I think fandom may well have called it right on the asexuality and/or virginity -- or, as Sherlock implied at the end of the episode, "almost." Maybe there has been one partner, but only the one? Which could be because Sherlock is asexual, but also because he genuinely could alienate everyone who was ever interested in him. Ouch, Molly. It hurt him to hurt her that way, but he just blundered into it because he doesn't seem to think of people as being interested in him. (And also because he was showing off because he is an arrogant ass who doesn't like to host Christmas parties in his flat.) I also was intrigued by the confirmation of the past drug problem. Again, one of those things I knew was there, but so satisfying to have it fleshed out a little.
5. John. Oh, John. When are you going to figure this out? And how awesome are the writers for actually being willing to go there? I loved the scenes where he's watching Irene whisper in Sherlock's ear, no doubt telling himself it's observational data, when he is quite clearly jealous. I would have loved a bit more story for John; I don't think he got quite the development that Sherlock and Mycroft did in this episode. Still, I like what they did with him in this episode - just the one conversation with Irene is very telling. "I'm not gay" = "I could not possibly have feelings for a man." Interesting that he thinks in that binary, and also logical given the time he would have grown up in. No doubt military life did not provide many opportunities for exploring his sexuality. I need to dust off that story I was writing about all the reasons John doesn't recognize his attraction for what it is.
I hope we get to see Sally and Anthea in the coming episodes. I hope my favorite ladies don't turn out to be throwaways.