Sherlock: A Study in Pink (BBC 2010)
Thanks to
sparkymonster's enthusiasm, finally got around to watching the first episode of this modern-day version of Sherlock Holmes off the DVR.
Non-spoilers: the plot kind of falls down at the end, but still, fun: I enjoyed the characters a lot (the guy playing Watson is going to be a terrific Bilbo, and, minorly, I liked that Lestrade was not bumbling), and the sense of humor it had, especially about its relationship to canon, and that it managed the atmosphere well enough that even the kind-of-silly climax was absorbing. I was not impressed with its treatment of disability, however.
Spoilers:
Yeah, no, that plot is just silly. Chad made the obligatory reference to Iocaine Powder very early on, and I don't care how genius you are, it really is just luck (note how the show finessed having to reveal its hand on that). Also, I couldn't decide if they were all being very slow to not realize it was a cabbie or if it was echoes of "A Study in Scarlet" getting in my way. (The PBS version is slightly shortened from the BBC version, and there's more blinking neon sign conversations in the BBC version.)
Liked that it was Watson's sister not brother that was getting divorced from Clara; that, very Britishly, the cabbie did not have a real gun and his victims didn't know that; that it was Mycroft not Moriarty who kidnapped John (which I suspected).
Disliked the way that Watson's limp and post-war emotional issues cured themselves. Yes, they were careful to say that it was psychosomatic but wasn't PTSD, but still, it felt very facile.
And really liked the friendship between Holmes and Watson; I suspect this is going to be a fandom that I'm not going to be able to read most of because I very much like them as friends so far, but we'll see.
I am told that the second episode is dreadful; I may just listen, but if I can't stand it, will I miss anything critical to the larger plot that I can't infer from the third?
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