A post wherein I ramble about the awesomeness of Sherlock
Yay, they're going to make more Sherlock! This makes me happy. Three episodes is not enough. I feel like I should read more Sherlock Holmes stories now. I've got the complete collection kicking around somewhere.
You always worry when people want to modernize old concepts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Thankfully, this worked. I think Sherlock Holmes can exist in any time period. At the heart of it, he's a guy who solves mysteries using his mind. He doesn't need fancy technology and crimes still happen no matter the era. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss just made him more relevant to the times.
Like, Sherlock has a website and he uses the internet to gather information. And John has a blog. :-) Actually, I love the concept of the blog. Watson was always Holmes' unofficial biographer so it totally fits. But the basic essence of the characters is still there, happily. John's a doctor and he's back home from a war. Sherlock's a loner who needs constant stimulation lest he take his boredom out on a wall. No mention of him being a cocaine user, but it was sort of hinted at in the first episode that he might be. Still, it seems Holmes has a thing about shooting guns at the wall of his room no matter the incarnation (Robert Downey Jr. shooting "VR" into the wall in Sherlock Holmes, anyone?).
Just a quick overview of the first season...
- "A Study in Pink". I had actually read A Study in Scarlet for a book club so I could spot all the little references to the original story. They kept enough of the basic plot but obviously they had to add things to make it a little more interesting. In the original story, the entire back half of the story doesn't even involve Holmes; it was just an annoying tangent about the murderer's motives. But anyway... I love the direction for some reason. Seeing a sort of HUD of whatever Sherlock was looking at was a good way to get the important details across to the viewer without having to be subtle about it, like most detective shows are forced to do. I also found the writing in the episode to be very Doctor Who-ish. Like, some of Sherlock's lines, I could totally hear the Doctor saying. "I'm in shock- Look, I've got a blanket" comes to mind. It's probably just because Steven Moffat was writing. And I was gullible enough to believe that Mark Gatiss' character might have been Moriarty. It wasn't until the end when he showed up again that I realized, "Hmm, maybe he isn't." And then it turned out he was Mycroft. I was kind of relieved actually. Mark Gatiss playing Moriarty would have been weird.
- "The Blind Banker". This one wasn't as good as the first episode, I found. It lacked some of the pizazz of the first episode. Sherlock crashing John's date was cute. And I do enjoy the John/Sherlock dynamic. Sherlock's a brilliant detective but he's a rubbish flat mate. But he's still a good friend, ultimately, even if people do mistake John for him. :-) I kind of wish John had more to do in the series. I know he's not as brilliant as Sherlock when it comes to the details, but he could do more than just run along with Sherlock. John's a doctor; shouldn't he be examining the body and whatnot? But that's Watson's role, being Holmes' sidekick. The main reason he exists is so he can ask questions and then Holmes can answer him, pushing the plot along. Maybe I didn't like this episode as much because I was distracted by all of the former Doctor Who filming locations. The museum's restoration room? That was The Library. The tunnel at the end? That's where the Doctor met Jenny in "The Doctor's Daughter". The museum itself has doubled as the Natural History Museum before on Who. Cardiff is seriously turning into the UK equivalent of Vancouver.
- "The Great Game". Ooh, this one was non-stop. My only wish is I wish they had kept the reveal of Moriarty for another season. I really liked the mysterious shadow figure they made Moriarty in to. So I was kind of disappointed to see that the man behind everything was... Jim, the IT guy. While I do appreciate that they didn't hire some big name to play him, I was mostly thinking this when the scene came up:
It's a different take on Moriarty, but in my head, he's an evil professor type, not so some soft spoken, kind of loopy criminal mastermind. Not to say that this take is bad. Though, this version of Moriarty kind of reminds me of John Simm's take on the Master. Maybe it's on purpose. The Master was envisioned as the Moriarty to the Doctor's Holmes. Ugh, and a cliffhanger. I bet Sherlock and John just jump into the pool to avoid the explosion and being shot at. Mythbusters has proved that you can survive being shot at with high calibre guns by jumping into water. :-)
Randomly, I love the score. It reminded me of the score from Sherlock Holmes, that sort of old timey sound. Keeps with the origins of Sherlock Holmes, a bit. And the fake blogs they made for the show! John's is real and so is Sherlock's site. They're amusing to read. The back and forth between the characters is the best part. I hope they keep these up for the next season.
Sigh, now I have nothing to watch. Well, I have stuff to watch but it won't be as fun as Sherlock.
You always worry when people want to modernize old concepts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Thankfully, this worked. I think Sherlock Holmes can exist in any time period. At the heart of it, he's a guy who solves mysteries using his mind. He doesn't need fancy technology and crimes still happen no matter the era. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss just made him more relevant to the times.
Like, Sherlock has a website and he uses the internet to gather information. And John has a blog. :-) Actually, I love the concept of the blog. Watson was always Holmes' unofficial biographer so it totally fits. But the basic essence of the characters is still there, happily. John's a doctor and he's back home from a war. Sherlock's a loner who needs constant stimulation lest he take his boredom out on a wall. No mention of him being a cocaine user, but it was sort of hinted at in the first episode that he might be. Still, it seems Holmes has a thing about shooting guns at the wall of his room no matter the incarnation (Robert Downey Jr. shooting "VR" into the wall in Sherlock Holmes, anyone?).
Just a quick overview of the first season...
- "A Study in Pink". I had actually read A Study in Scarlet for a book club so I could spot all the little references to the original story. They kept enough of the basic plot but obviously they had to add things to make it a little more interesting. In the original story, the entire back half of the story doesn't even involve Holmes; it was just an annoying tangent about the murderer's motives. But anyway... I love the direction for some reason. Seeing a sort of HUD of whatever Sherlock was looking at was a good way to get the important details across to the viewer without having to be subtle about it, like most detective shows are forced to do. I also found the writing in the episode to be very Doctor Who-ish. Like, some of Sherlock's lines, I could totally hear the Doctor saying. "I'm in shock- Look, I've got a blanket" comes to mind. It's probably just because Steven Moffat was writing. And I was gullible enough to believe that Mark Gatiss' character might have been Moriarty. It wasn't until the end when he showed up again that I realized, "Hmm, maybe he isn't." And then it turned out he was Mycroft. I was kind of relieved actually. Mark Gatiss playing Moriarty would have been weird.
- "The Blind Banker". This one wasn't as good as the first episode, I found. It lacked some of the pizazz of the first episode. Sherlock crashing John's date was cute. And I do enjoy the John/Sherlock dynamic. Sherlock's a brilliant detective but he's a rubbish flat mate. But he's still a good friend, ultimately, even if people do mistake John for him. :-) I kind of wish John had more to do in the series. I know he's not as brilliant as Sherlock when it comes to the details, but he could do more than just run along with Sherlock. John's a doctor; shouldn't he be examining the body and whatnot? But that's Watson's role, being Holmes' sidekick. The main reason he exists is so he can ask questions and then Holmes can answer him, pushing the plot along. Maybe I didn't like this episode as much because I was distracted by all of the former Doctor Who filming locations. The museum's restoration room? That was The Library. The tunnel at the end? That's where the Doctor met Jenny in "The Doctor's Daughter". The museum itself has doubled as the Natural History Museum before on Who. Cardiff is seriously turning into the UK equivalent of Vancouver.
- "The Great Game". Ooh, this one was non-stop. My only wish is I wish they had kept the reveal of Moriarty for another season. I really liked the mysterious shadow figure they made Moriarty in to. So I was kind of disappointed to see that the man behind everything was... Jim, the IT guy. While I do appreciate that they didn't hire some big name to play him, I was mostly thinking this when the scene came up:
It's a different take on Moriarty, but in my head, he's an evil professor type, not so some soft spoken, kind of loopy criminal mastermind. Not to say that this take is bad. Though, this version of Moriarty kind of reminds me of John Simm's take on the Master. Maybe it's on purpose. The Master was envisioned as the Moriarty to the Doctor's Holmes. Ugh, and a cliffhanger. I bet Sherlock and John just jump into the pool to avoid the explosion and being shot at. Mythbusters has proved that you can survive being shot at with high calibre guns by jumping into water. :-)
Randomly, I love the score. It reminded me of the score from Sherlock Holmes, that sort of old timey sound. Keeps with the origins of Sherlock Holmes, a bit. And the fake blogs they made for the show! John's is real and so is Sherlock's site. They're amusing to read. The back and forth between the characters is the best part. I hope they keep these up for the next season.
Sigh, now I have nothing to watch. Well, I have stuff to watch but it won't be as fun as Sherlock.