Sherlock S3 Reaction Post
Whereinwhich I must admit, sadly, that as much as I truly adore what Gatniss and Moffat have done by bringing me modern-day Sherlock, they in fact aren't Arthur Conan-Doyle and they really don't have his magic when it comes to inventing creative and entertaining crime fiction.
There's so much to enjoy in Season/Series 3, but overall they've made a few fatal missteps which I hope will be corrected for S4.
FWIW, my reactions.
Here's the pith of what I think went wrong:
In this series, Sherlock Holmes is no longer the smartest man in the room. That's the foundation of all the pear-shaped-ness. Not once in the three series does he do the chain of deduction thing-- think of the cell phone in the car before they even get to lady in pink, think of the lady in pink! We got at least one of those in each show in the first 2 series. In S3, Sherlock wasn't "Sherlock" anymore.
If he were, in S3, here's what Sherlock would have done:
After all the investigation he put into the guests at the wedding, threatening the would-be usher, how in the world would he not do due diligence on Mary? How would someone of his abilities overlook the fact that she sprang into existence 5 years ago?
Let's assume Sherlock approves of an assassin wife for John because John needs the excitement. Fine. Sherlock knows Mary is a _really_ good candidate for blackmail. So he tells her. Not in the stupid "mind palace" way that completely destroys Magnuson's power (it's called "libel" without proof, which Lady Smallwood and Magnuson would certainly know if he ever tried to threaten her in print). No, Sherlock would get his documentation together, lock it safely away, inform Mary of its existence (the old "This comes out if I die" thing) and that he will not rat her out because he needs John to be happy, and therefore protects himself from being murdered by a known assassin who he KNOWS will happily blow him away to keep John.
So we go to the ridiculous shooting scene. In the show's logic, Mary doesn't intend to kill Sherlock. Okay, so what's her plan? A. I can kill Magnuson as intended to protect my secret, and then enlist Sherlock's aid in not breaking John's heart over it, and everyone can skedaddle before the police come. or B. I can let Magnuson live which doesn't protect my secret, SHOOT Sherlock but not kill him, so that when he recovers, NOW I get to persuade Sherlock, whom I've shot, to not rat me out to my husband because, you know, that shooting thing makes my case stronger. Oh, and now John is guaranteed to be found at the crime scene because no way will he leave Sherlock, whom I've shot, for no apparent reason whatsoever. ?????
It makes no sense from the point of the character. This show was done to surprise the audience, which it certainly does, but it has to have internal logic, which it doesn't.
We like Sherlock because he's clever. How does a clever man go to Magnuson's house with no backup plan? Assuming he even goes there (which there are plenty of reasons why a clever Sherlock would not), he has one plan only, get the documents, which misfires on him. I must quote Princess Leia at this point: "This is some rescue! You came in here, but didn't you have a plan for getting out?" We need Sherlock to be at least as smart as Princess Leia. Instead, the writers box Sherlock into a corner where he feels he must publicly commit murder that will ruin his career if not his entire life. I don't believe Sherlock would have put himself in that situation, and I really don't believe Sherlock would commit cold-blooded murder.
Here's where I think our writing team, who had done so well up to this point, fumbled the ball. The charm in Sherlock saying he's a "high-functioning sociopath" is because we the audience know it's not true. It's like Spock saying he has no emotions. He DOES have emotions; that's why we bleed for him when people treat him as if he's a machine, because we know what he feels inside. Ditto Sherlock. We _know_ he's a good man, and a good man does not shoot people in the head, no matter how repugnant, if he or someone he loves isn't in imminent danger of death. ESPECIALLY Sherlock; he'd see violence as a failure of logic. His failure doesn't give him the right to outright murder someone else.
So I really feel the writers have jumped the shark here. earlgreytea68 has a lovely exploration on why John Watson isn't John Watson in this show, but I think that goes hand-in-hand with Sherlock not being Sherlock. Somewhere they lost the plot.
I hope they get it back. I love this show, and would like to see more of our boys in action.
I'll be at work, but hope to pick up your comments tonight. Hugs to all who need it.
There's so much to enjoy in Season/Series 3, but overall they've made a few fatal missteps which I hope will be corrected for S4.
FWIW, my reactions.
Here's the pith of what I think went wrong:
In this series, Sherlock Holmes is no longer the smartest man in the room. That's the foundation of all the pear-shaped-ness. Not once in the three series does he do the chain of deduction thing-- think of the cell phone in the car before they even get to lady in pink, think of the lady in pink! We got at least one of those in each show in the first 2 series. In S3, Sherlock wasn't "Sherlock" anymore.
If he were, in S3, here's what Sherlock would have done:
After all the investigation he put into the guests at the wedding, threatening the would-be usher, how in the world would he not do due diligence on Mary? How would someone of his abilities overlook the fact that she sprang into existence 5 years ago?
Let's assume Sherlock approves of an assassin wife for John because John needs the excitement. Fine. Sherlock knows Mary is a _really_ good candidate for blackmail. So he tells her. Not in the stupid "mind palace" way that completely destroys Magnuson's power (it's called "libel" without proof, which Lady Smallwood and Magnuson would certainly know if he ever tried to threaten her in print). No, Sherlock would get his documentation together, lock it safely away, inform Mary of its existence (the old "This comes out if I die" thing) and that he will not rat her out because he needs John to be happy, and therefore protects himself from being murdered by a known assassin who he KNOWS will happily blow him away to keep John.
So we go to the ridiculous shooting scene. In the show's logic, Mary doesn't intend to kill Sherlock. Okay, so what's her plan? A. I can kill Magnuson as intended to protect my secret, and then enlist Sherlock's aid in not breaking John's heart over it, and everyone can skedaddle before the police come. or B. I can let Magnuson live which doesn't protect my secret, SHOOT Sherlock but not kill him, so that when he recovers, NOW I get to persuade Sherlock, whom I've shot, to not rat me out to my husband because, you know, that shooting thing makes my case stronger. Oh, and now John is guaranteed to be found at the crime scene because no way will he leave Sherlock, whom I've shot, for no apparent reason whatsoever. ?????
It makes no sense from the point of the character. This show was done to surprise the audience, which it certainly does, but it has to have internal logic, which it doesn't.
We like Sherlock because he's clever. How does a clever man go to Magnuson's house with no backup plan? Assuming he even goes there (which there are plenty of reasons why a clever Sherlock would not), he has one plan only, get the documents, which misfires on him. I must quote Princess Leia at this point: "This is some rescue! You came in here, but didn't you have a plan for getting out?" We need Sherlock to be at least as smart as Princess Leia. Instead, the writers box Sherlock into a corner where he feels he must publicly commit murder that will ruin his career if not his entire life. I don't believe Sherlock would have put himself in that situation, and I really don't believe Sherlock would commit cold-blooded murder.
Here's where I think our writing team, who had done so well up to this point, fumbled the ball. The charm in Sherlock saying he's a "high-functioning sociopath" is because we the audience know it's not true. It's like Spock saying he has no emotions. He DOES have emotions; that's why we bleed for him when people treat him as if he's a machine, because we know what he feels inside. Ditto Sherlock. We _know_ he's a good man, and a good man does not shoot people in the head, no matter how repugnant, if he or someone he loves isn't in imminent danger of death. ESPECIALLY Sherlock; he'd see violence as a failure of logic. His failure doesn't give him the right to outright murder someone else.
So I really feel the writers have jumped the shark here. earlgreytea68 has a lovely exploration on why John Watson isn't John Watson in this show, but I think that goes hand-in-hand with Sherlock not being Sherlock. Somewhere they lost the plot.
I hope they get it back. I love this show, and would like to see more of our boys in action.
I'll be at work, but hope to pick up your comments tonight. Hugs to all who need it.