It was an intelligent show. They did not, in the first episode, reveal a grand plot, the start of a season-long story arc, a nemesis… it was simply proceedural. If it gets a long story arc of some sort, even if it's just a character development one, not a 'catch Moriarty' thing, it would be excellent.
The main characters, Sherlock and Watson, were mish-mashes of the types. My flatmate thought Sherlock was a Robert Downey Jr ripoff, I think he was broader than that. (I originally thought that out of RDJ and Benedict Cumberbatch, Cumby was the more authentic Sherlock but having gone back to the books, it's possibly RDJ. Because Sherlock Holmes does box as a gentleman's sport, and does have a sense of self-deprecating humour occasionally, and some rare self-doubt. He is obsessive and arrogant and intelligent and a drug addict, but he is not a COMPLETE sociopath and probably not even on the aspergers/autism spectrum, and he is refined.) Anyway, there are so many shows with the Holmes/Watson dynamic, like the Mentalist with Patrick Jane and Lisbon, that it was never going to be a highly original interpretation, esp following so soon after RDJ and BC. It was well written and well cast, though. Sherlock had the pointy nose and the drug problem and the facts and "deductions". Watson had the post-traumatic stress of professional malpractice, and a valid excuse to move in. There is no Lestrade, but there is the other guy, Gregson. It had a good look, and a sharp soundtrack—I liked the pop songs and cello music was very effective.
2 comments:
I must say the thing I didn't like about the RDJ films was the bromance; it seemed more borrowed from House than from what I remember of the books.
Agreed. Book Holmes isn't dependent on Watson. Book Watson is politely and professionally admiring of Holmes. Book Holmes can live like a grown up gentleman, not an eccentric bum, and Book Watson isn't his mum/girlfriend. It's just a working friendship. Neither is so emotionally invested in the other.
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