oh, /that/ Sherlock

[asakiyume]

My dad was talking about this great BBC mystery series he'd been watching recently, a redoing of Sherlock Holmes, and I said, yeah, wow, there are lots and lots of those around these days, and he said, well this one is really quite good, would I like to see an episode, and I said, sure, why not--and, dear Internet, it was Sherlock he was talking about! It's so funny if you've heard something talked about and talked about and talked about in one particular way, to then hear it talked about in another way, you know? It can sound like an entirely different thing.

Furthermore, although I've seen about 20,000 images and gifs from Sherlock on Tumblr, and although I've read all sorts of discussions and squees and critiques, I don't think I've seen an entire episode, ever. Or maybe one, but definitely not two. So guess which one it turns out my dad has to show me? The one with Irene Adler! I remember everyone talking about it, what? Two years ago? A long time ago.

Well! The closeups on Sherlock and Irene's wrists and fingers and lips and cheeks were quite, quite nice. And Mr. Holmes's blue eyes in a face otherwise all wrapped up in black, for an execution, there at the end, reminded me of Lawrence of Arabia's blue eyes.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Well, the writer is Steven Moffat right? I'm afraid my daughters would shake their heads pityingly and tell you that his one mode is to make the hero's gravitational pull so strong that everyone else must become a satellite around the hero, and that they can have no thoughts or talents that are not (a) unrelated to the hero and (b) lesser than the hero's, clearly.

I recently saw one of Moffat's Dr. Who episodes, a climactic one from a past season, and it was funny, the degree of (to an outsider) overwrought Doctor worship--people climbing over one another to sacrifice themselves harder, better, and faster, for the Doctor's sake.

But maybe Moffat will realize that a huge part of what people liked in this episode was that Irene could truly challenge Sherlock, and bring her back without just turning her into a lovestruck acolyte.

[maryvictoria.livejournal.com]

Exactly. The beauty of Irene Adler is that (used properly) the character can really be one of the few to get the better of Sherlock. But I'm not holding out much hope, here. I know the drawbacks of Moffat's show-running skills - have finally given up on Dr Who for the very reasons you mention (the recent Christmas special killed it for me.) Godlike-character-syndrome in spades, too little in the way of consequences, too much noise and fury.

I'll keep watching Sherlock and hope for the best. At least it is, generally speaking, good TV.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

exactly--the God syndrome!

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

They are correct, and about Sherlock as well. (I have seen the first episode of the new season; it did not inspire me to pounce on the second for many reasons.)