Asakiyume mita

I enjoy that show. It's occasionally flat (as any show would be) but on the whole... clever, funny TV with a fresh take on the old detective.

I do hope they bring back Irene Adler with a vengeance, or use Mary in an expanded capacity, or really explore the Molly character further. I'd like to see satisfactory development of at least one female character...

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They can be rather, uh, minimalist, so I'm very glad they convey enough to inspire love!

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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.

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heleninwales.livejournal.com

I am becoming increasingly annoyed at how poorly women are treated in the new Sherlock. Ironically, the women in Conan Doyle's Victorian original stories are more spirited, courageous and more active than in the modern update. And there are more of them. It is so disheartening. :(

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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.

Edited Date: 2014-01-19 02:28 pm (UTC)

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Agreed. They need to step up. Enough with the mooning females who only exist to serve!

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I've watched episodes, though I don't like it as well as Elementary (my BVC blog subject today, as it happens!) for two reasons: one, more interesting women in Elementary, and also I much prefer its Holmes.

There is clever writing in Sherlock, and I adore the Watson, and the cinematography and editing is brilliant, but Cumberbatch is a shade too smug, and there is sometimes a kind a slick heartlessness that I don't get in the other show.

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browngirl.livejournal.com

I was about to say this but you've said it much better. *agrees*

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Thanks! Well, that makes two of us against the stream of bazillions.

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browngirl.livejournal.com

Ugh, I know.

If you're on Tumblr, have you found the Elementalsquee tag, for people who actually like the show? (I hope I spelled it correctly.)

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I don't do tumbler or twitter (no time!) but I am very glad there are others out there who like the show, too. I would hate for it to be cancelled.

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*Nodding* re: the heartlessness. I think that particular episode tried to show a buried-beneath-the-surface incipient caring, but it was pretty understated, and even so, what is it that makes heartlessness so appealing (apparently) to so many?

Maybe--just thinking aloud here--it's from being moralized at from a young age about the virtues of kindness? Or maybe it's seeing things labeled kindness, when really, under the surface, there are so many barbs and strings attached that in the end it isn't experienced as kindness? Maybe, with enough of that, people want to escape from the notion altogether--and yet, I can't believe people really want to escape from kindness.

Or, then again, maybe it's nothing more than a manifestation of the bad-boy phenomenon, someone who is dangerous in some way (in this case, emotionally), and is therefore attractive.

I am very interested to see Elementary as I've heard hugely good things about it from many different people. Can't wait to read your BVC post!

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exactly--the God syndrome!

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Have you seen Elementary, which

sartorias mentions below?

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Heartlessness looks cool. When you're young, and want to be hip, (or even not so young) affect can be all. I think. Not sure.

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(This is such a great icon ^_^)

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To probe further, what constitutes "cool"? I think it has to be defined against something prevailing. If expressionlessness is mainstream, then blowing your top becomes cool, whereas if blowing your top is mainstream, then expressionlessness becomes cool (maybe?)

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Cool is control, stylishness, coming out on top in any encounter.

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heleninwales.livejournal.com

No, it sounds interesting, but it hasn't yet appeared on a channel I have access to. We don't pay for satellite TV and Freeview via aerial doesn't have as many channels.

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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.)

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haikujaguar.livejournal.com

*nods agreement*

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boxofdelights

Yes to all those, plus: exerting the absolute minimum amount of effort necessary to win. "Never let them see you sweat" is an imperative, but even when they don't see you, cool demands no sweat.

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amanen.livejournal.com

Everyone was talking about that precisely two years ago, and it's so ridiculous for me to think it's been that long. I remember because the second season (which is when that episode happens) came out during my gap year (my gap yeeahhh), and I remember holing up in my room by myself and watching it because I had nothing much else to do/was QUITE into the show at the time.

The third season finally came out at the beginning of this year, but I still haven't found time to watch it. That said, from what I hear, it's apparently not as great as the other seasons? But then, my opinions have shifted someone since two years ago, especially towards the show's main writer, Moffat. He needs to retire. I don't care how old he isn't, he needs to retire.

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I found the episode really fun and clever, and it was only after the fact that I started thinking of all those Moffat-esque things that I'd also swallowed. And to be honest, for one episode, those weren't so bad. Certainly not like the season finale for whichever season of Dr. Who it is where the tardis gets all large and people are jumping into the Doctor's personal time stream (and, incidentally, rules for how the world works are apparently being made up on the fly and disregarded shortly after they're announced). That was really just ridiculous. But this seemed okay! Not as bad as House for hero worship. My goodness the fan service though. Sherlock all wrapped up in a white sheet? I turned to my dad and said, see now that? That is what is called online FAN SERVICE.

The one thing that bugged me even as I was watching it was that Irene had to be a dominatrix. Oh come on, really? You can't imagine ANYthing else for a superintelligent, beats-the-boys-at-everything-type woman than to have her *literally* beating the boys? Basically because you can't imagine women outside of sexuality. Bah.

Moffat should be told that every character he's written as male must be filled by a woman, and every character he's written as female must be filled with a man. "But that would be ridiculous because …" --no Moffat, you see. That's just it. If it's ridiculous in one direction, it is in the other, too, because women = humans! Like men!! Surprising, I know.

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This is making me think of the poem "But He Was Cool, or: He even stopped for green lights," (http://asakiyume.livejournal.com/517314.html) which ends by dismissing cool in favor of very-hot.

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Nodding. Maybe I'm wrong upthread one comment: maybe the very temperature-origin of the word means that no heat, no (shown) passion is allowed.

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So you've seen Elementary too?

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That is exactly it. I think it goes back to Lord Chesterfield.

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ashlyme.livejournal.com

I think I enjoyed the first series. The latest one's mehsome, for all the reasons people have commented on here. I've got tired of Moffat as a showrunner, and I'd rather re-watch Jeremy Brett now.

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