Well after reading what he did to my hero in the Houdini biography, I thought I’d never read nor watch a thing by Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle. Nevermind that House was based on Sherlock Holmes (House=Homes; Wilson=Watson; Vicadin=Opium). Nevermind that one of my top-ten actors played Holmes in a recent series (Robert Downey Jr.). Nevermind that I’m an addict for anything resembling a mystery or a noir. Nevermind that I’m attracted to the pragmatics of abductive reasoning even though I hate it as a philosophy. BBC, I love you, but I was sticking to Downton.
But then you threw a Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch at me–he who played William Pitt, William Carey, Paul Marshall, Peter Guillam, and Major Jamie Stewart. Not to mention Martin Freeman (soon to be Bilbo). You piqued my interest, but no–I would refrain. We have Houdini to think of…
Then you put Mark Gatiss on the screenplay (who wrote some Dr. Who, also supported as Mycroft) along with Steven Moffat (most recently the Adventures of Tintin). Intriguing, but you’d have to do better than that…
But then you people throw the whole thing into modern day London and of course my gilded age sensibilities are offended. That was the death blow to the mere thought that I could ever ever watch Sherlock Holmes on TV.
So there I am, watching the season finale of Downton season one and what comes on but Sherlock? I go to change the channel and… and…
And you know what? I loved the music, and the typeface Johnston Sans which London uses for its underground…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdUGJSknnWM]
So I keep watching and the brilliance of the show astounds me. Instead of Doyle’s inconsistency with Watson’s military injury, they give the man a psychosomatic illness–therefore it has to move around. The injury came not from the Second Anglo-Afghan war but rather from the current “war on terror” in Afghanistan–convenient and wonderful. Instead of journals, they gave John Watson a blog. Instead of his pipe, they gave him nicotine patches and so stuck their tongues out at London’s current non-smoking legislation. A Study in Scarlet became the Emmy-nominated A Study in Pink, but his address is still 221b Baker Street.
In addition, I found the spacial text-overlays enchanting. Why? Because it’s one of the few ways I’ve seen something like inner monologue or voice-over work in a show-don’t-tell sense for film. Sherlock and Watson can be in the middle of a fight and Mycroft will add conflict to the whole scene simply by sending a text and that text appearing upon the screen. I’d love to get my hands on a copy of the shooting screenplay for this one, so if you find one, let me know. Pretty please. With Baskerville sugar on top.
I’ve finished the series now, all caught up and anxiously await the next installment. So fine FINE! I’ve picked up the copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes and started reading. I still disagree with the applications of abductive reasoning but…
I like it. It’s a good story. Don’t rub it in.
Dear Houdini,
Please forgive me.
Love,
Lancelot
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