Yes It's A Lot Of Fun, But...

[poliphilo]

Forget about Sherlock's death dive that wasn't, what I want to know is how the bad guys managed to build Watson into a bonfire in a London Square without anybody noticing and- again- how Sherlock managed to persuade a couple of strangers to cede him their motor scooter and- again- why the North Koreans would have any interest in blowing up the Palace of Westminster. I could go on. Every bloody thing that happens in this bloody show is implausible.

The laws of time and space- and common sense and political reality- are bent this way and that as narrative requires. This isn't proper drama; in real drama the world pushes back against the protagonist- gives him some resistance-  but here the opposition is so much wet cardboard- to be punched through with the twitch of a superpower or eluded with a jump cut.  There's no real emotion either- just a tacky vein of bromantic sentimentality. Sherlock is an affectless calculating machine except that he wuvs John. Oh God, everything in this universe is so easy.

Conan Doyle was a realist. His Sherlock operates out of the muddy, foggy world of late Victorian London- dealing mostly with small time crime- fraud, thievery, blackmail, domestic murder. His world constrains him. If he needs to get somewhere in a hurry he hails a cab or catches a train. The fate of nations is rarely in the balance. There are no hair's breadth escapes, no ticking bombs. Guns are rarely fired. With the exception of Moriarty- who has an active role in a single story- there are no super villains.  Moffat and Gattis are credited with bringing Holmes into the 21st century but that's not at all what they've done; what they've done is translate him to fairyland.

Comments

[happydog.livejournal.com]

Moffat and Gattis have made Sherlock Holmes into Doctor Who stuck on earth without a box to travel in. The only thing he lacks is a sonic screwdriver. Watson is just another Companion. Moffat's inability to write anything that is not preposterous is something that he can get away with in Doctor Who, because Doctor Who is essentially preposterous. In Sherlock, which is supposed to be set in this world, it doesn't work.

Maybe I am being too hard on him, maybe he's trying for an Avengers sort of thing (Patrick McNee Avengers, not the comic book, for the uninitiated). But if so even that isn't working.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes... that does bother me, about Watson. He is ex-military and a skilled surgeon and... how often do we get to see these traits? I had hopes that first episode because of his perfect shot, which Sherlock admired. But that seems to have been the limit of Watson's competence. Sadly, during this last episode, I actually exclaimed aloud, "Oh! Watson is the princess that Sherlock always has to save!"

(Wherein my husband gave me a Look, which I interpreted after 20 years of companionship as 'And we are watching this why?') -_-

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't remember Conan Doyle's Watson ever having to be rescued. He's tough, reliable, intelligent (by any standards except Holmes's)- and a fine shot with his trusty service revolver.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The Avengers was out and out fantasy. Sherlock isn't quite- and so falls between two stools. Maybe I viewed the first two seasons through rose-tinted spectacles, but this latest episode seems to be several degrees sillier than anything that went before.

[happydog.livejournal.com]

It was, and I have come up with a possible reason why it was sillier.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You're going to post about it, yes?

[happydog.livejournal.com]

Done!