Sherlock - BBC [2]

I'd fallen behind on Elementary, but we finally watched the last four episodes of the first season tonight. The show drops its episodic weekly structure (although they've always had numerous callbacks and continuous character development) at the end, and if you try to watch the two-part season finale without having seen the two episodes immediately preceding it you'd be completely lost. This opens up untold new storytelling possibilities for the show, though it also makes me very glad that I did not watch it over a period of several weeks.

Anyway, I'm really tired and I want to avoid spoilers so I won't discuss anything in detail, but I'll say that the last four episodes feature the appearance/return of Sebastian Moran, Irene Adler, and at long last Moriarty. I thought it was very well done, and while the writers' addiction to convoluted plot twists is still apparent, they were excellently handled in this final arc of the season. The directing still leaves much to be desired, but the production values must have soared, because the highly varied settings of this arc looked great. I have to refer to it as an arc, because this felt more like a three hour movie (plus commercial breaks) that was split up than four separate episodes of television.

I know I was a bit of a snarky asshole about Elementary early on, and I still think that its origins were far from noble, but they have come so, so far from the bleeeurgh-y pilot that I can hardly believe it's the same show. The climax and resolution were extremely satisfying, and I'm eager to see if they can top themselves in season two. Hopefully they haven't played all their cards yet.

yeah, it kinda felt the same when i watched it (until it disappeared ) it grew on me, the first one are a bit.. idk, simple, but it's get better. I may compare it too much to Sherlock sometimes, but it's really not the same. Miller's Sherlock Holmes is actually very likeable (maybe even more similar to the original perhaps). I am still offended that they reduced Mrs. Hudson to a manic-cleaning-freak (opposite to bad-ass, motherly figure in BBC's). i am eager to watch on and see where they're going with this (CBS). my favourite is still BBC, i just think they have a kinda class and elegance over the production and storytelling and Freeman/Cumberbatch work so well together, it seems so much more done and in tribute to the original than the CBS version, Elementary feels more like CSI bakestreet or something and not that thought through all the time (but it is enjoyable). I love how BBC has all this subtle hint to the original, it could be a line but also just a picture or a prop and not made a big thing out of. it's their modern twist that really gets me (and it's still in london, with cabs!), because i can then go back and read the originals and be even more in love with Sherlock. it's just like a big fan-gasm of a fanfiction and i love it. Elementary just has the same character (with almost the same backstory, not quite) and they make up stories and add a lot of new character that has no root in the original, which makes it less Sherlock Holmes (if you know what i mean) and more like a bad copy. they borrowed the characters then made their own show(it doesn't have to be a bad thing), in contrary to BBC who literally made a sort of homage to Arthur Conan Doyle and it simply oozes out of hit how much Moffat and Gatiss love and respect the original books.

Yeah, I agree that Sherlock is better (and I can't wait for series 3 ), but Elementary was a very pleasant surprise in the end.

Spoiler:

I think I must be at the beginning because its very bland and the 'crimes' they detect are really boring. I havent seen Moriarty or Mrs Hudson yet, so maybe I saw the first series, the one with Vinnie Jones. its now finished for a break. I still find Watson tedious and she never seems to do much other than to stare blankly at him a LOT. she has the same rigid botox face with no expression at all, he is ok but then its dubbed so maybe I am missing a lot of nuance.

Eldorion wrote:Yeah, I agree that Sherlock is better (and I can't wait for series 3 ), but Elementary was a very pleasant surprise in the end.

Spoiler:

ooh, i can't wait now to see the final episodes now

Mrs Figg wrote:I think I must be at the beginning because its very bland and the 'crimes' they detect are really boring. I havent seen Moriarty or Mrs Hudson yet, so maybe I saw the first series, the one with Vinnie Jones. its now finished for a break. I still find Watson tedious and she never seems to do much other than to stare blankly at him a LOT. she has the same rigid botox face with no expression at all, he is ok but then its dubbed so maybe I am missing a lot of nuance.

yepp, if it finished for a break, then you're about as far as i am. i am not a big fan of that watson either, maybe because i was expecting more bamf and well.. toughness. she's more like his student than partner, not like the instant bromance between BBC's holmes and watson (and any other holmes and watson)

Watson definitely grows and changes over the course of the season and becomes more of a detective in her own right, but she is very different than the "real" Watson in more ways than just the gender change. Mrs Hudson only appears in one episode but she's a completely different character who just borrows an established name. *shrug*

I don't have any particular attachment to the Sherlock Holmes canon, so I enjoyed the show once they found a rhythm and were able to make their ideas work.

Ive yet to risk the crabbit by watching Elementary.
I have been a fan of the books since I was about 12 and a fan of the Brett TV version all hrough my teenage years and now Im a Sherlock fan.
What those two tv versions have in common is a love of and attempt to capture the spirit and feel of the original stories and characters- and whilst one is a traditional take and the other very modern- they both feel like the source.

I am not sure Elementary will sit alongside them in that regard from what others have been saying here.
Maybe I will get some extra, extra buckie in and risk a crabbit explosion- I am somewhat morbidly curious.

well Miller is ok as Sherlock I suppose, lots of twitching about, but she has never stopped whinging about leaving him for about the last 5 episodes which is getting tedious. Now she is pretending his dad is still paying her fees just so she can stay on and live in his house, and he has just told her he knows. then he asks her to stay, and instead of looking vaguely up for the challenge or happy or even mildly relieved, she just looks at him blankly. react woman! react for fooks sake. She is very pretty but I find her face almost impossible to read or detect emotions.

Botoxed into a statue?

I dont think she blinks either

A botoxed, non blinking female Watson who cant emote- mmmm, not exactly encouraging me to watch! (But probably saving me a crabbit explosion and everyone else having to read my scathing crabbit review!)

If you're going to judge the show solely based on its fidelity to the original stories you might as well not waste your time watching Elementary because that's not what it attempts to do.

Personally I don't have a problem with Lucy Liu's acting in the show but I can see why some people might. I think Mrs Figg is being a little harsh on her though.

who little me? surely not.

I need proof she actually acts though. rather than stand around in nice clothes looking cute.

I'll agree that the outfits -- and especially the heels -- they have her wear seem rather unsuited to scampering around a major city doing detective work.

Watson does contribute to solving cases in the second half of the series, if that's any encouragement.

If you're going to judge the show solely based on its fidelity to the original stories- Eldo

Depends what you mean by that Eldo- Sherlock isnt exctly word for word- in fact it can be quite different. My favourite Sherlock episode is Scandal in Bohemia- the entire second half of which is a made up addition with no basis in the original story whatsoever.
But it still feels right (except the final scene which I complained abut at the time for hat reason). But the characters still feel like the originals, the way in which the story is constructed echoes Doyles own way of laying out his threads in a tale.

So exactly copying or being faithful to the original in the sense of only using original stories, dialogue ect is not what I mean.
It has for me to be faithful to Doyles work and style and aims and purposes and above all to his characters.
All of which Sherlock does exceptionally well whilst still allowing itself the room needed when relocating the setting to the present day.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:A botoxed, non blinking female Watson who cant emote- mmmm, not exactly encouraging me to watch! (But probably saving me a crabbit explosion and everyone else having to read my scathing crabbit review!)

no botox.

it's scandal in Belgravia.

btw, i see figg's point, Watson seems a bit like a purse-dog in the first half at least, she can act but idk...

american actors..

I mean that if your enjoyment of the series is mostly contingent on whether it reminds you of the original you probably won't enjoy it very much because -- to my admittedly limited understanding -- Elementary is pretty much content to do its own thing for the most part. It certainly does not have the same level of detail or care as Sherlock, if for no other reason than the production schedule involved in making 24 episodes.

Since I haven't read the original stories I can't say how faithful to the style Elementary is, but it does feel much more like a typical TV series than Sherlock did. I think it's nonetheless well done, but I suspect that its strengths will be irrelevant to you.

it's scandal in Belgravia.- Norc

My mistake Scandal in Bohemia is the original Doyle story its based off- I forgot they changed the title.

they made new cases, the only sorces they kept (sort of) was the backstory (I beileve) also... it just feels like a bad AU-fanfic. well, not bad, but not brilliantly executed, it can be enjoyable, but it's not a fantastic fanfiction that shows you understand and love the original characters and stories.

They kept a few other elements but it's mostly new material, yes.

I wouldn't call it fanfiction. But it would be more accurate to say that the series is inspired in broad strokes by the ACD stories than to call it an adaptation.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:it's scandal in Belgravia.- Norc

My mistake Scandal in Bohemia is the original Doyle story its based off- I forgot they changed the title.

*proud sherlockian*

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