Sherlock

Our long wait is over! BBC Sherlock doth return tonight on BBC1 at 8.10pm GMT! I've avoided any reviews that might be in any way spoilery, but there's a good one here that manages to whet the appetite without giving anything major away. Tonight's episode is A Scandal in Belgravia and we meet Irene Adler. I cannot wait!

And if you scroll down on the Sherlockology tumblr, there are trailers for the series.

Oh, and the coat is back too. Hooray! There has been a distinct lack of BBC coat goodness this past year. I know we had Captain Jack in Torchwood but I read that they made a lighter version because the original was made for Cardiff weather, not L.A. and while I cannot hate on the coat, I could tell that there was something different about it. It was not the coat that I fell in love with. Though now, I feel for Benedict Cumberbatch who had to wear his coat around London in the summer, pretending it was winter. If I find out that his was a lighter version also, my faith in humanity will be extinguished. *sniffle*

YES! Hopefully it won't take too long to make over to this side of the pond! *runs off to start stalking TV listings*

In the US, PBS will air Sherlock season 2 in May. I'm not sure how I'm going to wait that long.

Ahhh, so freaking excited!

The whole time I was at the new Sherlock Holmes movie I was thinking how much I'd rather be watching the BBC Sherlock.

Ok; that was awesome.

I WANT TO POST COHERENT THOUGHTS BUT ALL THAT'S GOING THROUGH MY HEAD IS OMGWTFPOLARBEAREVENTHOUGHTHEREWASNOPOLARBEAR!!!

Ahem. That was fantastic. Fast moving, well acted, some brilliant scenes with Lara Pulver and Benedict Cumberbatch, brilliant scenes with Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch and Una Stubbs, fun lines, some OMG moments, clever dialogue and nice shout outs to the literary canon.
I'm going to watch it a few more times over the next few days. It was just classic stuff.

I will be living vicariously through you for the next few months! So jealous!!

sagitare wrote:I will be living vicariously through you for the next few months! So jealous!!

Now, I wouldn't be one to make anyone do anything they weren't comfortable with or didn't want to do, but the episode is "out there", so to speak, and has been since 10.15pm GMT. Not bad going considering the episode ended at 9.40pm GMT.

I might have to watch this. I do love me some Irene Adler.

Bless the Internet. I saw it. I'm.... ambivalent. I think it's the ending that left me cold.

But Moriarty continues to fill me with glee. And Molly needs a friend who can tell her that Sherlock's a moron who can't see the goodness in her and seriously she should move on because he's a moron.

This is just me. Irene's just a tough character for people to write apparently. Even though in my head, she's still a Jersey girl.

QueenSix wrote:Now, I wouldn't be one to make anyone do anything they weren't comfortable with or didn't want to do, but the episode is "out there", so to speak, and has been since 10.15pm GMT. Not bad going considering the episode ended at 9.40pm GMT.

Heh. Indeed it is! *whistles innocently*

Queen Six I am with you. I was flailing at the television. I was completely captivated and shouted at the television a few times. I.. my brain gone. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

Ah, Sherlock. I love that show. Which makes me facepalm when they screw up race and gender issues as they do. Sigh. "The Blind Banker" in the first series was as if they had read Edward Said's Orientalism and taken it as a "How To"-guide, and not as the scathing deconstruction of the interplay between racism and colonialism it is. And the WTH?!? ending of this new episode went in the same direction.

And did they have to undercut Adler like that? Tying her to Moriarty and Sherlock, even though she was an independent player in canon. I don't know...

But the acting is always great and I love the characters and am always entertained. I just find some things sketchy. I'm not watching Doctor Who but have heard that Moffatt isn't so great about writing the female characters there either?

Loved it. Sherlock, as always, devastatingly attractive, hilarious and frequently a complete arse. Which is more or less how I always felt about Sherlock Holmes, so that works for me.

I've never really liked any incarnation of Irene Adler outside of the written one, but Lara Pulver wasn't bad. I didn't think she was anywhere near attractive enough to pull off the amount of posturing and posing she was doing at the beginning, but when she stopped doing that I actually liked her character better than I usually like Irene Adler. I did think she looked much older than Sherlock, and was surprised to find that the actress is only 31. I'd have placed her at 40-something.

Despite Sherlock's apology, which obviously astounded John, I think poor Molly should have been the one to punch him in the face. Even if it hadn't been Sherlock she was interested in, it was needlessly cruel rather than simply oblivious.

I did like the reference to John's string of girlfriends...also liked how Sherlock couldn't remember them - they weren't important to him, so he didn't give them space in his brain. And everyone still thinks that Sherlock and John are a couple...

Really enjoyed it. Especially the resolution to the phone's lock code.

I've been ranting all over my tumblr about this, so I feel bad about the one who will harsh the squee. But I'll just say this -- I hated the last 10 minutes and the whole I AM THE GODDAMN BATMAN CONSULTING DETECTIVE AND YOU ARE CATWOMAN resolution.

Other than that, I loved it. I loved how they did Scandal in 30 minutes because it's a lightweight story and focused on the impact Irene had on Sherlock. I loved the throwing the bad guy out a window for hurting Mrs. Hudson, I loved the bedsheet, the giggling and the whole sexual tension between Irene and Sherlock.

So it wasn't terrible, but the ending just really cheesed me off.

*ducks the chairs thrown at her*

Oh I don't know, I'd have been happy enough if they'd missed the very last part.

Forgot to mention - the scene in Buckingham Palace made me laugh so much I watched it at least three times before moving on - and not just because of the sheet. The 'Are you wearing any pants?' 'No.' and subsequent fits of laughter gets me every single time.

Yep; I loved it, but am pretending for my sanity that the last ten minutes didn't happen.

Spoiler:

Esseilte, I was almost crying with laughter at that bit. Loved, loved the John-Sherlock interactions.

I didn't mind the ending myself. Sherlock had a "connection" to her and we saw how he was about Mrs Hudson getting terrorised so it didn't surprise me that he'd be there if Irene Adler got in bad trouble. If a person thought that her being in that situation in the first place went against what we know of Irene Adler and that she should have been able to survive quite well without her phone and the incriminating evidence on it, then I would suggest that perhaps Moriarty decided she was of no further use to him and helped engineer her downfall. Or maybe helped it along by doing nothing when he could have done something or vice versa. Granted, that could be seen as fanwanking of the highest order, but the way I see it, Irene Adler had spent so long manipulating people left, right & centre, it's not that hard to imagine that there would be conspiring against her once they knew she was powerless.

I'm still a bit mad that again there's only three episodes. I know that helps keep the quality good and fair play to the director, there were a lot of shots that were almost cinematic, it was fabulously framed in places, but I want more! [/only child pout]. Of course, now I have to hold onto my HMV voucher and see what price the DVD is when it comes out on January 23rd. As you do.

I would have been happier without that last ten minutes, too - the bit with Sherlock seemingly on a rescue mission was just too bizarre. The logistics and details behind something like that are just too much to have completely ignored in the story. Also, having Mycroft assure Watson that Irene was very definitely dead seemed to close that particular door. I think someone upthread (or perhaps on another board) floated the theory that her 'death' was staged - this I could get behind, assuming that in one of the subsequent episodes she makes a reappearance with some kind of explanation which, given her connection to Moriarity, isn't outside the realm of possibility. if this is the case then Mycroft would have to be in on it as well and for whatever reason they're not letting John in on it. Again, all could be made clear in one of the other two episodes. At least, I hope that's the case because I'd really rather not have what was otherwise an excellent episode tarnished at the end by that bizarro finish.

I loved the visuals, as QueenSix mentioned, and how they presented scenes like Adler working out what happened to the dude that was hit with the boomerang. It was very funny in places, especially how they got themselves out of the standoff that ended that last episode. The phone ringtone plus Moriarity's taking the call like he's standing on a street corner and not being held at gunpoint with explosives at his feet was hilarious. I enjoyed it all immensely - so good to have it back, even if it's just for another 3 episodes!

ETA: Just came across another reading of the Sherlock/Adler relationship and ending that I quite like (from one of the comments to this piece): "...from an early stage, she and Holmes have been in collusion to pwn Mycroft and Moriarty and her other enemies like the CIA. Retrospectively, the entire sequence where she humiliates him in front of his brother, and he breaks her, then becomes a major bluff. Setting up a way of convincing everyone that this time she really is dead. The relationship is based on the fact that they are two of the smartest people on the planet and like each other enough at a purely intellectual level to take on the challenge of playing against the other two and winning as a team. The fact that she is gay and he is – presumably – asexual is something that enables them to outwit even the effete Mycroft who still thinks in conventional terms about sexual motivation."

Adler and Sherlock working together against Mycroft, Moriarity, the CIA etc? That definitely works for me.

QueenSix, I figured some of the terrorist cell had to be Moriarty's doing. She failed him with Sherlock figuring out the passcode to her phone. I like to think it's an illustration of how far Moriarty's dealings extend and the influence he wields. Really, there isn't a place for people to run and hide from him.

I also loved the transitions between the scenes. Admittedly I think I yelped "OH THAT IS SEXY!" when I saw the transitions from Irene's place to the outdoors and back and forth. That was nice work.

Also, I long to punch Sherlock in the face for the way he treats Molly. She deserves so much better.

He is SUCH a dick to Molly. I agree he needs to be punched in the face more often. Although the "Punch me in the face. Did you not hear me say that?"/ "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you speak" KILLED me.

I was dying at that line. And I loved the spin on the names of the stories on John's blog. "The Geek Interpreter, " etc.

I really do wish they did The Speckled Band. I'd love to know what kind of animal they'd come up with that was a snake, yet ate milk and could live in a safe and would return back to its master with a whistle.

If you check out the online blog of Dr John Watson, he has a write-up of The Speckled Blonde and The Geek Interpreter. I'd link to it, but am on my phone.

I'll do so. I've seen bits and pieces, but not the whole thing.

I'm really curious to see how they do Hound, given that a dog dipped in phosphorus may be a bit to scooby doo.