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Elementary - the TV Series
Oct. 8th, 2012 09:06 amI watched 1 1/2 episodes of the new ABC (Think it's ABC) drama 'Elementary', which is Modern Day Sherlock Holmes that's TOATS different than the BBC one because it's in New York! And Watson's a girl!
To be fair, it's hard not to make comparisons to the Moffat/Gatis version, since the basic premise is similar, and that makes it a bit more difficult to judge the show on its own merit.
The actors are stellar, I have to say. It's an excellent cast, and I'd be happy to see the show succeed just so those actors can have a regular paycheck. The writing isn't bad, it's just...well as I said, it isn't anything terribly new.
My biggest complaint is the background they've given both characters. Firstly 'Joan' Watson was a surgeon who accidently killed a patient and either lost her license or quit out of guilt; it hasn't been made clear which yet, and now she works as a 'addict companion', hired by Sherlock's father to stay with him, Sherlock, for six weeks as he just got out of rehab.
They could have made her an army soldier who got shot in Afganistan, but I guess that's not feminine enough, so she's a woman with guilt on her mind. Fine, whatevs.
Sherlock now has an overbearing, very wealthy father who inexpicably owns 5 properties in New York City, and who has threatened to cut Sherlock off and make him live in the streets of New York (why not London, I have no idea) if he doesn't stay sober.
When we meet Sherlock he apparently just had sex - BONDAGE sex, with a hooker. I suppose we may find out later that really he was doing an experiment, but at the moment he said, while he finds sex grody, he needs it to keep his mind sharp. So here he's more like House than Sherlock.
And this is sort of the crux of why I'm not sure I'm going to like this show. They made Watson a woman, I think, so they can have the UST without it being between two men. It's established early, as when Sherlock meets Joan he quotes some television show at her about love at first sight, making her a bit wibbly until she realises he's quoting at her.
So we have a Sherlock with an angsty background and a girl Wastson with a sad background who probably finds him sexy. (Not that I blame her - Johnny Lee Miller is yummy). It's just boring, really. Not good, not bad, just boring.
And in the 2nd episode Joan infers that the reason Sherlock left London was because he was Brung Low by a Woman. I'm hoping that is is an incorrect assumption, but when she said it, I thought, 'Oh, dear gods, it's going to be Irene Bloody Adler, isn't it.'
I do not understand why Irene Bloody Adler is so fascinating to everyone who writes Sherlock Holmes things. I mean, yes, he admired her, and yes she was bright enough to make Sherlock when he was conning her, and bright enough to get away before he could stop her; and Sherlock did admire her, but it wasn't anything other than that.
Watson didn't even ship Sherlock and Irene, really. It was the woman in the Copper Beeches that Watson was hoping Sherlock would go out with. She was very bright and resourcful, and quite intelligent. But no one can remember her name. (Even me and that's one of my favourite stories)
Oh, sorry...went on a rant there.
Taken in and of itself, it isn't a bad show. but the show is decent, it's just not terribly original. We've seen it a billion times in recent years, with House, Psych, and Monk, and The Mentalist, and BBC's Sherlock, and even White Collar and Leverage, to a lesser degree.
Did any of you see it?
To be fair, it's hard not to make comparisons to the Moffat/Gatis version, since the basic premise is similar, and that makes it a bit more difficult to judge the show on its own merit.
The actors are stellar, I have to say. It's an excellent cast, and I'd be happy to see the show succeed just so those actors can have a regular paycheck. The writing isn't bad, it's just...well as I said, it isn't anything terribly new.
My biggest complaint is the background they've given both characters. Firstly 'Joan' Watson was a surgeon who accidently killed a patient and either lost her license or quit out of guilt; it hasn't been made clear which yet, and now she works as a 'addict companion', hired by Sherlock's father to stay with him, Sherlock, for six weeks as he just got out of rehab.
They could have made her an army soldier who got shot in Afganistan, but I guess that's not feminine enough, so she's a woman with guilt on her mind. Fine, whatevs.
Sherlock now has an overbearing, very wealthy father who inexpicably owns 5 properties in New York City, and who has threatened to cut Sherlock off and make him live in the streets of New York (why not London, I have no idea) if he doesn't stay sober.
When we meet Sherlock he apparently just had sex - BONDAGE sex, with a hooker. I suppose we may find out later that really he was doing an experiment, but at the moment he said, while he finds sex grody, he needs it to keep his mind sharp. So here he's more like House than Sherlock.
And this is sort of the crux of why I'm not sure I'm going to like this show. They made Watson a woman, I think, so they can have the UST without it being between two men. It's established early, as when Sherlock meets Joan he quotes some television show at her about love at first sight, making her a bit wibbly until she realises he's quoting at her.
So we have a Sherlock with an angsty background and a girl Wastson with a sad background who probably finds him sexy. (Not that I blame her - Johnny Lee Miller is yummy). It's just boring, really. Not good, not bad, just boring.
And in the 2nd episode Joan infers that the reason Sherlock left London was because he was Brung Low by a Woman. I'm hoping that is is an incorrect assumption, but when she said it, I thought, 'Oh, dear gods, it's going to be Irene Bloody Adler, isn't it.'
I do not understand why Irene Bloody Adler is so fascinating to everyone who writes Sherlock Holmes things. I mean, yes, he admired her, and yes she was bright enough to make Sherlock when he was conning her, and bright enough to get away before he could stop her; and Sherlock did admire her, but it wasn't anything other than that.
Watson didn't even ship Sherlock and Irene, really. It was the woman in the Copper Beeches that Watson was hoping Sherlock would go out with. She was very bright and resourcful, and quite intelligent. But no one can remember her name. (Even me and that's one of my favourite stories)
Oh, sorry...went on a rant there.
Taken in and of itself, it isn't a bad show. but the show is decent, it's just not terribly original. We've seen it a billion times in recent years, with House, Psych, and Monk, and The Mentalist, and BBC's Sherlock, and even White Collar and Leverage, to a lesser degree.
Did any of you see it?