Not the season premiere I expected | a review of Sherlock

The only thing worse than disappointment in one of your favorite shows is disappointment before the show even begins.

After nearly six months of waiting, I was all ready to watch the second season premiere of Sherlock – glass of prosecco in hand – when my television abruptly dropped all channels due to a “weak signal.” Despite feverish attempts at restoring the signal, I couldn’t get service to OPB for another 25 minutes. (And only after I followed IT Crowd protocol by turning everything off and back on again.)

Needless to say, I entered the second season of Sherlock thoroughly disoriented. There was a woman in a robe (presumably Irene Adler) and Sherlock in a sparsely furnished room with a safe, a mobile phone, and a couple snarly Americans. It took another fifteen minutes to figure out what the heck was going on.

I have very mixed feelings about “A Scandal in Bohemia.” I really enjoy Steven Moffat’s work; I adore Benedict Cumberbatch’s and Martin Freeman’s acting. Yet “Bohemia” failed to capture the same level of cleverness as the first season. It didn’t crackle and rush like the first three episodes. It wasn’t a bad episode; I just didn’t love it. The puzzle or mystery plot of “Bohemia” seemed to serve more as an apparatus upon which to hang the “love” story between Sherlock and Irene Adler.

(And yes, I use the phrase “love story” loosely.)

It was intriguing to see Sherlock flummoxed by a woman. It revealed an emotional depth to him that had been hinted at before but not examined. Still…I liked the sexually ambiguous Sherlock from the first season. His romantic/emotional attachment to Irene felt wrong somehow. Like a betrayal unto himself. (My own interpretation. I’m sure others feel differently.)

And what about Irene Adler? I’m not sure about her either. I really like her strength and intelligence, yet did anyone else find her to be too much? As though we were hit over the head with her wit and schemes and mystery? If Irene were so intelligent – rivaling Sherlock – why did she need to consult Moriarty? Why did she have to fall in love with Sherlock? (Well, to be fair, who wouldn’t?) It felt a little cliche for “the only woman to beat Sherlock Holmes” to succomb to sentiment in the end.

I need to watch this episode again. This time in its entirety. Maybe I’ll like it more the second time around. What did you think? Sound off below!

 

 

dear CBS, here’s a suggestion: come up with your own ideas

This past week CBS announced that it had cast Jonny Lee Miller as its Sherlock Holmes for the pilot of the newly ordered series Elementary, a modern retelling of Sherlock.

If you’re thinking, Wait hasn’t the BBC already done that? The answer is a resounding yes. The enormously successful – and brilliant – BBC Sherlock series is co-created by Steven Moffat (executive producer of the current Doctor Who series) and Mark Gatiss. Sherlock is played by the mesmerizing Benedict Cumberbatch, joined by Martin Freeman as Watson. I will not go into the high-quality and stellar writing of this series. I’ll save that for another time – when PBS brings over the second season of Sherlock to American television.

Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman) in BBC's 'Sherlock'

What really gets me upset about CBS’s ridiculously named Elementary is that is another example in a long line of US remakes of UK shows. While Great Britain imports several US television shows, the US rarely airs original British programming (save for PBS and BBC America, the second of which for obvious reasons). I understand that television “translations” or remakes is a complex topic and includes such issues as import and copyright laws, syndication rights, cultural differences, the very notion of “original,” and money. With that disclaimer in place, allow me the space to vent.

Why this discrepancy? Why do U.S. networks believe that American viewers will not like or understand (!) original British programs? The overwhelming recent popularity of Downton Abbey and Doctor Who (and to a lesser extent The Hour) should prove that there is a robust appetite for British programming.

Moreover, when the US remakes UK shows they are often terrible. They usually fail. Save for the successful The Office, the following US remakes were cancelled shortly after the premiere (or even before it even aired): Prime Suspect, Life on Mars, Red Dwarf, Skins, Spaced, Teachers, Free Agents, and The IT Crowd. I argue that these shows were not cancelled because of insurmountable cultural differences, confusing humor, or other instances of “lost in translation,” but rather poor remakes. The US shows, in and of themselves, are not as good as their UK counterparts.

Take Sherlock. Nearly everyone knows of the iconic character; he is wrapped up with British culture. 221b Baker Street, London. His Britishness – his entwining history with England – is part of his appeal. (Sure there are examples of Holmes references, such as House and The Mentalist‘s Patrick Jane. Yet these characters do not profess to be the Sherlock Holmes, in the same way as BBC’s Sherlock and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock films.) To transplant Sherlock Holmes into modern-day New York City is kind of like moving Superman to Manchester.

Let me be clear: I am not against remakes, reboots, reinventions, or re-imaginings. I fully support them. But I am against US networks always remaking perfectly excellent shows instead of importing the originals. Especially in this case – when CBS approached the BBC for remake rights to Sherlock and were told no, only to then announce their own version of a modern-day Sherlock in New York. Suspicious? No wonder Sherlock’s executive producer Sue Vertue has made it clear that she will protect the “interest and well-being” of the BBC series.

Yeah. CBS? How ’bout you come up with your own ideas? Be creative. Innovate. And if that fails, maybe import original British programming for a change. Believe me, there is a ready and waiting audience for it.

 

Doctor Who & David Yates: disaster or brilliance?

Courtesy BBC America

 

The Guardian offered an editorial today, written by Dan Martin, on the announcement that Yates is planning to direct a new Doctor Who big-screen movie. Martin’s article precisely captures my thoughts and feelings on this piece of Doctor Who-related news. Now this is David Yates of Harry Potter fame and, before that, The Way We Live Now and the superb BBC’s State of Play. Despite his abilities, the idea of a Doctor Who film that “starts from scratch” is deeply unsettling. As Martin argues, “The genius of Russell T Davies’s 2005 revival was that it wasn’t a reboot at all, but the continuation of one long story that started in 1963…But it managed that without new fans requiring any pre-knowledge whatsoever.” 

 

Moreover, this long-standing story that has spanned nearly 50 years is perfectly suited for the TV medium. Fans can tune in weekly and follow the progression of the show with their own lives. I cannot comprehend condensing the complexity and development of Doctor Who into a two-hour film. Maybe that notes a lack of imagination on my part. But right now, I’m nervous that Yates might not fully understand the complicated, nuanced character of the Doctor, nor appreciate the longevity of the television series, nor the near-obsessive passion of the series’ fans. After all, the past two executive directors of Doctor Who (T. Davies and Steven Moffat) started out as nerdy fans of the Doctor Who universe. They knew the insides and outs of the canon and how the story interacted with fans over the decades.

 

Some may argue that Yates accomplished a similar translation by transforming the final Harry Potter books to film. How is a television series any different? Despite the similarity in visual form, television and film function very differently, and if a director does not fully understand or appreciate the televisual form, then moving that story into a cinematic form could prove messy. It’s still too early to say how – or even if – this “bigscreen” movie will manifest. Perhaps it will be brilliant. But I’m still nervous. As Moffat tweeted earlier today: “Announcing my personal moonshot, starting from scratch. No money, no plan, no help from NASA. But I know where the moon is – I’ve seen it.” Snarky? A little. But he does have a point.

 

Fans seem to be divided in their opinions. Are you a fan of Doctor Who? How do you feel about the series being made into a full-length motion picture?