Monday, May 14, 2012

Sherlock!

I didn't expect to like the new Sherlock when I saw it last year. But I did. I loved the witty dialogue and the relationship between Holmes and John Watson. I loved the fact that they were YOUNG--which was how Conan Doyle wrote them in the first place. I love the way that technology is embraced and the way that we see Sherlock's thought processes taking place like a computer program.

And last nights Baskerville episode, while a little silly in the end as mind altering gases always are, was really suspenseful and entertaining. I normally don't watch scary things late at night (I have vivid dreams even without the stimulation) but I couldn't turn this one off.

But it's also interesting to me to see how plots are recycled. Years ago a good friend of mine called Hal Barwood wrote and directed a movie about a mind-altering substance designed to make troops fearless and aggressive. Of course something goes wrong and the lab workers, sealed in an underground facility, try to kill each other. So last night's Holmes was a real case of deja vue.

What I like about this series is the clever banter and interaction between the characters that relieves the tension. I've always liked that sort of quipping relationship. Remember in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? That script was full of witty interchange even when the characters are fighting for their lives.  I suppose I enjoy it so much because it is what I strive for in my own work, especially in the Royal Spyness books. It's always a question of how do you make murder funny and yet keep the gravity of killing another human being? In the latest Naughty in Nice Georgie finds the next door neighbor floating in his pool with his head bashed in. She drags down her mother and friends to see. Her mother, never the sensitive type, takes one look and says, "What a disgusting looking man. He looks like a hippopotamus."

It's fun when characters say the sort of things we'd all like to say but don't!
So what did you think of Sherlock?

11 comments:

  1. I love the new series. I like everything about it that you do. I am just fascinated by the updating and twisting of the old stories. Quality acting from the whole cast. I look forward to seeing the next one.

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  2. I have been eagerly awaiting the new season, and finally caught up on the first two episodes last night. "A Scandal in Belgravia" may be my favorite of all the episodes, especially the ending, which was absolutely perfect.

    I didn't like "Hounds" nearly as much, though it was still worth watching.

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  3. I didn't like this program as much as episodes in the first series. Thought it was a bit silly and overacted. I love this Watson - loved him in "The Office" and enjoy his wit and timing here. And I enjoyed last week's story with Irene Adler. - Susan Shea

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  4. I loved the first series and I think the long wait between series may have caused over anticipation (never a good thing) as I am not sure this season is as good as the last. Regardless, still the best show on TV right now. Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss are mad geniuses and I will watch anything they create.

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  6. Thanks for nominating me, Joanie. I'm off to check out your blog right now.

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  7. I have loved every minute of the new Sherlock and most of my Scion friends locally love it also. We can't abide Robert Downey Jr.'s version, although it is fun, it isn't even quite Doyle. But the new one is witty and extremely fast-paced and I also love the interaction between Sherlock and Watson and the music is spot-on. I like Irene Adler better in Carole Nelson Douglas' books. I always watch them several times. Not that I don't understand them, but I always catch new things. You can check out a great chat Interview with Mycroft on www.pbs.org
    BTW Rhys we so missed you at Malice and hope you are recovering. And congrats for a very well-deserved Agatha for Naughty in Nice a series that just keeps getting better.

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  8. Patience is a virtue when recovering from an injury, isn't it! My publisher's recovering from bypass surgery and says boredom is about to do him in. Best wishes to you in your recovery.

    I've had to get used to this Sherlock, and sometimes it's difficult for me to understand him when he's in a manic mood and speaks so fast. I look forward to it, but I've enjoyed Robert Downey, Jr. in the new movies more. Yes, Jeremy Brett was my favorite.

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  9. I loved the Baskerville episode. No bad dreams. But now that the third one is over... that was so intense, I had trouble sleeping. What did you think of that one?

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  10. I fell in love with this series last year and had. a hard time waiting for season 2. I think they ate brilliant. Hounds not quite as complex as Scandal in Belgravia, but I am not complaining, not by a long shot. But I was so devastated by "Reichenbach Fall" that I had trouble sleeping that night & did not watch the repeat that week, as I'd done with the previous two. Although I know that Holmes is not dead, the "suicide" scene and afterwards was just too difficult and painful to watch again.

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  11. Two marvelous treats in one morning, the second being the discovery of your blog. I love the new Sherlock, and scenes from Scandal In Belgravia still stick with me. You mentioned in another piece the script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I was working in the art department at Fox at that time, and when I read the script I was commenting to anyone who would listen that I did not think it would make a very good movie. I said it was like reading a Shaw play, where a lot of the wit and humor are in the stage directions. I didn't think there was a director in town who could pull it off. So much for my prowess at script analysis.

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