Sherlock series three, writing round-up, Sherlock Remix

[innie_darling]

Hi, everybody!

I was asked by a friend what I thought of the new series of Sherlock, and it ended up being so long that I thought I might as well post it.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit]

My reactions to the two episodes were similar to yours. The Empty Hearse did nothing for me at all - by the time they were at the bonfire I was making health & safety observations - clearly not caught up in the plot. I enjoyed The Sign of Three, but I have tried not to analyse it afterwards, because no doubt I could drive a bus through the story. And the lack of consequences following the Fall is a big problem. I was not convinced about Sherlock's survival story, too many holes and why jump if the snipers were already taken out? And you're right about Sally and Lestrade working together, why haven't they been put on different teams?

[innie_darling]

It's the arrogance of the hand-waving that really gets to me, honestly - the whole attitude of not needing to clean up the messes created by series 2 before getting to "the good stuff" in series 3. That's not how it works!

At this point, I'm watching just to see Martin Freeman astonish me once more.

[alizarin_nyc]

Yeah, that hits it -- what were we doing, so emotionally invested in the events of Reichenbach? What was the danger there? What were those two years all about? I'm deeply disappointed by the lack of resolution and, as Innie says, satisfaction.

[innie_darling]

Right! It feels like we were cheated and mocked and just led astray for having watched John mourn for his friend and empathized with him.

[rachelindeed]

Just wanted to say I'm also disappointed. Empty Hearse made me think Sherlock was a terrible friend (the lack of reason for his silence plus the train scene were crushing), then Sign of Three was a lot more fun because suddenly he was an inexplicably great friend. But I took it and enjoyed it despite the emotional whiplash. Like you, John has always been my favorite, but I think I like Cumberbatch more than you do as Sherlock.

Then this last episode disappointed and angered me further. I won't say anything specific in case you haven't seen it yet. But in general I felt like the writers this season vastly miscalculated what my emotional responses would be to their scenarios, and had several characters cross over lines that I could not forgive them for. I haven't actually been this angry about a TV show in quite a while :/ Still, silver linings did abound. Each episode had at least a few lovely moments in it.

Sigh. Well, back to the fanfic.

[innie_darling]

I wanted to watch the last ep before responding to you, and now I have, so

[rachelindeed]

Very interesting to see your thoughts, thank you! I see what you're saying about wishing they could make more room for subtlety, I agree that would be a big improvement to the series as a whole and Sherlock in particular

[innie_darling]

You know what bothers me most about Mary's shooting of Sherlock? That it was so stupid. Why couldn't Mary simply have shot CAM and vanished in as sneaky a way as she entered (she evidently didn't need any Janine-related subterfuge to get into CAM's office)? Even if Sherlock witnessed her killing CAM, that would still have been better all around than shooting Sherlock, allowing CAM to live with her secrets in his brain, and having to escape, not to mention that Sherlock was clearly on his way to believing that CAM needed to be killed. And given the vow he made in "Sign," Sherlock would surely have protected Mary and the fetus

[lady_ganesh]

This is why I should never get behind on my flist: YOU WROTE BETTER OFF TED AND I DIDN'T REALIZE. Not that the other stuff was bad, you know, just. Better Off Ted.

I would be up for Sherlock remix, and suspect I still will be if I don't like the new series...usually I'm all the more motivated to write, heh.

[innie_darling]

I know what you mean - I ADORED Better Off Ted! I hope you enjoy the story!

And thanks for weighing in on the Sherlock Remix question. I want to wait for the US airings to finish before springing the question, plus I have some scheduling of my own to figure out.

[mirabile_dictu]

Fic writers worked with what we had, followed things through to their natural conclusions, and had considered the consequences of all of the actions we'd been shown in series 2. The writing team for Sherlock apparently did not, which is becoming a pattern (getting John and Sherlock out of the pool with the "Staying Alive" call was bad enough, but then we have this series, which has taken ignorance of its own crises to a new low). It's actually not even ignorance, it's cherrypicking, which pisses me off even more.

OH MY GOD do I agree with you. It's infuriating. So many stunning stories, cleverly plotted, loving characterization, beautiful writing -- and the professionals give us this. Jesus. THANK YOU for posting this.

[innie_darling]

I really find it enormously frustrating that with the time and budget and everything that the official team had on their side, they still turned in such sloppy work. There's no reset button, guys! If you spend the two years between seasons telling us to think of ways that Sherlock could have survived, make us keenly aware of his instant notoriety, and generally paint a very grim picture of what his and John's lives will look like after the fall, then HONOR that!