Chucked Scones Roll (or, random thoughts before Sherlock Concludes)
My thoughts on the first two episodes are kind of scattered, and I had many "GUH" and "squeeee" moments, but I wanted to get these out of my system before, you know, ep 3.
"Scandal in Belgravia":
- Pre-season 2 interviews that I read said that John would be more comfortable in his own skin this season, and that was very evident. I LOVED the initial wordless communication between John and Sherlock when John arrives at Buckingham Palace. The sheet wardrobe wasn't bad, either.
- When Sherlock couldn't deduce anything about naked Irene, and then "checked" himself by examining John, I thought, "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" :) He really should have been able to get something from her appearance; about half the observations he was making about John involved body parts that weren't clothed (eyes, mouth, chin, etc.).
- As much as Irene's cleverness is supposed to be on par with Sherlock's, on a second viewing I realized that Irene's big deductive exposition about the hiker was only Sherlock's dream -- it didn't really happen, and that was disappointing.
- I could barely watch the Christmas party scene (hello, embarrassment squick!) and am a little tired of Molly's suffering being used to advance Sherlock's development. And now I must go start making Molly's party dress.
- OH JOHN YOUR CHRISTMAS SWEATER. NEVER CHANGE.
- Mycroft seems to be acting less like an arch enemy and more like an older sibling (not that those are mutually exclusive), but still a jerk.
- Sherlock, how is your room so clean? Where are the dead birds? And a sock index shouldn't surprise me and yet does.
- John at the power complex (ha): WANT.
- Mrs. Hudson still rocks. "That was right on my bins."
- Nice (intentional?) call-back to John's blog comments about making Sherlock watch Bond movies. Would he have made the connection so quickly without having endured Movie Night?
- Mycroft, you're an asshole but yes, your Conventry solution is creepy and elegant.
- Gah, that phone passcode made me scream at the screen in frustration. It felt like the equivalent of writing "Mrs. Irene Adler-Holmes" a hundred times surrounded by lots of hearts in a notebook.
- Not that I wanted her to die, but before the last Sherlock-in-221B scene, I almost thought that Irene's rescue by Sherlock was her dream.
"Hounds of Baskerville"
- I'm not a horror fan and am not keen on blood, but post-harpooning Sherlock was not entirely... unattractive. Hints of Evil Dead's Ash, maybe?
- Psst, Sherlock: Mrs. Hudson's dress wasn't new. She wore it last episode in the breakfast scene when you and Mycroft told her to shut up.
- Competent military John! Sherlock's smirk! \o/
- Aw, the fireplace scene. This was a whole different flavor of distress for Sherlock than the nicotine withdrawal. Seeing him that manic was almost uncomfortable. And of course he manages to be an ass. (I'm still trying to figure out if/how they used a split screen for the tight shots where John and Sherlock's faces were both in focus.)
- And aw, they kind of make up!
- Unexpected Lestrade is unexpected! And named Greg!
- Now John's got his horror/suspense scene and oooh, baby. But what's a defective pipeline doing in that lab with that much lens flare?
- I am not a chemist but maybe, maybe, with the right solvent and some polarized light, one might be able to determine if granulated sugar's been adulterated, maybe, but probably not by what. I kind of was hoping for a red fluorescent protein-spliced animal being seen on the moor, though.
- No matter how legit, I think the "mind palace" scene was an excuse to turn up the text graphic effects to 11.
- So, an aerosol deliriant. I liked that earlier, when microwaves were telling folks to kill people.
- Yay Dr. Stapelton! You stood your ground and were helpful!
- Russel Tovey, you were amazing during this whole episode. And yes, it was fun to think that you might actually be the hound.
- SHERLOCK, YOU'RE A COMPLETE ASSHOLE FOR EXPERIMENTING ON JOHN WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE. Yeah, John's so amazing and fantastic and your only friend that you see fit to put him through the same fright that freaked you the fuck out. This plot point really rubbed me the wrong way, as in-character as it may be and even though Sherlock was wrong about the sugar. Blergh.
And yet Reichenbach is going to hurt, I know it.
Crossposted to http://lunate8.dreamwidth.org/14604.html.
"Scandal in Belgravia":
- Pre-season 2 interviews that I read said that John would be more comfortable in his own skin this season, and that was very evident. I LOVED the initial wordless communication between John and Sherlock when John arrives at Buckingham Palace. The sheet wardrobe wasn't bad, either.
- When Sherlock couldn't deduce anything about naked Irene, and then "checked" himself by examining John, I thought, "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" :) He really should have been able to get something from her appearance; about half the observations he was making about John involved body parts that weren't clothed (eyes, mouth, chin, etc.).
- As much as Irene's cleverness is supposed to be on par with Sherlock's, on a second viewing I realized that Irene's big deductive exposition about the hiker was only Sherlock's dream -- it didn't really happen, and that was disappointing.
- I could barely watch the Christmas party scene (hello, embarrassment squick!) and am a little tired of Molly's suffering being used to advance Sherlock's development. And now I must go start making Molly's party dress.
- OH JOHN YOUR CHRISTMAS SWEATER. NEVER CHANGE.
- Mycroft seems to be acting less like an arch enemy and more like an older sibling (not that those are mutually exclusive), but still a jerk.
- Sherlock, how is your room so clean? Where are the dead birds? And a sock index shouldn't surprise me and yet does.
- John at the power complex (ha): WANT.
- Mrs. Hudson still rocks. "That was right on my bins."
- Nice (intentional?) call-back to John's blog comments about making Sherlock watch Bond movies. Would he have made the connection so quickly without having endured Movie Night?
- Mycroft, you're an asshole but yes, your Conventry solution is creepy and elegant.
- Gah, that phone passcode made me scream at the screen in frustration. It felt like the equivalent of writing "Mrs. Irene Adler-Holmes" a hundred times surrounded by lots of hearts in a notebook.
- Not that I wanted her to die, but before the last Sherlock-in-221B scene, I almost thought that Irene's rescue by Sherlock was her dream.
"Hounds of Baskerville"
- I'm not a horror fan and am not keen on blood, but post-harpooning Sherlock was not entirely... unattractive. Hints of Evil Dead's Ash, maybe?
- Psst, Sherlock: Mrs. Hudson's dress wasn't new. She wore it last episode in the breakfast scene when you and Mycroft told her to shut up.
- Competent military John! Sherlock's smirk! \o/
- Aw, the fireplace scene. This was a whole different flavor of distress for Sherlock than the nicotine withdrawal. Seeing him that manic was almost uncomfortable. And of course he manages to be an ass. (I'm still trying to figure out if/how they used a split screen for the tight shots where John and Sherlock's faces were both in focus.)
- And aw, they kind of make up!
- Unexpected Lestrade is unexpected! And named Greg!
- Now John's got his horror/suspense scene and oooh, baby. But what's a defective pipeline doing in that lab with that much lens flare?
- I am not a chemist but maybe, maybe, with the right solvent and some polarized light, one might be able to determine if granulated sugar's been adulterated, maybe, but probably not by what. I kind of was hoping for a red fluorescent protein-spliced animal being seen on the moor, though.
- No matter how legit, I think the "mind palace" scene was an excuse to turn up the text graphic effects to 11.
- So, an aerosol deliriant. I liked that earlier, when microwaves were telling folks to kill people.
- Yay Dr. Stapelton! You stood your ground and were helpful!
- Russel Tovey, you were amazing during this whole episode. And yes, it was fun to think that you might actually be the hound.
- SHERLOCK, YOU'RE A COMPLETE ASSHOLE FOR EXPERIMENTING ON JOHN WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE. Yeah, John's so amazing and fantastic and your only friend that you see fit to put him through the same fright that freaked you the fuck out. This plot point really rubbed me the wrong way, as in-character as it may be and even though Sherlock was wrong about the sugar. Blergh.
And yet Reichenbach is going to hurt, I know it.
Crossposted to http://lunate8.dreamwidth.org/14604.html.