More Joy Day--Sherlock edition
So, let's face it, it's been a shit week. All I want to do today is go home and watch Galaxy Quest, Truly Madly Deeply, Sense & Sensibility, Dogma, etc.
But it's More Joy Day, so I want to talk about stuff that makes me happy right now, aside from Rickman's back catalog and the David Bowie station on Pandora.
Let's talk The Abominable Bride.
I gotta admit up front: I wasn't particularly excited about the New Years Special when they announced it. I like my Sherlock Holmes pastiches all over the place: modern, formerly modern (see: Basil Rathbone movies), Victorian, whatever. But I really wasn't interested in this particular version of the characters being placed back into the Victorian era. I could see where they all would have fun, but...meh.
But I ended up really liking it. There were things, watching it unfold the first time, which irritated me--John's apparent cluelessness, Mycroft doing his best Mr. Creosote, etc.--but once you had the reveal of it being in Sherlock's drug-addled head, and that it was all his way of working through the idea of Moriarty being back, it actually really worked for me.
Some random thoughts:
* When it comes down to it, I'm here for the relationship between John and Sherlock, in all its co-dependent, fucked up glory. I'm also here because even when Sherlock's brain casts John as a very Nigel Bruce-esque Watson, there's always something more there. There's always the man who sees things Sherlock doesn't. And he is always, always the only one who will be there to save Sherlock from everything and everyone, including himself.
Which I think what Moriarty is at this point: Sherlock's worst fears about himself, the out-of-control id that doesn't care about anything or anyone, conquered but never gone. And there's only John on the shore, pulling him back again and again.
* Mycroft. Somehow, even aside from the fact that ACD did describe him as corpulent, I find it interesting that Sherlock not only pictures him this way in his head, but as self-destructively so. There's a part of me that wonders if that's not how Sherlock actually SEES Mycroft.
In some ways, it's probably a self-defense mechanism on Sherlock's part: Mycroft is the only person on the planet he seems to feel inferior to, mentally (even if he will never admit it outloud), so he has to feel superior to him in some way, so he chooses the physical. But we've seen before that he uses Mycroft as both the intellectual side of himself and the voice of his self-doubt (see his hallucinations after being shot in His Final Vow, if nothing else).
I do like that the "real" version of Mycroft is absolutely trying to help Sherlock in whatever way he can. It's kind of heartbreaking to think how many times and places he's had to ask Sherlock for his list. It's also got to be more than a little bittersweet to know John is there not only to help, but may offer the only help Sherlock is ever willing to accept.
* Lestrade. I really am not sure how they managed to make Rupert Graves look so doofy, but they did. Still, got him in modern clothes and digging in shirtsleeves, so all is well. And I really did have a "He and Mycroft are STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER, ZOMG!" moment. Because I am a sad, sad fangirl.
* I love how Sherlock really, really does like Mary. She's pretty much the only one suitable for John. Ever.
The special did get me to go back and re-watch season 3, too, which made me happy as ever. I love Mary so much, and how little shit she takes from either John or Sherlock, and how much they both seem to love that about her. I love how she totally gets how much John and Sherlock need each other, and I love how there's never even been a hint of jealousy amongst the three of them. Why is there not more John/Mary/Sherlock stories?! (There's some excellent ones for the RDJ/Jude Law Sherlock Holmes movies, I must say, but a sad lack of it for this show, and far more stories eager to bash Mary at all costs.)
Elementary, which I also love, does a lot of things really well, not least of which is dealing with addiction in possibly the most mature and realistic way. It also has some of the most mature, emotionally healthy versions of the Holmes and Watson relationship--or, frankly, almost any relationship on television, especially between a man and woman--I've ever seen. I like that Joan sets boundaries as a way to make their relationship work, and Sherlock respects that. I like that characters are allowed to not be happy with each other, to take time getting over it. (I loved both Bell's story arc after getting shot and Gregson's speech to Sherlock about not being friends.)
It's mature, it's well-written, and I honestly find myself wanting to spend time with these people. But, honestly, I did not get into fandom for mature and emotionally healthy relationships. Where Elementary appeals to me for the maturity of it's writing and characterization, Sherlock hits me right in the fannish id: it's intense (possibly too intense) relationships and people who are just slightly (and definitely too) pressurized and insane. Elementary is something I want more of from TV, especially when it comes to how women are written, but Sherlock is still what I crave.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. There are currently
DW comments. Please comment at Dreamwidth if possible.
But it's More Joy Day, so I want to talk about stuff that makes me happy right now, aside from Rickman's back catalog and the David Bowie station on Pandora.
Let's talk The Abominable Bride.
I gotta admit up front: I wasn't particularly excited about the New Years Special when they announced it. I like my Sherlock Holmes pastiches all over the place: modern, formerly modern (see: Basil Rathbone movies), Victorian, whatever. But I really wasn't interested in this particular version of the characters being placed back into the Victorian era. I could see where they all would have fun, but...meh.
But I ended up really liking it. There were things, watching it unfold the first time, which irritated me--John's apparent cluelessness, Mycroft doing his best Mr. Creosote, etc.--but once you had the reveal of it being in Sherlock's drug-addled head, and that it was all his way of working through the idea of Moriarty being back, it actually really worked for me.
Some random thoughts:
* When it comes down to it, I'm here for the relationship between John and Sherlock, in all its co-dependent, fucked up glory. I'm also here because even when Sherlock's brain casts John as a very Nigel Bruce-esque Watson, there's always something more there. There's always the man who sees things Sherlock doesn't. And he is always, always the only one who will be there to save Sherlock from everything and everyone, including himself.
Which I think what Moriarty is at this point: Sherlock's worst fears about himself, the out-of-control id that doesn't care about anything or anyone, conquered but never gone. And there's only John on the shore, pulling him back again and again.
* Mycroft. Somehow, even aside from the fact that ACD did describe him as corpulent, I find it interesting that Sherlock not only pictures him this way in his head, but as self-destructively so. There's a part of me that wonders if that's not how Sherlock actually SEES Mycroft.
In some ways, it's probably a self-defense mechanism on Sherlock's part: Mycroft is the only person on the planet he seems to feel inferior to, mentally (even if he will never admit it outloud), so he has to feel superior to him in some way, so he chooses the physical. But we've seen before that he uses Mycroft as both the intellectual side of himself and the voice of his self-doubt (see his hallucinations after being shot in His Final Vow, if nothing else).
I do like that the "real" version of Mycroft is absolutely trying to help Sherlock in whatever way he can. It's kind of heartbreaking to think how many times and places he's had to ask Sherlock for his list. It's also got to be more than a little bittersweet to know John is there not only to help, but may offer the only help Sherlock is ever willing to accept.
* Lestrade. I really am not sure how they managed to make Rupert Graves look so doofy, but they did. Still, got him in modern clothes and digging in shirtsleeves, so all is well. And I really did have a "He and Mycroft are STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER, ZOMG!" moment. Because I am a sad, sad fangirl.
* I love how Sherlock really, really does like Mary. She's pretty much the only one suitable for John. Ever.
The special did get me to go back and re-watch season 3, too, which made me happy as ever. I love Mary so much, and how little shit she takes from either John or Sherlock, and how much they both seem to love that about her. I love how she totally gets how much John and Sherlock need each other, and I love how there's never even been a hint of jealousy amongst the three of them. Why is there not more John/Mary/Sherlock stories?! (There's some excellent ones for the RDJ/Jude Law Sherlock Holmes movies, I must say, but a sad lack of it for this show, and far more stories eager to bash Mary at all costs.)
Elementary, which I also love, does a lot of things really well, not least of which is dealing with addiction in possibly the most mature and realistic way. It also has some of the most mature, emotionally healthy versions of the Holmes and Watson relationship--or, frankly, almost any relationship on television, especially between a man and woman--I've ever seen. I like that Joan sets boundaries as a way to make their relationship work, and Sherlock respects that. I like that characters are allowed to not be happy with each other, to take time getting over it. (I loved both Bell's story arc after getting shot and Gregson's speech to Sherlock about not being friends.)
It's mature, it's well-written, and I honestly find myself wanting to spend time with these people. But, honestly, I did not get into fandom for mature and emotionally healthy relationships. Where Elementary appeals to me for the maturity of it's writing and characterization, Sherlock hits me right in the fannish id: it's intense (possibly too intense) relationships and people who are just slightly (and definitely too) pressurized and insane. Elementary is something I want more of from TV, especially when it comes to how women are written, but Sherlock is still what I crave.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. There are currently
DW comments. Please comment at Dreamwidth if possible.