Oh right - he never actually did! Also, bonus fact - if you Google the phrase "Elementary my dear Watson", you get pornographic Emma Watson fanart. Added to my list of "things I wish I'd never seen."
Anyway...
So I assume (hey! look at that carryover) that by now, anyone who has any interest in it has seen the "final" episode of BBC Sherlock. I'm also guessing that everyone who has any interest has also read the Radio Times article where Moffat and Gatiss immediately turned around after milking the OH MY IT IS THE FINAL SEASON cash cow for all it was worth and announced that - golly! - they have a bunch of plans for season five.
Ignore the incorrect use of "you're". I didn't make it, I stole it.
Please hold. I'm assembling my "surprised" face.
I kind of feel bad for anyone who asked me how I felt about the whole thing because I think they were expecting me to be super pissed about it all. While I have indeed thrown some spectacular hissy fits in the past over various interpretations (and the breakdown of interpretations since we're on the subject), I just really, really don't care about Sherlock anymore.
Sherlock fatigue hit me a few years ago when season 3 aired and wound up being outstandingly dumb. Now that I did throw a fit over - it was an intense disappointment following seasons 1 and 2, which I think were quite good. They're fun, interesting, and no one involved had yet to get all caught up in their success (*cough*Moffat Effect*cough*). I liked the way the series initially focused on the question of humanity versus genius, and the concept of bringing the "divine" Holmes into his own near hero-worship of the outstandingly normal and unremarkable Watson. It was an interesting change-up, and managed to pose worthwhile questions about value and the connection between humanity, brilliance, and the importance of the ordinary.
Then season 3 arrived, and all that nuance and thoughtful commentary just... vanished. In the end, we wound up with an overwrought family drama. Here's the thing that did disappoint me slightly - parts of this season were okay. Episodes one and two had about twenty solid minutes in each, though none of those minutes were sustained in any cohesive way. The third episode was just a drag. If I am going to be mad about anything, I think I particularly dislike that the only Holmes sibling who is too fragile to handle all the genius - primarily, I guess, because she just wants to be loved? - is a made up female sibling. She can't handle the genius, and so winds up being completely batshit insane. It's frustrating, and though characterization has always been somewhat problematic in the series, this didn't really even count as characterization. It was just dumb.
Oh boy! The Ring girl grew up!
It feels like the show most specifically ate its own tail and proceeded to sink slowly downwards when it began to play more directly into the obsessive online community that contributed quite strongly to my desire to never participate in fandom again. Look. I'm kind of elitist, and I know I am. I feel that people should read the Holmes stories if they're going to declare themselves "fans". I mean, they're short - read one. Don't just obsess over a single interpretation. But then, of course, I swing right around and clutch at the Granada series because I think Jeremy Brett's Holmes is the bee's knees.
I agree.
I love it for its value of canon, of Brett's dedication to the role, and the development of Holmes as a ridiculously dramatic showman with Watson represented as the capable, intelligent, solid man that he is within the stories. But while I am left cold by the online fandom for modern interpretation, the Holmesian/Sherlockian community at large makes me feel small potatoes. From my experience, it's a group quick to condemn, quick to point out the lack in one's knowledge base, or the fact that one doesn't remember the detail of every story. I may love "The Musgrave Ritual", but heck if I can recall the exact treasure riddle aside from something with elms, oaks, "and so under." From interactions I've had with the "real" and literary fans, that's more than enough for sneering at. There just seems to be a lingering sense competition up there in the rarefied atmosphere. Perhaps it's a defensive carryover from all the "serious" academics who decry Sherlock Holmes as magazine genre fiction and thus undeserving of legitimate study, and while I wish that I could engage on that level, I just can't. I don't remember every story; I couldn't pass a quiz on Watson's military service record. I just like what the stories represent, and feel deeply connected to the character in a personal way that - honestly - I don't really feel the need to justify or prove to anyone anymore. I used to want to, and when the internet first opened me up to the fact that I wasn't alone in how much I love this character I initially was over the moon. But man - in the end, the lunatic fringe of the internet closed off the fun fandom levels while simultaneously displaying off just how closed the top is.
So let's just go for broke, here. Ultimately, I don't like Sherlock and think it was a wasted series. I think it got too full of itself and forgot its own point. I don't like RDJ's Holmes movies at all, and never saw him as an actual Holmes (though Jude Law's Watson is quite good). I think Frogwares puts out really good Sherlock Holmes games, and I need to finish Devil's Daughter and play The Awakened because Holmes vs. Cthuhlu is a groovy idea (and I should really post the game analysis I wrote ages ago, just because). I like Murder by Decree but not the Adventures of Holmes and Freud (whatever that was called). I think Ronald Howard and Marion Crawford are more entertaining than they should be. Basil Rathbone disinterests me entirely. Jeremy Brett is my forever Holmes, and sin of all sins - I think Elementary is really, really great.
I could watch them sit in chairs and drink tea all day.
None of this makes me an appropriate scholar or a proper "fan", I guess, but that's okay. I started doing a thing in the Bird Barf podcast where, after stating an unpopular opinion, I'd make a statement that nobody needs to tell me they feel otherwise. I get it - I'm going to keep feeling how I feel anyway. Now hand me my controller! I'm going to pretend to be virtual reality Holmes again for a little while.
I will admit I'm still waiting for someone to tell me why Devil's Daughter Holmes looks like Jon Hamm.
P.S. - What fresh hell is this?
Comments
Post a Comment