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Lucy Liu to play Watson in CBS’ Elementary
Lucy Liu nabbed the part of the beloved companion, John Watson, in the American attempt to modernise the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. She is the first woman to play Watson and, if this show airs, she will be joining actors such as Jude Law, Martin Freeman, Ian Hart, Arthur Lowe, among others, who have portrayed the sidekick.
Elementary’s Sherlock Holmes is living in New York City, and Jonny Lee Miller will be playing the famous sleuth. Robert Doherty is the writer and executive producer, alongside Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly.
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This is where I will be doing my opinion inflicting…
Hate is such a strong word. I have been told that not hating this is very Anderson of me. They’re probably right.
The reason I don’t hate it is because I am too curious to take notice of how ridiculous this whole thing is. I, too, think that this is just plagiarism, infringement or whatever you want to call it, in another form. Having said that, I don’t think there is harm in giving it a chance, at least in the Pilot-episode stage. If the BBC thinks that, even with a female Watson, the show still infringed copyright, then good. If it airs, and we think it’s bad, then we’ll have justification that this was a horrible idea from the get-go. Give.It.A.Chance…Then.React.
It’s like what students do with homework: copy, paste, and paraphrase. I know for a fact that albeit the little differences the press is depressingly trying to focus on, this will be compared to the BBC Sherlock. And, I’ll admit that I will probably be one of the judgmental lot . Better to start not being a hypocrite now.
All eyes are on them now.
P.S.
Gender-swap has potential (don’t mess that up).The only problem, though, would be her background, “former surgeon who lost her license after a patient died” *shakes head*
Sherlock Series 2 Episode 3: The Reichenbach Fall
“My best friend…Sherlock Holmes…is dead”
These words welcomed us to what will be the most intense, and probably the most emotion-inducing Sherlock episode, of the whole series. The Reichenbach Fall, penned by Steve Thompson and directed by Toby Haynes, was a brilliant close to an amazing show. I am so ashamed to admit that I had shared doubts with some of the people with regards to Mr. Thompson, it was very wrong of me to do so, and this episode just showed me that I had no right whatsoever.
The Reichenbach Fall was simply meaningful. Seeing Sherlock Holmes having some sort of dilemma at the end, he knows he has to die, but what of his disgraced name? He has to protect his friends, too. His suicide, his last great act, as Moriarty would like to put it, will help him protect them. But, John could not have said it better, friends protect people, Molly Hooper is key. Molly, shunned by Sherlock every time they meet, helped Sherlock fake his death. She does count, and I think that, sorry if this sounds bad, being ignored by Sherlock also helped him protect her, too. As far as Moriarty is concerned, Sherlock only has three friends: John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade. If Molly is to be compromised, I do not think their plan would even work, if eyes were to watch her every move.
Lestrade looks as if he does not want to believe Sherlock’s a fake, other than John. Subtly, he was trying to convince people that he is not a fake, but he has to follow protocol, it is his job. The moment when he was arguing with Donovan and Anderson, and his exasperated look when he contacted John, said it all. I may be over-analysing though, but that was how I saw it.
Mycroft Holmes, the brother who made the mistake of spilling the beans, Moriarty was able to know who the real Sherlock is, and it helped him destroy Sherlock. But looking at Mycroft, most especially at the end after Sherlock’s death, he was sorry. I think that if it was me who had accidentally brought upon the death of my brother, even if we were not close, I would have felt that I was as guilty as Moriarty. And that was what I saw in that last shot of Mycroft at the Diogenes Club. Again, I may be over-analysing, but that is quality acting from Mark Gatiss, to be able to show that kind of emotion, maybe not intentionally, but that is probably how Mycroft would react if he was real. Of course, I would like to entertain the idea that maybe Mycroft helped Sherlock fake his death, and maybe the guilt that I saw was mainly because he had helped Moriarty bring Sherlock into this situation.
James Moriarty, the most dangerous criminal the world has ever seen, the man who conjured this web of lies to disgrace Sherlock, the man who would use ordinary people, even kids, to complete his schemes, the man who shot himself when Sherlock found a loophole in his plan and realised that him being dead is the best way to make sure Sherlock will not be able solve the final problem. We have seen more of him now, sinister, insane, clever. The perfect villain in this tale. Andrew Scott has once again proven that he is born to play Moriarty. Actually, any man who can make a huge impact and leave a mark on the people who watch the show in just a few minutes of exposure, I am sure constitutes to being a great actor. In the last series, he was only in the last episode and, collectively, only had about 5 or 10 minutes of exposure, but he had the audience riled up. And seeing more of him now just makes him a lot scarier, devilish, and, dare I say it, sexy. He’s got an app for everything: Steal the crown jewels? I have an app for that! Which, in the end, had been revealed to be people he either paid or is being held hostage or something like that, who just received texts from him. Brilliant!
John Watson, a man who believed in Sherlock when everyone else was turning on him. It was Martin Freeman’s acting that made the episode a real tear jerker. His grief was the trigger. I am very sure that the viewers know what to expect, they know Sherlock is not really dead, but all the same, the emotion felt by his best friend, John, was palpable, it was hard not to empathize with him. And his struggle to hide his emotions by acting like the soldier that he is, just intensified it. Superb acting by Mr. Freeman, I could not imagine anyone playing Watson better than him.
Finally, Sherlock Holmes. I would like to think that this episode showed us that while he is not apt to social conventions, or that he is too serious with work, he is a man who feels. That last note to John was our first glimpse of Sherlock being too emotional. John was his best friend, who he has to hurt so he can be protected. Sherlock crying while talking to John showed that their friendship is very important to him, and doing this was the only way to keep him safe, and that was priority. Benedict Cumberbatch was, as always, brilliant. The different ranges of emotion that he did for this episode was exceptional. Sad, afraid, indifferent, and that whole scene on the rooftop, the speech, the goodbye, was brilliantly executed. Indeed this is Benedict at his best.
Series 2 is a rollercoaster ride of emotion. This is the most amazing thing I have ever watched. And now that we know that there will be a Series 3, I am guessing everyone will yet again start deducing how the first episode will go. I am definitely very excited to know what people will cook up, and we shall wait, I hope not too long, for the most brilliant show there is.
You told me once that you weren’t a hero. Um. There were times I didn’t think you were human. You were the best man and human being that I’ve ever known and no one will convince me that you told a lie. So there. I was so alone and I owe you so much. Please, there’s one more thing. One more miracle, for me. Don’t be- dead. For me. Stop it. Stop this.
Previous episodes:
Sherlock Series 2 Episode 2: The Hounds of Baskerville
The Hounds of Baskerville is Conan Doyle’s most adapted Sherlock story, I can only imagine how hard it must have been for Mark Gatiss to write a contemporary version of the “hound from hell” story. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s Mark Gatiss, the man knows his horror stories. If there is someone I trust with this, it is him. It is a worthy follow up to A Scandal in Belgravia, because the first episode gave us a “Sherlock and Love” theme, now it is “Sherlock and Fear”, a true psychological horror served with supernatural elements.
Russell Tovey joins the cast as Henry Knight (Sir Henry in the original Conan Doyle story), who lost his father from a “rabid dog” attack, and arrives at Sherlock’s place to ask for help. Sherlock was about to dismiss him when Henry mentioned a “gigantic hound”. The duo then set out for Dartmoor to investigate what this hound really is, and why Henry is hunted by it.
John Watson was so involved in the case, too. He is not just standing behind Sherlock and apologising for him, and all the other things he does, but he is a participant in this case. The experiment Sherlock did to confirm that it is a drug was hilarious, although completely “unethical” if done in the real world.
Watson’s line “You being all mysterious, with your cheekbones, and turning your collar up so you look cool”, was one cutest lines uttered in all of the Sherlock episodes just because it came out as a whine from John. Also, there was mention of Asperger’s, which is a first from the series. Another reference from the original was when Watson went off on his own to investigate the lights he thought was Morse code, but is actually just two secret lovers, instead of the escaped prisoner. There is a Spock reference, and a Frankenstein reference as well, if my eyes were right I think I saw Ingolstadt.
Sherlock’s “Mind Palace” was also interesting. Who would have thought that his mind palace is touchscreen. It was actually hard to see Sherlock so unsure of what he has seen, during their night trek in the woods. But even under pressure, he is still very observant, describing what he saw, “It was huge-cold black fur with red eyes”. You can see that he was desperate for an answer, he was fidgety, he even made John coffee! His experiment that involved John running scared around the lab proved that it was a drug, but it is not a narcotic drug, which made his previous assumption that it was in the sugar, wrong. Shortly afterwards, they found their answer in Dr. Frankland’s office. It was in fact an aerosol drug, and H.O.U.N.D., actually refers to the five principal scientists responsible for researching it.
Another interesting thing about Sherlock, when they were in the woods exposed to the aerosol drug, he saw Moriarty, but in truth it was actually just Dr. Frankland. It might be that Moriarty is his biggest fear.
Also, the opening scene with the harpoon was awesome. You can tell Sherlock’s bored. No wonder he wants a cigarette, stagnation is a slow death for him. Plus, now I know it’s fun to play Cluedo with the world’s only consulting detective, the things I would do to annoy him.
Anyway, The Hounds of Baskerville was a great episode. What can you expect from someone knowledgeable and enthusiastic in horror like Mark Gatiss but perfection!
And, if you’ve not visited John’s blog, you might want to do that now, there’s a surprise waiting for you there.
But if you’re not from the UK, then you might as well just view this one here
Someone transcribed it, too.
MORIARTY: Who lives in a house like this? It’s only me… how clean is your house? I smell baking… it’s an apple pie. Where’s Mrs. Hudson? Hellooooooo… going throught the doorway. So here we are Sherlock Holmes HQ. Ah timpany notes… boring, boring… he’s put headphones on a goat. Books, books, books. What have we got here… temper, temper, temper. A skull? I wonder what your skull would look like on my wall. More skulls, more skulls.. Market stall tat. Ohh how the hours must fly by. Alas poor Sherlock, I knew him well. *sniggering* tatatataa *evil laugh*
Brilliant episode! Makes you forget that next week, it is the dreaded Reichenbach episode, I know everyone is at the brink of losing their minds.
The Reichenbach Fall Preview
Previous episode: A Scandal in Belgravia
Sherlock Series 2 Episode 1: A Scandal In Belgravia
Spoilers ahead!
Finally! The long awaited return of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as our favourite detectives, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. A Scandal in Belgravia is the first of three new episodes for series 2. Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, creators of Sherlock, has now raised our standards for television shows, nothing can get any better than this.
We last saw Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John (Martin Freeman) in a sort of deadlock situation with Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) at a pool side in the last episode of series 1, The Great Game. To refresh your memory, the last scene was Sherlock pointing a gun at the bomb. That cliffhanger riled up the Sherlock fandom, enough that they started to make their own end to the cliffhanger. One example was that the lasers were not really from guns, that those were just from plain old laser pointers you use for lectures. Another would be Sherlock actually shooting the bomb, and then he immediately jumps into the pool to save himself, while John hides at a corner. Some people assumed that one of them will be hit by shrapnel, or worst hospitalized because of the explosion. But to everyone’s surprise, and really everyone was surprised, the Bee Gees had been the missing piece to our cliffhanger.
I don’t think anyone saw that coming, the Staying Alive ringtone is probably the best way to end a nail biting cul-de-sac. I can only assume that this is Moffat trying to shake the whole Sherlock fandom. That sudden shift from latent hostility to comedy was perfection. Andrew Scott’s Moriarty was also brilliant, shifting from psycho, to embarrassed, and then back to being psycho again, was perfectly executed.
And, of course, the latest addition to the cast, the woman, Irene Adler, played by Lara Pulver. Let me start off by saying how great Ms. Pulver was in the episode. I could not imagine anyone ever playing Adler and giving it justice, Pulver was simply amazing.
A Scandal in Belgravia is, in a really vague description of the whole episode, action-packed. There are CQC’s (Close Quarters Combat), suited agents, and headbutts. To those of you who are not familiar with the books, A Scandal in Belgravia is taken from Conan Doyle’s A Scandal in Bohemia, where a blackmail photo, which was originally just Adler and the Crown Prince of Bohemia together and was tweaked in the show as a photo of a monarch and a dominatrix saved in a phone, is being desperately recovered, and to do that, they asked Sherlock to help.
Sherlock gets a hold of the phone and is trying to decipher the code and also to find out what lies beneath the deceptive Irene Adler. One of the highlights of the show is from a scene with Mrs. Hudson played by Una Stubbs, when she was harmed by American agents who is also trying to get a hold of the photo. Sherlock’s concern for Mrs. Hudson was a lovely sight. That scene, to be honest, made me furious as well, it’s Mrs. Hudson for crying out loud. This gave us what I call one of the most tweeted, quoted, and tumblred line of the show, “Mrs. Hudson leave Baker Street? England would fall!”
There are other quotable lines like, “They all care so much.Do you ever wonder if there’s something wrong with us?” from when Mycroft and Sherlock were talking in the morgue. That scene was our glimpse of how aware the Holmes brothers are that they are different, and that at least they understand each other, very different from the usual bickering that we see when both of them are in the same scene. And a line from Irene, and if you’re going to think about it, it’s actually true, “brainy is the new sexy”.
Other quotable lines are: (Yes, I listed them down)
“That’s the deceased for you – late in every sense of the word.”
“No disrespect, but you were clearly born in the ‘80s.”
“He will outlive god trying to have the last word”
“It’s not the end of the world.It’s Mrs.Hudson”
“If you have what you say you have, I’ll make you rich. If you don’t,I’ll make you into shoes”
“Say that again. And know that if you’re lying to me,I will find you, and I will skin you”
“All lives end. All hearts are broken. Caring is not an advantage”
“Mrs. Hudson has been attacked by an American. I’m restoring balance to the universe”
Also, what’s great about this episode is how Sherlock took everyone, especially John and Mrs. Hudson, by surprise when he reacted in a very melancholic manner upon Adler’s death. A side of Sherlock Holmes you never see, it’s like his non-human facade had a crack at that particular moment. As you may all remember, in the previous series, he had shown little to no emotion at all when John pointed out that people have been dying in this “game” Moriarty and Sherlock are playing. So this episode gave us a glimpse of his human side, I think. The use of the internet was brilliant, as well. Blogs and Twitter,the “in” thing now, and Sherlock becoming an internet phenomenon because of John’s blog shows that what you put on the net, whatever it may be, will be found. And if it’s worth viewing, people will pay attention.
A Scandal in Belgravia was written by Steven Moffat, and next week’s episode, The Hound of the Baskervilles was written by Mark Gatiss. I would also like to note how great the music was, thanks to Michael Price and David Arnold. Also, for the whole fandom, I think you should also thank Paul Mcguigan for the Buckingham Palace scene.
I have to point out now that this isn’t exactly a review, I think it’s more like a description of how perfect it was.
But, there you have it! Watch out for next week’s episode,The Hound of the Baskervilles.
P.S.
Last Song Syndrome,guys!
