Monday, August 29, 2011

Sherlock - A Study In Pink

Alright so after hearing my English friend rave over Sherlock and seeing it pop up multiple times on my Tumblr I decided to give it a try. Since this episode was an hour an thirty minutes I thought it deserved its own post. I have no idea if they are all this long or not, but I guess we shall see. Anyway I have to say that I extremely enjoyed it. The writing was wonderful and I loved how the updated it without totally butchering it. Sherlock is still antisocial so he texts everyone instead of calling them, I love that. I loved when he was sending the mass text messages in the press conference that just said "Wrong". It so fit the character of Holmes while blending it into the present time. I also loved how they showed the texts beside the person as well as how Sherlock's mind worked while they were running thorough the streets trying to catch up with the taxi.

The story line was also well written, though I figured out who the murder was or at least his occupation very quickly, I would have never gotten to the conclusion the way Sherlock did. However it is nice to think that you are as smart as Sherlock Holmes every once and a while. There are a string of three suicides that have happened in, all took the same drug in a location they were not supposed to be in. The police don't believe they are murders but they also can't ignore the fact that they are related. Soon a forth victim is found who is different from the others and this is when they call in Sherlock Holmes to investigate. I hate when a good mystery story is ruined so I won't tell you the ending, but it is rather good and very Sherlock Holmes.

Now he first thing that really struck me was the setting up of Watson's character. In all the other Sherlock Holmes adaptions I have seen it is Watson who is a solid rock to counter the insane genius of Holmes, but not in this series. John is a veteran returned from Afghanistan after sustaining a gunshot wound. He has not gotten use to civilian life and feels as if nothing is happening. This is very different from the upstanding physician that Watson is usually portrayed as, but I rather like the change. Watson usually has had some military background, but you never see the effects of that. Not only that but John was a lot more sassy then in a lot of the adaptions, the most recent movie aside. He goes with what Sherlock asks him to, but he also talks back and gets lippy. it took a little longer for John to grow on me, but by the end of the first episode I really liked him.

I have always loved Sherlock's humor, quick wit, and wonderful remarks so it did not take me long to like Sherlock in this series. I also didn't hurt that he has lovely eyes. When he got all excited about the fourth death I seriously couldn't handle how cute it was and then when he totally destroyed the forensic expert and the bitchy detective was amazing. The fact that he no longer smokes a pipe, but has nicotine patches I though was a wonderful way to update the piece as well as bring up the fact that he was a former addict. I really do love Sherlock in this series. I haven't decided if I like the fact that he has a brother or not yet however. Sherlock usually has no back story or family so I was a little thrown off. We will have to see after I watch a few more. 

Overall I thought it was brilliant and very well done and I hope all the episodes are this wonderful. I was excited, but also a bit disappointed that I figured it out so quickly. I hope the next one will be a bit more of a challenge. The characters are wonderful and BBC did a wonderful job with production. I give it a 4.8 out of 5
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