I’ve been watching the new series of BBC’s Sherlock, of course, and of course it’s very good. If you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably seen, as I have, a number of positive reviews.
And I don’t mean to pan it here. I enjoy watching it. I think it’s extremely clever and well done.
But I have to say I think the series has lost its way.
The first season was remarkable, in my view, for being an update and a reboot that managed to keep the spirit of Conan Doyle’s characters and stories to an amazing degree.
Last season, I think, was a little less so. And this season even less.
The failure (it seems to me) is an overdose of something I ordinarily like – excellent characterization. Cumberbatch’s Holmes and Freeman’s Watson are wonderfully alive and interesting. But they’ve moved too much to center stage.
Remember, these are supposed to be mysteries. This season’s stories have been mostly about Holmes’ and Watson’s friendship. In Episode One, the great question was, Will Watson forgive Holmes for going off and letting him think he was dead? In Episode Two, it was, How will Holmes manage to function as best man at Watson’s wedding, considering his personality problems? In each case, the mysteries were shoved off onto the periphery.
I don’t mean to complain – much. But it’s important not to lose focus on your primary task, whatever you’re doing. A Holmes story that’s more about relationships than mystery is not really a Holmes story.
I have always felt that a 21st Century Sherlock Holmes was a bit silly in the first place and I couldn’t keep any interest after the first few episodes on YouTube. A Victorian Holmes on the cutting edge of applied science amidst a class culture struggling with emerging meritocracy has a much more plausible credibility and colorful context for an interesting story. It is a true criticism though that recent adaptations have been fixated on the personality and relationship rather than the story itself. I really enjoyed Downey’s Holmes and Law’s Watson, which remained Victorian, but it focused a lot of time of the development of a stronger Watson character that diminished the Holmes character in contrast, which is a risky thing to do. For me it was a breath of fresh air opposed to a bungling, stupid Watson. Jeremy Brett’s Holmes and Edward Hardwicke’s Watson found and maintained the perfect balance between story and character, which set the gold standard in my opinion. Brett and Hardwicke would both proceed to solve the mystery in a methodical chess like progression, but Brett’s Holmes would always be a few chess moves ahead of Hardwicke’s Watson, who would often linger behind doing some diplomatic public relations and being distracted at times with uncovering revealed details that would be helpful later. Cumberbatch and Freeman are much too much contemporary and full of narcissism which is now mainstream 21st Century popular culture.