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Lis and I have just started watching ELEMENTARY, the CBS Sherlock Holmes pastiche with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Holmes and Watson. By "just started", I mean that we've got three episodes left, counting the finale as two episodes. So don't say anything about the end of the season -- we haven't seen it yet.
First: of the four recent Holmes variations -- the Guy Ritchie movies with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, HOUSE with Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard, SHERLOCK with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and ELEMENTARY with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu -- the one with the least sexual tension and/or intimation between Homes and Watson (or House and Wilson) is ELEMENTARY. I REALLY appreciate that they are managing to show a heterosexual man and woman who are entirely Platonic friends.
Second: I REALLY like that we appear to be getting further and further away from Jam Watson and his compatriots, Incompetent Lestrade/Gregson/etc. If you're among a bunch of people who couldn't find a fire ant in Texas if they were covered in honey, being the smartest person in the room doesn't mean a lot. But if you're the smartest person in a room full of people who are geniuses, experts, and clever folks in their own right, THAT'S impressive. (Cf. Doc Savage and Buckaroo Banzai, for more examples of this phenomenon.)
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First: of the four recent Holmes variations -- the Guy Ritchie movies with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, HOUSE with Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard, SHERLOCK with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and ELEMENTARY with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu -- the one with the least sexual tension and/or intimation between Homes and Watson (or House and Wilson) is ELEMENTARY. I REALLY appreciate that they are managing to show a heterosexual man and woman who are entirely Platonic friends.
Second: I REALLY like that we appear to be getting further and further away from Jam Watson and his compatriots, Incompetent Lestrade/Gregson/etc. If you're among a bunch of people who couldn't find a fire ant in Texas if they were covered in honey, being the smartest person in the room doesn't mean a lot. But if you're the smartest person in a room full of people who are geniuses, experts, and clever folks in their own right, THAT'S impressive. (Cf. Doc Savage and Buckaroo Banzai, for more examples of this phenomenon.)
( Read more... )
