3 Thoughts After Giving Up on ‘Sherlock’:
I made it through two seasons before I had to give up on this show. I can honestly say there wasn’t a single episode I enjoyed, and I am perplexed as to why people praise it so much. The stories/cases are insanely convoluted and overly complicated. The pacing is set to warp speed with zero time to absorb what’s happening. Things would occur for no particular reason. I found myself blaming my brain for not doing its job sufficiently when, in fact, it was this show attempting to come off as genius, when it was simply and plainly not being clear or making much sense. I know I’m in the minority, but this was not very entertaining.
The talent is here. There’s no questioning Cumberbatch and Freeman. However, the same can’t be said for their characters. I’m sorry, but Sherlock was just NOT likable. It’s cool to be cocky and cranky, with moments of humanity shining through, but we didn’t get enough of those endearing moments for him. And Watson was completely pointless and underused as a doctor. Again, why do people love this show?
Moriarty, the infamous arch-nemesis, was set up SO poorly. His intentions were never truly clear. His relationship with Sherlock had no foundation, no buildup, no depth, no substantial meaning. He would pop up in random intervals for random reasons. Yet he was presented to the audience as if all these things were untrue, as if we were supposed to care so damn much. It just wasn’t well done.
Sherlock Holmes adaptation set in modern times. Even though advanced technology is available, the case dynamics play out as the most classic Conan Doyle mystery, with lots of surprises and twists along the way (more on that later). I have kept avoiding this show due to its fame as a bromance sensation for fanfiction lovers, but I have to say that it's hands down the best adaptation we have got so far.
You could consider each episode as a full-fledged feature film on its own. The cinematography has been getting better and better with each episode, the work on the characters is excellent, and the writing is consistent throughout. They really nailed Sherlock's characterization as an oddball psychopath (sorry, "high functioning sociopath") as well as his ambiguous relationship with Watson. The fanservice is there, but it's mostly used as a vehicle for humor more than anything else.
Over time the show would get more peculiar case dynamics and also develop creative ways to visually represent Sherlock’s thought processes. At first, it’s mostly text popping up to guide the audience's eye on the important details and cut on dialogue, but especially from the second and third seasons, Sherlock’s “mind palace” would take different appearances each time.
The writing has been both the show's strength and weakness, especially in the last two seasons. After taking the stakes higher at the end of the second season, the writers have kept trying to take it even further but, unfortunately, ended up overdoing it most of the time. It all comes up to revealing absurd secrets from the characters' past, usually with someone familiar pulling the strings of a case for one more final twist. Some choices were understandable, some were plain ridiculous. I always thought that "Sherlock" is at its best when it manages to be relatively self-contained while still telling someone new about its main characters. While the show has been getting constantly better on the visual and technical side, it’s hard to ignore how the horizontal plot has been slowly going downhill after Moriarty's demise, with a few honorable exceptions. By the way, Moriarty's acting was absolutely cringeworthy, even though it gets slightly more tolerable over time. Also, I thought his presence was unneeded in the later seasons.
Review by Soda SprinklersBlockedParent2021-06-02T15:07:27Z
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkoGBOs5ecM
Seriously though, if you're willing to turn your brain off and aren't bothered by how convoluted this show gets then the over dramatic twists and turns may be enough to carry the show for you. That is until, season 4. Don't watch season 4. Even just to make fun of it, it's so bad that it ceases to be funny. Best you can expect from it is a headache and an unquenchable urge to find whoever is responsible for WHOEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE NOT ONE BUT TWO SECRET SIBLINGS. ONE OF WHICH IS A DOG. SHERLOCK REMEMBERS HIS FORGOTTEN BROTHER AS A DOG. WHY? WHO DID THIS? .
Don't watch this show if you're looking for some fun mystery solving, to have all the clues laid out in front of you so you have a chance to figure out the mystery for yourself. To come away from each episode with a sense of satisfaction, either from having managed to solve the crime or, as is more often the case, from seeing Sherlock teach you a new way of using lateral thinking. If that's the show you're looking for then watch something else (Jonathan Creek comes to mind although it does sometimes find itself somewhere on the scale between cheesy and downright stupid).