Final Thoughts – Sherlock Series One

It feels a bit odd to be summing things up after only three episodes but that’s how the Brits roll.  Like a lot of British television, Sherlock plays more like a series of mini-movies that a serialized drama.  That’s not a bad thing, as the show delivered three good to great stories, but it does prevent the series from building on itself in any significant way.  The cliffhanger finale seems somewhat out of place in this context, as there’s been no emotional build up to accompany it.

What Worked

As I said many times, this show lives and dies by the relationship between Holmes and Watson, and hats need to go off to both Cumberbatch and Freeman.

I normally wouldn’t call out the casting as a separate category from the acting, but the chemistry between these two is so specific, I doubt that it could have been captured by anyone else.

The score on this show is excellent.

Sherlock’s character was, for the most part, pitch-perfect.  Underscoring the fact that there is something wrong and perhaps dangerous about this man is what keeps the series from becoming just another procedural.

The writing’s pretty excellent in general, from the brisk pacing to the snappy dialogue to the (usually) compelling twists.

London lives and breathes on this show.  I say that as someone who’s been there once and natives may wish to correct me.  Let me limit this praise to saying that the setting feels like a real place, whether that place is London or not.

What Didn’t

Moriarty :(.  That’s the first and hopefully last emoticon to make its way into one of my blog posts.  The series did a great job building up the big bad.  Too good, as the climax just couldn’t live up to the hype.  I’ll give the show props for originality and admit that there’s room for the character to grow on me but the final fight of the season was a real let down.

I’ve already complained a bit about the serialized elements of the show, but let me add to that the fact that the first episode was also the strongest.  It’s a tough thing to judge with only three episodes, but the there really needed to be a better sense of things building over time.

While it’s yet another part of this series that earns points for originality, I finally need to admit that the use of texting really didn’t work and the subtitles end up distracting more than they contributed.

Good as Sherlock’s character was, there were a few moments when the series seemed to be pulling its punches.  They really need to be less afraid of making him a complete prick.