The British T.V. Thread

[kateln]

I'm spoilering this for the "good Americans" who are waiting, but NOTHING made me laugh harder then during the poolside "death match" Jim's phone ringing. The "Staying Alive" ringtone, and the silently mouthed "Sorry" to Sherlock over the rudeness of answering the phone was perfectly done.

I'm not quite sure what I think of Irene Adler when she first came on screen, I felt like she was a stereotypical character. Like I could predict everything about her, because it seemed like they were trying to make her a "Dita Von Teese". So of course she was bisexual, and a dominatrix, who dressed in old fashioned clothes, preened a lot, and played games/went after power. As it went on, she became a bit more interesting.

I was reading Dr. Watson's blog--and have to say I love the way it's all tied up together. They have a link to Molly's blog and how she and Jim met, they have a link to Sherlock's site, another link to the Connie Price blog. It's well done I thought.

[Witchie]

kateln, I agree. I was snickering when that happened. Nice touch of humor for a very sticky situation. I also agree with your assessment of Irene. Predictable.

I'm conflicted on Molly & Sherlock. I hated the way he treated her in the 1st series. Hell, I wanted her to knock him in the balls, but last night felt different because he was immediately contrite when he realized the gift was for him. It was like it finally clicked that everything he described was done for him. That's progress. Small progress, but progress nonetheless.

John's blog is great. I enjoyed reading about their cases last night. Nice tie-in, BBC!

[kostgard]

Good point about Sherlock and Molly, but I still want her to punch him in the balls because

SPOILER: Click to show

even if that gift was for some new boyfriend like Sherlock thought it was, he was still being a massive dick about it and there was no need to call Molly out like that in the middle of a Christmas party. I have always thought that Sherlock was mean to her because he was aware of her attraction to him but didn't know how to deal with it like a grown-up, so he figured that if he was constantly haughty and rude to her maybe she'd go away (yes, he's haughty and rude to most people, but he does treat the regulars in his life a bit better in general, yet he still treated Molly like something he found on the bottom of his shoe). But maybe that wasn't the case. I suppose whether or not she can get a free pass for life to punch Sherlock in the balls whenever she wants will depend on whether or not his behavior towards her changes now that he's finally got a clue about how she feels about him.

As for Irene, I ended up not liking her as much as at the start.

SPOILER: Click to show

I guess I would have found her a little more interesting if she weren't just a straight-up criminal. The "protection" she kept saying she needed was protection from Mycroft to keep him from hauling her in for her crimes (Yeah, terrorists were trying to kill her in the end, but clearly because of something she had done, not just for kicks). She supposedly fell for Sherlock (and I thought her "I AM SHER-LOCKED" phone code was cheesy and extremely sloppy for someone so brilliant. Why didn't she just write his name all over her notebook and draw little hearts around it?), yet she used him and counted on only Mycroft knowing about it to keep him from getting in trouble for it. Of course Mycroft won't turn in his little brother, but if anyone else had heard about it they probably would.

I understand why Sherlock was fascinated with her -- like Moriarty, she's a worthy foe. But I was just kinda "meh" on the romance part of it.

That sounds like a lot of whining, but I didn't really enjoy it overall. Very nice to have it back and nice to see Sherlock and John have settled into a more comfortable groove -- reflects all the time that has passed on the show.

[Malle Babbe]

I guess what kind of bugs me a little is the fact that it could be argued that the original Irene was trying to get herself out a situation of being stalked by an ex, and was using the picture of her and Count Von Baron Whatshisface as leverage to tell him to leave her alone, or she'll go public and sabotage his engagement with another woman.

So while I am not shocked that Moffat blew that off, I am still kind of disappointed...

[kateln]

I didn't like it as much as the first season at first. But now that I'm watching it a second time, I am enjoying some aspects a lot more. I love the dynamic between Watson and Holmes, I think it's hilarious that Sherlock doesn't notice when Watson's away, and just keeps on talking to him. I also love that they both clearly care about Mrs. Hudson. Sherlock's not as demonstrative of it, but it shows. The case isn't as strong as it could've been, but I'm glad the show is back.

I guess I don't like that for someone who feels as strongly about the Holmes' novels as Gatiss and Moffatt do, they took too many liberties with the Irene Adler character. As written she was a great foil for Holmes, and on screen that's never been translated well. In the Guy Ritchie movies she's "spunky". You don't think that she could outwit Holmes at all, and in this one, they were clearly trying to go the opposite route. So instead of "spunky" they went for sexy. But they did it in a way that everyone could predict. Hell, even the "sleeping with Kate Middleton, who's secretly a smoker" was sort of predictable. In this instance they took the name, wrote a completely different character, and then shoehorned her into the story. Between this, and Doctor Who's Christmas Episode, Stephen Moffat did not write great female "strong" characters this year. Which is hilarious because contrast this with Mrs. Hudson, the landlady, and you see that when they're not trying they can do it. Mrs. Hudson is tough enough to handle Watson and Holmes. She clearly cares about them as well--and on the surface, she's just a sweet little landlady. But remember how she and Holmes met, he helped her make sure that her husband was executed in Florida. She finds thumbs in fridge, and it grosses her out--but she keeps her head enough to deal with the client that comes in.

As for Molly I assumed last season that he had no clue that she was attracted to him, and that he thought when he was "teasing" her that he was doing it in good humor. However he's changed enough that he picked up on how hurt she was, and hopefully that will get him to treating her with the same disdain he shows everybody else. Not the extra special disdain he seemed to show just for her. I think she's like Downton Abbey's Lady Edith in that I'm sort of rooting for her, and just want her to find happiness.

[tszuj]

I think they meant the Queen was the smoker.

Yeah, Moff has real problems writing women.

[Oxynia]

Gentle reminder, we don't use spoilers for TV show plots, only for first-run films still in theaters. Please refer to the FAQs for board protocols.

[Malle Babbe]

With that out of the way, Karachi? Am I the only person who thinks that Adler heading off to Karachi, Pakistan makes no sense whatsoever? That country isn't even a safe place for its own citizens, let alone Westerners, let alone Western sex workers who advertise on the WWW.

Are we supposed to believe she took an MI-6 or CIA job? She had a session with a Pakistani client that went awry?

I'm supposed to believe that a woman who set up a safe to put a bullet between the eyes of someone trying to break into it and whose services were in high demand wouldn't know and have the market leverage to make a client adhere to a date, time, and secure location of her choice for a session?

I need to see the episode again, b/c I wonder if what we saw was a fake execution video that Sherlock helped her create. I find it hard to believe that he could spring Irene by himself, look at all the folks needed to grab OBL in that country...

[kanding]

Well, after reading all your posts, I decided to try Sherlock although it didn't seem like anything I'd go for.

But I did. In a big, big way. I think I'll be staying up late tonight watching all the episodes!

Thanks!

[kostgard]

I'm supposed to believe that a woman who set up a safe to put a bullet between the eyes of someone trying to break into it and whose services were in high demand wouldn't know and have the market leverage to make a client adhere to a date, time, and secure location of her choice for a session?

Seriously. A lot of this is why I didn't like Irene much. She was actually pretty inconsistent in a lot of ways. Right off the bat she didn't make a whole lot of sense -- she's a sex worker who services high-end clients like royalty and people within the government who have high security clearance, yet she has to advertise her services on a website? You'd think someone like that would be far more discreet and you'd have to know the right people to get to her at all, not just the ability to Google. Within certain circles she should get plenty of business just from word of mouth and the people who buy her services feel even more important because they know only "special" people enjoy her services and not just any Joe/Jo off the street who found her website and has enough money.

And I'm still kinda bummed that someone who is apparently so brilliant that she almost out-foxed Sherlock Holmes used his name as her phone password, no better than some 6th grade girl who thinks "Bieber" is a great password.