hawkwing_lb (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hawkwing_lb) wrote2012-09-30 12:03 am
hawkwing_lb) wrote2012-09-30 12:03 am
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Some thoughts on Elementary
Having heard good things from various sources in Elementary's regard, I hied myself off to watch it.
I haven't seen a pilot that did this much right for me in a donkey's age. It has mostly good pacing - with a few wobbles - and the actors are giving it socks, in a marvellously understated way.
Cold open, violent attack on red-haired woman in New York apartment. Boring. Cut to Lucy Liu, with her two alarm clocks, waking up. Lucy Liu montage. Lucy Liu is still fucking awesome.
Our first sight of Holmes is naked chest. Naked hot manchest. Promising. Lots of television screens, all playing. He tries to feed Lucy Liu a line. She's not buying it. Oh. Now she's annoyed. Some piffle about bondage sex with hookers.
Well, so far he seems properly manic. He's no Jeremy Brett, this guy, but he's not half bad.
Consulting detective gig! He introduces Watson as his valet. She's not impressed.
Holmes:"I don't guess, I observe. And once I've observed, I deduce."
Watson: "How do you know that?"
Holmes: "Google. Not everything is deduceable."
This is actually good. I hope that they don't stick Sherlock with homicides, though. Sherlock is potentially more amusing when he has live people. And art thefts. And Bohemian adventuresses.
Ah! And now Holmes is a manipulative son of a bitch. Some more. Manic manic manic. Man gets too enthusiastic. I approve of this Holmes. Except when he's browbeating a witness.
Watson: "That's ENOUGH. You're done here. Go wait in the car."
And Watson cracks the case! And calls him on his bullshit.
Holmes is not feeling that the case is properly cracked.
Watson: "The Amy Dampier case is over. You helped solve it!"
Holmes: "Nono. Something's off. I feel it."
"I notice you don't keep any mirrors around here." Watson calls him on his bullshit again.
Watson likes opera. And Sherlock walks away from his friend the policeman's coat in a pub, just leaves it there. Because he had a revelation! And goes to bother Watson at the opera.
"I'm in the middle of something." Ignore him, Watson. Ah, she gives in. Persuasive guy, that Holmes.
Confrontation with a suspect. Followed by a temper tantrum. And he takes her car and crashes it.
Holmes: "I just, ah.."
Sherlock: "Couldn't help yourself. Yeah. I'm starting to see how that's kind of a thing with you."
"In case you hadn't noticed, I don't have meaningful connections." Sherlock is such an ass.
Holmes: "Why are you smiling?"
Watson: "Because now I know it was a woman."
"What makes you say that?"
"You're trying too hard."
Lucy Liu, still awesome. And playing a disgraced surgeon who let someone die on her table.
Soundtrack: pretty good, akshully... And Watson cracks the case again. Permanently this time. It all hinges on a bag of rice. Triumph!
And dénouement. Watson is a baseball fan. Holmes seems to hate baseball.
"Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it isn't awesome."
But Holmes can predict the ending. "I'll meet you at the door," he says. Turns out he's right. (What the fuck is it with Americans and baseball, anyway? Why can't you guys like regular sports, like rugby? Or cricket. Or croquet.)
Conclusions: Definitely promising.
Dead white women: one. People of colour apart from Lucy Liu with speaking parts in this episode: ...maybe one? I am unconvinced that "cop who appears to be of Mediterranean/mestizo extraction" is sufficient to tick any diversity boxes.
But Lucy Liu is still fucking awesome.
I haven't seen a pilot that did this much right for me in a donkey's age. It has mostly good pacing - with a few wobbles - and the actors are giving it socks, in a marvellously understated way.
Cold open, violent attack on red-haired woman in New York apartment. Boring. Cut to Lucy Liu, with her two alarm clocks, waking up. Lucy Liu montage. Lucy Liu is still fucking awesome.
Our first sight of Holmes is naked chest. Naked hot manchest. Promising. Lots of television screens, all playing. He tries to feed Lucy Liu a line. She's not buying it. Oh. Now she's annoyed. Some piffle about bondage sex with hookers.
Well, so far he seems properly manic. He's no Jeremy Brett, this guy, but he's not half bad.
Consulting detective gig! He introduces Watson as his valet. She's not impressed.
Holmes:"I don't guess, I observe. And once I've observed, I deduce."
Watson: "How do you know that?"
Holmes: "Google. Not everything is deduceable."
This is actually good. I hope that they don't stick Sherlock with homicides, though. Sherlock is potentially more amusing when he has live people. And art thefts. And Bohemian adventuresses.
Ah! And now Holmes is a manipulative son of a bitch. Some more. Manic manic manic. Man gets too enthusiastic. I approve of this Holmes. Except when he's browbeating a witness.
Watson: "That's ENOUGH. You're done here. Go wait in the car."
And Watson cracks the case! And calls him on his bullshit.
Holmes is not feeling that the case is properly cracked.
Watson: "The Amy Dampier case is over. You helped solve it!"
Holmes: "Nono. Something's off. I feel it."
"I notice you don't keep any mirrors around here." Watson calls him on his bullshit again.
Watson likes opera. And Sherlock walks away from his friend the policeman's coat in a pub, just leaves it there. Because he had a revelation! And goes to bother Watson at the opera.
"I'm in the middle of something." Ignore him, Watson. Ah, she gives in. Persuasive guy, that Holmes.
Confrontation with a suspect. Followed by a temper tantrum. And he takes her car and crashes it.
Holmes: "I just, ah.."
Sherlock: "Couldn't help yourself. Yeah. I'm starting to see how that's kind of a thing with you."
"In case you hadn't noticed, I don't have meaningful connections." Sherlock is such an ass.
Holmes: "Why are you smiling?"
Watson: "Because now I know it was a woman."
"What makes you say that?"
"You're trying too hard."
Lucy Liu, still awesome. And playing a disgraced surgeon who let someone die on her table.
Soundtrack: pretty good, akshully... And Watson cracks the case again. Permanently this time. It all hinges on a bag of rice. Triumph!
And dénouement. Watson is a baseball fan. Holmes seems to hate baseball.
"Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it isn't awesome."
But Holmes can predict the ending. "I'll meet you at the door," he says. Turns out he's right. (What the fuck is it with Americans and baseball, anyway? Why can't you guys like regular sports, like rugby? Or cricket. Or croquet.)
Conclusions: Definitely promising.
Dead white women: one. People of colour apart from Lucy Liu with speaking parts in this episode: ...maybe one? I am unconvinced that "cop who appears to be of Mediterranean/mestizo extraction" is sufficient to tick any diversity boxes.
But Lucy Liu is still fucking awesome.