Five reasons to tune in for Sherlock on PBS

That’s right, tonight, forget what your plans are, forget what channel you normally watch, you need to tune in to PBS at 9 tonight. Yes, PBS. Because PBS got their hands on a hot piece of British import by the name of Sherlock, and it’s amazing. I downloaded it earlier this summer when it was originally supposed to be a little British miniseries, because I’m just that crazy about Sherlockiana.  PBS is now airing it for the parts of America who weren’t nerdy enough to download it initially. Tonight, you should be in the viewing audience, and here is why:

One: Sherlock is brought to you by the same people who brought you Dr. Who.
Admittedly, this is not much of a reason for me. I’ve watched a few episodes of Dr. Who and while it’s not my cup of tea I can at least speak for one thing — the show is extremely good quality in all aspects, especially the writing. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the same people who wrote all your new Who have teamed up to write this, and done so with the exact level of skill you’d expect. It’s smart, it’s hip, it’s snappy, it’s riveting. Though sadly for you, there are no Daleks.

Two: The casting is phenomenal.
Please don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr., and he makes for a great Sherlock Holmes. Jude Law makes for a Dr. Watson who is, if nothing else, able to make a mustache easy on the eyes, which is a skill that should not be underestimated.  But as enjoyable  and fantastic as their depictions are, they are nothing like the actual Holmes and Watson. Whoever cast for this miniseries went for exact re-incarnations of the book, and the actors they selected are absolutely stellar.

Benedict Cumberbatch (that is his real name, I kid you not) plays a Holmes straight out of Arthur Conan Doyle’s work — wraith-like, full of manic nervous energy, brilliant, impossible, and more than a little bit of a sociopath. Within the first scene of meeting him (in which he enthusiastically beats the crap out of a corpse with a riding crop) it’s impossible not to be a little swoony over his deep voice, and then to laugh at what a massive douche he is, and then end up helplessly in love with him. Martin Freeman as Watson strikes a balance that few Watsons ever do. He relishes in all of Holmes’ eccentricities while boggling at them. He loves Holmes as much as he hates him.

Holmes and Watson are a difficult pair to get right, and the dynamic has to be just so. Too often it’s easy to fall in the trap of Holmes waltzing around London solving crimes seemingly out of thin air while Watson bumbles after him uselessly while making obscenely British exclamations such as “right ho!” or “by Jove!” Not only does this adaptation have a Holmes and Watson that look perfectly Holmes and Watson-y, but their on-screen chemistry is a sort of adoring antagonism that is exactly as it should be.

Three: Sherlock‘s cinematography is absolutely stunning.
I’m not usually a cinematography (televisionography?) sort of person. If it’s there, that’s a great extra bonus, but if it’s not, I’m not going to lose sleep over it. This show makes me wonder why I don’t regularly demand that my television shows aesthetically step it up a notch. I could babble on and on about the little white text that pops up to show Sherlock’s deductive reasoning (useful to people like me who are not as smart as him!), the use of shadows contrasted with the frequent use reflective surfaces (probably symbolic but mostly really pretty!), or the muted blues and golden-browns that make up this show’s entire color palate (evocatively moody and dreamy!) but trust me, it has to be seen.

Four: There’s plenty to enjoy for Holmes fans and newbies alike.
Whenever you’re trying to get into something that has a massive fanbase like, say, Sherlock Holmes, you can’t help but always feel kind of self-conscious compared to all the nerds who know every in and out of the material or who use befuddling abbreviations and can quote from the source material at will. While this adaptation uses details that will delight Holmes die-hards (each episode follows a particular story closely — and starts aptly with adapting A Study In Scarlet, the first Holmes mystery), the modern setting makes it different enough that if you, like me, have no idea of the ins and outs of every one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s work, you never once feel like you’re at a party where everyone’s speaking a language you don’t know.

Five: Sherlock Holmes is the greatest crime fighter that ever is, was, or ever will be.
If you have ever liked or watched a crime show, you are an inadvertent Sherlock Holmes fan without ever knowing it. The gruff, brilliant cop partnered with the earnest people-person sidekick who have a relationship that ranges between spirited friendship to sexual tension is a trope for a reason — it was lifted directly from Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is the original, the prototype. Think of any of your favorite television detectives, and then pit them against Sherlock Holmes. You can’t. They lose.

If you in any way are a fan of the crime genre, you’ll love this show, simply because it’s Sherlock Holmes, and Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective that is, was, or ever will be. Period.

Clacked by Julia Hass
on Oct 24, 2010 @ 19:08 EST5EDT