Sherlock: Hound of the Baskervilles 1st Viewing Thoughts
**Spoilers ahead**
I must confess myself very disappointed in last night's episode of Sherlock. I had high hopes for a delightful mash up, like last week's season opener, "A Scandal in Belgravia". The alternate realities worked so well in that one, the humor, and the in-jokes fell like hilarious rain: The Geek Interpreter, The Naval Treatment. And Mrs. Hudson ruled! It all worked and I must confess I've watched it repeatedly, and not just for the "sheet scene" at Buckingham Palace. There were so many quotable lines.
SH: "I said punch me in the face."
JW: "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you're speaking, but it's usually subtext."
Lestrade: "How many times did he fall out of the window?"
SH: "It's all a blur. I lost count."
But "Hound" lacked that level of detail, and just didn't have the fun factor, even with the casting of the young actor with the ears who played a werewolf on BBC's "Being Human" as the ersatz "Henry Baskerville" Knight. Worse yet, it wasn't cohesive, but seemed like a series of "Wouldn't that be neat" set pieces: the infiltration of the military base; Watson locked in the lab, experimented on by Sherlock himself; the clear miss of the appearance of the "hound". For those of you familiar with the Canon, there was some mash up with "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" but it was a pale effort at best. In "Devil's Foot" Holmes exposes himself and Watson to the nearly deadly toxin, saves Watson, and betrays just for an instant how deeply his feelings of friendship for Watson run.
But in this modern iteration, Sherlock seems cruel and somehow spiteful when he locks Watson in the lab and scares him half to death. And he's not in the least apologetic. I found myself liking him considerably less than I did last week.
The scene in which Sherlock feels fear again echoes "Devil's Foot," but not well. It seemed so dreadfully out of character and he was so hostile to any help by John that it seemed again like ham-handed piecework.
It wasn't even internally consistent. Initially Sherlock tries to send John off with Knight, as in Canon (so Holmes could come in secret and investigate without interference) but in the same breath decides to go. Choppy. The scene of John trapped in the lab had no segue, either and I wondered if it was another of the US cuts.
The "glowing Bluebell" element was never well developed, and the ultimate appearance of a hound was flat as stepped-on gum. Even the "aren't you two a couple?" running gag seemed a bit tired, although "Does yours snore?" was kind of a chuckle. The ultimate revelation of the meaning of the H.O.U.N.D/hound element was so forced as to be insulting, and more worthy of a Scooby Doo episode.
A few things did work, though.
Perhaps the best moment of the entire episode was Sherlock's Canon-esque desperate tantrum resulting from a combination of between-cases boredom and nicotine craving. I think they even worked in a "7%" allusion, but I'll have to watch it again to be sure.
The substitution of Grimpen minefield for Grimpen mire was a nice touch.
As mentioned above, the casting of the Being Human werewolf as Knight was a clever little BBC in-joke.
Despite these few bright spots, it was a disappointment.
I must confess myself very disappointed in last night's episode of Sherlock. I had high hopes for a delightful mash up, like last week's season opener, "A Scandal in Belgravia". The alternate realities worked so well in that one, the humor, and the in-jokes fell like hilarious rain: The Geek Interpreter, The Naval Treatment. And Mrs. Hudson ruled! It all worked and I must confess I've watched it repeatedly, and not just for the "sheet scene" at Buckingham Palace. There were so many quotable lines.
SH: "I said punch me in the face."
JW: "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you're speaking, but it's usually subtext."
Lestrade: "How many times did he fall out of the window?"
SH: "It's all a blur. I lost count."
But "Hound" lacked that level of detail, and just didn't have the fun factor, even with the casting of the young actor with the ears who played a werewolf on BBC's "Being Human" as the ersatz "Henry Baskerville" Knight. Worse yet, it wasn't cohesive, but seemed like a series of "Wouldn't that be neat" set pieces: the infiltration of the military base; Watson locked in the lab, experimented on by Sherlock himself; the clear miss of the appearance of the "hound". For those of you familiar with the Canon, there was some mash up with "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" but it was a pale effort at best. In "Devil's Foot" Holmes exposes himself and Watson to the nearly deadly toxin, saves Watson, and betrays just for an instant how deeply his feelings of friendship for Watson run.
But in this modern iteration, Sherlock seems cruel and somehow spiteful when he locks Watson in the lab and scares him half to death. And he's not in the least apologetic. I found myself liking him considerably less than I did last week.
The scene in which Sherlock feels fear again echoes "Devil's Foot," but not well. It seemed so dreadfully out of character and he was so hostile to any help by John that it seemed again like ham-handed piecework.
It wasn't even internally consistent. Initially Sherlock tries to send John off with Knight, as in Canon (so Holmes could come in secret and investigate without interference) but in the same breath decides to go. Choppy. The scene of John trapped in the lab had no segue, either and I wondered if it was another of the US cuts.
The "glowing Bluebell" element was never well developed, and the ultimate appearance of a hound was flat as stepped-on gum. Even the "aren't you two a couple?" running gag seemed a bit tired, although "Does yours snore?" was kind of a chuckle. The ultimate revelation of the meaning of the H.O.U.N.D/hound element was so forced as to be insulting, and more worthy of a Scooby Doo episode.
A few things did work, though.
Perhaps the best moment of the entire episode was Sherlock's Canon-esque desperate tantrum resulting from a combination of between-cases boredom and nicotine craving. I think they even worked in a "7%" allusion, but I'll have to watch it again to be sure.
The substitution of Grimpen minefield for Grimpen mire was a nice touch.
As mentioned above, the casting of the Being Human werewolf as Knight was a clever little BBC in-joke.
Despite these few bright spots, it was a disappointment.
No comments have been added yet.
