Sherlock - BBC

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

For any US fans of BBC's Sherlock, PBS is finally airing Season 2 staring on Sunday, May 6th.

Haven't been able to find anything about when/if BBCA will also be showing it. I remember for season one PBS had it a good month or two before BBCA.

[Jon]

± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± wrote: "For any US fans of BBC's Sherlock, PBS is finally airing Season 2 staring on Sunday, May 6th.

Haven't been able to find anything about when/if BBCA will also be showing it. I remember for seaso..."

Oh my goodness! Thank you, Colleen, for posting this. I'd given up hope of seeing the second season aired here in the states. Now, to make room for it on my DVR.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

You're most welcome. :>

I've been eagerly anticipating it ever since it was on in the UK and I've heard such... intriguing things about this season. I can't wait!

[Paul]

Season 2 is excellent again. Youre in for a treat

[Brenda]

Ooh, I can't wait!!

[Francesca]

Season 2 is absolutely great, you'll love it! ;)

[Contrarius]

But only 3 episodes!!! Arrrrrgggggggg........

[Brenda]

In the NY Times this past week was an interview with Cumberbatch. His fans will wish to hit on the link there, with the Otter photos.

[Deanne]

Loved the second series, can't wait for the third.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

So I watched S2E1 - and was not disappointed.

There were a few things I felt were a bit off. The CIA addition felt a bit slapdash, and I was a bit annoyed with Mycroft. I didn't get why he didn't just (view spoiler)[tell Sherlock what the deal was instead of being imperious and just telling him not to touch it. He should know that that would only make Sherlock more interested - and when he first did it, I actually thought he was trying to get Sherlock to stay involved. (hide spoiler)]

But there was a lot I liked about it, too. I love how they're expanding on the role of Mrs. Hudson and when (view spoiler)[Sherlock and John both yelled at Mycroft for telling her to shut up - that was awesome. (hide spoiler)]

And the beginning was pretty funny. Definitely a change in directions from what I expected giving the tense cliffhanger from last season.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I wasn't all that impressed with the Hound of the Baskervilles episode, though it was cool to see Russell Tovey, who plays George, the werewolf, in Being Human UK in it.


But I saw 'The Reichenbach Fall' last night and, omg, I'm still all aflutter thinking about it. I can't wait we have to wait until next year to find out how he did it! I mean (view spoiler)[we know Molly helped in some way, and I'm guessing there was a switch off at some point, 'cause Sherlock kept talking about illusion tricks and whatnot, but how he actually pulled it off is beyond me. (hide spoiler)]

And Moriarty (view spoiler)[shooting himself! Didn't see that coming. (hide spoiler)]

And Watson - (view spoiler)[poor Watson. My heart was breaking at the end. (hide spoiler)]

Mind = Blown

[Brenda]

I foolishly missed #2, but am in a good position to see #3.

[Jackie]

Reichenback Fall was spectacular. Both Sherlock and Moriarity were brilliant.
I liked Scandal a lot too, but wasn't too thrilled with Baskerville.

Yesterday PBS had a chat session for Sherlock fans with Moffat, my questions weren't picked but it was still interesting, though some of the usual unimaginative questions were picked, sigh. You can read the transcript here, there's a lot of good questions too, and his answers were fantastic, funny, and clever. I expected no less from the god that he is: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/s...

I don't mind the three episode season. Each ep is the length of 2 episodes. Oh but it's a long wait til the next one.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

The wait is going to kill me. I have theories about the ending, but it'll be a long slog to find out whether I'm even close or not. :>

And I did think Moriarty was really good in Reichenbach. Chilling and menacing. I thought he was a bit too clownish in the finale of S1, but S2 gave me chills.

Thanks for the link to the interview - I'll have to read watch it when I get more time. :>

[Jackie]

I'd like to hear you theories. I know Molly helped but it was pretty spectacular (view spoiler)[ seeing him jump and laying there on the pavement. I have no idea how he did it and make it look so real.
I'm hoping it's not the end of Moriarity either. What's Sherlock with Moriarity? If Sherlock can fake his own death, then surely Moriarity can too. (hide spoiler)]

[Margaret]

One of my favorite exchanges from "Reichenbach":

Sherlock (to Moriarty): You're insane!

Moriarty: You're just getting that now?

(And I'm there going, "Yeah, Sherlock, I tumbled to that last season!")

[Contrarius]

Jackie wrote: "I'd like to hear you theories. I know Molly helped but it was pretty spectacular..."

Just remember the spoiler tags, please! Some of us haven't watched that episode yet!

[Jackie]

Of course!

Coleen, you can PM me if you don't want it posted here.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Margaret - I loved his (Moriarty's) face when he said it, too. LOL

Brenda - Hope you like the episode! My DVR didn't record Baskervilles, for some reason, but I found it online to watch.

Jackie - It's not fully fleshed out, yet, and I want to watch the ending again. But (view spoiler)[we - my husband and I - figure that the biker who knocked John down was definitely on purpose, so that John didn't get a good look and gave them time to do a switch.

Jer also pointed out that there's a few seconds where there's a truck blocking Watson's view, so we're thinking that that's when they did the switch.

We figure Sherlock had to have jumped, 'cause you see him flailing around a bit, so that couldn't have been a corpse, but that the truck must've blocked an air bag or... well, something.

And then all those people hovered around and closed in - so it definitely looked stage, to me. I mean, it was outside of Bart's, so I guess it's reasonable to think they were just nurses... but I think Molly called in a lot of help, to be honest.

And the pulse that John took was the doctored up corpse made to look like Sherlock... and he was pretty out of it at that point, between the shock and the fall and the hit to the noggin.

So, long theory short:

Sherlock did jump, but there was something there to catch him
Biker knocked John over to disorient him
Truck had corpse which they switched with Sherlock
John tested the corpsed Sherlock - which was then quickly rushed away

I mean, it's a hell of a trick to pull of with little time and no practice... but that's the best I can come up with without a closer viewing.

I do, actually, hope that Moriarty is dead. Not that I don't like him or anything, but just because that's the last you see of him from the books, and they've kept to the books fairly well, in their own sort of way, and I'd be kind of disappointed if they changed course now.

Of course, having Mycroft be the one who supplied Moriarty with all that info was a hell of a twist. (But I just kept getting distracted by the fact he'd dyed his hair. It's always weirder, to me, for men to do it than women.) (hide spoiler)]

[Jackie]

Colleen, the key is (view spoiler)[ "Truck had corpse which they switched with Sherlock". I thought the same with the other stuff but didn't make this one very important connection. I think it makes a whole lotta sense. I believe Sherlock could pull it off with no practice. He's brilliant, having a little time means nothing, he can do it.

My only doubts are because of what Moffat said in the chat about checking fan theories, when it aired in Britian and no one getting it. While this is a great theory, I'm sure someone else has thought of it by now. And Moffat is pretty damn good with the clever twists. I just hope we get to see how it was done next season.

I only read a few of the books, I didn't know this was the end for Moriarity. I just loved how well the actor played him. The writers are staying true to the stories, from what I've heard. I'm sure that will continue.

Mycroft puzzles me, sometimes he looks out for Sherlock, other times it seems like he couldn't care less about him. What is his deal? (hide spoiler)]

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Jackie - (view spoiler)[I'd heard the thing about Moffat saying no one's guess it and it's really obvious. I won't be upset if I'm totally wrong - I usually am!

And it's not just Sherlock not having the practice, but everyone else that would have to be involved. The bike guy and the truck and just all the timing that it would take to coordinate that many people.

But, yeah, it's funny in the books/stories - Irene's only in, like, the one story and mentioned, maybe, one or two other times and Moriarty is only in two stories and barely even seen on the page.

So they've definitely fleshed those characters out a lot - and, really, a lot of writers have. (Doyle's story's aren't always that satisfying, to be honest.)

Mycroft is another character who is more mentioned and seen in passing then actually plays a huge role in the stories, so they've had to develop his character, too.

He's like a darker reflection of Sherlock in this series. He has that whole rational and "lack of emotion" thing, and I can see him putting the safety of his country ahead of that of his brother. But it didn't quite mesh with how they'd shown him in other episodes. I think his portrayal and inconsistency is the one that bothers me most, in this series. (hide spoiler)]

[Jackie]

Colleen, (view spoiler)[You're theory is better than I could have done.
You're right, that's a lot of people to synchronize.

I read a couple of Sherlock novels when I was a kid, I can't even remember the titles or anything much about them. Irene was new to me.
(hide spoiler)]

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I always considered myself a fan of Sherlock Holmes... and then realized last year I hadn't actually read any of the books or stories, aside from Hound of the Baskerville for high school. But my parents watched the Mystery Masterpiece stuff from when I was a kid, and I liked the idea of Sherlock Holmes a lot.

And then there were the recent movie adaptations, which I also really enjoy, though they have rather different character takes, so some time last year I decided I just had to read the books.

I've only read Volume 1 of the 2 volume set, but I read up on it, too.

And I've read a few other author takes, like The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

I'm also a fan of the kid's series which follows Enola Holmes, the scandalously younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock, and enjoy seeing the tack Springer takes in those books to portray Sherlock (though not quite canon).

It's definitely cool, though, to watch the new series while having some knowledge of the stories just because of the various bits they lift from the books as well as the numerous ways they change things. For instance, in Study of Pink there's the thing about Rache. In the show (view spoiler)[it's short for Rachel, but in the novel 'Study of Scarlet' it really is German for revenge, so it's funny to see Anderson suggest that and be dismissed by Sherlock. (hide spoiler)]

It's not necessary, of course... it's more like little Easter Eggs.

[Margaret]

Collen, I've been enjoying the Easter Eggs too. Some of them are really subtle; there was one this season (I think it was in "Scandal in Belgravia") that I don't think you'd catch if you weren't a fan of Dorothy L. Sayers as well as Conan Doyle, having to do with Watson's middle name...

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I'm not familiar with her.

[Deanne]

Just bought the second series on DVD, can't wait for the next series.
Love Dorothy.L.Sayers, she wrote the Lord Peter Wimsey series in the 1930's so think Agatha Christie. Strong Poison was my favourite so far, but I like that period of crime writers.

[Karen]

I'm a big fan of Laurie King's series about a semi-retired Sherlock Holmes taking on as an apprentice a brilliant young orphan girl, Mary Russell.

± Colleen (of the Crawling Chaos) ± wrote: "I always considered myself a fan of Sherlock Holmes... and then realized last year I hadn't actually read any of the books or stories, aside from Hound of the Baskerville for high school. But my p..."

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Ooh, that sounds fun. I'll have to look into it. :)

[Julia]

Another one that I found fun is Michael Chabon's . And unlike a lot of Chabon's work, it's fairly short.

[Brenda]

Yes, the Laurie King series is great.

I finally saw the third & last episode of Season 2, and am dissatisfied. Is it spoilerish to discuss?

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Just use spoiler tags and you'll be fine.

[Brenda]

Actually this may not be a spoiler. I question what exactly Moriarity is trying to do. Obviously he wants to Destroy Holmes. But is he really going about it in a sensible way?

[Evilynn]

Brenda wrote: "Actually this may not be a spoiler. I question what exactly Moriarity is trying to do. Obviously he wants to Destroy Holmes. But is he really going about it in a sensible way?"

He's stark raving mad, I don't know if anything he does is sensible, exactly?

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I did think some of it stretched credulity, but, sensible or not it seemed to be effective.

I think that if something like this happened in the real world then (view spoiler)[people would be split in their opinions, unlike in the show where almost everyone seemed to turn against him - but if his credibility was destroyed enough for any doubt, that would be enough.

And, in some ways, the whole thing is a commentary of celebrity culture and how quick we are to turn on our idols. Like Sherlock said, people would want to believe it 'cause it'd make them feel better about themselves. (hide spoiler)]