Yes the Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle was a talented boxer and experienced fencer.

It is also good to note that Irene Adler was only seen in a single short story (A Scandal In Bohemia), where she outsmarts Holmes and is from then on refereed to as The Women.

And as for any negatives on the series... it is a bit difficult to compare this to other Holmes incarnations. I can compare and contrast such things like Downy and Jude's Holmes and Watson but the modernization of this series makes any mistakes or changes harder to peg.

 

Spoiler

Wait? There was a time skip? I definitely missed that part heh. I remember 6 months being mentioned, but I didn't quite catch it.

I definitely didn't think Holmes' was too Bond like. In fact, I think if there was a problem like this, it would exist more in series 1.

I also thought the Boomerang thing was actually tastefully done. I usually dislike those type of riddles, as they usually leave some type of information out that makes it impossible for the watcher to figure it out, until the revelation where that tiny detail makes an appearance. They didn't do that here. I also thought it getting washed downstream was perfectly plausible.

 

And the Daily Mail has declared themselves fans of Irene Adler...

:facepalm

 

The Daily Fail's at it again I see...

I cant wait to see how they do the Hound of the Baskervilles on Monday.

 

Well, first can I say I did enjoy the episode? I do like Sherlock even though I don't really like Moffat, but that's another story in itself. And to his credit, Irene is the most complex female character he's ever created, so props to him, maybe he's maturing or something, but most of my problems lie there.

I think just to be safe I'll put this as a spoiler:

Spoiler

First of all, if you're going to portray your character as a bisexual, then identify her as a bisexual, not a lesbian. Sexuality is fluid, yeah, but the level that Irene seemed to want Sherlock wasn't really quite right if she were a lesbian. If she had identified as a lesbian we'd have all thought of her as a bisexual. Why even bother to have her say she's gay if the entire episode hinges around her sexual attraction to Sherlock? Illogical.

As it starts out, I really really like Irene. She's a woman with agency and power, she's fiercely independent and intelligent, and she only handles a gun once (that must have taken restraint on Moffat's part). She's got so much potential to actually be a strong female character, living up to her reputation as the woman who outwitted the brilliant Sherlock Holmes. What do we get instead? She's turned into a damsel in distress and a pawn of men. She becomes weak and needs Sherlock to save her. Seriously, what the fuck?

Oh and honestly how long are they going to torture us? Irene's certainly got one thing right --Sherlock and John are totally a couple. If only they could just admit it!

I can only hope that Moffat surprises me and actually develops Irene as a character whose sexuality isn't just for the benefit of male fantasy. All that being said, Lara Pulver was EXCELLENT as was the rest of the cast, as per usual. It was witty and entertaining. But it certainly was not flawless.

 

Strongly disagree with you there.

Spoiler

Adler took six months to be defeated, which is ridiculous when you consider how they have portrayed Holmes so far. She wasn't a damsel in distress, she played the game with Sherlock and she won multiple times. She just happened to lose at the end after getting carried away with it.

I don't see "failing to defeat god knows how many enemies she made" as being weak, especially as she would have defeated them if Sherlock hadn't solved the puzzle at the end. She wasn't a damsel in distress, she nearly brought England to its knees as Mycroft put it. She was a fallen enemy who Sherlock respected so much he extended a hand to help her.

As for Adler's sexuality, the way I saw it is that both she and Sherlock saw each other the same way--with the utmost respect, as someone who could stand on their level. She wanted him for the same reason he wanted her, because of who he was. This combined with her highly sexual character painted a pretty interesting and complex relationship between the two. I saw it as Adler being someone who loves sex, but who wasn't interested in Sherlock because of sex. Likewise for Sherlock.

I could be wrong, though. That's just how I personally saw it.

 

Spoiler

In Irene’s defense, she could identify as a lesbian and found Sherlock is an exception to that. Many straight people have a person that they’d ‘go gay for’ (usually said in regards hot actors / actresses). This is just the reverse of that. And even then, who said Irene was sexually attracted to Sherlock? It could have just been fascination. You don’t need to be sexually attracted to a person to fall in love.

EDIT: Also, what Philo said.

 

Fuck you. The characters are not going to change their sexuality because you want them to.

 

Well, I had a really lengthy reply but lost it. Here was the gist of it because I'm too tired to rewrite the entire thing:

Spoiler

On Sexuality: Yes, I do understand sexuality is fluid. But here are the facts: Irene is written as a bisexual but Moffat doesn't have her identify as one. He has her identify as a lesbian. This episode and Irene weren't written to explore the depths and fluidity of human sexuality. That's not important to what's going on. If it were, I would be very excited. Instead, Irene is played up at the 'titillating bisexual' stereotype, sadly not a new player in the entertainment industry.

On Irene herself: Irene begins the story as the woman who can bring the world to its knees. She has every poss ability to be "The Woman" (who outwitted Sherlock Holmes) she was very much meant to be. She's independent and intelligent and cunning and absolutely brilliant. But things do start to change. Sherlock becomes her ruin, not the man she outwits. Am I supposed to believe that she would honestly make her passcode "Sher" and jeopardize everything she's worked for? She becomes this weak woman who succumbs to "love" (I personally don't know if what I would call romantic love is between them) with this dazzling amazing intellectual and loses her sense for long enough to ruin her. Irene comes so close to being The Woman and yet in the end, Sherlock becomes the man who both defeats her and saves her. And that bothers me, it really does, that Moffat lets her win some battles but ultimately not the war. Yeah, yeah, it's an adaptation, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So really, this episode is about how freaking great Sherlock is, because the woman who was supposed to outwit, while a worthy adversary, fails because she's become too weak and he's too brilliant. She becomes a damsel in distress who needs to be saved by Sherlock, she becomes a weakened woman who loses her victory because of it, and really, dying would have been a much better, more dignified ending for her.

And that's my interpretation. We're all entitled to those, and not surprisingly, other people's differing opinions won't change mine.

Oh yeah, and I never said they had to be gay and engaging in a sexual relationship. Sex is not love and love is not sex. If John says he isn't gay, he isn't, and I believe him. But they are a couple in many ways.

 

...Did you watch the same show as everyone else?

At no point--none--was Adler 'too weak'.

 

What does that even mean? That they can not love each other and still have sex or that they can not have sex and still love each other? I'm going to assume it's the second one.

The word couple has a certain connotation and don't pretend like you don't know that. Either you meant couple in the romantic sense, in which case refer to my previous post. Or you have poor word choice and should have clarified further what you meant.

EDIT: Also what Joe said. And because I wanted to use this in the Sherlock thread.

 

Damn was this a nice surprise. I fricking loved the first series, watched all the eps several times. Ended up making an unexpected trip to Arizona (mom's cancer is back ) and decided to rewatch Series 1. Got to talking with family and discovered the next season started in two days. So awesome. And the new episode.... fanfuckingtastic. So much good stuff. Watched it a second time on the flight home earlier tonight. And yup, for me this one is better than any of the first series.

Spoiler

Truthfully, I loved seeing so much kind of character growth in Sherlock. The christmas scene with Molly where he apologized and appeared sincerely ashamed. The genuine laughter and banter with Watson, wearing the sheet, "here comes the queen now," stealing the ashtray, "I'm a soldier, I fought a war!" "You were a doctor!" "I had bad days!" Seemed like more laughs now that I think about it. And his possessiveness and protective streak towards Mrs. Hudson... Sherlock feels both more humanized and yet still different from everyone else. I'm basing my comparisons on only the first series, not the Holmes character's long history.

If you'd told me these things were coming, I would've expected it to ruin the image of this Sherlock in my head. But having seen them, they don't feel like weaknesses in his character.

I'm trying to keep my expectations down as I doubt every one will be as enjoyable and engaging as this first episode and the first series. But knowing a new one's coming this Sunday and then the next has me giddy.

And on a related note, I don't give a juicy flying monkey shit whether Sherlock, Watson, Adler, Moriarity, or Mycroft are gay, straight, bi, bromantic, or lying about it. Though Watson's repeated statements that he's not gay are pretty amusing.

 

Yes, this episode was definitely a lot better than the first season. Not that the first season was bad (I thought I was fantastic); it's just that the bar has been raised even higher.

I completely agree with nonjon in everything.

As a side-note, since I was currently browsing this thread on an iPhone, I couldn't highlight to reveal spoiler text. Instead, I was forced to select the invisible text and let the phone speak it to me, which made the arguments between people 100x more hilarious. (Yeah, I could have copied and read th text elsewhere, but I was too lazy for that).

 

While we wait for the next episode, any fanfic recommendations? I tried searching but its all Sherlock/John slash.

 

The sherlockbbc livejournal community has a Sunday Recday, but, once again, much of it is John/Sherlock or just not worth recommending. One story I enjoyed was you'll never be alone in the bone orchard by saraht, though I'm still hoping for some better stories sticking to the show's atmosphere.

Also, great soundtrack cover.

 

I was putting off watching the Season 1 finale.

I just marathoned all 4 episodes (when I have shit I need to be doing but hey what's life without a little procrastination?), and my mind's SQUEEing so hard it's unbelievable.

Everything about this series makes me love the world a little more.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCPwZYkulF8

Here's a preview for the next week episode. I am so fucking excited. Also Moriarty will only come in the last episode.

 

In regards to fanfic, pretty much everything is slash in this fandom, so it’s hard to remember a non-slash fic off the top of my head. There’s The Long Drive series; I found it hilarious though there is a few slashy undertones, not that anything happens of that nature, but it’s there. Anything by Silver Pard is good, especially Living Lore. Seconding 'you'll never be alone in the bone orchard', though it’s rather depressing. A Momentary Madness is awesome and a mindfuck, but also has a few slashy underontes.

Honestly, all the really good fics are slash. If any of you want some slash fics recced, PM me, and I’ll give them to you.

EDIT: I FORGOT ONE OF MY FAVORITE FICS. The World on his Wrist is complete gold. It's sequel goes into explict slash territory, and while even I can see the slash wasn't needed, the series is too amazing not to recommend. GO READ IT.

 

/me snickers quietly