What Makes "Sherlock" So Good?

[Vagabond]

I tried watching it, but if felt like I was watching The Adventures of Otter and Hedgehog instead of Holmes and Watson. I think the upcoming movie version of The Hedgehog Hobbit has been ruined for me too.

[pollyanna]

This show is so effin' brilliant, although you could see the end coming a mile away after what Mycroft said. It's one of those shows I have to watch a 2nd and 3rd time because it all happens so fast and it's so complicated. Like when Watson complains about Mycroft's power trips and the next shot is of a power station. Cute.

Trivia - the girl Watson was dating at Christmas was played by Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter Oona (Geraldine Chaplin's daughter).

[ioana]

How the hell does blue-eyed Sherlock sneak into a Pakistani terrorist cell anyway??

I figured spoiler tags can be safely removed now. One of my best friends is from Iran and there are actually quite a few people with light-colored eyes from their country. It's not extremely common, but it does happen. That would fit in with Sherlock not being from Pakistan and being able to get away with speaking urdu (or another regional language) with an accent...Yes, it is a stretch, but not impossible. Now, a terrorist cell memember with a sexy woman moan messaging alert -and none of the other members hearing this alert

[skatesindreams]

I knew "where it was going", throughout.
No matter; though, when the casting/acting are so effective.

Hooray!
The ratings were really good:
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...VbytheNumbers%

[danceronice]

I figured spoiler tags can be safely removed now. One of my best friends is from Iran and there are actually quite a few people with light-colored eyes from their country. It's not extremely common, but it does happen. That would fit in with Sherlock not being from Pakistan and being able to get away with speaking urdu (or another regional language) with an accent...Yes, it is a stretch, but not impossible. Now, a terrorist cell memember with a sexy woman moan messaging alert -and none of the other members hearing this alert

Well, to the latter bit, that was right before he presumably told her to run, at which point the rest of the terror cell was going to have to know that he was not precisely what he'd said was.

To the former, how about that National Geographic cover of the Afghani woman with striking green eyes? Clearly, central Asia can produce a blue-eyed gene, it just isn't COMMON.

And of COURSE the minute Mycroft said even Sherlock Holmes couldn't have been there you knew he was wrong. Even when Mycroft THINKS he's ahead, he's behind. Just like even though we knew which version John was going to tell Sherlock, it still worked when you see him actually do it. (Mycroft did leave him that option.)

[SaSherka]

I figured spoiler tags can be safely removed now. One of my best friends is from Iran and there are actually quite a few people with light-colored eyes from their country. It's not extremely common, but it does happen. That would fit in with Sherlock not being from Pakistan and being able to get away with speaking urdu (or another regional language) with an accent...Yes, it is a stretch, but not impossible. Now, a terrorist cell memember with a sexy woman moan messaging alert -and none of the other members hearing this alert

I would've sworn I posted a comment on Monday, but I guess the internet ate it up. Lady, why did you not convince me to watch this show before?? I got the digital converter just so that I could watch PBS and promptly got hooked on this show. Good thing there are only 3 episodes though... Let me know if you want to do a Sherlock marathon and I'll come over

[Peaches LaTour]

We watch it and enjoy it even though, afterward, I feel like I've been hit by an F-5 category tornado because everything moves so fast.

Thank God for the captioning device on the t.v., or we couldn't watch it at all- being Americans we don't grasp English when it is spoken fast as lightning! As it is, our eyeballs are speed-reading while trying to take in the actual action as well. Sometimes they speak faster than Jimmy Cagney ever could.

[skatesindreams]

I hope that Lara Pulver will appear again in future seasons.
One of the interviews I read said that even though she has other projects pending, she would like to do so.

[Cachoo]

I wonder how the next episode will be updated: That these are familiar stories that are modernized and sometimes hard to recognize is part of the fun for me. But mostly I think they struck gold when they cast Cumberbatch and Freeman.

[Artemis@BC]

Boy, between Downton Abbey and Sherlock, PBS is having a very good ratings streak. Kinda ironic though, for a (mostly) commercial-free network!

But I do have a peeve with PBS. Since they converted to digital, I'm finding that any British-made programs (which is pretty much all I watch on PBS) get the picture chopped off at the left & right edges. I've tried every aspect ratio setting on my TV, but they're all the same, or worse. Very frustrating, esp. for Sherlock which really does use the full screen.

BTW, I never did give my answer to the original question of this thread. I say what makes it so good are 1. Benedict Cumberbatch, 2. Steven Moffat, and 3. Martin Freeman. In that order, most of the time.

[danceronice]

But I do have a peeve with PBS. Since they converted to digital, I'm finding that any British-made programs (which is pretty much all I watch on PBS) get the picture chopped off at the left & right edges. I've tried every aspect ratio setting on my TV, but they're all the same, or worse. Very frustrating, esp. for Sherlock which really does use the full screen.

Oh, good grief, it's NOT my TV! (Which is admittedly quite elderly but if it ain't broke, don't spend hundreds of dollars to replace it...) I noticed that on BBC America as well with some programs and it's really annoying!

[cailuj365]

"A Scandal in Belgravia" is honestly the best episode of TV I've ever seen. This show is just so good.

[Fergus]

<--- Yet another "Sherlock"-uber!!!

The dynamic between Holmes and Watson is fantastic......and I love that they went with it and gave the latter's middle name as Hamish.

Great television with a big "G"!!!

[Ajax]

"A Scandal in Belgravia" is honestly the best episode of TV I've ever seen. This show is just so good.

You may just revise that opinion after you've seen the rest of this season

[cailuj365]

You may just revise that opinion after you've seen the rest of this season

lol, I already watched the whole season online back in January. I actually watched the season finale the night before a really big med school interview....probably wasn't the smartest idea, but eff it, Sherlock is THAT good. I couldn't wait, haha.

[pollyanna]

You may just revise that opinion after you've seen the rest of this season

Russell Tovey !!!

[kwanfan1818]

Freeman in particular is amazing. I love the characterization of Watson as quietly confident and competent.

He's a bit like Bones in Star Trek in relation to Spock, without them both vying for Kirk's attention.

[skatesindreams]

That's a good analogy.

Watson, as portrayed here, doesn't have to "vie for attention".
He's a "person of accomplishment" in his own right.

[Artemis@BC]

Russell Tovey !!!

I had hard time not thinking throughout the whole episode "Hey, if you're wondering why you're being pursued by a large slobbering hound ... it's because you're a frickin werewolf."

[kwanfan1818]

Watson, as portrayed here, doesn't have to "vie for attention". He's a "person of accomplishment" in his own right.

So was Bones, but it was the difference between being the captain of the Math Club on an internationally competitive team and a socially inept math prodigy. There's no central character in "Sherlock" for them to try to impress. It always made me laugh that Kirk was worthy of Bones' or Spock's attention, but babe-magnet, Kennedy-esqu football heroes have a tendency to have that effect on nerds. (Now Picard is another story.)