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[trace_of_scarlet]

I cannot tell a lie, I am more than a little bit in love with Caitlin Moran right now. (She's a writer for The Times, if you're wondering - and more importantly, she's a fellow Sherlock and Cucumberpatch fangirl.) She is, it is quite clear, a fangirl entirely after my own heart.

The Seven Wonders of Sherlock

 

So what if the second episode lacked gags, says Caitlin Moran, whose Cumberbatch Love knows no bounds.  Bring on Sunday night! 

It’s been one of the more extraordinary television phenomena of the past few years: a show that came along and, in a single episode, engendered a technically improbable “instant loyalty”.  With an Appreciation Index of 88 per cent and ratings higher than the last series of Doctor Who, the BBC’s rebooted, 21^st-century Sherlock is setting a new standard for supersmart – and all this despite the fact that the second episode was, let’s face it, a bit rubbish.

With the third and concluding episode to run this Sunday and “Sherlock parties” planned up and down Britain to celebrate, here are seven reasons to love Sherlock.

1. The advent of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock. For many, life can now be broadly divided in “BBC” and “ABC” – “Before Benedict Cumberbatch” and “After Benedict Cumberbatch”.  Although Cumberbatch was, of course, a well-respected actor before – Bafta-nominated for his role of a young Stephen Hawking in Hawking –it’s hard to perv someone slowly crumbling into motor neurone disease; although, to be fair, I totally gave it my best shot.

As one of the most dashing characters in literary history, however, Sherlock-facilitated Cumberbatch Love has never felt easier of more natural.  He’s one of the cleverest men who ever lived! With the unexpectedly attractive quirk of being borderline sociopathic! In the first episode he thrashes a corpse with a riding crop by way of saying hello.  He’s lavishly, wonkily beautiful, 900ft tall, has a voice like a jaguar hiding in a cello, and would clearly be able to work out in a second what a 15 per cent tip should be – even if the total were tricksy, such as an odd number, or ended in 78p or something.

 

2. Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson is no can of bad beans, either. Indeed, working out if you’re Team Watson or Team Holmes has been one of the main preoccupations of the girls and gays in the past two weeks. Freeman’s rebooted, demobbed Watson has got a bit of Daniel Craig’s Bond about him – a darkness, a carefully concealed liking for danger – while still being adorably, blinkingly Tim from The Office. In the face of this often agonising love-choice, many have opted to go sideways and go Team Lestrade instead. DI Lestrade is, after all, Rupert Graves.

 

3. Slight homoerotic frisson. “And there is another bedroom – if you want it!” the landlady Mrs Hudson trills to Watson when he comes to view 221b Baker Street. “ I’ll get some candles – more romantic” the café-owner offers, as Holmes and Watson eat supper, mid-sleuth. Yeah. If there’s anything better than a hot Holmes and Watson, then it’s a Holmes and Watson who might, at some point, tenderly kiss when tied to a tree by Moriarty.

 

4. Pin-point second-string casting. Mark Gatiss as a scenery-chewing Mycroft Holmes, Lisa McAllister as Mycroft’s posh, eye-rolling assistant – one of the deftest comedy cameos of the year. Zoe Telford as Watson’s bird. And Una! Una Stubbs! When her Mrs Hudson appeared in the doorway of 221b Baker Street, welcoming Holmes – “Sherlock!” – a sudden Proustian rush engulfed the whole country. Stubbs! Stubbso! In a big weekend show! It’s like Worzel Gummidge, all over again! Everyone regressed, started sucking their thumbs and fancying a Findus Crispy Pancake.

 

5. Constant playing with expectations, We know Sherlock loves his drugs. Morphine, coke – whatever the pleasingly wide-ranging Victorian pharmacies of the time would stock. So when a shot starts with Holmes dramatically sitting up in bed, eyes blasted wide open, sighing as something hits his veins, we’re all like: “Here we go. Sherlock’s on the pop’n’chop again.” But when we pull back, it reveals it’s just that he’s riding three nicotine patches at the same time: “It’s a three-patch problem.” Later on, however, when Lestrade raids his flat, Holmes is very jumpy about what they might find. So, for that matter, is Mrs Hudson: “It was just a herbal remedy! For my hip!” Pure delight.

 

6. Holmes’s coat. Observing how very, very, fine Holmes looks in his greatcoat – lapels flicked up here, buckle details there, rampaging hotness from collar to vent – the women of Britain have been greatly tempted to put their menfolk in just such an item, when the weather turns inclement, and “play Sherlock” on a Friday night. Alas – when I e-mail the Sherlock director Paul McGuigan for the item-number in the Kay’s catalogue, he delivers a bombshell: “It’s a vintage Belstaff, of which only four were ever made – and we have two.” The women of Britain are just going to have to make do with Roger wearing that Gortex anorak for another year.

 

7. Slagging off Episode 2. After the dizzy, revelatory joy of the first episode, the whole nation congregated around the second with expectations just this side of Armstrong on the Moon. And when, in the first ten minutes, it became apparent that Episode 2 was going to be a bit of a mid-series lull – a Chinese smuggling ring? Really? In 2010? – the British pleasure in moaning about something really kicked in. “This episode is the only one not written by Steven Doctor Who, Press Gang Moffat!” everyone said, high on peevishness. “It’s slow and it’s got no gags and it’s borderline racist and I don’t want Watson to have a girlfriend yet and it’s dropped 1.5 million viewers compared to the first episode!” Pause. “I can’t wait for Episode 3!”

Originally typed up by wastedtiara and posted here on sherlockbbc.

Comments

[lienne.livejournal.com]

This is an excellent post.

PS: No I have not seen the last episode. *gnaws fingernails*

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

*clings to* HAVE YOU SEEN IT YET?

[lienne.livejournal.com]

YES

YES I HAVE

WHAT EVEN

THAT WAS NOT AN ENDING

/MAY POSSIBLY REMAIN ON A PERMANENT ADRENALIN HIGH UNTIL THEY MAKE MORE

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

THE MOFF AND SUE VERTUE CONFIRMED THIS MORNING THAT WE'RE GETTING MORE

BUT THEY DIDN'T SAY HOW MANY D: D: D:

I JUST

I JUST

I WAS SO CLOSE TO DECIDING THAT SHERLOCK WAS PROBABLY ACTUALLY ASEXUAL AND THEN THAT HAPPENED

AND I JUST -

FLAIL!

[lienne.livejournal.com]

ASDFGHJKL YES SH AND HIS AMBIGUOUS SEXUALITY I KNOW I KNOW

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/SPRAYS EXCLAMATION MARKS EVERYWHERE

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

*JAZZHANDS OF FLAIL*

And I loved Watson's girlfriend as well (Sarah ftw!) but at the same time HOLMES/WATSON HAVE BEEN OTP FOR OVER A HUNDRED YEARS AND I JUST CANNOT BREAK THAT

BUT THE ASEXY AND YET THE GAY AND HIS CURLS AND HIS BIG BLUE EYES AND SQUINCHY WEIRD FACE AND YET AND YET

I AM GOING TO STALK CUCUMBERPATCH AROUND THE CITY WHEN THEY BEGIN FILMING IS THAT WRONG?

[if_inconvenient]

IT IS NOT WRONG

NOT WRONG AT ALL

LA LA LA MILDLY RELEVANT RP JOURNAL

[if_inconvenient]

I DO LOVE HIS EYES

AND HIS CURLS

AND HIS COAT

THAT FUCKING COAT, MAN, I FUCKING WANT ONE

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

:D :D :D

I AM TOTALLY MAYBE ALMOST CERTAINLY GOING TO HAVE A GO AT RPing A CUCUMBERPATCH!HOLMES I THINK

BUT I NEED A USERNAME FIRST >.<

MMMMF THAT COAT. I HAVE A BIG WINTER COAT WITH A HIGH COLLAR BUT I CAN'T WEAR IT RIGHT NOW

IS IT WINTER YET? PLEASE?

[noshitgreg.livejournal.com]

I AM KIND OF IN THE SAME BOAT RE: RPING SH

(I JUST CALL HIM SH, TO DIFFERENTIATE HIM FROM if_inconvenient, noshitgreg, AND finaldiscussion)

I AM SERIOUSLY CONTEMPLATING STUDYING THE HELL OUT OF THAT COAT AND MAKING MYSELF ONE OF MY VERY OWN

I WOULD PROBABLY LOOK LIKE A COMPLETE TOOL, A SHORT CANADIAN WITH GLASSES WANDERING AROUND IN SH'S COAT

BUT I CAN'T BRING MYSELF TO CARE

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

I CALL HIM SHIRLEY, I CANNOT TELL A LIE

AND NOBODY COULD LOOK LIKE A TOOL IN THAT COAT

THIS IS ACTUAL 100% TRUFAX

SHIRLEY DETECTED IT HIMSELF WITH HIS LEARNINGS

[finaldiscussion.livejournal.com]

...I LOVE YOU

SHIRLEY

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

<3

[noshitgreg.livejournal.com]

IF AND WHEN YOU DO START WRITING HIM, I DEMAND THREADS

LOTS OF THREADS

XD

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 <3

BUT OF COURSE :D

[noshitgreg.livejournal.com]

WE SHOULD BRAINSTORM SCREENNAMES TOGETHER

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

:D

I WOULD BE OKAY WITH THAT

BUT I HAVE TO GO TAKE THE PUPPY FOR A WALK ATM

BE ON AIM IN AN HOUR-ISH?

[noshitgreg.livejournal.com]

YOU BET! /SALUTES

[synecdoche-and.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this, she pretty much nailed my thoughts on the show.

[oddcult.livejournal.com]

Came in via Apiphile. Any chance you can repost her interview with Lady Gaga? Another piece of awesomeness.

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately not - it wasn't me who typed it up, sorry. You could try asking the original contributor? I linked to her at the bottom of the post.

[avariel-wings.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to work out if that Lisa McAllister is the girl I knew at school. Her photos on IMDB could be the girl I remember, but I haven't seen her since we were sixteen...

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

Oooh. That'd be cool, if she was. I liked her. :D

[synecdoche-and.livejournal.com]

I figured you might be interested: http://community.livejournal.com/sherlockbbc/186336.html?#cutid1