quietly fangirling

[deird1]

I am rather besotted by Elementary at the moment.

It's a crime show, which I like. It's also almost the first iteration of Sherlock Holmes I've seen where he isn't an arsehole.

My knowledge of the books is very limited. Most of what I know about the character is from Sherlock Holmes (RDJ), Sherlock, House, and Elementary. I have differing levels of affection for all the aforementioned - but Elementary is the first I've seen where Holmes's rudeness is purely from pragmatism, rather than because he actually gets a kick out of offending people.

(Also, it's really fun.)

Comments

[frayadjacent]

Hooray! Are you in Season 1?

[deird1]

Start of season 2.

[petzipellepingo]

It is fun, I'm looking forward to September.

[kerkevik_2014]

Problem is, if Holmes isn't an arsehole, then he's probably not being written well. Being an arsehole is part of what makes Holmes the character he has always been.

kerk

[deird1]

In this case, it's not quite as simple as "arsehole" vs "nice". Sherlock has interfered with Watson's private life, put on a mask and attacked her at home (to work on her preparedness), stolen batteries from her alarm clock... and so on. He's also abrasive, outspoken, and sometimes scathingly rude.
...he's just NOT like that to be purposefully malicious or because he likes hurting people's feelings - and that's new to me.

[lyr]

I love Elementary! I think it's probably my favorite incarnation of Holmes. I also like that Sherlock can be rude, but that he's genuinely trying to be a better person, particularly with those whom he respects.

[megpie71]

In the books, Holmes' perceived rudeness is actually the arrogance of the British upper classes at the end of the 19th century - and this is reinforced by the way other people react to it as though yes, this is something they'd expect of him. He's an aristocrat, a member of the landed gentry (he mentions his people do own an estate) and as a result he's undergone a certain upbringing and has a particular role in society which allows him to get away with a certain amount of behaviour which would be socially unacceptable had it come from a middle-class type such as Watson. In Elementary they emphasise the massive amount of privilege Holmes has in contrast to Watson in a much more interesting manner - they make Watson an Asian-American woman, rather than another white man (deliberately playing with levels of social privilege as we understand them at the beginning of the 21st century). So in many ways, Elementary comes a lot closer to keeping the original privilege dynamics of the books between Holmes and Watson - the story of Holmes and Watson is very much about this friendship which forms across the class barriers.