josabby

The Mystery part of these shows are poorly written. I don't get a sense of an equal partnership between Sherlock and Joan. Forget that they are using the names of Sherlock and Watson. Forget about the BBC Sherlock, House, or the Robert Downey Jr/ Jude Law films, Forget about Data a Geordi, Forget Jeremy Brett.

This show is essentially a crime procedural show that takes the names of Iconic characters.

Do I have a problem with them turning John Watson into Joan Watson? No. I am a woman and very far from being a Doyle purist. I've been a fan of Lucy Liu since Ally McBeal. Ling was a great character who I loved. She was like Greg House. A Jerk, but lovable. Few women can pull that off.

My problem with Joan Watson, is that Sherlock always seems to piece things together while she's asleep. It's like the writers use her sleeping as a bandage on the plot because they can't figure out how to effectively show the workings of Sherlock's mind. Sure Joan interrogates people with Sherlock. Sure there are medical things that Joan happens to notice, but those moments feel like contrived attempts to make Joan look useful.

Then there's Sherlock. He wallows way too much in self pity. I don't mind seeing a character have issues and be affected by traumatic experiences from the past. Wesley on Angel and Topher on Dollhouse are perfect examples of this. Joss Whedon and his crew built a strong foundation for that wallowing so the audience could feel their pain. Sherlock's wallowing on Elementary just makes in look like a whiny burn out who can afford to be a whiny burn out. He complains about his daddy who pays his way. Did it ever occur to him to try to make his own way? He's almost 40. It's like the writers decided to give him a traumatic past without thinking things through. His whining just seems hollow. The one character I like is his sponsor who told him to get over himself. It's about time someone did. Sherlock walks around with hunched shoulders and holds his face in a weird expression. The writers felt the need to make Sherlock have sex with prostitutes and a few other women in a cheap attempt to make him seem more edgy.

Then there is the supporting cast. Gregson and Marcus are bland.

I prefer Bones as a Crime Procedural. The leads have great chemistry even before they hooked up. Their different personalities and views on life made for great interaction. The supporting characters have distinctive personalities as well.

Cold Case is a great show for solving mysteries. There is a logic in their crime solving and the audience gets to work with Lily Rush to solve the crimes. The Audience for Elementary does not get the same experience as Joan, the supposed Audience voice, is always asleep when Sherlock puts things together.

The acting is also very flat. They seem to be trying to be Hitchcockian by casting blonde chicks who don't directly commit murders, but who do dishonest things that lead others to killing. The blonde chicks who do this are pretty in a dull cookie cutter way and speak the same (barely above a whisper). I still don't understand why Joan felt bad about solving the mystery on the finale. The wife set up an innocent man to be murdered to give her husband peace instead of getting him some professional help. When Sherlock told the man the truth about what his wife had done, did he feel guilty about taking the life on an innocent man? Not at all. He wanted to get his sister's killer. It sucks that his sister died, and that's a horrible thing to live with, but what about the wife of the innocent man he killed? He and his wife deprived her of her husband for selfish reasons because they love each other and his dead sister so much. And, we, like Joan are supposed to feel bad for the guy? I don't think so. The motivations of murderers are lame. They are reflections of the characters of Sherlock (and Joan): People who wallow and are self involved.

When I saw the previews for Elementary, I thought I'd actually enjoy it because I loved Johnny Lee Miller in Mansfield Park and Emma and I've loved Lucy Liu since Ally McBeal. I may still like the show in the future if they can get writers and director who are good story tellers and can construct good mysteries and structure good mystery solving.

On a final note, there's the comparison to the BBC show. It's like comparing Twilight to Harry Potter (though Elementary is much better than the turd that is Twilight) But they are alike in name brand only. The comparisons are superficial. The stories and interpersonal relationships are completely different.