Pilot

In contrast to what you would expect from a Sherlock Holmes TV show (as the British equivalent is doing superbly) this show isn't clever. Neither writing nor directing really manage to captivate you, and the soundtrack doesn't help create good atmosphere neither. Worst of all the acting. Lucy Liu is OK, and the fact that i like gorgeous Asian women is the only thing that will make me watch at least one more episode. The very first scene introducing Johnny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes leaves you wondering why he was chosen for the role. Maybe the poor writing denies him a better performance. The rest of the cast doesn't really convince either. All in all you're left with a disappointing pilot, which can't compete with other shows of the genre.

I have to admit, way back when I heard that this version of Holmes and Watson was not only moving the character to modern day New York, but that Watson was going to be female, I really thought the show would be pandering to the "PC" crowd, and was prepared to be uninterested. Wow! Was I ever wrong!

Here we have a Holmes as quirky and brilliant as Doyle's character, who, oh, btw, is just getting out of rehab! And if that bothers you, go back and read Doyle, where Holmes chronically uses cocaine... Watson, as in the original, is a medical doctor, but due to very difficult, possibly traumatic experiences, she has left the field. Watson had also done this in the books (although he did eventually go back to practicing medicine). Her role as his "recovery companion" makes her a great fool, as she has something to offer him, to help him through the difficulties of his early recovery, and we aren't just watching her stumbling along in his wake, while he explains how brilliant he is. One of the great aspects of this show is showing the ambivalence that many people with substance use disorders have during early recovery, especially regarding accepting help.

I really enjoyed the give and take between the two characters, they have great timing and chemistry. This Holmes starts off very "Jeremy Brett", he is arrogant, a know it all, and doesn't care who he annoys, yet he is fascinating, and so very imperfect. It's just great TV.

New York. Dr Joan Watson is assigned as a companion to eccentric Englishman Sherlock Holmes to ensure that he is drug-free. Holmes is a consulting detective and is soon embroiled in a murder case. Watson initial thought is to drop the assignment but she sticks around and discovers that she and Holmes make a good team.

I watched this because of the high rating and rave reviews but even before watching I suspected that this is a Hollywoodization of Sherlock Holmes. Turns out that it is, but it's reasonably entertaining.

There's nothing revolutionary about it, just your usual classic character contemporised. It's basically Sherlock Holmes shoehorned into the formulaic, standard-American-TV trope of a quirky murder detective, a la Monk or The Mentalist.

On the plus side, the reimagined Holmes-Watson combination works well and the pace is good. The case is fairly intriguing and there's some good red herrings, twists and turns.

Overall, okay and watchable though far from a must-watch.

Pilots tend to be underrated on IMDB - probably because they're the episode people are most likely to drop a show after no matter what the show is.

You wouldn't know it from the score, but Elementary's pilot is significantly better than its second and third episodes. It sets up an expertly balanced dynamic between Holmes and Watson, gives us an interesting case, and knocks out of the park the "fair play" aspect of golden detective fiction. Character work is tightly written - we know enough about Holmes and Watson to care but it's not drowning out the puzzle we came to watch. Invaluable for a work like this. We are able to care about our characters simply by a few quick lines that have us interested to see how their dynamic will continue as the show goes on. This is successfully a show about mysteries and the thrill of solving them; in that sense it feels one of the best modern adaptations to the spirit of the original ACD stories.

The storyline listed for this pilot bears little resemblance to the actual story. The NYPD Captain is Tommy Gregson, not Javier Abreu. Dr Mantlo is not a robbery victim, but his wife is an apparent kidnapping victim. Joan Watson is a surgeon who voluntarily left medicine, not a disbarred surgeon. Surgeons are not disbarred (that would be attorneys). The murderer of the doctor's wife is indeed the doctor, who murdered her for her money, not a trophy hunting serial killer .