I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

The Lying Detective — It Is What It Is

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"what it is worth" [THOR] </h4>
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[<b><i>Editor's Note</i></b>: this is the sixth in a series of reviews we'll be sharing on Series 4 of <i>Sherlock</i>. And as is our custom, there are <b>spoilers</b> ahead.]<br />
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<span lang="EN-US">And I love what it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That sums up <i>Sherlock</i> for me. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Before I begin, I respect your right to
“not like” some creative work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
your prerogative and criticism is the risk that any creative person takes when
putting their work out. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">But if you happen to be one of the vocal types hurling vitriol about <i>Sherlock</i>, exclaiming how violated and disappointed you are, may I
offer some thoughts to consider. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">As many of you know, I love <i>Sherlock</i> for
exactly what it is <i>— </i>a very
creative riff on canon, written and performed by some immensely talented guys.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I will never tire of watching the innately
likable Martin Freeman as John Watson struggle with his decency, his desire to
be a good man, his<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>bravery,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>his addiction to adrenaline, and his very
debilitating PTSD </span><i>—</i> not to mention the love he feels for his friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is from time to time tried to the
limits due to his own, and especially to Sherlock’s flaws.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Many found John to have crossed some line
in "The Lying Detective" in a supposed affair and his attack on Sherlock. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I was very sympathetic to John’s struggle
with his attraction to the girl on the bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So very human, so very poignant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An army surgeon married with a baby and craving adrenalin… well, of
course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My heart ached for him watching
this. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">John is a man who examines his actions
regularly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And suffers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tremendous guilt for his mistakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>To me that is human and heroic.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">There is, by the way, canonical inspiration
to be found in the way Watson describes women with more than a touch of
longing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And of course, a parallel
exists with ACD who enjoyed many social occasions with Jeanne Leckie while
still married to the ailing Touie. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>A
human being, yet still worthy of our admiration.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Would Dr. John Watson of the original Sherlock Holmes stories have had an
affair?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not likely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But would he </span><i>—</i> if he were alive now <i>— </i>perhaps
flirt a bit via text?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I buy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three continents, folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He didn't do more than text. That showed restraint. I love him for it.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Are you so above such a thought, such a
desire, such a gesture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, I do not
find the world so black and white as you do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 
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<span lang="EN-US">Bigger question:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>would John Watson beat the up an
ailing canonical Holmes? That set off some of you. Not in the Canon, surely. But<i>
Sherlock </i> ratchets up both the rawness of these characters’ emotions and the
extremity of Sherlock’s hubris and John’s PTSD to a point that, to me, became 
believable and tragic and moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
brought me to tears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could understand
both points of view so well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, both.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Those characters, those vulnerabilities, have
been carefully constructed, consistently built throughout the series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not the Canon, it’s a version of these
characters which is consistent within the longer arc of the <i>Sherlock</i> series. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">And Sherlock himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like his canonical counterpart, this Sherlock
is damaged goods with a fragile and inflated ego (it’s all in the stories),
manic behavior and the propensity<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to self
medicate to alleviate depression and boredom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Except </span></span><i>— </i>Sherlock goes farther than the canonical Holmes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much, much farther, and suffers all the more
from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, I feel sympathy, not
derision. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is an extreme man living in
extreme times.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I will never tire of watching Benedict
Cumberbatch play the genius of immense intellect and emotion – and yes, Mrs.
Hudson was dead on right about this – for all his reasoned brilliance and passion for
the scientific method, Sherlock is primarily an emotional man, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and I hold him to be so in the Canon as well.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though in the spirit of the Victorian era, this
element is very much understated on the page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 
</span>But it peeks through the words, most definitely.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories and <i>Sherlock</i> this character
is hurting, alone, somewhat of a tragic figure, and all the more heroic for
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The world applauds his achievements
while he privately collapses. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In the show, for John and Sherlock, bad
stuff happens when their lesser natures briefly overcome them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me, that is the stuff of powerful
storytelling. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I think some haters, particularly those who
have only recently switched sides to Camp Vitriol where </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Sherlock</i> is concerned, come to the show with
expectations <i>—</i> expectations that it cleave more closely to the Canon, that it
show John and Sherlock as very much who Watson and Holmes were in the original stories, that
it mimic the Conan Doyle formula they think they remember (and are almost always wrong) concerning the amount of deductions, how accurate was the logic, how active/ inactive, physical/emotional, etc.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Several problems come with that expectation.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">First, many get these breakdowns,
percentages, perceptions wrong (though granted, fewer of you who are reading IHOSE).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/01/to-sherlock-critics-discerning-and.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gatiss’s recent rhyming rebuttal</a> to
“there’s too much action” in <i>Sherlock</i>.  Hell, no, it's quite canonical. Just depicted in the style of its current medium. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Second: recreating the Canon is not what the creators set
out to do, or ever promised. This is a
riff, not an adaptation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> A pastiche, not a faithful retelling. </span>They are
creative, imaginative, inspired, and did what they wanted to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is so much ego ascribed to their work by
the haters?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are artists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>This is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their
</i>portrait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I went into an exhibit of Expressionist
painting recently in London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
much care for this genre; it does not speak to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My companion was riveted and spent an hour
and a half studying these while I did a quick tour and sat down to write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had a fascinating takeaway and couldn’t wait
to try some things in her own painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was unimpressed but I can assure you that I did not find myself
thinking – what an utter a^*hole for using that much yellow in the corner of
the painting, how is <b><i>that</i></b> a bridge, and how dare he call that f%^-ing  blob a human
being?</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">No. This painting is that artist’s take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can partake, admire, savor, or move
on to what we like better.  </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I will never paint in this style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t hate or deride these artists for
doing so. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">To punitively ascribe "ego" to an artist for
daring to disagree with you by virtue of their choices is just plain wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The act of writing, performing, any art form
requires ego, requires a point of view, and requires the creator <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to reveal him/herself by<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>appearing on the page or canvas or screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The work itself <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>also <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has
a form – to a greater or lesser degree – imposed upon it.</i> That’s the challenge of art.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Putting out your "take" on an idea, an image, a story — that is what artists do, and it is the height
of vulnerability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of you know
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You put your work out there and
then stand naked before the crowd.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">All creative art forms have rules and guidelines. Some tight, some loose. </span>A
classical sonnet is a tight form, an expressionist painting a loose one, but
both are forms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you put yourself and
your ideas and your story and what it is you want to say into this form, you
also help define the form. And you speak your piece. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">It's a leap of faith to do this. </span>That’s not ego, that’s what creating is. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">A long form drama series is long
form film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A novel is long form print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They require very different things in terms
of plotting and character development than short form. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moffat and Gatiss took a pass at their creative riff on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">longform </i><i>filmed</i> Sherlock Holmes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Conan Doyle wrote <i>short form print</i> Sherlock Holmes. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I frankly love <i>Sherlock </i>though not every minute
of it. Sometimes there is a little too much yellow in the corner of the
painting: dialogue too fast, and less inventive villains than I’d like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But do I need to write angrily about this,
detailing with outrage what they woulda, shoulda, coulda done? </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I’ve been a screenwriter and a producer and
a development executive for 30 years in Hollywood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have written one movie that’s been made and sold many scripts and won Emmys
for TV writing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am published in longform print
Holmes. (<i>Art in the Blood,</i> and the upcoming <i>Unquiet Spirits</i>)  <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>So maybe I’m somewhat “qualified” as a
critic, but I will not take the bait and second guess Moffatt and Gatiss and
Cumberbatch and Freeman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This is an artwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And I have too much respect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Let me reiterate: you don’t have to like any
given artwork, I’m not saying that. But
don’t be like that nurse in "The Lying Detective," casually dissing John’s blog in passing, almost as an
afterthought. Maybe she glanced at it on the Tube.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe she would have written it differently. Please. Don't be that woman.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">A final word on the phrase “it is what it
is ”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> which tags this episode.This was derided as a platitude by some critics. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This is not a platitude. “Everything happens for a
reason”is a platitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Say that to me and don't stand too close. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">"It is what it is" …<i>is </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i>zen.  </i>It is the hard won lesson of the adult</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the serenity prayer<i>,</i> the part about <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>knowing what “things you cannot change” and
understanding and accepting those things.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Mary is dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sherlock and John are flawed human
beings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Horrible people who kill others
exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is what it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Now, that being said, the other part of the
serenity prayer about knowing the difference between what you can and cannot change is crucial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> At this precise moment there is a rising panic about what is happening in our country, a malaise that is difficult to endure. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">We are hoping and praying that "what it is" can be changed. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Some things  require action. They require battle gear and courage
and resilience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despots and liars must
be confronted. Murders must be investigated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Criminals brought to justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Children
must be taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Babies must be
nurtured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Art must be created to shine
lights into dark corners and open us to beauty and truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is hard, scary work.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">And some things require acceptance and
accommodation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like illness. Like death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are what they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">When friends join hands and agree on these
painful things, there is love. And understanding. I love these two men, this particular John
and Sherlock,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and their expression in
this crazy form in our crazy times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I
can’t wait for "The Final Problem."  </span><br />
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<i><b>Editor's Note:</b> Bonnie MacBird recently received her investiture "Art in the Blood" in the Baker Street Irregulars. The watercolor portrait above is her work.</i><br />
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The Lying Detective — It Is What It Is

"what it is worth" [THOR] [ Editor's Note : this is the sixth in a series of reviews we'll be sharing on Series 4 ...

+ Read more »

by Bonnie MacBird

Let Us Reflect on The Lying Detective

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"But why would you not let me near you, since there was in truth no infection?" [DYIN] </h4>
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[<b><i>Editor's Note</i></b>: this is the fifth in a series of reviews we'll be sharing on Series 4 of <i>Sherlock</i>. And in case you haven't been following, we have spoilers.]<br />
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I’m not one for dream sequences.  The psychedelic when portrayed in television tends to often muddy the context behind the story and focus more on the fact that what you’re seeing on the screen is what it may be like to be high. Well, if this episode of <i>Sherlock </i>is accurate in its depiction of being under the influence I’ll continue to live a life away from it.  Far, far away.<br />
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<i>Sherlock</i>’s fourth season has stepped up in a big way and I think that’s in part due to the evolving fame of Cumberbatch and Freeman.  The production value of the show has improved year by year, season by season and episode by episode but if anything has been evident so far it’s that the show finds itself as intelligent as it’s subject.  Has our beloved PBS/BBC <i>Sherlock</i> gotten a little too <i>avant garde</i>?<br />
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<b><br /></b><b>SPOILERS AHEAD</b></h3>
Don’t you do it!  If you keep reading, all will be lost.  The mystery, the fun.  Or you probably watched it and in that case, enjoy my friends!<br />
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Quickly we see again that Dr. Watson has taken the company of a new psychiatrist, this one almost as forgettable as the first couple or maybe not (we’ll get to that) and he’s been having visions of his beautiful wife Mary carrying him through his days acting as his conscience. I don’t want to like this John Watson.  All I could think about while watching this fractured relationship between Sherlock and John was the recent article from a couple issues ago in the <i><a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/" target="_blank">Baker Street Journal</a></i> regarding what we want from Watson and Holmes.  For me, I want them doing what captured a younger me many years ago, wowing me as the best crime solving duo ever assembled.  I’d be more angry if Martin Freeman wasn’t such a fantastic actor.<br />
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Honestly, I loved the parallels between "The Lying Detective" and "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" and how intricately woven the plot was to mirror its source material.  The “Miss Me?” video left behind by Mary to ensure that John needs some help from his own demons, his own personal illness and Sherlock needed to put him onto it by essentially making a sacrifice.  The play on that as it relates to Holmes in the actual written story, Holmes starving himself for days and claiming the disease infectious, was modernized and quite well in fact.  The cane left behind signifying the hiding Watson of the prose was a nice touch.   Let’s talk a bit about Sherlock’s spiral.  I did not care for the trippy drug induced part of the episode mainly for its convoluted nature and wildness.  The scene in the middle of the road with Sherr—I mean Faith, wait the psychia— no, well the girl in the red dress, was just too much.  For me the fan of the show I said to myself, okay guys, we get it.  You’re creative.<br />
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We can’t get this far into the review without at least mentioning Toby Jones as Culverton Smith.  To this villain I say, you sir are a run of the mill crime drama almost prime time serial killer.  Nothing compelling there for me and this really didn’t translate from prose to screen as well as some other elements have.  Smith isn’t a villain of say Magnussen or Moriarty but I was expecting something a bit more with him given the publicity we’ve got with the new season.  Don’t get me wrong, Jones was creepy as Culverton but the cereal killer story beat?  Nope.  No thanks.  His line, “What’s the worst thing you could do to your best friend?”  There we go,  that gave me the willies.  I may have not been the biggest fan of him as a character but he definitely upped the creepiness needed for the episode.  For all you Marvel fans and Harry Potter fans out there I will only ever be able to see or hear Toby Jones as Arnim Zola or the voice of Dobby the elf.<br />
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I have a confession to make.  Most people reading this will know more about Sherlock Holmes as a whole than me.  Having said that, who the heck is Sherrinford Holmes?  I did my research and I found a copy a couple years ago of Baring-Gould’s <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Caldecott-Greenaway-Historical-Baring-Gould/dp/B0014YL4WY/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VSFKVM2PNKYDJPBQJMEM" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street</a></i> (how dare someone get rid of that at a garage sale?) and I’m aware of the inclusion of Sherrinford in that text but just why?  Why in the show?  This would be a good time to point out what I think may be obvious, I recognized the impostor that met with Sherlock at Baker Street and I recognized her as the psychiatrist.  I’m not that clever (I think it was that obvious) and I figured something sinister was coming with her, especially given the fact we were going to spend time with that character in the closing minutes of the show when clearly we could’ve spent it elsewhere (did anyone else want the episode to end with Sherlock and Watson’s embrace?)<br />
<br />
Some things I loved:<br />
<ul>
<li>“I’m Sherlock Holmes I wear the damn hat” </li>
<li>H.H. Holmes, murder castle done right” (any other Erik Larson fans out there?  Please read Devil in the White City if you haven’t already) </li>
<li>"The game’s afoot!" as opposed to the oft-used "the game is on!"</li>
<li>John cheating?  I’m looking at you, borderline sexting! </li>
<li>Mrs. Hudson doing her best <i>Fast and Furious</i> impression </li>
<li>Mrs. Hudson calling Mycroft a reptile (I always thought he looked more like a dinosaur or a weird exotic bird) </li>
<li>Mrs. Hudson in all matters and scenes of this episode </li>
</ul>
<br />
A few things I didn’t care for:<br />
<ul>
<li>Trippy scenes </li>
<li>85% of Culverton Smith </li>
<li>New psychiatrists </li>
<li>Needles </li>
</ul>
<br />
I had three family members watch the episode with me tonight that had not seen the show before and have minor knowledge of our shared interest and they all had different responses.  I think we’ll end with those:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Why’s that guy playing with the dead woman's mouth?”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Wow, that guy plays Doctor Strange and Sherlock Holmes?”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I wish I had one friend like Dr. Watson.  I just hope they don’t punch me in the face that many times.”</blockquote>
<br />
Now, everyone picture the hug between Holmes and Watson from late in the episode.  Let’s call it a night.  Bring on Sherrinford?  Also, I do indeed, miss him. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it.<br />
<br />
It simply is what it is.<br />
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</div>

Let Us Reflect on The Lying Detective

"But why would you not let me near you, since there was in truth no infection?" [DYIN] [ Editor's Note : this is the fi...

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by Mike Freveletti

The Lying Detective — A Review (and Possibly a Rant)

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"It will be cold and bitter" [LAST] </h4>
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<br />
[Editor's Note: <span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">this is the fourth in a series of reviews we'll be sharing on Series 4 of </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Sherlock</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.]</span><br />
<br />
If you type “Sherrinford” while looking at England in Google Maps, nothing appears (except the <a href="http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Museum</a>, but that’s not the point.) I mention this because I’m the sort of person who thinks it would be delightfully maddening if there were an asylum or prison with that name associated with it in real life.<br />
<br />
Yes, consider that your warning that there will be significant <b>spoilers</b> in this review of the Sherlock episode, “The Lying Detective.” I presume you have watched the episode, and that you saw the one before it, “The Six Thatchers.” If you haven’t seen either of them, I recommend you stop reading and do so. I’ll be here when you’re back. <br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD</b></h3>
So. Miss me?<br />
<br />
The creators warned that this would be a dark season, and this one time it turns out they weren’t lying. “The Lying Detective” begins with John in a self-loathing cycle and hallucinating his dead wife, while Sherlock is high out of his mind on a self-destructive streak the size of Texas. Both performances are excellent, from Martin Freeman’s subtle intense numb anger to Benedict Cumberbatch’s rapid descent into physical and psychological ruin.<br />
<br />
<div>
My favorite character of the episode, however, has to be Mrs. Hudson. Mrs. Hudson is the most formidable landlady in London, and a national — nay, global — treasure. Una Stubbs does more for that character in this episode than what the writers gave her to work with for the entire series. I will watch Mrs. Hudson call Mycroft Holmes a reptile any day, any time. I also have to mention Toby Jones’s skin-crawlingly creepy Culverton Smith. Moriarty was an insane genius, but Culverton Smith is evil, and not so shockingly corporate/materialist based. Jones provides a wonderful performance, switching between celebrity hugs and deadly menace with ease.<br />
<br />
With such good performances from the primary cast, it is a bit disheartening to see Louise Brealey wasted. Honestly, if all Molly Hooper is going to do is show up for a scene to weepily scold Sherlock for using drugs, she might as well just not show up. We’ve seen that before. Give the woman, that sweet, complicated, misused, inexplicably loyal, woman, something to do!<br />
<br />
Though the performances are great, the characters are not in a good place, particularly John. Culverton Smith, of all people, voices what should have been the audience’s main concern when he asks John, “What kind of a doctor are you?” It’s an excellent question. John doesn’t seem to actually care that his friend is destroying himself, which is not how John, or anyone for that matter, should react. In his very brief talk with Lestrade later, John blames it all on the fun, on being distracted by the adventure, when really it’s his grief and anger overwhelming him. Sherlock knows it. He hopes that his self-flagellation in the form of nearly killing himself, of letting John beat him, will trigger some sort of desire for reconciliation, or possibly act as simple catharsis. It’s disturbing to watch, and makes Mrs. Hudson’s earlier declaration that Sherlock is the emotional one so much more poignant. He’s always the one doing something impulsive and emotional - he stabs things to the mantle for crying out loud - while John’s anger and frustration is bottled up until it explodes into physical violence.<br />
<br />
As a brief aside, screw you, Mary Watson, for telling Sherlock to go to hell for John. Was there ever any doubt that he would? All she did was exacerbate the situation, making Sherlock feel even worse, going to far greater lengths than he needed to to get John back. I had the impression that up until the moment where Culverton Smith makes him say he doesn’t want to die, that Sherlock might actually have wanted to. Mary’s death was already a blow he didn’t know how to cope with. Seeing her tell him to ‘save John’ when he couldn’t save her was just an additional reason for him to hurt himself, and entirely superfluous. <br />
<br />
John decides to save Sherlock after seeing Mary’s message to Sherlock to save John, and that also rings false. Yes, John’s angry, and hurt, and all sorts of things, but, to echo Culverton Smith, what the hell kind of a doctor is he? More than that, what sort of person sees their friend clearly hurting themselves, and brushes it off as a cry for attention, or worse, as just being a jerk?<br />
<br />
John admits he’s not the person Sherlock, or Mary, or the audience apparently, thought he was. A text from Irene Adler (why not, I guess) spurs John into urging Sherlock to find someone to bring out the best in him, to make him be the person the one he loves wants him to be, and this soon turns into a heartfelt confession to Mary. This is by far the best scene in the season so far. It’s a moment of quiet emotion, necessary in the storm that comprised the rest of the episode, and much of the previous as well. Sherlock’s expression as John begins talking to the woman who isn’t there is a perfect realization of just how broken they both are. He puts aside everything for the moment to do the only thing he can to try to help his friend, and holds him. They aren’t ok, and probably won’t be for a long time, but it is what it is.<br />
<br />
This scene alone is the reason the episode works. Culverton Smith’s plot is deftly woven, the acting is superb all around, and we even get to see Sherlock make deductions instead of being a globe-trotting action hero, but it would all have been for naught if this scene hadn’t worked. If there is a message in the episode, it is that everyone is human. When Sherlock says this, and John parries with a sly, “even you,” Sherlock’s response is perfect, and sums up their relationship in two words — “Even you.” Forget <i>the</i> woman, Sherlock already has someone he cares about to show him who the person he wants to be is, to make him want to be the sort of person he should be, and his name is John Watson. He’s far from perfect, they both are, but they can do the best they can to be what the people they love see in them.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
And then Eurus blows in from nowhere, ties up a few loose ends with half a minute of monologue and making you wonder just how many skeletons in the Holmes family closet are there, and then shoots a gun in John’s direction. <br />
<br />
I can’t use the kind of language I want to use to describe my reaction at this development. One more twist, because really, it’s so much more entertaining to shove an episode’s worth of deduction and slow character reveal into a cliffhanger moment. If you weren’t sure, the previous sentence should be read as dripping with sarcasm.<br />
<br />
I knew the ‘affair woman’ was going to be a big figure, because that’s how TV show formulas work. I knew Culverton’s daughter looked different between the beginning of the episode and showing up at 221B, but I put it down to the passage of time. I thought the therapist looked familiar, but put it down to actors being reused in minor parts. And, no, at no point was it explicitly stated the Holmes sibling was male. It still seemed like a whole lot of data was shoved into a very short time frame, and felt a little bit like cheating. I don’t think I’m just being bitter, either. To invent a character out of whole cloth is their prerogative, but to bring the villain of the piece forth out of the blue and pretend she was really there the whole time is something else entirely. It worked once for Doyle. No one else has ever pulled it off well.<br />
<br />
While I’m on the subject: Eurus? Really? I appreciate an oblique Canon reference as much as the next Sherlockian, but the Holmes parents are simply awful people if they named their daughter after the bad-luck bringing east wind of Greek myth.<br />
<br />
At any rate, Eurus has arrived, and I have no doubt that the next, and final, episode of the season will see our heroes and their friends “wither before its blast,” but I hope beyond hope that they will “lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.”<br />
<br />
Otherwise, this whole season might not have been worth it.</div>
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The Lying Detective — A Review (and Possibly a Rant)

"It will be cold and bitter" [LAST] [Editor's Note: this is the fourth in a series of reviews we'll be sharing on S...

+ Read more »

by Katie Magnusson

To Sherlock Critics Discerning and Undiscerning

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<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"volumes of poetry" [ENGR]</h4>
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<br />
The influence of Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin on Sherlock Holmes has been much discussed; it is generally agreed that, though Holmes himself professes to be little inspired by Dupin, Poe was indeed an influence on Conan Doyle. Unhappy with this state of affairs, in 1915 critic Arthur Guiterman addressed a poem "To Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," placing into question the originality of his most famous creation: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Holmes is your hero of drama and serial;<br />
All of us know where you dug the material<br />
Whence he was moulded — ’tis almost a platitude;<br />
Yet your detective, in shameless ingratitude —<br />
Sherlock your sleuthhound with motives ulterior<br />
Sneers at Poe’s “Dupin” as “very inferior!”<br />
Labels Gaboriau’s clever “Lecoq”, indeed,<br />
Merely “a bungler”, a creature to mock, indeed!<br />
This, when your plots and your methods in story owe<br />
More than a trifle to Poe and Gaboriau,<br />
Sets all the Muses of Helicon sorrowing.<br />
Borrow, Sir Knight, but be decent in borrowing!</blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />
</span> <br />
The gauntlet was thrown down, and Doyle, a gentleman, could do nothing but protect his honor, and so he responded - with pen rather than sword- by penning "To the Undiscerning Critic":</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sure there are times when one cries with acidity,<br />
“Where are the limits of human stupidity?”<br />
Here is a critic who says as a platitude<br />
That I am guilty because “in ingratitude<br />
Sherlock, the sleuth-hound, with motives ulterior,<br />
Sneers at Poe’s Dupin as very ‘inferior’.”<br />
Have you not learned, my esteemed commentator,<br />
That the created is not the creator?<br />
As the creator I’ve praised to satiety<br />
Poe’s Monsieur Dupin, his skill and variety,<br />
And have admitted that in my detective work<br />
I owe to my model a deal of selective work.<br />
But is it not on the verge of inanity<br />
To put down to me my creation’s crude vanity?<br />
He, the created, would scoff and would sneer,<br />
Where I, the creator, would bow and revere.<br />
So please grip this fact with your cerebral tentacle:<br />
The doll and its maker are never identical.</blockquote>
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<br />
The last line, in particular, has been oft-quoted in discussions about the similarities between Doyle and his creation. <br />
<br />
<br />
Well, it sounds like a feud between another undiscerning critic and another Sherlock Holmes creator continues in verse. As you may be aware, there are a variety of opinions swirling around the Internet regarding Series 4 of <i>Sherlock</i>. And it seems no one is showing any restraint in sharing those opinions.<br />
<br />
In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/03/sherlock-slowly-perversely-morphing-into-james-bond-benedict-cumberbatch">a recent Guardian article</a>, Ralph Jones threw down the gauntlet, lamenting that Sherlock Holmes is turning into James Bond, and Gatiss, not to be outdone by Doyle, similarly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/04/to-an-undiscerning-critic-from-mark-gatiss">responded</a> to the accusation in verse, titling it "To an Undiscerning Critic (With Apologies to AC Doyle): <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Here is a critic who says with low blow<br />
Sherlock’s no brain-box but become double-O.<br />
Says the Baker St boy is no man of action –<br />
whilst ignoring the stories that could have put him in traction.<br />
<br />
The Solitary Cyclist sees boxing on show,<br />
The Gloria Scott and The Sign of the Fo’<br />
The Empty House too sees a mention, in time, of Mathews,<br />
who knocked out poor Sherlock’s canine.<br />
<br />
As for arts martial, there’s surely a clue<br />
in the misspelled wrestle Doyle called baritsu.<br />
In hurling Moriarty over the torrent<br />
did <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/sherlock">Sherlock</a> find violence strange and abhorrent?<br />
<br />
In shooting down pygmies and Hounds from hell<br />
Did Sherlock on Victorian niceties dwell?<br />
When Gruner’s men got him was Holmes quite compliant<br />
Or did he give good account for The Illustrious Client?<br />
<br />
There’s no need to invoke in yarns that still thrill,<br />
Her Majesty’s Secret Servant with licence to kill<br />
From Rathbone through Brett to Cumberbatch dandy<br />
With his fists Mr Holmes has always been handy.<br />
<br /></blockquote>
</div>
Then <i>The New York Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/arts/television/sherlock-bbc-creator-responds-to-critic-in-verse-season-4.html?_r=0">joined in the fray</a>, penning its own summary-in-verse of the ongoing feud: <blockquote>
Mark Gatiss is a clever chap;<br />
He always has a line.<br />
So when a Guardian critic wrote<br />
To say all was not fine<br />
<br />
With Sherlock (who in Season 4<br />
Is rather keen on action;<br />
Dispatches villains and much more<br />
With the quickest of reaction)<br />
<br />
Mark G. thought it was time<br />
To offer reasons why<br />
— in perfect, scannèd rhyme —<br />
Sherlock’s really a tough guy.<br />
<br />
We’re worried, wrote the critic,<br />
That Sherlock is now James Bond.<br />
His mental feats are all we need;<br />
He shouldn’t go beyond.<br />
<br />
Not so! Mark G. replied,<br />
With a list of action tales:<br />
“The Solitary Cyclist” (with boxing on side),<br />
“The Sign of the Fo,” and much more that hails<br />
<br />
The detective as pretty fit:<br />
As quick with his fists as with his wit.<br />
Mr. Gatiss wrote with usual skill<br />
Of Sherlock’s sang-froid at the kill.<br />
<br />
Here Mr. Gatiss was rather kinder<br />
Than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,<br />
Who in 1912 fired off a <a href="https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=To_An_Undiscerning_Critic">reminder<br />
</a>At one who critiqued his toil:<br />
“Sure there are times when one cries with acidity,<br />
‘Where are the limits of human stupidity?’”</blockquote>
<br />
<div>
Not to be outdone, Jones penned a rejoinder to Gatiss that smacked of the Rex Stout / Julian Wolff literary feud from the 1940s (see <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/02/watson-actually-was-woman.html#.WHUTFvkrLb0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Watson Actually Was a Woman"</a>). It was titled "<a href="http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/tv/read-mark-gatiss-ralph-jones-poem-sherlock-bond-letter" target="_blank">The Second Letter</a>" and it appeared on Shortlist - complete with a puzzle to solve (how Sherlockian!):<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Kind though it was for you to pen a reply,<br />
<br />
Swelling with righteousness I think that I<br />
Would like to respond to your words if I may<br />
But only because you so brightened my day.<br />
Alarming, beguiling, it couldn’t get better;<br />
Addressing a poem to <i><b>me</b></i> in a letter?<br />
<br />
Thank you, Mark Gatiss, but let me be frank:<br />
Sadly the content was a big load of<br />
Splendidly written but baffling verse;<br />
Speaking directly now, I will be terse.<br />
Fisticuffs, yes, Sherlock scuffles a bit;<br />
Clearly he’s a man who can dish out a hit.<br />
By paragraph four (you can pop back and read it),<br />
<br />
I’d said that his muscle is there should he need it.<br />
Holmes is unlike Bond in that he is mortal;<br />
<br />
It’s difficult not to explode in a chortle<br />
When he lands countless blows on a dude paid to kill.<br />
Simply and plainly: that is way too much skill.<br />
Is there some violence in Conan Doyle’s prose?<br />
<br />
Of course there is, as I think everyone knows.<br />
So when I beseech that you show some restraint<br />
I really don’t mean that the programme be quaint.<br />
<br />
I’m saying that Holmes and his love of a mystery<br />
Look terribly close to being BBC history.<br />
Enough on this point though, I think I might bore you.<br />
It’s time I unveiled the code I wrote for you.<br />
Why not go back and check the first word on each line?<br />
Using the title, tell me what you divine.</blockquote>
<div>
<br />
Did you catch Jones's code?<br />
<br /></div>
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Who knows what feat of metrical valor and poetic derring-do will come next? In the meantime, it is refreshing to know that old traditions are being kept alive.<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: <a href="http://sherlockology.com/" target="_blank">Sherlockology</a></i><br />
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