Sherlock is one of the most beloved shows to come out of the BBC in recent times. It's quickly grown a cult following, and it's understandable as it has a pretty engaging story, spectacular performances from both Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and a good production budget to back up it's ambitious story. It is not, however, without its flaws, so today I'm gonna ask myself, is Sherlock the masterpiece it's fans claim it to be, or is it over-hyped and undeserving of the massive praise it receives.
Cinematography
This is where I think Sherlock excels. Sherlock has gorgeous visuals, due in large part to it's high production. The show does a fantastic job in helping the audience to visual thought. This is a difficult challenge, but the way they do it allows the user to learn snippets of Sherlock's thought process without us having the mystery spoiled. This is a lot better than the RDJ film which never gives you the info you need to solve the mystery. The lighting and sound design of the show is okay at best, but it's distinct style fit's it.
The Early Mysteries
The early episodes of Sherlock are, in my opinion, the best by far. They're simple, fun to follow mysteries, they do a good job of making the mystery solvable without being to obvious, and they best fit the spirit of the original novels. They work because they're not yet bogged down by a ridiculous amount of past continuity, much like the novels, which were mostly stand alone. I wish the series had been able to maintain this level of quality.
Characterization
Much of the shows characterization, especially early on, was fantastic. It did an amazing job of bringing these antiquated characters into the modern world, from John's PTSD to Sherlock's drug/mystery addiction. A few character's like Irene Adler suffered from bad characterization, but overall the character's a pretty well rounded, most of the time.
Mary
In the original novels, Mary Watson is mentioned twice and is completely unimportant. In Sherlock she's a cool former ninja assassin. Her backstory is confusing and she's killed off far too soon, but she's still much better than her novel counterpart.
Wrapping up the good stuff, we have to get into the bad stuff, which, as I began to realize while righting this, is quite a lofty list. We better get into it.
Irene Adler
A Scandal in Bohemia is one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, so when they adapted it from the small screen I was super excited. Then I watched it. The original story is one of few times Sherlock loses, and is forced to humble himself a little. The Sherlock of the original is almost the bad guy, helping a king commit an injustice for money. In the end, he fails to solve the "crime" and is knocked down a peg. Irene (who is an opera singer, not a dominatrix) is shown as a strong, independent woman, which was rare for it's time. In the show she's a dominatrix essentially holding the government of England hostage, who can't help but fall in love with Sherlock. She loses her battle of wits, and Sherlock remains as arrogant as always. SHE's portrayed as the bad guy in the story, and basically everything good about the story is stripped away. It's a tragic waste of an amazing character.
Jim Moriarty
Jim Moriarty is the man famous to novel fans for killing Sherlock Holmes. That's why many consider him Sherlock's greatest foe, in spite of the fact that he only appears in two stories. In Sherlock, he's terrible. He lacks clear motives, is inconstantly characterized, and they do the same "He's back!" fake out EVERY SPECIAL AFTER HIS DEATH. It's so irritating that they bring him back for every special, whether in flash back or stupid pre-recorded messages. I feel like I need to move on, so in summary, Jim Moriarty is a wasted character, which is a common problem in the show.
Mycroft Holmes
Mycroft Holmes is not nearly as bad as Jim and Irene, but he does have his own set of problems. First off, he's too passive. In spite of "basically running the British government" (which doesn't really make sense) and having an intellect nearing Sherlock's own, he doesn't really do anything, other than bossing Sherlock around and helping him to get into places he normally couldn't. He also basically ruins the first episode, because the showrunners decided to shoehorn him into the middle. He's not a terrible character, but he's definitely not good.
All of Season 4
Sherlock has a secret sister who's obsessed with him. Sherlock has a secret best friend he remembers as a dog for some reason. Sherlock's sister is playing mind games on him for... reasons. Sound's like bad fanfiction? That's probably why it's so hated.
Mind Powers
At some point in the show, Sherlock's solutions to mysteries stop feeling like deductive reasoning and more like magic. He just seems to KNOW things, some of which we never learn how. It stops giving us a chance to figure things out on our own, which was something really appealing about the show. It makes the shows portrayal of thought less intriguing and engaging, which takes away from the great cinematography which is the shows strongest suit.
The Boomerang
There is a mystery where a guy gets killed when his own boomerang flies back at him. Need I say more?
Continuity
In it's last two seasons, Sherlock begins to become bogged down by too much continuity. It weighs the show down by forcing it to wrap up old ends that it leaves open, which serves to take away from the main point of the shows, which is the mysteries. It makes the show less engaging, and simply put, it doest work with the world and tone they set up in the first two seasons.
Over Production
We've already hit upon Sherlock's large budget, but what happens when a show has TOO MUCH money and not enough to do with it? You end up with scenes like the wedding photo montage, which basically uses bullet time, a fantastic technique popularized by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, to make flower petals fall. It's one of many time's Sherlock is over produced do to it's large budget, and it's a stark contrast to the show's usual style.
Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat is great at writing pilots. from that point, he should pass the baton to someone else, because past the pilot all of his shows slowly go downhill. It doesn't help the him, his wife, and his mother in law, are producers for Sherlock, which gives him almost total creative control. It leads to the continuity problems, as well as a lot of other things.
This post is getting long, so I'm gonna wrap it up, but there are many more things I could discuss, good and bad. I think though that we can conclude that Sherlock, while being a good show, especially early on, it is NOT the masterpiece it's portrayed as. If you disagree, feel free to comment down below with your evidence, and Arthur, I hope your birthday is very fine.
