Review: Sherlock, A Study in Pink

Finally, finally, finally, Sherlock has made it to the US (though some American viewers found ways of watching it previous to this premiere...), it is being shown as a part of the current Masterpiece Mystery season. The first episode was shown last night and the literary club and I got together to watch it- yes, watching Masterpiece Theatre and drinking tea is our idea of a party, thank you.
In spite of my initial skepticism about a modern Sherlock Holmes, it worked really well. He was a very modern figure, which is probably why the character and stories are still so popular today. Moffat and Gatiss almost seamlessly update all aspects of the setting and methods of Sherlock's deduction. Very clever use of screen text to let the audience glimpse inside Sherlock's thought process, I enjoyed that.
The dialogue was clever, well paced and highly quotable. There were also many references to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories and characters, some of them even a little tongue-in-cheek, acknowledging some of the changes made in the update.
Now on to the shallow part, I know you were all waiting for it: Benedict Cumberbatch is extremely attractive. Sherlock has always been in the realms of literary crush despite his prickly lack of social skills and level of asexuality- something about that gigantic brain of his is extremely attractive. The funny thing is, I've never found Cumberbatch to be particularly attractive in any of his other roles (he tends to play creeps), but while watching Sherlock I realized how amazing his bone structure is, and his hair is lush as well. Now I can't decide who the sexiest Sherlock is: Cumberbatch or Jeremy Brett, it'll be a struggle.
Martin Freeman as Watson is fantastic in the role and also very cute. The two of them have a great working chemistry, making them a believable team. Although there seemed to be a few purposefully "slashy" moments, I will always feel that they are simply the perfect example of best friends. Sherlock doesn't have any friends, so it's an extremely significant relationship for him even without there being a romantic component.
Overall it was a very good start to the series with some good references to the first Holmes and Watson story, "A Study in Scarlet," though it was an original story. Though updated, in many ways I think it was closer to canon than the recent Robert Downey jr. film, though I didn't have the issues with that film that many did.
Next week episode two, "The Blind Banker" will be shown and I'll review that as well.
Oh, and incidentally, if you Google Sherlock's website in the series, "The Science of Deduction" you'll find this. You may also want to check out Dr. John Watson's Blog, if you're feeling very nerdy and fan-ish, which I was.
Once again, a bit of media I import eats my sidebar. Oh well.