To The Ends of the Earth: A Review

To be perfectly honest, I only watched this because it was one of Benedict Cumberbatch's first staring roles. Of course when I was scouring the internet for the videos I couldn't find it. Today on Hulu I see they have the entire series uploaded. You know, now that I've purchased it. I also marched through the snow to go to the post office today only to stand in front of the locked door and suddenly remember it's a holiday. This happens to me.

At any rate, To The Ends of the Earth is the story of Edmund Talbot, a young man travelling to Australia to take up a governmental position secured for him by his influential godfather. Along the way he begins to understand that privilege and influence also comes with responsibility. The story takes its form from Edmund's journal that he keeps to give to his godfather at the end of the journey.
On the long voyage he interacts with the crew, and begins to understand the politics that run through the ship. He also makes the acquaintance of a parson, a governess, a family that is actually an artist and his two mistresses, and a radical free thinker. All of the characters have fears and secrets that are touched on during this voyage and Edmund must confront his own ways of thinking about life and society. He even falls in love when their ship meets with another after a storm.

Though To The Ends of the Earth had a lot of potential it falls sadly short. Structurally the episodes are messy, the transition from the first to the second episode is particularly poor. Certain events seem to occur randomly- especially in the final episode, and without much meaning resulting. Perhaps it is because they tried to cram an entire trilogy into three ninety minute episodes. Though Cumberbatch and the rest of the cast add dimension to their characters, a satisfying conclusion is never reached and many plot lines are left somewhat flapping in the breeze.
The romance plot is rather uncomfortable as well. Instead of coming across as sweet, it comes across as slightly creepy and possibly the symptom of head injury. At one point it seems that this is going to be another point of learning and maturation for Edmund, but it falls somewhat flat and insists upon a love-at-first-sight story with an inexplicable ending.
If you are a hardcore Cumberbatch fan you may enjoy watching it to chart the progression of his work (and, as some will no doubt watch it for, a love scene and a showering scene where there is a rather full on shot of his butt). Still, I can't say that it is a series I will watch again or recommend. For an excellent historical film featuring Cumberbatch, I would suggest Amazing Grace, though not without a few structural difficulties, it is engaging and inspiring and has cast with well known, respected, and talented actors.

Doctor Who Sherlock Crossover

Steve Moffat said this won't happen outside the realm of fanfic, but I say it already has. Clearly the Doctor infiltrated the unaired pilot of Sherlock.Little montage of Anderson's beard from the pilot from Andersonsbeard on Tumblr.

It's the same beard. Picture is from the new series six trailer. Coincidence? Yeah. Probably.

Sorry, my mind couldn't rest until I had done a comparison post. When I saw the new Doctor Who trailer all I could think was "With that beard Matt Smith looks like Anderson in the unaired pilot of Sherlock." The lanky hair helps too I believe. I really should be doing something more productive with my winter break- though I have been writing quite a bit and working on material for the spring Forensic Speech tournaments.

Pic Spam: Sherlock

Because I can and because NaNo, research papers and newspaper nonsense has nearly crippled my ability to use words. I have to economize where I can. So here are some of my favorite Sherlock images:

Sherlock thinks... and absorbs nicotine.

That John sure has a great sweater collection.

The tension builds... and then...

Jeremy Brett!? No one invited you.

Why can't JB just be content with being second sexiest Sherlock Holmes? Benedict Cumberbatch is not amused.

Okay, that's out of my system. For now. I'm going to finish my apple and try to catch up on sleep, I'm at about 15,000 words. Rough seas ahead, I know this. Troilus and Cressida paper is proving to be troublesome as well. Ah, well, I'll get through. Probably.

Review: Sherlock, The Great Game

Gatiss and Moffat very cleverly made sure that fans would just be aching for a second season of Sherlock and demand the BBC bringing it back next year for another three episodes of fun and adventure. But, I'll come to the cliff hanger later.
We begin with Sherlock in Minsk meeting with a potential client- it's very clear he stabbed his girlfriend in a fit of anger, no mystery there, so after correcting the man's very poor grammar (Sherlock Holmes correcting grammar, does it get any sexier? He gained major points in my literary crush scale for that one.) he takes his leave and finds himself at home, in his robe and so utterly BORED. So bored in fact that he starts shooting at a smiley face he's painted on the wall. Yet another reason Sherlock makes a bad roommate/tenant.
Sherlock: "The wall had it coming."
To his delight, however, he and John are soon off on a series of puzzles carefully crafted by an evil genius lurking on the sidelines. He gives Sherlock a time limit to solve a series of crimes and holds hostages which he will blow up if Sherlock goes over the limit.
Another great Baker Street Irregulars reference in this episode with the "homeless network" of London being used by Sherlock to gather information. The assassin called "The Golem", was hiding out among them and he was so creepy. There was something very classic Holmes about him- I don't know, he had the right level of exoticism and sinister scariness. The fight scene with the assassin in the planetarium was slightly comical and very awkward. Not my favorite fight of the series, but oh well.
John (about the homeless network):“So you scratch their backs?”
Sherlock: “Then I disinfect myself.”
Now for Moriarty. He only appears for about ten minutes in this episode and never gets any actual screen time prior to "The Great Game," but he is a major talking point for the whole series. I've heard many people that absolutely hate him, but something about him works for me.
Moriarty is like Sherlock's doppelganger, his evil twin, his yin. Sherlock, with his capacities could have very easily turned the other way and become a criminal- Moriarty is like Sherlock in an alternative universe. So, therefore Moriarty has a similar genius and also, I believe a similar level of erratic unpredictability. I think it was really inventive to see a young Moriarty that isn't so suave and collected, he's terrifying because as he says, he's changeable. His giant ego combined with his intelligence and power make him like a child. Just as Sherlock gains a kind of weird pleasure from having a formidable adversary at last, Moriarty is delighted at their meeting. He's thrilled to finally meet someone at his level and sees them as kindred spirits in a way. Oh and they threw in some more slashiness for those shippers as well. Meh. Anyway, there is some reference to "The Final Problem" in the lines I quoted last week. Here's my favorite original quotation from their meeting:
Moriarty: “Don’t be obvious, I mean, I’m gonna kill you anyway someday, I don’t want to rush it though, I’m saving it up for something special- no, no, no. If you don’t stop prying I will burn you, I will burn the heart out of you.”
Sherlock: “I have been reliably informed I don’t have one.”
Moriarty: “We both know that’s not quite true.”
I still have one question (other than 'how will they get out of this one?')- who left the phone for Sherlock? When he opens the envelope he says it's from a woman. Is that just a throw away line or Sherlock being mistaken? I doubt it, I think it might be significant. Is this man, Jim, a "sub-Moriarty," a minion, an assassin, a partner? Is there are female behind this? Moffat has promised that Adler appears next season, but would she be on team Moriarty? The 2009 film says yes, but only under duress.
Well that's my clever thought for the night. I'm still behind on homework, and I haven't done much on NaNo this weekend, but I'm still on track numbers-wise.

Review: Sherlock, The Blind Banker

“The Blind Banker” opens with a sequence that proves why Sherlock makes a terrible roommate. It soon proceeds with a classic Holmsian mystery: how could someone get into a high-security bank and leave a cryptic message? How can murders take place in a room locked from the inside? This leads to an adventure surrounding ciphers, smuggling and murder. There’s an awkwardly hilarious fight at a circus (chalk that up as another reason why Sherlock’s a bad roommate- he tags along on first dates).
This episode allows for the relationship of John and Sherlock to develop further and gives Martin Freeman as Watson a lot of material to work with in this installment. His moments of dealing with the domestic side of life and meeting a girl he likes is really endearing to watch. Benedict Cumberbatch also had the opportunity to show the fighting side of Holmes at several moments in this episode (he was a boxer, a sword/cane/riding crop fighter and a bit of a martial artist in the stories). He has several close calls in the episode- mostly unnoticed by poor John standing outside.
A running gag this episode was Sherlock’s going off to investigate and leaving Watson locked out of wherever he’s broken into. Throughout the stories, Watson is often following Sherlock, waiting to be let in on something that inevitably, Sherlock discovered two pages ago. In this episode it also facilitates a case of mistaken identity. A dangerous gang of Chinese smugglers believes that John is Sherlock and puts his new girlfriend, Sarah, in peril.
Call me over-analytical, but the mistaken identity seems symbolic of the way John and Sherlock are fusing into a single unit. To the criminals of London, they may as well be one person because they function together so perfectly. True, Holmes can work on his own, but not as well, and probably not for as long.
Also, Sherlock consulting the vandal doing graffiti art on the gallery and sending him on a mission could be a bit of a throwback to the Baker Street Irregulars (I just finished The Sign of Four this week, so their on my mind- perhaps why I’m making the connection).
Overall, intelligent, entertaining and it left off with a menacing mention of Moriarty lurking nearby.
Gemma Chan (from Doctor Who “The Waters of Mars”) as Soo Lin is a very sympathetic character, one we regret the fate of although we know what it will be. Paul Chequer (Eugene from the “Random Shoes” episode of Torchwood) appears as the detective in charge of the case while Lestrade is engaged elsewhere.
I was a bit disappointed that they had to cut some scenes from within the story again this week to fit the time slot more exactly. Now, will the Region 1 DVDs also be cut up because that always ticks me off- no programming slot to fill, due to an invention called *the internet* we are aware of the cut scenes- just put them on the DVD, seriously.

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.