Sherlock 1x02: A bit not good

[adelagia]

As usual I'm horribly behind everybody with shows; just managed to watch the first ep of Sherlock a few days ago, and I LOVED it. Exciting, funny and charming, and while I don't usually pay a lot of attention to soundtracks -- at least, not to the point where I need to download the score from that cabbie chase scene immediately (link, anyone?) -- I think the music is delightful.

Episode 2, however. I'm pinning this episode!fail entirely on the writer here. If my Who-vian memory serves (and feel free to tell me it doesn't, because that is actually probably the case), Moffat/Gatiss' hit:miss ratio tends to favour the former, and I don't know who Stephen Thompson is, but somebody please confiscate and burn his My First Book of Cultural Stereotypes. Why is it so impossible for any show to write Chinese characters without involving a) triads, b) Chinatown, c) cheongsams, and d) atrocious accents? But I suppose possibly that first, completely incongruous swordfight in the flat might have tipped me off to what kind of episode this was going to be. Barf.

Also, the pacing was uneven, and there was way too much -- frankly boring -- exposition and not enough character development. The richness of the characterizations set up last episode were completely lost here; one-note performances all around -- Watson: harried, Holmes: rude, Sarah: ... I don't know, pretty?

And why, if the ciphers require looking up a book to decode, would all three victims immediately recognize the 15-1 code as a death threat? Are they all made to memorize that particular code upon induction so they may one day have the wherewithal to wet themselves in fear on the spot, rather than having to go home and look up the code and then freak out?

Someone please tell me ep 3 gets much better?

Comments

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

Episode 2 drew on a lot of hackneyed British history tropes, particularly orientalism and making things which are historically Chinese magical and mysterious just by virtue of them being historically Chinese, which is a cheap trick to play on an audience. Acrobats can climb walls; that isn't exactly a thrilling plot device, no matter how many masks, silk pyjamas, drums, or stagey props like fancy daggers and flash powder you mix in. The episode had the potential to be so much more, but got distracted with cyphers that weren't particularly enigmatic. The most interesting detail which came out of it for me was the tea ceremony and the clay pots. That is a factoid I don't mind hanging onto.

Episode 3 is fairly thrilling and (spoiler alert) ends on a cliffhanger, which is a really funny and clever allusion to the original stories. I didn't like the scene where we first meet the villain, flat out. Found it gratuitous and unnecessary, but the rest is chockful of suspense.

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY. Thanks for articulating that so much better :) Also, given that they went there, I kind of wish they would've shown the guy on aerial silks actually do aerial silks; a former student of mine was particularly skilled in that and it was amazing to watch her. Anyway, just a poorly-written episode on every level.

Good to know ep 3 ratchets its standards back up!

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

Right! If you've got the money to produce a 90-minute episode about Chinese acrobats, hire some good ones! Show them doing a rooftop chase scene. Less daggers in the dark, more 'WHOA, did you see what he just did?' Thrill us. At the very least, come close to a fraction of the stuff that we might see in a CGA-enhanced performance like Hero or Crouching Tiger.

[humbuggirl.livejournal.com]

Acrobats can climb walls; that isn't exactly a thrilling plot device

I thought it would have been better if they'd gone the parkour route.

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

Okay, I can get behind that. If you're going to make a plot device out of the fact that acrobats can climb walls, at least show them doing it — really, really well.