Sherlock: A Study in Pink

[susanreads]

This post has been brewing for a few days, but it's not getting any more coherent, so I might as well write it down.

The first episode of this new series was mostly entertaining, but it should have been awesome. Two things in particular were disappointing, a story point and a meta point.

1) Who can go wherever they like unquestioned, and mostly unnoticed? A postie? Oh look, there's a taxi! It's behind Holmes's back, but he knows London, so...

Now he chases the taxi, about time. (Watson has left his cane.) (Are we supposed to be able to follow this map? We don't all live in London.) ... Nooooo, not the passenger! Sherlock! You said it yourself, the murderer drove.her.there! Aren't you supposed to be Smart?

How many times is Mrs. Hudson going to have to say there's a taxi waiting? This is just painful.

Yes, I can believe your arrogance, stepping into an Obvious Trap. But you should have seen this coming ten minutes ago.

2) The trailers made me think they were going to take Watson's disabilities seriously. I know, I'm not cynical enough.

So it's not PTSD, you're just ... so habituated to adrenaline that you can't relax? Whatever.

That word doesn't mean what the writers seem to think it means. Psychosomatic pain is still pain, right? So Watson should not be leaving his cane behind and following Holmes over what amounts to an obstacle course with no ill-effects except not being able to keep up. It would be so much more interesting if he gritted his teeth and did what had to be done, and paid for it later. Like people do.