Sherlock: The Hounds of the Baskervilles

It is my curse when it comes to BBC's Sherlock to not only to have to wait and see it when it shows in America, but so far to catch the first and most of the third episodes but entirely miss the second. Finding the dvds at the Library, finally got to see the 2nd episode of the 2nd season, "The Hounds of the Baskervilles".

When I first saw that was going to be the focus of the episode, I was not enthusiastic. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is the most famous of the Sherlock Holmes stories and is of a novel length. As such, it's been filmed numerous times, and most of them highlight the problems of adapting a prose story to film, especially a story that Holmes is actually absent for about half of. It doesn't help either in that regard as most also labor under the preconception that Dr. Watson is a buffoon which hinders focusing the story heavily on him. Once Grenada did their excellent and faithful version with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke, I felt there should be a moratorium on future attempts.

However, Sherlock also does a great version of the story itself. In this episode, more than any other they manage the balancing act between updating the characters and stories and keeping true to the spirit of the original, presenting the story in such a way that the effect might be similar to the effect the original had with readers without making it a period piece.

It develops along similar lines, that a young man finds that a legendary monster hound that killed his father is rearing its head again, directing its attention towards him. Instead of supernatural origins, the legend of the hound is tied to rumors of an experiment gone wrong at nearby Baskerville government research facilities. There's lots of little nods to the original storyline while developing a moody and creepy mystery that taxes the limits of Sherlock's reasoning.

Using the original stories as guidelines and inspirations, Sherlock is to the works of Doyle what "Man of La Mancha" is to Don Quixote. It's not a straight-up adaptation of a work in one form to another, which allows it more freedom to move and breathe, and capture the spirit of the characters. This is where Sherlock has the edge over the similarly themed Elementary. Sherlock not only feels truer to the characters, but episodes like this are truer to what Doyle was attempting for his audience as well. There was no "mystery genre" with preconceived tropes and conventions for Doyle to write. Thus Holmes' cases ran the gamut of strange puzzles, suspense thrillers, bizarre murders, unexplained disappearances, retrieval of sensitive papers, etc. The stories were titled "The Adventure of..." not "The Case of..." or "The Mystery of..." Here, you have a mystery but it also works as gothic styled horror story. It's not simply a murder of the week procedural story. The requirement for a Sherlock Holmes case is not that a murder or intent of murder be involved as much as it should have an element of exotic color, mood or flair.


There's a lot of little gems in the acting and writing. Digs at people misconstruing the relationship between Holmes and Watson, casting Russell Tory, the werewolf from Being Human as the young man being tortured by visions of the legendary hound.

Might just be my second favorite filmed version of the story.

Sherlock: The Great Game

Due to cable issues, I missed the second episode. Ironically, exactly why I lamented it being on PBS and not BBC America as with the latter I could at least watch it at a later date on the On Demand channel. No such luck with PBS, miss it and you're up the creek without a paddle.

The third episode concerns Mycroft's efforts to enlist Holmes and Watson in a case concerning the strange death of a government official and theft of government plans while a mad bomber straps bombs to innocent individuals and challenges Holmes to solve a variety of puzzles under different time limits (the accidental death of a swimmer years ago when Sherlock was a boy that he always suspected was murder, the apparent death and disappearance of a husband, the "accidental" death by tetanus infection of a television celebrity, and the death of a museum security guard). By the end, the identity of the bomber stands revealed as Moriarty and it ends on a cliffhanger.

With this episode, we get a major departure from the canon. There are several references to various Holmes stories, but it takes the characters and the show forward and let them develop a life of their own. "The Great Game" is a smart modern day thriller with powerful compelling characters inspired by Doyle's writing without being slavish to them. The story starts off referencing "A Scandal in Bohemia" which was the third story of Sherlock Holmes and thus the most likely subject for re-imaginings. However, it moves quickly from there to reference the stories "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans", "The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips",  and the stand-off between the Great Detective and his arch-foe on the precipice of assured mutual destruction before a body of water is clearly from "The Final Problem". There's more humor at the expense of modern day sensibilities regarding Holmes' asexuality and the close friendship between two men and the two leads excel at capturing the essence of the characters yet presenting them as if new: a weary and worldly Watson who struggles with holding on to his optimism and humanity, especially in light of the other, Holmes never before depicted as being so truly cold and analytical and sociopathic yet somehow still passionate about his chosen profession in the service of others even though he cannot really relate to them. Watson's own humanity helps humanize Holmes.

I especially enjoyed the inclusion of a hulking hitman named Golem due to his size and strength and killing by strangling with his bare hands. He comes across as a gothic or pulpish throwback and the hunting him among the homeless beneath the streets briefly reflects a dark and shadowy world reminiscent of early German films along the likes of "Nosferatu" and "The Vampyre". Given the hitman's name, the association is more than likely intentional. Seemingly a minor and throwaway villain, he's exactly the type of minor character that is instantly larger than his small part and worthy of a fuller story built around him. Much as the legend and importance of Moriarty himself has become.

This third episode marks the end of the season, remarkably short even for one accustomed to the shorter English television seasons. I first became aware of this phenomenon watching "As Time Goes By" on PBS, and over time the characters aged rather dramatically due to two seasons being about the equal of one over here (and then the last several seasons skipped years).

Sherlock in the 21st Century

It's been slow going with the second novel "The Sign of the Four". With the exception of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" I enjoy the short stories better. Part of that is that at this point Doyle is still growing as a writer and figuring these characters out. Which also makes the novel slow going as I also stop to take notes of first appearances of certain common Holmesian tropes. Lastly, my copies of the Holmes books are collected editions, so they don't make as easy portability as various paperbacks.

However, PBS just recently aired Sherlock, a new BBC series based on the character. Only this time the characters and stories are transcribed to modern day. It's an interesting and intriguing idea. Like many, I tend to think of Holmes as being thoroughly Victorian. And, thanks to all of the movies and shows, Holmes and Watson are generally at best middle-aged if not approaching old age. Yet, Holmes and company didn't start out that way, neither old nor artifacts of an older, simpler time. By doing Holmes and Watson in modern day and relatively young men, it allows a generation to actually see Holmes more in the manner of his original readers and author did, a genius and proponent of modernity. This is not the first time this has been done. The old Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce movies portrayed the character as being current though the England depicted seemed to contain elements of both the 19th and 20th centuries, giving them a certain limbo feel to the time period.

The series has another advantage, the writer is Steven Moffat, writer of many episodes of the recent Dr. Who series, writer and producer of the wonderful Jekyll and the creator and writer of the hilarious series Coupling. He knows his way around telling a story, creating compelling characters and witty dialogue.

Sherlock Holmes comes across as a young man of dangerous intelligence coupled with disassociation or empathy with his fellow man. His temptation at the end to actually take the pill, just to see if he had figured things out correctly is played completely convincingly. By that point of the show, one is never sure where his ego and his desire to know will take him. Also amusing was the playing up of the character's asexuality and the sometimes confusion that leads to modern readers over the relationship between him and Doctor Watson. Although my favorite bit is Holmes with the young woman that allows him access to fresh cadavers for experiments. I couldn't decide if he was oblivious to her attentions or just playing with her mind.

Watson himself is updated, a soldier and doctor, he operates in both arenas here.While the story is not narrated by him nor strictly from his point of view, in many ways he is the view point character. His introduction to Holmes and the world he operates in is ours. However, more is made of Watson than narrator. As mentioned, his dual background and conflicted nature as a healer and taker of life is a big part of his characterization. Worked into it is the nature of his wound and its location. Just as in the first novel, he is invalided home and he walks with a limp through the use of a cane. However, according to his psychoanalyst and Holmes, this limp is psychosomatic, thought to be due to post-traumatic stress. When he's later "cured" of his limp, shown to truly be in his head Holmes asks about the wound, if he really was shot. Watson replies that he was shot, only it was in the shoulder. Plus, it turns out that Watson's problem is not living with the horrors of the war but being attracted to the excitement, and adrenalin from the danger and the guilt of that. It's a nice turn, adding depth to his character and strengthening the bond between him and erratic and eccentric Holmes. The two fulfill a need in each other.

The first episode is titled "A Study in Pink", clearly a nodding reference to the first Holmes story. It covers much of the same ground, updating it to modern times. Naturally, the whole Mormon and revenge angle is gone. The mode of murder is the same, the victim chooses between two identical pills, one of which is poison and one not, but instead of being an element of divine retribution, it's the game of a sick mind. The bit about Holmes giving a complete rundown on Watson's "brother" based on his cell-phone is almost verbatim of a bit with a gold pocket watch in the second novel "The Sign of the Four" when Watson tries to put him to the test). The only thing, wish they hadn't played the Moriarty nor Mycroft cards so soon though though it was a neat twist and play on preconceptions. One of the things about the novels is the surprise when they finally do show up, the idea that as smart and strange Holmes is, his brother is even more so (done to a hilarious degree in the tv show Monk, but the idea that Monk has a brother who is every bit as smart but even more of an anti-social recluse is an obvious allusion to Sherlock and Mycroft).

There are interesting little turns, playing on expectations. Holmes using nicotine patches instead of a pipe to help solve problems, I couldn't decide if it was funny or an annoying concession to these political correct days. Being the type of animal Holmes is, it's hard to see him as someone that would really care about the increasingly unpopular societal views on smoking if it helped him think. After all, he used drugs. But somehow, nowadays it's more acceptable to be a closet drug user than a tobacco smoker. Even the tv show House has the Holmes inspired character addicted to painkillers and a bit ruthless about the lengths he'll go to keep on his drugs, but he doesn't smoke. Mycroft in turn is played by a tall thin man and there's even a reference to him losing some weight where in the books, Mycroft's chief physical characteristic is his obesity.

Despite the liberties taken, the show manages to be more faithful than the Robert Downey Jr. film (which is an enjoyable movie if you can manage to ignore who the character is supposed to be) and make the show work as a modern crime drama and Holmes and Watson as fresh yet recognizable characters. Makes me yearn to see what they will do with Irene Adler. Hopefully, other than one or two of his more famous cases, the show will venture into all new stories and mysteries, just pulling bits and pieces of scenes and inspiration from various stories like the excellent Murder Rooms show did.