![]() ![]() The first episode adapts "The Adventure of Black Peter," mixed with a much watered-down case of blackmail a la "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" (though unfortunately without the eponymous character). As such, the first episode begins with the first few paragraphs of A Study in Scarlet, then throws the viewer straight into the action, with a murder - forcing our noble doctor to meet the great detective over a different kind of corpse than the one Holmes was canonically beating when introduced to Watson by Stamford. Unfortunately, this particular version is below the mark of the greatest adaptations of the Canon, past and present.Įach episode begins with great fidelity to the Canon, in the form of a recitation by Watson of lengthy paragraphs from the relevant stories. Along with the characters of Dumas and Stevenson, he is one of those heroic figures whose stories every child has read and whose adventures have been incarnated in excellent film adaptations. It is not a surprise to see another adaptation of Holmes in the Russian language: Holmes is a popular figure in Russia and the nations of the former Soviet Union. There is hardly the space here for a lengthy review, but, with my ability to watch the series in my native Russian language, I feel that I must be the messenger that provides however short a review. The series aired recently I have so far caught the first couple of episodes (both two-parters that run for 90-minutes). To be added to that list is a new Russian adaptation, titled quite simply and eponymously Sherlock Holmes. ![]() Though Sherlock Holmes adaptations have never been lacking in this world, there seems to have been a particularly great upsurge of them in the past handful of years.They need hardly be named - Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films, the BBC's Sherlock, and CBS' Elementary are all of recent and not-so-lamented memory. It all works thanks heavily to the chemistry between Cumberbatch and Freeman, which alternates between wide-eyed wonder and exasperation to the point of the good doctor calling his pal a “dickhead” and a “cock."He is a Russian. “Sherlock” deftly straddles a line somewhere between Billy Wilder’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes,” with Robert Stephens (a film Gatiss not surprisingly has cited as an influence), and the asexual nature of the brilliant Sheldon in “The Big Bang Theory.” In this age of “CSI,” it’s no small feat to contemporize Holmes and still make his acute intellect a modern marvel, as well as juggle the we’re-not-gay, not-that-there’s-anything-wrong-with-that relationship with Watson. The second installment, meanwhile, answers the burning question of what would happen if Holmes had to sniff around a crime scene while blind stinking drunk. Without giving too much away, the opener contains hilarious theories about the means of Holmes’ faked death, as well as an arcane plot explaining why he had to disappear, involving brother Mycroft (played by Gatiss). Selfridge’s” Amanda Abbington), who proves surprisingly nimble at handling Holmes’ self-absorbed intrusion into their relationship. ![]() Fortunately, he’s also acquired a plucky fiancee (“Mr. Watson (Freeman) has spent the past two years grieving over it. Holmes’ brush with that villain – and his apparent death at season two’s close – dominate the third-season premiere, especially since Dr. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |