09 September 2012

Elementary, my dear. Should I give a damn?

I have no doubt Elementary is going to be huge hit. That's not going to be a mystery. The show will work because it has the right formula and it's in the right network (CBS), with the right audience.

But I'm still making sense of what I've just seen (pilot). The story's not hard to follow, but that's not my problem.

Before I go on any further, let me just say that this one below:

BBC's Sherlock Holmes (by Steven Moffat) airing for two years now
This has set my bar for Elementary and it may be unfair to compare the two.

And yet, watching E...I couldn't help but do that (compare). The style is so similar. The manner in which both shows present snippets of evidence or proof of what Holmes has deduced? THE SAME. No wonder Steven Moffat was protesting. It did feel like a copy of his show.

As much as I like Jonny Lee Miller (JLM) as an actor and as much as I tell myself to watch this show with less prejudice, his Sherlock Holmes is, sadly, coming off as...a sissy. *sigh*

He's not abrasive as I would've hoped. And that takes away some smarty points for me. He just acts...retarded. :-/ Benedict Cumberbatch's take on Holmes (BBC version) was intimidating. (Or for that matter, so was Robert Downey Jr.'s take in the movie.) I didn't get that with JLM's Sherlock Holmes.

I've been having issues that they cast Watson as a woman ever since I learned that this show was being made. I'm now having bigger issues to learn that Watson, JOAN Watson, is written as Holmes' caretaker, the "nanny" Holmes' rich father hired to...well, take care of him. WTH? Holmes is a rich brat who can't take care of himself and has personality problems? That's so....Gossip Girl. Haha. It didn't help that his father was also mentioned so many times in the pilot. It really makes this Sherlock Holmes appear so...helpless. 

I'm not seeing a chemistry between the two leads. Something's just not gelling well and it may be premature to find that on the very first episode, I know. But Lucy Liu's presence is way stronger than Jonny Lee Miller on screen, when I was expecting it to be the other way around.

I'm sadly underwhelmed by the pilot, when I've been reading about how great this show's potential is, just before watching it.

But to be fair --- it's the pilot and a lot can change from there. I didn't like Person Of Interest when it first aired. But now I can't wait for its second season to begin. Which goes without saying that I haven't entirely written off Elementary with just this episode.

The question I ask now is --- how much time should I invest before I finally see it's real worth? How much should you? Also, would it a) please or b) disappoint you to know that one of the show's creators worked on Ringer before? That's not a good sign for me. But for the love of anything Sherlock Holmes (big fan of the book!) I'm gonna find something good about Elementary when the rest of the episodes air.

Anyway, here's a teaser:



The show will begin airing Sept. 27th.