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Rewatching Sherlock


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Just realized I never got around to commenting on my reaction to rewatching "The Final Problem." I was hoping some time away from it would allow me to appreciate it more, but … nope. I still liked it better than T6T, but not by much … it's just too derivative of too many cheap horror shows. And cinematically, it's boring. Grey, grey, grey. Who wants to look at blank grey walls for 1.5 hours?

I do love the scene where Sherlock is finally Sherlock, and makes the deductions about the gravestones (even if I still don't understand it. :D ) And I still like the montage at the end, that was a nice way to wrap up the series as a whole.

7 minutes ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

I probably put TSo3 botton down my list. Not as in I dislike it the most, I think it's the most difficult to watch. Sherlock is so vulnerable in here it hurts.

In TRF, SOB, HLV, Sherlock is also vulnerable, going through a lot of emotions, but he actually sort of turning it back, get himself up again, doing what he thinks is the right thing, fix something, or going to fix something.

In TSo3, all he has is the heart broken, in defeated and selfish way that we as human have all experienced, the tinge of fear when we see someone we love do something life changing that doesn't involve us with potential to change everything drastically. Especially when Sherlock has just opened up after as we know now, closing it for so long. It's way too sad to see him left early and treat the wedding as the 'battle' (well all introverts do, but not in this scale).

I think that's why I love it, though … I never identify more with Sherlock than when he's being vulnerable, and we so seldom get to see the introvert's point of view in a situation like this. It hurts, but at the same time it's encouraging to see a main character who doesn't enjoy a celebration the way we're all "supposed" to. Or to put it another way … the introvert is usually portrayed as being some sort of loser who is only redeemed when s/he learns to be more extroverted. But Sherlock walks away instead, and most of us understand why.

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Before I forget … I decided not to watch "The Abominable Bride" before watching S4, because I wanted to follow the narrative flow from the end of HLV to the beginning of T6T. And I'm glad I did, because when I finally got around to watching the Bride (after watching everything else), I realized it's completely unnecessary to the overall narrative. If it never existed, it wouldn't have affected a single thing that happened in S4.

That's not to say I wish they hadn't made it! I love it, I think it's one of their best episodes; funny and clever and beautifully presented. I just wish they'd been able to save a little of the money they obviously spent on it for S4 instead. TLD is gorgeous, but the other two episodes look like they were made on a soap opera set. Weird, weird, weird -- the technical quality of the show took such a dive in those two episodes. It hit me all over again, how visually inferior they were, especially The Final Problem. I probably wouldn't have minded so much had the scripts been better, but I probably also would have liked the scripts better if the production hadn't suffered so much. Ah well. Still better than anything else on TV.

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Reamins my fave TV show ever.

S4 was my favourite series.

The Final Problem my fave episode...

I just want more, but accept I probably won't get it.

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45 minutes ago, besleybean said:

I just want more, but accept I probably won't get it.

Maybe I am a fool. One or two weeks ago in my feed (I think they sneakily detect my algorithm) there is an article about Sherlock season 5 coming on Netflix.

But the annoying thing is, it doesn't know when or if the actors are available. I want to throw my phone away since it's basically says nothing, how could you write an article that say nothing???? Here let me dig up that stupid article.

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I think Moffat's the only one who thinks it might happen some day. And I'm not sure even he really believes it.

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Well it's technically never actually been ruled out...

Just everyone is far too busy doing other stuff.

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On 3/12/2020 at 2:13 AM, Van Buren Supernova said:

I wonder how weird the rest of the world think of non-English speakers that don't have accent root

Weird may not be quite the right word, but I find it difficult to understand even some native speakers whose accent is far different from my own.  For example, there was a Scottish fellow -- I'm guessing he was from some small town far from any metropolitan areas.  He had one heck of a time understanding me, too.  And I have even more difficulty understanding people who speak Indian English because, even though it's based on British English, the rhythm is far different -- presumably because they are virtually all multilingual, so (as you mention) that's where the rhythm comes from.  And they have similar trouble understanding Americans.

On 3/12/2020 at 2:13 AM, Van Buren Supernova said:

I think the level of questionable plots is too glaring, especially when they mistook John for Sherlock

It's funny to us because they look nothing alike, but to be fair, the Black Lotus members weren't from the UK, so they probably had never seen Sherlock's picture in the news.  They were basing it on several instances of John "claiming" to be Sherlock.  As for the rest, I think Moftiss simply got carried away with borrowing plot points from "Sign of the Four" -- though I agree that doesn't make the episode any easier to understand for the vast majority of the audience, who aren't canon-Holmes addicts.

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On 3/12/2020 at 3:19 AM, Arcadia said:

when I finally got around to watching the Bride (after watching everything else), I realized it's completely unnecessary to the overall narrative. If it never existed, it wouldn't have affected a single thing that happened in S4.

... which may explain why they had claimed ahead of time that it was a standalone, even though -- once it was aired -- we could see that it was clearly (and cleverly) tied in to the preceding regular episode.  It was just a side-trip.  The same could probably be said of Blind Banker and Hounds, since their connections to the Moriarty story arc were sort of tacked on.

19 hours ago, besleybean said:

Well it's technically never actually been ruled out...

Just everyone is far too busy doing other stuff.

It does look to me like they're not as incredibly busy as they were a few years ago, though.  And sooner or later the Moftisses are likely to have a story idea that they just can't resist.  No guarantees, obviously, but certainly possible, sooner or later.

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And maybe it's to soon to tell, but it's not like anyone involved has had the same success with anything else.

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15 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

... maybe it's to soon to tell, but it's not like anyone involved has had the same success with anything else.

Well, I'd put The Hobbit right up there.  But that's been a while (more of less simultaneous with Sherlock).

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Nor did it have the critical acclaim. Sherlock was lightning in a bottle.

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On 3/12/2020 at 3:03 PM, Arcadia said:

I think that's why I love it, though … I never identify more with Sherlock than when he's being vulnerable, and we so seldom get to see the introvert's point of view in a situation like this. It hurts, but at the same time it's encouraging to see a main character who doesn't enjoy a celebration the way we're all "supposed" to. Or to put it another way … the introvert is usually portrayed as being some sort of loser who is only redeemed when s/he learns to be more extroverted. But Sherlock walks away instead, and most of us understand why.

Nicely put, however I don't really see it as 'introverted' way, to me it's just a deep sadness of someone seeing his only friend moving on, while he stays still, incapable to, or doesn't want to, at the same time Dang it, I know this is the price to pay when I let myself getting close to someone. It is general to everyone but I agree it's somewhat relevant as introverts tend to treasure relationship more deeply because we would only commit to very few, and brings out the vulnerability of usual 'is that something wrong with me? Should I do what everybody else is doing?

As accent, I find it easier to understand English and American English in the shows, but have more problem understanding the regular human. Not sure why. Like I understand Sherlock well, but ??hah?? when I heard a group of British first hand.

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21 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

As accent, I find it easier to understand English and American English in the shows, but have more problem understanding the regular human. Not sure why.

That makes perfect sense.  Actors are generally trained and encouraged to speak clearly.  Script dialog is generally written in fairly standard (British or American) English.  Regular humans tend to mumble in their own local dialect.  Even native speakers can have trouble understanding each other, if they're from places with radically different accents and dialects.

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Well if an actor is playing a real person, I would hope the script is wriiten in the correct accent/dialect for that person.

Even an original character should sound true to what he is supposed to be.

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9 hours ago, besleybean said:

Well if an actor is playing a real person, I would hope the script is written in the correct accent/dialect for that person.

Even an original character should sound true to what he is supposed to be.

Quite true.  However, there's often a big difference between what you might call a "stage accent" or "stage dialect" and the real-life equivalent.  Actors often just hint at an accent, especially when the full-blown one would be hard for most of the intended audience to understand.  And writers almost always just hint at dialects (other than the "standard" ones), because actually writing *in* a dialect requires intimate knowledge of it.  So what we hear in the finished product is often more a tip of the hat than a genuine reproduction -- which is fine, because it allows people from other places to get a feel for a culture they might otherwise never experience.

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Well as the title character is also somewhat disabled, well at least challenged...Tom was brilliant.

Native English speaker here, fluent in most accents and dialects!

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Also a native English speaker, fluent in only one accent/dialect! :D 

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:whistle:

trA6LUt.jpg

eta: just in case, that's photoshopped. ;)

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Maybe y'all realize this and are just yanking (so to speak) our collective chain -- but there's a very good reason why people from the US don't tend to be particularly multilingual.  Namely, we're surrounded by thousands of miles of people who speak English, most of the North American continent.  We've had very little practical incentive to learn another language.

For a person in Europe, the situation is obviously very different.  If you travel just a few hundred miles, you're in another country where they probably speak a different language.  To quote a friend from the Netherlands, who had ridden with me just from western New York State to Ohio, "Back home, we'd be in Italy by now!"

A lot of Americans do study foreign languages anyhow.  I studied Spanish in school and got pretty good at it, but I've had reason to use it only a handful of times in my life, so it's gotten pretty rusty.  I do seem to have made a good choice of languages, though -- the number of native Spanish speakers has been increasing, even here in the middle of the country (though most of them also speak English, or are learning it).

 

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6 hours ago, Caya said:

:whistle:

trA6LUt.jpg

eta: just in case, that's photoshopped. ;)

Shoot, it'd be even funnier if it were real. :D 

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  • 4 months later...
On 1/29/2020 at 7:36 PM, Arcadia said:

Soooo …. my very first reaction after watching A Study in Pink again was … I'm not so sure I would have become as obsessed with Sherlock as I did if I had seen Season 1 first. (I saw Season Two first, then in about the span of a year saw S1-3.) It's fun, funny and cute, but it also seriously lags in places. Watching it this time reminded me … I nearly always fall asleep during the tete a tete between Sherlock and the cabbie. (Thank goodness for DVDs or I might never have seen it. :-) )

I have the same reaction to most of the Soo Lin scenes in The Blind Banker, although I enjoyed that episode otherwise. I've always like how involved John was in that episode, even getting the jump on Sherlock a few times. I still have to agree the logic of the plot begins to crumble as it goes.

The ending of The Great Game was a stroke of genius, almost guaranteeing a return audience (assuming you made it to the 3rd episode).

More later.....

 

Hi, Arcadia,

I'm just arrived to this thread.  Glad you put this here, since rewatching is the only way to go.  Now that it's the 10th anniversary, no more opportune time.

I watched this series before I went back and delved into the Canon, and so on a rewatch, it's fun to find all the little Easter eggs which Mofftiss have left for those looking for them.  Jeff(erson Hope), Cabbie, is indeed the chief antagonist of ASIS.  'Laureston Gardens' plays a role.  Of course, we meet Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson and the crew.  Ben looks incredibly young in the pilot.  I'd never heard of this actor before, though unbeknownst to myself I had seen him in bit parts in a couple of costume dramas, looking very different than Sherlock.  He was 34, but looked much younger.  I thought, 27 at the outside.  The most notable thing about A Study in Pink is the fact that it created a new supernova star in the firmament literally over 90 minutes one Sunday.  I think it happened with Sherlock was whipping the cadaver, personally.  That's when I fell for him!  

The first meet cute scene--quite sublime.  Mike Stamford, naughty Matchmaker, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts . . all the way going back to 1887.

By the time we get to Sherlock wearing the orange shock blanket, the partnership had solidified into something great even before John had moved in properly.  

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