Episode 2.1, "A Scandal In Belgravia"

[Arcadia]

I've been reading some of the Tumblr pages JP linked to earlier ... a couple of them were lovely, all positive remarks and images by people who (shock!!) love the show, instead of barely tolerating it. ;) My favorite one is The Left Pill, but I found this on Scared of Butterflys ... someone's calculated how fast Sherlock rattled off his deduction about the Bond Air flight. It's pretty amazing: https://scaredofbutterflys.tumblr.com/post/160542515908/theres-a-margin-for-error-but-im-pretty-sure

 

[The deduction] consists of 225 scripted words delivered by Benedict Cumberbatch in under a minute: 48 seconds, to be precise (1:07:16 - 1:08:04). That includes, BTW, a four second pause halfway through the speech. 

 

If my math is correct, that’s a rate of 281 words per minute. According to Wiki, auctioneers speak at about 250 words per minute. Most of us read the speech at a slower rate than he delivered it. 

 

 

:d

 

Scared of Butterflys also has a series of posts called "221 Things I Love About Sherlock" ... they don't seem to be in any particular order, but if anyone needs to be reminded why some people love the show and its creators, this is a good place to start.

[Artemis]

I'm never quite sure how to rate this episode.  It was very well done, but I don't care at all for Irene, especially with her character and dialogue revolving so heavily around sex (which I realize is meant to be fun and draw in viewers, I just personally find it boring).  I could honestly do without that whole plot, except then it wouldn't be the same episode, so it's a necessary plot; but I kind of dread having to get through the Irene bits to see the rest.  Also I find something about her a bit grating.  I can't put my finger on it, I just don't enjoy watching her.  But I love the episode for its non-Irene bits: Sherlock in a sheet, Sherlock and his violin, brotherly banter, John's blog, Christmas, "Punch me in the face," defending Mrs. Hudson; all good stuff.  Even the atmosphere of the episode is nice.  It's not one of my favorites, and yet it's one of the episodes I end up watching the most.

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think I know what you mean. When an episode has so many good scenes, I feel as though I should really like the episode. But while I certainly don't hate it, I simply don't like it as a whole.

 

And frankly, I find it a bit of an embarrassment. When I'm introducing someone to the show, I'm always a little nervous about how they'll react to this one. I'm just glad it isn't any earlier in the show, so they will already have a feeling for what it's like overall.

[Arcadia]

Same here. I think it's their best episode; best script, brilliant cinematography, amazing performances, yadda yadda ... and Sherlock just looks smashing all the way through it. :d But it's not my favorite, because I'm too much of a prude to think it's okay to be a domin8trix. I find the whole idea icky. But persons more sophisticated than I about such things have declared it's okay, so ... so be it. I still don't like the implication that a woman has to be in the sex trade in order to be strong enough to beat Sherlock Holmes. And I don't like that he's attracted to her for that reason.

 

I do like Irene, though. It's similar to what I think about Mary; I enjoy how she is, but I don't like what she is.

 

It's the first episode I saw. Left me craving more!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I can understand how your first episode would be special. On the other hand, I'm relieved (and a little surprised) that it didn't scare you off.

 

Of course a prude would disapprove of "Scandal" -- but I don't think that having reservations about it necessarily means you're a prude. I assume that a prude would also disapprove of the nude scenes in Love Actually, but I think that movie's really sweet even though I have reservations about Scandal.

 

So what *is* it about Scandal that pushes the wrong buttons for me? It's not that Irene is a sex worker. I love the hooker that Rita Moreno played on Rockford Files. I guess that's it -- I just don't like Irene very much. Don't get me wrong, I think she's well played. I just don't like the character. As to why, I'll have to give that some more thought.

[Pseudonym]

I've been mulling this over, I think that's it for me too. I don't care she's a dominatrix, doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I don't like her much. And perhaps because I'm not really sure if she's supposed to be a good guy or not, usually you know who the bad guys are, I think Irene is a bit more ambiguous. 

[gerry]

I never liked Irene because her entire life is to use and manipulate people to blackmail them. She's no different than CAM. The only difference is that one used sex and the other power to do the same thing. I can't think of one redeeming quality about her so it always bothered me that you're supposed to believe Sherlock was attracted to her. As Pseud alluded to if the episode was exactly the same but without the Sherlock attraction angle I don't think it would bother me because she would be treated more like CAM,n a pure villian he was trying to defeat.

[Boton]

Well, here goes Boton stirring the pot again, I guess....   :P

 

I like Irene.  I didn't consider her a villain but more of an adversary, if that makes sense.  The first time I watched it I was a bit put off by the domin8trix angle, but then I squared it in my own mind with her having to be as risque as the original Irene, and I grew to like it. It makes sense to me that Sherlock is attracted to her; it isn't just the sex, but it's the risk and the gamesmanship and the living outside conventional society. I also like just the idea in general that Sherlock is sexually attracted to a woman.

 

Plus, the more I watch it, the more I just plain like Irene.  I mean, as far as I can tell from the episode, she's not a prostitute, she's just providing "recreational scoldings," and look at the lifestyle it provides her!  Beautiful clothes, wonderful shoes, a lovely home, and the power to play games with people.  I might have scruples against what she does and how she does it, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it vicariously through fiction.  

 

[Arcadia]

I can understand how your first episode would be special. On the other hand, I'm relieved (and a little surprised) that it didn't scare you off.

I think it was the best, brilliant, amazing and smashing part that kept me coming back for more. :D And I like the story. Really the only thing I don't like is the domin8trix aspect. I don't like the idea that it's okay to make money giving people pain for their sexual pleasure; or giving people pain for any reason. There's enough pain in the world without yet another person profiting off of it.

 

Of course a prude would disapprove of "Scandal" -- but I don't think that having reservations about it necessarily means you're a prude. I assume that a prude would also disapprove of the nude scenes in Love Actually, but I think that movie's really sweet even though I have reservations about Scandal.

 

So what *is* it about Scandal that pushes the wrong buttons for me? It's not that Irene is a sex worker. I love the hooker that Rita Moreno played on Rockford Files. I guess that's it -- I just don't like Irene very much. Don't get me wrong, I think she's well played. I just don't like the character. As to why, I'll have to give that some more thought.

Because of the nudity, you mean? But we didn't actually see anything, and even if we had, the mere sight of a naked woman wouldn't scare me off. I was using the term prude a bit facetiously, but only a bit ... I think many shows/movies go too far in portraying the sex act, and I'd prefer not to see it. It's too intimate. I don't like to see people going to the bathroom either. But it's also a fact of modern entertainment, so I'll put up with it if there's other, er, features of interest.

 

Well, here goes Boton stirring the pot again, I guess....   :P

 

I like Irene.  I didn't consider her a villain but more of an adversary, if that makes sense.  The first time I watched it I was a bit put off by the domin8trix angle, but then I squared it in my own mind with her having to be as risque as the original Irene, and I grew to like it. It makes sense to me that Sherlock is attracted to her; it isn't just the sex, but it's the risk and the gamesmanship and the living outside conventional society. I also like just the idea in general that Sherlock is sexually attracted to a woman.

Agree to all that. Although I agree that she was a blackmailer, which is also not so nice. But I think she gets a pass from me on that because she was generally blackmailing people for her own protection, and not to simply have power over them or ruin their lives, like CAM. At least, in the episode. Alas, I see no reason for her to stop there, she didn't seem to have any scruples.

 

Plus, the more I watch it, the more I just plain like Irene.  I mean, as far as I can tell from the episode, she's not a prostitute, she's just providing "recreational scoldings," and look at the lifestyle it provides her!  Beautiful clothes, wonderful shoes, a lovely home, and the power to play games with people.  I might have scruples against what she does and how she does it, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it vicariously through fiction.

"The power to play games with people" ... and the will to use it. No, that side of her I can do without. But I can do without that side of Sherlock and Mycroft, too. But it's part of the portrayal of their characters, it's why Sherlock is a great man but not a good one at that point. If for no other reason, I'd like to see a season five just to find out if Sherlock has finally learned that it's not okay to lie to and manipulate people.

 

No, what keeps Scandal from being my favorite episode, in spite of my admiration of its qualities, is the implication that what Irene does is okay. I don't mean just the domin8trix part either; I mean the whole process of manipulating people for her own profit. It's not okay by me, so I tend to draw back from the episode a little. But I recognize that's just me, I still think it's their best one. Perfect introduction to the series, imo!

[Boton]

(Pretty much agree with everything Arcadia said above. Well put.)

 

Scandal is definitely the episode that I would send people to as their introduction to Sherlock, especially if they weren't Sherlock Holmes fans to begin. I'm no kind of expert (but, I guess, "I know what I like..."  :D ), but the cinematography and the music are really well done in the episode, as is the dialogue and the plot.  I think this is one that you really have to both watch and listen to in order to get the nuances, and I pick something else up every time I watch it. Plus, as a "bottle episode" of sorts, it doesn't require a lot of background to get into, but there's a lot of plot there nonetheless.

 

It isn't my favorite episode; HLV has that honor.  But that doesn't have anything to do with a criticism of Irene.  I don't want Irene to exist in real life - her behavior is not acceptable from real people for me. But for a fictional character? I love it. At this particular point in my life, I like characters who do things I would never do, even if I find them morally or ethically wrong. I want a chance to have that experience without actually harming someone. Irene is a great channel for me to let off some emotional steam that way.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

I've done some more thinking about my reaction to Irene, and have come to the tentative conclusion that I don't find her admirable in even an amoral sort of way.  I think the real deal-breaker for me is how she's so smug about having Mycroft over a barrel, but then when Sherlock manages to turn the tables on her, she goes all poor-little-me.  If she'd reacted in line with her assertion that it was all a game to her (like "Oh well, win some, lose some"), then I could have accepted her as a character with some sort of integrity.  As the episode stands, she's just a typical bully -- all bluster and no spine.

 

There's also a major plot hole.  Irene's comment, "What if the lives of British citizens are at stake?" makes no sense whatsoever to me.  She's got a bunch of assorted info on her phone.  Presumably she could use some of it to endanger the lives of British citizens.  But how would destroying the info (as Mycroft is threatening to do) pose any danger to anyone (other than Irene)?  Is she offering to cough up certain info as needed to save lives?  Somehow that sort of public spirit doesn't sound like the Irene we know.  If I'd been Mycroft at that point, I'd've called her bluff and dropped the damn phone into a vat of acid.  But apparently Moftiss couldn't figure out a way to eliminate that option logically, so they just bamboozled us with some fancy footwork.

 

So OK, the cinematography is nice.  But that's also true of Great Game, which I find much more enjoyable.

[Pseudonym]

I don't understand why Sherlock goes to save her. I don't get A - why he even cares, B - why he would try to save someone who manipulated and played him. It's not like they ended on buddy buddy terms, and it's not like she was just a few streets away, she was the other side of the world and he had to infiltrate a terrorist cell. 

[Arcadia]

(Pretty much agree with everything Arcadia said above. Well put.)

 

Scandal is definitely the episode that I would send people to as their introduction to Sherlock, especially if they weren't Sherlock Holmes fans to begin. I'm no kind of expert (but, I guess, "I know what I like..."  :D ), but the cinematography and the music are really well done in the episode, as is the dialogue and the plot.  I think this is one that you really have to both watch and listen to in order to get the nuances, and I pick something else up every time I watch it. Plus, as a "bottle episode" of sorts, it doesn't require a lot of background to get into, but there's a lot of plot there nonetheless.

 

It isn't my favorite episode; HLV has that honor.  But that doesn't have anything to do with a criticism of Irene.  I don't want Irene to exist in real life - her behavior is not acceptable from real people for me. But for a fictional character? I love it. At this particular point in my life, I like characters who do things I would never do, even if I find them morally or ethically wrong. I want a chance to have that experience without actually harming someone. Irene is a great channel for me to let off some emotional steam that way.

Also I think it's the episode that best captures Sherlock's elusive sexuality. Is he drawn to her physically, or is it all about the head game? Is he mourning her, or just trying to crack her code? Is she The woman, or just The Woman? Yeah, I think it's the perfect episode to get started on ... except that it rather ruins the ending of TGG, if you haven't seen it. :P

 

It's possible HLV might be my favorite episode also. I don't know why ... it's chock full of improbabilities and hyperbole, and I hate the whole "it's okay to murder someone as long as they're evil" vibe. But it does something to my emotions, and it's just drop dead gorgeous to look at. I mean, look at this scene:

 

Plot? Who needs plot, that is simply beautiful.

[Arcadia]

Okay, you two slipped in and commented while I was responding to Boton. Sneaks.
 

I've done some more thinking about my reaction to Irene, and have come to the tentative conclusion that I don't find her admirable in even an amoral sort of way.  I think the real deal-breaker for me is how she's so smug about having Mycroft over a barrel, but then when Sherlock manages to turn the tables on her, she goes all poor-little-me.  If she'd reacted in line with her assertion that it was all a game to her (like "Oh well, win some, lose some"), then I could have accepted her as a character with some sort of integrity.  As the episode stands, she's just a typical bully -- all bluster and no spine.

Agreed. I'm also not sure we're meant to find her admirable, but I don't. But in some respects I don't find Sherlock very admirable either, or Mycroft. Maybe that's part of the point? They're all using each other in that episode, so it doesn't really matter who wins their game; none of them deserve to be victorious. So the real story's about something else, maybe, such as the mysterious nature of love and attraction?

 

There's also a major plot hole.  Irene's comment, "What if the lives of British citizens are at stake?" makes no sense whatsoever to me.  She's got a bunch of assorted info on her phone.  Presumably she could use some of it to endanger the lives of British citizens.  But how would destroying the info (as Mycroft is threatening to do) pose any danger to anyone (other than Irene)?  Is she offering to cough up certain info as needed to save lives?  Somehow that sort of public spirit doesn't sound like the Irene we know.  If I'd been Mycroft at that point, I'd've called her bluff and dropped the damn phone into a vat of acid.  But apparently Moftiss couldn't figure out a way to eliminate that option logically, so they just bamboozled us with some fancy footwork.

Oh, goody, I thought that was just me being too dumb to figure that out. :D

 

So OK, the cinematography is nice.  But that's also true of Great Game, which I find much more enjoyable.

 
I know, it's a weird thing for me to focus on. And on an intellectual level, I agree that's not the primary reason to like a show. But I can't help myself, every time I see that long shot of John's car pulling into the power station, I get this visceral little twinge of pleasure ....
 

I don't understand why Sherlock goes to save her. I don't get A - why he even cares, B - why he would try to save someone who manipulated and played him. It's not like they ended on buddy buddy terms, and it's not like she was just a few streets away, she was the other side of the world and he had to infiltrate a terrorist cell.

 
I don't think we're meant to understand, just wonder.

 

But if forced to come up with an answer, I would say that, at minimum, he respects her. Love or attraction may be part of it, but doesn't have to be ... maybe it's just his way of acknowledging she's the one who came closest to beating him at his own game (up to that point, at least.)

[J.P.]

 

Irene's comment, "What if the lives of British citizens are at stake?" makes no sense

Maybe she can keep control over someone who could be dangerous.

[Pseudonym]

It's OTT though, I can't see him, Mr Unfeeling, going out of his way that much to save her. If it was John, yes. If it was Mycroft, yes (especially if he could taunt him about it later). But Irene? Maybe it's just me being cold, but I don't think he would put that much effort into saving her. I don't think he'd wish harm on her, just not particularly go out of his way to prevent it either. It makes no sense to me he would do those things but obviously he did. *sigh*

[Arcadia]

​Except that what we've learned by now is that he's not Mr. Unfeeling and never was; he just pretends to be.

 

I think it's clear by the end of TLD that he has some feeling for her. Whether it's "true love" or simple sexual attraction is something else ... personally, I find it hard to believe in the former, given what they're both like. Maybe the reason he stays away from her is because it is merely sexual, and he thinks he should be above that? At any rate, I just figure she means something to him, and that makes her worth saving. To him.

 

 

[Pseudonym]

I don't know, I think he still is unfeeling with a lot of people. And I think the isolation of the Fall changed him a fair bit. Eurgh, I like to pretend that scene from TLD doesn't exist. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Irene's comment, "What if the lives of British citizens are at stake?" makes no sense

Maybe she can keep control over someone who could be dangerous.

Hm, maybe.  Of course she'd only do that if there was also some benefit to her personally.  Convoluted though it is, that's the closest to an explanation I've seen so far -- and yet the whole thing seemed instantly clear to Mycroft.  I'm still leaning toward "couldn't figure it out, so don't give the audience time to notice."

[gerry]

I don't understand why Sherlock goes to save her. I don't get A - why he even cares, B - why he would try to save someone who manipulated and played him.

This is why I never could believe he loved her. And even if you can believe he was attracted to her, wouldn't knowing she was willing to sell you out to blackmail your brother kill any attraction you would have felt? Not only do they not know the "real" people they're masking, what they do know isn't exactly trustworthy for either one.

[Arcadia]

Maybe that's why Sherlock respects her? Because like himself, she operates outside of what the rest of us consider acceptable behavior?

 

See, that's why this isn't my favorite episode; it forces me to consider that Sherlock Holmes is no great catch himself. :p

[Carol the Dabbler]

As I mentioned a while back, I think Irene is a bully. Now I can enjoy a show with a bully in it, but only if they get their comeuppance (e.g., Scut Farkas in Christmas Story or Biff in Back to the Future). Irene doesn't, really. When it looks like she has, it's not enjoyable because the stakes are too high, her life is in danger -- and then Sherlock pulls her fat out of the fire anyhow. So we're back to Square One.

[Artemis]

Funny, I never really viewed Sherlock's attraction to Irene as a sexual one.  I suppose it could be, but I thought of it as mostly an intellectual attraction.  A little more complex than that maybe, but still intellectually based.  I thought he seemed impressed by her, and that, to him, is what made her life worth saving in the end.

I don't share his admiration, but that's what I got out of it anyway.

I think on some level she also just piqued his desire to protect, which is very strong in him.  Death threats from the CIA agents, sending him her phone to guard, sleeping in his bed, her code; all showed some vulnerability.  She treated him as her protector, and in response he kind of stepped into that role, subconsciously or not.  Whether some of it was manipulation or not, it's hard to say for sure.  Sleeping in his bed, for example, could be viewed as a show of power or arrogance.  But it could also be viewed as a show of trust, because you have to really trust someone to sleep near them.  I think Sherlock likes to be trusted, and he'd be loath to act against that trust, even if he felt they didn't deserve it anymore.

 

 

[J.P.]

Another reason for saving Irene might be just to annoy Mycroft. In a strange way, because Myc never got to know (probably). But alone knowing that, must have been very satisfying for Sherlock. :D

As for an attraction - for me there is surely a strong one. Cannot describe it, but I can relate to it on emotional level.

[Pseudonym]

I wonder how often Sherlock vanishes for days at a time, since John was apparently unaware he'd gone off to Karachi or wherever.