Thor and I are enjoying rediscovering this reimagined Sherlock Holmes mystery series set in New York City, which ran from 2012 to 2019.
As I’ve noted before, Thor and I are media dinosaurs who can only rarely find current movies or TV shows that we resonate with. Too many dystopias, when we’re living in one now, which is quite depressing enough. And the newer comedies often feel mean-spirited. So we started looking back at past shows we’ve enjoyed — and luckily, they feel fresh because we can’t remember the plots!
Lately we’ve been watching episodes from “Elementary,” starring Jonny Lee Miller as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson. The premise is that Holmes was working with Scotland Yard in London until he fell into drug abuse due to a personal crisis, amplified by his hyper-sensitivities to “the noise of the world.” His wealthy father shipped him off to the States for treatment, then hired Dr. Watson to be his sober companion. They live together in a funky old brownstone and assist the New York police in solving tricky murders. The plots are clever, hinging on minute details noticed by Holmes (and often medical issues noticed by Watson). A definite plus for us is that each episode tackles a particular crime that is solved by the end, instead of the usual pattern of current shows stringing out plots and complications over an endless number of episodes that never resolve.
Miller makes for an entertaining, mercurial, and rude in-your-face Holmes, who can’t seem to resist shoving his superior intelligence in the face of suspects and police alike. He’s a wiry and fit martial arts practitioner, tattooed and enjoying the occasional company of prostitutes, and dressing like a geek in buttoned-up shirts. Liu is elegant and empathetic, not afraid to confront Holmes with his sometimes counter-productive abrasive approaches to people. She helps him resist backsliding into drug use, while learning the ropes to become a valued assistant in solving crimes.
Aidan Quin as Captain Gregson and Jon Michael Hill as Detective Bell add to the “family” as strong regular characters, and occasional appearances by Rhys Ifans as Mycroft Holmes (brother to Sherlock, who hates him) spice things up. An engaging twist on evil nemesis Moriarty also develops, but I won’t spoil it.
Another regular character is a tortoise who shares the house, along with bee hives on the roof. Check it out! And feel free to recommend shows or movies you enjoy.
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s Caribbean suspense novel from Book View Café is ISLANDS, which draws on her experiences working as a scuba divemaster on various islands, and also her research into petroglyphs. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
