Number one, THANK YOU FOR MAKING SHERLOCK AND WATSON’S ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP CANON. Understand that with all I am going to say, I will forever respect and appreciate this show for that. They are in love, they were in love when ACD wrote them, and they have been in love in every single portrayal of them since, but this show was the only one not too scared to confirm it.
The show itself is a little bit absurd. I understand that’s the point, but I feel like the way the show treats itself like a joke takes away from it. The plot isn’t bad. The characters have nice arcs. This could have been a really good show if it took itself seriously. But it didn’t, and every time someone says a phrase that definitely wasn’t around in the 1880s, or Fawx uses alliteration, or Madge, Stallion, and Archie take the whole business of pretending not to be gay very un-seriously, it takes me out of the show for a bit. If one wanted to write a silly version of Victorian England where nobody cares if Archie and Stallion kiss right in front of the client, sure, write that. But this show didn’t write out homophobia altogether, as Archie sites it as one of the reasons he doesn’t want to work with Scotland Yard. Which is a very good hoop for the character to have to jump through, especially with him not being one of the main three, and how silly the show is. But because the homophobia only seems to work when it’s convenient, it cheapens it.
The stuff in season two about the theme park really made me cringe. I know it’s supposed to be ridiculous, but I thought it was a little too ridiculous.
The jokes are funny. For me, I do wish the dialogue were more consistent with the time period, but it was funny.
Their portrayal of Sherlock and Watson as characters made up for all the rest of that. I have read all the original stories and consumed as many adaptations as I could get my hands on, and while I have my favorites, I have to say that this show did the best job reconciling the ACD Sherlock to the persona he’s taken on as a character. He was ACD’s Sherlock, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and more than any other recent adaptation. At the same time, he’s not a boring, perfect character the way that Watson wrote him. Watson, meanwhile. Not a boring character whose only trait was being the narrator. Not a war-broken adrenaline addict, and not a complete pushover with an unhealthy obsession with Sherlock. They were FRIENDS, real FRIENDS, and we got to see why they cared for each other. In the stories, all we get is the parts that related to the cases, or to the point Watson’s making. We know they’ve become best friends, but don’t get to see the parts in between cases where they grow familiar with each other, just sharing their life. Honestly, in just the flashbacks in episode 16, we watched them fall in love. And for once, my brain didn’t have to do all the work to make it fit my perception of them — I knew the show would take care of it for me! Also, they were just adorable. And their dynamic was so plainly taken from the stories, but their energy had just the right touch of the Sherlock
