BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » POLL: Which is your favorite episode?

OneMoreMiracle · June 23, 2013 5:25 am

I thought this would be cool poll to do. Since I"m new, I don't know if anybody's already done a poll like this, but hopefully you'll participate anyway even if there has been one. Oh yeah, once series three comes out I'll update this.

Last edited by OneMoreMiracle (June 23, 2013 5:26 am)

Sticks · June 23, 2013 5:46 am

I voted for ASIP as we meet all of the regulars for the first time and see the immediate chemistry between Sherlock and John and discover the writers special sense of humour which continues throughout the two series so far. We also hear of Moriarty at the end (chillingly presented) which is a great tease for the rest of the series. Also I found Jeff Hope, the cabbie to be one of the scariest characters ever to appear on television - Phil Davis is brilliant in that role. The mystery of the reluctant suicides was brilliant and believeable. Outstanding introduction to the best TV series in years.

Sticks · June 23, 2013 5:54 am

You might want to change the Baskerville title to 'Hounds'

I wanted to send you a PM but can't see how to do that.

Good poll BTW

Schmiezi · June 23, 2013 10:22 am

I voted for Scandal because it was the first episode I've seen. I've avoided all kind of Sherlock Holmes related stuff at that time, and we accidentially switched into the scene with Sherlock and Irene, with the sofa on the field. I was hooked instantly and went to buy both series on DVD the other day.

sj4iy · June 23, 2013 12:20 pm

It's hard to choose between ASIB and TRF, but I will give the very slight edge to ASIB because the writing is absolutely wonderful. My husband and I were talking about it for days afterwards. And I love that Sherlock got a taste of his own medicine.

Last edited by sj4iy (June 23, 2013 12:21 pm)

Punch me in the face · June 23, 2013 12:51 pm

Aww, it's really hard to pick one but I voted for The Great Game.

The rythm of this episode is amazing, all those "mini-investigations" within one episode, that was just great! I felt like I was taking part in a kind of interactive Cluedo game, looking for clues and all. I particularly enjoyed the one with the fake painting. I also love the idea of hostages (though I still feel bad for that old blind woman) and of given time to solve each mystery. And the final scene had left me breathless! For a few seconds, when John came into view, I was like "Huh?! WTF?! No... It can't be!" and a couple of minutes later "WHAT??!!! Jim, the gay guy from the hospital???!!!!" and then the dialogue between Sherlock and Moriarty is just amazing. The only reproach I could make is that this episode doesn't really show all the humour of the show, all the complicity between John & Sherlock.

Kerkerian · June 23, 2013 3:04 pm

My all time favourite is Scandal in Belgravia, followed closely by Study in Pink.

-Beware! Sort-of rant about to commence! -
The Reichenbach Fall is my least favourite one, because the whole episode is -brilliantly- unsettling and already conveys a sense of foreboding that a lot of things are going to come to an end (I prefer a touch of domestic 221B bliss). I also hate the song they're playing while Sherlock and John are in the car on their way to Old Bailey, it's grating on my nerves. And I'm sorry to say this, but Katherine Parkinson, whom I love in "The IT Crowd" and "Doc Martin" is not the right person to play Kitty Riley in my opinion, because one is used to her having comedic roles; while watching the episode for the first time, I constantly waited for her to say or do something funny. Of course she deserves to play other characters too, but in this case I think it didn't work out.
-Rant over. Sorry. Needed to vent.-

In general, I'd be happy to get more background information on the characters in the new season.

sj4iy · June 23, 2013 3:55 pm

Lol, that's funny, because those are all of the things I love about TRF. I absolutely live that they used "Sinnerman" there, because it fits the theme of "angels" and hell perfectly. Sherlock is the Sinnerman, with nowhere to run except to the devil.

Kerkerian · June 23, 2013 4:00 pm

I also think it fits perfectly, and the nerve-grating is possibly deliberate to emphasize the tension etc., but each time I watch the episode, I'm glad once that part's over.

sj4iy · June 23, 2013 6:01 pm

Kerkerian wrote:
I also think it fits perfectly, and the nerve-grating is possibly deliberate to emphasize the tension etc., but each time I watch the episode, I'm glad once that part's over.

I just think it's funny that the montage is my favorite part of that episode, lol. I loved the pacing of it, and I guess, really, it might be my favorite episode depending on how the next episode resolves it. And since Sherlock is the only thing I've ever seen Katherine Parkinson in, I wasn't bothered by her at all. She was suffiently obtuse for the role...hope she gets her comeuppance in TEH. I want to see how they wrap up the loose ends before declaring it as my favorite. Glad we both think that ASCB is great, though.

But I've always loved the song "Sinnerman" since watching The Thomas Crown Affair years ago.

Last edited by sj4iy (June 23, 2013 6:04 pm)

Kerkerian · June 23, 2013 6:32 pm

I admittedly have never seen The Thomas Crown Affair.

sj4iy · June 23, 2013 9:25 pm

I will admit that "Sinnerman" in its original 10 minute long version is waaay too long...so I used some audio software to edit it to a better time (about 5 minutes). I liked the edit they did in the show, wish I had that one.

OneMoreMiracle · June 25, 2013 11:20 pm

At school my classmates and I sang Sinnerman for an assembly. I was always reminded of Sherlock when we sang that song. BTW thanks Sticks about the 'hounds' thing, so I tried to change it but it wouldn't let me. And my mom disabled the PM thing, sorry about that. Although she says I might be able to do it after a while though.

Last edited by OneMoreMiracle (June 26, 2013 12:52 am)

Mary Me · June 26, 2013 1:08 pm

Maybe it's not the right place here to leave a rant. I think Sinnerman was fantastic, but each to his own.

I voted for Scandal as well, because I'm in love with Irene, the whole plot and Sherlock's appearance which is more attractive than usual for some reason. Looking at the poll now, I wish I had voted for Hounds.
Come on guys, it's a great episode. I like the atmosphere and the fact that the episode mainly focuses on the development of John's and Sherlock's friendship. I do often rewatch this episode; more often than TRF or SIP.

June 26, 2013 2:00 pm

I voted for Scandal because almost every frame looks beautiful and I like the Sherlocked-scene with its music and Sherlock's cool tapping of the code.
Nevertheless I like ASiP because of the instant connection between Sherlóck and John, TBB because of the tea ceremony, TGG because of the cases. They are just wonderfully constructed.
I love Hounds because of the "How to get John fetch me the cigarettes"-scene. Playful and funny.
TRF is interesting because of the way the writers manage to show Sherlock's strength, courage and vulnerability at the same time.

sj4iy · June 26, 2013 2:16 pm

Mary Me wrote:
Maybe it's not the right place here to leave a rant. I think Sinnerman was fantastic, but each to his own.

I voted for Scandal as well, because I'm in love with Irene, the whole plot and Sherlock's appearance which is more attractive than usual for some reason. Looking at the poll now, I wish I had voted for Hounds.
Come on guys, it's a great episode. I like the atmosphere and the fact that the episode mainly focuses on the development of John's and Sherlock's friendship. I do often rewatch this episode; more often than TRF or SIP.

I think the only episode I truly didn't like was The Blind Banker...too inconsistant and the ending was just laughable (really? they moved that heavy spear throwing thing down to a tunnel just to threaten people? Where did they put the sandbag from?). Anyway, the first time I watched THoB, I was scared to death. After that, it's obviously up to the strength of the story, and I think it is stronger than many people give it credit for. Personally, I find it to be a great character/relationship building episode.

Punch me in the face · June 26, 2013 3:57 pm

(I thought Sinnerman was a really good choice in that scene, the rythm was wonderful but each to their own, indeed!)

I'm surprised to see SIB getting the more voices because if I had to vote for the episode I like the least, I'd hesitate between this one and TBB.

Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I don't like it, just not as much as the others.

What I like in that episode are the funny scenes at the beginning (the "no pants" scene, the "punch me in the face" one, sulking Sherlock --when John tells him nobody's reading his website, that scene is absolutely priceless, that look on Sherlock's face, his mouth twitching and all, aww....), the Christmas scene, the John vs Irene scene ("I'm not gay" etc), the Sherlock-Mycroft scene at the morgue, and above all, the way it is filmed: the colours are amazing, it's full of poetry... BUT I don't like the plot which I find quite confusing (that's the only plot I didn't really get at the first watching) and not very interesting, and I hate Irene's character, so that doesn't help, obviously. Plus I don't know if it's like that in canon (have only read study in scarlet so far) but I find it quite weird and not really in character that Sherlock becomes that infatuated with Irene so quickly. Well, I don't know...

I love ASIP because it's where it all begins and I adore the developement of Sherlock/John relationship in this one. It contains in one episode everything Sherlock (the show) is: interesting plot, humour, suspense, originality... I was completely in awe the first time I watched it, and still am whenever I watch it again. And some of its quotes are just fantastic ("Anderson, don't talk out loud, you lower the IQ of the entire street", "I'm in shock, look, I've got a blanket" etc etc)

I'm not too fond of TBB but I like it nonetheless. The end was indeed a bit risible, but on the other hand, I really liked the idea of the ciphers through the books. And well, I like everything that revolves around tea ceremonies because my late husband was a tea lover, but not tea in teabags. It's like wine lovers. He had very expensive teas (some are more than 30 years old), a collection of beautiful hand made teapots, accessories and all, Chinese and Japanese. And he was exactly like Soo Lin Yao: obsessed by his teapots, taking great care of them daily, making tea ceremonies... I miss all that... I've kept everything, obviously, but I don't know enough about tea to use them myself. Each teapot is for a particular tea, the ceremonies have special rituals...etc.

I love TGG for the reasons I mentioned in my previous post.

I love THOB because I love the originality of the scenario, all the very funny moments (one of my fav' being "Is that why you're calling yourself Greg?" "That's his name" "is it?" ha ha haaaa!!), the way Sherlock "loses control" (the fireplace scene), Sherlock's experiment on John (Poor John! lol), and how their relationship is treated (being a Johnlocker, I obviously adore the "I don't have friends. i've just got one")

And finally, I both love and hate TRF. I love it because it's so powerful, the plot is absolutely brillant and such a brain torture (I mean, it left us over analyzing everything, trying to understand..), and like Be mentioned it before, it shows Sherlock's strenght and courage, and for someone who always said his work was the most important thing in his life and someone who cared that much about what people thought of his work and of his deduction capacities, he gives up everything to save the few people he cared about. On the other hand, I "hate" this episode because it makes me feel ill at ease (the way I felt reading Harry Potter 5 too) to see Sherlock's name dragged in the mud that way, I imagine what it must feel like and I find it so unfair and sad...

sj4iy · June 26, 2013 4:43 pm

Punch me in the face wrote:
I'm not too fond of TBB but I like it nonetheless. The end was indeed a bit risible, but on the other hand, I really liked the idea of the ciphers through the books. And well, I like everything that revolves around tea ceremonies because my late husband was a tea lover, but not tea in teabags. It's like wine lovers. He had very expensive teas (some are more than 30 years old), a collection of beautiful hand made teapots, accessories and all, Chinese and Japanese. And he was exactly like Soo Lin Yao: obsessed by his teapots, taking great care of them daily, making tea ceremonies... I miss all that... I've kept everything, obviously, but I don't know enough about tea to use them myself. Each teapot is for a particular tea, the ceremonies have special rituals...etc.

That's really sweet I went to a tea ceremony once in Japan, and was just astonished with how meticulously everything was done- and by how beautiful the tea pot and cups were. That would be a very good reason to like that episode.

I suppose, if I really had to pick out what I didn't like about TBB, it would be that Sherlock didn't recognize it as a form of asian writing. He has lots of things with Chinese/Japanese writing in his flat, but he didn't recognize a form of it when he saw it. The number one (一) is the same across many forms (either horizontal or vertical, depending). When I saw it, although I'm not familiar with that form of it (I studied Japanese and Mandarin Chinese), I instantly thought "That looks like the number 1, along with a number that I'm not quite sure of" (5 is written differently). I guess, for me, it would have been the first thing I looked up on the internet.

Punch me in the face · June 26, 2013 5:48 pm

Yeah it's just a pity I can't do the ceremonies myself. Well I know I think I could manage the Gong fu cha ceremony (I mean, the gestures and all), a chinese one, but then I don't know which teapot to use for each tea, how many grams I should use, which temperature.. .because all this depends on each tea, and this has to be so very precise.

But he did everything Soo Lin does, with the kind of "paintbrush" and all... It created a very warm and peaceful atmosphere and I miss those moments. Well, of course his teapots are not as old as the Museum's ones in TBB, but they are all handmade teapots in specific China or Japan, some cost more than 500 euros. Well...

I don't know a word of Chinese, but I'm a bit familiar with Japanese (I don't speak it, only know about 20-30 words and a few kanas, because my husband's grandmother was Japanese, she died young so he never knew her but he had learnt Japanese and was quite fluent) and it's true that the symbols definitely looked asian, even if you don't know what it means.

Last edited by Punch me in the face (June 26, 2013 5:49 pm)

Elvina · June 27, 2013 4:29 pm

Had to be ASIB. After I watched that ep I was officially in love with the show. It blew me away - the humour, my God, the sheet. In Buckingham Palace! "Are you wearing any pants?" The text alerts... John's and Sherlock's friendship is really shown as developed. The Vatican Cameos - genius. Love Irene - take away the dodgy day job and she's a resourceful survivor. The jury is still out as to whether Sherlock fell for her, still can't make up my mind (and I do mull it over a lot) but dear lord the "I took your pulse" moment was so unexpected and left me reeling and then "I am Sherlocked". Think this was the moment I fell for Sherlock.