Rhys Ifans cast as Mycroft:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/elementary-rhys-ifans-is-sherlocks-575789

Admittedly,  the show is mostly lame.    We are well underway with the second season,  and yeah, the first episode featured London,  an odd Mycroft (Rhys Ifans),  and a bizarre Lestrade (Sean Pertwee),
but that's all over now,   and it's back to the usual episodic detective NY weekly story.   yawn.


Just got to say though,  Jonny Lee Miller,  although not *our* Sherlock,  (or really Sherlock at all IMO),
is ABSOLUTELY brilliant,   or at least he was in tonight's episode.   just saying...   sigh.
 

Russell wrote:

CarlPowers wrote:

Admittedly,  the show is mostly lame.    We are well underway with the second season,  and yeah, the first episode featured London,  an odd Mycroft (Rhys Ifans),  and a bizarre Lestrade (Sean Pertwee),
but that's all over now,   and it's back to the usual episodic detective NY weekly story.   yawn.


Just got to say though,  Jonny Lee Miller,  although not *our* Sherlock,  (or really Sherlock at all IMO),
is ABSOLUTELY brilliant,   or at least he was in tonight's episode.   just saying...   sigh.
 

 
Yes... thank you! I think with the picking at the show at times, his great acting gets forgotten. He really impressed me in last night's. I was wondering if conversation was going to spur up again when the show started, but I know interest was quite varied here. Heck, it's not a bad show, come on, just not as brilliant writing and struggles with being a same-old typical procedural/being 'Sherlock Holmes'. But not debating that again, just wanted to say agreed with your comment and have kept watching it myself, mostly for curiosity of where it goes, and another detective show to watch.

Yeah... that premiere trip to London and his 'roots'/old friends was a little bizarre, huh? Intriguingly amusing... and bizarre. Did you like Mycroft?

I did actually.   I like Rhys Ifans.   But, was also glad to see him go away.     Really didn't like
what they did with Lestrade.     Hope we don't see him again.   Prefer their Gregson/NY character.
enjoyed the twist on 221B.

And I think it's great they're letting Watson grow in ability, honestly. But still need some of that Sherlock genius...

you're right there!    It bugs me the writers  continue to (run out of ideas and)  bring back
women from his past.    not necessarily romantic interests,  but those who supposedly
shaped his character.    Maybe they do that so that Lucy Liu's character can be shown
to 'pick up' on his subtleties.  (Of course,  any camera shot of her is usually the same stone face,
so you have to just imagine she's actually acting...)    Most interesting to me is to watch what
Jonny Lee Miller can do with very limited material.   The ending of last night's episode near the bridge
was nuanced, poignant, and well done,   mostly with tone and body language,  since
we couldn't see his eyes through those sunglasses... 

"It’s Elementary, Sherlock: How the CBS procedural surpassed the BBC drama"

http://www.avclub.com/article/its-elementary-sherlock-how-the-cbs-procedural-sur-200870


....err. wishful thinking.  

Since Elementary has more Episodes, there should be more character development, yet it's all done with back story conversations to explain why characters act a certain way.  Yet the characters still show little to no growth in their actions and interactions.  Character development on BBC is done through actions.  It's like a puzzle or connect the dots for the audience.  We know how much JLM's Sherlock cares for Joan because he says so.  We know how much BC's Sherlock and John care for each other because each has *shown* a willingness to die for the other.  In RF we know how much Sherlock values John's opinion because he actually starts to become slightly unhinged when he thinks John may be falling for Moriarty's game.  We know how much John cares for Sherlock because he punches out a police office who insults Sherlock.  We know how much Lestrade respects Sherlock because he warns John that the police plan to arrest Sherlock and he defends him to the people who think he may have kidnapped the children.
We know that Sherlock values John's contributions to their teamwork because he gives a prideful smile when John does something clever or brave.  He couldn't contain his glee when John pulled rank at Baskerville, for example. And he gave a little amused grin when John got arrested for punching out the cop.
We know that Elementary's Sherlock appreciat's Joan's contributions because they constantly have to interrupt the flow of the narrative to say " oh look, Joan's really good at this stuff too.  She's equal to me!"
Oh and there is no Molly Hooper in Elementary.  What I mean by that is that every major character in Elementary was an intentional major character.  Molly Hooper is who I call the "Agent Coulson" of the BBC show.  She was only supposed to make brief appearance in one episode, but she came off so relatable and wonderfully three dimensional they she became the most important person to Sherlock in his hour of greatest need.  That's more character development than anyone on Elementary has shown in over 30 Elementary episodes.
And in So3, we actually got to see Lestrade solve a case without Sherlock.  I haven't seen every episode of Elementary.  I've missed most of Season 2 out of boredom from trying to "give it a chance" but I haven't seen Gregson or Bell solve a case without Sherlock and Joan.

And I have to point out a certain sexism in criticism, not just where BBC/Elementary comparisons are concerned, but women in fiction in general.  Many internet posters criticize Irene Adler being a dominatrix as sexist.  Irene was a strong clever woman, who knowingly misbehaved and was able to manipulate people because she knew what they liked.  She needed to know people would be on her side.  Moral? nope. But weak? certainly not! Some of those critics who rip on the BBC's portrayal of Irene Adler, praise Elementary's Sherlock having sex (mostly meaningless, often he's manipulated by his sexual partners, not to mention the fact that he's a 40 year old man who whines about his daddy, yet lives off Daddy's money and uses that money to pay for prostitutes) as something edgy.  Spoiled rich guys who live off Daddy's money have been having sex with prostitutes since ancient times.  Look at Henry V and VIII.  Why is a man having sex edgy, but a woman having sex unfeminist?
I could go on as I tend to when counter pointing people who make superficial areguments claiming Elementary is superior to Sherlock, when it has simply done the gimmick of slapping the Holmes brand name on a generic crime drama, and pretended it's the underdog when it has corporate millions behind it and got the friggin's Superbowl spot last year, while BBC relies on word of mouth here in the states.

I like Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu in this, they kinda grow on you and are quite sympathetic. It was a bit more interesting than I expected and they even added some references to ACD´s canon from time to time (for example, they had a plot from "The Mystery of Thor Bridge" at the beginning of one episode).

But it still pales in comparison with Sherlock. It´s sad that with all 48 episodes they never really developed characters like Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft or Lestrade who are such inevitable parts of the canon. And the episodes tend to became boring when you are rewatching them because they don´t present anything more than simple straighforward storyline (that´s why viewing Sherlock is such a pleasure - you discover new things each time you rewatch it). 

And is it just me or does this series really have some traces of corporate propaganda in it? I was astonished when they had villans in the form of "piracy party" shooting around and stealing something at the beginning of some episode and a villain who was practically Julian Assange in disguise in the other episode. A bit more subtlety with messages like these would be better, IMHO.

Elementary: A Study in Not Getting Sued
http://sherlockpeoria.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/an-elementary-rerun-study-in-not.html

An interesting scene-by-scene comparison between the first episode of Elementary and ACD's A Study in Scarlet, and how Elementary is almost the anti-canon.

Last edited by ukaunz (November 30, 2016 1:47 am)

Yeah, I don't mind it when I've nothing else to watch