BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Episode Review

**Posted by Sherli Bakerst** June 11, 2012 11:56 pm

Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere on the board, but this link takes you to a positive review of The Hounds of Baskerville:

http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2012/01/sherlock-and-the-hounds-of-baskerville-fear-and-loathing-in-grimpen-village#more

As far as I recall, it's the first positive review of this episode that I've read, and I've been making my way through all the threads. It's not a new article--it dates from January--so apologies if many of you have already seen it. But I think the writer makes some good points that other reviewers ignored.

**Posted by Davina** June 12, 2012 6:17 am

I enjoy Lindsay Faye's articles. I think this IS the most positive review of the episode I have read. The only issue I have with what she says, that I will bring up here, is that she says Sherlock is crueller than Sherlock Holmes is in the original stories. Firstly, Sherlock is younger here and still needs some rough edges knocked off, possibly literally by John or others; and having read the original stories I find Sherlock Holmes to be incredibly insensitive, at the very least, especially towards Dr. Watson (such as when he sends him off in The Solitary Cyclist to find out information and observe and then tears to pieces everything poor Watson has done upon his return).

**Posted by JaneCo** June 12, 2012 4:25 pm

I enjoyed the review and agree that it is pleasing to see a good review of this episode. Intriguingly, I followed a link towards the foot of the page which took me to

http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2012/05/down-dog-bbc-new-sherlock-holmes-encounters-the-hounds-of-baskerville

Right at the end, the author makes the following comment and I wondered if anyone could shed any further light on it:

"To describe the episode in more detail would be to reveal spoilers, and that I won’t do. But I will say this: It seems to me that a pivotal clue is based on a misperception by the series creators. That would be an unusual misstep, so I’m curious to hear from anyone else who noticed an incongruity."

and beneath the main article in comments, #11

"It relates to Henry's recollection of the night his father died and has to do with an error that an American would notice and others might not, but Sherlock should."

**Posted by KeepersPrice** June 12, 2012 6:57 pm

I didn't follow the link you posted, but I think they might be refering to the fact that the killer of Henry's father gave Sherlock his "cell phone" number. Cell phone is American terminology, "mobile" is the terminology in Britian; therefore Sherlock knew the man had worked in America and deduced it was on the H.O.U.N.D. project.

**Posted by KeepersPrice** June 12, 2012 6:59 pm

Whether or not this is a "misconception" on the part of the creators, I can't be sure.

**Posted by JaneCo** June 12, 2012 10:11 pm

When I watched the episode the term 'cell phone' rather than 'mobile' leapt out at me. Then later I realised it was part of Serlock's deduction, and assumed that it had to be deliberate on the part of the writers.

**Posted by Sherli Bakerst** June 12, 2012 11:31 pm

I don't think the cell vs mobile phone terminology is what was referred to. I read somewhere else--can't remember where now--but tend to agree with it, that the phrase Henry remembered was written incorrectly. What he saw and remembered was "Liberty, In." But in the US, two-letter state abbreviations are written with both letters capitalized so it should have been "IN" instead.

In fact, when I read that, I thought, well, Henry was a child and a British one at that so he wouldn't know how Americans wrote but in his young mind, his brain translated the abbreviation to something he could make sense of. However, at the end of the episode, when viewers see the shirt Frankland is wearing (and I believe Lyndsey Faye got it wrong when she referred to the character as Franklin, unless the name was changed from the book to the TV show), it clearly reads as "Liberty, In." So Henry was not re-imagining things. But, yes, something like that I would have expected people involved with the show to know about. And it wouldn't have mattered to the plot, because Henry could still have remembered it as "In" for the reason I stated above.

Whatever--I still like this episode!

(P.S. BTW, Love your Wordle, JaneCo!)

Last edited by Sherli Bakerst (June 12, 2012 11:32 pm)

**Posted by JaneCo** June 13, 2012 4:31 pm

Thank you Sherli Bakerst, I made several so may chop and change until I feel happy with one.

You could be right about the In / IN, although other than on the shirt it was likely to have been a deliberate ploy so that the audience wouldn't realise too early that it was an abbreviation. They're sneaky like that!

I really like your interpretation of how Henry may have perceived it as a child and you are correct that it wouldn't have mattered at all to the plot whether it was correct on the shirt or not.

**Posted by ancientsgate** June 13, 2012 4:43 pm

JaneCo wrote:
When I watched the episode the term 'cell phone' rather than 'mobile' leapt out at me. Then later I realised it was part of Sherlock's deduction, and assumed that it had to be deliberate on the part of the writers.

I totally agree. At first I thought it must be his accent that was the major clue of his nationality to Sherlock-- although as an American, I thought his "accent" sounded phony, as though the actor was a non-American trying to adopt an American accent-- didn't sound real to my native-speaking ears, for what that's worth, 2 cents marked down from 5, as it were. But yeah, the cell phone thing. Just one more way in which Brit-speak differs from American-speak. To us, Mobile is a city in Alabama (sorry, bad joke-- it's not even pronounced the same way as the word mobile.)

I think everything the writers have the actors say and do on Sherlock is deliberate-- they're a smart bunch, to say the least.

**Posted by JaneCo** June 13, 2012 5:03 pm

Yes, I don't do accents, so don't shoot me please but it always sounds like Mobeel to me (or something like) with the stress on the eel. A big oil terminal there I think.

**Posted by ancientsgate** June 13, 2012 5:09 pm

JaneCo wrote:
Yes, I don't do accents, so don't shoot me please but it always sounds like Mobeel to me (or something like) with the stress on the eel. A big oil terminal there I think.

Yes, Mobile Alabama is pronounced "moe-BEEL". You're correct. No idea why. And we would never shoot you! *g*

**Posted by Davina** June 13, 2012 5:53 pm

I don't think he IS supposed to be American. I think he is supposed to be a British scientist that went to work in the states on the program(me) and whilst there acquired some American traits in his voice and Americanisms (such as the cell phone thing). He does not sound American to a British ear either.

**Posted by JaneCo** June 13, 2012 6:53 pm

No, I didn't think he was American. I recognised the actor as being British he used to be in a series I think, although I couldn't remember his name. I also thought that he had simply worked in the US for a while.