BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Say to The Guardian that Sherlock hasn't jumped the shark!!

**Posted by Whisky** January 6, 2014 10:04 pm

I had to look it up. Learning new vocabulary, made me happy
I think it means something like a turning point, when something bound for success stops being successful and brilliant and gets boring and predictable and not-good? Did I get that right?
Actually, I think it could happen to Sherlock at some point, maybe even sooner than later. But it definitely hasn't yet, imo.

**Posted by Molly Hooper** January 6, 2014 10:05 pm

@Sherlock Holmes: I have no idea what it means either, although that's not too surprising!!

**Posted by SusiGo** January 6, 2014 10:06 pm

It is from American media. It describes the point when a series has reached its peak and viewers start to lose interest.

**Posted by Mrs. Watson** January 6, 2014 10:16 pm

"Jumping the shark" is when a TV show deviates from its original spirit and start featuring ridiculous story lines.

The term was conned after the American sitcom "Happy Days" showed an episode where Fonzzie (one of the main characters) went to the beach and literally jumped a shark while water skiing (wearing a leather jacket). It was said to be the beginning of a series of bad episodes that led to the end of show.

**Posted by Wholocked** January 6, 2014 10:27 pm

Mary Me wrote:
SusiGo wrote:
Mary Me wrote:

Lovely review but as the writer of the blog points out, Andrew Billen obviously didn't understand The Bloody Guardsman plot.
Which bothers me only a little when I think that other people use that sort of misunderstanding to justify their bad reviews.

You are right.
Although it is quite obvious why he chose the guardsman: He wears a uniform belt. He must stand still during his watch. He must endure people taking photographs. Ideal target, I would say. And no connection to the murderer either.

Yeah. Until now I haven't found any plot holes but then I haven't been actively looking for them either.

The reviewer is specifically referencing the fact that you can see Bainbridge's clothing on the floor in the shower cubicle and he's wondering why the man would have gone into the shower clothed.

I just figured it was one of those gym-style showers that has a section at the entrance for clothing/belongings and the fact that he slumped against the door doesn't mean that the shower itself was in that space.

That said, if the only criticism you have of the episode is clothing on the floor then they're doing well

**Posted by SolarSystem** January 7, 2014 5:21 am

Mattlocked wrote:
"I doubt if I have ever seen drunkenness — the battle between sleep, hilarity and propriety — so well done."
This. I admit I was a bit afraid when they started. But it was never overdone or ridiculous. As I've seen it from time to time. Just realistic and funny.

I absolutely agree, they did this brilliantly. There are quite a few actors out there who wouldn't haven been able to pull this off the way Martin and Benedict did. But I enjoyed every second of it and never had the feeling they overdid it.
I especially loved them waking up in the prison cell the next morning. When Sherlock tries to get up and then immediately has to sit down again, and then how he's trying not to lose his balance... great stuff!

Last edited by SolarSystem (January 7, 2014 5:23 am)

**Posted by tobeornot221b** January 7, 2014 5:25 am

SolarSystem wrote:
Mattlocked wrote:
"I doubt if I have ever seen drunkenness — the battle between sleep, hilarity and propriety — so well done."
This. I admit I was a bit afraid when they started. But it was never overdone or ridiculous. As I've seen it from time to time. Just realistic and funny.
I absolutely agree, they did this brilliantly. There are quite a few actors out there who wouldn't haven been able to pull this off the way Martin and Benedict did. But I enjoyed every second of it and never had the feeling they overdid it.

I don't know if it's just me, but I could so imagine Benedict and Martin doing this scene rather than Sherlock and John.

**Posted by SolarSystem** January 7, 2014 5:33 am

tobeornot221b wrote:
SolarSystem wrote:
Mattlocked wrote:
"I doubt if I have ever seen drunkenness — the battle between sleep, hilarity and propriety — so well done."
This. I admit I was a bit afraid when they started. But it was never overdone or ridiculous. As I've seen it from time to time. Just realistic and funny.
I absolutely agree, they did this brilliantly. There are quite a few actors out there who wouldn't haven been able to pull this off the way Martin and Benedict did. But I enjoyed every second of it and never had the feeling they overdid it.
I don't know if it's just me, but I could so imagine Benedict and Martin doing this scene rather than Sherlock and John.

No, it's not just you...

**Posted by silverblaze** January 7, 2014 2:26 pm

It's not really up to any poll to decide whether said marine animal has indeed been jumped. Falling ratings are the only thing that can tell them that. The sampling of these kinds of pools is terrible, no randomisation at all, attrackting only the people who either love or hate it. The only thing it measures is how well connected either group is in social media. And even for that it's a terrible measuring instrument.

Sorry, trained as a scientist.

**Posted by sj4iy** January 7, 2014 2:47 pm

silverblaze wrote:
It's not really up to any poll to decide whether said marine animal has indeed been jumped. Falling ratings are the only thing that can tell them that. The sampling of these kinds of pools is terrible, no randomisation at all, attrackting only the people who either love or hate it. The only thing it measures is how well connected either group is in social media. And even for that it's a terrible measuring instrument.

Sorry, trained as a scientist.

Statistics, damn statistics and lies, right?

**Posted by silverblaze** January 7, 2014 3:35 pm

sj4iy wrote:
Statistics, damn statistics and lies, right?

Hahaha . Well, they're also a path to truth. Or we would believe every silly opinion poll. There's even a test for publication bias, that involves sample size, average outcome and an assumption of normal distribu.... don't get me started on statistics.

**Posted by silverblaze** January 7, 2014 3:41 pm

Swanpride wrote:
Actually, said marine animal doesn't jump at all, the show jumps over it....

Ha, grammar police, it it payback time? I said 'has been jumped', passive tense. The animal doesn't do the jumping, or it'd be 'has jumped'.

How to explain. I'm not sure how to say that in German, don't you use 'werden' for that? 'Es ist gesprungen werden' or something? I told you my German is ridiculous.

**Posted by Titania** January 7, 2014 7:43 pm

Swanpride wrote:
Actually, I didn't notice that the post was originally from you and just overread the "been"...

"Es ist übersprungen worden" or "Es wurde übersprungen.", but in this case, a German would most likely revert to the active form: "Etwas drüber gesprungen ist"

"Werden" is used for future actions.

german grammar....i didn't see that sort of thing since I left high school and my little notion of this language behind (I was so bad at it)

**Posted by silverblaze** January 7, 2014 8:00 pm

Worden, werden, similar things, it's been a while for me since I last used German, thanks for reminding. Pity you lose language so quickly if you don't use it. Passive tense is also awkward in this English sentence, (not even counting the double entendre) I was just using it for comic effect.

**Posted by RavenMorganLeigh** January 8, 2014 5:29 am

The Guardian is on CRACK. Awesome episode.

**Posted by Jacco111** January 8, 2014 7:42 am

The Guardian is always on crack. You have to be when you are a left-wing paper.

**Posted by tonnaree** January 8, 2014 12:38 pm

Ded of Geek pretty much nailed my opinion.

Sherlock, shark-jumping, and the casual viewer
http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/sherlock/231946/sherlock-shark-jumping-and-the-casual-viewer

**Posted by silverblaze** January 8, 2014 1:23 pm

tonnaree wrote:
Ded of Geek pretty much nailed my opinion.

Sherlock, shark-jumping, and the casual viewer
http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/sherlock/231946/sherlock-shark-jumping-and-the-casual-viewer

Agreed!

But the Guardian is not that left wing, is it? More like centre left perhaps.

**Posted by Molly** January 8, 2014 2:36 pm

I loved the episode, I can understand why someone who watches Sherlock for the mistery and the cases might be dissapointed, but no way has the show "jumped the shark".

The episode was about the characters and not the crime, that seems to be the reason why some people hated it, but considering how much time has passed in the show and how quickly things are moving I think it was necessary to show how all the changes are affecting the characters, specially Sherlock, who is having a hard time adjusting to the new situation.

**Posted by Mary Me** January 8, 2014 2:41 pm

I think that there was more crime than in the first epside. A crime that remains a mystery at first and some curious incidents that seem boring suddenly become connected when a murderer plans to kill his victim....at a wedding. Seems like a good old fashioned crime to me so I don't see why "crime fans" should be disappointed.

Last edited by Mary Me (January 8, 2014 2:42 pm)