I think she didn't really understand the story...
"Let’s just hope no self-respecting female viewers were driven away." Lol ! I don't like that kind of feminist for who women should be treat superior and don't care when men are treated like idiot, that's not equality.
"Worst of all, when Adler actually does fall in love, the object of her affection is a man. Take-away message? Being a lesbian is fine, but when true love comes along, she should shape up and become a good hetero like the rest of us." -_-', their relationship is far more complex than the girl falls in love with the great hero... Well, it's not even love, but fascination and admiration.

Right here goes...
'The new Adler is inexplicably built around sex, when the original Adler's sexuality was never an issue'.
One wonders whether the author has actually read the original Scandal in Bohemia? Irene Adler had become 'involved' with a leading European royal, there are letters but more importantly an incriminating photograph. Does the author of the article actually think that nothing sexual went on between the King of Bohemia and Irene Adler? What does she think he did when he became 'entangled with this young person'. We are talking about different times here. The revelation that the two of them had had a liaison in those days would have been totally scandalous. The point in the episode Scandal is that the sense of danger to scandal has to be updated into something comparable or it simply would not work.

'...much less a means for reducing her to male eye candy.' So what are we to make of, 'she has a soul of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most resolute of men.' The King in the original believes that she will go to any lengths to stop him marrying another. So these are not the actions of a woman scorned then?  Later Sherlock Holmes himself says of Irene Adler, 'Oh she has turned all the men's heads down in that part ...oShe is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet...She was a lovely woman which a face that a man might die for.' So that is clearly not portraying her as eye candy.

The whole point of the original Scandal story is that Irene does beat Sherlock Holmes and in this respect I agree with the author of the article ( i would have preferred it if she had 'won') however where I disagree with her ( apart from everything I have outlined above) is that she does NOT fall in love with Sherlock any more than he falls in LOVE with her. She is attracted to him, fascinated by him, challenged by him.  Remember, she says 'brainy is the new sexy'. He is also attracted to her, fascinated by her and challenged by her because 'brainy is the new sexy'. Remember his challenge to her when trying to solve the boomerang mystery? 'Think!' Remember her retort to John 'Well I am! And look at us both.'

Finally, I must say that her final crack about 'Belgravia' being an absolute flop is frankly laughable. It seems that we must now define 'flop' by whether a reviewer on a hobby horse likes an episode or not. So we can totally disregard any viewing figures, or even that others may have really enjoyed the production.

P.S. On a purely personal note: I do not really rate The Hounds of the Baskerville although it does have some really good parts within it. I cannot say it is 'certifiably brilliant'.

Whilst I believe the article is a bit of a rant from a frustrated feminist using one of the most topical shows as a platform to publish misguided views, some of what she says does ring true.

Irene's "sexuality" doesn't refer to her sexual relations with another person but more to her sexual tendencies. And that certainly wasn't in the original story. Nor was sex even mentioned or implied. She simply had a liaison with the King; spent a lot of time with him; sat for a portrait with him. There was nothing to suggest the photo was 'compromising'. The basis of the King's objections to his acquaintance with her becoming public was that she was NOT of his class & that alone was enough to cause scandal in those days. The proof of the relationship was in the letters he wrote her & the photo.
It is very plausible that no sexual interaction occurred at all.
So to this point, the author has it right.

As for the BBC Irene falling in love with Sherlock, she admits that at the end and Sherlock states that he knows she did & that is why she used his name in the code, much like love-struck teenagers writing their loved ones' name everywhere.
Falling in love with Sherlock was indeed what clouded her judgement & brought about her downfall. It was her greatest flaw.


From reading the article,  I got the impression (as I stated at the start) that the author jumped on the bandwagon that many British feminists did when the episode first screened accusing Mofftiss of misogyny. That caused quite a stir at the time & she was hoping to whip up that same storm again. Nothing worse than someone trying to gain some  exposure by rehashing a dead story.
I noted on reading her first blog on that site that she really does have an agenda. And she'll use tired old lines to try & whip up some publicity for herself. If the site were serious about giving quality to read, they'd dump her before she rehashes every line ever spoken since the Suffragettes all in the sake of being noticed.

I don't think she had much interest in writing about Sherlock, it just suited her agenda.

Wow! What a different review that is m0r. Love the description of the music and being fed lobster etc. She's right! Yummy!

Going to get and read the whole book. Thoroughly enjoyed reading the guest blogs, very thought provoking! Just off to have a glass of vino!

No, I don't find it weird, too.
The John/Irene sayings: "I'm actually not gay! – Well, I am – Look at us both…" for me just means if you consider yourself gay/not gay/or whatsoever it doesn't mean that it is impossible to be attracted by a person of your own sex (or by a person of the opposite sex when you don't expect to). You fall for a person and not for a sex.
In this case, it doesn't mean that Irene is in love with Sherlock but she gives John something to think about his relationship with Sherlock true to the motto "I believe you that you consider yourself being straight but believe me, there's not only black or white…"