SummaryAfter a stint in rehab, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) resumes work, this time consulting with the NYPD. His father, however, has appointed him a sober companion in the form of Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu).
SummaryAfter a stint in rehab, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) resumes work, this time consulting with the NYPD. His father, however, has appointed him a sober companion in the form of Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu).
Exacerbating the estrangement is the presence of Sherlock's abrasive and mysterious new protégée from across the pond, Kitty (the vividly spunky Ophelia Lovibond), whose first encounter with Watson is promising only if baton-wielding catfights are your idea of a good time. Their slow, tentative bonding over the next few episodes is one of the most intriguing elements of Elementary's unusual and potentially risky new direction.
I never would have guessed it but I ended up loving this show. It took me a while to start watching because I don't like procedurals and I thought the premise of the show was very silly (I still do, to be honest, I mean, Holmes in modern day New York...). And yet, it works really well. The writing and the acting are very good. The show is smart but also often moving and funny. What I like most are the character interactions and the themes evoked (which are often thought provoking). Honestly, to me, this is a completely unexpected but thorough success.
Miller is certainly competent and even compelling as this round of newly imagined Sherlock Holmes.... Liu gives her Watson the perfect blend of wariness and admiration--she is clearly brilliant in her own right and while she may be his keeper, she is not his chronicler. And her journey may turn out to be just as interesting as his.
So while Elementary fits a little too comfortably into the CBS lineup (in the timeslot "The Mentalist" was in last year), its specific approach to Holmes and Watson, and the way that Miller and Liu interact, makes the show work on its own less ambitious terms.
It's sleek, smart, but doesn't take itself too seriously, managing to present what could have been a mere caricature wrapped up in the mythos of the Holmes character as a singular personality in his own right.
The two leads lack any kind of chemistry, platonic or otherwise, and the storytelling lacks the smarts and insight of one of TV's best Sherlockian creations, "House."
Couldn't get past 4th season. There is talent at work for sure, but misguided imho. Too much effort into targetting feminine audience (the annoying part being the long dialogues) but mostly into making coherent SH usefulness in modern police investigations. Da guy solving a crime in 5seconds that's definitely has been, and the police certainly don't need 'consultants' to close cases. But it's a tvshow, it has to be entertaining, not realistic