Here’s the thing about Elementary – there is literally no way to discuss this show without it being colored by comparisons to the BBC’s exemplary Sherlock. In fact, this is what was running through my mind as I watched the Elementary pilot:
BBC’s SHERLOCK
So, a female Watson… Oh god, you’re going to fall in love with her, aren’t you?
CBS’ SHERLOCK
At least my Watson knows better than to start a blog… Surely you could have helped your sidekick comprehend the meaning of the word “private,” as in private consulting Detective?
BBC
Your Watson? You mean the one being paid to babysit you? At least my Watson doesn’t bag my urine for testing…
CBS
Maybe he should.
BBC
Excuse me? I‘m not the one who went to rehab…
CBS
Yes, you’re the very picture of mental health – all you did was JUMP off a BUILDING!
…
In the end, I’m of two minds about Elementary – on the one hand, it’s a perfectly enjoyable CBS procedural, another cut from their loaf of bread-and-butter success, with a pair of absolutely lovely actors as the leading duo. All around it’s a pleasing, well-made crime drama.
On the other hand, well, Elementary is a CBS procedural – which is to say, it is what it is. Which means, to be brutally frank, Elementary is just not playing in the same league as Sherlock. This show is meant to be a comfortable, long-running series that will churn out 22 episodes every year for the next eight years – and so there is a certain sameness, a certain by-the-numbers quality that comes from that expectation of mass production. Now I don’t mean that as a knock against the acting quality, by any means – I don’t doubt for a second that Jonny Lee Miller can go toe to toe with Benedict Cumberbatch (as all who saw them together in Frankenstein can attest), and similarly I think Lucy Liu has proven herself to be just as versatile as Martin Freeman, with the proof apparent in Ally McBeal, Southland and Kill Bill (and incidentally, I have no doubt Lucy could totally take Martin in a fight), but the problem, and the major reason these two shows just won’t compare, is simply this: Sherlock is making one-offs, TV movies essentially, while Elementary is coming off a production line. And as a result, Elementary‘s two very talented actors are just not going to be given nearly as much meaty, original goodness to play with as Cumberbatch and Freeman. Elementary is simply a CBS crime procedural – a good one, to be sure, but it is what it is. It’s just the nature of the beast.
Or let me put it another way – no matter how many times I watch The Reichenbach Fall (the last ep of Sherlock‘s series 2), the tears always start swimming, because that ending gets me every single time. Somehow I don’t think Elementary is going to be making me cry any time soon – either in a good or bad way.
But in the end, Elementary does get a season pass on my Tivo – hey, we all need something to watch during the long, interminable wait between Sherlock series, and Elementary makes for a perfectly pleasant way to while away the time.
Elementary airs Thursdays at 10 PM on CBS.
Eh. We’ll see. I love JLM now after seeing him as the Creature in Frankenstein–beat the pants, almost literally, off Benedict Cumberbatch (phrasing!) but it’s just not the same. If I want procedural I’ll stick with CSI. :)
Well, particularly in Frankenstein, JLM’s Creature was so one note to the extent that it actually caused interpretation hole in his characterization and even with BC’s tour de force V Frankenstein, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to watch that version again as originally planned (I watched BC as the Creature twice), and I am certainly not alone to think BC is a better one in that production; London Theatre Critics’ Circle named BC the best actor for his performances in Frankenstein, not JLM. That said, I think JLM’s performance in Elementary was intriguing so was Liu’s performance as Joan Watson; the problem is the characters on paper and on screen are not Holmes and Watson; they can take liberty in terms of interpretations and performances, but straying too far away from the original characters, then they are not such characters.
Elementary is just jumping Holmes bandwagon, and not even tried hard enough to justify it.
I actually do love ’em both (JLM and BC) equally – and was very happy to hear they jointly won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for Frankenstein!
I would like Elementary better if it wasn’t trying to sell itself as a Sherlock variant. It feels like the studio took a checklist from the A. Conan Doyle cliff notes and gave it to the writers to stuff into a procedural. Miller’s character isn’t even all that British. Honestly even Disney’s Basil of Baker Street has more charm as a homage. But as a House/Mentalist mix, it’s not too bad.
And now I need to go watch The Great Mouse Detective…
in my opinion the American series is far more beautiful than English. much more engaging. the British series after the second episode has become boring.
And it really all is about perspective. I like the BBC series, but I shed not one tear during Reichenbach. How has your opinion changed since seeing the whole first season of Elementary, and the start of the second?
Because I think Elementary is better at the emotion. BBC leaves me cold, except for Mark Gatiss’s wonderful, understated Mycroft.
Elementary has definitely grown on me – I really like the Joan/Sherlock relationship, and they’ve def made Jonny a cuddlier Sherlock all around – but the BBC version is still my favorite of the two. Though the BBC version is chillier, no question, but by design I think – I like that they dare to let Sherlock be such an iceberg, though to be fair it’s probably not something I could stand for a full 22 episode season…
I don’t believe it! “Elementary” is streets ahead of “Sherlock” in every conceivable respect. (Except cinematography,) It is much more intelligent, has real, three-dimensional characters in every role, and much superior dialogue and superior vocabulary from JLM’s Sherlock. “Sherlock” is far too unrealistic to make most people cry — it is just entertainment. It’s a slick well-done entertainment to be sure, but “Elementary is much better Art.