Lucy Liu! That guy that used to be married to Angelina Jolie! Okay, I know that his name is Johnny Lee Miller, but he's not really on a name basis the same way that Ms. Liu is.
I think I kind of like the modern take on Sherlock Holmes (both here and Sherlock) portray Sherlock as egotistical and barely able to function in society, and in fact without Watson might not be able to function at all. Watson has also become much more of a partner and less of a sidekick. Actually, the Robert Downey Jr. / Jude Law movies are close to this model too, with it being more true for Holmes than Watson. The other main difference with the Downey / Law interpretations (other than the time it is set in, obviously) is that it is much more camp and action-oriented.
In an episode full of things I liked, it was like icing on the cake that they closed the show with an Elvis Costello song - Watching the Detectives.
Episode 2: While You Were Sleeping
I love that when Sherlock is wrong that he can't admit it, likely due to his ego, and even more so that he attempts to turn it on whomever he is with. Like when they are at hospital and examining a woman in a coma which Sherlock believes to be fake, but upon discovering that he is wrong, he announces to her physician who has just come into the room that the "coma is real" as if the doctor hadn't been able to tell.
I compared Miller's Sherlock to Cumberbatch's Sherlock earlier, and while they are similar when using broad brush strokes, they are of course different when looking at them up close. Miller plays the character as much more circumpensiial, blowing more steam about not caring what other's have to say only to then act upon it. Also thus far he is not as separate from the goings on of the world, though does of course talk about not needing to know extraneous things because they will push out important things from his brain which he believes to have a finite capacity for facts.
Also, I thought the contrivance the killer used to provide herself with a seemingly air-clad alibi was rather ingenious. It's nice to see a procedural that is trying to out-do previous shows without going the Bones route of just making everything look 'grosser'.
Episode 3: Child Predator
This is he first of probably several episodes where Sherlock gets a key fact wrong because the criminal is smarter than your average bear. Not that they are smarter than Sherlock, but one of his flaws is assuming that everyone else is stupid until they show him otherwise, instead of the other way around, which means he is constantly either underestimating people or is completely right. Watson is a good example of the first kind of person.
When I typed in the title of this episode - I typed them all in for the season before beginning to watch the first episode, I thought to myself that this one was likely about a kid being abducted and it turning out that the kid was likely the predator being referred to. Doing a little bit of deductive reasoning on my own there - I am nothing if not a student of television. Not that I can do that with all or even most of the names of episodes, but certain kinds of shows, in this case a police procedural, uses a certain scheme for naming which means the name generally fit one of four categories: the pun, the a-ha, the deceptive (like this one), and the self-referential. I submit the names of all CSI episodes (from all the franchises), NCIS episodes (both franchises), Law & Order episodes (all franchises), Criminal Minds, Bones, Castle and probably some that I've forgotten. I've seen every episode of these shows up through their current DVD releases (not counting Law & Order of which I missed the first few years of and the last couple of years of L&O: SVU and L&O Criminal Intent). Some shows may favor one particular kind over an other, but they all use these four kinds of names.
Episode 4: Rat Race
I have to say that the quality of killer in this series is so far a bit higher than most procedurals, which shouldn't surprise me, because what kind of criminal are you going to throw at Sherlock Holmes? You want them to confound him, and I see there being two types, possibly three that can do that. The first and most obvious and the kind used thus far, are intelligent individuals that are adept enough at covering up their tracks that a normal police detective would be unable to catch them, and thus the need for Holmes. The second type is the 'force of nature' criminal and is someone that is outside of the culture so far that they don't operate withing the system of right and wrong and don't care about getting caught because they aren't aware that they're doing anything that would warrant them getting caught or that there is anyone who could catch them. The third possible type pops up every once in a while in the other procedurals, most often in Criminal Minds, and that is a partnership of two or more individuals acting toward the same goal. This can really muddy things up because the killer can seem to be doing contradictory things.
I am very happy with this show so far, particularly in that everyone is smart, not just Holmes. Given time Watson may prove his equal as a detective, and the police captain who calls Holmes in is also showing himself to be a very astute thinker. Television needs more smart shows.
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