Two, in fact. Newfoundland time is thirty minutes ahead of AST. Which I guess would mean a majority of television shows for them air at __:30
While we're waiting for Watson to come back, it looks like Prime has a new British TV series called Young Sherlock, developed and partly directed by Guy Ritchie of the Robert Downey, Jr. Holmes movies. It's not based on the movie Young Sherlock Holmes, but on a more recent book series of the same title.
en.wikipedia.org
Looks like they're going the Silver Age Superboy/Lex Luthor route, with James Moriarty being Sherlock's university friend. (Or maybe the Doctor and the Master from Doctor Who would be the right analogy.) This version names Holmes's parents Silas and Cordelia (Joseph Fiennes and Natascha McElhone). Hmm... I know these are all different continuities and all, but I kind of wish there were some consensus about what to name Holmes's parents. It would just feel more orderly if they had consistent names across different adaptations, given how many adaptations in recent years have depicted versions of Holmes's family.
I haven't checked it out yet, but I will. Ritchie's involvement interests me, since I liked his Holmes films and his The Man from UNCLE adaptation.
Young Sherlock (British TV series) - Wikipedia
Looks like they're going the Silver Age Superboy/Lex Luthor route, with James Moriarty being Sherlock's university friend. (Or maybe the Doctor and the Master from Doctor Who would be the right analogy.) This version names Holmes's parents Silas and Cordelia (Joseph Fiennes and Natascha McElhone). Hmm... I know these are all different continuities and all, but I kind of wish there were some consensus about what to name Holmes's parents. It would just feel more orderly if they had consistent names across different adaptations, given how many adaptations in recent years have depicted versions of Holmes's family.
I haven't checked it out yet, but I will. Ritchie's involvement interests me, since I liked his Holmes films and his The Man from UNCLE adaptation.
Oh, I thought it was later in the month. Okay.
It was a bit of an odd episode, truth be told, in that it did not acknowledge anything from the midseason finale and seemed to be setting up new storylines for the remainder of the season, particularly with Beck now suing the hospital and Ingrid getting a new love interest.
It's an enjoyable episode, and storylines from the first half of the season are still present, such as Ingrid's therapy and Shinwell having an affair with his training nurse. Still, the episode just feels more like an ordinary episode rather than the show's return after two month absence. Granted, it's possible the writers didn't know there'd be such a long gap between episodes, all CBS shows had a longer winter hiatus than usual this year which was also longer than the winter hiatus on the other networks.
It's an enjoyable episode, and storylines from the first half of the season are still present, such as Ingrid's therapy and Shinwell having an affair with his training nurse. Still, the episode just feels more like an ordinary episode rather than the show's return after two month absence. Granted, it's possible the writers didn't know there'd be such a long gap between episodes, all CBS shows had a longer winter hiatus than usual this year which was also longer than the winter hiatus on the other networks.
More a sex interest than a love interest, I'd say.
The main plot was kind of a hodgepodge of melodramatic tropes -- trapped in a mine, woman in labor, impending divorce, suspected affair. When her water broke, I asked myself why I hadn't seen that coming from the start. Although I am relieved that they didn't go for the stock melodrama plot of the husband assuming his wife was cheating. Though I think they went too far in the other direction, making him too saintly.
It felt like a pretty generic hospital-show plot for a while, making me wonder why they were even doing it on this show, although they eventually shifted to the usual medical-mystery angle. But it's more of the all-too-common approach where patients that Watson gets involved with randomly or knows personally, rather than being referred to his specialty clinic as official patients, nonetheless just happen to have a genetic or weird-medicine issue that his talents are uniquely able to solve. This season's episodes rely way too much on that kind of coincidence.
It bugged me how the writing was focused so heavily on the husband's point of view and less on the wife's -- especially when Watson was telling him "You have to keep Marnie from pushing," even though she was right there listening and he could have spoken to her directly and acknowledged her as an actual person.
I dunno, I think it's pretty typical for a first episode back after a break to be fairly routine, unless there was a cliffhanger that needed to be immediately addressed.
The episode title "The Tunnel Under the Elms" sounds like it should be an allusion to a line from a Sherlock Holmes story or something, but my search for the phrase turned up nothing except references to this episode. I searched the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia, which has the complete text of all his public-domain works, and the only two works of his that contain both "tunnel" and "elms" are a non-Holmes novel and story that don't have the two words anywhere near each other.
As I was making lunch and planning to watch this episode, I tried to refresh my memory of the show's characters, and yet the images that popped into my mind were of actors from House, M.D. instead. I guess both shows are largely stored in the same part of my brain since they're both Sherlock Holmes-inspired medical-mystery dramas with similar formats.
Well, I watched the first episode of Young Sherlock, and I'm not too impressed. I guess I knew what sort of things to expect with Guy Ritchie producing and directing, but it was too much like that, fast-paced and irreverent and ultra-stylish, with anachronistic rock music and modern idioms, and a lead character that I don't think bears much resemblance to Sherlock Holmes in personality or appearance. I'm not sure how motivated I am to continue.
I forgot about Watson last week, so I'm behind. I just saw last week's episode, "A Family Meal." A bit of a contrived situation, but an effective drama, and I liked the Holmes-style deduction Watson did to find the patient. As for the big shocking reveal, I figured it out a scene in advance by reflecting on how the episode title might bear on the brother's survival story.
Meanwhile, I have not revisited Young Sherlock.
Meanwhile, I have not revisited Young Sherlock.
By the way, one thing that seemed odd in "A Family Meal" was the exchange between the Croft brothers where one of them (sorry, I still forget which is which) said that high consumption of soy protein was associated with increased diabetes risk. As someone who eats a lot of soy-based products and has just been diagnosed with increased diabetes risk, I found that concerning -- but everything I can find suggests that soy consumption is at worst neutral and probably reduces diabetes risk. So I wonder where the show's writers got that from, and I'm concerned about a medical show's doctor characters making medically false statements.
I've finally caught up now. "For a Limited Time Only" wasn't bad, but it was yet another case where the patient was just somebody one of the doctors randomly ran into that happened to have a rare and complex case of exactly the type they specialize in, which is getting really old.
I also think they missed the full potential of the story by not following through on the patient's belief in miracles after she came back from apparent death and inexplicably healed from an artery dissection. The situation feels like it was conceived specifically to set up that kind of a debate between science and faith, so I wonder if it was plotted that way but the network pushed them to tone it down.
"Wrongful Life" was fairly good, and unusual in retconning in a story arc covering the whole span of the series so far (the second time an episode has done that, after the hostage-crisis one earlier in the season). Though it was a bit confusing that they used the caption "Today" for a time frame when Shinwell was still present without explanation, which wasn't cleared up until the "3 Months Later" at the end, which I presume brings us back in sync with the main series timeline. Although I don't know -- this was a complete standalone, without any references to current plot threads, so it could've been made to be dropped in anywhere in the season.
It's also weird that they retconned in a fifth fellow and set up a mystery of why she left, and then explained it more cursorily than I expected, and didn't really do much with the idea. It makes me wonder if the character is being set up as recurring.
I also think they missed the full potential of the story by not following through on the patient's belief in miracles after she came back from apparent death and inexplicably healed from an artery dissection. The situation feels like it was conceived specifically to set up that kind of a debate between science and faith, so I wonder if it was plotted that way but the network pushed them to tone it down.
"Wrongful Life" was fairly good, and unusual in retconning in a story arc covering the whole span of the series so far (the second time an episode has done that, after the hostage-crisis one earlier in the season). Though it was a bit confusing that they used the caption "Today" for a time frame when Shinwell was still present without explanation, which wasn't cleared up until the "3 Months Later" at the end, which I presume brings us back in sync with the main series timeline. Although I don't know -- this was a complete standalone, without any references to current plot threads, so it could've been made to be dropped in anywhere in the season.
It's also weird that they retconned in a fifth fellow and set up a mystery of why she left, and then explained it more cursorily than I expected, and didn't really do much with the idea. It makes me wonder if the character is being set up as recurring.
Silly nitpick, and I know that in the show they were just trying to make a point that Watson was significantly lower on the pecking order than he is now, but I find it hard to believe in the flashbacks that a doctor in an American hospital in 2007 would still have a CRT monitor for his office computer. The company I work for can at times be obnoxiously proud to be behind the times, yet by 2007 we had switched completely to flat screen monitors.
Well, it's official - CBS has cancelled Watson. The season two finale will now serve as a series finale.
Addendum: Fixed my typo: meant to put "will now serve".
Addendum: Fixed my typo: meant to put "will now serve".
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Oh, well. It's not bad, but I don't feel season 2 has worked as well as season 1.
And as long as the finale isn't a cliffhanger, I'm fine with it not serving as a series finale. I don't understand this modern obsession with having every series finale break up the characters and end the status quo. If the characters have a specific goal or quest, like finding their way home or clearing their names or defeating their nemesis, I can understand bringing the story to a definitive conclusion, but if it's just a show about people doing their jobs and helping people, it's more satisfying if we can believe they're continuing to do so even after the series ends.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if they did that. And they could follow it up with Irene, about a gifted con artist who solves mysteries. (Anyway, Watson's Lestrade is already female, and the animated series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century had a descendant of Lestrade's as the female lead.)
Although I've said before that since CBS's first modern Holmes procedural was Elementary and the second was Watson, that requires the third to be named My Dear.
Well, the cat's out of the bag and
Watson has in fact been hallucinating Sherlock all season. Which I didn't really believe in the interviews with Robert Carlyle and Craig Sweeney hinting at it, though plot synopses for upcoming episodes that are already available spilled the beans anyway.
Oddly enough, Shinwell hasn't made any reference to the fact his search for Holmes has failed in his appearances last week or this week.
Watson has in fact been hallucinating Sherlock all season. Which I didn't really believe in the interviews with Robert Carlyle and Craig Sweeney hinting at it, though plot synopses for upcoming episodes that are already available spilled the beans anyway.
Oddly enough, Shinwell hasn't made any reference to the fact his search for Holmes has failed in his appearances last week or this week.
Yet again, the doctors come across a case worthy of their clinic through a random personal connection rather than through an actual referral to the clinic. I'm getting awfully sick of that trope. The sperm-donor plot was pretty convoluted and rather predictable; as soon as they said there were 42 matches for the patient, it was obvious they'd be doing the old "fertility doctor uses his own genes" plot, although they threw in a ton of implausible complications.
As for the big reveal (or maybe lack of reveal):
As for the big reveal (or maybe lack of reveal):
It was being telegraphed all through the episode that Holmes wasn't real, but at the same time, there were things that seemed to contradict that. How could all of "Holmes"'s crime tips have proved accurate if Watson was hallucinating them? Was he actually investigating the crimes himself and forgot he'd done it? If he's having hallucinations and memory loss, how is it believable that his investigations of criminal cases are turning up consistently accurate results? That makes no sense. How could he be hallucinating about this one thing and nothing else?
Also, the final two scenes seemed contradictory. Watson asking Holmes to come meet someone else was clearly because Watson was starting to suspect Holmes was a hallucination, but then he approached Lestrade as if he were certain Holmes was real and seemed surprised when Lestrade couldn't see him. Was the earlier scene a moment of clarity before he sank back into the delusion?
It also feels contrived that Watson's hallucinations of Holmes formed such a consistent narrative that they seemed real to the audience. One would think if he were having delusions, they wouldn't hold together so logically. And there'd presumably be other behavioral signs. It's all pretty hard to believe.
Also, the final two scenes seemed contradictory. Watson asking Holmes to come meet someone else was clearly because Watson was starting to suspect Holmes was a hallucination, but then he approached Lestrade as if he were certain Holmes was real and seemed surprised when Lestrade couldn't see him. Was the earlier scene a moment of clarity before he sank back into the delusion?
It also feels contrived that Watson's hallucinations of Holmes formed such a consistent narrative that they seemed real to the audience. One would think if he were having delusions, they wouldn't hold together so logically. And there'd presumably be other behavioral signs. It's all pretty hard to believe.
I found it to be a bit of a surprise at this point, though my wife spoke up and voiced the idea that Sherlock really wasn't there, moments before the meeting with Lestrade.
My question then becomes: does this mean that the real Sherlock is in fact, completely dead, or is it possible that Shinwell's search for him will finally lead him to the man himself? At this point, I'm actually toying with the idea that Holmes never existed and was a figment of Watson's imagination all along.
And that's a bummer about the cancellation. This was the only medical drama I could really get into.
My question then becomes: does this mean that the real Sherlock is in fact, completely dead, or is it possible that Shinwell's search for him will finally lead him to the man himself? At this point, I'm actually toying with the idea that Holmes never existed and was a figment of Watson's imagination all along.
And that's a bummer about the cancellation. This was the only medical drama I could really get into.
Except we've met several other characters who knew Holmes personally, including Shinwell, Mycroft, and Irene Adler. I think Mary may have said she met him too when he came to get Watson and take him to London, though I'm not sure. And I think the fellows have met Mycroft or at least seen him on a video call. Plus it's Holmes's money that funds the clinic.
Also, presumably Watson's hallucinations are a consequence of his traumatic brain injury at Reichenbach Falls, so there's no reason he would've had them before then.
The one thing it would fit is the way this version of Watson is as much of a deductive genius as Holmes was. There have been stories, such as the Michael Caine-Ben Kingsley movie Without a Clue, which posited that Watson was the crimesolver and Holmes was a fiction he'd invented to protect his medical reputation.
Honestly, before this season, I would've regretted the cancellation, but I feel the show has gotten too melodramatic and contrived this year, and this latest twist is particularly unbelievable for the reasons I listed before. I feel it's lost its way, and though shows have recovered from weak seasons before, sometimes they don't. And I never really connected that much to the fellows or their character arcs.
^
Christopher, you've got a point about the fact that some many other people had actually met Holmes before the Falls, so that does pretty much lay waste to my theory. I think what got me going on the idea was the fact that if he was such a well known, first class detective, borderline celebrity as it were, it seemed strange to me that Lestrade didn't seem to know who he was.
Or maybe she did, and I just missed the reference somehow.
Either way, it will be interesting to see where the final episodes go with this, considering the fact that I'm guessing the last ones were filmed before the announcement of cancellation.
Christopher, you've got a point about the fact that some many other people had actually met Holmes before the Falls, so that does pretty much lay waste to my theory. I think what got me going on the idea was the fact that if he was such a well known, first class detective, borderline celebrity as it were, it seemed strange to me that Lestrade didn't seem to know who he was.
Or maybe she did, and I just missed the reference somehow.
Either way, it will be interesting to see where the final episodes go with this, considering the fact that I'm guessing the last ones were filmed before the announcement of cancellation.
