Elementary Pilot Review

Ever since the day CBS ordered the pilot for Elementary it has been a hot topic among the Sherlock Holmes fandom as a whole.  People were crying out that it was a blatant rip-off of BBC’s successful Sherlock, and just as many balked at the choice to cast Lucy Liu as John ( now Joan) Watson.  There were even people who were upset that it was taking place in New York City, because us damn Americans ruin everything!  So I’m here to tell everyone that’s seen the hate floating around that they are absolutely wrong.  Elementary is hands down one of the best new series this season.

What I find spectacular about Jonny Lee Miller’s Holmes is how human he is.  He has the capacity to apologize to Watson, not once but twice.  He admits that he’s not a machine and you can’t deduce everything without a little help from Google. (To those Sherlock fans who scoff at that let me reference back to ‘A Study in Pink’ where Sherlock uses his phone to see where it’s been raining--he uses such resources himself all the time.)  He also throws spectacular hissy fits including crashing Watson’s car into the criminal’s car.  I loved the twist there where Watson, like much of the audience, assumed it was part of the plan but it really was just him letting out an explosive fit of anger.  He also doesn’t immediately call out that he knew Joan must have lost a patient, an act that he hoped would spare her feelings, even if it meant for a short time she’d believe he was often wrong.  His humanity and flaws  are what make him very likeable as you can see that he’s a man who’s been teetering on the edge of addiction for a long time and now that he’s newly sober he’s is trying to find his footing again before he ends up on the streets.

No matter how good your Holmes is if you don’t have a good Watson it’s going to spell death for your show.  Lucy Liu is more than a good Watson she’s fucking amazing, and you need to give her mad respect.  She doesn’t just sit there and take Sherlock’s bullshit, and it’s also just as refreshing that he listens to her when she tells him to back off.  Not only that, but she’s perfectly capable of making her own observations.  In fact, she’s the one who notices the crucial clue that puts the nail in the killer’s coffin and Sherlock actually gives her credit for it.  She also has a lot of backstory that I want to know about including what made her take the leap into becoming a sober companion after she couldn’t practice medicine before.  Speaking of backstory, I’m also curious if the woman Joan deduces is the reason behind Sherlock’s downward spiral is infact The Woman, Irene Adler.  

Now I’m sure there will be people screaming at me wondering how could I watch a show where they’re clearly going to try and throw a romantic angle into the Holmes Watson relationship?  The creators of the show have repeatedly stated that pushing the pair together is not in the cards.  Which I hope they stick to because I’d love to see a show where a man and a woman are friends and they don’t shove them together into a romantic entanglement by season three.

I know that no matter how much I, or anyone else, says the show is good there will always be fans out there who won’t give it a chance.  Those fans that have hated the show since before it was even filmed will watch and pick apart everything with a fine-toothed comb to find a flaw to cling to and prove they were right all along.  I’m not here to prove them wrong, but I am here to tell everyone else what kind of fun they’re missing out on.