Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The dream teams.

On January 1 in England, BBC Sherlock brings what some would call their dream Sherlock back for season three.

On January 2 in American, CBS Elementary brings an entirely different sort of Sherlock Holmes dream back from mid-season hiatus to finish season two.

You can call Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman "dreamy" after looking at the pics released for their upcoming show, but those fairly mundane shots don't come close to matching the dream-like quality of a single still released from Jonny Lee Miller's franchise this past week at EW.com. It's been haunting me like some nocturnal vision of disconnected elements one's subconscious concocts from the day's events.

In the photo, we see Sean "Sherlock" Holmes visiting Jamie Moriarty in her obviously non-prison place of residence, where she seems to have painted a giant portrait of Joan Watson, the sort one usually reserves for memorial services.

A trip out to The Futon Critic for details on the episode makes things stranger still. Moriarty apparently has a henchman, Joan has a date, but is that John Clay from "The Red-headed League" I spot in the cast list? All for a kidnapping case on which Jamie Moriarty is brought in as a consultant, which as you may recall, is the job title of the two main characters.  Detective Bell, we are told, still struggles with his recovery from being shot, which is the only part of the whole description which seems to follow logically from previous data. (Poor detective Bell. Can't help but feel he just got screwed in the subplot department.)

That giant painting of Joan Watson, though, is like something the Joker would have in his lair. (Put some bright red lipstick on Natalie Dormer who plays Moriarty and her exotic looks can have a bit of a Joker-esque quality.) She's obviously focussed on poor Joan after her seeming rival for Holmes's attentions outfoxed her last season with a twist on the ol' "Dying Detective" trick, but probably not the "you're so unique I can't kill you" sort of attention Jonny Lee Miller gets. It doesn't bode well.

Why is Jamie out of prison? Is the unfinished concrete of the room's walls a sign she's still in prison? Why do the most important women in Mr. Elementary's have "J" names? Why is his mug of tea sitting five feet away from him? Why doesn't the EW interviewer think Moriarty has any power in her situation with Watson? What is it with giant paintings, anyhow? They don't look good on a standard sized wall, do they? Will Mycroft show up for a surprise cameo and sleep with Moriarty, too?

Well, we have to wait until January, Elementary fans. Just one day longer than the British Sherlock fans, but their country has seniority after all.


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