thedeadparrot (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thedeadparrot) wrote2012-01-02 11:29 pm
thedeadparrot) wrote2012-01-02 11:29 pm
Scandal in Belgravia and Game of Shadows
Oh god. I am coming to realization that the only reason I was in Sherlock (BBC) fandom is because I found the source frustrating and obnoxious and I wanted to find something that would fix some of the problems for me. This ep reminded me why.
I kind of hated 95% of Scandal in Belgravia. The music was nice and so was the direction. The acting was decent. There were entire scenes where I didn't hate it. Almost none of them actually contained Sherlock.
On the other hand, Game of Shadows was pretty much exactly what I was expecting, and maybe a little better than what I'd feared. It's sort of smart-stupid in that overly complicated plotting sort of way. Stephen Fry was great! Mary was also great! I was worried that they would disappear her too quickly, but they gave her more to do this movie.
The less we talk about what happened to Irene Adler in that movie, the better. Bleh. That was gross.
Over on the BBC Sherlock side of things, Jesus fuck, Irene. I feel like there was a shape of a character that wouldn't piss me off. But it's like they took all the really stupid, offensive parts of Irene in the Sherlock Holmes movie and revamped her for the modern day. She is in cahoots with Moriarty! She manipulates Sherlock with sex (because heaven forbid that she actually just outsmart him and be on her merry way. no, she has to threaten him sexually too!) Just to make it more offensive, she's a lesbian with ~feelings~ for Sherlock! Because Sherlock is so awesome he turns lesbians! They could have just made her bi or whatever, but no, she's an actual lesbian.
I was actually going to list all the ways the this episode made me rage-face, but fuck that. I have better things to do with my time.
I am also at the point where I get this weird glazed-eye rage thing when people tell me how much more faithful an adaptation the Sherlock BBC series is. It's not. It's just as far from the original books as the movies are, just in different tangents. Sherlock BBC is all about masturbatory fanboy Marty Stu fanfic, and the Sherlock Holmes movies are about masturbatory fanboys who think Sherlock is too full of himself and the stories could use more explosions.
I'd rather have the explosions and the puncturing of Sherlock's douchery than the celebration of the fact that Sherlock Holmes is a horrible human being. I'm sorry. Even House was a lot better at calling its troubled genius asshole out for being an asshole. This show makes vague attempts, but usually ends up validating him by the end of the episode anyway.
Seriously, fuck that.
I kind of hated 95% of Scandal in Belgravia. The music was nice and so was the direction. The acting was decent. There were entire scenes where I didn't hate it. Almost none of them actually contained Sherlock.
On the other hand, Game of Shadows was pretty much exactly what I was expecting, and maybe a little better than what I'd feared. It's sort of smart-stupid in that overly complicated plotting sort of way. Stephen Fry was great! Mary was also great! I was worried that they would disappear her too quickly, but they gave her more to do this movie.
The less we talk about what happened to Irene Adler in that movie, the better. Bleh. That was gross.
Over on the BBC Sherlock side of things, Jesus fuck, Irene. I feel like there was a shape of a character that wouldn't piss me off. But it's like they took all the really stupid, offensive parts of Irene in the Sherlock Holmes movie and revamped her for the modern day. She is in cahoots with Moriarty! She manipulates Sherlock with sex (because heaven forbid that she actually just outsmart him and be on her merry way. no, she has to threaten him sexually too!) Just to make it more offensive, she's a lesbian with ~feelings~ for Sherlock! Because Sherlock is so awesome he turns lesbians! They could have just made her bi or whatever, but no, she's an actual lesbian.
I was actually going to list all the ways the this episode made me rage-face, but fuck that. I have better things to do with my time.
I am also at the point where I get this weird glazed-eye rage thing when people tell me how much more faithful an adaptation the Sherlock BBC series is. It's not. It's just as far from the original books as the movies are, just in different tangents. Sherlock BBC is all about masturbatory fanboy Marty Stu fanfic, and the Sherlock Holmes movies are about masturbatory fanboys who think Sherlock is too full of himself and the stories could use more explosions.
I'd rather have the explosions and the puncturing of Sherlock's douchery than the celebration of the fact that Sherlock Holmes is a horrible human being. I'm sorry. Even House was a lot better at calling its troubled genius asshole out for being an asshole. This show makes vague attempts, but usually ends up validating him by the end of the episode anyway.
Seriously, fuck that.
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But, fandom loved it, and I occasionally enjoyed the porny fuits of that love, and all was well. With series 2 everyone's been telling me to watch it - to the point of friends calling me IRL and urging me to - and I kept waiting for a review that was not flaily with glee but actually told me whether this new series is somehow drastically different than the first. Aaaand it seems that it isn't, and you are the first person whose entry about the show actually, finally tells me so, so thank you!
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If you hated the first one, you will hate this one as well. Possibly more, because the treatment of women is awful, awful awful on levels that weren't in the first series, even though the first series was pretty shitty on that front as well. Imagine Molly getting a whole few scenes dedicated to how pathetic and sad she is for crushing on Sherlock. Ugh.
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Ahem. My flaily thoughts on Sherlock Holmes adaptations. Also, it was much more fun to teach real Sherlock Holmes to first-years.
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Ugh, the BBC version. It's possible that you will come out of it liking Irene more than I did, as I went into it forewarned and dreading the outcome, but then it felt like the episode kept throwing more and more offensive curveballs at me. Blech.
And yay, real Sherlock Holmes! I, um, kind of am going back to reading A Scandal in Bohemia, so that I can go back and hate on this episode properly. I may have some very strong opinions. Just a little.
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The BBC show is hugely problematic, but I actually found this episode... not as bothersome? Like on one hand, it hung a lampshade on all the EPICALLY WRONG things about this show, e.g.:
- Sherlock can get away with ANYTHING. Guns! Throwing people out the window! No one cares! Mycroft and Lestrade can fix everything and don't give a damn!
- Sherlock is dangerous because his ethics are so shady and he can't resist a puzzle. This works for and against Irene in this episode.
- TREATMENT OF LADIES. On one hand, this episode was better in some ways. Mrs. Hudson. <3 ON THE OTHER HAND, OMFG.
- LOLZ RACISM MCRACISM PANTS. I could NOT FUCKING BELIEVE the end of the episode. Like, I have to pretend it's some kind of fantasy sequence, otherwise I want to die in a not-Victorian-orgasm-kind-of-way, a lot.
ON THE OTHER HAND,
- I am unable to read Sherlock/Irene/John as anything but an epic queer and kinky love triangle that is at the same time not conventionally sexual. I can completely believe that Irene is turned on by making Sherlock submit to her, but doesn't want anything to do with genital sex with a man.
- I think it's safe to say that Irene is trolling everyone, all the time. On one hand, what this episode OSTENSIBLY does to Irene is terrible. On the other hand... I have a really hard time seeing Irene GENUINELY admit defeat. While I have no problem critically savaging this episode, I also do not actually believe on a narrative level that:
(a) Irene's infatuation with Sherlock was romantic
(b) Irene is actually totally fucked by losing her phone
(c) Irene is sincerely begging for help at the end
(d) Irene is dead
(e) Irene WAS KILLED BY INFIDELS, I HAVE NO WORDS HERE
Note that I didn't say working with Moriarty on that list. See: Irene is trolling everyone all the time.
ANYWAY. I salute your mixed feelings. This show is awful and I love it anyway kind of a lot.
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The problem is that I can make myself believe that Irene isn't sincerely begging for help at the end, but I can't erase the fetishistic glee with which they film that moment and, in fact, that whole scene where Sherlock 'defeats' Irene. Like, when Sherlock 'makes' her beg, I got the impression that I was supposed to be rooting for him, that I was supposed to feel triumphant at seeing her brought so low. Ha! A lying, backstabbing dominatrix forced to beg herself, isn't that just quaint? It made me almost physically ill. I just can't separate the treatment of the character from my opinions on the character itself. Sometimes I can, but in this case, I can't.
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Have I shown you the draft of the vid which I may still someday complete, about how fucking ethically sketchy this series is? For lo, it exists.
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Also, that vid looks very intriguing. I look forward to what you do with it!
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I liked the first 3 (well, the first & third) for the John/Sherlock relationship dynamic. I think my favourite reading on it is lim's vid Dry, which can be summarised as John is an addict, adrenaline is his drug of choice, & Sherlock is his dealer. They need each other in a codependent way that is not about sex or love, which fascinates me and is usually an element in all of my favourite relationships. I felt like the 1st season was more about John. I enjoyed it as a show about a guy who met a really weird/clever/frustrating other guy, and figured out that following him around means he doesn't have to deal with reintegrating into civilian life. And even if the show never dealt with the fascinating consequences of that, fandom would.
2.01, however, was not about John. He's utterly failing at romantic relationships, but still trying, because he's not getting love or sex from Sherlock, and doesn't want to be, imo. But that was just played for laughs, and pretty cruelly too. The main show was Sherlock-and-Irene, and that's not a show I want to watch. I also do not understand how Sherlock isn't in any way obsessed with Moriaty. It's like, oh, we didn't get blown up, and apparently there's my criminal equivalent who is behind ALMOST EVERYTHING CRIMINAL, I guess I'll go back to insulting potential clients and whinging that their problems aren't more interesting. Apparently in this 'verse, Mycroft & Moriaty are the players, and yet we're still watching Sherlock and I'm not really sure why.
The 09 version, among other things, was about Watson trying to leave an abusive relationship, & never quite managing it. He wants to leave, and doesn't want Holmes hurt, & Holmes, that manipulative bastard, keeps making him choose by endangering himself. It's easy watching, with lots of explosions, & that one small element that I find interesting. I haven't seen the new one yet though.
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