“Sherlock”’s showrunners, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, have done a nifty job of transplanting the detective to contemporary London, finding digital analogues for Holmes’s feats of cognition. Since the Season 2 finale, “Sherlock” buffs have collaborated to solve the mystery of the detective’s survival. The new season reunites Holmes with his primal fan: Dr. John Watson, played by Martin Freeman. The subject of the show is not so much Sherlock’s deductions as this relationship, which is itself a kind of mystery.
Nifty article. Mostly a review of the new season, but there are some interesting thoughts.
Sherlock is still a detective, there are episodic mysteries, there is still Baker Street (now equipped with Web access), but the subject of the show is not so much Sherlock’s deductions as this relationship, which is itself a kind of mystery. Sherlock and Watson are best friends, certainly. They’re also chaste boyfriends, as well as a captain and his first mate. Mostly, though, they’re a god and a mortal, mutually besotted—the most impossible love affair of all.
Emily Nussbaum: “Sherlock” and Its Audiences
