Sherlock: The Hounds of Baskerville

[carmen_lj]

So while I didn't love this with the ridic love of last week's - cause, y'know, Adler - I did love it very much. Although I object to the name. V DIFFICULT not to get it confused with The Hound of the Baskervilles.

• It's a good job I wasn't eating for Sherlock's first scene where he's clearly snapped and killed EVERYONE in order to alleviate his boredom.
  
  
• ...okay, apparently not. He's just harpooned a pig. Which is more-or-less the same thing.
  
  
• "Perhaps you can put away your harpoon." Mrs Hudson is great.
  
  
• Very upset we're not getting the Case of the Little Girl's Glowy Rabbit. I would like that. Also, an episode of Sherlock and dudes playing Cluedo would be entirely acceptable.
  
  
• Heh, that's Chipo Chung! Who's in it for about ten seconds, boo.
  
  
• "In your own time," says John. "But quite quickly," adds Sherlock. There's lots dialogue I love in this. Lots and lots.
  
  
• Okay, his ears are v distracting but Russell Tovey's not annoying me anywhere near as much as I thought he would. Maybe it's cause he got older. He does breathe through his mouth a lot though.
  
  
• OH SHERLOCK DID A FAKE-OUT ABOUT STAYING IN LONDON. That's just lovely. There's absolutely no reason for it other than as a nod to the original plot, and, yeah, there are lots of these injokes and I imagine I miss most of them (I've read all the Holmes stories, but most of them just the once) but this one just makes me awfully happy for some reason. I LOVE HOW MUCH THEY LOVE ACD'S WORK.
  
  
• That's a nice looking pub. I want to go there.
  
  
• The bet thing! Like with the geeses! In BLUE, I think it was.
  
  
• I know this is a modernisation and all and they change things blah, blah, blah, but I'm quite sad that Baskerville Hall is now an MOD base. There's no romance to a military base.
  
  
• Ha! Mycroft has about TWO SECS of screentime, but Gatiss makes the most of them with the most awesome expression, heh.
  
  
• That's Amelia Bullmore who's Dr Stapleton. She's v good.
  
  
• OH. We are getting The Case of the Glowy Bunny after all! Marvellous. "Did we just break into a military base to investigate a rabbit?" Lols.
  
  
• Bored of the base now, want moors. WHERE ARE THE MOORS PLEASE?
  
  
• There's the moors! And it looks like Dartmoor even! (The only reason I know what Dartmoor looks like is cause The Sontaran Experiment was filmed there... don't judge me.) For a bit anyway... now it looks like they're standing in a dark field with some trees. Ooh, now it looks good again! That Hollow's v nice. And the fog, and the wind. Smashing wind. This is all a bit exciting. Many points to the director.
  
  
• THAT WAS GREAT. It's stopped now. They're inside again. RUBBISH INSIDE. Less of this nonsense, make them go back to the moor!
  
  
• "If people knew how to make a mutant superdog, we'd know; it'd be for sale. I mean, that's how it works." Mmm, capitalist commentary.
  
  
• OH CUMBERBATCH. He's being quite great with Sherlock's fear and the panic and how he's not at all dealing with it. HIS WEE FACE.
  
  
• Lestrade! In sunglasses! Smashing.
  
  
• Oh, now Watson is being chased by a monster in the military base, whatevs, GO BACK TO THE MOORS DAMMIT. Also this is the point where I thought it must be hallucinogenic gas (I don't care if this was obvious, shusht) and then felt yay when I was right.
  
  
• So was someone was watching Minority Report before they filmed Sherlock's mind palace scene?
  
  
• And I appreciate the fact that Stapleton's not the villain here, unlike the book.
  
  
• It's a good job no-one on the telly ever has the sense to use random letters and numbers as their password for accessing really important shit.
  
  
• Cumberbatch in the Hollow, when Sherlock's talking Henry down = awesome. The expression on his face, how unguarded it is, how he very very much wants Henry to trust him, how there's perhaps even some empathy there because he was drugged too, love it.
  
  
• OH THE HOUND, BOO. I was all yay at how they'd completely avoided showing any of the scary monster dog and now there's a bloody great CGI thing lolloping across the screen. Happily, it is quickly shot and I can pretend I just didn't see it.
  
  
• OMG SHERLOCK. I like how there are signs he's becoming more comfortable with empathy, or at least not being quite such a jerkface, and will admit that John's his friend. HIS FRIEND THAT HE EXPERIMENTS ON WITH CHEMICAL WEAPONS.
  
  
• My main complaint about this episode is that nobody uttered the words "Great Grimpen Mire." Other than that, nifty keen.

Comments

[peeeeeeet.livejournal.com]

I can't help feeling they base this show more on imagining what it would be like if Leonard and Sheldon from Big Bang Theory drove around in a van solving mysteries than on ACD's stories...

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I don't know who they are....but I have seen the bits of TBBT with Wil Wheaton in them. That totally counts. Somehow. For something.

[peeeeeeet.livejournal.com]

I can totally picture Benedict Cumberbatch going "WHEEEEEEEEATOOOOOON!!!!!!", so yes, it does

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Excellent. Also, now I want to see that. Pls arrange it. Thank you.

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

So was someone watching Minority Report before they filmed Sherlock's mind palace scene?

It was the most lolarious thing I have seen ALL WEEK!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

It was SMASHING, and not at all a bit I could take srsly.

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

Although I did miss the great manor I loved the adaptation. I'm ready to forgive quite a bit because it is such a good updating of the Sherlock stories. And although I love the Robert Downey Jr. movies I think the BBC versions are a better fit.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I love both, I'm trying to decide what I prefer but, tbh, I'm gad both exist as I enjoy them so much.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

The fact that you loved it makes me need to watch it again because I was bored. But I suspect a large part of that was the insane amounts of lustful obsession I have for last week's ep. Nothing could have compared. And NEEDS MORE MYCROFT. Hmmm. Yes. Definitely need to watch it again.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

But I suspect a large part of that was the insane amounts of lustful obsession I have for last week's ep.

SO SHALLOW BB. But tbf, she was AMAZING. Anything this week was going to be a comedown, but, for me, not by much, as Hounds is my favourite of Conan Doyle's stories, so I was v disposed to like it.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

LOL! No, I swear. It isn't just Irene, though holy HELL is she amazing beyond my wildest imaginings. I've watched the damn episode 7 times already. In all honesty, I think it is about as close to a perfect 90 minutes of television as it's possible to get. Admittedly, I generally buy what Moff is selling and his methods of storytelling and the way he writes dialogue totally work for me. But Belgravia was just...UNF. Every character was perfect. Mycroft makes me bounce up and down in my chair with glee. I love that episode to a degree that is slightly unhealthy. So it was kind of inevitable that this week would be a let down. But YES! I shall rewatch with a more open mind and see if I enjoy it more the second time through.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

My main complaint about this episode is that Russell Tovey's scenes were SO TEDIOUS ZOMG. And I didn't have an pre-existing hate towards him, either. Also, Sherlock's contention that the best way to find a giant evil dog on the loose in the woods is to come back to those woods at night rather than, say, look for prints during the day. Like a SANE PERSON. Ah, well. I am Quite Fond of Amelia Bulmore, so that was nice. :)

[telyanofcelore.livejournal.com]

Yes! Exactly! Russell Tovey is boring, they could have put in Mycroft being exasperated or Moriarty being crazy or Lestrade being stupidly hot instead. But no. We had boring, boring Russell Tovey instead. I keep hoping that he'll be in something and I'll like him, but every time he shows up, it's like 'nope, once again he just... fails to lend any sort of interest to anything.'

I liked that most of the scientists weren't evil! It was a nice change of pace. Making glowy rabbits isn't particularly bad, as things go, if a bit inexplicable. Although I think I would make a rabbit glow, if given the means and the opportunity. Just for the hell of it.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

To be fair, it's pretty hard to make "stand around looking anxious and then scream while the director gets way too enamored of quick-cuts" interesting. But yeah, overall he was acting like such a sop I was actually cheering every time Sherlock acted like a dick and made impatient noises at him so he'd just tell his stupid story already. Usually when detectives on TV do client/witness interviewing so terribly wrong it takes me out of things, but in this case I was all for it.

Maybe it's a rule? Every Episode 2 of Sherlock must have a client that bores us to tears. Because that's what happened to me with the museum worker client last year, too.

I saw Amelia Bullmore in a play (well 3 plays in repertory) once with Jessica Hynes and Ben Miles and it was kind of amazing. But basically I'll always have a soft spot for her because she was Helen in State of Play.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

To be fair, it's pretty hard to make "stand around looking anxious and then scream while the director gets way too enamored of quick-cuts" interesting.

If Peter Cushing had done it, it would have been BRILLIANT.

But basically I'll always have a soft spot for her because she was Helen in State of Play.

That's where I love her from too! She's also bloody marvellous in Ashes to Ashes.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I liked that most of the scientists weren't evil!

Quite! I assumed Stapleton was the villain since that's who it is in the book, but no, just a maker of glowing rabbits who's v keen on her work.

I keep hoping that he'll be in something and I'll like him, but every time he shows up, it's like 'nope, once again he just... fails to lend any sort of interest to anything.'

Lots of people do seem to like him, and it's not that I don't want him to have a career, it'd just be nice if he was never in anything I had any interest in watching for he's so lacking in charisma.

[pedanther]

Making glowy rabbits isn't particularly bad, as things go, if a bit inexplicable. Although I think I would make a rabbit glow, if given the means and the opportunity. Just for the hell of it.

The glowy rabbits are inspired by a true story, although if memory serves it was really mice and you had to shine a special lamp on them, not just turn the lights off. The idea is that once you can make the whole mouse glow, the next step is making it only glow if some other thing happens, or making only the part of the mouse glow that some other treatment is active in. It's a way of being able to keep track of how the treatment is progressing without having to cut the mouse open and look.

But I wouldn't be at all surprised if the first people who did it were also thinking "Hey! We're making mice glow! Cool!"

[calapine.livejournal.com]

My main complaint about this episode is that Russell Tovey's scenes were SO TEDIOUS ZOMG. And I didn't have an pre-existing hate towards him, either.

I think I was helped by the fact he wasn't in it nearly as much as I expected. But, yeah, I don't find him the most compelling of actors.

Also, Sherlock's contention that the best way to find a giant evil dog on the loose in the woods is to come back to those woods at night rather than, say, look for prints during the day. Like a SANE PERSON.

That would be TOO EASY, DUDE, TOO EASY. Sherlock wants a CHALLENGE. With SHADOWS and WIND and GETTING LOST AND CUDDLING UP TO JOHN.

[jigglykat.livejournal.com]

So was someone was watching Minority Report before they filmed Sherlock's mind palace scene?

So glad I wasn't the only one thinking this.

Also, I was kind of in love with post-holiday!Lestrade. PLEASE TO BE DOING THIS MORE OFTEN, GREG. YOU LOOKED VERY NICE.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

So glad I wasn't the only one thinking this.

It was lolarious and brill!

Also, I was kind of in love with post-holiday!Lestrade. PLEASE TO BE DOING THIS MORE OFTEN, GREG. YOU LOOKED VERY NICE.

He is A BIT MAGIC. I don't know what it is, but it just fills me with joy whenever he's onscreen. ESP WITH SUNGLASSES APPARENTLY.

[alawston.livejournal.com]

•It's a good job no-one on the telly ever has the sense to use random letters and numbers as their password for accessing really important shit.

Particularly as the MOD, and most of the civil service in general, won't let you use a real word as your password even for logging on to the network.

I loved the nods to the original that I recognised, "footprints of a gigantic hound" and "stay away from the moor, if you value your life" being the two most obvious bits of dialogue.

I clocked pretty quickly that it was hallucinogenic fog as well, and that Sherlock had drugged John. But that was fine, I was mostly trying to picture my Dad a hundred miles away, probably creased with laughter at the Porton Down references.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

My university wouldn't let us use real words in our passwords, and I was just a grad student there. Not that the "random letters and numbers" thing necessarily increases password security, but that's another matter altogether. :)

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall my login was also some annoying load of numbers too. Mustn't let people steal the printer ink!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say I clocked on quickly so much as 'at the last possible moment where I could retain any sense of having 'won' at being detective-y.'

I loved the nods to the original that I recognised, "footprints of a gigantic hound" and "stay away from the moor, if you value your life" being the two most obvious bits of dialogue.

They were using the character names in the book, but had them in different roles which was nice nodding whilst not spoiling for anyone who'd read it, which was nice, I thought.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

"I clocked pretty quickly that it was hallucinogenic fog as well, and that Sherlock had drugged John."

I totally didn't catch about the fog, spending the whole episode going "at what point did it look like someone might've stuck him with something...?" like a ditz, but I instantly guessed he was drugging John, out of sheer cynicism about him making coffee just to be nice. Especially making coffee for his roommate and getting it wrong. How John fell for it, I don't know.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Ha! Mycroft has about TWO SECS of screentime, but Gatiss makes the most of them with the most awesome expression, heh.

That "What fresh hell is this?" expression is my favorite part of the episode.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

I overall loved last episode more, but this episode got really great somewhere in the second half/last third, and is a marked improvement on the previous episode in at least one way: instead of tacking on Moriarty is the Puppetmaster in a way that undermines Irene in multiple ways, it incorporated the obligatory Moriarty reference as a fear-based hallucination, which was BRILLIANT.

"Ha! Mycroft has about TWO SECS of screentime, but Gatiss makes the most of them with the most awesome expression, heh."

THE EYEROLL. *died laughing*

They brought up "glowy bunny," and then they brought up "military experiments," and I was like ohhh so we are going to be solving the glowy bunny problem, then. And then we met Dr. Stapleton surrounded by animals and I was like IT'S YOUR FAULT SOMEHOW, and I was right. Wheeeeeeeeee!

Watson trapped in that room started off seeming kind of eh and then quickly got me SO TERRIFIED. And then the cutaway of Sherlock at the end, watching him through the monitors and pretending to be concerned! It was like watching a sitcom! In fact, it was like watching that scene in the Community clip show where you saw what it actually looked like while Abed was hallucinating claymation. XD

Oh my god, the mind palace scene was so ridiculous.

"It's a good job no-one on the telly ever has the sense to use random letters and numbers as their password for accessing really important shit."

Sara on White Collar did! Her boyfriend was less clever about doing the same, though.

Sherlock was being very convincingly compassionate with Henry in the Hollow, yes. It was very well done. (What was less well done was his panicked acting in the pub when he got in that fight with John. It was so overblown I was immediately like "something external did this," which is bizarre, because all the other panicked acting, on his and the other characters' parts, came across just subtle enough to look like actual fear.)

"I was all yay at how they'd completely avoided showing any of the scary monster dog and now there's a bloody great CGI thing lolloping across the screen."

RIGHT?! D=