Elementary 4.23
May. 3rd, 2016 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakOkay, show, that was a really dumb bait and switch which I'm still hoping against hope wasn't one.
Because you can't promise Moriarty and then not deliver Moriarty. Especially in a manner that lays a finger on this season's weaknesses. Vickers is a new character the show has given us no reason to care about or fear or whatever. Moriarty versus Morland, with Sherlock and Joan in the crossfire: that would have been interesting because it's personal to the audience and the character. Yes, the show tries to make it more personal by making him the father of Moriarty's child and her successor, but that's not enough; the audience doesn't know him, the characters don't know him, there's no relation, no personal feelings involved. (Which is why I'm still hoping Moriarty is still doing what she did way back when, using strawmen to rule from behind.) The Sherlock-Morland relationship probably was intended to provide the personal element, but while the reveal about the late Mrs. Holmes made it less standard Daddy Issues tv stuff, I still don't care about Morland as a character which I would have to in order to get invested in that. (And it still holds true for me: the scene about Sherlock's mother aside, Morland works best in scenes with other people, i.e. Joan or Gregson.)
The season finales that worked were those with high personal states. S1 because of the Irene/Moriarty reveal, Sherlock's reaction and Joan's saving the day. S3 because Alfredo was at stake, and so was Sherlock's sobriety and ethics. Oscar wasn't an international supervillain but he was truly a threat, an emotional threat, in a way Vickers isn't and can't be.
Not to mention: the episode with the female cop/wannabe vigilante and the Eugene Kurtz blackmail made it at least look like we could building towards something involving Joan acquiring a darker side and having to deal with it. Apparently not, though of course next week's finale could mean I'm wrong about that.
In conclusion: I'm too disgruntled right now about what wasn't in the episode to deal with what was.
Because you can't promise Moriarty and then not deliver Moriarty. Especially in a manner that lays a finger on this season's weaknesses. Vickers is a new character the show has given us no reason to care about or fear or whatever. Moriarty versus Morland, with Sherlock and Joan in the crossfire: that would have been interesting because it's personal to the audience and the character. Yes, the show tries to make it more personal by making him the father of Moriarty's child and her successor, but that's not enough; the audience doesn't know him, the characters don't know him, there's no relation, no personal feelings involved. (Which is why I'm still hoping Moriarty is still doing what she did way back when, using strawmen to rule from behind.) The Sherlock-Morland relationship probably was intended to provide the personal element, but while the reveal about the late Mrs. Holmes made it less standard Daddy Issues tv stuff, I still don't care about Morland as a character which I would have to in order to get invested in that. (And it still holds true for me: the scene about Sherlock's mother aside, Morland works best in scenes with other people, i.e. Joan or Gregson.)
The season finales that worked were those with high personal states. S1 because of the Irene/Moriarty reveal, Sherlock's reaction and Joan's saving the day. S3 because Alfredo was at stake, and so was Sherlock's sobriety and ethics. Oscar wasn't an international supervillain but he was truly a threat, an emotional threat, in a way Vickers isn't and can't be.
Not to mention: the episode with the female cop/wannabe vigilante and the Eugene Kurtz blackmail made it at least look like we could building towards something involving Joan acquiring a darker side and having to deal with it. Apparently not, though of course next week's finale could mean I'm wrong about that.
In conclusion: I'm too disgruntled right now about what wasn't in the episode to deal with what was.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-03 10:53 am (UTC)At the moment I think he'll try to screw with Joan since he really doesn't seem to get what Moriarty sees in her and then, hopefully, Moriarty will swoop in and slap him down. Didn't she want to do that anyway after her daughter got kidnapped? She really seemed quite miffed with him back then.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-03 12:20 pm (UTC)