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Review: Elementary
Feb. 13th, 2023 07:24 amI've finally finished watching Elementary. Although there are times when our cup runneth over in terms of great things to watch, right now is the opposite--in fact, we only went back to Elementary because we didn't have anything else to watch! The show seemed to be in a holding pattern for seasons 4 and 5, basically just a police procedural, seemingly waiting until the show was coming to an end to really get back into character development and telling great stories again, but wow, it went out with a bang! Seasons 1, 6 and 7 were fantastic.
I'm so glad they finally addressed all of Sherlock and Joan's criminal ways. Part of what made it hard to watch is that they were difficult characters to root for. A lot of the depressingly realistic we-look-out-for-our-own-and-screw-everyone-else cop culture was hard to watch, too. But it was undeniably a quality show, in terms of acting and production values, even if the writing became increasingly "Notice me, Reddit-senpai!" The final few seasons of Elementary were exactly when I was on Reddit. It was funny to see all the same stories that were big there play out in the show, which touted all the same viewpoints that were most popular on Reddit; it gave me a behind-the-scenes perspective, which added another level of entertainment.
It may be weird to write not just one but two fics for a show I ... didn't actually like that much except for the first and last two seasons! But you spend that much time with those characters, and you see Sherlock suffering so much and not growing at all for so long, you just kinda want to help, you know??
Which made me think about series that develop a huge fanbase, and how they all seem to be based around something that goes on for a long time so that you do have that chance to really get to know those characters and get invested in them: Twilight, Harry Potter, LOTR, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries. It seems like there's nothing like that right now that's original that's really gripped anyone's attention, which may be why fandom is in a lull these days. I watched some truly incredible shows last year ... but most of them were twelve episodes long.
Nelsan Ellis was an actor I greatly love and admire, and I was disappointed in how they wasted the opportunity to have him on the show (his last credit, I believe) by having him play the most cookie-cutter gangster-with-a-heart-of-gold imaginable. I felt like the show was pretty racist, anyway--for at least the first five seasons, you would be hard-pressed to find a Black character who wasn't either a criminal themselves, or related to one. I'm not a fan of police procedurals (although I enjoy Sherlock stuff, and the Sherlock aspect won out in this case), so I didn't love that aspect of the show, either. The writers room was clearly a boys club. But the direction and production were always top-notch, and if you have actors of that caliber elevating the material, even a so-so script can be turned into something quite watchable. They seemed to have the end of the show all plotted out practically from the beginning--a rare and wonderful thing, especially on network t.v.--so for it to come together so beautifully at the end--even bringing back the most intriguing characters and plots from earlier seasons--was most satisfying viewing.
So, to sum up ... it was nice to be able to really spend some time with characters in a long, quality show for a while. My viewing options right now are limited enough that I'm really missing not having that go-to. I loved getting to know some actors I didn't know before who I'll be excited to see in other things from now on (John Noble, Jon Michael Hill), and catching up with other actors I've always liked (Jonny Lee Miller, Aidan Quinn--and, uh ... is every actor on this show named Jon/John/Jonny?!?). And I love and am proud of my fics that came out of it. My drive to write seems to be dwindling, so they may be among the last fics I ever write, which kinda sucks, since I wasn't crazy about the show, but I am crazy about the fics, so at least I have that, lol!
Needless to say, if anyone has any recommendations for nice long, quality shows I could get into, I'd be most grateful.
I'm so glad they finally addressed all of Sherlock and Joan's criminal ways. Part of what made it hard to watch is that they were difficult characters to root for. A lot of the depressingly realistic we-look-out-for-our-own-and-screw-everyone-else cop culture was hard to watch, too. But it was undeniably a quality show, in terms of acting and production values, even if the writing became increasingly "Notice me, Reddit-senpai!" The final few seasons of Elementary were exactly when I was on Reddit. It was funny to see all the same stories that were big there play out in the show, which touted all the same viewpoints that were most popular on Reddit; it gave me a behind-the-scenes perspective, which added another level of entertainment.
It may be weird to write not just one but two fics for a show I ... didn't actually like that much except for the first and last two seasons! But you spend that much time with those characters, and you see Sherlock suffering so much and not growing at all for so long, you just kinda want to help, you know??
Which made me think about series that develop a huge fanbase, and how they all seem to be based around something that goes on for a long time so that you do have that chance to really get to know those characters and get invested in them: Twilight, Harry Potter, LOTR, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries. It seems like there's nothing like that right now that's original that's really gripped anyone's attention, which may be why fandom is in a lull these days. I watched some truly incredible shows last year ... but most of them were twelve episodes long.
Nelsan Ellis was an actor I greatly love and admire, and I was disappointed in how they wasted the opportunity to have him on the show (his last credit, I believe) by having him play the most cookie-cutter gangster-with-a-heart-of-gold imaginable. I felt like the show was pretty racist, anyway--for at least the first five seasons, you would be hard-pressed to find a Black character who wasn't either a criminal themselves, or related to one. I'm not a fan of police procedurals (although I enjoy Sherlock stuff, and the Sherlock aspect won out in this case), so I didn't love that aspect of the show, either. The writers room was clearly a boys club. But the direction and production were always top-notch, and if you have actors of that caliber elevating the material, even a so-so script can be turned into something quite watchable. They seemed to have the end of the show all plotted out practically from the beginning--a rare and wonderful thing, especially on network t.v.--so for it to come together so beautifully at the end--even bringing back the most intriguing characters and plots from earlier seasons--was most satisfying viewing.
So, to sum up ... it was nice to be able to really spend some time with characters in a long, quality show for a while. My viewing options right now are limited enough that I'm really missing not having that go-to. I loved getting to know some actors I didn't know before who I'll be excited to see in other things from now on (John Noble, Jon Michael Hill), and catching up with other actors I've always liked (Jonny Lee Miller, Aidan Quinn--and, uh ... is every actor on this show named Jon/John/Jonny?!?). And I love and am proud of my fics that came out of it. My drive to write seems to be dwindling, so they may be among the last fics I ever write, which kinda sucks, since I wasn't crazy about the show, but I am crazy about the fics, so at least I have that, lol!
Needless to say, if anyone has any recommendations for nice long, quality shows I could get into, I'd be most grateful.