The CBS television series Elementary, a show featuring a modern-day Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) as a recovering drug addict in New York City, was recently commissioned for a full season. It’s been the number two new series of the season, following Vegas, and has averaged 14.3 million viewers an episode. It’s an enjoyable, thoroughly entertaining show, but fans of the BBC series Sherlock, a show premiering in 2010 and created by Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat (also a producer of Doctor Who), have called it a rip-off of the hit British drama. Is there room for another detective? If the first few episodes of Elementary are any indication, the two Sherlocks seem to differ enough to warrant the new interpretation.
Sherlock features a young, tech-savvy Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) solving crimes with the help of roommate John Watson (Martin Freeman), a military doctor deployed from Afghanistan. Across the pond, however, Jonny Lee Miller is accompanied by Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson, a sober companion hired by Sherlock’s father to ensure that his son doesn’t relapse. She is obligated to be with him at all times, and must go with him as he consults on police investigations.
In the British version, Cumberbatch’s take on the famous investigator is revolutionary compared to the hundreds of other incarnations of Sherlock. He describes himself (a bit tongue-in-cheek) as being a “high-functioning sociopath,” and is concerned with nothing other than solving crimes. He is never seen sleeping or eating on the show, and is instead always “rushing about,” as stated by landlady Mrs. Hudson. Cumberbatch’s character has little sympathy for anyone except, as only briefly, inconsistently shown, for John.
Miller’s character in the American Elementary, on the other hand, is almost painfully human. He, too, will spend days awake focusing on a case, but he is much more affected by the effort. At the end of one episode, he falls asleep immediately, completely exhausted. He is not the “machine” described in Arthur Conon Doyle’s works, and is instead compassionate and relatable. Upon discovering a mutilated body in a secret hiding spot, Elementary’s Holmes somberly remarks, “Sometimes I hate it when I’m right.” The often-arrogant lead of Sherlock wouldn’t be caught dead saying such a thing. (In the episode The Great Game, he was more concerned with his prowess at solving a mystery than with the death of a hostage.) But his coldness and antisocial tendencies are what adds to the fun. Cumberbatch’s Holmes is an enigma. Little is known about his past or his thoughts. Does he have feelings? Does it bother him that the police call him a “freak”? Or is he proud of the label? Every episode leaves the audience wanting a bit more, allowing minds to wander and imaginations to fill in the gaps.
But the American audience seems to embrace Miller’s humanity. His compassion is further evinced with Joan Watson’s help. Watson, as a character, has always served the purpose of acting as a liaison through which Sherlock can be better understood. He (or, in this case, she) is able to bridge the gap between Sherlock’s brilliant mind and the reader’s understanding as Holmes relates his reasoning to Watson, who, in turn, relates it to us. Holmes grows closer to his companion as the stories progress, and the detective is humanized in the process.
Joan is perhaps the strongest Watson ever portrayed. She is smart, sassy, and doesn’t take any of Sherlock’s nonsense. In Elementary, her role as his doctor rather than a doctor also helps to establish this relationship, for she regularly tests Sherlock for evidence of drugs in his system. This allows her to maintain a level of authority never reached in the stories. She is more of a partner than an assistant, which is radically different from John’s role in Sherlock, where his purpose is to lag behind and make the protagonist look even more brilliant than he is already. And Miller’s Sherlock has a high degree of respect for Joan, and is open to many of her suggestions. An endearing, but perhaps overly cute, scene between the two shows Joan demonstrating her technique for pulling all-nighters, a squatting exercise that Sherlock is initially skeptical of, but eventually embraces. Cumberbatch’s Sherlock would probably throw John out the window if he attempted anything so ridiculous.
In recent years, there has been a growing tendency to radicalize Sherlock. In the original stories, he’s actually quite genial. (In Victorian times, if you weren’t, you were a peasant.) Holmes was eccentric, yes, but nowhere near the standards set by Cumberbatch. Sherlock has brought the great detective all the way to one end of the personality spectrum, resulting in a detached, antisocial, and sometimes downright rude character. Perhaps Elementary is attempting to reign the character back in. But it’s worth asking how much mystery and enjoyment has been lost in the process.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/10/elementary-vegas-cbs-full-season-orders/