Sherlock, the 21st Century Version


A while back I had written a blog on how Sherlock Holmes felt so outdated and ancient. Back then, one of my cousins had suggested that I watch this modern day version of Holmes and see how good the detective could still be. Unfortunately,  I never got to watch that because the baby would still be awake at the time the serial came, which meant no TV watching.

But now the baby’s sleeping schedule has changed, and (good for me) a re-run of that Holmes serial just started (it comes on BBC Entertainment and is called Sherlock). So finally I get to see it and boy, was my cousin right! It is very good indeed. Better yet, they are not just showing the original stories in a modern setting (I never liked adaptations), instead they create new stories, a Dr Watson with some spunk, an inspector who isn't fawning over Holmes and modern day gadgets that help with the case.

Same behavior in a different era often creates unintended humour. Like the restaurant owner who assumes Holmes and Watson are gay because they hang around so much. The arrogance of Holmes (worded the way people speak today) is fun to hear, like the time he tells the inspector, “I think this investigation would proceed a lot faster if you started taking my word as gospel”. It's also good to see Watson almost shudder at the prospect of being called Holmes’ friend: he insists on making it clear that he is just a colleague. And then there is the role of modern day technology in the case, like Internet searches and GPS. I loved this incident where Holmes will berate Watson to try and remember coded cypher symbols that he saw once on a wall. Watson says he can reproduce the list with perfect fidelity. How? He pulls out his smartphone and shows Holmes the photo he took!

I really like the serial this way. Suddenly Holmes doesn’t feel like a dinosaur from an era that I can’t even begin to relate to. As my wife pointed out, when you see even older CSI episodes, they don't have smartphones! (after all, the iPhone didn't come until 2007). Haven't I come a long way: from feeling Holmes is outdated and boring to now feeling that it even beats CSI on some counts!

Thank you for introducing me to this serial, Lally!

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