Sherlock Holmes may hail from two centuries ago, but “Elementary,” this
latest incarnation of the old chap, produces the the season’s best new
broadcast drama.
Jonny Lee Miller
plays Sherlock exactly as we would expect to find him today. He’s
brilliant, exasperating, self-obsessed and altogether ideal for the sort
of show CBS has virtually perfected: a “procedural” in which a crime is
solved each week by troubled good guys while their larger psychological
issues roll ominously across the broader sky.
The show’s
boldest innovation is transgendering Sherlock’s loyal assistant, Watson. Dr. Watson here is Lucy Liu, and she plays the character as anything but a novelty act. She enters the picture as a caretaker assigned to shadow Holmes while
he emerges from drug rehab. Since she used to be a top-level surgeon,
taking this much more menial gig clearly indicates she has issues of her
own. Naturally it takes Sherlock about five seconds to start digging them
out and begin needling her about them in a way that’s all the more
annoying because it seems so completely matter-of-fact.
His real mission is driving away this annoying baby-sitter, and it almost works.But she’s smart, perceptive and curious, too. And just when she’s about
to walk, she gets reeled in by the irresistible lure of helping
Sherlock figure out the hows, whats and whys of an offbeat murder case
he’s probing as a police consultant.
The challenge for the writers will be to create murder cases intriguing
enough to match the fascination of the Miller/Liu partnership and the
viewer’s inevitable curiosity about where it will go. It’s a formidable dramatic test, one that by all indications will be worth watching
.
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Another difficulty will be to define the relationship between two
characters this smart and this flawed. While all the laws of TV
tradition say they will inevitably head toward romance, “Elementary” at
the very least may not take a traditional path.Or maybe it will.
And last, an important footnote to fans of the brilliant PBS series “Sherlock.” Yes, Miller’s portrayal here will remind you of Benedict Cumberbatch’s
there. But Miller, a little more reflective and brooding, also makes
this one his own. TV has plenty of room for two superior Sherlocks.
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