--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote: > > Just finished watching the second episode in the new series of Sherlock and I can inform FFLifers it was the most self-indulgent pile of crap I've ever witnessed on TV. Two-thirds of the story was devoted to Sherlock and Watson's relationship with some cringe-worthy attempts at humour and generous dollops of mawkish buddy-bonding. The third segment devoted to an actual attempt at crime-solving was leaden and unconvincing. > You have been warned - ignore any favourable reviews..
I see that you're not alone in feeling this way, given some of the reviews. But I think you've missed the *cause* of why you feel that way. This episode was not "cringe-worthy" but "cringe-inducing." Many people get supremely uncomfortable watching social awkwardness and ineptness, even if it's just on a TV screen. I have no idea why the creators of "Sherlock" chose to create an entire hour and a half of social discomfort. Maybe it was a lapse, maybe it ties into some future plot point in their "long game." Dunno. I thought parts of it were OK, and that some of the funny parts were, in fact, funny. Others, not so much. I'm not sure how this episode will tie into the rest of the series, or even if it will. It seemed to be an attempt to humanize someone who even describes *himself* as a "high-functioning sociopath." It's not as if the episode was written by someone without a track record. The fellow who wrote it also wrote "The Reichenbach Fall" (last season's final episode," which was strong) and "The Blind Banker" (which wasn't one of my faves). Maybe they did it for a lark. Then again, maybe the creators went this route simply to fuck with the audience and show them how attached *they* had become to the high-functioning sociopath, and how uncomfortable they get when he changes, even a little.
