Earlier this week, I began my endeavor to prove my reasons for admiring BBC’s TV Sherlock Holmes.
I continue it here.
Duality (continued). While discussing Moriarty’s victims, Sherlock says to Watson, “Would caring about them help to save them?” (The Great Game). And yet, when Holmes plays his violin, clearly brokenhearted after Irene Adler’s disappearance, I felt his brilliant mind meeting his breaking heart, and the superhuman god became mortal for me in that moment.
This combination, this duality, gives me, (as someone who really wants to identify with Holmes in some human way,) an adrenaline rush. Because I can finally empathize with him.
Addictions are more human than we want to admit. Whether you and love chocolate, television, wine, or nicotine, we can relate to Sherlock’s habit. His dependence on tobacco and his hysteria when he can’t find it (The Hounds of Baskerville) gives me a sense of relief. He’s not perfect, either. He doesn’t have total mental mastery of every single action. He’s human.
Thus, I’ve decided it’s Sherlock’s humanity, as evidenced by above, coupled with his intelligence that makes him
beloved, attractive, and awe-inspiring.
If you haven’t seen the BBC’s Sherlock: A new sleuth for the 21st century, I hope I’ve just convinced you that it will be time well spent.
And for fun…
What would you add to this list of reasons I’ve built? What makes Sherlock so compelling to you?
Pingback: The Humanity of Sherlock Holmes, Part 1 | | Elise StephensElise Stephens
Erica Nichols
25 Jun 2012Benedict Cumberdatch (what a name!) was my hero. I use the past tense, because my love for him waned as the show progressed beyond the pilot episode. For a brief two hours, I was enchanted with his arrogance, his confidence, his closeted homosexuality, and his beautifully homely face. Too bad for the show, the characterization stopped after the first episode. I feel even more sorry that I watched a few episodes with my husband, who is actually a genius, and has come to believe that he’s exactly like Sherlock, minus the looks. He makes absurd deductions, compares my observational skills with his own, and has taken to calling me Watson, hardly ironically.
Elise
25 Jun 2012Erica,
I haven’t run across many who fell out of love with Sherlock–how interesting! I found myself in danger of it during the last episode of season 2, but then I realized they were intentionally playing up his cold-hearted arrogance to make a point. I’m not sure I’d like being called Watson, either, though!
Kelly Koffman
25 Jun 2012E: Have you seen Benedict Cumberbatch (I agree with Erica that it’s quite a name… so defiantly English that I couldn’t have made it up if I tried!) in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? I really think we’ll see much more of him soon…
Elise
25 Jun 2012Kelly, I thought he did fabulous work in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It was the first of his movies that I saw. A friend of mine told me that one of the actors in Tinker Tailor played a version of Sherlock Holmes, and I immediately guessed it was Benedict Cumberbatch. He’s a passionate, stern, intriguing actor. And his name is hard to forget (although my husband did go around calling him Cucumberbutt….)