Sherlock; No Shit

So I watched last night’s opener of Steven Moffat’s and Mark Gatiss’ Sherlock, and, as I suspected, I was not disappointed. I thought it was terrific. Benedict Cumberbatch is perfect in the role of Sherlock Holmes and plays it, as Holmes himself says, as a high-functioning sociopath. The script was good, with some witty updating of the original Holmes traits to 21st Century London – e.g. the three-patch problem (nicotine patches, that is) in place of the three-pipe problem. That particular bit of business was also introduced with a visual joke clearly meant to allude to the original Holmes’ predilection for injecting heroin.

I have to say that I guessed who the villain would be shortly before it was spelled out, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. However, I did wonder whether he would have been allowed, under Health and Safety regulations, to be allowed to continue in his line of business following his diagnosis (I’m trying not to give too many spoilers here…).

Mark Gatiss gave another of his masterful cameos as Mycroft. Like Dr. Watson, I was left wondering at the first meeting between the two, whether this person was a villain or not. Was this Mycroft or Moriarty? Or, I wonder, both?

And perhaps I’m reading too much into the visuals, but the climatic scene involving two identical buildings side by side seemed to echo the murder weapons used by the killer.

Yep, I enjoyed this very much indeed.