CBS' Elementary looking more and more like BBC's 'Sherlock' for season 2
I know I need to get past this but hearing of the series 2 plans for CBS’ Elementary and now seeing images, it really is becoming more and more like a U.S. version of their BBC counterpart than the law allows.
First, it was envisioned as a 21st century adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. Hmmm…wonder where I’ve heard that before? Then, Jonny Lee Miller was cast as the world’s most famous consulting detective. Even thought I do think Miller does a fantastic job in the role, it still seemed a bit odd given that there was too much of a Kevin Bacon-type connection between he and Benedict Cumberbatch (Frankenstein). Yes, the concept was tricked up a bit with the casting of Lucy Liu as Dr. ‘Joan’ Watson. As with Miller’s take on Holmes, Liu does a very different take on Watson and it does works.
Even though there have been similarities and you, obviously, can’t copyright the ‘concept’ of a 21st century Sherlock, I was begrudgingly OK with the U.S. version as I never felt that Elementary could stand up to the Steven Moffat/Mark Gatiss BBC version from a production technique and quality standpoint. And, as much as I loved Jeremy Brett as Sherlock, to me, Benedict Cumberbatch IS Sherlock Holmes just as much as Martin Freeman is Dr. John Watson. The on-screen chemistry between the two cannot possibly be duplicated.
Then, as we have been reporting recently, the influx of British actors into roles on the CBS series makes me think that Elementary is trying to be too hard like the BBC version. First it was Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) taking on the dual role of Holmes’s arch-nemesis Moriarty and his love interest Irene Adler. Then it was Vinnie Jones as Moriarty’s henchman Sebastian Moran, John Hannah, who made a guest appearance as the detective’s former drug dealer. If you haven’t seen the series one finale then STOP READING NOW as the finale saw Holmes realize that his mortal enemy Moriarty is actually his former lover Irene Adler. Again, another tricked up bit to me.
Now, Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, Amazing Spider-Man) has been tapped as the latest British star to join the cast of Elementary as the detective’s older brother Mycroft in the season premiere episode.
I can almost get past all of this. But…now, comes the initial storyline for season 2…the cast have ventured across the Atlantic to film in the UK! Imagine that. According to the Hollywood Reporter, season 2 will see the ex-Scotland Yard consultant revisit an old case and face his past while Watson will learn more about her partner’s mysterious life before he moved to New York. Filming has begun for series two with the crime-solving duo back in Holmes’ literary home of London, specifically on the South Bank with their bags in hand and a classic British black cab in the background.
Season 2 of Elementary premieres on 26 September on CBS in the States with a Sky Living premiere approximately two weeks later. You be the judge. I may be just bit biased.
