Devoted my attention to a single writing project this morning and got a substantial amount of work done. I’m pleased.
Also pleased that my first entry in the 2012 writing “ledger’ where I record my information for Schedule C is income. I didn’t confirm this, but I believe this is the first year that’s happened.
My wife kept getting calls yesterday where the Caller ID said NEWT 2012. When she answered, there was no one on the other end of the line. Somehow that seemed apropos.
I like the EJ character who has been a semi-regular on NCIS, but I suspect we won’t be seeing her again after this week’s episode. She seems so intent on pushing Tony toward Ziva that she doesn’t appear to have much interest in him. This season seems a little bit topsy turvy to me for some reason. All over the map. Subcutaneous tracking devices and moles and stuff.
A friend sent me a copy of the first episode of the second season of Sherlock, which aired in the UK on New Year’s Day. I was a little leery of the update when I first heard of it, but I’ve been mostly very happy with it (1×02 was a little on the weak side, in my opinion), and it was great to see that the show is continuing to be strong. Perhaps even stronger than ever. Now that the universe has been fully established, Moffat gets to play around at will.
He gets more than he bargained for with Adler, though, the woman who would always be “the woman” to him. In this updated version, she is a dominatrix who would love nothing more than to get Holmes at the end of her whip. “I could see myself slapping that face,” she says. “Would you like me to try?” To keep Holmes off his game, she first appears to him totally starkers. I can’t imagine how many takes they needed to make sure she was covered up from every angle as she traipsed around the room. “I’ve missed something, haven’t I,” says Watson, when he finally arrives on the scene.
Watson is blogging about Holmes’s cases, which include among their number “The Geek Interpreter” and “The Speckled Blonde.” Of course, there’s a real blog online that mirrors the one on the show. And Adler’s twitter account exists, too (TheWhipHand).
Lots of character development in this episode, too. Moriarty is a bit of a twerp, blowing raspberries at the parliament buildings, but Holmes and Watson are developing nicely. Giggling over the fact that Holmes is wearing only a sheet while they wait in Buckingham Palace. Holmes copping an ashtray for Watson. Holmes’s misstep with Molly, who is in love with him, and his interactions with Mycroft and Mrs. Hudson. It’s all brand spanking new and all so true to the originals at the same time. They even managed to shoe-horn in the deerstalker hat. A great running gag with a risque ring tone for Adler’s text messages. How funny is it that Holmes has the board from Clue affixed to his wall with a dagger? It was especially clever how the “boring,” rejected cases proved to be clues to what was going on after all.
Best of all was the interplay between Holmes and Adler, a game of chess if ever there was one. Holmes can “read” anyone—except here. All he comes up with is question marks. Is she one step ahead of her, or vice versa? The brothers Holmes talk briefly about what it must be like to be normal, feeling people, which leads one to believe they are either sociopaths or, like Spock, people who suppress their feelings. And yet Holmes is clearly taken with Adler and he has room in his heart for the other people in his life, too, even if he frequently treats them like rubbish. Can’t wait to see what they do with “The Hound of the Baskervilles” next.
