A small set has been retained for another feature, that of hooking it up to a DVD player. Which we make use of, once a week on Saturdays, generally. To view a film of our choosing. And the last few weeks we've been entertained by viewing the first of a set of discs that our older son sent along to us. The first season of the BBC-Masterpiece presentation of Sherlock: a new sleuth for the 21st Century.
In fact, we've been in possession of the discs for quite a while, and have only now decided to view them, for we harboured doubts that we would be the least bit interested in being entertained by what was, obviously, a current-day take-off of a classic set of mysteries written by that master of intellectual clues-interpretation, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Particularly given the seasons previous to it produced by the BBC with that excellent actor, now deceased, Jeremy Brett, whose performances were outstanding.
But, then, we succumbed, decided to watch the first one, last week. And, despite our initial misgivings, we were more than a little impressed by the production. Benedict Cumberbatch gave a scintillating performance as Sherlock, and Martin Freeman as his "Dr. Watson", acted the perfect foil.
The offering we engaged ourselves in last Saturday turned out to be a mini-masterpiece of puckish, quirky acting with impeccable timing, an affectionate parody of the original freighted with delicious irony. We enjoyed the initial offering (A Study In Pink) so much, we could hardly wait for the following week when we would view the one to follow.
What followed, unfortunately, was a far weaker version of the original, in The Great Game, the second of the three features. It was well enough done, but seemed to lack the clever panache of the one we'd seen the week before. We can only hope that the creators, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss were able to assemble their wit sufficiently to produce an improved segment in the third one, to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment