cbs's elementary just got very interesting

Posted on ff_a (I find in general news gets there faster than pretty much anywhere):

I suddenly find my interest in CBS's Elementary, the Sherlock reboot, going up. Like a lot. I would likely watch Johnny Lee Miller as Holmes because I'd watch Miller as Man Who Watches Paint Dry for two hours because I had a deep and meaningful experience with Hackers in a movie theater at a formative age. Lucy Liu I have loved since she first showed up on Ally McBeal and managed to be super, super quirky and abrupt and fun in a show where everyone doubled down on quirky like a lifestyle choice. And I really can't talk about my feelings about that show because for the life of me, I'm still confused, and I watched it to the bitter end.

(Short version; it was brilliant and annoying and stupid and I loved it and it made having a soundtrack and background singers to your life perfectly normal. I can honestly state it did a lot to make me a lot more comfortable with the fact that certain points in my life I walked into meetings comfortable that hearing Eye of the Tiger as I stared my presentation was a-okay. Hearing Bodies Like Sheep during other meetings, however, might be more questionable. And I admit that it was unnerving to test programs to the complete Eminem collection even when it pretty appropriate, all things considered. I have feelings on Ally McBeal. Like a lot of them.)

It'll be annoying if they try to force her into the mold of Person Who Keeps Genius Grounded, but her general work outside of Ally McBeal tends me toward the idea that she's a skilled enough actress to make it far more nuanced than it would seem to be.

I may actually end up watching this really enthusiastically just on the strength of this casting and how Liu and Miller will interact with each other.

Comments

[seperis]

I commented below on this, pasting here, because I agree--oh do I agree--but a secondary fallout from doing it this way:

You know, you hit something with that, especially if they do go the romance angle; it's a very specific kind of commentary on television--and hell, society--that apparently it is only joint penises that inhibit true love. Literally, with this translation, the only reason Watson and Holmes aren't doing it is because they're the same sex. And yeah, basically would confirm years of subtext of yeah, that potential has always been there after all if all you need to do to make it work is flip one character's sex/gender.

I mean, it kind of kills the entire "BUT IT IS NOT THERE AT ALL EVEN IN POTENTIAL" when, literally, the only variable difference is a female Watson. If it's perfectly workable as a romantic pairing once Watson is a woman, then Holmes/Watson dynamic in male/male form does have that potential.

[lilacsigil]

I absolutely agree, but this year, finally, I gave up on subtext, around the time I watched X-Men First Class. I just want some text, dammit. Not Moffatt's "tee hee, no, that would be ridiculous", not "they're OBVIOUSLY doing it", not "they're the most important person in the world to each other so it's LIKE a relationship", though I still apparently have a soft spot for "both actresses stating that they see their characters as romantically involved" (Warehouse 13). X-Men First Class broke something, I think. But that's absolutely my issue, not everyone's!

[seperis]

No, I get you, totally. Off the top of my head the only one I can think of that was popular in the mainstream is Jack/Ianto from Torchwood that had some of the conventions of a television romantic relationship, and an ongoing relationship that was also treated as part of the show both upfront and background; ie, treating it like it does any romantic relationship.

Secondary or tertiary character same-sex relationships seem to be showing up more, but Child, who watches even more than I do, brought up that there aren't many, or any he can watch easily, shows about kids with same sex parents (ie, he watches a lot of Disney channel with my niece and pretends its' because she's making him). He goes to a school that's both minority white and possibly majority Muslim, so I tend to trust his perspective; that kind of discrepancy between television and real life is something any kid in that age group wouldn't be able to help but notice.

(Leaving out shows that are about queer issues or focused on queer-issues/etc, which are a different category, though to be honest, when I was first watching Queer as Folk as a clerk, pretty much everyone who had cable watched that show either regularly or ocassionally, and none of them were fannish, so I wonder if it's popularity was a lot, lot, lot more 'mainstream' than it was generally conceded to be.)