this was my new favorite tv show even before I watched it

I finally watched (the first episode of) Elementary! I was super-excited for it before it even aired, but the first episode came out approximately 12 hours before I had to be on a plane & on my way to Shanghai, so I was a little busy and since then I just hadn't found time. I actually have even less time right now, since I am one weekend away from midterms I have not adequately studied for, but OH WELL. Having watched one episode, my enthusiasm has not been dampened in the slightest since we first heard the premise.


JOAN WATSON YOU ARE THE COOLEST, I want you to keep doing exactly what you are doing for ever. Sherlock Holmes also thinks you are super cool and he wants to hang out and solve crimes together and be buddies! Please do this. For always. xoxo, me.

I would also like to add that the first episode manages to be just as cinematically eye-catching as BBC Sherlock while also being about 600000x more awesome, less racist, less sexist, and less homophobic. (why 600000? because '6' is pronounced 'liu' in putonghua.) and also the mystery was a great deal harder to figure out but was also a lot more plausible, bbc sherlock's cases were super ridiculous.

I wonder if Joan ever uses Sherlock to predict things so she can bet on them and win large amounts of money? because that is what I would do since he's proven that he can accurately predict baseball scores. Actually, please someone write an AU (possibly set in the heydays of American gambling?) where the crime-solving is a sideline hobby and their real method of income is finding people who are willing to bet Joan ridiculous sums of money.

aaaa he held her coat so cute crime-solving bffs I love yooooouuuuu

spoiler: elementary is still my favorite

Episode four of Elementary:

Holmes is super on point in this one! I adore his thoughts on bankers (gosh, I wonder if he has thoughts on colonialism -- remember that "if you want to dress like a criminal, dress like your dad" quote about all the horrible things white men in suits have gotten away with for hundreds of years? this reminds me of that a lot) and I love that he is taking the opportunity to spend as much rich-people money as nicely as he can.

I keep comparing this show to BBC Sherlock in my head -- with all the shit BBClock fans talked about it from the get-go, it's hard not to -- and Elementary comes up a thousand light years on top every time. BBC Sherlock is a white guy in a suit, from inherited wealth, who shows no compassion whatsoever for anybody without money or as much privilege as he himself has. And this is so, so obvious a difference right here in this scene I'm watching at the moment -- Holmes just sent a not-well-off couple a ridiculously expensive bottle of wine, because right now he has the ability and an extra-strong inclination to use lots of money to make other people happy. In this situation, BBC's Sherlock would blow it on something for himself or John that he'd break in half a day.


"No, 'we' are both not equally aware of my feelings." With one phrase, this show elevates itself above virtually anything else on television today. I am so ridiculously tired of people pretending they understand someone better than that person does themselves, and especially when it is a dude and a lady. So fucking tired of people making others' decisions for them. Guess what, world? Joan Watson is also really fucking tired of this.

ETA: Holmes' accent is pretty bad but not totally awful, he sounds like some of the first-year Hanyu students here, which does fit with the 'not as well as I would like' part of the equation.

ETA2: She ended their date with a HANDSHAKE. How much do I love you, Joan Watson? MORE THAN MANY THINGS.

ETA3: I forgot to mention how much I want a long, involved college!AU in which Joan and Sherlock live next door to each other in a dorm and have hilarious shenanigans. Because I want it a lot.

Also aaaaa thank you Sherlock for persuading her to check if her instincts were right and then advising her to forget about that Aaron dude and his dickishness so she can get her rest. You are a good friend sometimes, and Joan is good enough at telling you when you're not that it's almost like you're a good friend to her all the time.