Miss Sherlock

I had all but given up on watching this show having found nothing but a low quality version of episode two on a streaming site which wasn’t exactly easy to watch. But with subs on d-addicts, I was able to sit down last night with the first episode.

While I can’t call myself a fan, I do enjoy a good Sherlock, whether it be true to the original or a reinvention and this one, produced by the TV Channel Hulu, is apparently the first in which both main roles have been changed to women. I can’t see how this has changed anything but setting the story in modern day Japan seems to have caused a few minor rewrites. Wato-san, the doctor, is just back from voluntary work in Syria instead of Waston’s recent time in the army in Afghanistan.

The story is not a rewrite of a Conan Doyle story, but is a brand new mystery: two totally unconnected people die by a small bomb in their stomach going off. How did it get in there, and why were they targetted?

Episode one seemed a bit rushed. The clues were clearly signposted and there were few opportunities for clever Sherlockian deduction and even those were pretty uninspiring. Also, there was no attempt at slowly introducing an evil genius orchestrating everything: instead, Sherlock just started shouting “Who’s behind all this?” once the mystery had been solved. And then, right at the end, the two lead characters have to move in together because Wato-san’s hears that her hotel has just burnt down. How convenient.

So, a clunky start, but still quite enjoyable.