Looking good, London!

Usually, I make sure to have anything Anglo-related directly downloaded to my Kindle, set on my TiVo months in advance and/ or generally on my radar. So when I heard that BBC was making an updated version of Sherlock Holmes entitled “Sherlock,” I was at least curious. Especially because I’m a fan of both its lead actors: Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement, Amazing Grace) and Martin Freeman (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Love Actually).

However, I had my reservations. On the heels of the Sherlock Holmes film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as the detective and doctor, respectively, I wasn’t sure I was on board with the remake. I reminded me all too much of the vampire influx post-Twilight (“Vampire Diaries,” “Teen Wolf,” et al.).

Which is why the series never got recorded and was nearly forgotten until this week when I was searching for something to do for two hours that didn’t involve polishing off the box of chocolate mints I had started earlier. Plus, I had just discovered that Amazon Instant Video is faster, cheaper and more diverse than iTunes.

The point is, I found “Sherlock,” and decided, heck, what else am I going to spend $5.99 on (food, gas, clothes, trips to actual Great Britain)? So I bought the first episode, which was one in a series of three, ninty minute episodes.

After starting the series, any comparison between Downey Jr.’s Sherlock fell away when I realized it was an updated, as well as modern, take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic.  In this version, Sherlock is a young, tall, and handsome man living in London in the modern era. It’s like all my literary and film dreams got together to have a charming, British television baby. Even more impressed was I with how they made the story fit into the 2010s without making it all Law and Order: Baker Street.

BBC’s Sherlock Holmes is a consultant to law enforcement (read: “The Mentalist,” “Lie to Me”) as well as a genuine sociopath. I mean it makes total sense.  The guy is exceptionally detail-oriented, good at manipulating seemingly unrelated clues and yet, as Watson points out, can be “staggeringly ignorant” toward matters he deems “dull.” Like the fact that the Earth revolves around the sun. He’s also unnervingly fond of the exclamation “WRONG!”

Our modern Sherlock may be a genius at solving crimes, but he lacks more than a little social grace. He is narcissistic, slightly manipulative and is oddly attracted to morbidity. And despite his quirks,  you are still rooting for him. He’s like House M.D. with murder. With a little Dexter thrown in.

Watson, on the other hand, is a war vet returning home from Afganistan and is the witty foil to Sherlock’s social ineptitude. His therapist has diagnosed him with a profound “lack of trust” but when Watson is introduced to Sherlock, we, as well as they, are surprised by their uncommon friendship. As it turns out, Watson shares Sherlock’s obsession with murder and crime.

This is our odd couple. The chemistry with the two actors is brilliant, the stories are engaging, and London never looked better.