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sherlock60Let's talk telly in the discussion post for Granada's adaptation of The Blue Carbuncle. If you haven't seen this episode yet, you can find it at YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, and DVD. Follow me behind the jump for some of my random thoughts and impressions. Please add your own in the comments!
Canon discussion is available in the canon discussion post.
- The opening bit giving us a taste of the history of the stone was intriguing. It changes hands in various, usually bloody, ways until it ends up in the hands of the young Countess of Morcar. She's delighted to receive it, although it seems not to have given her much joy, because by the time we see her later in life, she is a cold and bitter aristocrat, miserable in her finery.
- Jeremy Brett is lively here, casually throwing his head back to laugh during the scene with the hat. With a sly smile of mischievous interest, he asks Watson to try his hand at the magnifying glass. Burke's Watson is delightful too, amused and impressed, and game for anything, as ever. Well, almost anything -- unlike canon Watson, Burke gets to express his (and our) frustration with Ryder getting away from his crimes scot free and he makes sure to remind Holmes that they rescue Horner from his wrongful imprisonment before they can enjoy their own holiday dinner together.
- I felt especially sorry for Henry Baker in this adaptation. He seemed sweet, giving a coin to a beggar woman despite his own poverty, and spending weeks saving for a goose for Christmas for his wife, paying for it by selling his beloved books. I wanted him to get some of that reward money! Of course, judging by his order of beer and whiskey at the bar, he might just drink it away. Sad.
- We see quite a bit of the Horners as well, and I felt even worse for them. After a history of crime, John Horner goes straight when he marries his wife. We see them happily picking out a doll for their daughter for Christmas. And then, out of nowhere, right there in front of the shop, John is arrested for a crime he didn't commit and knows nothing about. The police berate and threaten him, and even his own wife begins to doubt his honesty, sobbing on the other side of the jail door.
Canon discussion is available in the canon discussion post.
- The opening bit giving us a taste of the history of the stone was intriguing. It changes hands in various, usually bloody, ways until it ends up in the hands of the young Countess of Morcar. She's delighted to receive it, although it seems not to have given her much joy, because by the time we see her later in life, she is a cold and bitter aristocrat, miserable in her finery.
- Jeremy Brett is lively here, casually throwing his head back to laugh during the scene with the hat. With a sly smile of mischievous interest, he asks Watson to try his hand at the magnifying glass. Burke's Watson is delightful too, amused and impressed, and game for anything, as ever. Well, almost anything -- unlike canon Watson, Burke gets to express his (and our) frustration with Ryder getting away from his crimes scot free and he makes sure to remind Holmes that they rescue Horner from his wrongful imprisonment before they can enjoy their own holiday dinner together.
- I felt especially sorry for Henry Baker in this adaptation. He seemed sweet, giving a coin to a beggar woman despite his own poverty, and spending weeks saving for a goose for Christmas for his wife, paying for it by selling his beloved books. I wanted him to get some of that reward money! Of course, judging by his order of beer and whiskey at the bar, he might just drink it away. Sad.
- We see quite a bit of the Horners as well, and I felt even worse for them. After a history of crime, John Horner goes straight when he marries his wife. We see them happily picking out a doll for their daughter for Christmas. And then, out of nowhere, right there in front of the shop, John is arrested for a crime he didn't commit and knows nothing about. The police berate and threaten him, and even his own wife begins to doubt his honesty, sobbing on the other side of the jail door.
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Sunday, 25 November 2012
Date: 2012-11-26 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-26 05:19 am (UTC)Plus, no lonely Christmas for Holmes in the Granadaverse. Bonus! ;-)
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Date: 2012-11-27 05:45 am (UTC)In any case, the H&W stuff is priceless, particularly the goose seller bet scene. I love the eager look on Watson when the guy tells Holmes he owes him a fiver. But he pays him back right after. Watson should have kept the money, he earned it fair and square. :)
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Date: 2012-11-28 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-26 01:47 am (UTC)I didn't find it overly sad, but that might be me making an allowance for it being a Christmas story. Christmas stories always need to find a way to make us all soppy so that the fix at the end is that much more powerful.