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[Finaj]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkoGBOs5ecM

Hbomberguy has posted a nearly 2 hour-long video essay describing his opinion that Sherlock has always been a bad show. Some may disagree, but he creates some really engaging videos.

 

[Oblivion]

But what does he think about that other Sherlock with Lucy Liu?

 

[Finaj]

But what does he think about that other Sherlock with Lucy Liu?

He actually likes that adaptation and calls the Guy Richie films "fun romps." He starts the video off with them.

 

[hunnies28]

Saving for later. This show really went downhill after the first episode for me.

 

[Orbis Tabula]

Hmmm. I might have to watch this. After last season, I'm a bit more sympathetic to this idea.

 

[Messofanego]

Cuminherbatch fans right now

 

[nynt9]

He actually likes that adaptation and calls the Guy Richie films "fun romps." He starts the video off with them.

Opinion discarded, lol.

I mean, they're ok, but they have near zero artistic merit as works of film, especially the Lucy Liu show. Sherlock is very well shot and directed, has good moment to moment dialogue and amazing acting despite some questionable storytelling choices. It's far from "garbage" but whatever gives this guy the angry internet neckbeard views, I guess.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

I'm sorry, but I'll never get over Hbomberguy's terrible Souls videos. Maybe I'll like it because I'm not really a fan of Sherlock, but I've seen a lot of it recently cause my room mate rewatched all of it, and every time I tuned in it looked at least fun.

 

[Seesaw15]

Haven't watched the video let but the last season and a half has been trash.

 

[SD-Ness]

Only watched the beginning, will get to the rest later. Seems pretty cool.

However, I'm just going to say this: as someone who likes to write fiction (and aspires to do it professionally), I find this kind of criticism to be somewhat futile. Maybe I'm just lazy. But, to me, spending two hours pointing out why a work of fiction is flawed/bad is kind of a waste of time. It's hard to do this stuff. And it's really hard to do it well. I just take all fiction with a grain of salt.

Nonfiction, on other hand, or real-life events like politics -- I take that kind of criticism more seriously.

 

[Valhelm]

Certainly shit now. The Eurus episode is the worst hour of premier television I've ever seen. Can't believe multiple adults thought that script deserved to be filmed.

 

[border]

At what point does he actually get to the thesis of the video? 6-8 minutes in and I'm really not interested in a tedious rundown of how Steven Moffat ran Doctor Who.

 

[neoanarch]

In defense of Elementary, Jonny Lee I think is a much better Holmes. But the writing around him isn't nearly as good.

 

[The Albatross]

First episode was really good and fresh, every episode after was bad. And not just "bad for being called Sherlock Holmes," just simply bad mysteries with contrived storylines that make no sense.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I fell asleep watching the past few episodes (including the intro to the newest season), so even without watching I'm gonna have to agree the show fell off hard. The episodes would be better off 60 min with the current level of content.

 

[Replicant]

He just trigger'd the Humperpatch tumblr fangirls. I hope he's ready for the avalanches of angry tweets and emails.

 

[Aaron]

Problem with the BBC show is they're supposed to be mysteries, and the mysteries are shit. They include things that are physically impossible, giant leaps of logic, and the occasional total nonsense. Aside from the duo, the other characters range from dull to annoying. It is shot well though.

 

[cackhyena]

The Ritchie films are good fun. The show went downhill after season 2 for me.

 

[Stinkles]

At what point does he actually get to the thesis of the video? 6-8 minutes in and I'm really not interested in a tedious rundown of how Steven Moffat ran Doctor Who.

lol this is what I imagined before watching

 

[Mudcrab]

It's not like Sherlock was always bad, I was absolutely engrossed with the first series.

That said that last two series have been dreadful.

 

[HStallion]

It was always a bad show and Cumberpatch is a bad Sherlock Holmes. Playing up his quirks to the point he's some fool who can't seem to wrap his head around human interactions makes it seem like the people behind it didn't have a great grasp of Sherlock Holmes. Not too mention the stories themselves often felt rather trite with solutions that were all around dumb, that Hounds of Baskerville episode had me shaking my head the entire time. Did anyone actually read the Hounds of Baskerville?

If you want a better version of Sherlock that is from the BBC, watch Luther with Idris Elba.

 

[MMarston]

I dropped the show like a hot potato upon watching the first episode of Series 3. It was clear to me then that it was gonna turn into more of a fan service type of deal than what I was looking for in a modern iteration of Sherlock Holmes. Hell, thinking about it now, it kinda always was.

 

[kunonabi]

He actually likes that adaptation and calls the Guy Richie films "fun romps." He starts the video off with them.

So his opinion means jack then.

 

[Azzanadra]

I really enjoyed watching Sherlock (have yet to see S4), but.... he's probably right, this show always seemed kind of off to me, but I enjoyed myself regardless.

 

[Hopeford]

I'm a huge, huge fan of the original stories so I was very much looking forward to the show. I liked season one well enough, but after that it kind of veered a bit too far from the original feeling of the stories so I couldn't make myself enjoy them. My favorite episode by far was season 1 episode 1.

Like, it's all well directed, acted and shot but...it just doesn't do it for me because the characters end up being far too different from the ones I like. And that's probably more on me than on the show. I think the show is very competent, I just wanted different things.

 

[B-Dubs]

Only watched the beginning, will get to the rest later. Seems pretty cool.

However, I'm just going to say this: as someone who likes to write fiction (and aspires to do it professionally), I find this kind of criticism to be somewhat futile. Maybe I'm just lazy. But, to me, spending two hours pointing out why a work of fiction is flawed/bad is kind of a waste of time. It's hard to do this stuff. And it's really hard to do it well. I just take all fiction with a grain of salt.

Nonfiction, on other hand, or real-life events like politics -- I take that kind of criticism more seriously.

If you want to write professionally you should be able to pick apart why a piece of fiction works or not. The truth is that part is very simple and will make you a better writer since you'll learn what to do, what not to do, and how certain stories work.

That said, what's this guy's thesis? Why does he think it's bad? I never liked these threads that are just the video and nothing else.

 

[Magwik]

If you want to write professionally you should be able to pick apart why a piece of fiction works or not. The truth is that part is very simple and will make you a better writer since you'll learn what to do, what not to do, and how certain stories work.

That said, what's this guy's thesis? Why does he think it's bad? I never liked these threads that are just the video and nothing else.

Nobody has had time to listen to the entire thing yet

 

[Einchy]

But...I like Sherlock.

Spoiler

I've not seen season 4, though.

 

[HeartlessNobody213]

I'll give it a watch later. I honestly never thought it was all that good.

I know i'm in the minority but I thought that that Andrew Scott's portrayal of Moriarty was trash.

I can barely even remember series 3 and only remember series 4 because it was recent.

Like others have said it's strength was in it's cinematography. I do think Cumberbatch and Freeman did a good job.

 

[MooseKnuckles]

I dropped the show like a hot potato upon watching the first episode of Series 3. It was clear to me then that it was gonna turn into more of a fan service type of deal than what I was looking for in a modern iteration of Sherlock Holmes. Hell, thinking about it now, it kinda always was.

That was the wedding episode, right? I dropped it at the same time, felt like it had fully pivoted away from the things that were interesting about the first couple of seasons.

 

[ProfessorLobo]

Seasons 3 and 4 weren't great. Season 2 episode 1 is one of the best episodes of tv ever.

 

[Brandon F]

Only have seen S1 and 2, but garbage? I mean some episodes were flawed and certainly can be called out for their issues, but just considering the 6 or so episodes I have seen, 'garbage' is a bit melodramatic.

I mean even if the recent seasons are utterly unwatchable, there is still merit in the acting, directing, and uniqueness of its adaptation to consider in the early stuff. Look forward to a summary, not sure I can dedicate the time to watch his critique fully.

I know i'm in the minority but I thought that that Andrew Scott's portrayal of Moriarty was trash.

Not alone on Moriarty. Though I warmed up to him somewhat by the end of S2, I really loathed his introduction and disliked the portrayal initially.

 

[B-Dubs]

Nobody has had time to listen to the entire thing yet

The OP obviously has. That's my point here. How does he watch the video, recommend it to GAF, and not even give use so much as a summary of what the major points are? He basically just dropped a link and said watch it. Like, if I post an article as a thread I'm expected to pull a couple of quotes to give everyone an idea as to what's going on, same standard should apply with videos imo

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Episode 1 and 3 of season 1 and 2 are still fantastic. Season 3 is shit. Haven't watched 4. I want to watch so I can argue against....but 2 hours? I could watch another movie in my backlog in that time. Decisions, decisions...

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Problem with the BBC show is they're supposed to be mysteries, and the mysteries are shit. They include things that are physically impossible, giant leaps of logic, and the occasional total nonsense. Aside from the duo, the other characters range from dull to annoying. It is shot well though.

This.

I love the BBC version, but it is 100% up its own ass concerning the mysteries. There are absolutely no bread crumbs to follow for the viewer, which is perhaps the biggest mistake. This isn't a new development, either; it's been that way since episode one. Holmes is literally supernatural in his deductions (and this has had such a shitty influence on "smart characters" in TV) and his entire personality flips between episodes. He's also a gigantic asshole.

The show is also way too concerned with reimagining classic Holmes episodes.

 

[XAL]

I don't think it's garbage, it's just a really quirky over-the-top adaptation. It's fun and goofy. It would reaallllyy overstay its welcome if it was longer than 4 episodes a series.


I much prefer Elementary, much better character depth and performances - some nice twists as well.

And goddamn Coupling was good. Miss that show.

 

[border]

That said, what's this guy's thesis? Why does he think it's bad? I never liked these threads that are just the video and nothing else.

So far he seems to really dislike that the show is somewhat serialized and that Moriarty was used as a large, overarching villain who seems to be behind mysteries he had nothing to with in the novels. It plays a bit to much like "This isn't the Sherlock I knew and loved". Sorry that the re-imagining of the character doesn't lean close enough to the things you originally loved, but that doesn't make it garbage.

 

[Korigama]

If you want to write professionally you should be able to pick apart why a piece of fiction works or not. The truth is that part is very simple and will make you a better writer since you'll learn what to do, what not to do, and how certain stories work.

All of this.

Never watched the BBC series or the Lucy Liu one myself. While I consider the Guy Ritchie movies fun entertainment and enjoy them for that, I don't consider them to be good mysteries (the audience basically waits for RDJ Holmes to put everything together for them, rather than it being possible to do so themselves).

 

[meltingparappa]

But...I like Sherlock.

Spoiler

I've not seen season 4, though.

Season four has arguably the best standalone episode of the series (the second of the three) and also ends with what is by far the worst.

Not "boring Gatiss episode" bad, but just the biggest trainwreck you could possibly imagine.

It's also likely the last Sherlock episode, so the bitter taste will live on in videos by otherwise intelligent youtubers who undermine their two hour essay within the first five minutes.

 

[duckroll]

I need to know what firehawk thinks about this. I only respect his opinion.

 

[Sheroking]

Cuminherbatch fans right now

Heh.

I like Sherlock well enough, and I am a staunch defender of Steven Moffat's work on Who, but I'm not that arsed about some YouTuber's opinions.

 

[Einchy]

The OP obviously has. That's my point here. How does he watch the video, recommend it to GAF, and not even give use so much as a summary of what the major points are? He basically just dropped a link and said watch it. Like, if I post an article as a thread I'm expected to pull a couple of quotes to give everyone an idea as to what's going on, same standard should apply with videos imo

The video hasn't been up long enough for anyone to have seen the whole thing.

Granted, it's an Hbomberguy video and a lot of people around here like his stuff, so it's no surprise that a video essay from him would be posted.

 

[Manu]

All of this.

Never watched the BBC series or the Lucy Liu one myself. While I consider the Guy Ritchie movies fun entertainment and enjoy them for that, I don't consider them to be good mysteries (the audience basically waits for RDJ Holmes to put everything together for them, rather than it being possible to do so themselves).

The BBC series does this IN SPADES.

 

[HStallion]

This.

I love the BBC version, but it is 100% up its own ass concerning the mysteries. There are absolutely no bread crumbs to follow for the viewer, which is perhaps the biggest mistake. This isn't a new development, either; it's been that way since episode one. Holmes is literally supernatural in his deductions (and this has had such a shitty influence on "smart characters" in TV) and his entire personality flips between episodes. He's also a gigantic asshole.

The show is also way too concerned with reimagining classic Holmes episodes.

It honestly feels like the people involved had a bare bones knowledge of Sherlock Holmes outside of the general premise and characters names and basic relationships. If Moriarty was not called Moriarty in the show I would have little clue that was who he was supposed to be.

 

[The Illiterati]

This video is bad and here's why: if I watch a show and enjoy it, it is not "bad". If I then watch a two hour video of someone pointing out its flaws, it does not then make it "bad". If I don't like it, I won't watch it.

However, the act of watching a two hour essay on why a show I have already watched is bad, is in fact, inherently "bad". I don't need my decision made for me.

 

[Fury451]

First episode was really good and fresh, every episode after was bad. And not just "bad for being called Sherlock Holmes," just simply bad mysteries with contrived storylines that make no sense.

Have to mostly agree. It had great moments in other episodes though, and there were a couple that were largely good, but the first was the best by far.

 

[Sheroking]

The BBC series does this IN SPADES.

As does, you know, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Half of those short stories consist of Watson unpacking Holmes' explanation behind his deduction, for which the audience is given no context. Watson doesn't even lay out the scene before Holmes breaks it down.

The audience should not be smart enough to be ahead of him.

 

[Nepenthe]

I'm in tears at the Evangelion opening.

About to make myself some popcorn for real and strap in. Love hbomberguy.

 

[Chmpocalypse]

Anyone could have come to that conclusion after that garbage season 3.

 

[Rodney McKay]

This.

I love the BBC version, but it is 100% up its own ass concerning the mysteries. There are absolutely no bread crumbs to follow for the viewer, which is perhaps the biggest mistake. This isn't a new development, either; it's been that way since episode one. Holmes is literally supernatural in his deductions (and this has had such a shitty influence on "smart characters" in TV) and his entire personality flips between episodes. He's also a gigantic asshole.

The show is also way too concerned with reimagining classic Holmes episodes.

Agreed. Fun main characters, but it sucks as a mystery show.

I lost pretty much all of my enthusiasm about the show after the last season, unfortunately. It was just so bad, with only one episode I found OK, and that was only because the rich hospital killer was an enjoyable badguy.