Sherlock, Episode 2, The Blind Banker
Aug. 4th, 2010 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99And I will have an icon one of these days but I can't find the right photo. Damn it.
My thoughts can be summed up thusly, plot was cack (and that is me being polite) but there were some interesting character bits.
Another thing I noticed was that I didn't like the directing as much for this episode. So I looked up who it was, and it was Euros Lyn, which confused me because he normally does a solid job on Doctor Who and Torchwood, and then I realised that was the problem. He was direct it like it was Doctor Who, but Sherlock had already got its own visual identity established and so the Doctor Who style just didn't fit.
There were many things that made the plot terrible, even beyond the stupidity of the sinister Oriental conspiracy (really, why, even if it hadn't been hideously offensive, there are no Holmes stories with evil Asians. If you're looking for groups that tend to be evil in Holmes canon, look for Australians or Americans.)
Now part of my problem is that I love the short story that this episode was vaguely influenced by, which is 'The Adventure of the Dancing Men'. (The full short story can be read here - http://sherlock-holmes.classic-literature.co.uk/the-adventure-of-the-dancing-men/ . Unfortunately, it doesn't include pictures of the dancing men.)
The part I love best about the story is that it shows you how Holmes cracks the code, the use of letter frequency and guessing and going back when it doesn't work, and the need for just one more message to shore up his findings. It's wonderful. So you can imagine how annoyed I was to find this reduced to a book cypher in 'The Blind Banker'. Solving book cyphers is both a lot easier, and a lot harder, because the only way you can solve it is by knowing the book, but once you know the book it's easy. They're also bloody hard to use, and I refuse to believe a half-competant criminal organisation would use them, because you'd have to make sure everyone was using the same edition of the same book, and passing that information to everyone in the organisation would increase the risk of someone in law enforcement finding out what the key is and then you'd have to do it all over again, and change everything. You could tell it was some idiot writer (Steve Thompson, should you wish to write him in your little black books of people to yell at should you ever get the chance) thinking he was clever but not knowing anything about either codes or books, because yes, shockingly enough the A to Z is updated frequently.
Part of me thinks that some of the problems with the pacing of the story were because this may have been the original pilot (if so, thanks for the do-over) expanded. My reason for this belief is that Soo Lin Yao is also credited in the shelved pilot.
But, let me be honest, even if they hadn't screwed up all of that, the background of the plot would still have left a bitter taste in my mouth.
1) Sherlock Holmes is capable of defending himself in a fight, and hiding the evidence - well mostly. The whole first bit (except for Watson's exasperation with bloody self-service machines in probably Tescos [I do not blame him one jot for that, I hate the damn things myself]) seemed to be padding.
2) I did like the various shows not tells of Holmes's wealth to wit:
a) Able to turn down cases that will offer them loadsamoney because he doesn't like them
b) Able to turn down advances that will prevent the utility companies cutting them off because he apparently lives on pride.
c) Is willing to give Watson his card (and therefore his PIN). I've actually had that kind of stuff given to me before and it's either been by people who have no money in their account and therefore don't have anything for you to steal, or by people who won't notice you stealing their money.
d) He went to uni with the odious Sebastian. Which means Oxbridge after public school (yes, I know this is a horrible, horrible calumny on Oxbridge and I know plenty of people from state schools who went there etc).
3) 'Must get a job.'
'Dull.' Ah Holmes, the eternal 12 year old.
4) Martin Freeman's expression of 'I hate to ask for money, but could I borrow some money, please', ouch! The man does the little things well. Friend L phrased it as 'he may only be able to do one thing, but he does it better than most other people can so I don't care'.
5) Sherlock's look of loathing directed at odious Sebastian. It is so deep and heartfelt and I can imagine Sherlock at university far too well. And 'I asked your secretary'. Sherlock'll do anything to get one over on Sebastian.
6) Holmes doesn't take cheques ... but Watson does. Bwah!
7) Holmes is a bad man who lies to get into flat. And mortuaries. I think I loved the scene with him conning the pathologist more because you could actually see his brain going 'I need to see those bodies. She is my only way in. She wants me. I can use this. What do women like to hear? That you're paying attention to them. What is different about her? New haircut. Complement her on haircut. Mission successful, can drop act.' Oh Holmes, I love you and your dead fish eyes.
I also like that they make it quite clear that Donovan is right. He's one step away from being the killer they're hunting.
8) Loving the total takedown of the poor baby policeman. Although, if I ever shoot myself, I may do it left-handed, just to cause confusion.
9) Watson's desperate attempts to try to find some sort of normality post-soldiering are quite affecting.
10) And great giant leap of illogic to get the plot moving. This is bad writing.
11) Sherlock, if you let your college in, you are less likely to get strangled.
12) Oh Benedict Cumberbatch's strangled voice. <3 his acting.
13) Of course you don't tell Watson that you got viciously attacked. You numpty Holmes. I think that's also part of my problem, large chunks of this episode rely on Holmes being block-headed. That and the bit where Soo Lin gets killed, the bit with the painted over grafitti, him not noticing that Soo Lin has started to translate things and the bit where he gets so caught up translating that he doesn't notice Watson and Sarah being kidnapped.
14) I love that Soo Lin, with all that threat and danger, keeps trying to protect her pots.
15) Holmes doesn't eat while on a case. That can't be good for you.
16) Also, tattoos would have been noted in the autopsy. The writer is an idiot. This is also shown in how he has them check the books. It's a terribly inefficient way of doing it.
17) Holmes, acting as the world's most obtuse cock-blocker. I think it's mostly deliberate.
18) Watson's revulsion at all things arty is amusing.
19) Holmes and Watson's fridge seems hideously familiar, and is similar to the fridges of several of my student friends. Mrs. Hudson is awesome.
20) Sarah is also awesome.
21) I refuse to believe that a competant evil society would get Holmes and Watson confused with each other. Although I do like 'if we'd wanted you dead, we would have killed you already'.
22) N makes some interesting points:
a) How can the secretary sell the pin, it is stolen property. I assumed that since it's stolen stolen property, the rules may be different, a sort of possession is 9/10ths of the law thing.
b) That M could be Mycroft just as easily as Moriarty. Or that he could be both. He certainly has the ability to let people in and out of Britain.
My thoughts can be summed up thusly, plot was cack (and that is me being polite) but there were some interesting character bits.
Another thing I noticed was that I didn't like the directing as much for this episode. So I looked up who it was, and it was Euros Lyn, which confused me because he normally does a solid job on Doctor Who and Torchwood, and then I realised that was the problem. He was direct it like it was Doctor Who, but Sherlock had already got its own visual identity established and so the Doctor Who style just didn't fit.
There were many things that made the plot terrible, even beyond the stupidity of the sinister Oriental conspiracy (really, why, even if it hadn't been hideously offensive, there are no Holmes stories with evil Asians. If you're looking for groups that tend to be evil in Holmes canon, look for Australians or Americans.)
Now part of my problem is that I love the short story that this episode was vaguely influenced by, which is 'The Adventure of the Dancing Men'. (The full short story can be read here - http://sherlock-holmes.classic-literature.co.uk/the-adventure-of-the-dancing-men/ . Unfortunately, it doesn't include pictures of the dancing men.)
The part I love best about the story is that it shows you how Holmes cracks the code, the use of letter frequency and guessing and going back when it doesn't work, and the need for just one more message to shore up his findings. It's wonderful. So you can imagine how annoyed I was to find this reduced to a book cypher in 'The Blind Banker'. Solving book cyphers is both a lot easier, and a lot harder, because the only way you can solve it is by knowing the book, but once you know the book it's easy. They're also bloody hard to use, and I refuse to believe a half-competant criminal organisation would use them, because you'd have to make sure everyone was using the same edition of the same book, and passing that information to everyone in the organisation would increase the risk of someone in law enforcement finding out what the key is and then you'd have to do it all over again, and change everything. You could tell it was some idiot writer (Steve Thompson, should you wish to write him in your little black books of people to yell at should you ever get the chance) thinking he was clever but not knowing anything about either codes or books, because yes, shockingly enough the A to Z is updated frequently.
Part of me thinks that some of the problems with the pacing of the story were because this may have been the original pilot (if so, thanks for the do-over) expanded. My reason for this belief is that Soo Lin Yao is also credited in the shelved pilot.
But, let me be honest, even if they hadn't screwed up all of that, the background of the plot would still have left a bitter taste in my mouth.
1) Sherlock Holmes is capable of defending himself in a fight, and hiding the evidence - well mostly. The whole first bit (except for Watson's exasperation with bloody self-service machines in probably Tescos [I do not blame him one jot for that, I hate the damn things myself]) seemed to be padding.
2) I did like the various shows not tells of Holmes's wealth to wit:
a) Able to turn down cases that will offer them loadsamoney because he doesn't like them
b) Able to turn down advances that will prevent the utility companies cutting them off because he apparently lives on pride.
c) Is willing to give Watson his card (and therefore his PIN). I've actually had that kind of stuff given to me before and it's either been by people who have no money in their account and therefore don't have anything for you to steal, or by people who won't notice you stealing their money.
d) He went to uni with the odious Sebastian. Which means Oxbridge after public school (yes, I know this is a horrible, horrible calumny on Oxbridge and I know plenty of people from state schools who went there etc).
3) 'Must get a job.'
'Dull.' Ah Holmes, the eternal 12 year old.
4) Martin Freeman's expression of 'I hate to ask for money, but could I borrow some money, please', ouch! The man does the little things well. Friend L phrased it as 'he may only be able to do one thing, but he does it better than most other people can so I don't care'.
5) Sherlock's look of loathing directed at odious Sebastian. It is so deep and heartfelt and I can imagine Sherlock at university far too well. And 'I asked your secretary'. Sherlock'll do anything to get one over on Sebastian.
6) Holmes doesn't take cheques ... but Watson does. Bwah!
7) Holmes is a bad man who lies to get into flat. And mortuaries. I think I loved the scene with him conning the pathologist more because you could actually see his brain going 'I need to see those bodies. She is my only way in. She wants me. I can use this. What do women like to hear? That you're paying attention to them. What is different about her? New haircut. Complement her on haircut. Mission successful, can drop act.' Oh Holmes, I love you and your dead fish eyes.
I also like that they make it quite clear that Donovan is right. He's one step away from being the killer they're hunting.
8) Loving the total takedown of the poor baby policeman. Although, if I ever shoot myself, I may do it left-handed, just to cause confusion.
9) Watson's desperate attempts to try to find some sort of normality post-soldiering are quite affecting.
10) And great giant leap of illogic to get the plot moving. This is bad writing.
11) Sherlock, if you let your college in, you are less likely to get strangled.
12) Oh Benedict Cumberbatch's strangled voice. <3 his acting.
13) Of course you don't tell Watson that you got viciously attacked. You numpty Holmes. I think that's also part of my problem, large chunks of this episode rely on Holmes being block-headed. That and the bit where Soo Lin gets killed, the bit with the painted over grafitti, him not noticing that Soo Lin has started to translate things and the bit where he gets so caught up translating that he doesn't notice Watson and Sarah being kidnapped.
14) I love that Soo Lin, with all that threat and danger, keeps trying to protect her pots.
15) Holmes doesn't eat while on a case. That can't be good for you.
16) Also, tattoos would have been noted in the autopsy. The writer is an idiot. This is also shown in how he has them check the books. It's a terribly inefficient way of doing it.
17) Holmes, acting as the world's most obtuse cock-blocker. I think it's mostly deliberate.
18) Watson's revulsion at all things arty is amusing.
19) Holmes and Watson's fridge seems hideously familiar, and is similar to the fridges of several of my student friends. Mrs. Hudson is awesome.
20) Sarah is also awesome.
21) I refuse to believe that a competant evil society would get Holmes and Watson confused with each other. Although I do like 'if we'd wanted you dead, we would have killed you already'.
22) N makes some interesting points:
a) How can the secretary sell the pin, it is stolen property. I assumed that since it's stolen stolen property, the rules may be different, a sort of possession is 9/10ths of the law thing.
b) That M could be Mycroft just as easily as Moriarty. Or that he could be both. He certainly has the ability to let people in and out of Britain.
