(no subject)

Catching up on the television series that I saved to my DVR and hadn't gotten around to watching until now. So far, watched all of Elementary including the finale, which was ...an interesting and somewhat disturbing study of Holmes heroine addiction. In all of the versions of Sherlock Holmes, the character is an addict, albeit for different reasons. I rather like Elementary's take on the character - whose addiction is a direct result of his guilt and feelings of inadequacy or self-hatred. He became an addict because he could not save the love of his life and in part to stave off loneliness and despair, which can walk hand in hand like squabbling brothers.

I find the characterization in Elementary to be more layered than in the BBC's Sherlock.
If you love twisty plots and catchy dialogue, Sherlock will most likely be more your thing. But if you prefer layered characterization and evolving character relationships, I'd recommend Elementary (well that, and the characters are a wee bit more likable and less over-the-top.) There's a frenetic sensibility to Cumberbatch's Sherlock, which is far more underplayed by the twitchy Johnny Lee Miller. Also the use of a female Watson and a female Moriarty in Elementary shakes things up a bit, and makes the series a wee more gender equal or less sexist, depending on how one wants to look at it.

I enjoy both. And will admit some of Elementary's episodes bore me -- the episodic mystery of the week format doesn't always work. And some of the plot lines fall flat.
But that's to be expected of a series with 22 episodes vs. one with maybe five. One has more time to evolve the characters, while the other is likely to have a much tighter plot. I tend, by and large, to care less about plot than character. There's a really good reason for this -- plots are a dime a dozen, and there really aren't any new one's out there. But characters...tend to vary. Even if they are standard trope like say Sherlock Holmes or J. Watson. There a various ways even those characters can be examined and portrayed.

The other series that I've watched four episodes of this weekend is Game of Thrones. I'm not very far. Still have about five episodes to go. Have mixed feelings about this season. While I'm pleased by some of the changes they've made from the books (mainly Tyrion, Dany, Davos, Brienne, and Jaime's storylines have improved greatly from the books), other changes...make me cringe and scratch my head in bewilderment. (The Sansa Stark/Little Finger arc is not working for me. Not that it completely worked in the books - but it made more logical sense and fit the story threads better. This take, I find sort of unbelievable and, well, I'm not sure I'll be able to watch it. Also not quite sure about Dorn and the Myrcella storyline.)

Also as an aside, this series just gets more gut-wrenchingly violent as it goes. Not that I haven't watched and enjoyed graphically violent television series. (Gotham was pretty violent, so too was Breaking Bad, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series, and The Wire.) But I'm growing tired of watching people being skinned, beheaded, and burned alive. It's getting old -- can we just be told it happened without having to actually see it? Seriously?

I'm thinking maybe this series much like Gotham is not one I'm going to enjoy binging on.
May need breaks.

( spoilers, in case anyone else out there besides me, hasn't watched it all yet. )

They are delivering my A/C while I'm at work tomorrow. I've left a large sign in the lobby requesting they leave it with the super and have the super sign for it. Also sent an email and put the request in the additional comments. Fingers crossed that the delivery guys follow my instructions -- will save us both headaches.