A Study In Sherlock

While power was out a few months ago, I had the chance to do the one thing I never enjoyed and still don’t. Reading books, specifically classic ones. The kind of books that you would see on someone’s shelf and think either, “Woah, this person must be smart to understand that,” or “Wow, this person is superficial and hasn’t read a single page because old words written in a pre-modern structure are hard for him to understand. Notice how the spines of the paperbacks are still perfect.”

That’s me, I’m the second.

As someone with The Iliad & the Odyssey, The Lord of The Rings series, and The French dictionary, I can 100% say that all the books on my shelf are unread. Unfortunately, that was until now.

You see, I watched the BBC’s Sherlock. I’ve watched CBS’s series Elementary. I’ve watched Fox’s House M.D. and the anime Detective Conan by Gosho. All because I used to love watching genius minds unravel mysteries, which may make it seem odd that I’ve never once read a mystery novel, including Sherlock Holmes.

Since that might not make a lot of sense to some of you, allow me to explain in the form of an analogy. The television shows are like drinking water, a nice, easy exercise and refreshing experience. While the books are like eating ice. The people who do, scare me and the thought of which hurts my teeth. Hopefully, after visualizing that you understand what I mean.

But after taking the bite and forcing myself through the first story, I’ve come to realize some interesting differences between the novel and television adaptations. I thought I would share them and to do so you have to know at least a little of the original story.

Doyle's A Study In Scarlet

The novel is from the perspective of Dr. Watson, who spends the first page giving his backstory of being in the army as a surgeon, before bringing up his encounter with an old peer at a bar. This peer, Stamford, who I will never mention again, mentions to Watson that he is the second person to complain about needing someone to go halves with them on a flat. For the fellow Mericans, that is British for apartment.

Then we get the most iconic line in the entire series, “You don’t know Sherlock Holmes (yet).”

Watson is introduced to Sherlock, who is in the middle of a breakthrough discovery and he deduces that Watson was in Afghanistan upon introduction. Sherlock then pricks himself to show off his discovery. A chemical reaction that only occurs with blood. Which I will never mention again so don’t fill your attic with that information.

More importantly, they list their shortcomings as all men do before agreeing to check out the flat, and so begins a Study In Scarlet…is what I would say if it wasn’t for the fact that weeks went by and it took time for Watson to be curious enough about Sherlock’s guests, which would propel him to engage in the odd man's work.

Finally, Watson reads an article by Sherlock, mocks it, and then the Afghanistan deduction is explained to prove the article, but Watson still finds it hard to believe. And it’s not until chapter 3 that we are finally introduced to the crime at hand. They receive mail, telling them of a crime. A man named Mr. Dredder has been murdered. Now, at long last, finally, after all this time, the differences truly begin.

In the novel, both Gregson and Lestrade are introduced at the crime scene. Two of Scotland Yard’s detectives, who compete against each other and separately go to Sherlock for help. This is funny, because after Sherlock examines the body, the effects of the victim, and the word RACHE written in blood on the wall, he sets them both up to go in completely different and somewhat wrong directions.

The Yards, I’ll be calling all English policemen that from now on because they all share a brain cell. Anyway, the Yards think the victim was trying to write Rachel. Obviously, they are wrong, but they are useful enough to give Sherlock information on the officer who was on the beat that night.

For the degenerates, on the beat means on patrol and not what you do to pictures of a vaporeon. (You forsaken souls)

After a ring falls off the corpse, Sherlock speaks with the Yard that was on patrol who mentions a mysterious drunkard, who appeared out of nowhere…cartoonishly drunk I might add…on a night he claims there was not a soul in sight…outside the place they found the body…truly a Yard.

Sherlock then goes to place an advert for the ring in the Found section of every newspaper. This part immediately caught my attention as the following morning it’s the first mention of Watson having a gun, which he sadly does not use on the elderly lady who comes to get the ring. The old lady is probed by Sherlock before she is given the ring and leaves. Then, before she gets too far Sherlock leaves to follow her.

This is a good chance to mention that, since we’re reading things from Watson’s perspective, we have no insight into the inner mechanics of Sherlock’s mind or what is going on until someone says what has happened or explains things.

Because Watson is not in great health, he stays at the flat until Sherlock returns at midnight, and listens as he recounts the events of him following the old lady. After hearing about the failed chase, they go to bed and the next day get a visit from Gregson, who recounts his side of things, believing he caught the criminal.

Of course, the Yard is wrong. This book is called Sherlock Holmes, we can’t have the police detectives being remotely competent. As the other half of the brain cell shows up, Lestrade tells them there has been another victim that morning. Mr. Stragerson, the secretary of the first victim, was found dead with the word Rache in his blood, which serves as proof that Gregson caught the wrong man as the murder happened after the arrest.

It’s then revealed that pills were found with Stragerson, which the Yards don’t think are important until Sherlock kills a terrier that the landlady wanted put out of its pain. I specify that because…well…if I didn’t it would be more messed up and I’ve already skipped a lot of context.

Also, the landlady isn’t named yet, that wasn’t me forgetting Misses Hadson.

In fact, you can essentially summarize these chapters in single sentences about what the characters did. But back to the story, the Yards are at their wits ends, Sherlock talks for half a page and then shows off some new handcuffs before a cabby comes upstairs, Sherlock calls him by his full government name and claims he’s the murderer before the Yards & Sherlock restrain him.

The story ends and nothing is explained by Sherlock. It sure would have been nice if we had Sherlock condescendingly explain things so our simple minds could understand.

BBC's A Study In Pink

The TV series Sherlock from 2010, not to be confused with Sherlock Holmes from 2013, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes from 1984, or Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century…

The reason I bring these old series up before getting to the BBC’s version is to mention I have not watched a single one of them. Actually, I have seen Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century but thankfully I forgot everything. When talking about the difference between book to television adaptations, however, I feel the need to point these out because they aren’t getting compared. Nor are the movies.

If I did compare every show, movie, & book, we would be here longer than most attention spans last. So, for all I know, the 1984 version is a completely faithful adaptation, but we’re not talking about classic television, we’re talking modern television, we're talking about Sherlock from 2010… oh god it’s been 14 years…

The BBC’s Sherlock, most notable for starring Nike Cumberbasket, opens with Watson having CoD flashbacks before showing him having trouble writing his blog. Knowing he’ll get canceled for the things he said in the lobby years ago, so he decides to go to his therapist which as we all know every veteran has ease of access to.

I am being sarcastic & will continue being so with the BBC's series. Also, the therapist never comes up again.

Lestrade is introduced holding a press conference as multiple people have died in a string of self-deletions. Sherlock is showing off his textmaxxing skills…that’s what the kids say right? Anyway, Watson tries to avoid being social with a random guy at a park because they're supposed to talk at a bar, meanwhile, Sherlock beats a deadman while avoiding the advances of a wahman.

Already, with the first few moments we find differences and similarities between the two. Mainly, Mr. Cucumber is written to be smarter, and more annoying, than his book counterpart. Watson looked into his new roommate via the internet before they met at the flat. Hudson is introduced early, who assumes Sherlock and Watson are…what’s a funny metaphor for two guys sharing sausages? Anyway, Gregson is no longer around and there are women in the story other than the ones I didn’t mention from the novel because Gregson was wrong anyway.

Also, you thought the old lady I mentioned was a woman? No, no they were not. But that’s not important, Lestrade shows up after the fourth murder happens, Kumquat gets excited and Watson gets excited, before heading off to the crime scene. Sally and what’s his face are new and apparently sleeping together. This holds no relevance to the story other than to show Sherlock has the social skills of a brick flying through a window. Comblock tells Lestrade to shut up even though he wasn’t saying a word, and we see text inside Sherlock’s mind.

In an interesting spin, the police know the word RACHE means revenge. Why the English police default to Russian is beyond anyone's guess, but Sherlock tells them it is wrong and the victim was trying to write Rachel. He then tries to have Watson contribute before styling on both the doctor and Lestrade, insulting their funny little heads before running off and leaving Watson behind.

As I might have alluded to, this Sherlock is a prick.

The episode goes further off the original by having Watson escorted to, of all people, Mycroft…Sherlock’s brother, who diagnoses Watson as being an American for wanting action. Which the doctor immediately confirms when he picks up his gun from his old place.

Watson gets mistaken for Sherlock’s date and then asks if he has a girlfriend or boyfriend which causes a misunderstanding that isn’t funny and is the second gay joke. But I’m not counting and that’s only important for the people that ship fictional characters, like Sherlock and Watson.

Oh right, I forgot to mention that in the novel, some street kids called the cabby for Sherlock, this is important because the culprit is also cabby in the BBC version and the kids were probably removed because Watson refers to their appearance as "the dirtiest and most ragged street Arabs".

Plus, Cumlock is too smart for child labor and is dealing with Lestrade, who does a drug bust to leverage him to cooperate, to which Nike Basket refers to himself as a high-functioning sociopath (the only memorable line from the episode), and reveals Rachel is the password to the victim’s smartphone locater.

This is made pointless when the cab driver shows up to the apartment seconds later, with the victim’s phone I might add, and instead of having the police grab him, Sherlock does the stupid act of following the murderer alone to hear what he said to the victims.

You know, I think that’s enough about the episode. Like many adaptations, it tries to be different to keep the story interesting and palatable, but there are cons to changing certain things. Focusing more on Sherlock leads to an interesting problem.

Part of the mystery of the novel is not seeing things from Sherlock’s perspective and not understanding how he sees the world. So after you finish the story, you can reread it with hindsight and begin to piece things together to understand things the way Sherlock would, even through the eyes of Watson.

Additionally, making the characters and aspects more hyper seems to exist to distract the audience from thinking by getting them as energetic as Sherlock and Watson. That way no one questions the stupidity of following a murderer and playing Russian roulette with pills. Surely no one else would portray a great mind as a loud, childish, know-it-all, drug…

Elementary's A Study In Red

Elementary is a series that was picked up by CBS. I’m stating this again because if you’re like me, you skipped that part in order to read the section on your favorite series and didn’t catch that part. Or you didn’t and now I look like a prick.

This version of Sherlock is a modern-day reimagining of the original book, placed in New York City instead of London. With a big, important difference, that ruins the entire show…

Did you think I was going to say Watson being a woman? Because you’re wrong. It’s my opinion, I can claim whatever I want as the worst part of the show…It’s that Sherlock leaves Captain Gregson’s coat and drink unattended while he is using the restroom. What kind of man does that to his friend? Oh right, Sherlock doesn’t have any friends...

Unlike the BBC adaptation, the pilot does not reference the first case at all, apart from minor aspects. That doesn’t happen more blatantly until Season 4, Episode 13, with A Study in Charlotte.

But we’re not talking about later episodes, we’re talking about the introduction case that is meant to establish Watson, Sherlock, & how the mysteries unfold. So we will be discussing the episode Pilot…

Side tangent, I genuinely dislike series that have the title Pilot for their first episode, it’s as if they’re saying they have no faith in the series to be long-running or no idea how things will play out and they’re just testing the waters. So I’m calling this case A Study in Red, and if you watched it, you should understand way.

The similarities are few from the original, so let’s go over the differences. Lestrod isn’t introduced until Sherlock goes to London later in the series. Sherlock’s father owns the brownstone, the place he and Watson live in. There is no Hudson, the person, not the river. Watson is a former surgeon turned sober companion, and also a woman. So she is not a former soldier who was stationed in Afghanistan. But we all know that place isn’t real because there is only America and not America. For those who don't understand, that is a joke.

Sherlock was/is a drug addict. Gregson is a police captain and not a complete Yard. Unlike Lestrod. The first victim was a woman. There is no cab driver, there is no landlady, and there is no John Rance. Don’t know who that is? That’s fine, I didn’t mention him by name when talking about the novel so don’t feel like you missed something. There are quite a few smaller details but you get the picture that Elementary starts off on a different foot.

For instance, things that are similar include: Watson being a doctor, the major suspect of the first murder being found dead, pills playing a key part in the case, and…uh…hm…Sherlock is British, but I’m not sure that’s a positive.

As an American, I feel anyone inflicted with being British as being an unfortunate soul, as they have to go their whole lives being remembered as the nation that lost to rednecks over a tea tax and requiring a license to breathe. As a side note, Sherlock, Elementary, & House M.D. have a British lead in each series, but House, played by Hugh Laurie, uses an American accent and not a British accent. He did such a damn fine job I thought he was an American for the longest time.

Anyway, Elementary may not reference the original novel, but the first episode comes off more appealing than Sherbert 2010. This likely is because of the difference in series and episode length. Sherlock’s first episode runs the length of a movie and tries to establish a lot of characters and the style of the series, knowing it only has three episodes to do things and bring an exciting climax.

Meanwhile Elementary knows it has breathing room, for instance, Sherlock’s brother is introduced later in season 2, the seventh episode, and not as a member of the British government, but as a restaurateur who seems to want to mend things with his brother.

Sherlock’s drug-addicted past allows for turbulent character growth and a different starting point for his and Watson’s relationship. Watson, who doesn’t have a gun, takes up singlestick and becomes his apprentice after naturally developing detective skills. As for Moriarty, let’s not even go there but for a moment.

Moriarty in the original stories was not tied to every crime that came Sherlock's way. He most certainly isn't the cartoonish man the BBC portrayed him as. In terms of interesting versions, Elementary takes the cake.

I only realized it now after typing it all out that BBC’s Sherlock is directed as more of an action thriller than a true mystery, while Elementary is directed similarly to other crime series which may be what makes it less appealing to others. It’s just another episodic crime drama, but that genre may actually be more tonally in line with the original novel’s genre. But surely that doesn’t mean any episodic series about a detective solving murder mysteries is just a retelling of Sherlock Holmes. Surely.

Detective Conan & The Real Sherlock

What do Sherlock Holmes and Detective Conan have in common? Absolutely nothing. Whatever made you think that? It’s not like I picked Detective Conan over House just because I enjoy one more than the other…Okay, that’s a lie, I prefer Detective Conan more than House. But we’re talking about crime mysteries here, not medical malpractice the drama. No matter how good the show is, we’re talking about crimes committed by different people with different motives, not the same doctor with the same motive.

Anyway, it’s not like Detective Conan is completely unrelated to Sherlock. In fact, the name Conan comes from the author of Sherlock and had to be called Case Closed in English releases due to legal problems. Yes, that’s right, the name Detective Conan was an issue, but that’s a whole other thing…

Either way, the series follows Shinichi Kudo, he is a high school detective, a skilled soccer player, and who is a true Sherlockian. This is drilled in at episode one and not brought up again unless someone says otherwise, I promise I’m not lying this time or leaving things out on purpose to get you to stay engaged. Not that I lied, of course, it’s not like people lie online or anything. (Hint: They do)

Ran Mouri, his childhood friend and crush, has him take her to an amusement park that will surely never come up again. After he takes her to a murder scene and solves the roller coaster murder case he decides to follow a pair of men in black, gets drugged for his actions, and ends up shrinking into a kid. As one naturally does.

After getting help from his neighbor who is a doctor but not named Watson, Ran shows up at his place, and the two panic. This led to Shinichi creating the alias Conan Edogawa, after seeing a Sherlock Holmes story and making up the name on the spot. He then went off and ended up at every murder scene known to Japan.

Literally, Conan and the other main cast end up at so many crime scenes the police have started picking up on the pattern. A funny meta joke. You know what’s not funny? The fact that it’s over a thousand episodes long and half of them are non-canon filler. But the real kick in the teeth comes from the fact that the first one hundred episodes that were translated used different names for the characters, so if you wanted to watch the rest in Japanese you have to relearn their names so you know who’s being referred to when reading the subtitles, and god help you find a service that has every episode.

I’m completely off track and have lost the point I was trying to get to. The reason I bring the series up in the first place is because instead of being an adaptation, it’s more of an inspiration. In fact, the series is often at its best when it’s not focused on the murder mystery. I literally cannot recall how many locked-room murders there have been, probably over fifteen, but I do remember the good episodes.

For one, there’s a multi-part case where Ran’s mother ends up being the alibi for the murderer and a prime suspect as the body was found in her room. At this point, throughout the series, once Conan has figured out the case, he tranquilizes Detective Mouri and uses a voice changer to explain things. However, Conan realizes Ran’s father wants to figure things out and clear his wife’s name, so Conan goes out of his way to let Mouri figure things out and solve the case himself. And that is what separates it from modern Sherlock.

While the genius crime solver never getting credit and instead having it go to an incompetent detective is a thing in both Detective Conan and all Sherlock series, there is an interesting part of the novel Sherlock I purposefully didn’t mention. I know, a lie, what a surprise, perhaps this entire article has just been one whole falsehood and isn’t about what I said it was at the start and is just random rambles about shows I felt like talking about now that power is back on.

Conan shares an interesting trait with the novel Sherlock that the television ones do not. Novel Sherlock is considerate, though he might not seem so. On page 9, Sherlock asks if Watson is okay with the smell of strong tobacco, asks if his chemicals and experiments would annoy him, and confesses there are days he will not open his mouth and to not take offense to it. Sherlock says “It’s just as well for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together.”

And on page 47, where we briefly meet Wiggins, one of the street kids, and his fellow urchins, while Sherlock is firm with them he still pays them their wages even though they haven’t succeeded in the task given to them.

He also pays the police officer who was on the beat the night of the murder for telling his story, although it was more of a bribe. These lines, though seemingly benign in terms of characterization, show a person who is considerate when he wants a win-win situation. One could almost say he’s a pragmatist when it comes to dealing with people. This sounds nothing like either television series.

I poked fun at Benedict Cumberbatch’s name, but do not misunderstand. As an actor, I enjoyed him in both The Imitation Game and Doctor Strange, but the character he was given was not Sherlock. Page 43 shows this the best, as it's the moment when Sherlock chases the old lady. Instead of telling Watson to follow, he tells him to wait up for him.

Sherlock knows Watson isn’t in the best of health, so the best way Watson can assist is by being up in case he doesn’t return. The BBC version completely ignores this. Or worse, poorly portrays the psychological injuries veterans have to deal with when returning from the military. Elementary avoids the issue entirely, but it does try to show Sherlock can be considerate through his deduction of Watson. In the first episode, he makes a lie of omission during the first half of his explanation in deducing Watson, only revealing the rest when he gets heated later.

Something I found funny was the part of his deduction where he admits he googled the information. But that is completely lost when he drives Watson’s car into another car after she is kind enough to trust him with it. Mind you, they’ve hardly known each other for long, and Holmes is a recovering drug addict. He could have stranded her, like the BBC version did to Watson after Sherlock ran off.

Back on track, since the novel is from the perspective of Watson and not an omniscient body, we can only have the impression of Sherlock that Watson gives us. Mine, for what little it’s worth, is that the great detective is knowledgable and eccentric, but not in a whimsical way, simply odd when compared to the norm when it comes to seeing things and is willing to suggest what others should study in order for them to improve.

While the novel version is completely capable of outbursts and does not think highly of the Yard detectives, he still humors to listen to them as he knows something they say might have another thread to weave the case together, even if the conclusion others reached is entirely wrong. He also knows they are reliable, such as how they assisted him without question in the arrest of the cabby and the fact they were about to track down the secretary of the first victim without his direct help.

Most of the first story is literally just sitting and talking, absorbing information from other people. And while he has the snappy odd remark, those are few and it can make things seem dull from the lack of action. From that perspective, it’s understandable that the television shows would ramp up the snappy part of Sherlock’s character.

Meanwhile, Detective Conan isn’t trying to be Sherlock, yet I can see how the stories were an inspiration and the similarities between them. This is because there’s a common occurrence where we compare things as similar because of a common trait instead of judging things by themselves. In the case of Sherlock and Elementary, it is fair to judge them both on their own as crime series and then compare them to the work they are based on, furthermore, compared against each other.

So then, is one work truly better than another? Do differences from the original determine the quality of the work? Can things be objectively ranked for what they are?

Yes, absolutely, the novel is better than Sherlock, Elementary is better than the novel, and Detective Conan beats all of them because Sera exists, and that is final! It is the objective truth and not opinion! And if you disagree I hope you have a good day.