imaginary_golux

So I adore Sherlock Holmes; he is a wonderful character and the books are wonderful and Dr. Watson is all kinds of adorable and I want one. I also quite like the BBC's Sherlock; it seems to me to be a decent adaptation of the original works into modern London.

I will not be watching Elementary for one reason: because every review I've seen says that Joan Watson is not the competent, war-tested, even-tempered, highly intelligent doctor that Dr. Watson should be. Yes, ok, Dr. Watson doesn't solve the cases. That's because he's not Sherlock Holmes, because no one else is Sherlock Holmes. That doesn't mean he's incompetent or stupid; it just means he isn't Sherlock Holmes. He's a very talented doctor, he's a good man, he's a soldier with a soldier's skills in fighting, he's immensely patient and astonishingly good-natured, given what he has to put up with! He is good at his job. He just isn't Sherlock Holmes.

So any Watson that modern adaptations provide had better be a brave, competent, highly intelligent ex-military doctor, because that's who Watson is, regardless of gender.