I can't express the joy I felt when I heard that a series of Sherlock Holmes episodes was to appear on public television, and that they would be faithful, for the most part, to the original canon. I've seen them all a few times and decided to throw my two cent's worth into the mix. The first episode, "A Scandal in Bohemia," generally accepted as the first story published, gets things off on the right foot. We are introduced to Jeremy Brett, a quirky, self-absorbed Holmes, who puts his own stamp on the character. His Watson is portrayed, not as the bumbling incompetent, but as a worthy assistant who had the intelligence to write and publish the stories of his amazing friend (though seldom given credit for it by his mentor). This episode has several things to recommend it. He has a worthy adversary in Irene Adler. At no time is she the defenseless female of the Victorian novel. We have a masterful plot by Holmes to gain entrance into the woman's house to fetch the damning correspondence. We have Holmes at his best, disguising himself as he often did. We have a case of poetic justice. We also have Holmes dealing with a romantic fixation on the "one" woman. The performances are solid, the milieu of the period is nicely recreated, and we have interpretations of characters that are quite satisfying. It's too bad Irene never appears again, but then Conan-Doyle probably wasn't into sequels.
Review of A Scandal in Bohemia
