New Russian Holmes

I recently learned that the new Russian TV series is available with English subtitles on YouTube, so I just watched the first episode. I will have to go back and watch the other episodes later, and I hope the show eventually becomes available for purchase on DVD.

I think the show compares very favorably to the earlier Soviet series starring Livanov and Solomin. The earlier series is very slashy, and I wish it were more widely available.

Odds and Ends

I recently watched the second season premiere of Wonder Woman and Jessica Walter was guest starring as Gloria, who helped the villainous Dr. Solano. She got to both kiss Steve Trevor Jr. and fight with Diana Prince at her new 1977 apartment. (Gloria ran away before Diana could turn into Wonder Woman.) As they fought, Diana protested, "You're a woman. We shouldn't be enemies." Gloria scoffed that "Women are natural enemies." She's very calculating and devious, and could have been a good villain in her own right, if developed more.

To my surprise, I found out that there's going to be a local production of William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes play in Dallas, so I'll have to try to go see it. I've already read the play, but it will be interesting to see how it's performed, and what modern influences will be present, like when I saw Crucifer of Blood with a Holmes modeled after Robert Downey Jr.

Also, I read that Nicholas Meyer is putting together a period drama with Sigmund Freud helping to solve crimes. Meyer is the Sherlockian who wrote The Seven-Per-Cent Solution with Freud curing Holmes's cocaine addiction. I hope this show won't be as hero-worshiping of Freud as Meyer's book and movie were. Freud's not that great, and his psychiatric theories are woefully outdated and sexist bunk. Hopefully Meyer can see these flaws himself now with the passage of forty years. But the show might end up being about serial killers like every other damn show these days.

Winter Soldier

I found out that the Russo brothers from Arrested Development directed Captain America, so I decided to give it a chance and see it today. I didn't bother to pay for the 3D version, though. It was pretty good, though nobody ever explained why the guy was called "The Winter Soldier" instead of "Hand of Hydra" or whatever the Nazi scientist said when working on him. Also, was his metal arm part of increasing his speed and strength, or was it because he was badly wounded when they found him? Oh well. Maybe it will be explained later.

Comparing Sherlock and Elementary

I just saw this February article on Tor. It's fairly balanced, pointing out flaws in both shows. I do hate what Elementary did to Irene Adler; it's slightly better than BBC Sherlock because Irene is the mastermind, and nobody's puppet. But she's as stupid a mastermind as the psychotic Jim Moriarty, who'd gladly destroy himself and his own criminal empire just because he got obsessed with Holmes. It's a wonder anybody follows his orders; if it's just for the money, then where does he get the money from, when he so shittily implodes his own crimes to play mindgames with Holmes?

As I said, I hate Elementary's Irene also because she was the one who came to New York and sent Moran to harass Holmes, basically putting Holmes on her trail to fuck up her criminal scheme. I hate the psychotic idea that she can't keep away from him, though I admit to not watching the episode where she returned. Also I won't give credit to Elementary anymore for transgender Ms. Hudson as long as she's an offscreen character. No progressive points for you until she comes back on a recurring basis!

Stormy weather

Well, April showers have begun, and hopefully they'll bring May flowers. I had a scare last week, though, when I was out in a rainstorm that I didn't think was severe. Then I got a weather alert that a tornado was in the county. The tornado didn't hit, but there was a lot of hail and I had to hide out in a restaurant for a while before a break in the storm, when I decided to go home. Oh well.

I finished the first Bess Crawford mystery A Duty to the Dead, and was very disappointed. Bess is a great heroine with depth and courage, and also a charming recklessness that leads her into trouble. The book explores interesting themes like soldiers suffering from shellshock, and people being shut up in mental asylums for bogus reasons. Really nice period detail, and Bess even talks to the servants a lot because that's how she grew up in India. The rich Graham family show that there's even more ways to deeply screw up brothers and that powerful people can buy silence. But the mystery turned out to be about finding a serial killer, even though they don't call it that. I hate serial killings, but I had to continue reading to the end. I had to know that poor Peregrine Graham would be saved.