absolutely normal ways to wake up your roommate #23719

Lol, *In the voice of the kids from The Magic School Bus cartoon*: A normal way to wake up his roommate? With Sherlock? No way!

Elementary - Why It's So Great

Elementary was just another Sherlock Holmes piece of media during the early 2010s, with the RDJ movies and the BBC show with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (Don't get me wrong I love the show dearly) was coming out, and so for many it was overshadowed, except for one prominent detail: Watson is a woman.

This is likely the reason it's sparked a lot of hate. I've seen many Sherlockians upset about this, but what I think is that the people that complain about it so often probably haven't even seen the show. What they're probably worried about is the creators giving Holmes and Watson a romantic relationship where there's none. And if this is the case, sorry to burst your bubble, but the BBC version has way more implications of a romantic relationship than Elementary ever does. Yes, obviously with them living together there's going to be a couple assumptions about them, but that's all there is.

Joan and Sherlock do love each other, but not in a romantic sense at all. They have a completely different love relationship that's still beautiful. Joan feels a sense of purpose for the first time since she failed as a surgeon, and Sherlock finally finds someone he can care for that doesn't mind his eccentricities.

Johnny Lee Miller has an excellent portrayal of the character, and Lucy Liu is amazing as Watson as well. The story writing is superb and adds different things than other versions, as each new adaptation does. It maintains a flow of plot while also being a procedural, Sherlock's past lurking in the background for most of the first season until you find out the truth about Moriarty, which is also an original twist.

The show shows immediately in the first episodes that the petty concerns about gernderswapping her are completely unfounded, even though it does touch on the societal expectations for their relationship. However, Sherlock (being the aspec icon that he is) doesn't show romantic feeling towards Joan and Joan struggles with her being conditioned to believe that being as devoted as she is to Sherlock isn't acceptable unless it's romantic, but she just doesn't feel that way like she does about some of her boyfriends in the earlier seasons.

She, too, struggles to find romance at all, also possibly being on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrum. Their relationship is fuelled by love, they're devoted to one another and they call themselves partners, but they have a deep relationship without it being romantic or sexual, which is part of what makes the show's writing so great -- it redefines relationships between men and women.

art by @brumous

Hey OP, just letting you know that Marcus Bell was actually not in the first episode of the show unfortunately, I constantly forget too because he was already there by episode 2 and so on but the pilot had a different detective character by a different actor that was intended to have "his place" in the show but he was apparently not liked by viewers (honestly, I agree with them) so he was replaced with our lovely Marcus Bell in the next episode and the rest is history 😌

But other than that, everything you said about Joan, JLM!Sherlock, the show's portrayal of his addiction, the dynamics, etc. is just spot on and I cannot tell you have much I agree, this show is SO GOOD and it just makes me so happy to see more people are now watching and loving it (also speaking a girl who recently got almost her entire family to watch it after talking for years about how much I love this show 😂)

Which is also why, @adashofnirvana, I hope you're okay with me being the second person to welcome you aboard the Elementary train! Lol as you can probably tell, we're very happy to have you. If you or OP ever want to talk about it, my dms are always open 💜

the iconic "it's only fun in the right company!!!!"