Sherlock - season 1 (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Creators: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat
	Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit 1-3), Martin Freeman (The Hobbit 1-3, Fargo TV-series), Una Stubbs
	Country: USA, GB
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: January 2015, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Crumberbatch) takes Doctor Watson (Freeman) as flatmate and involves him in his crime-solving passion.
Review: I started to watch this series because it is proposed on Netflix (and was produced by them) and features two actors that I often see those days (in The Hobbit, Fargo and/or Star Trek). I didn't really know what to expect, so I was at first surprised to see that the series is a transposition of the adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective into the 21st Century. As mentioned in my previous review of the animated series Sherlock Holmes, I have been reading the original novel so I am quite familiar with the stories. My second discovery was of the talent with which the transposition was done by the creators, film-makers and quite importantly the actor: brilliant Benedict Crumberbatch and no-less perfect casting for Martin Freeman. I was indeed amazed to see how well the classical investigation stories were relevant to our time as well. A hard-to-solve murder will always be one. And the means used by the hero have not changed: deduction, deduction and more deduction. Crumberbatch is definitely perfect for the role, and he managed to give life to this peculiar character thanks to odd habits (reminding of the modern Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory) and quickness of speech (very hard to follow for a non-native speaker). Many fine details from the novel are present and are infinitely better reproduced than in the American movie versions starring Robert Downey Jr. (see the review of A Game of Shadows for example): the addiction to cocaine is cleverly replaced by one to nicotine, Sherlock is overly bored when he has no case to work on and overly excited when people die, telegrams are replaced by SMS, Sherlock always jumps in a cab when exiting his apartment (motor replaced horses), the novels by Watson are replaced by a Blog.... All of them excellent ideas. What annoys me a little is the music (too present) and the editing (often too fast for no reason). Also I found Moriarty too young for the part, but all in all he was very well introduced and the actor (Andrew Scott) brings something very special to the role. Sherlock's brother Mycroft is more present than in the novel but that's alright. Each season is composed of only three 1.5-hour episodes. In this first season one can see A Study in Pink the necessary introduction episode that baffled me, The Blind Banker a well-shot investigation that deepens the relationship between the two heroes, and The Great Game in which we truly see Sherlock at his best (he is solving mystery after mystery) and he gets to meet his archenemy. Definitely a great first season and a cliffhanger that forced me to watch the second season right after.
Rating: 8 /10

Sherlock - Season 4 (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Creators: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat
	Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit 1-3), Martin Freeman (The Hobbit 1-3, Fargo TV-series), Una Stubbs, Toby Jones (Captain America 1-2, Berberian Sound Studio)
	Country: GB
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: April 2017, VOD, 32" TV screen.
Synopsis: London consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Cumberbatch) gets ever-deeper in his crime-solving mania, supported as always by his best friend John Watson (Freeman). But that friendship will be once more put to the test when the cases they solve are in their own backyard.
Review: This very original and successful British TV-series (see reviews of the seasons one, two and three) was paused for a while because of the involvement of its main two actors in the Hobbit trilogy. However a "Christmas Special" episode was released in January 2016 and is often referred to as Episode 0 of this fourth season although released a year earlier. The brilliant idea behind that episode entitled The Abominable Bride is to show an investigation of our two friends taking place at the end of the 19th century, as in the original writings by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is a delightful episode to watch, as much as it was to discover at the beginning of the series the transposition of the Sherlock story to modern times. And in the end it is not simply a Christmas gift from the producers but it does connect to the series storyline. Simply brilliant. The three other episodes are more in line with the previous seasons, although I could notice an evolution in the series: the episodes are not anymore used to establish the relationships between the characters (Sherlock, John, Mary...) because we know them well. They also do not anymore display the deduction exploits of the detective. The episodes are now digging deeper into those relationships and how they evolved with time. Episode 1 The Six Thatchers may start like a tricky investigation, it ends up being much closer to our characters as we would have expected. In fact the same can be told of Episode 2 The Lying Detective (with an excellent Toby Jones) and of Episode 3 The Final Problem that will confront the Holmes brothers with a new archenemy. In spite of this evolution and of undeniably good ideas (Cumberbatch's performance is still fascinating), I realized that I was starting to loose interest in the series when wondering if the episodes had gotten longer (because I felt them so) while they haven't. The rating is thus an average between the 8/10 I would give to the Episode 0 and 5/10 to the rest of the season.
Rating: 6 /10

Sherlock - Season 2 (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Creators: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat
	Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit 1-3), Martin Freeman (The Hobbit 1-3, Fargo TV-series), Una Stubbs
	Country: USA, GB
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: January 2015, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: The inseparable duo Sherlock Holmes and Watson (Crumberbatch & Freeman) are getting known thanks to Watson's blog and they get to work for more and more important cases, including for the government.
Review: All the generalities I wrote in the review of the the first season are still valid (excellent adaptation to modern times, great actors that bring life to their roles), with some improvement of music and editing (seeming to converge to a stable identity) so I will jump directly to the episode detail. The first one A Scandal in Belgravia takes its time to develop a complex story between several characters and their many interactions and exchanges of superiority. Sherlock meets the only person that ever left him defeated (according to the novel), and a woman on top of that (Irene Adler) who gives him a hard time. Then comes The Hounds of Baskerville adapted from one of the most famous Sherlock stories, and which already led to a movie (in 1959) with Christopher Lee which terrified me when I saw it as a kid, and which DVD has been in my Amazon basket for a while (I definitely need to see it again). That story was modified a lot and we are very far from the gothic horror of the 50-60's, which makes this episode one of my least favorite although it contains some good moments. Finally the Reichenbach Fall's title reminds to the reader of a location that will have a critical impact in the life of Sherlock Holmes. The episode deals with the same thematics (the confrontation with Moriarty, also shown in the poor movie version A Game of Shadows) but is unfortunately restricted to the London urban environment. Because of relatively weaker episodes in terms of story, although the technical quality is improved, I like this season less than the first (also the surprise effect has passed).
Rating: 6 /10

Sherlock - Season 3 (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Creators: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat
	Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit 1-3), Martin Freeman (The Hobbit 1-3, Fargo TV-series), Una Stubbs
	Country: USA, GB
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: January 2015, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Sherlock (Crumberbatch) is back, but London has changed since he left, in particular Watson (Freeman) learned to live his life without him.
Review: Another excellent season for the series, with better stories than in season two, and a visual/sound identity finally well-defined. The duel with Moriarty was not the end, and the famous detective has in this season to face challenges which are not of the same nature as the ones he is the most familiar with. In The Empty Hearse he has to face his few friends and realize that their feelings were strongly affected when he was gone. The terrorist threat in this episode, although massive (and reminding a lot of V for Vandetta), serves only as background for the reunion between Sherlock and Watson. The Sign of Three is maybe the most original episode in this series to date. The challenge of being best man at Watson's wedding is for Sherlock more insurmountable that most of the mysteries he solved in his life. His speech is used to display he talents in the course of some short investigations that would not have deserved a full episode. And ultimately, the detective will end up on known grounds. Finally in His Last Vow we are introduced the terrible foe Charles Augustus Magnussen that I think to remember from the novels. In parallel, some revelations lead to major changes in the lives of the detective duo. Unfortunately I found the ending too predictable and long to arrive, with the clear message that Sherlock finally acknowledges Watson as his best friend. I enjoyed watching the three seasons of Sherlock back-to-back, especially since there are so few episodes, it feels like watching movies. It has some defects and limitations (due to the TV format) but after nine episodes I still think like I did during the first 10 minutes: it is an excellent and clever adaptation of the novels to modern times. Now I am maybe longing for more classic investigations in the fourth season.
Rating: 7 /10