S03.E05: Rip Off

[IWantCandy71]

I finally decided to stop pretending I liked LL's portrayal, in general, or the character of Joan Watson, sometime last season. I think a huge part of it was all the WHINING about the Joancroft thing.

Trust me, as a Mycroft fan, I didn't want him touching her, either.

 

Yeah. I've thrown off my shackles. This version of Watson bores me, and I don't care about her. At all. Kitty could be a fine replacement.Perhaps Watson can go down in a hail of bullets.

[paramitch]

I thought I read something about Jonny Lee Miller injuring himself on the stage production of "Frankenstein" after it came to Broadway with Cumberbatch for that limited run after the London production, but now I can't find it, so I'm wondering if that's anything to do with how he's carrying himself. I haven't noticed it much, though, myself -- to me he has always seemed to play Sherlock like a man who's a tightly coiled spring, with this constant tension.

 

Love you Kitty but you know pouring liquid to a laptop won't erase the files? right?

 

I liked this as a character note -- it told me a lot about Kitty, and I liked the scene. But the other part of me was, like, "That's a perfectly good laptop! Sheesh, people. Delete and shred the file. No need to waste a perfectly good piece of technology that will now go into a landfill!"

 

(Why, yes, I did think way too much about that scene.)

 

I was okay with the story of Gregson and his daughter here. I think it's sometimes hard for shows not to get into constant "we must set an example" territory and that can sometimes be at the sacrifice of what the actual characters might say or do.

 

So, here, I found it pretty believable that Gregson would lose his temper with the schmuck who hit his daughter -- even if, to her credit, she was open about what happened, she had already dumped him, and she would not allow it to happen again. I didn't care for the actress they cast, but I liked that the character simply viewed it as an unacceptable occurrence (and that it had very little to say about her -- she is not now suddenly "a victim"). She broke it off as the correct action and had a very clear view of maintaining certain boundaries at work afterward. She could have brought charges, but the fact that it was her partner at work does mean that it would have been a huge and very involved (and probably very public) quagmire, and I can't bring myself to blame her for choosing to avoid that in her particular circumstances, because of the lasting effect it would have on her career. It isn't right, but it is realistic, and I liked that she was clear-eyed about that.

 

I agree that Sherlock could have gotten involved, but I really loved the warmth and unexpected bond between Gregson and Kitty (and they need to give Gregson some more to do, to echo everyone else, dammit, it's Aidan Quinn!), and that it was Kitty who used her past experiences to take action in a strong way. She was sympathetic and supportive, but then she also went a little kickass behind the scenes, and I admit it, I liked that she scared the abuser as much as she did -- he deserved it -- and that we didn't see the scene, we just had to imagine what she might have threatened.

 

The odd thing with Kitty and Gregson's scenes was that I wanted them to keep going. It was so nice to see Gregson relax, and Kitty seemed so comfortable and warm with him. Gregson also struck me in this episode as being strikingly lonely, and that got to me as well.

 

I'm pleased and surprised at how much I've grown to like Kitty, and I think she adds a nice dynamic to Watson/Sherlock. I just hope they use her as an opportunity to reinvolve Gregson and Bell in future stories, as well. And Mrs. Hudson! But good to see Clyde back around.