Hello and Welcome. To those of you who know me and see my post regularly you know what kind of content I put here and for those of you who are new, I welcome you to what we can say is arguably one of the best movie review blog on the hive network.... That last bit of course has no actual proof but I'm all about speaking things into existence now so bear with me. (God!! I miss my sense of humour in these posts, where did that all go??)
Where was I? Oh yeah. On today's episode of movie reviews with an "overachieving" twenty something year old Nigerian boy I would be taking you through the one film that passes to me as the greatest film show of all time. It is important to note that this post was original scheduled as my entry for the latest movie community contest but alas i wasn't able to meet up but here it is none the less. I guess that's all of took for me to find back my sense of humour. I don't really have anyone to blame other than myself though. So instead of bitching around and complaining here's the post none the less. Let's talk about the greatest TV show ever produced in Cinema history and the next best thing out there.
The Introduction
Throughout the new millennium there have TV shows that have stood out head above the rest when it comes to delivery compelling stories and quality dramatic performances in the form of television shows. Most of them in my opinion really shifted the power dynamics of TV shows from sitcom shows which ruled the market in the 90's (I'm talking about you, FRIENDS, Family Ties and Fresh Prince of Bel Air) to much more dramatic and even action based performances. Some of these new shows include the hit television show Lost (which quite honestly had me feeling quite lost after sometime), 24 the show that made Kiffer Sutherland popular (yeah I bet some of you didn't even know that was his actual name), Breaking Bad (or as I like to call it a meth head's favourite TV show) and Prison Break (aka how to play chess in real life). These are just examples of shows which really took of in the early 2000s and made people realize the potential in television shows and not just television shows but drama/action/crime television shows. This is also the time Keeping up with the Kardashian's became popular and with it's success reality TV shows really found a market, a mulit million dollar market to be precise.
Then came the 2010s and we were about see a new kind of television shows. Shows that would intrigue us with clever writing and intriguing characters as well as an engrossing story line. At the turn of the decade no show in my opinion encapsulated these three things better than 2010's Sherlock. So let's take a look at all the reasons why this is the best mystery thriller show out there.
Sherlock (2012)
Synopsis
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The show is basically a modern day adaptation of the stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a set of stories in which we see hyper intelligent detective consultant Sherlock Holmes team up with war veteran Dr John Watson as they solve mystery murder cases all around London. In the case of this series we see them unravel these curious cases all the while being toyed with by a shadowy man or organisation simply known as Moriarty. As those of you who are familiar with the story know Moriarty serves as the primary villian to Sherlock in the story however the way this series handles him is quite unique. Anyways back to the story. Throughout the first and second season this rivalry continues to build up and it does so in such a way where each individual case Sherlock and Watson solve is one way or the other linked to the manipulations of Moriarty. As Sherlock says in the finale of season 2, " Moriarty isn't a man, he is a spider at the center of a criminal web, a criminal web with a thousand threads and he knows precisely how each and every single one of them dances".
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Along with the underlying plot of the intellectual conflict between Holmes and Moriarty there are also cases which Holmes solves regularly and these cases usually are the most mysterious or the most interesting ones as he puts it. Each cases lasts for about an episode and there are roughly twelve episodes in total is you discount the zero episodes that start each season because they mostly serve as side stories and are not really central to the plot. The first season ends with the reveal of Moriarty as the main antagonist while season 2 ends surprisingly with the supposed death of Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. In fact Moriaty is confirmed dead in the third season and it is revealed that Sherlock actually survived after we see a montage of all the weird theories on how he possibly survived the "reichenbach back" which is a metaphor for his apparent suicide. There's a lot more I would love to say about the general story but I won't be able to do it here cause that would just take up more time. So with that said let's get into the juicy bits of this cinematic perfection.
What makes Sherlock work?
Without a doubt I will say unequivocally that Sherlock is the best TV show I have ever seen till date. In order to write this particular article I had to go back to see it again so I could get enough information on the film and it occurred to me how long it has been since I saw a TV show I completely loved it. In the past few years I've seen a couple of TV shows, some good and memorable ones and some really forgetable ones but none and I saw none has captivated my interest like this show and that's considering I've seen powerhouses like The Blacklist, Game of Thrones and Warriors. I thought that maybe in seeing it again after first seeing it in 2013 I would lose interest in it believing that my initial memory of it was one tainted by immaturity hence the reason why I might have been initially captivated by it but boy was I wrong. What this experience came to teach me is cinematic perfection is a learnable art and you can successfully craft a cinematic masterpiece by following some simple rules. Rules which the show runners of this stellar Benedict Cumberbatch performance understand how to manipulate in order to work. So let's look at the reasons why this show works and how other TV shows can craft the perfect mystery crime thriller TV show
A fascinating lead character and a host of other interesting supporting characters.
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What's the one thing that Sherlock, Dexter, The Blacklist and The Mentalist have in common, a complicated, super intelligent, high efficient lead characters with grey morals and not so great personalities and also there all eloquent and have a way they make regular conversations sound like poetry. These shows all have protagonists who seem sort of or are outright devious but are on the side of good. They are all highly confident and they usually seem very much in control of situations so much so to the point that even when they face situations that genuinely beyond them, they find ways around it either through clever trickery and skill or through plot convenience even though these show writer cleverly find ways to mask these plot conveniences to make them look organic and not forced which by the way is a tell tale sign of a brilliant show.
So the lead characters of these shows show these traits and it makes them very interesting. They have quirks, skills, knowledge and talents that make them stand out and give them a competitive edge over the challenges that the plot throws toward them.
Accompanying this the writers of these shows craft the story in such a way that the challenges that these main characters will face are of equal proportions to their strengths.
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Many times these challenges are designed in such a way that they test the highlighted strengths and weakness of these main characters thereby making the confrontations interesting. I mean let's look at the cases that Sherlock has to solve in the show as well as the final problem he has to solve with Moriaty. The crimes are intellectual problems that ordinary people can't figure out. It takes a mind like that of Sherlock to be able to figure it out therefore it's easy to see how the problems are made for him and he is made for the problems. That alone makes the story already interesting because we view each new investigation as a puzzle and we work with Holmes as he solves these puzzles in quite some fantastic ways and at the end of puzzle we see that all these crimes are linked by a single person; Moriarty. Inside serious anticipation builds up and we cannot wait for the eventual showdown between these two characters because the story does an excellent job of building each character up to the point where they become interesting, Holmes with him solving all the mysterious crimes and Moriaty with him creating these convoluted schemes. Added to this is how the supporting characters add a humanistic element to the stories and they keep the stories grounded and dramatic so that we don't get lost in the metaphysical and epistemological elements that usually come with great mystery stories.
Highly competent but deeply flawed lead characters with challenges and situations that highlight their flaws.
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In this modern day and age of female empowering films one thing that many writers have begun to do is creating practically invincible characters that are inherently flawless and practically undefeated simple because of the belief that they are women and women can do anything. I lost my mind when I heard Kristen Stewart’s character mention how they were women and that meant they could do anything. It’s proven time and time again that nigh invincible lead characters are virtual impossible to root for simple because they don’t make relatable convincing characters. All characters should especially main characters should have flaws because in that way they are able to go through character arcs where we can see them for who they are, and the plot progression changes their perspective and conveys the central theme of the story. It’s this approach that this series takes and it does it absolutely well. Like I pointed out in the previous subheading Holmes is a seriously obnoxious, condescending, arrogant, prick who is super-intelligent and who possess an ungodly level of deduction skills which he uses to get ahead in life.
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However instead of having him written as some superior characters who is gifted, arrogant, loved and idolized, he is written as a man who is simply gifted and arrogant. Asides these two things many other aspects of his life struggle because of his poor socialization and his rude behavior. The story in itself is focused on the cases he is presented and the underling plot behind it all however it does well not to idolized his character while simply ignoring his character flaws. Instead it opts for creating challenges that make him realize the error of his own ways even to the points where he has to doubt his own competence and even begin to feel other human emotions such as fear, grief and regret. It’s as though as the story progresses he becomes comes to terms with his own hubris and he begins to value the people around him more and this change and growth is characterized by John Watson’s presence in his life. This is how characters should be written and it’s what many female lead action films fail at. Instead of focusing on writing relatable characters they instead opt for writing kick ass characters with very little well… character and so even though they might try hard to force heroic themes into them they still feel unoriginal and forced.
Philosophical and Psychological themes and not shallow simple themes shown in the form of well thought out stories.
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In my opinion, the best stories are the ones with surreal elements and surreal elements are what elevate the status of any murder mystery. It’s not that it is necessary for all murder mysteries to look psychedelic as there are some that work none the less but surreal element s add more.. what’s then word flavor for lack of better words to the story. It also is the best way to portray metaphysical themes making us question our reality and what we perceive as truth. This series does exactly that. Several times throughout the show we get access into the mind and thoughts of Holmes as he makes sense of the information around him. We get an insight into the mind games that he and Moriaty play and we see him it play put not just through their dialogue but also visually. The perfect example of this is when we see him enter into his mind palace during John Watson’s wedding as he solves the case of the Mayfly man. We see an acted out version of his text conversations with six different women whom he is talking to at same time. Then there’s his confrontation with one of his most difficult opponents Appledoor in which we see this visualization element used again quite brilliantly. It used in tandem with suspense and anticipation and when it is eventually revealed to be something mental rather than physical we are left with suspense and despair in anticipation for the next season. Throughout the entire series highly philosophical themes are touched on and a lot of questions bordering on morality are asked from whether or not intellect and knowledge far supersedes emotional experiences and social connection with people. Themes such loneliness and betrayal are portrayed in such a way that they make us question the morality of people whom you build connections with even after accepting and justifying the loneliness you now live with.
Conclusion
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All in all this film is a classic and it very much deserves the spot for being the best mystery thriller, heck the best series out there and I know that many people might not agree with it and many might debate it and they do have their own opinions. However there are a number of strong evidences that prove this film is the best to ever do it. Its patterns and techniques have been replicated by many other shows and these shows have relatively been successful from Reacher to Hannibal. This shows that there are many things in gets right and that human psychology and storytelling are deeply related with the right stories creating the right response from viewers. That’s all I’ve got to say for today and until I see you again
Ciao.
