Monday Review: Well… It Started as a Review of The Abominable Bride, Anyway…

Luke and I are going to be doing a Sherlock Holmes show upcoming, so what follows is more of a commentary on watching habits in general than an in-depth review of the Sherlock Christmas special itself.

Property of BBC

That said, I loved it.

A lot of people didn’t. They are certainly entitled to their opinion.

If they try to harsh my personal buzz, however, at least in this immediate afterglow, the sayers of nay can, as my friend and editor Jenny so eloquently phrased it, “Go suck a big bag of dicks.”

Because this is mine and I needed it and I needed it, and damn it, I just. Fucking. Enjoyed it.

Any story, even the most well crafted ones, have holes. Even the most well-plotted, well-written, well-acted media media events have missteps and snags. Television shows and movies and books and games and and art, all of it, is created by human people (yes, that was deliberate, I’m not a heathen). And where there are humans, there is human error.

We have, however, become a culture so insistent upon absolute perfection we have forgotten that. We have become prone to discounting the sum for the rough edges of a few parts.

I submit we have forgotten how to watch television (or movies. Or read books. Or look at art) for the singular purpose of enjoyment.

I am certainly… I don’t want to say “guilty” because that implies critical consumption is a negative and, as a general rule, it’s not. That which we consume, regardless of media is an expenditure of time and money, both of which are finite resources. Being a blogger, however, and a podcaster, has definitely changed my consumption style: I am less likely to stick with something I don’t like and more likely to find flaw and crack and imperfection. Has it made me a more discerning consumer? Yes. But it also means I have less straight-up fun. It means there’s always a part of my brain standing to the side, waiting to be disappointed.

And that’s a bummer for me. Because, as the meme has said a thousand times, I need fantasy to escape reality. And I can’t get lost in the fantasy if I send large chunks of my time looking for flaws.

We, my friends, are the poorer for this habit.

Property of Marvel Studios

Does all of this mean we should consume thoughtlessly? Completely un-critically? No, absolutely not. There’s a lot of shit out there. General shit, things I think are shit, things you think are shit. We may disagree on what is and isn’t shit. And that’s fine. It’s more than fine. As we always tell the kids, if everyone thought the same way, the would would be a boring place indeed. There are things that are good but have glaring weaknesses; I, for example, am really digging The Expanse series on SyFy but, being attached to the books and the characters as portrayed therein, I’m in love with neither the television version of Captain James Holden thus far nor the lack of subtlety of character the writers have leant Amos Burton. Will I talk about those things when we podcast about it? Absolutely. Am I allowing it to detract from my enjoyment of spending an hour a week getting lost in a space opera? No. I make a conscious effort to turn that part of my brain off, at least upon initial viewing because I need that escape. I need to forget the crap for forty-five minutes. I did the same with The Force Awakens because Star Wars is something my whole family loves as individual members and together and that’s more important to me than a few plot holes. Ant Man and John Wick are ridiculous movies but they embrace their own insanity and allow me to do the same.

THE EXPANSE — Season:1 — Pictured: (l-r) Dominique Tipper as Naomi Nagata, Wes Chatham as Amos, Steven Strait as Earther James Holden — (Photo by: Jason Bell/Syfy)

Even good lives have tough days and weeks and months and years. We all need to bow out once in a while, to shut off our thought squawkers and insulate ourselves from responsibility, other people’s crap, our own bloody crap. That’s why fiction exists. Will the same thing always work for you? No. Sometimes the flaws become overwhelming and you have to find a new mind palace (looking at you, Arrow).

Property of Summit Entertainment

Do yourself a favor and find something new. Something that captures your mind and your imagination. Something to get lost in.

Recharge. Wander. Enjoy.

This has been a Last Chance Salon PSA.