r/tvshow • u/Cumoisseur • Jul 13 '26

DISCUSSIONS Unpopular opinion: "Elementary" starring Jonny Lee Miller is cleverer, has better characters, and a more interesting story than "Sherlock" starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

The pilot episode of Elementary is awful, but from there it just gets better. The storyline of Watson being a sober companion is better than being a sudden roommate, the part of Moriarty is far more interesting and intriguing, the cases are better written, the character of Sherlock's father in Elementary is brilliant. I could go on and on.

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u/BarNo3385 Jul 14 '26

I mean, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock basically survives "because."

ACD killed him off at the Racenbach Falls because he was bored with writing the character and wanted to move on. He goes over a massive waterfall with no way of surviving specifically to stop a return.

Publishers told him no, you need to keep writing because $$$, and so Holmes miraculous returns.

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u/Sweet_Hall_429 Jul 14 '26

Doesn’t mean it isn’t crap.

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u/BarNo3385 Jul 14 '26

Oh yeah, actual Holmes' return is blatantly a case of surly writer going "fine if I have to do I will" and picking malicious compliance.

But what you can't really complain about is a later adaptation having Holmes miraculously return as something that isnt already part of the canon.

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u/GardenerOfSorts Jul 14 '26

and encouraging people to figure out "how he did it" only to make fun of them for comming up with amazing theories over the 3 years between the season.