Mr. Holmes?

Now I'm like: No. Just no.

I watched the first episode of the second season and I was utterly disappointed and disgusted.  Sherlock got to be Sherlock for about ten seconds.  The rest of the time was about a woman who... well, I won't say exactly what she did for a living.  But it was less than honorable.  Sherlock was all over the episode, but he was stuck on this gross woman (who, by the way, introduced herself to him while naked).  It was a terrible episode and didn't really hold up to the reputation of the previous episodes.  The whole point of the episode is that Sherlock is a genius and likes to play detective.  In this episode, he played that role very, very little.  His relationship with the cute girl at the morgue blasted wide open at a Christmas party at the flat he and Watson share together, and not only was it a little odd the way he was carrying on but when he realized that she had dressed up for him, he actually showed some tenderness and kissed her cheek with an apology for being such an ass.  John's own brilliance was in it so deplorably little that I missed him.  Martin Freeman is one of the main reasons I'm here, after all.

It was nice to see more of Sherlock's tender side, which of course he has, but in response to his feelings, he threw a man out his window several times for breaking in and hurting Mrs. Hudson.  His feelings were understandable, but I was unable to find the humor in this – and no one reprimanded him for it.

On the other hand, we got to meet a little bit more of Mrs. Hudson.

And on another hand, our understanding of Sherlock's relationship with his brother increased.  I haven't decided whether or not I'm happy with the way their relationship was playing out in that episode.  Sherlock was very vulnerable and his brother was showing his usual concern, but it almost felt too abrupt to see them interacting with each other so much.

And on the knees (sorry, really bad pun in progress), there was The Woman.  And I beg, "Why The Woman?  WHYYYYYYY?"  And I break down and cry pitifully.

In case you don't know, these episodes are like two hours long.  But I had to watch another to make up for this atrocity.  I didn't end up finishing it, but the point is it was so bad, I had to watch another (assuming that this second episode would be better, of course, which was risky).

On the whole, I like this series.  I do.  But I cannot, in good conscience, recommend it.  There are too many remarks and suggestions and images that are intense and/or inappropriate.  Usually, the rest of the episode makes up for these little deficiencies, but that was not the case for A Scandal in Belgravia.

~Meggy