The battle of the Holmes

The first time Sherlock Holmes appears in the latest CBS television series, “Elementary,” he is shirtless, walking toward Watson while spewing an ardent confession of love. Watson drops her purse in shock, while Holmes flips on the television and reveals that he is reciting the lines of a movie.

In this latest take of the iconic “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, CBS has tried to distinguish its version from its British counterpart, “Sherlock.”

Sherlock, unsurprisingly, is played by a British actor, Jonny Lee Miller. Both Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock in the BBC series, have taken on the role of one of the most notorious and skilled detectives in literary history. So which show is better?

“They're both pretty good, since they portray slightly different Sherlocks,” senior Patrick Xiao said. “Miller seems more on edge, which fits since his character was a drug addict.”

However, Xiao still considers Cumberbatch to be the better overall Sherlock. Senior Natalie So agrees.

“[Cumberbatch] portrays Sherlock's quirks and quick wit really well and it seems natural,” So said. “When you're watching you would feel that he is Sherlock, not only acting as Sherlock.”

John Watson’s character has undergone a more significant modification. No longer a limping war veteran, Watson has transformed into a youthful Asian-American woman played by Lucy Liu.

“A female Watson definitely made the character pretty unique with a pretty different personality [from “Sherlock”’s Watson],” Xiao said.

The plot of “Elementary” is also notably different from the plot of Doyle’s original short stories. Instead of revamping the original story lines as the creators of “Sherlock” have, “Elementary” is almost completely different, with only small aspects of each case relating to the original novels, if at all.

The background of the plots also differ. While the setup of “Sherlock” is almost identical to that of the novels, “Elementary” portrays Sherlock as a recovering drug addict who has chosen to leave England and live in New York City. However, the essence of Sherlock Holmes has remained despite the geographic change.

“The element of Sherlock Holmes is pretty much just a brilliant guy solving crimes,” Xiao said.

“Elementary” follows a traditional format of 60-minute episodes, aired every week with several months between each season. On the other hand, each episode of “Sherlock” is 90 minutes long, with seasons sometimes years apart.
Xiao’s favorite between the two shows is “Sherlock.”

“I like the way it always connects to Moriarty, [the main antagonist of the Sherlock novels]” Xiao said. “And everyone has British accents.”

Senior Benjamin Yang also leans towards “Sherlock” as the better remake.

“The BBC version sticks to the classic stories more, but they put really cool twists on them,” Yang said. “[“Elementary”] is a good attempt to bring Sherlock Holmes into a modern setting but it loses Sherlock's more appealing idiosyncrasies in the process.”