listen. it’s 2018. it’s time to admit, finally, that bbc sherlock is, in fact, bad, and was only good because we watched it when we were 15 and didn’t know how to dismantle scripts that SOUND clever but are really just gold-flake covered shit
Exactly one year ago, this post became the very first Sherlock thing I ever reblogged. And then I made this blog, which was only supposed to last a few weeks. I’m still here.
REBLOG THIS PHOTOSET AT YOUR OWN RISK.
(And happy 2013, you lovely people.)
TWO YEARS NOW.
Happy 2014.
Three years done. Does this mean I’m a Senior now?
(And happy 2015, you perpetually lovely people.)
FOUR YEARS.
*plays “Pomp and Circumstance”*
Happy 2016.
five years ✋
or maybe i’ve always been here
happy not-2016 either way
🎆🍾🎊🕵
i am an insect trapped in amber, and i accept my fate
So much of TV is way too concerned with being Clever™ right now. There’s this pervasive myth that audiences won’t enjoy a narrative climax unless it’s a total surprise. “Predictable” is always used as a pejorative term when it comes to storytelling, but I think that’s absolute crap, because here’s the thing:
Unpredictability is not, inherently, a virtue. Unpredictability can mean: a) you don’t have a clear grasp on who your characters are or what direction they’re growing. b) you don’t have a clear vision for the story you’re trying to tell. c) you don’t know how to tell the story (for example, you have a Point A and a Point B but the middle is a bunch of disjointed time-wasting filler.
“But,” the showrunners cry, “you never saw that twist coming! We kept you on your toes!” That does not make it good. Cleverness is often just smoke and mirrors designed to distract the audience from a lack of substance; it doesn’t guarantee a worthwhile story. I don’t want to be shocked for the sake of surprise – I want to feel like the experience was worth my time.
I want to be introduced to a character, and then I want to be taken on a journey with that character. I want every step of that journey to teach me who they are; what they believe, what they want, what they hate, what they fear, and what they love, so that when they are faced with a conflict or a critical moment of decision, I understand exactly why they do what they do. I’m hoping their choices in that moment will reveal something truthful and powerful and worth knowing about another person’s experience.
That’s what I want in a story. I genuinely don’t care whether it’s clever or predictable or whatever; I just want a worthwhile journey in which every moment of every episode means something – to the character(s), and to me. That’s what makes serial television satisfying. It has nothing to do with shock or intellect or reinventing the wheel, it’s just about telling the damn story in a way that makes you feel it.
Me when everyone was disappointed in the end of True Detective s1. Me when the only “big moment” at the end of Mad Men was a Coke commercial.
i dont think ive ever been more excited to watch a 1:50 hour video
it starts off tearing into doctor who under moffat and hbomberguy i could kiss you i love you great video already
please watch this video if you care about or have cared about sherlock or doctor who on any level its cathartic
There is nothing more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellow-men.
326 Miles 