MY TIME TO SHINE

I said it first day of class, and I'll say it again. I am 100% in love and obsessed with Elementary and now is my time to shine and discuss why I love it so much!

Obviously you can't talk about Elementary without discussing Sherlock. As they're both modern adaptions, you can't get away from comparing them. I like Elementary because it has everything that is missing from Sherlock, and none of the awful parts of it. To me, Elementary excels where Sherlock fails.

Irene Adler is speechless that the writers
thought that she was well written

To get into why I love Elementary, we need to talk about why I dislike Sherlock. The writing in it is often racist, sexist, and homophobic. The entire second episode is a train wreck of racism, the treatment of Irene Adler is sexist, and  the "queer baiting" of Sherlock and John and again the treatment of Irene Adler is homophobic. If you've never heard of "queer baiting" before, it's basically when the creators and/or writers continually hint at a homosexual romance in a joking manner and then never follow through with it or act like fans are crazy for shipping characters together. Almost every episode, if not all of them, have some kind of joke about John and Sherlock being a couple which is offensive to people who are actually queer and desperate for representation. Also, in Sherlock, Irene Adler is gay, but they still have her falling in love with Sherlock, contributing to the VERY damaging idea that a lesbian will only remain one until she meets the right man. (If you think this idea isn't damaging, please consider the fact that many lesbians are harassed and raped by straight men trying to "convert them.")

In addition to the terrible oppressive systems that the show contributes to, I also have problems with the relationship between Sherlock and John, which is very unhealthy and toxic, as well as Sherlock himself who is a complete dick that I CANNOT STAND.

SO now that I've explained all this, let's talk about why I love Elementary.

Every way that Sherlock fails to be socially progressive, Elementary excels. There are many POC in the show, and to my knowledge there hasn't been any criticisms race-wise (please let me know if I've missed anything though!) The fact that Watson is a Chinese woman is groundbreaking. There are many strong, diverse female characters and though Holmes can occasionally say misogynistic things, he's called out on it. There's even a transgender character on the show, played by a transgender woman which IS HUGE. And I am in love with Irene Adler in this version (and that's all I will say on that manner for fear of spoiling anything.)

The relationship between Sherlock and Joan is much healthier and satisfying. Their relationship grows very close and they trust each other. It is kept platonic (and I believe the writers intend to keep it that way?) which is a breath of fresh air, honestly.

I find Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock much more human and likeable. He can be an ass and mean sometimes but he's called on it and he learns. I loooooooove Lucy Liu as Joan like I will accept no other Watson ever again.

I love the format of Elementary as well. It is an hour long procedural cop show and I love that. I think they manage to incorperate elements of the original stories as well as original stories very well together.

ALSO I REALLY LOVE EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE SHOW LOOK AT THIS THEY'RE ALL SO CUTE:

SO to make a long story short I really really love Elementary and I hope everyone goes and watches it all also PLEASE DO NOT LOOK UP ANY SPOILERS EVEN LOOKING ON THE IMDB PAGE BECAUSE ITS SO MUCH BETTER TO NOT KNOW ANYTHING THAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.

Please forgive my long ramblings.