'Elementary' Pilot Review: Is There Room for Another Sherlock?

It's been a pretty busy week, so I'm a little behind in my TV. But I did watch the Elementary pilot, so here's my review.

Elementary is a new drama on CBS and a modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. In this adaptation Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) has been sent to New York by his father to recover from his drug problem. His father hires Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) as a live-in sober companion. Holmes spends his time as a consulting detective for the NYPD.

Miller plays Holmes with all the usual traits and eccentricities. He is able to deduce things about people just by looking at them. He also has little regard for people's feelings. Miller did a fine job portraying these traits, which are common in Holmes adaptations. What surprised me, though, was that toward the end of the episode, Holmes was, at times, a bit more sentimental, something we don't always see in a Sherlock Holmes story. Miller did a great job in these scenes, proving that he was the right choice for Holmes.

We got to know Watson fairly well in this episode, as Holmes deduced that she used to be a surgeon by looking at her hands. A background plot line involved Watson's past and led to those sentimental moments toward the end. I thought Liu did a decent job as Watson, but I found her to be a little dry at times. However, I think that as episodes go on, she will get better. I think my problem may be with the fact that they are using a female Watson. One of my favorite things about the Holmes stories is the bromance between Holmes and Watson, so it was odd seeing a female as a character who becomes Holmes's best friend. I fear that the writers may be tempted to create romantic tension between the two, and I hope they resist that temptation. I think this show will work best as long as the two characters become friends and nothing more.

Speaking of the writers, I thought the writing in this episode was very strong, especially in the dialogue between Holmes and Watson. Now I must bring up BBC's Sherlock, which has some of the best writing on any TV show that I watch. Elementary's writing was not as good as Sherlock's, but it held up pretty well. I think they can make his deductions slicker and some of the other dialogue smoother, but the Holmes-Watson dialogue is good so far. I was pleasantly surprised.

Being a CBS procedural, the plot was quite predictable. But other than that, I thought this was a strong pilot. Although I don't usually like procedurals (with a few exceptions), I will try to keep up with Elementary since I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes. However, it will not be very high priority, so don't expect me to write about it a lot.

If you watched the pilot, feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below.