It was quite obvious from about a third of the way in that the cabbie did it, and after that we just sat watching Holmes floundering about while, at the end, Mrs Hudson waved the solution as to the who under his nose.
For me, it stalled at the point where Holmes was listing all the points which applied to a taxi driver, while about eight black cabs drove aimlessly around in the street behind him. I'm really not sure what they were trying to achieve -- if they wanted the audience to feel smarter than Holmes, that seems like a misguided thing to do when you're trying to establish the character as a genius.
So we went on to the method, and a giant build-up as to how it was done, but in the end, with a wave of the magic want, dismissed as pure luck and Holmes saved by GPS and an illegal handgun.
It was a very poor ending.
The worst part of the plotting, though, I thought, was the ridiculous set-up with the mobile phone. Let's suppose that you think you've been kidnapped by someone who's going to kill you. Do you:
a) Hide your mobile phone in his taxi, trusting that at some point between then and your horrible death you will be able to leave an extremely obscure clue which will allow the police to track your phone by GPS, and catch the person who is about to kill you, or,
b) PHONE BLOODY 999 AND GET HELP!
That was just lazy, slipshod writing, really. It was like someone had read the Holmes stories, but didn't really understand how they worked. I'm hoping that Mark Gatiss will be able to make a better fist of it. His Lucifer Box stories suggest be might.
Furthermore, the whole of the way Holmes detected in canon is now part of the mainstream.
That's an excellent point. I think a really good, fun Holmes pastiche is still be a workable concept, though, but it can't afford to be lazy about the plot.
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For me, it stalled at the point where Holmes was listing all the points which applied to a taxi driver, while about eight black cabs drove aimlessly around in the street behind him. I'm really not sure what they were trying to achieve -- if they wanted the audience to feel smarter than Holmes, that seems like a misguided thing to do when you're trying to establish the character as a genius.
So we went on to the method, and a giant build-up as to how it was done, but in the end, with a wave of the magic want, dismissed as pure luck and Holmes saved by GPS and an illegal handgun.
It was a very poor ending.
The worst part of the plotting, though, I thought, was the ridiculous set-up with the mobile phone. Let's suppose that you think you've been kidnapped by someone who's going to kill you. Do you:
a) Hide your mobile phone in his taxi, trusting that at some point between then and your horrible death you will be able to leave an extremely obscure clue which will allow the police to track your phone by GPS, and catch the person who is about to kill you, or,
b) PHONE BLOODY 999 AND GET HELP!
That was just lazy, slipshod writing, really. It was like someone had read the Holmes stories, but didn't really understand how they worked. I'm hoping that Mark Gatiss will be able to make a better fist of it. His Lucifer Box stories suggest be might.
Furthermore, the whole of the way Holmes detected in canon is now part of the mainstream.
That's an excellent point. I think a really good, fun Holmes pastiche is still be a workable concept, though, but it can't afford to be lazy about the plot.