The Six Napoleons
Aug. 15th, 2018 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarahthecoatFor @astudyincanon book club, I listened to an audio recording, and watched the Granada episode. @plaidadder has done an excellent dissection of many issues in the episode, so I’ll just point out a few things that stuck out to me.
First, I LOVE the comfortable domesticity and teamwork in this story, which extends to include Lestrade. There are SO MANY little glances and expressions that tell “how well I know you, and delight in pleasing you” between all three of them. Lestrade has “nothing in particular” going on, “so tell us about it!”. Watson tells Lestrade he’s “splendid” for identifying the corpse, Holmes gives Watson the hint about the streetlight so he can show off to Lestrade, and of course at the end Lestrade nearly brings Holmes to tears with his high praise. (Holmes immediately deflects with The Work)
I think the Excessively Dramatique opening scenes in the Venucci house are perhaps done to contrast with the complete lassitude at 221B, where Holmes is reading, and Watson & Lestrade are lolling about as if they are about to sleep off a big turkey dinner or something. In turn, team Holmes becomes more active and more Dramatique bit by bit through the story, till at the end, Holmes breaks the last bust in the most theatrical manner possible. When he holds up the pearl, the camera carefully frames it so Watson is directly behind the pearl. There is no doubt what Holmes values most highly.
Is there a tiny bit of mirroring going on between Dr Barnicot (who has *two* busts) and Dr Watson, and then between Harker and Holmes? I noticed that Harker’s sitting room is cluttered with books and papers in a way that we have seen 221B, and Harker seems to be single, and to enjoy working at odd hours including the middle of the night. There the resemblance ends, as he has no stomach for action or murder! But the way he’s bending over the corpse when the policeman arrives makes me think of the BBC line, “do people sometimes think you’re the murderer?”
astudyincanon sixn acd acd 6nap acd sixn granada holmes holmes & watson consulting husbands
13 notes
Aug 15th, 2018
First, I LOVE the comfortable domesticity and teamwork in this story, which extends to include Lestrade. There are SO MANY little glances and expressions that tell “how well I know you, and delight in pleasing you” between all three of them. Lestrade has “nothing in particular” going on, “so tell us about it!”. Watson tells Lestrade he’s “splendid” for identifying the corpse, Holmes gives Watson the hint about the streetlight so he can show off to Lestrade, and of course at the end Lestrade nearly brings Holmes to tears with his high praise. (Holmes immediately deflects with The Work)
I think the Excessively Dramatique opening scenes in the Venucci house are perhaps done to contrast with the complete lassitude at 221B, where Holmes is reading, and Watson & Lestrade are lolling about as if they are about to sleep off a big turkey dinner or something. In turn, team Holmes becomes more active and more Dramatique bit by bit through the story, till at the end, Holmes breaks the last bust in the most theatrical manner possible. When he holds up the pearl, the camera carefully frames it so Watson is directly behind the pearl. There is no doubt what Holmes values most highly.
Is there a tiny bit of mirroring going on between Dr Barnicot (who has *two* busts) and Dr Watson, and then between Harker and Holmes? I noticed that Harker’s sitting room is cluttered with books and papers in a way that we have seen 221B, and Harker seems to be single, and to enjoy working at odd hours including the middle of the night. There the resemblance ends, as he has no stomach for action or murder! But the way he’s bending over the corpse when the policeman arrives makes me think of the BBC line, “do people sometimes think you’re the murderer?”
astudyincanon sixn acd acd 6nap acd sixn granada holmes holmes & watson consulting husbands
13 notes
Aug 15th, 2018
