Day 23
Last time on Hades...
I finished a fossil. And that was about it.
I don't guess; I observe. And once I've observed, I deduce.
About/Summary
Elementary is a modern day Sherlock Holmes adaptation that aired from 2012 to 2019. Starring Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, the duo assist the New York Police Department in solving various crimes.
Content/Trigger Warnings
Murder
Sexual Assault
Manipulation
Drug Use
Past Drug Addiction
Kidnapping
This is a crime drama so, yeah... Lots of crime. Mostly murder.
Characters/Casting
I fucking adore the casting of this show. I've been a slight fan of Jonny Lee Miller since I watched Trainspotting as a teenager so when I originally heard he was going to be Sherlock Holmes I was excited to check it out. Was not disappointed. Lucy Liu was perfect as a genderbent version of Dr. Watson.
Atmosphere/Setting
The show takes place in New York City. Mostly in the brownstone that Sherlock lives in with Watson. I want to live in that brownstone. Not with Sherlock, though. He seems like a real shitty roommate. 🤔 Actually, he might be a fun roommate. Yeah. I would live with him.
Adaptation?
Maybe an adaptation? More of an influenced by? Okay, everyone knows who Sherlock Holmes is. And this is a modern retelling. But it doesn't really follow any of the books or stories that well. There are elements and chracters there. But not enough to say it's an adaptation.
Plot
Each episode (for the most part) has a stand alone main plot line, which is just Sherlock trying to solve a crime. Then there is the underlying sub-plot of Watson trying to get Sherlock to open up, which results in the Moriarty plot that shows up in all the Sherlock Holmes things.
Costuming
Costuming is pretty basic. Wait. No. That means something not great... Uh... It's simple. Modern era so costuming is sort of easier, I guess. It seems easier than historical costuming, at least. Well, all of it would be easy if you didn't care, but if you're going for accuracy, historical costuming seems more difficult.
Anyway! This isn't supposed to be me rambling about historical costuming or whatever.
I do love a lot of the outfits Watson and Sherlock wear. The clothes seem to fit their personality types. And I just like them on a personal level.
How diverse is it?
It is moderately diverse. One of the main characters is an Asian American woman. One of the main cop characters is African American. So, not a bunch of white dudes at least.
Oh! And we do get a trans character. That isn't a criminal. Nor the butt of a joke.
Overall Thoughts
Major Spoilers Ahead
so, if you don't want shit spoiled for a 12-year-old show, stop reading now.
This is my favorite Sherlock Holmes adaptation/inspired by thing. The others are fine. But this one is better. 🤷
And I love the Moriarty twist. Natalie Dormer needs to play more criminal masterminds because she was fantastic in this. Stop giving me boring white dudes as criminal masterminds. Give me Natalie Dormer.
Watson starts out as a former surgeon turned sober companion and then gives that up to become a consulting detective with Sherlock. I think the arc of her changing jobs was well done.
Not sure what to say that isn't just me gushing about Natalie Dormer and Lucy Liu. So, I think I'll end this one here. Go check out Elementary. It's really good.
Oh no! I have nothing prepared! *throws this at you and runs away*
Day 22
Last time on Hades...
I delivered toys.
That's all for this one.
About/Summary
A superflu hits and wipes out the majority of the population of the world. Now the survivors must deal with the aftermath. Oh, and there is a whole Good vs Evil thing happening.
Content/Trigger Warnings
There are soooo many, and I know I will forget some (a lot...). Sorry.
Death
Gore
Sexual Assault (both offscreen and onscreen)
Nice Guy ™
Murder
Racial slurs
Abelist slurs
Major Character Death
Minor Character Death
Suicide
Animal Death
Cannibalism
Physical Abuse
Okay. I might have gotten most of them. For reference, most of my notes for this book were trigger warnings. Cause godsdamn. Just... If you have triggers, assume they are in this book.
Characters
Stephen King is very good at writing characters that I want to die. But he's also good at writing characters that I don't want to die. And then he just kills them all.
There were a lot of characters in this book. I forgot about a few. But it's fine, a lot of them died. Still sad about some of the deaths. Still celebrating some.
Kojak was my favorite character... Yes. The dog. And (spoiler) he lives through the whole book. In case anyone was worried (I know I was). The dog lives!
I also liked Glen, Nick and Stu.
Fucking hated Harold. Fuck him.
Writing
Very typical Stephen King writing. If you like his stuff, you'll like the writing of this one. If you don't like his stuff, you're not gonna like this one. I liked it well enough.
Plot
As I said in the first little bit, a superflu hits the world and the majority of the population is dead. So, the first part of the book is dealing with that. The flu, how quickly it spread, and a lot of people dying. The second part has the survivors traveling. One group is going to where Mother Abigail lives. The other group is off to Vegas and Randall Flagg.
Romance
Let's just say Stephen King is not a romance writer. Aside from a couple toxic relationships, I felt nothing for the romances.
How diverse is it?
Not very.
Overall Thoughts
Y'all, it took me six months to get through this book.
Six.
Months.
I will say that it didn't take me this long because I didn't like the book. It is a good book. But it is fucking heavy, so i had to take a lot of breaks and read something easier for a bit. There was no moment where I wanted to stop reading the book completely, I just needed some breaks.
It's not my favorite Stephen King book. Carrie still holds that honor. But it's still a good read.
That's all for this one.
“Most books on witchcraft will tell you that witches work naked. This is because most books on witchcraft are written by men.”
About/Summary
Published in 1990, this book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is about the end of the world.
Characters
Main characters are Aziraphale and Crowley. And I love them.
I also really like Newton and Anathema, even though I still have trouble pronouncing her name (it's a me thing...)
Oh, and Agnes was just delightful.
All the characters were great, really.
Writing
Writing was fantastic. This book was my introduction to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's work and I need to read more. It is simplistic at times, and I mean that as a compliment. I get frustrated sometimes when writing is super complex. It's an easy read.
Plot
Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon, met in a garden. After someone ate an apple (or some sort of fruit, not important). And they continued to meet up for six hundred years. At one point Crowley is tasked with taking (not delivering. Not as such. Just… handing off) the antichrist. Who was supposed to go to an American couple that was in England (Tadfield to be precise) for politics or something. But… the Satanic nuns maybe sort of gave the baby to a couple from Tadfield. It was an accident. I'm sure Satan would understand. Now, Crowley and Aziraphale don't want the end of the world to happen. Which is supposed to happen when the Antichrist is, like, 11 or something. So they decide to help raise the child. The child they think is the antichrist. The American couple's child. On the supposed Antichrist's birthday, he is supposed to receive a hellhound. But… it doesn't show up. Well… it does show up. To the actual antichrist. Adam. Who is spending time with his friends. And coincidentally is telling his friends what kind of dog he would want. A small dog that you could have fun with. Named Dog. And so, the hellhound Dog joins his Master.
Meanwhile, Anathema Device, a witch who knows of the coming apocalypse thanks to her ancestor Agnes Nutter's book of prophecies, is trying to stop this as well.
Romance
Aziraphale and Crowley are totally married. Or, the angel/demon equivalent, at least.
Overall Thoughts
This book is fantastic from beginning to end. I adored it. Five stars. No notes.
That's all for this one.
