Well, I just finished my viewing of BBC’s most globally fan-followed shows: Sherlock. My opinion of it? One of the best shows that BBC has made, bar none. It is a really gripping, enthralling, and spectacular wonder to behold. That’s the shortest review that I can give, if it came to that! ;P
However, one of the reasons why I love BBC’s Sherlock, is the pairing of the main opposites – Sherlock Holmes, played by (hands down the most versatile actor) Benedict Cumberbatch, and James Moriarty, played by (an equally versatile actor) Andrew Scott. Their pairing is, I believe, the main reason why Sherlock has had a great run in the first 2 seasons of the show, before Moriarty’s death in S02E03 (The Reichenbach Fall).
When one says ‘Sherlock’, people start to imagine a detective, with the funny deerstalker hat, and a smoking pipe, always summoned by the Scotland Yard, to help out in cases that are nearly impossible for them, and a cakewalk for him. That’s what has changed in BBC’s Sherlock. They now portray the protagonist, as a normal person, living in suburban London, at 221B Baker St (the usual spot), with his flatmate Dr. John Watson, and solving cases as well as, well, surviving the everyday life. That is the image that the creators of the show have made, which has been a massive hit with the audience.
While you look at Sherlock, and all the protagonist-related qualities in him (though he clearly doesn’t like to show it), we have a person, on the other side of the spectrum, who is as bad as the good in Sherlock, who is as twisted as Sherlock is honest, who is as dangerous to the outside world as Sherlock is determined to help the people: James ‘Jim’ Moriarty. As Mycroft Holmes puts it, he is “the most dangerous criminal the world has ever seen”, which is rightly true, if you see Seasons 1 and 2.
Now, when you pit these 2 characters together, what do you get? You get chaos, you get madness, but above all, you get the clash of craziness v/s the drive to prove oneself clever. Sherlock, while he is the hero, is not one to claim such a title, as he said in S01E03, to John: “Don’t make people into heroes John; heroes don’t exist, and if they did, I wouldn’t be one of them.” On the other hand, you have Moriarty, the one who despises anyone who is on the side of the angels, the one who cannot have constancy in his life, the one who would burn Sherlock, if he continued prying further. He is the one who would love to watch anyone play, just to see who would be dumb enough to win, and ultimately deny the winner his prize. The craziness of Moriarty, ladies and gentlemen, is right there.
The 2 seasons of Sherlock saw the bizarre connection of Sherlock and Moriarty being formed, right from the conclusion of S01E01, where the taxi driver reveals his ‘sponsor’ to be Moriarty, to him being the main helper of the Chinese smugglers in S01E02, to him revealing himself as the gay I.T. guy dating Molly Hooper. All this while, we never got to see his brilliance in person, only through proxies, as they were the ones who carried out his instructions to the letter. However, in the final minutes of the finale of Season 1, we see the true form of Jim Moriarty reveal itself: a maniacal monster, the one who wants the world to die, simply because it is so, the ‘consulting criminal’, playing his game of ‘catch me if you can’, only with real people as hostages. With this revelation, Sherlock realizes, that he has found his true enemy, the Yang to his Yin, the Mr. Hyde to his Dr. Jekyll. In that moment, he realizes, that though he is evil, he is a part of him, as he is the polar opposite of him.
In season 2, there was less interaction of Sherlock and Moriarty, primarily because Moriarty was now being consulted, for other criminal activities (the exception being the entire S02E02 – The Hounds of Baskerville, where Moriarty is just there, as a face, as a minor character). That being said, Sherlock knows that Moriarty is the enemy he needs to beat, but he cannot, as Moriarty is practically untouchable. As Sherlock aptly put it, “James Moriarty is not a man; he is a spider, a spider at the center of a web, a web with a thousand strings, and he knows PRECISELY how each and every single one of them dances”. If that doesn’t amaze you, well……
S02E03 witnessed the biggest cat-and-mouse chase of Sherlock’s episode history, with many things playing factors here. However, in the end, what it came down to, was a simple thing: Moriarty was brilliant, in his scheming, and Sherlock only came close to beating it. I am not siding with Moriarty, but I believe in giving credit where it is due, and Moriarty deserves all the credit, for making sure that Sherlock DID fall off Bart’s rooftop, to prove to the world that his genius was false, and that he created Moriarty for his own purposes, that he was a fake. That, right there, showed the best enmity there was, between Sherlock and Moriarty.
However, we cannot count off Sherlock’s genius as well. He made sure to tell Moriarty: “Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don’t think for one second, that I AM one of them!” With this, he proved, that no matter what others say, Sherlock = Moriarty, in many aspects of the equation. Sherlock knew that the computer key code was implanted on him, simply by realizing the tapping of fingers meant something. He was also careful to plan his survival (S03E01, if you want to know), to ensure that he could end Moriarty for good, and be the perfect hero (though he still doesn’t consider himself one). Sherlock is one of the smartest heroes out there, but it is equally more noticeable to see Moriarty on an equal footing, even racing ahead in the brilliance race, and leaving Sherlock behind.
Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty have a chemistry like very few. If you have seen Guy Ritchie’s movie ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’, you see the characters as calculating, smart, brilliant, and somewhat cold, at the same time. However, you see a comical side to the relationship in the TV show here. That side of comedy, while funny to an extent, is actually what made them stick, as #CoupleGoals, so to speak! ;P
That’s why, Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty are the main reason why my reruns of Sherlock are worth it, and why it is better to re-watch it again and analyze what they mean, when they say and do stuff. The brilliance of the writers, for making sure that the characters be the way they were shown on TV, is just simply commendable and outstanding. They truly deserve a standing ovation!
The one being, that is Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty
That’s my piece about Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty! Thanks for reading!
