Nothing happens to me.

“Nothing happens to me.”- John Watson

In the last couple of years, I’ve developed a fascination with Sherlock Holmes.  Now I know what you are thinking.  Actually, I don’t know that you are thinking at all to be honest, but if you are reading this, then I’ll assume for a moment that there is something approaching conscious thought going on behind those eyes and that you are thinking that my recent fascination with Sherlock Holmes is in some way related to Robert Downey Jr. 

You’d be wrong.

I actually developed my fascination with Sherlock, watching Jeremy Brett play the part.  I don’t even remember the first one I watched.  I believe it may have been Hound of the Baskervilles that caught my attention on Netflix that first time when I was looking for something to watch while I was by myself one day.  Regardless, after watching a couple of Jeremy’s movies, I decided to go looking for the books. 

I read a Study in Scarlet first.  I struggled a bit to get into the work as it was a different genre than I usually get into but it was compelling and I really enjoyed the character of Sherlock.  The absolute conviction that he is right about things struck a nerve in me as those who know me well will understand.  About halfway through the book, it takes a dramatic turn and starts talking about early Utah history and the Mormon settlers.  Holy Shit!  Talk about hitting close to home.  Suddenly I couldn’t put it down and I read the sign of the four shortly after.  When I picked up The Hound of the Baskervilles, I had a harder time getting through it and I got distracted by other book series shortly after that but by then I was captivated by another version of Sherlock Holmes.

I think I have Netflix to blame again for introducing me to the BBC’s newest incarnation of the character.  “Sherlock” depicts a younger incarnation of Sherlock Holmes set in a more modern London (did I mention somewhere on here that I’ve recently been to London?).  This incarnation is played by one Benedict Cumberbatch.  Benedict is brilliant!  He does a wonderful job with that part and is every bit as much fun to watch as Jeremy (by the way, I find both to be much more believable in the part than I do RDj though I thoroughly enjoyed his Sherlock Holmes movies).

Sadly the BBC only does three episodes of Sherlock at a time and they take a very long time to produce.  Fortunately, there is a lot of Sherlock Holmes material out there and I’m a far way from getting through all the books even.

I think it’s interesting knowing myself the way I do that I’ve been captivated by such a classic piece of literature.  I’ve never been much for Mark Twain or Shakespeare.  I’ve tried repeatedly to get through the Divine Comedy and had little luck.  I’ve always just assumed that I was not intellectual enough to assimilate the writing.  On the flip side, I not only don’t have any trouble getting my head into ACD’s writing, but I find myself identifying with the character of Sherlock.

There have been other smart characters that I’ve identified with: House, Hannibal Lector, but they always seem to have this “broken” element to them.  Sherlock on the other hand, doesn’t.  While in some social aspects, he seems a little stunted, he doesn’t appear crazy; although, I still love the line from “A Study in Pink” delivered so elequently by BC:

“I’m not a psychopath Anderson, I’m a high functioning sociopath, do your research!”-Sherlock Holmes

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