‘THE HOUNDS OF BASKERVILLE’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The ‘Hounds’ with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s Watson
And now we come to the ‘Sherlock’ BBC TV series tackling one of the most famous of ‘Sherlock Holmes’ stories – ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. Except, it’s now called ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’!
Not sure why they had to change the title. Then again, ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ doesn’t quite match to what I know of in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ from watching the Basil Rathbone film. 😀
And from one of the theatre productions I saw in Cardiff years ago. Anyway, ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ is the second Series 2 story of ‘Sherlock’ with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
The episode is by series co-creator Mark Gatiss. I think this is a better effort from Mark Gatiss compared to ‘The Great Game’ in Series 1. ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ is directed by Paul McGuigan.
When my parents and I saw this episode recently, my Mum found it boring, which is interesting. She said there wasn’t enough action in it. That might be true, but I think this episode is quite alright here.
That’s not to say I think this episode is excellent. It’s pretty decent, but there are times when Benedict’s Sherlock could be very distracting and annoying, which does get in the way of the plot. 😐
This includes Sherlock sniffing the nicotine when Russell Tovey’s character is smoking and when he has his ‘mind palace’ sequence. Critics might praise that sequence, but I found it annoying to watch.
The episode has Sherlock and Watson take on the case of Henry Knight. 20 years ago, he witnessed the brutal killing of his dad by a ‘giant hound’ on Dartmoor. A military research base is also involved.
Like ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ 1939 film, there’s tension and atmosphere throughout the episode. Despite some modernisms, I could feel the tension levels rising as I watched the episode. 🙂
In terms of preference, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ 1939 film is more enjoyable than this ‘Sherlock’ episode. I find the 1939 film easier to follow compared to what went on in this episode. 😐
In the 1939 film, Sherlock sent Watson ahead to investigate the moors before him. When Sherlock did turn up, he was in a disguise and that fooled me as well as Watson, and I recall it a joy to behold.
Here, Sherlock goes with Watson when they investigate the military base and Henry Knight’s mysterious ‘hound’ in Dartmoor. Sherlock doesn’t even disguise himself to fool anyone around here.
Heck, when Sherlock did a disguise in ‘The Great Game’, it wasn’t a very convincing one. I’ll say it again; Basil Rathbone’s disguises are more convincing and a joy compared to Benedict Cumberbatch.
I think one of the reasons why this episode was shot in Dartmoor was because Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss wanted to visit the location of ‘The Sontaran Experiment’. Sadly, no Tom Baker there! 😀
It was interesting to see Benedict’s Sherlock seemingly scared when he seemed to see the mysterious ‘hound’ for himself. It’s a side of him that’s quite unusual to see in watching the series. 🙂
Martin Freeman continues to be good as John Watson and I like how he uses his military authority for him and Sherlock to gain access in the military base. Interesting John Watson was once a captain.
Russell Tovey, who plays Henry Knight in this, played Alonso Frame in the ‘Doctor Who’ episodes ‘Voyage of the Damned’ and ‘The End of Time’. It was nice to see Russell Tovey in this ‘Sherlock’ story.
There’s also Amelia Bullmore as Dr. Stapleton, Clive Mantle (who I’ve seen in ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ and heard in some Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’) as Dr. Bob Frankland, and Simon Paisley Day as Major Barrymore.
There’s also Sasha Behar as Dr. Louise Mortimer and Will Sharpe as Corporal Lyons. Rupert Graves also appears in this episode as D.I. Lestrade and Una Stubbs appears briefly as Mrs. Hudson in this. 🙂
Mark Gatiss also plays Mycroft Holmes in the episode. Andrew Scott also returns as Jim Moriarty in the episode, though only briefly and presumably to set up events for the next episode by the end. 😐
Incidentally, it’s revealed that the hounds that appeared in the episode (CGI of course) were images induced by a mind-altering drug. It was a chemical weapon made by the man who killed Henry’s dad.
‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ isn’t what I would call a fantastic ‘Sherlock’ episode, but it’s better than previous episodes I’ve seen. I wonder whether the rest of the series will impress me as I venture on.
On Disc 3 of the complete ‘Sherlock’ DVD/Blu-ray box set, there’s an audio commentary on ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ with Russell Tovey, series co-creator Steven Moffat, series co-creator Mark Gatiss and producer Sue Vertue.
‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ rating – 7/10
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