My sole disaffection with the otherwise superlative Elementary is in the all-important casting of the two leads: Miller, with his garish tattoos and the now inexplicably prerequisite facial stubble, and the wholly unappealing, resolutely expressionless of both face and voice Ms. Liu. It simply remains more of a stretch than my beleaguered imagination can supply to reconcile these two modern-day typicals to the iconic roles of one of my all-time favorite heroes (along with Spock, Batman and the Frankenstein Monster) and his venerable partner. Meanwhile, I am more than willing to overlook the fact that Elementary is ultimately but a thinly-veiled N.C.I.S. type police procedural clone in Holmes' clothing in favor of their consistently riveting storylines. Nor do I object to the portrayal of Watson as a woman...only to his portrayal as THIS woman. I found both Margaret Colin and Deborah Farentino VASTLY more likeable in their turns as Watson, in 1987 and 1993, respectively. Having said all this, the season ender was particularly gripping and the twists at every turn, quite unforeseen. I will certainly be there front and center for the second season, perhaps only minimally distracted by my lingering wish to see someone like, say, Tom Hardy and Gweneth Paltrow assaying the principle roles.
Western frontier...you mean like when the broken Cylon was the evil gunslinger on a wild west planet and Sheriff Apollo had to bring him down on the original Battlestar Galactica?! Like I said, western and space themes just don't mix well for me.