Elementary, my dear Joan: Lucy Liu to partner US Sherlock
John Watson has taken many forms over the years. He's been Hubert Willis. He's been Nigel Bruce. He's been Jude Law. He's been Bilbo Baggins. And now John Watson is Lucy Liu.
Kind of. Elementary – the new modern-day Sherlock Holmes pilot being produced in America by CBS – has cast Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, a struck-off surgeon who lives in Brooklyn with Sherlock and acts as his "sober companion" following his stint in rehab. Together they'll solve crimes, kick ass and – let's not kid ourselves here – probably fall in love.
Now, the easiest thing to do when presented with this news would be to slap your head in despair. Watson? A woman? What madness is this? Won't this cancel out the asexual ambiguity of Sherlock's character? Why stop there? Why not make Watson a child, or a alien, or a rapping cartoon animal? But, look, let's all calm down.
Yes, on paper it sounds horrible. But on paper Steven Moffat's updated Sherlock sounds horrible, too. A modern-day Sherlock. Where Watson writes a blog. And most episodes centre around Sherlock's ability to guess passwords. Who'd want to watch that?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/feb/28/elementary-sherlock-lucy-liu?newsfeed=true
Sounds great to me and an innovative concept / idea.