This Australian also prefers it. Having been exposed to a lot of quality British TV on the national broadcaster and a lot of crappy US imports on commercial TV while growing up, while not having much in the way of home-grown product to get defensive about, I get how many Brits maintain the old prejudices about…

We can examine the differences though. We can (and should) judge each show on its own merits. We can also (and why not?) compare and contrast the shows by looking at the way each show interprets the canon. We can examine the role that many different factors play in this, such as how the two shows are written, the…

OK sod it.

I hope you did well on your assignment. I never paid too much attention in English class and now I make up for it by analyzing TV shows (actually, pretty much just Elementary) on AV club.

Very interesting point you make about Watson there sir. Most Elementary lovers probably also really liked Sherlock and probably still do, but at some point in the first season stopped beginning the comments with "I really love Sherlock but…." Part (but only part) of the reason is the very vocal portion of the Sherlock…

Oh my god you just gave me the best idea for a show:

I think it was the closing four episodes of season 1 (starting with "A Landmark Episode", which Myles, bless him, gave a "B". In fairness he didn't have too long to write the review) where it went from a really good show to a beautiful, awesome, kicks-the-shit-out-of-the-competition piece of awesomeness.

Yes, it's a CBS procedural, but it's also about Sherlock Holmes
Yes, it's a Sherlock Holmes show, but it's also a CBS procedural

Elementary
The thinking man's Sherlock

Yay Myles! And well done not mentioning Elementary. Because no good can come of that :)

More "very, very vague expectation spoilers" for all three episodes, plus mild, slightly spoilerly stuff. I enjoyed the first episode, possibly because my expectations were fairly relaxed combined with the reasonable amount of self-deprecation on the part of the show.

And great job, Jon Michael Hill. That guy can act.

Hello!

It might have been all about Bell returning home, but I liked the way they handled it, with Bell making a big deal of how he liked the atmosphere his new unit and Joan and Sherlock having to be the ones to break the bad news to him.

Of course!!

As far as Moriarty's motives go, I think it's a little from column A, a little from column B.

I think it's totally a ploy. And not a very good one at that. She pretty much admitted it was a ploy. Basically - "I'm getting better - I could have ended that man's life but I didn't because other people frown on that" That Sherlock has fallen for it is indicative of just how far under her spell he is.

I think Joan showed some vulnerability herself, allowing herself to be baited into answering her questions like that. Moriarty clearly has Joan in her crosshairs - I think she's playing Joan just like she's playing Sherlock, and she may have given away more than she realises by opening up (ever so slightly) to…

I do think Moriarty is a sociopath or something of the sort, although we'll probably have a better idea as we learn more of her back story. One thing for sure is she is playing Sherlock like a Stradivarius, and I think she's slowly learning how to play Joan as well. She is definitely not to be trusted. Can't tell for…

Re: the first point: It's called foreshadowing. It's obvious to us and not to Sherlock because we have a different point of view.