Elementary: Why I won’t be watching
I will not be watching Elementary, more than likely.

I heard the announcement that Elementary would happen over the radio when I first heard it. I got excited for a moment. Then I nearly cried.

Why?

Lucy Liu was cast as Joan Watson.

Joan Watson was an exciting prospect. I want, desperately, to see how John Watson is changed by being female. I LOVE modern reinterpretations of Sherlock Holmes and have loved Sherlock. I’m also watching Psych (just found it, it’s fun, but definitely comedy) and I loved House until it got stupid. I love modern revisitings of many classics. I love seeing characters have one aspect of their being altered and how that affects things.

Joan Watson should have been practically mindporn for me. Everything I liked in one place. I wanted to see how Sherlock and Joan interacted and I prayed that they wouldn’t be romantically involved.

And with the announcement that Lucy Liu would be playing Joan, all that brilliance came crashing down. Came crashing down like a rock from an airplane. I don’t think Lucy Liu can pull off playing a strong, powerful Joan Watson. I have fears that her Joan Watson has lost her medical license due to something like having reported sexual harassment, making her all damsel-y. We’ve already seen that she has told herself she isn’t a doctor anymore. That’s telling. If she’s telling herself that, she isn’t fighting to get it back and that? I can’t support.

I don’t think Lucy Liu can pull off NOT being in a relationship of some kind with Sherlock. I don’t think she can pull off not ending up the damsel in distress, constantly. I haven’t felt any connection to her in anything I have ever seen her in because her ‘strong female’ roles all end up being ‘I’ve been horribly abused by men and I’m reacting, not acting.’ Joan Watson needs to act, not just react. A strong female acts, not just reacts (though simply reacting is certainly okay sometimes). Lucy Liu’s performances are all so emotionally driven that I can’t see her having ANY of the calm that she’ll need to be the John Watson to ANYONE’S Sherlock.

There are thousands and thousands of women of colour out there who can’t get roles because no one wants to hire women of colour because the world presented to us on television is so white. Why not give the role to one of them?

Elementary is already letting itself be driven by star power and I see nothing good coming from it. I don’t want Elementary to be another piece of misogynistic bullshit.

Every Sherlock needs his Watson. That doesn’t mean they need to be dating. That means that Sherlock needs a strong counterpart who is willing to stand up to him when the time comes. Sure, Watson might get steamrolled by Sherlock a LOT, but when it comes down to the wire, Watson needs to be able to say “Stop.”

And I don’t think Lucy Liu can pull that off.

#Lucy Liu #Sherlock #feminism