“Watson,” said he, “if
it should ever strike you that I am getting a little overconfident in my
powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper ‘Norbury’
in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you.”
--Sherlock Holmes, “The Yellow Face”
Leigh:
-pause-
-long pause-
-deep breath-
-pause-
Why can no one talk to each other in Victorian England? Did they all
have a curse put on them that prevented them from speaking their true feelings
or were they SO "proper" that they couldn't even MENTION A CHILD THAT
THEY HAD to their husband? This whole mystery would've been cleared up by a
short discussion stating, "Hey, I know you want to marry me but so you
know I have a child by my previous husband who was black." This is
something that is kinda important especially if 1, you think this marriage will
last and 2, you ever want to see your child again.
A friend of mine said once that not telling someone something
because you think they'll be upset or it will hurt their feelings is basically
saying that you can't tell someone something because you don't think they're
mature enough to handle it. That's what this situation is. Effie has a child
from her previous marriage and doesn't want to tell her husband because she's
afraid he won't be able to handle the information. Even he's pissed that she
didn't tell him that important detail in her life because he now thinks that
his wife thinks he's a terrible person.
Speaking of terrible people, let's talk about Effie. Has a child
with her first husband. Hubby #1 dies. Child is sick. You know what's a great
idea? ABANDONING YOUR CHILD IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY. That's worse than just
leaving them at the mall or forgetting to pick them up from school. She
knowingly and willingly left her child in a different country instead of
staying with her sick child until she was better. And then, she basically locks
the poor girl in a house, forbidding her to ever leave because she's half
black. Effie sounds like one of the worst people in the world.
 |
| I haven't seen this movie but I saw the trailer a billion times at my arthouse theatre to the point where I hate this movie and assume it's an Effie like situation. Watch the trailer; I'm not going to. |
Also Sherlock Holmes doesn't do anything.
So Austin,
what's the point of this story besides finding out that some people are truly
awful? And am I overreacting? (This is a very real possibility since I am
currently hopped up on Easter candy. Get it? HOPPED up? BWAHAHAHA)
Austin: Oh this
whole story is ridiculous. Thank goodness we had a few pages of Sherlock
analyzing a pipe for a few pages that was pretty entertaining. I like to
imagine that in this world Watson was really pressured for a new story in the
Strand and Mary needed the money for something important so he quickly just threw together this tale where nothing really happened.
I don't hate Effie as much as you, but I do hate her dramatic way to
doing things.
"I need $100."
"What? Okay, why?"
"You said you are my banker; bankers don't ask questions."
"Yeah, but people don't really marry their bankers..."
"I need the money."
"Seriously, that's not a big deal. I just would like to know
why. This is 1888. That's like a lot of money."
"WHY WON'T YOU TRUST ME?!?!?!?!"
"I do trust you. Honey, where does that private detective
reside? The genius who can uncover any secret?"
"221B Baker Street. Why?"
"No reason."
That dialog essentially played out for majority of the story. It's
one thing to keep a secret and it's another to keep bringing up the fact that
you're keeping a secret. So many lies to the point where she even lies that her
locket is broken.
Now we get to
the point at the end where Sherlock is very moody that he didn't get to solve
the case. His dramatic final line is what we'll use as our opening quote up
top. My question to you is: is it fair that he didn't solve the case? If I
asked Sherlock to guess what number I'm thinking of and he couldn't tell from
my facial ticks that I was thinking 204,122,943.1 that doesn't make him less of
a genius does it?
Leigh: I don't think Sherlock Holmes is at fault here. First, we
know he's a super genius so it doesn't really NEED to be proved every story
because this is something that is fact. The pipe examination at the beginning
was a nice touch to show that Holmes can't really turn it off and does it
mainly because he's bored. Second, this was not mystery, it was an omission of
details. It was an important conversation that needed to be had between husband
and wife, probably before they got married, that just didn't happen. I'm
reminded of Catcher in the Rye when
Holden Caufield hires the prostitute and doesn't do anything except talk. Just
because nothing happened doesn't mean their roles suddenly change, and the same
thing happens with Sherlock Holmes. Just because he was hired to be a super
genius and doesn't have anything to detect doesn't make him any less of a
genius.
 |
| "I want to buy you clothes, care for you and not sleep with you." "Why?" |
But here we are blaming characters that don't exist when we could be
discussing the author here. ACD really dropped the ball on this one. I think he
was trying to show an example when Sherlock Holmes wasn't needed or was off-base and
just got it wrong. Instead though, we just get a frustrating story where Holmes
and Watson are background characters watching a daytime soap. All it needed was
an evil twin or someone coming back from the dead to finish off the melodramatic
tale.
So is this just
another episode of As the World Turns
or am I missing some important literary nuances?
Austin: This would be my favorite story, my all time favorite
Sherlock story, if this was a comedy. If there was this ongoing vibe
between Sherlock and Watson where they are incredibly uncomfortable and they
don't want to be there yet can't leave...best story ever. Especially after the
melodrama keeps getting crazier, have Watson simply begging for the carriage to
arrive. Then end with a silent ride back into London where Sherlock says
"Never publish this, Watson."
 |
| Then again, Watson has had a lot of practice of being in awkward situations. |
The only nuances I feel I'm missing is that I still like Doyle's
writing. It was quick and enjoyable prose-wise. The pipe stuff was really
fun....it's just a story with a really lame plot and a very strange revelation.
Thankfully with a title like "The Yellow Face" this as racist as it
could have been, but instead it was just race-awkward. Oh boy.
Anywho, this week we are watching yet another random Sherlock Holmes
movie. I remember this one aired on PBS years ago and I'm sorry I missed it
because it starred Rupert Everett (Four Weddings and a Funeral) as
Holmes. Once again you can watch it on YouTube right HERE.
Now here is
Leigh Montano with the final word...
Leigh: COMMUNICATION!
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