— Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarter"
Leigh:
Yet again, our story matches up with our recent viewings without any sort of
planning. We actually changed what movie we were going to watch to something
easier to discuss to get back into the swing of things. We're getting good at
this. On the first page, Watson discusses that he's worried about Holmes going
back on drugs in a paragraph that might be one of Doyle's best written
paragraphs. We have a bored Sherlock Holmes who is is teetering on falling back
into drug use and a very concerned Watson who doesn't want that to happen to
his friend.
AND LO AND BEHOLD, in walks a mystery! Not an incredibly
serious mystery, but the mystery of a missing rugby player. The best in the
world or county or something. I don't know. I didn't really pay attention to
the rugby bits. In fact, the rugby bits actually confused me. I found myself
drifting off and not paying attention when anything about a three quarter or
goals or tries or quaffles were mentioned. If anything, it made me not
interested. I'm sure that for those who know anything about rugby at all besides
that the New Zealand All Blacks are the scariest/sexiest men in the world, it
at least made sense. It makes complete sense that Doyle wrote a story that had
a sports theme since he founded a football team (since disbanded) and played
cricket (which I think is impossible to learn how to play and people just
pretend that they know what's going on). In fact, I'm a little surprised that
it we haven't encountered another story like this before. Sherlock Holmes and
the Case of the Missing Cricket Bat or something.
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| This is all that Leigh understands about rugby, but really, who needs to know more? |
What we do have though, once we wade through all of the
rugby talk, is a man who is missing. A man who, while relatively scant of money
now, is set to inherit a lot of money from his uncle, Scrooge McDuck. The
missing man sent a very intriguing telegram before he up and disappeared which
leads Holmes and Watson to a doctor who IS NOT HAVING IT. He actually
challenged Holmes, not so much so Holmes couldn't figure it out, but enough to
put a bit of padding into the middle of the story.
What did you think? Did you enjoy the rugby ties? Or did it
just muddle the relatively straightforward mystery?
Austin: The rugby bits
were confusing because they ultimately weren’t a major part of the story. The
European sport was a bit of misdirection, which was disappointing since while
we’re writing this we’re in the middle of an exciting World Cup. I’ve had only
a limited experience with rugby. I saw the movie Invictus and my
brother played rugby for a year—but I only attended one game. I mostly
understood it. It’s like American Football except they hug more and play
faster.
You mentioned the parts of this story I really liked which
was examining Sherlock out of his element. His boredom is causing a major toll
on him and then the case that is supposed to get him out of his rut begins with
a name he is expected to know but doesn’t. I think it’s rather fitting that by
the end, Sherlock isn’t even the one to find the exact location of Geoffrey; he
has to have the help of a scent hound.
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| Not just used for the "DAWWW"s any more! |
Yet throughout all of this, Sherlock keeps his cool. He
never panics or even feels that embarrassed that he doesn’t know about rugby.
(AND NOBODY SHOULD) It fits true to his MO of going forth into the strange and
unknown even if that means amateur rugby. It ends up having the same sort of
elements that we see in his crimes like mysterious notes and money grabbing
plans. However, it still feels like an underdog story for our brilliant hero.
This isn’t one of the great stories and I’m not sure I’m
entirely happy with the conclusion, but I enjoyed the point of view of it all.
Am I crazy or did you see some of that too?
Leigh:
I thought the conclusion was...lackluster? Inappropriate? I don't know. It was
a let down though to have Holmes run all around the countryside and then it
ends with a man crying over his dead wife and the doctor saying, "GUESS
WHAT?! YOU WON. YA HAPPY NOW? JERK!" I don't know. I just wanted something
a bit more fantastic to go with the rest of the story. Holmes was facing a
great opponent and yet the story ended with the missing Three Quarter (do I
capitalize this? I don't know.) mourning over his recently dead wife. It just
felt like a bummer after what was a really fun adventure. Almost like we were
having all of this fun and Holmes was doing his best and then when we find out
what happened, I almost feel guilty for having so much fun.
I know that some Sherlock Holmes stories are going to be a
bit more relaxed and not as crazy as some of them but I was hoping for a
conclusion to at least match the rest of the story in intensity and intrigue
and instead we are left with a melancholy ending.
But it felt to me like Watson should've stepped in at the
end and had a discussion with Holmes about how they went about things and maybe
if they should've stopped searching for the missing rugby man. It feels like a
moral story, like we the audience should learn something from it like that some
people's business is private for a reason or that sometimes people go missing
who don't want to be found.
What do you think? Should we, the audience, take something
away from this story or is it just an odd ending?
Austin: I thought it was a fine
ending. Not one of the best but the dead wife element threw me off a bit. I
thought it would have a more emotional appeal, but since it was so much looking
at different directions it didn’t work for me on that level. Plot wise, I
thought it was fine. I guess I didn’t think this was a super happy fun
adventure! Not that I thought it was a darker tone throughout but the rugby
element felt more like a new setting than a wacky setting—like a gaggle of
gingers.
Watson felt like an observer this entire tale. It was almost
like Sherlock told him this story once and now Watson is telling it second
hand. I’m happy when Watson isn’t involved heavily in the plot when he can add
an interesting observation like he did at the beginning of the story. After
that he seemed to fade away rather heavily.
I think the world of Sherlock Holmes always feels a bit
bleak at times. Not just because there are always crimes happening but it’s
because they’re happening without much eye-raising. It’s never a shocking act
that’s happening, it just feels so much like normal society. Sherlock is trying
to maintain order but it will never stick. This isn’t like a comic book world
where goons are going to do bad things but they know Batman could be right
around the corner. Sherlock’s presence isn’t making an impact on crime; they’re
just carrying on often in very selfish ways. Sometimes they’re goofy and
sometimes this town is rather cruel. That’s why we need heroes.
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| Silly Sherlock! You can't fly! |
And here is Leigh Montano with the final word!
Leigh:
HAKA!
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