Review: New Russian Holmes 01×01-02 – Baker Street, 221B
Sadly The Baker Street Babes haven’t learned Russian, but thankfully, Curly has a Russian speaking, Holmes loving flatmate. As such, here’s a review of the new Russian Sherlock Holmes series’ first double episode! It stars Igor Petrenko as Sherlock Holmes and Andrey Panin as Dr. Watson.
ШЕРЛОК ХОЛМС airs on россия 1. It’s available online to watch (in Russian) at http://russia.tv/video/.
Review By Sigita Matulaityte for The Baker Street Babes
The Director of the new Russian Sherlock Holmes TV show, Andrey Kavun, said that this show wasn’t going to be a direct adaptation because they didn’t want to be similar to the legendary Livanov/Solomin series, even though it’s set in the Victorian times. They are recreating most of the cases from scratch, as proved by the first double episode “Baker Street, 221b”.
The episode starts with Doctor Watson telling how he, after finishing his medical studies, went to war, got injured there (the injury was apparently a concussion, a head trauma) and was sent back to England for early retirement. He tries to put an ad in a newspaper that he is accepting patients but the guy responsible for ads says that he can’t do that without a permanent address – where would the patients go? Watson agrees and leaves the publisher’s house in search for a place to live and work. However, he says, this is not how the story that he wants to tell us, started.
Indeed, it is not how the Holmes and Watson story usually starts: no Stamford, no St. Bart’s or Baker Street as it happened in Maslennikov’s series. Watson first meets Holmes in the middle of the street just outside the publisher’s house where a terrible accident has happened: a man was just hit by a horse carriage and people screamed for a doctor, so naturally Watson rushed to the scene. Holmes is in the crowd, investigates the accident and shouts to the policemen who arrive shortly afterwards that this is a premeditated murder, not an accident. He also quips to Watson that this man will not need a doctor anymore in 30 seconds or so. Watson is surprised at the antics of this strange man with glasses who invites him to join in the ride to the police station. The good doctor hesitates, clearly unimpressed with the strange turn of events, but in the end curiosity wins over sense and Watson hurries to the police carriage after Holmes.
We meet Lestrade in police station, who is rather hostile to Holmes and says that this was no murder, the carriage driver was responsible and the body ended up in police station only because city morgue is full. Watson in the mean time is writing down his statement as a witness. Holmes leaves the room because Lestrade is impossible to convince that the carriage driver didn’t do it. Watson then upon hearing that decides to change his statement and because of that the carriage driver is let go. Holmes apparently waited outside for Watson, asks about his witness statement and then proceeds to give him an address of a house, run by a widowed Mrs. Hudson who is “irritable but cooks very well” where a room has just been vacated and that he deduced Watson needs a place to live. The address is of course 221b Baker Street.
The house has more tenants – some old ladies living downstairs, Mrs. Hudson is living there too (though at the moment she is absent). Upstairs there are two rooms which also share the bathroom on the same floor. The other room is of course, rented by Holmes. Watson moves in to the spare one and the adventure continues.
Igor Petrenko’s Holmes is something between Robert Downey Jr and Jonny Lee Miller: he’s a bit manic, hyperactive and scruffy, a bit too full of himself at times, quick witted and has a playful side. He’s got pictures of Mycroft and Irene in his room, smokes like a chimney, shortsighted and is actually rather bad at boxing (Watson beats the shit out of him using “only half strength” when they indulge in a bout of friendly sparring, a beautiful and hilarious homage to the legendary Soviet series). Also the violin! The violin is actually hanging on the wall when Holmes is producing the horrible sounds from it to provoke Watson into telling his hypothesis of the events of the evening. I sincerely hope that we will see Holmes playing the violin properly though, not just abusing the poor instrument, despite how funny that might be.
Watson, played masterfully by the late Andrey Panin, is a bit lost, vulnerable and confused at first. He is wary of Holmes at first, however his curiosity wins over and after he notices his strange neighbor slipping out in a disguise, he follows him. When Holmes gets in a tight spot with four angry drunk sailors at the pub, Watson uses his considerable boxing skills to save him and they run back home from the police. When the storm starts, the sound of thunder, the adrenaline of fighting and then fleeing suddenly brings back war memories to Watson and he stumbles, clearly having a panic attack. It’s heartbreaking to watch. A few seconds later the doctor gets up and carries on to the shore where Holmes is waiting for him with a boat. I especially liked this scene – they chose not to show his memories as a flashback, using instead sound effects to merge the sound of thunder and of shots fired, focusing on Watson’s vulnerable state.
I’m not sure I like how Lestrade is written: Mikhail Boyarskiy is a great actor but the character itself is really irritating. Maybe I have been spoiled by other Lestrades, especially BBC’s Lestrade but this version is not my favorite – very unlikable. I suppose it’s closer to canon though, Arthur Conan Doyle described Lestrade as a really unpleasant character (though the scene in “Six Napoleons” redeems him). We will wait and see if this Lestrade gets his moment to shine.
The case itself is reimagined Adventure Of Black Peter with hefty amount of blackmail and boxing involved. I will not spoil the plot details but in fact the whole harpoon murder scene was almost word for word from the book (which made me very happy because it’s one of my favorite cases). The other scene that I loved was the bare knuckled boxing match scene with Holmes going as a new challenger for the champion (he, however didn’t end up boxing with him, Watson did). The manager asked: “Name?” – “Barbarian.” – said Holmes. “I asked not for a nickname, tell me your name!” – shouted the manager. Holmes thought for a second and blurted: “Basil Rathbone.” I DIED.
I am sad though that I don’t know enough Russian to catch all the nuances, jokes and gems like this one. Hopefully there will be English subtitles one day.
At the end of an episode Holmes and Watson are sitting in front of the fireplace at 221b, enjoying a smoke – another beautiful homage to the classic Russian series.
In conclusion, this was an enjoyable experience, with some great homages paid both to the classic Maslennikov’s series, canon and even other adaptations (still not over the Basil Rathbone bit, too funny). Some of the scenes felt a bit slow or not really there sometimes, I’m not sure I like the old ladies living downstairs (they are supposed to be comic relief I guess), hopefully the ride will be smoother next time.