Been watching Sherlock, I only ever watched the first series back when it came out. I think I still prefer Elementary's version of the Sherlock Holmes Extended Universe.
It can get very overwrought, especially with the music and the scene pacing. It can become ninety minutes dragging into feeling like four hours. I think the best episodes of both series are actually the ones where it's Sherlock and Joa- er, John just solving cases (that don't have to involve murder either!) that unravel naturally rather than trying to be some complex globe spanning conspiracy show that has to CONSTANTLY. UP. THE. STAKES. Elementary's Moriarity structure and setup is also better imo seeing the full scope of each's take, even if they could never really run with it due to the actress problems.
I still have the final, fourth series, to go, but I liked Elementary's final season-long villain (which structure also applies to the first season, which I think is the best of both) as more proper stakes of the kind of "Big Bad" to test a Sherlock over time. Overall, I do like both though and am just comparing them because that was what everyone did back when they both came out around the same time. I like that they're both distinct enough and find it funny that the more dramatic bits of both are some of my least favorite aspects compared to the more procedural natures. Often it feels the other way around, but I guess I don't mind when it comes to this or one of the actually great clones (like Monk, Psych, etc.) of this setup.
Just need to somehow cleanse my brain of the Sherlock theme because I think I really hate it at this point.
