The Silliest Scene In BBC’s Sherlock Is Why I Liked The Benedict Cumberbatch Show So Much

The BBC’s Sherlock is known for its tone and the performances of its cast, mostly that of Benedict Cumberbatch, but it’s its silliest scene that shows why I liked this version of the Great Detective so much. Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous character Sherlock Holmes has been adapted to all types of media for decades, with many of them having the liberty of making substantial changes to the stories and characters. Such is the case of the BBC’s TV series Sherlock, which gave the Great Detective and company a modern twist.

Sherlock brought the famous detective to modern-day London, adapting his cases and their characters to modern technology, social issues, and more. Sherlock starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson, who were joined by some well-known characters from Conan Doyle’s stories, as were Lestrade, Irene Adler, and Holmes’ archenemy Moriarty, played by Andrew Scott. As much as I love Sherlock, it’s undeniable that its tone was inconsistent in its final seasons and its quality declined, but its silliest scene shows why I liked the show so much.

Sherlock’s “I Am Sherlocked” Twist Is Incredibly Silly When You Think About It

“I Am Sherlocked” Wasn’t As Clever As They Wanted Us To Think

Each season of Sherlock consisted of three episodes, each one covering a different case, though some had Jim Moriarty as the mastermind. The first two seasons of Sherlock were a success with critics and viewers, and they introduced some of the most famous characters from the books and adapted some well-known stories. One of them was “A Scandal in Belgravia”, based on the short story “A Scandal in Bohemia”, which introduced Irene Adler (Lara Pulver), who Holmes simply referred to as “The Woman” – and, also, one of the very few characters who successfully outsmarted the detective.

“A Scandal in Belgravia” saw Holmes meeting Irene, a dominatrix who had compromising photos with a female member of the royal family. Said photos were kept on her cellphone along with other valuable information that made her a threat to some of the country’s most powerful people. Some time later, Sherlock was sent the cellphone, and he cracked its password right when Irene was ready to negotiate her protection and more – and it’s the reveal of the password that was incredibly silly.

It was very obvious from the moment they met that Irene was attracted to Sherlock and the detective was eventually attracted to her as well, even if he tried hard to hide it. It’s known that Irene Adler’s intelligence was at the level of that of Holmes, which made her one of his most interesting and fascinating antagonists – and that’s why her password was silly.

I would have expected the great Irene Adler to be a lot more clever and mysterious with her password, but instead, the show went with a memeable one by revealing it was “SHER”, so her lock screen would read “I AM SHER-LOCKED”. Subtle comedy, really, but that’s a large part of what made the show so entertaining.

Sherlock’s Silly Moments Were As Entertaining As The Serious Ones

Sherlock Found The Balance Between Drama & Comedy

Sherlock is mostly remembered for its dramatic and serious moments, such as Holmes’ “death” in “The Reichenbach Fall” and Mary’s death (unlike Holmes’, that one was real) – however, it also had silly moments that were just as entertaining. A character who brought (involuntary, perhaps?) silliness was Anderson, who was part of Lestrade’s team. Holmes didn’t miss a chance to mock Anderson’s “inferior” intelligence in his very unique way, and Anderson himself was pretty silly without being provoked by Holmes.

Scott’s Moriarty also had his silly moments, which were a key part of his unpredictable personality, and there were plenty of silly moments between John and Holmes, mostly in seasons 3 and 4. Surely, some of these felt like too much at certain points, but in general, I would say Sherlock found the right balance between drama and comedy, which was much needed after going through some pretty heavy and dark cases alongside Holmes and Watson.

Sherlock Was At Its Best When It Didn’t Take Itself Too Seriously

Sherlock’s Lighter Moments Gave Some Freshness To The Character

As a fan of the Sherlock Holmes books, I’m aware that the character as written by Conan Doyle wasn’t as serious as most adaptations make him, which is why I appreciate the BBC’s Sherlock adding some silliness to the character from time to time. There was certainly a lot of seriousness and even heaviness at times in the first seasons of Sherlock, but when it didn’t take itself too seriously, it added balance to the show and some freshness to the always-serious character of Sherlock Holmes.

Of course, there’s a big difference between silliness and not taking itself too seriously and being nonsensical – that said, there were various silly and funny moments throughout Sherlock, but season 4 (especially the Eurus storyline) was nonsensical. Sherlock had a disappointing ending, but that still isn’t enough to take its strengths and fun moments away, and its silly moments deserve more appreciation.