I really wasn’t too keen on watching the show for whatever reason. I wasn’t really truly against it nor was I for watching it.
Nevertheless, I don’t regret watching it.
I also never thought that I would finish a mini-series in one sitting. And in one sitting, I do mean that I haven’t moved from my chair for a good 8 hours.
So, was it that good? Well, it wasn’t bad. It was interesting enough to get me hooked.
So what was it about? (Warning: Spoilers Ahead!)
The Irregulars is a British mystery adventure tv show on Netflix that focuses on a group of misfits investigating supernatural crimes for Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes.
Though it was an ensemble cast, it focuses on these two sisters: Bea and Jessie
Bea → a great sleuth in the making.
Jessie → has superpowers and sleepwalks… a lot.
They are joined by their friends.
Spike → a really good sweet talker and can get the gang into or out of anything.
Bill → the muscle, though he looks like the gangliest man to walk the streets, he knows his way around a fight.
Leopold or Leo → our handsome prince charming who has very delicate physical capacities (ie. He gets hurt quite easily)
OH! did I mention this is a re-imagination (it was almost like fanfiction) of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson… so we have them in there as well.
John Watson → bewildered doctor with questionable motives for a lot of things.
Sherlock Holmes → druggie, Watson has been looking for him for a long while.
What I wanted: I came strolling around Netflix looking for something easily understandable to play in the background as I work on other things.
What I got: I got a Sherlock Holmes fanfiction.
What I say: For a family mini-series, it is very exciting. The world building was quickly established and is not too complicated that non-fans of the fantasy genre would appreciate where the story is going. It is still rooted in the physical and literary world as we know it – everything is still very familiar – yet some things have been changed. However, as far as world building goes, there was not a lot done to build it up.
It almost felt like the creators of the show just borrowed the names of the characters and made everything their own (except for who John Watson and Sherlock Holmes are, a doctor and a high functioning-drugged up- sleuth, respectively).
Then you added the supernatural elements. This added a little bit of a twist on the sleuth tales that we all knew about, but aside from that nothing else. Even Sherlock only arrived on the latter part of the series, we dont even get to see him do his quirky deduction skills (aside from the moments that he had to deduce where his tea came from to prove that he was indeed THE Sherlock Holmes).
And as a fan of the Sherlock Holmes franchise, I welcome this interpretation.