I may be being a polyanna here, but I don't think that Lucy as a PoC is going to make for *more of* a subordinate dynamic on top of everything else -- Psych is anther uncredited Holmes ripoff with a PoC as the sidekick/partner character and from the PoV of someone who doesn't watch often, he seems to be both treated well in general and usually the voice of reason.
The problem is, there's a terrifying amount of "everything else" loaded onto her.
can you imagine recasting any scene from Sherlock on the basis that the demanding, impossible person who is asking John to come halfway across London to send a text actually has the power to get you sacked?
I get the impression that in this case, the role of Mycroft is being played by this unknown father. (If he's actually named Mycroft, you'll hear the scream from where you are.)
That power shift bothers me on all kinds of levels. Not so much the female/male dynamic per se - that would have been adequately balanced if they'd gone ahead and made her a soldier after all, one who has the strength and presence of mind to stand up to Sherlock. (It would be more equal if they'd gone female/female - there's plenty of precedent; I'm not familiar with the show you reference, but Cagney and Lacey was hella popluar here.)
But! Whether she made the original mistake or she's covering up for someone else, she's *already* a damsel in distress by having hosed her original career in some unknown manner and needing this job for apparently both penance and a route back to healing. (The promo stuff goes rather in depth about how this allows her to "continue to try to help others" so it's not just damsel in distress but woman = nurturer, another cliche getting trotted out.)
But what bothers me the most is that she's hired to be with Sherlock. That two damaged people haven't found each other on their own but been thrown together, with, yes, the added dynamic that one of them can be removed at any time on the basis of "job performance." Moffat and Gatiss are right when they talk about the friendship being the most important thing, and this is a friendship not forged out of instant attraction and fascination, but buy and hire - by a third party, yet!
It not only deviates massively from an important part of canon, it slams a hand right on the big red button of my hinks; this Watson isn't Sherlock's property, but she's not his equal or his friend either... and even if she ever earns the latter, as long as she takes daddy's paycheck, she's never going to be the former.
Why couldn't she have been an army doctor invalided through no fault of her own? It's not like we haven't been having a war or three for the last decade. Why, why, why, WHY could she not have been introduced to Holmes by a mutual friend and formed a friendship & partnership of equals?
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Date: 2012-05-18 10:26 am (UTC)The problem is, there's a terrifying amount of "everything else" loaded onto her.
can you imagine recasting any scene from Sherlock on the basis that the demanding, impossible person who is asking John to come halfway across London to send a text actually has the power to get you sacked?
I get the impression that in this case, the role of Mycroft is being played by this unknown father. (If he's actually named Mycroft, you'll hear the scream from where you are.)
That power shift bothers me on all kinds of levels. Not so much the female/male dynamic per se - that would have been adequately balanced if they'd gone ahead and made her a soldier after all, one who has the strength and presence of mind to stand up to Sherlock. (It would be more equal if they'd gone female/female - there's plenty of precedent; I'm not familiar with the show you reference, but Cagney and Lacey was hella popluar here.)
But! Whether she made the original mistake or she's covering up for someone else, she's *already* a damsel in distress by having hosed her original career in some unknown manner and needing this job for apparently both penance and a route back to healing. (The promo stuff goes rather in depth about how this allows her to "continue to try to help others" so it's not just damsel in distress but woman = nurturer, another cliche getting trotted out.)
But what bothers me the most is that she's hired to be with Sherlock. That two damaged people haven't found each other on their own but been thrown together, with, yes, the added dynamic that one of them can be removed at any time on the basis of "job performance." Moffat and Gatiss are right when they talk about the friendship being the most important thing, and this is a friendship not forged out of instant attraction and fascination, but buy and hire - by a third party, yet!
It not only deviates massively from an important part of canon, it slams a hand right on the big red button of my hinks; this Watson isn't Sherlock's property, but she's not his equal or his friend either... and even if she ever earns the latter, as long as she takes daddy's paycheck, she's never going to be the former.
Why couldn't she have been an army doctor invalided through no fault of her own? It's not like we haven't been having a war or three for the last decade. Why, why, why, WHY could she not have been introduced to Holmes by a mutual friend and formed a friendship & partnership of equals?