Sherlock Holmes and Eva Ibbotson

I have discovered a new ship - Holmes/Adler. Or Sherlock/Irene, I suppose, but they're the same thing.

"Why don't you trust me?" "Do you want the reasons listed chronologically, or alphabetically?"

We saw the (completely EPIC) Sherlock Holmes movie today. It was, as I just said, totally amazing, with explosions and snarky insults and a lovely soundtrack, all things that make me love a movie.

But, of course, one thing that makes a movie/book/story-in-general is a nice romance. Well, maybe not NICE per se, but I happen to think that drama is enhanced when you have people flirting with each other. Even if it's a sideline and a little bittersweet and hidden behind snark and rivalry.

Which is what Holmes and Adler are. They're rivals and sarcastic and they don't trust each other, but they're perfect. It also helps that Robert Downey Jr and Rachael McAdams can really act, making you believe them. And that Downey Jr is totally gorgeous, especially for a guy in his forties with kids.

I liked Holmes/Watson as well, but I've never been a proper slash fangirl. I laugh at it, but in the end I can't properly ship it. I like Irene and Holmes too much (even if Watson's wife was Caroline Bingley, which is code for girly evil). Sorry, rambling again. I just... I love them. They're so dysfunctional and sarcastic and untrusting and... bittersweet.

So, yeah, maybe Holmes (hardcore, asexual, Conan-Doyle Holmes) would never get himself tangled up in something like that. He was just... unaware of love or desire or anything 'soft' like that. I think the actual line from... Scandal in Bohemia? Is something like 'he never spoke of the softer passions except with a sneer' or something like that.

But who expects movies to be true to the books? Sarah/Caspian never happened, and that was there in the movies. Even New Who have a dramatic, most definitely not asexual Doctor in Ten, if not in Nine (and who believes that, really?). The world moves on, and sorry, but drama, romance and all of that creeps into everything these days - and I happen to believe that the characters are richer, brighter... more human for it.

Sorry, I didn't mean this to become a rant. It just... annoys me when people do that. If a character is as awesome as Holmes, and played by someone as, well, epic as Robert Downey Jr, then why not exploit it? Why not have Holmes and Irene flirt in a hotel room while she's drugging him? (And FYI, I think the sedative in the wine was odourless and tasteless... like iocane powder, lol, that's why he didn't detect it right away... that, and, well, she was naked only about five feet away.) Why not have them a little angsty, saying goodbye on the in-progress Tower Bridge.

Why not have them almost - almost - wishing they were normal, so they could be happy, while still loving the angst-and-snark-ridden rivals/lovers/enemies thing they have going?

Because seriously, if you're going to have Holmes/Watson left right and centre, why not add someone else into the mix? LOL, I'd love to have Watson react to her as Holmes reacts to Mary.

I need to write some fanfic for this - get it out of my system.

Aaaand we're back at the rant. This is a really long blog post, isn't it?

Okay, new topic: Eva Ibbotson romances, there we go. I'm reading another in that series - this one's called 'the Morning Gift' and, even quicker than usual, I've already fallen for the hero. As is right and proper, I might add. It's like a Mills and Boon plot (marriage of convenience turns to something more) but with Nazis and war and paleontology and a hero who resembles a certain dearly departed Doctor. At least, in my head ;).

The heroine is archetypal Ibbotson heroine: long-haired, foreign, musical, 20-ish. She's got something about her though - she's bright, and nice, as they all are, and I do like her. And she and the hero get on really well,. Ibbotson is good at three things: Characters (especially eccentric ones), Settings and Relationships. The plot is good as well, but you really get to know her characters, and root for their relationships - romantic and platonic, and feel like you are where she describes (usually Austria and Vienna, or England, as that's where the author grew up), because the author's knowledge of the places is communicated to the reader.

Right, enough analysis. You can tell I haven't been in classes, I'm analysing everything - including the scientific aspects of Hitchhikers Guide.

One more thing: PARAMORE RULES!