Here is the review of the Netflix series The Baker Street Irregulars, a teen-horror that takes us back to the Victorian London of Sherlock Holmes
ORIGINAL TITLE: The irregulars. KIND: teen horror, giallo. NATION: Great Britain. CREATOR: Tom Bidwell. CAST: Thaddea Graham, Darci Shaw, Jojo Macari, McKell David, Harrison Osterfield, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Royce Pierreson. time: Approximately 50 minutes per episode. DISTRIBUTION: Netflix. EXIT: March 26, 2021.
Lately the giant of streaming platforms Netflix seems to focus heavily on the younger audience. So here is flooding teen drama, teen comedy, young adult products and so on and so forth. Just take a look at the trending products to realize it. In this, the new TV series The Baker Street Irregulars, available on Netflix since March 26, 2021, is no exception.
Its creator Tom Bidwell (former collaborator of Netflix for the miniseries The hill of rabbits) sets in the mysterious and fascinating Victorian London the adventures of a group of teenagers struggling with intricate investigations and with the supernatural. To shoulder the boys Bidwell decides to bother none other than the most famous detective in the world, the legendary Sherlock Holmes born from the pen of the British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. With him we obviously find his trusted companion, the doctor John H. Watson, with whom he shares the iconic apartment at 221B Baker Street. The two famous characters are introduced to us in an unprecedented look, in which the horror trait prevails rather than the procedural iter adopted by them for the resolution of cases.
Will the Baker Street Irregulars be able to impress the public without upset the fans of the famous detective? Let’s see it immediately in the our review.
Plot and trailer | Review The Baker Street Irregulars
Beatrice (Thaddea Graham) e Jessica (Darci Shaw) are two orphaned sisters living in a slum in Victorian London. Along with two friends, the shy Billy (Jojo macari) and talkative Spike (McKell David), divide a squalid basement and continuous misfortunes, so much so that they have become a real family for each other. Leopold (Harrison Osterfield), the fragile and solitary prince of England in civilian clothes, eager to escape from his rigid noble life.
The boys are hired by Dr. Watson (Royce Pierreson) to help him and his partner, the brilliant Sherlock Holmes (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), to solve some cases that require contact with the slums of London society. In fact, the boys will soon discover that they are dealing with magic and the supernatural, and that among them there is someone with enormous powers. It is thanks to these powers that the threat that looms over the city can be averted: a mysterious passage from which the forces of evil have begun to invade the streets of London.
Dark London | Review The Baker Street Irregulars
The desire of the series to wink at adolescent audience it is obvious, obviously starting from the young protagonists of the events. L’horror/fantasy and the yellow they are preponderant, but after all they are also the background to the classic problems of these unfortunate adolescents. Love (could not miss …), adventure, friendship, family, the desire to be understood, the desire to escape. All rather classic themes, in any product that involves the growth of young people, at any time and in any part of the world. The style therefore adapts to the tastes of the youngest: a dynamic direction, a colorful language that is undoubtedly more suited to the present day, an extremely contemporary soundtrack.
At the same time there is an attempt to grab another slice of the public, certainly more adult: the fans of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. And this is where the sore point. The most famous literary detective has been called into question over and over again on the screens. The temptation is irresistible, with such an iconic character. We had never seen it in such a different key, immersed in one Disturbing and esoteric London – certainly one of the strengths of the series. His brilliant deductions capable of solving any puzzle leave room for a profound one fascination with the occult and the supernatural – certainly shared by Conan Doyle, a little less by his character.
Sherlock Holmes not received | Review The Baker Street Irregulars
Let’s face it: Baker Street Irregulars runs pretty well, with a good balance between the part involving cases and mysteries and the deepening of the characters’ feelings. But there is a problem, and not an insignificant one: where is Sherlock? The ingenious English gentleman we all know well leaves room for a man destroyed by his own vices, almost unable to think clearly since he has become a shadow of himself. His lifelong companion, Watson, also appears extremely different from his literary character, becoming unrecognizable. This characterization could perhaps bring an element of novelty to such famous characters, but the feeling is that we have gone a little too far.
Probably if there had been any two Londoners instead of Sherlock and Watson, no one could have complained. The fact of having disturbed two such famous names, however, appears as one Bait and switch. It almost seems that Tom Bidwell, as an inveterate admirer, wanted to write his fan fiction by taking too many poetic licenses, or at least exasperating some traits of the good Sherlock.
The opinion is that The Baker Street Irregulars would have worked better by choosing to take a specific route. Do you decide to make a product aiming at the target of adolescents? Perfect, let’s leave aside the sacred monsters of literature, which frankly do nothing but debase a product that could have been more honest.
In search of one’s own dimension | Review The Baker Street Irregulars
The series had all the elements to function as a decent entertainment product. L’supernatural element first of all, thanks to which it delineates itself the most interesting character, that of Jessica. The resolution of cases is often original, between phantom kings of birds, desperate skinners and men who want to become gods. There is also the attention given to all the characters, each with its own personality or peculiarity. The stories that accompany the main story are finally a good glue to everything else.
If in the first half of the series there is a tendency to self-conclude the episodes with the resolution of the case, the second half instead develops the real mystery that has hit London and risks destroying it. Unfortunately, it is in the latter part that the most obvious choices are made (some revelations could be easily guessed…), taking away from the product that originality that was initially built.
Conclusions
The great success that The Baker Street Irregulars got in that of Netflix, immediately entering among the trending shows, will probably lead him to be reconfirmed for a new season. Despite the ending that seems to close a circle, it would not be so difficult to find a way to continue the events of the “irregular”. If so, we only hope for one thing: leave Sherlock Holmes aside, for a story that could work better without the cumbersome weight of the famous character.
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