The Week in Entertainment

DVD: Sherlock, Season 2. They do the biggies (Irene Adler, the Hound, the Reichenbach Falls) and they do them well. Your heart will ache for John in the last one... The Alec Guiness Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Interesting how logistics changes things. In the novel, Jim is in Czechoslovakia and Rickie is in Hong Kong. In this, Rickie is in Lisbon. In the recent movie, Jim was in Hungary and Rickie in Istanbul... I wonder if the absolute necessity for The Honourable Schoolboy to be in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia is why it's never been filmed. I'm not certain that seeing the interview in Delhi with Karla instead of hearing it (Gary Oldman killed in that scene in the movie) was wise, but I did get a kick out of seeing Patrick Stewart play Karla. The Sarah Jane Adventures season 4. I will miss this show... I do miss Sarah Jane. But it was great to see Jo Grant again, and hear a bit about old companions (Tegan fighting for aboriginal rights, and Ian and Barbara professors at Cambridge (never aged since the 60s!)). Smiley's People - odd; they got the same guy to play Lacon, and of course Guiness again - and the same type for Connie, anyway. But Guillam was played by a guy who didn't look anything at all like the original. It was disconcerting at first; they should have (imo, anyway) written a new character in; it's not like Smiley wouldn't have had other allies. Otherwise, quite good.

TV: Once Upon a Time - nice reference to "Space Paranoids"! But what the heck happened to Catherine? I suppose we'll find out... Downton Abbey, too bad about Nigel Havers being a cad. And seriously, how many obstacles are they going to throw in the way of Anna and Bates? It's ridiculous. A rather nice animated Hellboy - with Perlman, del Toro, et al. The Middle was cute and Modern Family absolutely cracked me up.

Read: Another short by Scalzi, "An Election", which was very enjoyable. Before the Poison by Peter Robinson, atypical but interesting enough. I wasn't really caught by the main character, but the puzzle was good.