So I'm three episodes in to "The Irregulars" and I can honestly say it's a pleasant surprise.
When I heard about a new Sherlock Holmes based series wherein "the supernatural elements will be 'real'" I was less than optimistic. One of the things I really like about Sherlock Holmes stories is that any time there's a supernatural element it always turns out to be a Scooby-Doo-ing rather than a haunting. Being one who doesn't believe in ghosts or any such nonsense, I often find it difficult to enjoy supernatural elements being injected into properties where they don't belong. Magic in Sherlock Holmes is not usually a positive. I feel the same about Scooby-Doo stories where the ghost is actually a ghost, too.
The Irregulars also goes down a less than well trodden path by focusing its gaze away from Sherlock and Watson and onto the "Irregulars", a group of street urchins he traditionally employs as information gathers and spies. In the books, the irregulars are children while here they're four teens and their royal sidekick. Sorta Scooby-Duke.
For the Holmes purists, there's lots to complain about. Lots. But there was lots to complain about in the similarly off-model Elementary and even the highly lauded Sherlock. At first I wasn't sold on those either, but I've finally come around to the view that the traditional Jeremy Brett interpretation of Sherlock Holmes has been done pretty much to perfection already and I honestly don't think there's much chance we'll see anything that good and that faithful again in my lifetime. Thanks to dvd, we really don't need another like that anyhow. You want super authentic, faithfully adapted Sherlock Holmes, buy the Jeremy Brett dvd set and more power to you, Don't want anything but faithful, super authentic Sherlock? Stop there.
The Irregulars takes the Sherlock stories as a starting block and runs pretty much in a totally different direction. It runs its race (pun intended) in a Victorian London painted with modern eyes. The cast is diverse, a choice easily worked with for the actual irregulars but much less historically likely when we're talking about a Black John Watson and at least one Black British nobleman. It's not necessarily realistic but neither is the dude who controls a whole flock of ravens that fly out of his overcoat. If you're looking for historical accuracy and realism on Netflix I suggest your doctor needs to reassess your meds, pronto.
The lead Irregular is a street smart, tough as nails teenage girl. Bea is probably the best addition to the Holmes family since they buried Arthur Conan Doyle and I predict big things for Thaddea Graham who plays her. There may have been Asian girls like that in Victorian London, but at the time there sure wasn't anyone writing about them. This isn't a Victorian London story written by a Victorian Londoner though. This is a fun, entertaining fantasy story set in a fantastic Victorian London. If the mix of Victorian setting and modern racial reality is enough of a problem for some to skip this, well that's their lookout.
Like those who'll skip it for adding "real" magic to a Holmes story or the occasional modern musical moment, those who skip it because the racial mix doesn't feel "real" to the setting will be missing out on an entertaining addition to the never likely to stop expanding family of Sherlock Holmes adventures. Seems like a silly reason to me, but I'm not them.
Take an hour, watch the first one even if you're unsure. I bet you'll be there at the end. I know I will be.
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