Jim Moriarty

I love the series Sherlock! Despite what I have said countless times in the past about my dislike towards modernizing Sherlock Holmes both Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss won me over!! They created a thoroughly enjoyable series that is fast-paced while still retaining everything I love about the original Sherlock Holmes stories.

And the cast is great. Benedict Cumberbatch IS Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman is an excellent Watson. I've also enjoyed show co-creator Mark Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes. Not quite as corpulent as the stories describe him. But he works well in the role.

However, they did not win me over with their re-imagining of Professor James Moriarty.

Okay, not entirely true. I liked their concept of Moriarty until the very last episode. I enjoyed how they had him lurking in the shadows only communicating through either instant messages or using his innocent victims as his unwilling mouthpieces to convey his cryptic messages to Sherlock Holmes before they met a terrible end.

I actually found that to be very frightening and a really good concept...

...that is until they introduced Moriarty in the flesh.

I haven't seen enough of Andrew Scott to make a fair judgment on his acting skills. So, my critique remains solely on the portrayal of Moriarty rather than the actor playing him.

I just do not like the irritatingly cocky/arrogant way they represent "Jim" Moriarty in this production. From a writers perspective, I think I understand what they're trying to do.

They want you to hate Moriarty (mission accomplished) and therefore they are making the character ooze with arrogance as he delivers his lines in this jokey/taunting manner blending in lines from The Final Problem with a modern twist to them.

That way you've been hooked because now you will tune in when the series returns hoping to see Sherlock Holmes lay the smackdown on Jim Moriarty's punk ass.

It just doesn't work for me. And instead of being scared of Moriarty, I just find myself annoyed by him. And the frightening lines like "That's what people do" after Sherlock says "People died" and "I will burn the heart out of you" really lost their punch.

I still think they are great lines though :-)

For me, the best portrayals of The Napoleon of Crime is when it's subtle and subdued. Eric Porter from the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series is still my favorite portrayal of Professor Moriarty:

I will be eagerly waiting for the return of Sherlock. But sadly, I found the introduction of Jim Moriarty to be a bit of a let-down to what has been a really fantastic new series. And a fantastic twist on Sherlock Holmes. I'm not going to completely write off a series just because I found only tiny element of it to be less than satisfying.