Holmes in da House

My interest in feature length screenplays and dramatic narrative has recently led me into episodic structure…something I’ve been pondering over lately due to the reemergence of an old entertainment, and the development of a new one.
First, the new: I’ve really gotten into that television show House over the last few weeks. I mean really into it. Herein lies a show with a ridiculously strong protagonist, unique dramatic mechanism and clean narrative structure…

Allow me to deviate for a moment here and state that while the character of House is brilliant, I credit Hugh Laurie for that portrait. I am sure that some general idea of his persona was conceived at the time of the show’s scripting, but it’s easy to see by the character’s inner life and the gradual comfort each episode gains with the character that the writers' had little hand in the matter. However, I believe the writers to be chiefly responsible for the show’s lean structure.

…Of course, the show has been criticized for its episodic structure, but I find that to be the show’s chief virtue. It’s kind of nice to have a program wherein each episode is self-contained and functional. After trying to keep up with the interlocked plotlines of 24 and Lost, House is a real breather. Episodic also seems to be a rising trend this year. The producers of Lost have recently announced that the third season will be much more serial in its nature than the previous plot-heavy seasons. Good, I say. But to be honest…I can’t wait for more House.

Now for the old: I’ve returned to reading Sherlock Holmes stories recently. To be fair, I used to read Holmes stories all the time; the atmosphere of Doyle’s Victorian world was instrumental in creating Sin of the Opiate, not to mention the dialogue in Wildlifeless. But as to why I started reading these stories again (since those two projects are quickly descending into history) I don’t know.

Oh, wait.

It might be because the Holmesian structure is like clockwork…a classic example of episodic narrative. I should also note that I’ve learned that the characterization of Holmes and the episodic structure of these stories play a key influence for House. Ah yes, the picture is complete.
In a final note for this rather indulgent blog entry: I picked up my reading with “The Adventure of the Empty House”, the first story after Holmes’ “death” in “The Final Problem”. While I found “The Final Problem” to be a rather flat and heartless story (you could tell that Doyle was just sick of the character by then), “The Adventure of the Empty House” was thrilling. Easily one of the best Holmes stories. Wherein Doyle had given up on trying to create a Victorian London with all sorts of vibrancy and uniqueness in “Problem”, “Empty House” has him painting a stunning, dangerous world nearly rivaling that of “The Sign of Four”. Most notable? The villain in this short work is a retired big game hunter! I wish I had read this story before Wildlifeless…and yet, it was extremely gratifying to note that the big game hunter herein was depicted much in the same grandiose fashion that we have depicted ours.