I just finished watching one of HBO Asia's series, Miss Sherlock. I don't know to what extent the series adapts from the original work by Arthur Conan Doyle, or what twists this series takes compared to the multiple other Sherlock Holmes adaptions that preceded this one apart from making both Sherlock and Watson female characters (duhhh). This is the first Sherlock series that I have watched seriously, not just watching clips or certain scenes by chance.
Although the character Sherlock stuns me with her eccentricity and intelligence, the major take away I got from this series is mainly on the idea of friendship. Throughout almost the entire series, Sherlock denies her friendship with Wato. I do not know what is the main reason behind it, but I think the fact that she has been a loner due to her unpleasant character ever since forever plays a huge factor in why she's probably overwhelmed with having Wato around her. She just doesn't realise that she has unconsciously accepted Wato as a friend at some point of the series.
In the beginning, their personalities and point of views just clash at almost everything; from matters regarding investigations to something trivial such as fashion sense. Slowly, as the series progresses, Sherlock slowly opens her barriers against Wato. She begins to allow Wato to contribute ideas (and takes them into consideration) during investigations, gives Wato some space to catch up with the details of the investigations, and when having a meal, Sherlock also picks some food and places them into Wato's plate. Sherlock also shows signs of concern, in particular regarding Wato's love interests.
When Wato was held captive and electrocuted to the point that it can kill her, Sherlock panics. At that time, it appears as if she has control over Wato's fate (because she needed to crack a password to prevent the baddies from torturing Wato), however, Sherlock knows that it all eventually boils down to whether the police force can arrive at the crime scene on time or not to stop Wato's death. Later in the series, when Sherlock learns that Wato's trauma counselor is the real mastermind behind the cases they were investigating on, sensing that Wato might be in danger, Sherlock tries to contact Wato to warn her (and fails). Wato was already under the influence and brainwashed by the counselor, brainwashed into making her perceive Sherlock as the evil one. Sherlock continues her investigation to locate Wato and the base where the counselor 'trains' her followers, however, until one point, she feels burdened and longs for Wato's company. With all these emotional turmoils, yet Sherlock still doesn't admit the Wato is her friend. Not gonna spoil what made her change her mind though haha.
The thing about Sherlock that she denies her friendship with Wato reminds me of my own self. When I was at university, I had that impression that I was going through everything alone. I did not want to acknowledge that I have friends who are very close to me; individuals who I rely on during times of good and bad, and they too, rely on me. It is clearly a give and take relationship, not one-sided, and I consider them to be good friends, except... I did a stupid move by telling them that they're just my friends, instead of good, close friends. To make things worse, I did it twice, not learning from my first mistake. They were quite frank with me. They voiced out their disappointment to me when they heard that I just look up to them as a friend. I eventually realised my mistakes and made up to it. Until now, we're in good terms and are still keeping in contact with one another.
So when I saw Sherlock, I saw myself in her. The lady who was acting all tough and "I can do by my own without anyone". But that is not always right. It's good to be independent, but know that even for people who always bottle up all their problems inside, there'll be the point that they too, need to rely on someone they treasure as friends. Or else, they'll just be a depressed loser, who is at the extreme of giving up at anything they're working on to achieve.
And that's how Miss Sherlock reminds me oo how to be a friend, a good close friend at that.
