(a nice way of saying "poke your brain with a stick")

Feel free.

I have grabbed A Study in Scarlet to read but haven't read it yet. And I have the Downey Jr / Law dvd from Netflix but, um, haven't watched it yet. So it's still the only Sherlock I've experienced.

I love John in this series - he's so much better than most of them. I would have to reread to see if the Doctor Watson in the books is as bumbling as the filmed versions make him out to be. Of course, in the books he is telling the story - so he may consider himself to be bumbling in comparison with Holmes but that doesn't mean that anyone else should.

Watson is not bumbling in the books. He's not as smart as Holmes, but no one is.

A bumbling Watson is one of my pet peeves. Watson is the point of view of the intelligent reader; Holmes is brilliant in contrast.

The man was a warzone surgeon, such men aren't normally bumblers.

I agree. That's something that the recent movie (as well as House, if we're reading broadly) did really well, although I think the series' Watson may win at BAMF over all others. Apparently, we are anti-bumbling-sidekick, as a general ethos (looking at Doctor Who supports this generalization: they've consistently had the new companions and allies be competent. Well, as long as we don't look at Torchwood.)

Cass, what did you think of Moriarty? I assume that the name was familiar from the beginning, just from a general knowledge PoV, but, was he in the ballpark of what you expected, going in?

Moriarty's name was somehow familiar to me but I knew ~nothing~ going in and had no expectations.

His youth didn't bother me. It is the age of the geek and he stayed techno-based enough for that to work for me.

It was a little odd that he was nebulously evil and so fixated on his game with Sherlock but then Sherlock was pretty fixated on solving crimes for the police who treated him with mostly disdain. So it balanced. Accept one, accept the other.

I did like him playing with Sherlock in the lab scene in Great Game. He was evil, but I dug him.

I don't like this Moriarty. Canon Moriarty is cunning and ruthless and brilliant. This Moriarty is batshit nuts.

I think I'm a little jealous.

I see your point on the "accept one, accept the other." He's definitely the Evil Twin (I'm debating whether you have to throw a bit of Mycroft in there, to account for the "fingers everywhere" sort of thing, but I'm not actually sure that that's necessary).

Especially given the backstory we get with the drowning, it seems like Sherlock's relationship with the police evolved out of a bored game of Someone's Wrong on the Internet in the Newspaper, and I Must Correct Them. It's unfortunate, on this front at least, that all three of the cases had Moriarty connections, since that ought to mean that we saw a higher caliber of interesting cases than might be normal. If he really is a high-functioning sociopath, you have to wonder where his moral compass, such as it is, comes from. I could definitely see him saying, "yes, but crime is boring: a never-ending, 'oh, look, I didn't get caught'."(Which goes a decent way into explaining why Moriarty got fixated on him). Whereas, with crime-solving, you do get the "a-ha!" moment of catching the criminal.

I think I'm a little jealous.

There are total perks to my knowing that the 'verse exists but really having no idea beyond that.

I'm debating whether you have to throw a bit of Mycroft in there

More Mycroft. Mmmmm, Mycroft. I totally bought him as "omg, this is the evil mastermind who is against Sherlock" at the very beginning of his introduction scene. And, as much as I was initially misdirected, that scene still is perfect on rewatch when I know what is going on. With new little things to notice each and every time I watch. Mmmmmm, Mycroft. I will read ... well, anything ... if I am promised there is good Mycroft.

it seems like Sherlock's relationship with the police evolved out of a bored game of Someone's Wrong on the Internet in the Newspaper, and I Must Correct Them.

It does read like that coming to the series new. And I can see where Moriarty (and Sherlock) get off on the "game" between them. Too smart for anyone's good, including the public's really.