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Friday
March 29th, 2024

the irregulars spotlight pageThe Baker Street Irregulars make their way to another mystery to solve in Netflix’s new series “The Irregulars.” Courtesy photoELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times

 

Even though it’s spring, there has lately been a bit of an uptick in the release of more horror/suspense material to watch on some streaming services. In that spirit, this past weekend, I felt in the mood for some of that content, and near the top of my suggestions on Netflix was one of its newest series, “The Irregulars,” The series follows a group of teenagers in Victorian Era England who are recruited by Dr. John Watson of “Sherlock Holmes” fame to help solve some cases that lean more toward the supernatural, all culminating together into a final battle – think “Sherlock Holmes” meets “Stranger Things” and you’ll have a good idea of the show’s approach.

The first thing I have to praise about the show is the cast, particularly the leading teenage ensemble. The five of them have such great chemistry together and I actually felt like the five of them were legitimately good friends who had known each other for a long time. They all play off each other really well throughout the series and have their own distinct personalities, so it was good to see teenage characters actually written well for a change instead of having them be just sullen wooden blocks. The only minor complaint I have is they each fall into well-known tropes that have been seen in media many, many times before. Even with that, however, the actors are able to actually elevate their characters above those tropes in subtle but very good ways. Something else I would have liked to see would be more kind of quirky elements of their personalities (i.e. do any of them have a particularly favorite food or color or flower, etc) to help round them out a little more. We get to know these characters well throughout the show and we learn about them, but I think some more of those quirky elements would have been an asset if done the right way. 

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Along with the teens, the actors portraying Dr. Watson (Royce Pierreson) and Sherlock Holmes (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) also did a good job in their respective roles. Pierreson does a great job starting out as a mostly prissy jerk who only wants to use the group and then slowly growing more protective of them as the show goes on, and Lloyd-Hughes does a great job showing Holmes’ lesser-known side as a wrecked drug addict who eventually starts down the right path to reconciling with his past. Holmes’ story as shown in the series (mostly in episode five) was particularly heartbreaking and there were a lot of feelings the be sorted through after the episode was finished. 

Something else I liked about the series was how well paced it was. Each episode lasted exactly the right amount of time and left me wanting to know what would happen in the next episode. The show is eight episodes and if you make the commitment, you can get through the full show in a day. 

I also appreciated how the more macabre elements of the show (there are some murders and other gruesomeness) actually useful to the story. With a lot of horror media I’ve seen lately, it seems like there’s a gore requirement to be met, so a lot of it ultimately ends up being just gore for gore’s sake. With this series, however, there’s a good balance struck and I liked how some of those elements are shown and some of them are actually left up to the viewer’s imagination. With horror series, there doesn’t need blood and guts being thrown out every five seconds “just because” in order to be scary. 

Something about the show I found rather irritating, however, was the techno music used during scene transitions and other certain  moments. The way it’s used throughout the series is rather jarring and more often than not, it just simply does not fit at all. Why exactly the creators didn’t use more period-appropriate sounding  music or just a regular instrumental score, I’m not sure. There are also a few times where it comes up out of nowhere and again, it’s just very jarring and unnecessary. 

I also have to give some praise especially to the finale. I won’t give any spoilers, but with the way things end, many things are wrapped up nice and well and it makes for a good overall series finale, but the door’s open JUST enough on a few things that could allow for a second season. 

Overall, I enjoyed my weekend of watching “The Irregulars” and would give it a “B-plus” grade. I enjoyed the chemistry between the lead teenage actors, and I thought the performances from the supporting adult characters were also done well. I also liked the show’s pacing and how I was left wondering what would happen after each episode. I also liked the balance struck with the more macabre elements of the show and how they were seen but not shoved in my face like some modern horror tends to be. The music and some of the writing throughout the series could have been punched up and improved, but overall, the show is a good and solid effort and the cast saves it from being a full mess. If you’re a fan of other mystery shows like “Stranger Things,” there’s a chance you’ll like “The Irregulars,” streaming on Netflix.