Re-imagining Moriarty

by Rakshita (Raks) Patel

Re-imagining Moriarty

for the Modern Age

Conan Doyle Canon Moriarty vs

BBC Sherlock Jim Moriarty

Villain Essential – Crime or Detective Drama

Inspire Fear – Chills up and down your spine

Worthy Opponent

Jim: “Every fairytale needs a good old-fashioned villain”

Series highlights – Sherlock and Jim meetings

Sherlock and Jim Set Pieces

Swimming Pool, Tea Party, St Barts Rooftop

Moriarty: Canon vs BBC Sherlock

Conan Doyle Canon Moriarty• Age? - Paget• Extremely tall and thin• Good birth, excellent

education• Professor Moriarty –

Maths Professor • Looks and acts like a

professor• Extraordinary mental

powers• Genius, Philosopher,

Abstract Thinker• Brain of the first order

Conan Doyle Canon

Moriarty• Hereditary tendencies of

the most diabolical kind• Criminal strain ran in his

blood• “Napoleon of Crime”• Central organizing power• Numerous agents• Pervades London• Most dangerous criminal

in Europe

BBC SherlockJim Moriarty• Young • Stylish “Westwood”• Handsome (dates

Molly!)• IT wizard/geek, tech

savvy• Psycho / Mad• Funny • Irish• Consulting criminal:

“specialist” arranging crimes

Reptilian“His face protrudes forward, and is for ever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian

fashion”

Jim Moriarty, Consulting Criminal

Mad, bad and dangerous to know

Psycho “Mad”Terrifying, Risk-taker, Unpredictable, Exciting,

Evil Sherlock “You’re insane”

The Devil• Temptation

• Eve, Serpent, Garden of Eden, The Fall

• Sherlock “on the side of the Angels”

• Jim “I owe you a Fall, Sherlock”

• Apple inscribed with I O U

Humour / Light relief

• I gave you my number I thought you might call

• Is that a British Army Browning L9A1 in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

• The flirting’s over Sherlock, Daddy’s had enough now

• Westwood!

• Staying Alive ringtone

Jim is fun!“Honey, you should see me in a Crown”

Spider and its Web

Moriarty the Spider Conan Doyle Canon

“He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them”.

BBC Sherlock

Jim Moriarty is a “Spider”

“A spider at the centre of a web, criminal web, with a thousand threads, and he knows precisely how each and every single one of them dances”.

Moriarty’s WebMoriarty “pervades” London and is behind all the crime in London

Canon: Moriarty’s first appearance is in “The Final Problem”

In BBC Sherlock:

A Study in Pink: Taxi driver’s dying scream of “Moriarty”

The Blind Banker: M is behind the Chinese gang and Shan (gang leader) is assassinated by a sniper sent by M at the end of the episode

We (the audience) learn to fear the name of Moriarty way before he makes his first on-screen appearance – builds suspense “who is he?” and rachets up tension

The Great Game: Jim Moriarty only appears in closing scene (final 10 mins of Series 1) – Moriarty always used sparingly

Modern Day “Evil”

• 9/11 New York, US

• 7/7 London, UK

• Most horrifying crime today =

terrorist bomb / suicide bombers

• The Great Game

Yin and YangHolmes and

MoriartyOpposite/contrary forces are interconnected and

interdependent in natural world

Physical manifestations - natural dualities: light & dark, hot & cold, fire & water, life & death, sun & moon, male & female

Yin and Yang: Sherlock and Jim

Consulting Detective – Consulting Criminal

Intellectual equals: Using brain for good or bad?

Holmes - Fights crimeDeduction and DetectionConsulting Detective

Moriarty - Perpetrates crimeCriminal MastermindConsulting Criminal

Interconnected & Interdependent

The Great Game: Sherlock is “bored, bored, bored”. Without work, his brain rots

The Hounds of Baskerville: Sherlock sees Jim in the fog – Sherlock’s “Hound” is Jim

The Hounds of Baskerville: “Sherlock” inscribed on Jim’s cell walls

The Reichenbach Fall: “Get Sherlock”, Cat and mouse game

His Last Vow: Jim is in Sherlock’s mind palace and brings him back from the dead by telling him John Watson is in danger

His Last Vow: “Miss Me?” Jim’s “return” saves Sherlock from certain death as he is recalled to UK

Sherlock’s “Hound”: Jim

Jim’s Cell

“Get Sherlock”

Gay kiss

Onscreen chemistry between Benedict Cumberbatch and Andrew Scott Shared scenes electric

Jim’s Return?

“Did you miss me?”BBC Sherlock needs Villain, Sherlock

needs Jim