35-Part Stealth Sherlock Holmes Adaptation Deserves Kudos For Flipping The Script
Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones.
You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep."
Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant.
Sherlock Holmes is not just TV's greatest detective character, but arguably the most iconic ever written, and yet one TV show proves that he can still surprise us. While the character is almost always instantly recognizable, TV shows influenced by Sherlock Holmes can still fly under the radar, with one flipping the script entirely. Sherlock Holmes is the hero of his own story despite often being abrasive and unlikable, but the best modern Sherlock Holmes adaptations understand that he needs an excellent nemesis in order to truly shine. This is where Moriarty comes in.
Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty are uncomfortably similar at times, but while some actors who have played Moriarty have been so good that we want to see more of them, few adaptations have made him into the protagonist of their story. However, the 35-part crime series Death Note does exactly that. At first glance, with its anime format and supernatural theme, Death Note does not immediately stand out as a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, but the series is strikingly similar, with its abrasive detective and diabolical genius locked in a power struggle, but with a surprising twist.
Death Note Is Sherlock Holmes Told From Moriarty's Perspective
When Light Yagami finds himself in possession of a book that allows him to kill at will, his quest to rid the world of violent criminals feels admirable at first, with Yagami looking set to become a well-meaning vigilante sharing DNA with other iconic antihero characters like The Punisher. Still, a few small details quickly grow more concerning, with Yagami sometimes being petulant and obsessed with winning at all costs. By the time L is introduced as the detective mastermind tasked with tracking him down, Death Note's true set-up is clear, with the show flipping Sherlock's perspective.
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With L being Death Note's answer to Sherlock and Yagami being the show's Moriarty, Death Note is a stealth Sherlock adaptation told from Moriarty's perspective. Yagami's elaborate plans and Watson equivalent (Ryuk) appear onscreen before L's versions do, appearing to give him the upper hand and making him easier to root for at first. That said, with neither Yagami nor Moriarty tending to make mistakes due to their genius and problem-solving abilities, their arrogance can be their downfall, and Death Note makes this clearer than most adaptations.
Seeing the story unfold through both Yagami and L, it is clear that Yagami underestimates L just as Moriarty underestimates Sherlock, because L already has the answer but is unwilling to reveal the "who" as he does not yet have the "how" explained. Moriarty is often portrayed as Sherlock's dark side, and Yagami first appears reasonable, so it takes time for the viewer to recontextualize this character, while Death Note deserves kudos for more than a script flip as it also turns Sherlock's entire world upside down.
Death Note Deserves Kudos For Combining Two Impossible Elements
Sherlock Holmes is a master of deductive reasoning grounded in reality and therefore famously rejects the supernatural. In virtually every adaptation, Holmes has either outwardly stated "no ghosts need apply," or treated the possibility of supernatural entities with contempt, as seen in the Sherlock episode "The Hounds of Baskerville." Holmes might be a fictional character, but this is one of the most fundamental parts of his personality, so a Sherlock Holmes adaptation in which supernatural elements really exist should not usually work as he would usually have to deny them and be proven wrong.
Death Note has a 100% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Death Note includes a second realm home to death gods known as "shinigami," with the show's title referring to the books they carry, which can cause the deaths of humans on Earth. The best episodes of Death Note elaborate on the rules of both worlds, combining the supernatural element with the Sherlock-style mystery in a way that feels seamless. This is an impressive achievement considering the fact that it breaks a major rule in the source material, with Death Note proving that Sherlock Holmes is a timeless source of inspiration, yet with more potential for creativity than might be expected.
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