Critique: The Irregulars (Netflix Series)

Watson (in partnership with Sherlock) is tasked with investigating crimes involving magic. The programme follows Beatrice and co who do the actual work to protect Watson’s high class image. Beatrice’s company are her sister Jessi, friends Billy and Spike, and her lover (Prince) Leopold.

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Billy is entering the ring to fight this massive, brutal man and shows no fear. But then tiny Beatrice stares at Billy and on his face is pure terror. That was hilarious.

 

Like many Beatrice’s, her nickname is ‘Bee’. But Billy calls her ‘Bumble’, as in ‘bumblebee’. It’s so simple but that’s honestly one of the sweetest things I’ve heard.

 

I enjoyed the magic in this show.

Their enemies’ magic is related to their occupation: an ornithologist controls birds, a dentist breathes anaesthetic gas, a taxidermist can change shape… it’s a unique and interesting twist.

Ipssusimi, people like Jessi and the Linin Man, inherit their powers of entering other people’s minds. The antagonists in this show ask the dead for help and they gain powers. The antagonists only have their powers for as long as the rip is open. Is it the same for ipssisimi? Or do they always possess the powers because they inherited them?

It’s clever that the bigger the rip is between the living and the otherworld, the more people that have access to the dead. The more people with powers, the more destruction there is.

 

As always there were problems. Or, at the very least, mild puzzles. The Linin Man being called ‘the Linin Man’ instead of having an actual name, for instance.

Bee and Jess were standing right in front of the tied-up dentist, so why didn’t the dentist just breathe her gas on the sisters?

Leo and Bee’s first kiss didn’t show the passion. That’s the first time I didn’t feel the kiss. The build-up was good and the acting was convincing. Perhaps it was the directing? Their subsequent kisses were far better.

Sherlock speaks all prim and proper yet when she tells Jess to “Leave me alone” he sounds like a common Londoner. It’s the only instance of his accent slipping. At first I thought it was because he wasn’t in a good state of mind but in this programme he’d been in worse states than that and kept his accent.

Leo’s servant tells Bee that he’s the prince. Bee shouts at Leo for lying to her and Leo says he only lied for whatever reason. But he didn’t lie. You all knew he was rich so when he introduced himself as ‘Just Leo’, you all knew he was more. Also at no point did he say, ‘I’m not the prince.’

Sherlock tells Jessi not to swear. So lists some swears, such as ‘tits’, ‘shit’, ‘cock’ and then ‘balls’. Since when is ‘balls’ a swear word? Especially when next to words like ‘tits’ and ‘shit’? Jessi isn’t exactly naive or innocent and I can’t think of anything else to explain this decision away.

In the final confrontation, a nun calls Leo a heathen then attempts to drown him because at least that ay he’ll be baptised. There’s no way the royal family wouldn’t baptise one of their children. Admittedly this nun is possessed by evil and power and delusions but really?

The Linin Man refuses to tell Jessi who opened the rip no matter how much she demands he tell her… But she can just touch his arm, go into his mind and find out. She’s demonstrated this ability plenty of times and has managed it on the Linin Man before, so why waste time rather than going to the portal and closing it before more havoc is caused.

 

This show had a lot of gentle humour. Its vibe is too serious to be constantly hilarious but the writers picked the right times, and right levels, to put humour in.

Leo and Bee have sex (good for them) at the end of one episode. The next episode begins with Leopold asking if ten minutes was normal. Then he convinces himself it was closer to fifteen. Then Bee jokes it was closer to five. (Savage but funny.) Later she asks if Leo wants to spend five minutes with her that night. (Savage but sweet.)

Leo is engaged to Helena and she tells him she won’t spend the rest of her life married to someone who doesn’t know their way around the female form. (Good for you, girl!) Leo gets all defensive (“Yeah, I’ve done it”) and as he leaves, Helena trills at him to practice!

 

There were plenty of positive decisions made.

            Usually when writers want to include an interesting fact, they often have to force it somehow into the plot or rub it in our faces. The writers did none of that. For example, we learn that people in the UK most often take a left turn in a maze, and Europeans/Americans right, because of which side of the road the carriage is driven on.

            Leo is the son of Queen Victoria. We never see the Queen which was an excellent decision. Victoria has such a large and demanding personality that she would need a lot of screen time. However, this would have ruined this programme as she is rather irrelevant.

            Jessi makes the Linin Man simultaneously experience all the fears he’s made others feel at once. Making someone feel all the pain they’ve caused is a rare but powerful move in fantasy and whenever it is used the circumstances surrounding it are always unique. That’s no different here.

            The (dead) mum to Jessi and Bee opened the rip from the other side to be with her daughters. The mum wants the barrier to collapse and Jessi closes it, almost dying in the process. Sherlock goes through the rip so he can be with his lover and abandon his children yet again. Although abandoning his children for a second time seems horrendous, it does fit with his character.

            In the final confrontation, Billy is seriously hurt. The only way Leo could convince the royals to heal Billy was to agree to marry Helena and go to Europe. Leo tells Bee so she knows he didn’t walk out on her, and he asks that Billy never finds out so he never has to suffer with the guilt. The fact that Leo chose his friend over his happiness is touching. Admittedly everyone would be miserable if Billy died and they knew Leo refused to help. But it’s a sacrifice nonetheless.

I’m glad there was only one series of this programme. For another series, another rip would have to be opened and closed and this pattern would go on and on and on. It would be boring, tedious and drag something it out. Quality over quantity any day. The mum did reveal at the very end of the last episode that there were many dimensions. This gives a few possibilities but I don’t think exploring these other dimensions wouldn’t fit with the feel of this show.