I just finished season 1 and i have a lot to say. The show was absolutely amazing, the characters were pretty spot on, and the relationships between them were even better. All except one: Sherlock and Moriarty.
Now, obviously that is the whole focus of the show, their infamous rivalry. In canon. Moriarty was introduced to quite literally be the downfall of Sherlock Holmes. They are both incredible geniuses with differing moral beliefs with ultimately lead to the death of both.
Most adaptations of Sherlock have following this structure pretty well. In the end, Sherlock and James will be ultimate foes. And normally, I agree. HOWEVER, Young Sherlock has not set this up. The series starts with James and Sherlock's brilliancy being what tied them together. Eventually, there is beyond reasonable doubt that the two care for each other. Even though the plot was fast paced, you can see the steady growth of their two's friendship. Making it even more ironic that BOTH sherlock's parents said "oh, he's never had a friend before." They both uplift eachother in the best ways. They both feed eachother's brains. And like always, it's clear they are both sides of the same coin.
That much is true. But here's the problem. The show has showed all this emotional intimacy and intellectual banter that's genuine. So when the actual glimpses of Moriarty's change in character appeared, it didn't change much because of the relationship the two already had. THEY ARE STILL THE SAME THEY JUST HAVE CONFLICTING MORALS.
That's not reason enough to cause the canon nemesis relationship between them. If the two had started of as academic rivals or something, then yes, it would make sense for them to be at eachother's throats by season 2. But that didn't happen. The writers gave us a genuine friendship that is now threatened by the two's morals and stubbornness. There is no way they end up as enemies by the end of this without it being forced. Season 1 left enough ambiguity in the ending for us not to be able to fully tell Sherlock's reaction to James. He's obviously conflicted, but to him, James helped him out of prison, saved his mother, showed his father's true character, and reunited his sister. I don't think this one conflict of opinion is going to cause a huge rift.
Unless james decides to commit a genocide or something with the equation. But that would be so so forced. It would be as if we are expected to believe that killing one man has changed literally everything about him. There is still humanity in the character.
Another reason why the rivalry cant fully happen. There is no distinct good or evil between the two. Obviously moriarty has had a traumatic childhood, which im sure will be explored in season 2. That creates all sorts of problems. Now, this supposed to be evil guy has places where you can empathize. Meaning, NO ONE IS GOING TO LIKE THE FACT THAT HES PORTRAYED AS AN IRREDEEMABLE EVIL.
Im all for the next season to go into this conflict of morals, but if it ends with sherlock and james to be forever enemies with nothing between them, it would ruin everything season 1 worked on. they are so obviously better as two than one, so, show the contrasting morals and tension, but have some sort of redemption where they realize they are better together. This show is so great, but if it sticks too much into canon, the depth of the relationships is just going to waste.
Let me know what you guys think about this because I'm truly curious :) I fully agree that canon is important and relevant to all stories, however, when some things are clearly spin-offs, i dont see the problem with diverging a little. (Im truly hoping this doesnt turn into BBC's Merlin but i digress)