Don't get me wrong, Andrew Scott was great in his role as Moriarty in Sherlock. But when all was said and done, he was a pretty typical Moriarty. He was clever, witty and importantly the intellectual equal of Sherlock Holmes. But really it was all just a bit of a toned down version of John Simm's performance as the Master in Doctor Who. Elementary went for something entirely out of left field which I'm sure annoyed the hell out of some Sherlock Holmes fans to no end. You see. Moriarty is a woman. But not just any woman. She's actually Irene Adler. For the entire first season we were teased about Moriarty and Adler; about how Moriarty killed Adler and chased Sherlock into his drug habit. Then casually at the end of season one, we're introduced to Adler. We all think that this is the fairly normal take on the character, in this case played by Game of Thrones' Natalie Dormer. Then the bombshell hits that Adler is in fact Moriarty. This is played up even more by it being portrayed by Dormer who didn't give a single hint before hand that Adler was anything more than a simple painter. It's marvellously done, and so far in season two the character is continuing to change. Of course Elementary has managed to make one further important change it didn't kill off its main villain. For season two I suspect the character will continue to change, and I see it as similar to the second season of Alias (my personal favourite season of that show) where Sydney's mother is locked up for most of the season and breaks out again at the end.
