It’s been
two years since Sherlock threw himself off that roof leaving it’s fans plenty
of time to speculate and deduce how Holmes ended up watching John’s eulogy to
him from afar. The Empty Hearse’s knowing
nod to the Sherlocked community was a fun touch, especially the mocking of the ‘erotic’fan fiction nonsense making it’s cast feel uncomfortable. The eventual truth is definitely more cunningly elaborate than what Conan Doyle dreamt up and thank Christ wasn’t as daft as Anderson’s rejected Lynx
advert. This is one of the many little things
to enjoy from Sherlock’s return but ultimately I was left disappointed, unlike
it seems most Sherlockphiles.
On an emotional front it was a pretty strong episode with plenty of character development even from minor characters like Anderson’s descent into nut-job and Molly’s attempt to move on. John’s fury with Sherlock is always brilliant to see, a plausible change to the decorum of Victorian Watson. The insight into the Holmes’ family is also a good giggle, I was genuinely surprised by the reveals of the game of Operation and that the ‘The Case of the missing Lottery Ticket’ was actually a chat with mum and dad.
On an emotional front it was a pretty strong episode with plenty of character development even from minor characters like Anderson’s descent into nut-job and Molly’s attempt to move on. John’s fury with Sherlock is always brilliant to see, a plausible change to the decorum of Victorian Watson. The insight into the Holmes’ family is also a good giggle, I was genuinely surprised by the reveals of the game of Operation and that the ‘The Case of the missing Lottery Ticket’ was actually a chat with mum and dad.
There was
plenty to enjoy from the characters in this episode, it’s just a shame the same
can’t be said about the plot.
While the 21st-centurying
of Holmes’ deceptive death from the book works well, the way Moffat
contemporises the villain’s scheme just seems silly. I hurt my eyes when they
rolled at the reveal that Sherlock was trying to foil a neo-Guy Fawkes on the 5th
November, such was the lack of originality. I don’t know if it’s just me but I
can remember how V for Vendetta went down, even if that’s only because I keep
being reminded of it by those Warner Brother masks that represent digital-age
anarchism. After four centuries it’s cliché to re-imagine this ‘Remember, remember’
tale. The idea the bomber is a Lord working for the North Korean’s sounds like it
came from Tom Clancy fan-fiction and the fact Sherlock knows about his
connect-Un makes it hard to believe Moran’s plan could get so far.
Moronic
plans aren’t an unwelcome feature in Holmes’s cases, Conan Doyle would often
describe mysteries full of accidents, misunderstands and other bumbling
behaviour. But on a scale epic as this? No. Being tortured, defusing bombs,
racing motorbikes against the clock sounds more like 007 than 221b, ignoring
this similarity isn’t made easy when it’s clear they both share a place in
London to reflect/pose.
Bond: I'll take the morning shift.
Sherlock: I'll take the afternoon. Who's got the evening?
Action
tipped the balance too much in this episode, gut instinct allowed Sherlock to
save Watson and country this time around not calculated cunning. Again action
isn’t forbidden in Holmes but it’s not essential as can be demonstrated by the
half-assed way Jeremy Brett’s TV version of Sherlock Holmes staged their laughably bad fight scenes.This version always focused it’s plots along the thing that makes Sherlock
Holmes, deduction. Deduction is to Sherlock Holmes what drunken murdering is to
James Bond and a Christ-complex is to Harry Potter, you couldn’t imagine them
without it. Holmes is at his best when he can do things like solve a case just
by looking in a fireplace. Gatiss and Moffat are well aware of this, as was made plain in ‘The GreatGame’ in the first series where Sherlock makes clear he is more influenced my mental
stimulation than being someone’s salvation.
Gatiss and Moffat have always been able to write incidental dialogue demonstrating Sherlock’s deductive prowess, usually with inventive modern relevance such as; unintentionally humiliating Molly for giving him a Christmas gift or outing Anderson and Donovan’s affair with a quick sniff. These have always provided satisfying little treats as he uses the same methods to solve much bigger mysteries; however in the latest episode we only received morsels of deduction and nothing substantial. I hope Sunday’s episode sees the return of the detective and not the action-hero; seeing Holmes and Watson in mortal peril isn’t a fulfilling replacement for sleuthing because survival is predictable, just like the The Strand magazine the BBC wants to keep Sherlocking.
Gatiss and Moffat have always been able to write incidental dialogue demonstrating Sherlock’s deductive prowess, usually with inventive modern relevance such as; unintentionally humiliating Molly for giving him a Christmas gift or outing Anderson and Donovan’s affair with a quick sniff. These have always provided satisfying little treats as he uses the same methods to solve much bigger mysteries; however in the latest episode we only received morsels of deduction and nothing substantial. I hope Sunday’s episode sees the return of the detective and not the action-hero; seeing Holmes and Watson in mortal peril isn’t a fulfilling replacement for sleuthing because survival is predictable, just like the The Strand magazine the BBC wants to keep Sherlocking.
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