Its hard to think of a TV series with such big hype and success on so few episodes.
Sherlock has become a programme of humungous
One way is even to re-think of Sherlock as individual movies, each following this particular depiction of Arthur Conan Doyle's literary detective figure as he runs through modern day London town solving murders and mysteries with a psychopathic glee on his face.
Its certainly been an impressive showreel for Benedict Cumberbatch, with the actor earning himself plaudits, fanbases and even major Hollywood blockbuster roles (Star Trek and The Hobbit) following this success.
Quite right too. The first two seasons of Sherlock were very impressive, and so you can imagine the revival of his character was much anticipated, not least given he ended the last series faking his own death on the rooftop of St. Bart's Hospital.
So... the big question is how did he do it?
The big revelation of how he faked his own death is a much-delayed one. It seems as though we get an immediate revelation through the use of bungee jumps, a team of prosthetic surgeons to make the corpse of Moriaty look like the corpse of Sherlock and the use of Derren Brown to manipulate Watson into believing Sherlock had just flung himself from the hospital rooftop.
This would be the ultimate cop-out, but this turns out to be a conspiracy from two media individuals getting coffee at the trial that acquitted Sherlock of the events during The Reichenbach Fall. Although Sherlock is still alive, he still finds himself on the road in a much different and more dangerous place - being tortured in a pit in Serbia. His exit instead sees his brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) has infiltrated a criminal ring to sneak him out and bring him back to London to help the prevention of a potentially large terrorist attack.
Two years have passed since everyone thought the detective had killed
himself, and in that time, Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman) has grieved,
grown a bizarre moustache, found a woman (Mary Morstan, played by
Freeman's real-life spouse Amanda Abbington) and moved on.
There are plenty of fandom-tempting moments here, which it seems has seen the creators notice the reaction and have fun incorporating it here and there. The wry "I Don't Shave for Sherlock Holmes" routine is probably going to be developed into a t-shirt somewhere, as Mary suggests, while the faint homo-erotic air is embraced by one of the "Sherlock Lives" conspiracy theorists who says that Sherlock and Moriarty laughed and had a kiss after Sherlock flung a fake corpse off the side of the hospital.
While this is also not how Sherlock faked the death, he is still in the mood to try and reunite with John. But Sherlock's return does not impress John, who decides that a number of attempted discussions into the manner of his death-faking were enough to convince him that he should move on anyway.
Stung but not unbowed, Sherlock carries on in his attempts to investigate the possibility of terrorism striking the nation's capital. He arranges for an admirer to accompany him on doing the rounds through a possible lead buried underneath the city and a London Underground employee wondering why a passenger vanished from the last train of the night between Westminster and St. James' Park stations the previous Friday night.
Not helping his attempts to do this is the abduction of John, where is unfairly and unceremoniously shoved under a bonfire outside a church in St. James' Park.
While it turns out to be more relevant towards what could be an overreaching arc, it does at least provide a clue for the inspiration behind the bomb, the location and the rest.
This is more or less the cue to stop the V for Vendetta moment, although rather than Hugo Weaving blowing up Parliament to kill an oppressive government, the Detectives' aim is to stop a terrorist Lord - weirdly - from blowing up the Houses of Parliament during a highly-anticipated vote that will contain all the members of both houses.
This leads to classic "stop the bomb" territory, the surprising moment that Sherlock is stumped on how to prevent the explosion and a touching moment that they realise that this is truly the end. But it then reveals how Sherlock managed to fake his death and leg it.
No revelations about the way here, but it was a surprisingly convincing method. Saying that, the nicer touch is that the full revelation was made in a video recorded with the conspiracy theorist, and the theorist being disappointed in the way he faked his death, who it turns out planted the fake body with the "How I Did It" by Jack the Ripper novel buried beneath the city that transpired not to be a lead.
The fact this is dated after the stop-the-bomb already reveals they're going to stop the bomb, which is down with almost hilarious ease - something Sherlock seems to agree with, given the fact he found an off switch so easily very funny. Not that John agrees, who thinks he has been conned into an emotional situation with Sherlock.
There is a quibble that says that they could be doing a more convincing, more elaborate and much more seemingly-unstoppable event that would take faster pacing to solve. Its certainly, at its heart, not the most convincing terrorist activity ever depicted in fiction.
But the bomb thing is not the most important part of the story, in a way. If anything, just as important is the fact that this episode is about the return and revival of Holmes, and being able to return to his job at hand of being London's premiere detective.
On that basis, it does quite well for itself, and there's plenty of lines to broadcast the fine spectral range that has been coiled together for Cumberbatch's adaptation of one of the literary world's biggest names. The fact he continues to bounce off Watson well is also a plus, and provides scope for our latest trio of episodes.
So... by all means, as you were gentlemen...
4/5
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