I really enjoyed this conclusion to Irene’s arc. We get some of Sherlock and Watson, a bit of Irene, a bit of the Moriarty brothers, a dose of Mycroft, and none of the characters seem to over-stay their welcome or seem superfluous. The arc concludes nicely wrapping up loose ends and opening up the next phase of the story and really it does what it needs to do.
None of that meant that when we got to the end of the episode that I didn’t want to smack my head into the desk in front of me as I sat, and realised exactly what the character was about to say and desperately wanted them not to say it, and then they said it anyway… It was one of those moments where you can see a terrible punchline coming but you are powerless to gag the person who is about to say it.
Moriarty the Patriot definitely got me emotional, just not in a good way.
So unnecessary and such a lame ‘twist’ or development. At the end of what has been a very solid arc. I could go on but I’d rather not give specific details of the conclusion of a three episode arc so we’ll just leave my complaint about that line right there, though there will be a small spoiler in the final image for the post so if you haven’t watched the episode I’d suggest do that first.
Anyway, the episode picks up with Irene leaving Sherlock and Watson for her appointment with The Lord of Crime and Sherlock having a bit of a mental hissy-fit because he can’t figure out a way to keep Irene alive and not make the deal. Ultimately, Sherlock accept the assurance of the sealed letter perfectly fits his character, but at the same time tells us a lot about his character. If the ‘great’ detective would just open the envelope he’d know who the Lord of Crime was, however because he gave his word, and more, because he can’t stand someone giving him the answer to a riddle, the Lord of Crime knows his identity will remain safe.
So, Sherlock will allow more people to be murdered because he doesn’t like someone spoiling a good mystery? Admittedly, it isn’t as though Sherlock has ever been set up as a bastion of good. He’s just looking for a good mental challenge and we always kind of knew that. Equally, we know that he’s not above bending or even breaking the law if it is required.
If I actually had a complaint about this arc, outside of the very final lines of it, I would probably have to turn that complaint to the Moriarty brothers. Previously, they’ve been a joy on screen. Sure they talk a bit too much, but they usually are interesting to listen to as they interact and there’s a certain amount of playful malice in some of their comments. I kind of felt that this episode, a lot of their personality was removed in favour of… well, straight-out exposition.
Sure it was great finally getting a nice detailed explanation of what their intentions are going forward, or at least what they want a certain someone to think their intentions are, but honestly it was one of those tedious moments where the villain seemed to connect all the dots for the audience and it just went on too long and in the process kind of made them less interesting. I am curious to see if they were being truthful or if this is just another ploy but either way it made their main scene this week somewhat less than thrilling to watch and for the first time in this series Sherlock’s scenes held my interest far more than Moriarty’s.
The undeniable positive about this episode is it opens up a lot of paths for this story to take from here forward and I am absolutely curious about where it will go and how it will build from this point forward. So many possibilities and realistically I very much want to see the Moriarty’s push forward with their plans and I will be curious as to how Sherlock will respond.
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Karandi James
I found the episode to be frustrating and unbelievable.
The Moriarty scheme and how they couple it to the French Revolution and the Holmes family is just bizarre. I always had problems with their ultimate goal but now it has flown completely off the rails.
Ms Adler clearly was sending Holmes a message when she passed him on the street. He knows he does not need to go after Moriarty and I’m sure he knows who the Lord of Crime is. If he doesn’t, then he isn’t Sherlock Holmes. If he goes on to let people be murdered through inaction then I’m done with the series.
I still have a faint hope that Ms Adler will be a real corner of a triangle and not just a plot tool. Very faint.