“Don’t make people into heroes, John. Heroes don’t exist and if they did, I wouldn’t be one of them.” – Sherlock
Sherlock and Watson investigate the death of a civil servant and wind up tracking a series of almost-murders involving people trapped, with bombs tied to their chests, and texts that tell them what to say to taunt Sherlock along the way. Each person to be rescued has less time and a harder puzzle to solve and the almost criminally bored Holmes can’t resist, which brings up all the issues of him not being normal, of nothing mattering to him but the work, to the point of not knowing general knowledge facts like how the solar system is arranged.
I was going to give a full recap, because this show is just blindingly fascinating, but it would go on even longer than my last review, and there’s a really good at TV.com that does quite a good wrap-up. This was the best episode yet. Clever, brilliant, weird, unnerving, incredibly tense, and a perfect balance of the weird friendship between Watson and Holmes that makes a whole person of them both — because without a normal understanding of human relationships, Sherlock needs John to serve as that missing part of him. Externalized empathy.
And so we get Moriarty. He’s been lurking in the background of the other two episodes, but now it’s his turn to take the spotlight, and he’s entirely different from how we’d expect him, since we were all raised on a cultural history of an older, distinguished, baronial Moriarty. This one is so not that. He’s as brilliant as Sherlock, and as callous, but his talents are directed toward chaos and death and destruction with a gleefulness that serious and mostly legal Sherlock lacks. He’s really a madman. If Sherlock is a sociopath, he’s a psychopath, and he’s more than alright with the fac that he’s thoroughly enjoying it. He’s been following Sherlock from the shadows for years, knows all his weaknesses and how to get around his strengths.
And he knows exactly how to hook him. It’s a fantastic new take. It makes the viewer rethink everything they think they know, and it takes a little getting used to, but really, it suits the new story so much better than some fusty old Moriarty ever would have. He’s the ‘consulting criminal’ to Sherlock’s ‘consulting detective’ and that’s how all the cases were related. It was all part of a game to distract himself.
These three episodes of the first series here are semi-stand alone, but here at the end, it all comes together to kick it all up into a whole other realm for the new series coming out next spring. It ends on a horrible cliffhanger that literally made me scream when it got there and the screen went dark. How will it end? Moriarty and Sherlock are pretty much evenly matched, and so however the next season opens, it will likely be insane. They have a lot to live up to — and if anyone can pull it off, Steven Moffat can.
More thoughts on this edition of Masterpiece Mystery:
* As opening scenes go, Sherlock sitting in a literally frigid prison with a convicted murderer, correcting his grammar and not much listening to what he has to say has got to be right up at the top of the list of best. It perfectly defines Sherlock’s near-total lack of empathy toward most people.
* As Sherlock shoots the wall with a gun: Watson: “What the hell are you doing?” Sherlock: “Bored.” Watson: “What?” Sherlock: “Bored! Bored! Bored! I don’t know what’s gotten into the criminal classes. Good job I’m not one of them.” Watson: “So you take it out on the wall?” Sherlock: “Oh, the wall had it coming.” — a perfect example of how Sherlock is both cleverly written and deeply damaged.
* Mrs Hudson is great — hardly put out at all that her main tenant is something similar to a lunatic. Like so: Sherlock: “Look at that, Mrs. Hudson. Quiet, calm, peaceful… isn’t it hateful?” Mrs. Hudson: “Oh, I’m sure something will turn up, Sherlock. A nice murder, that’ll cheer you up.” – The mini cases were so dissimilar, and had nothing to do with the people being bombed, and it really shows how all over the place– and how pervasive — Moriarty is. He knows Holmes’s past, knows his present, has decided what his future will be. – The false end was amazing — Sherlock almost hysterical for a moment over John’s near-death experience, and having to figure out how to thank him for offering to kill himself to save Sherlock. It was a crack in the armor of annoyance. John has gotten in, and there actually is some sort of caring in there. Probably it’ll cause more harm than good, since Moriarty knows it’s there now.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.