His Last Vow, and my response to it
Well, as I've said elsewhere, I really enjoyed the final episode of the third series of Sherlock, right up to the last minute, when things turned sour and left me with mixed feelings about the fourth series. But since then various people have tried to persuade me that the final minute might not mean what it appeared to mean, so I am resolved to live in hope.
And, in the meantime, I am going to contribute to the backlash against the backlash by proclaiming that I really enjoyed this series. I don't think any episode reached the heights of A Study in Pink, but I've come to believe that nothing ever will (ASiP benefited hugely from being made twice, which is a rather expensive way to go about things), and there was no dud like The Blind Banker and nothing that made me queasy like the cutting down to size of Irene Adler.
I'd say that as a series these three episodes hung together in a way that neither of the previous two series managed. I'd been thinking beforehand that, in view of the long gaps between bursts of Sherlock, it might be better to space the episodes out - one at New Year, one at Easter, one in the summer, perhaps. But I've changed my mind now, because these three needed to be seen together; the first two elegantly set up the third.
From my point of view, of course, it helped enormously that the series arc was the story of a character I loved. In December I'd worried that the writers would make a mess of Mary Morstan, but I was delighted by her, and by Amanda Abbington's performance. I kept thinking "they'll blow the good work in the next episode", but they didn't. In fact, I'd say that this was the best series so far for women. (It may even have scraped a Bechdel pass in the few seconds concerned with Mary's Christmas reading.) Mary was fabulous; Molly got stronger by the episode as she built on her progress in The Reichenbach Fall; Mrs Hudson acquired more backstory, and it very nearly fitted the one I'd worked out for her; Donovan didn't get much time, but in her brief scenes was still Lestrade's trusted colleague; Janine held her own; and if they can work out a way to keep Lindsay Duncan around I'd be very happy, because she was gorgeous as ever, and particularly good in her scene with Lars Mikkelsen.
Of the not-women, I loved the reinvention of Anderson, and I really hope Billy Wiggins is more than a one-off character, because he was a hoot. And, finally, we got a villain who was genuinely cool, at least until his stupid mistake (and I suppose villains have to make a stupid mistake to lose the advantage that the plot demands they have established through the hero's stupid mistake).
So, all in all, I sat through Sunday night's episode with a big smile on my face, until the last minute. And to wash away that sour aftertaste, I offer my own final scene.
OUTSIDE THE BOX
Lestrade glanced up at the TV over the bar. Some European game - Inter Milan? He checked the corners of the pub, surreptitiously, for Anderson. The gloating over his successful prediction of Sherlock's return had worn off, eventually. But Sherlock disappearing again, a couple of months ago, had triggered a fresh round of conspiracy theories. Lestrade had an inkling - John had muttered something about undercover work in Eastern Europe - but if that was true he was hardly going to let Anderson spread it round the 221Believer chatrooms.
The TV commentator's voice rose in excitement, and Lestrade looked up just in time to see Inter go one down. Rather impressive, on the replay - a spectacular left-footed overhead volley from outside the box.
And then Lestrade's jaw dropped as he glimpsed the Sparta Prague striker, scowling through his team-mates' embraces.
Mycroft Holmes had never paid much attention to association football. But, recently, he had been taping Sparta Prague's matches for perusal at his leisure. It seemed that the scout who had once tried to sign his brother had been right about "a natural talent", after all. Sherlock had scorned the offer, understandably. But, when MI6 had heard rumours of a match-fixing ring linked to arms-trafficking across a few of the old Warsaw Pact states, Mycroft thought he knew someone who could put in the bootwork.
Notes: The scoreline on the pub TV was SFC 0-0 INTER. One of the football strips did indeed match Inter Milan, but I couldn't work out who SFC were, and FC suggests an Anglophone club. I might have guessed Southampton, but couldn't find them among teams Inter have played in Europe. They played a friendly for the sesquicentenary of Sheffield FC (not United or Wednesday, the older one) a few years ago, but Sheffield wore maroon. In any case, I needed an East European team including an S whose home strip features red shirts and white shorts, and the likeliest suspects I could find on said list of Inter Milan's European opponents were Sparta Prague and CSKA Sofia, neither of which is SFC but I wasn't going to let that stop me.
PS After further advice, I've concluded that the match really was Sheffield FC's sesquicentenary, as reported here, and that the shirts on-screen are maroon after all. Oddly enough, there was a Holmes in Sheffield's starting line-up. Perhaps Mycroft was using Eastern Europe as code for "South Yorkshire, with a six-year time-shift".
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.
And, in the meantime, I am going to contribute to the backlash against the backlash by proclaiming that I really enjoyed this series. I don't think any episode reached the heights of A Study in Pink, but I've come to believe that nothing ever will (ASiP benefited hugely from being made twice, which is a rather expensive way to go about things), and there was no dud like The Blind Banker and nothing that made me queasy like the cutting down to size of Irene Adler.
I'd say that as a series these three episodes hung together in a way that neither of the previous two series managed. I'd been thinking beforehand that, in view of the long gaps between bursts of Sherlock, it might be better to space the episodes out - one at New Year, one at Easter, one in the summer, perhaps. But I've changed my mind now, because these three needed to be seen together; the first two elegantly set up the third.
From my point of view, of course, it helped enormously that the series arc was the story of a character I loved. In December I'd worried that the writers would make a mess of Mary Morstan, but I was delighted by her, and by Amanda Abbington's performance. I kept thinking "they'll blow the good work in the next episode", but they didn't. In fact, I'd say that this was the best series so far for women. (It may even have scraped a Bechdel pass in the few seconds concerned with Mary's Christmas reading.) Mary was fabulous; Molly got stronger by the episode as she built on her progress in The Reichenbach Fall; Mrs Hudson acquired more backstory, and it very nearly fitted the one I'd worked out for her; Donovan didn't get much time, but in her brief scenes was still Lestrade's trusted colleague; Janine held her own; and if they can work out a way to keep Lindsay Duncan around I'd be very happy, because she was gorgeous as ever, and particularly good in her scene with Lars Mikkelsen.
Of the not-women, I loved the reinvention of Anderson, and I really hope Billy Wiggins is more than a one-off character, because he was a hoot. And, finally, we got a villain who was genuinely cool, at least until his stupid mistake (and I suppose villains have to make a stupid mistake to lose the advantage that the plot demands they have established through the hero's stupid mistake).
So, all in all, I sat through Sunday night's episode with a big smile on my face, until the last minute. And to wash away that sour aftertaste, I offer my own final scene.
OUTSIDE THE BOX
Lestrade glanced up at the TV over the bar. Some European game - Inter Milan? He checked the corners of the pub, surreptitiously, for Anderson. The gloating over his successful prediction of Sherlock's return had worn off, eventually. But Sherlock disappearing again, a couple of months ago, had triggered a fresh round of conspiracy theories. Lestrade had an inkling - John had muttered something about undercover work in Eastern Europe - but if that was true he was hardly going to let Anderson spread it round the 221Believer chatrooms.
The TV commentator's voice rose in excitement, and Lestrade looked up just in time to see Inter go one down. Rather impressive, on the replay - a spectacular left-footed overhead volley from outside the box.
And then Lestrade's jaw dropped as he glimpsed the Sparta Prague striker, scowling through his team-mates' embraces.
Mycroft Holmes had never paid much attention to association football. But, recently, he had been taping Sparta Prague's matches for perusal at his leisure. It seemed that the scout who had once tried to sign his brother had been right about "a natural talent", after all. Sherlock had scorned the offer, understandably. But, when MI6 had heard rumours of a match-fixing ring linked to arms-trafficking across a few of the old Warsaw Pact states, Mycroft thought he knew someone who could put in the bootwork.
Notes: The scoreline on the pub TV was SFC 0-0 INTER. One of the football strips did indeed match Inter Milan, but I couldn't work out who SFC were, and FC suggests an Anglophone club. I might have guessed Southampton, but couldn't find them among teams Inter have played in Europe. They played a friendly for the sesquicentenary of Sheffield FC (not United or Wednesday, the older one) a few years ago, but Sheffield wore maroon. In any case, I needed an East European team including an S whose home strip features red shirts and white shorts, and the likeliest suspects I could find on said list of Inter Milan's European opponents were Sparta Prague and CSKA Sofia, neither of which is SFC but I wasn't going to let that stop me.
PS After further advice, I've concluded that the match really was Sheffield FC's sesquicentenary, as reported here, and that the shirts on-screen are maroon after all. Oddly enough, there was a Holmes in Sheffield's starting line-up. Perhaps Mycroft was using Eastern Europe as code for "South Yorkshire, with a six-year time-shift".
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.