Sherlock series three, episode one: The Empty Hearse
My review:
[Spoiler (click to open)]
I have extremely mixed feelings on this episode, and after letting it marinade for a few days (and re-watching it twice) here's my conclusions as posted in the sherlockbbc discussion post:
I'm sure multiple people have said this already (I'm a bit late to the party, I'm aware), but my biggest problem with this episode was the fact that if we take that last explanation as the true solution, it completely undermines the entirety of TRF, if not all of series two. If Sherlock and Mycroft had the whole thing planned out from Moriarty getting arrested (in thirteen different scenarios-- and let's be honest, if anybody could plan for every possible situation, it would be the Holmes boys), that means that every single moment of vulnerability, of emotion, of humanity Sherlock showed in "Reichenbach" was complete fabrication. That really really bothers me.
I find it incredibly hard to swallow that all the panic, all the anger, all the emotions that he showed in that episode were fake. That his reaction to the taxi ride with the story of Sir Boast-a-Lot wasn't him losing it a little. That the hesitation and defiance with Moriarty wasn't real. That the "a-ha!" moment outside of Kitty's flat was faked. That phone call up on Bart's was not all cold-hearted detachment, no matter how much he clearly wanted it to be. That is an absolutely beautiful episode: well written, well executed, and exceedingly well acted, so having it supposedly all planned in advance takes all of that wonderfully compelling cinematography and kind of spits on it a little.
I've been saying this to my husband since yesterday: I kind of got the impression that they sort of had the gist of where they were going to go with the conclusion, but didn't have all the details worked out precisely, and that when Mark went to sit down and write it, he was left with a bit of a mess to clean up and no good way to do it. The final solution presented to us makes the most sense practically, and Sherlock's reactions to Anderson's little "moments" makes me think that that whole scene was really happening.
As for all the fandom wank, it was an impossible thing to avoid, in my opinion. I'm not bothered by the way they included the theories (although that Moriarty almost-kiss was a tad ridiculous, while still hilariously funny), nor the nod to many fandom outlets, but it's the fact that Sherlock and John seem so out of character that bothers me the most.
Sherlock has been gone for two years, taking down Moriarty's web and essentially protecting the people he cares about most (i.e. John especially, if TRF is taken to be real and not total bollocks), and he kind of just... slides back into existence without any consequences beyond someone kidnapping John to get his attention (presumably). The whole episode seemed a bit overwhelming, to be honest. It's like they tried to do too many things at once and ended up with a giant jarring mess of scenes that didn't flow together at all. I re-watched it last night, and liked it better the second time around (the only completely jarring and horrifically out-of-place bit to me being the whole motorbike/kidnap/bonfire scenario), but it will never be my favorite episode. I don't know if it's the fact that Gatiss was faced with the pretty impossible task of following a stellar and nearly flawless series two, along with all the incredible pressure and expectations that went with it, or if it's the new director or if this show is getting a little too big for its britches, but it seemed like it was kind of all over the place.
I missed the beautifully put together episodes from series one and two horribly. I fell in love with this show because everything about it was so tight and clean and amazingly neatly put together, and this slap-dash 90 minutes was... not what I was expecting.
All that said, I wasn't exactly disappointed. There were lots of places that were hilariously funny. It had its moments of sheer brilliance (that scene with Sherlock and Mycroft playing Operation, for example), and it had moments of utter nonsense (that bad 80's style music video montage that posed as a Mind Palace), but all in all, I'd say it was worth the wait.
Until, that is, the very last effing scene in the tube car. I was so, so grateful to finally get some kind of emotional response out of Sherlock regarding John... and then he fucking ruined it by literally LAUGHING at him and mocking his heart felt reaction/forgiveness. Really? I mean, really?? And then Bad Ass Captain Watson of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers just stood back and took it? Really? I... was really disappointed in that scene. It kind of broke my heart, to be honest.
Sigh. I didn't hate it, but I didn't exactly like it either. I'm hoping things get back into shape for the rest of the series.
In regards to having Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton show up unexpectedly as Sherlock's parents... well, see... I'm going to be the bad guy here and say that having Wanda and Timothy play Sherlock's parents actually bothered me a little. Not because they weren't brilliant, because they absolutely were, and the in-joke was funny (I flailed, not gonna lie), but the second time watching it (and presumably every time after) it kind of jerked me out of Sherlock and into Benedict. Like I was suddenly aware that Sherlock is actually Benedict in a costume, acting. Part of what I love so much about his ridiculously talented acting is that he embraces his characters full stop, and having them there, forcing us to acknowledge that it's Benedict Cumberbatch in a scene with his parents playing his parents, kind of took away a little of that magic for me.
It was short lived, mind, but it still niggled a little.
To go along with all the theories and conclusions that were shown in this episode, and also regarding the final presentation, which I think is actually the real one: I agree, though nobody else I watched it with did. I'm the only one who's in that camp in my friend group, evidently. I think the last version with Anderson (ahem, Phillip) filming was the actual solution. It made the most sense practicality-wise and while I don't like it, I think that's the real answer.
It was meant to be ambiguous, per pure Moffat-ness, and to work us all into lathers of theories. But I re-watched it when I got home from my friends' version of a viewing party, and that look Sherlock gives Anderson's back right before he leaves pretty much proves to me that he was actually there.
I felt like it was a bit of a cram-everything-in-so-we-can-get-to-the-good-bits kind of episode, which is fine, but in a series with such scarcity and in such high demand, it seemed like a huge waste of precious time. And I don't like the new director. At all.
Regarding Sherlock's complete asshole behavior and utter 180 from the Sherlock we've come to know and love: some people were bleating on about him being a sociopath, but I don't believe that for one second. swissmarg actually said this, but I agree 100% with what she said: "I totally agree with this. The series has shown over and over again that the 'sociopath' label is complete nonsense, and to use it to excuse or explain how he acts in this episode is a cop-out. His entire attitude toward and treatment of John in this episode is inconsistent with every other episode we've seen (and as you point out, inconsistent with his actions toward every other character). He is sensitive to John's feelings many, many times in previous episodes. He makes genuine efforts to be a good friend. He's abrasive, yes, and a jerk, but he also shows opposite behaviours. There was none of that visible here. He was arrogant, selfish, manipulative, and cruel. Not just emotionally immature or unaware. I get that he may be having feelings that are too big and deep for him to handle, and he's using humour or inappropriateness as an outlet, but where are the deeper moments of connection that should come out of it?"
There were multiple things about this episode that grated on me the wrong way, but the main reason I think it was so jarring is because the foundation of the show-- Sherlock and John's relationship-- was significantly missing, despite the fact that everyone from Ben and Martin to Mark and Steven to the directors and Sue said that the whole center of this episode was resolving the tension and strain on the Holmes-Watson friendship. This... totally didn't do it for me. Someone (wisely) pointed out that despite Sherlock's complete and utter disregard for anything in line with John's feelings/emotions, he was pretty up to par in the remaining relationships shown. I'm going back through my mental thesaurus on this episode and realizing that the moments he has with everyone else-- from Lestrade and Molly, to Mycroft and Mrs Hudson, to even his previously-unseen parents-- seem genuine and in character with his established canon. It's John that's the problem, and that's a huge issue for me, and not for the fandom Johnlock reasons.
The Epic Bromance is the glue of this show, and if they cannot re-establish that, the whole thing is going to crumble. I think that's why this episode seems so jarring and disjointed: because the foundation of the Holmes-Watson relationship is markedly missing.
It seemed so off to me from almost the very beginning (disregarding the 100% Sherlockian scene at the beginning with Mycroft undercover, because that was brilliance and gave me --apparently unrealistic-- extremely high hopes for the rest of the episode). The coffee cups morphing into John's eyes? Little tacky for what we've come to expect from this caliber of BBC drama.
John was the worst part of this for me. I missed everything about their Ozzy and Harriet-like Epic Bromance. I wasn't expecting it to be all sunshine and daisies from the word go, but I certainly wasn't expecting every scene between the two of them to be like an episode of Coupling.
All fandom assumptions/unrealistic expectations aside, their relationship is what makes this show so incredible to watch. It's what keeps us hooked for literally years between seasons. It's the glue of the whole show, and I'm 99% convinced that's why this episode just kind of fell apart: because the Holmes-Watson foundation was so incredibly shaky and out of character.
The more I think about it, the more frustrated and upset I get, and that's not exactly a good thing. I'm praying The Sign of Three is going to re-establish some kind of grounding between Sherlock and John, because without it this show has absolutely no future.
What's weird is that I was so worried about Mary coming between them and making the Bromance less impacting, but realistically, it was Sherlock who actually ruined it. Mary is wonderful! I am shocked at how much I like her already, actually. I was not pleased (read: sodding livid) when I found out they'd cast Amanda as Mary, but she works really well in the role. I'm pleasantly surprised and impressed with her addition as of now. I suppose we'll have to see what happens in the remaining two episodes, but for now, I'm actually OK with her.
The Mind Palace music video of doom was a bit much for me. The first time we watched it, scarletcurls and Hunter hated it, whereas I didn't mind so much. On the second viewing, however, I'm with them 100%. It was gratuitous and unnecessary and it completely ruined the flow of the show. That, and the fact that they pulled it three times. My husband said it best: when John tells Sherlock in that tube car "Use your Mind Palace!" it almost seemed like a "Use your magic powers Insert-Superhero/Anime Character-Here!" It was overdone and what was seen was shown for too long. In an episode where every second counts, using precious minutes for the 80's style music video was a little excessive. Keep it to the visual street map from SIP, the internal wikipedia from Baskerville and the location atlas from TRF please.
Now, onto the most deplorable scene of the show in my book: that climactic moment in the tube car rigged with explosives. I was SO HAPPY when it looked like we were finally going to get some kind of catharsis for their friendship. I'd been waiting for it for two freaking years. I was over the moon at seeing Sherlock panic, and seeing his face when John basically pours his heart out to him and forgives him, and then he fucking RUINED IT by laughing. Now, I've actually calmed down quite a bit, and I realize that everything up to him finding the obnoxiously convenient off-switch on the bomb was genuine, but that beautiful moment was cracked and scattered for me by the resultant mockery. Now, madlori brought up a good point, which I'm glad she did, but here's what she said: "Everything said on the train was real. Sherlock's fake-out was cover, pure and simple. He needed to say things, John needed to say things, they both needed to HEAR things, but they needed an out of a heightened emotional situation so they could shrug it off and go back to their normal relationship. And that last scene between them, the "I heard you" scene? Gold. I thought the train-car scene was brilliant."
I like her interpretation of this better than all the others I've seen. I was (and still am a bit, though I'm calming down) absolutely LIVID with the way that scene played out. The Sherlock in this episode was not the Sherlock I've come to love over the story arc of the last six episodes. There was none of the vulnerability, none of the reluctant humanity that makes the character likeable in my opinion. It felt like Mark took one facet of Sherlock's character, ran with it, and just kind of ignored the rest of it for the time being. The issue I have with that is that he took one of the ugliest sides of his personality... and if that's how he's going to play it, he might as well be Moriarty.
What angered me is that we finally seemed to have gotten a modicum of emotion out of Sherlock, only to have him cruelly laugh at John's heart felt response. If he'd laughed it off in an awkward, Sherlockian I'm-not-good-at-this-emotional-soup ("Not good?" "Bit not good, yeah.") way, I would have been fine with it, but he actively mocks John's hurt and anger and real emotionalism, and that I was decidedly not OK with.
That being said, I like her interpretation of the train scene, because it makes their relationship marginally salvageable. I haven't forgotten that ending scene-- which, to me, rang truer to the rest of the series than any other part of the whole sodding episode-- but it was still a little off-kilter to me.
I'm holding out for the rest of the series. They've been brilliant for six episodes; hopefully they'll pull it off again. I was spouting honesty on the way home to my very patient husband and basically said that I was worried I'd read too much fanfiction, because this episode didn't feel real to me yet. It felt better the second viewing, but it still doesn't feel like it fits with the established canon. That's mainly what I'm concerned about with this episode: that it didn't fit with the rest of the show, and I'm hoping that it's not the tone of the remaining episodes.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
I have extremely mixed feelings on this episode, and after letting it marinade for a few days (and re-watching it twice) here's my conclusions as posted in the sherlockbbc discussion post:
I'm sure multiple people have said this already (I'm a bit late to the party, I'm aware), but my biggest problem with this episode was the fact that if we take that last explanation as the true solution, it completely undermines the entirety of TRF, if not all of series two. If Sherlock and Mycroft had the whole thing planned out from Moriarty getting arrested (in thirteen different scenarios-- and let's be honest, if anybody could plan for every possible situation, it would be the Holmes boys), that means that every single moment of vulnerability, of emotion, of humanity Sherlock showed in "Reichenbach" was complete fabrication. That really really bothers me.
I find it incredibly hard to swallow that all the panic, all the anger, all the emotions that he showed in that episode were fake. That his reaction to the taxi ride with the story of Sir Boast-a-Lot wasn't him losing it a little. That the hesitation and defiance with Moriarty wasn't real. That the "a-ha!" moment outside of Kitty's flat was faked. That phone call up on Bart's was not all cold-hearted detachment, no matter how much he clearly wanted it to be. That is an absolutely beautiful episode: well written, well executed, and exceedingly well acted, so having it supposedly all planned in advance takes all of that wonderfully compelling cinematography and kind of spits on it a little.
I've been saying this to my husband since yesterday: I kind of got the impression that they sort of had the gist of where they were going to go with the conclusion, but didn't have all the details worked out precisely, and that when Mark went to sit down and write it, he was left with a bit of a mess to clean up and no good way to do it. The final solution presented to us makes the most sense practically, and Sherlock's reactions to Anderson's little "moments" makes me think that that whole scene was really happening.
As for all the fandom wank, it was an impossible thing to avoid, in my opinion. I'm not bothered by the way they included the theories (although that Moriarty almost-kiss was a tad ridiculous, while still hilariously funny), nor the nod to many fandom outlets, but it's the fact that Sherlock and John seem so out of character that bothers me the most.
Sherlock has been gone for two years, taking down Moriarty's web and essentially protecting the people he cares about most (i.e. John especially, if TRF is taken to be real and not total bollocks), and he kind of just... slides back into existence without any consequences beyond someone kidnapping John to get his attention (presumably). The whole episode seemed a bit overwhelming, to be honest. It's like they tried to do too many things at once and ended up with a giant jarring mess of scenes that didn't flow together at all. I re-watched it last night, and liked it better the second time around (the only completely jarring and horrifically out-of-place bit to me being the whole motorbike/kidnap/bonfire scenario), but it will never be my favorite episode. I don't know if it's the fact that Gatiss was faced with the pretty impossible task of following a stellar and nearly flawless series two, along with all the incredible pressure and expectations that went with it, or if it's the new director or if this show is getting a little too big for its britches, but it seemed like it was kind of all over the place.
I missed the beautifully put together episodes from series one and two horribly. I fell in love with this show because everything about it was so tight and clean and amazingly neatly put together, and this slap-dash 90 minutes was... not what I was expecting.
All that said, I wasn't exactly disappointed. There were lots of places that were hilariously funny. It had its moments of sheer brilliance (that scene with Sherlock and Mycroft playing Operation, for example), and it had moments of utter nonsense (that bad 80's style music video montage that posed as a Mind Palace), but all in all, I'd say it was worth the wait.
Until, that is, the very last effing scene in the tube car. I was so, so grateful to finally get some kind of emotional response out of Sherlock regarding John... and then he fucking ruined it by literally LAUGHING at him and mocking his heart felt reaction/forgiveness. Really? I mean, really?? And then Bad Ass Captain Watson of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers just stood back and took it? Really? I... was really disappointed in that scene. It kind of broke my heart, to be honest.
Sigh. I didn't hate it, but I didn't exactly like it either. I'm hoping things get back into shape for the rest of the series.
In regards to having Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton show up unexpectedly as Sherlock's parents... well, see... I'm going to be the bad guy here and say that having Wanda and Timothy play Sherlock's parents actually bothered me a little. Not because they weren't brilliant, because they absolutely were, and the in-joke was funny (I flailed, not gonna lie), but the second time watching it (and presumably every time after) it kind of jerked me out of Sherlock and into Benedict. Like I was suddenly aware that Sherlock is actually Benedict in a costume, acting. Part of what I love so much about his ridiculously talented acting is that he embraces his characters full stop, and having them there, forcing us to acknowledge that it's Benedict Cumberbatch in a scene with his parents playing his parents, kind of took away a little of that magic for me.
It was short lived, mind, but it still niggled a little.
To go along with all the theories and conclusions that were shown in this episode, and also regarding the final presentation, which I think is actually the real one: I agree, though nobody else I watched it with did. I'm the only one who's in that camp in my friend group, evidently. I think the last version with Anderson (ahem, Phillip) filming was the actual solution. It made the most sense practicality-wise and while I don't like it, I think that's the real answer.
It was meant to be ambiguous, per pure Moffat-ness, and to work us all into lathers of theories. But I re-watched it when I got home from my friends' version of a viewing party, and that look Sherlock gives Anderson's back right before he leaves pretty much proves to me that he was actually there.
I felt like it was a bit of a cram-everything-in-so-we-can-get-to-the-good-bits kind of episode, which is fine, but in a series with such scarcity and in such high demand, it seemed like a huge waste of precious time. And I don't like the new director. At all.
Regarding Sherlock's complete asshole behavior and utter 180 from the Sherlock we've come to know and love: some people were bleating on about him being a sociopath, but I don't believe that for one second. swissmarg actually said this, but I agree 100% with what she said: "I totally agree with this. The series has shown over and over again that the 'sociopath' label is complete nonsense, and to use it to excuse or explain how he acts in this episode is a cop-out. His entire attitude toward and treatment of John in this episode is inconsistent with every other episode we've seen (and as you point out, inconsistent with his actions toward every other character). He is sensitive to John's feelings many, many times in previous episodes. He makes genuine efforts to be a good friend. He's abrasive, yes, and a jerk, but he also shows opposite behaviours. There was none of that visible here. He was arrogant, selfish, manipulative, and cruel. Not just emotionally immature or unaware. I get that he may be having feelings that are too big and deep for him to handle, and he's using humour or inappropriateness as an outlet, but where are the deeper moments of connection that should come out of it?"
There were multiple things about this episode that grated on me the wrong way, but the main reason I think it was so jarring is because the foundation of the show-- Sherlock and John's relationship-- was significantly missing, despite the fact that everyone from Ben and Martin to Mark and Steven to the directors and Sue said that the whole center of this episode was resolving the tension and strain on the Holmes-Watson friendship. This... totally didn't do it for me. Someone (wisely) pointed out that despite Sherlock's complete and utter disregard for anything in line with John's feelings/emotions, he was pretty up to par in the remaining relationships shown. I'm going back through my mental thesaurus on this episode and realizing that the moments he has with everyone else-- from Lestrade and Molly, to Mycroft and Mrs Hudson, to even his previously-unseen parents-- seem genuine and in character with his established canon. It's John that's the problem, and that's a huge issue for me, and not for the fandom Johnlock reasons.
The Epic Bromance is the glue of this show, and if they cannot re-establish that, the whole thing is going to crumble. I think that's why this episode seems so jarring and disjointed: because the foundation of the Holmes-Watson relationship is markedly missing.
It seemed so off to me from almost the very beginning (disregarding the 100% Sherlockian scene at the beginning with Mycroft undercover, because that was brilliance and gave me --apparently unrealistic-- extremely high hopes for the rest of the episode). The coffee cups morphing into John's eyes? Little tacky for what we've come to expect from this caliber of BBC drama.
John was the worst part of this for me. I missed everything about their Ozzy and Harriet-like Epic Bromance. I wasn't expecting it to be all sunshine and daisies from the word go, but I certainly wasn't expecting every scene between the two of them to be like an episode of Coupling.
All fandom assumptions/unrealistic expectations aside, their relationship is what makes this show so incredible to watch. It's what keeps us hooked for literally years between seasons. It's the glue of the whole show, and I'm 99% convinced that's why this episode just kind of fell apart: because the Holmes-Watson foundation was so incredibly shaky and out of character.
The more I think about it, the more frustrated and upset I get, and that's not exactly a good thing. I'm praying The Sign of Three is going to re-establish some kind of grounding between Sherlock and John, because without it this show has absolutely no future.
What's weird is that I was so worried about Mary coming between them and making the Bromance less impacting, but realistically, it was Sherlock who actually ruined it. Mary is wonderful! I am shocked at how much I like her already, actually. I was not pleased (read: sodding livid) when I found out they'd cast Amanda as Mary, but she works really well in the role. I'm pleasantly surprised and impressed with her addition as of now. I suppose we'll have to see what happens in the remaining two episodes, but for now, I'm actually OK with her.
The Mind Palace music video of doom was a bit much for me. The first time we watched it, scarletcurls and Hunter hated it, whereas I didn't mind so much. On the second viewing, however, I'm with them 100%. It was gratuitous and unnecessary and it completely ruined the flow of the show. That, and the fact that they pulled it three times. My husband said it best: when John tells Sherlock in that tube car "Use your Mind Palace!" it almost seemed like a "Use your magic powers Insert-Superhero/Anime Character-Here!" It was overdone and what was seen was shown for too long. In an episode where every second counts, using precious minutes for the 80's style music video was a little excessive. Keep it to the visual street map from SIP, the internal wikipedia from Baskerville and the location atlas from TRF please.
Now, onto the most deplorable scene of the show in my book: that climactic moment in the tube car rigged with explosives. I was SO HAPPY when it looked like we were finally going to get some kind of catharsis for their friendship. I'd been waiting for it for two freaking years. I was over the moon at seeing Sherlock panic, and seeing his face when John basically pours his heart out to him and forgives him, and then he fucking RUINED IT by laughing. Now, I've actually calmed down quite a bit, and I realize that everything up to him finding the obnoxiously convenient off-switch on the bomb was genuine, but that beautiful moment was cracked and scattered for me by the resultant mockery. Now, madlori brought up a good point, which I'm glad she did, but here's what she said: "Everything said on the train was real. Sherlock's fake-out was cover, pure and simple. He needed to say things, John needed to say things, they both needed to HEAR things, but they needed an out of a heightened emotional situation so they could shrug it off and go back to their normal relationship. And that last scene between them, the "I heard you" scene? Gold. I thought the train-car scene was brilliant."
I like her interpretation of this better than all the others I've seen. I was (and still am a bit, though I'm calming down) absolutely LIVID with the way that scene played out. The Sherlock in this episode was not the Sherlock I've come to love over the story arc of the last six episodes. There was none of the vulnerability, none of the reluctant humanity that makes the character likeable in my opinion. It felt like Mark took one facet of Sherlock's character, ran with it, and just kind of ignored the rest of it for the time being. The issue I have with that is that he took one of the ugliest sides of his personality... and if that's how he's going to play it, he might as well be Moriarty.
What angered me is that we finally seemed to have gotten a modicum of emotion out of Sherlock, only to have him cruelly laugh at John's heart felt response. If he'd laughed it off in an awkward, Sherlockian I'm-not-good-at-this-emotional-soup ("Not good?" "Bit not good, yeah.") way, I would have been fine with it, but he actively mocks John's hurt and anger and real emotionalism, and that I was decidedly not OK with.
That being said, I like her interpretation of the train scene, because it makes their relationship marginally salvageable. I haven't forgotten that ending scene-- which, to me, rang truer to the rest of the series than any other part of the whole sodding episode-- but it was still a little off-kilter to me.
I'm holding out for the rest of the series. They've been brilliant for six episodes; hopefully they'll pull it off again. I was spouting honesty on the way home to my very patient husband and basically said that I was worried I'd read too much fanfiction, because this episode didn't feel real to me yet. It felt better the second viewing, but it still doesn't feel like it fits with the established canon. That's mainly what I'm concerned about with this episode: that it didn't fit with the rest of the show, and I'm hoping that it's not the tone of the remaining episodes.