Sherlock 2x03
Wow. I knew it was coming to this. I knew this was what they would do and I tried to prepare myself, but I don't think it helped a bit. Curse you, Moffat and Gatiss! Thank goodness season 3 is confirmed.
There are somethings I'm going to need to go back and look at, but this is where I am after one viewing:
What I Loved
* "My best friend, Sherlock..." If my heart has to be broken, this is what I want to hear.
* Molly. Molly. Molly. So glad she is more than a joke.
* Sherlock's blank stare during media encounters seems like a perfect characterization choice--he just doesn't get it but he knows it makes him feel off.
* "Sarcasm" "Yes."
* Jim Moriarty should always be wearing the crown jewels.
* The many continuing canon shout-outs. (DIOGENES CLUB!)
* "So, did you just talk to him for a long time?"
* "I'll just be myself." "Have you even been listening to me."
* Sherlock in jail for contempt (so appropriate, it let me put aside the ridiculousness of him being asked to testify).
* "Aren't ordinary people adorable? I should get myself a live-in one."
* That Moriarty was so crazy, so fixed on Sherlock, that he would take his own life to take him out. IMO great characterization and completely canon-compliant.
* That Moriarty's scheme takes Sherlock down by making people think he is a fraud, rather than just physical hurt. IMO, Moriarty's insight into what will hurt him the most (and leveraging Sherlock's friends to ensure it) was some of the most perceptive observation any made by any character on the show this year (with the exception of Molly's observation in the lab). I finally felt like a clever scheme was coming off (a feeling distinctly absent in BELG and BASK).
* Speaking of which: Thank you, Jim Moriarty, for rick-rolling us on the magic door-opening code. If only one sensible bit of villainy was going to go down this year, I'm glad they saved it for you.
* "Anything you can do to..." "Not be myself?"
* "I always feel like screaming when you walk into a room."
* "I'm in my nightie!"
* "No, friends protect people." Oh, yes, and this is so, so wonderfully put forth in the climax.
* John, nearly breaking at the gravesite, then pulling himself up to a military stance and marching away. So much heartache.
* Although BC came off a bit hammy (to me) in BASK, I thought he nailed every moment with subtlety and grace tonight. Well done.
ETA: *Goodness, how did I for get to add John popping Lestrade's supervisor in the face? Of course John would be looking to share a cell!
What I'm Not Sure About
* CPS had no earthly reason to call Sherlock as a witness. He witnessed nothing, Moriarty's actions are on tape, Sherlock's testimony did not add anything to the proceedings (and if he's ever been called before, it's probably already made its way around the service that you don't call Holmes unless you really need him). IANAUKL, but in what sense would Sherlock qualify as an expert witness? His testimony was not about significant technical matters needed to help the jury understand the evidence. Also, from what little we heard, his testimony seemed to be unspecific character assassination that at best would constitute prior bad acts, probably inadmissible as irrelevant (he wasn't acting as a consulting criminal in any of the three prosecuted incidents) or prejudicial. Given this, what did this scene serve? Was this just about presenting Moriarty as the dark mirror, again? Or, in this alternate Britain where Sherlock is a logical witness for the prosecution, was it all a set up by Moriarty to make Sherlock look more guilty when the article came out?
Personal Interpretations
* I'm torn on how to interpret Mycroft in this episode. What is that look of utter hate he gives John after the smurfs line? Is that self-hatred? A front? What about the stone stare in the final Diogenes scene? It doesn't appear to be from the gallery of genuine hurt/concern we saw in BELG. I'm eager to believe it was all a cunning ruse so that John would tell the story Sherlock thinks needs to be told (that Sherlock is truly dead). But I think it's more likely that they'll write it so that both Holmes were taken in by the magic code, which would mean that he really did give over the information Moriarty needed to complete his plan. The angst of that must be ripping a hole in his soul. I can live with this, too, provided we get some flippin' reconciliation in S3. I love Sherlock, and I know this is his growth journey, but I hope that doesn't mean TPTB are going to use Mycroft to further the plot and then cast him aside like a broken toy.
* Lestrade will not give up hope in Sherlock. Yes, he was led a little bit by Donovan and Anderson at the first, but he didn't come after Sherlock until explicitly ordered to, and even then there's no on-screen evidence that he would do anything more than what a man as upright as Lestrade would be forced to by his conscience: question Sherlock, follow the book, and hope that Sherlock demonstrates his innocence as soon as possible. Calling Sherlock to warn him of what was about to happen, IMO, supports this interpretation.
Outright Speculation
* Does the near-magic fake body technique that entered canon in BELG have something to do with how Molly is helping Sherlock fake his death? Or will it be a simpler 'there was a mattress Sherlock fell onto and they they rolled his (still-living) body onto the pavement and Molly's minions/the BSI/Mycroft's henchmen cart the evidence of the fake away?
Where's my bleepin' TARDIS?