Sherlock 2.03

[selenak]

In which Steve "Blind Banker" Thompson defies expectations and delivers a splendid episode. Given that the second season's weakest ep was the middle one again - written by Gatiss this time - I would be open to the theory that it's a middle episode rather than a writer thing, except that Thompsons s6 of New Who pirate episode also sucked. Still: he

Comments

[ponygirl2000]

I loved how Moriarty as Brook called himself "The Storyteller" - both for the fairytale connotations and for the Doylist/Watsonian echoes.

you do believe Sherlock cares for Mrs. Hudson as well as Lestrade, not "just" for John. I also appreciated that these three represent the areas of Sherlock's life that we've seen emphasized this year: his home, his work and his heart. Molly slips in unnoticed, just as she arrived uninvited at the Christmas party, offering something more unconditional. Of all the scenes I liked Sherlock best in his talk with her in the lab, he seems genuinely confused and concerned over her selflessness. Of course selflessness is what he needs to understand in this episode, I'm just not sure if the other scenes demonstrated it so well

[selenak]

I also appreciated that these three represent the areas of Sherlock's life that we've seen emphasized this year: his home, his work and his heart. Molly slips in unnoticed, just as she arrived uninvited at the Christmas party, offering something more unconditional.

*nods* And I agree that Sherlock's scene with Molly in the lab was his best in the episode. Given that Molly is a character not owing anything to Doyle or popular Doyle fanon, you could make a case that the way they turned both Sherlock's and the show's treatment of her around this season as one of the biggest accomplishments of Team Moffat in s2 as well.

unfortunately "Hounds" foreshadowed Sherlock's willingness to emotionally torture John but we shall see how that plays out

As I said in my review, for now we got enough reasons why John should be put through believing Sherlock was dead. However, if Sherlock continues to let him believe it beyond any time frame that could be explained as "Moriarty's henchmen still observing John", then it would be torture, so I hope

[ponygirl2000]

At least ACD Watson was married off at the time and seemed to have an established life away from Holmes, poor John seems to be right back at the beginning with his therapist and telling Mrs. Hudson that he can't go back to Baker St. I hope he was managing the finances for Sherlock so that he'll have some money put aside.

What I'd love to see - aside from series 3 picking up immediately from where we left off - is John going looking for Sherlock himself. He's actually good at figuring things out, just at a much slower pace than Sherlock, and if he's starting from the assumption that Sherlock was not a fraud then he'd have to question the reason for the suicide.

[selenak]

What I'd love to see - aside from series 3 picking up immediately from where we left off - is John going looking for Sherlock himself. He's actually good at figuring things out, just at a much slower pace than Sherlock, and if he's starting from the assumption that Sherlock was not a fraud then he'd have to question the reason for the suicide.

That would be a good point to start. Also, depending on whether or not they'll go with the ACD precedent of Mycroft knowing about Sherlock having faked his death, John could attempt to guilt trip Mycroft into telling him the truth if he suspects something.

[ffutures]

I liked the staging of the conjuring trick at the end - I think I know how we're going to be told it was done, but I won't spoil it in case I'm revealing something important.

I did wonder right up until they got on the roof if the end if it was going to turn out that Holmes really was some sort of madman who had created Moriarty etc., but apparently not.

It'll be interesting to see if they start the next season by bringing him back, or have at least one story with everyone thinking he's dead and trying to cope.

[londonkds]

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[ponygirl2000]

Ur jnf zbivat nyy gur jnl qbja fb V guvax ur ynaqrq ba gur cerfhznoyl cnqqrq gehpx naq gura sybccrq sebz gurer bagb gur cnirzrag. Baybbxref jrer rvgure va Fureybpx'f ubzryrff argjbex be jbexvat jvgu Zbyyl.

[ffutures]

Pretty much my opinion - V guvax gung Ubyzrf ynaqrq ba fbzrguvat fbsg, whfg bhg bs Jngfba'f ivrj (urapr gur pnershy cbfvgvbavat), r.t. n sverzna'f oynaxrg guvatl sbe pngpuvat snyyvat crbcyr, naq vg jnf erzbirq juvyr Jngfba jnf fgvyy qnmrq sebz orvat eha bire.

[night_train_fm]

After reading about the ending and seeing a preview clip of John complaining about Sherlock getting too famous, I half-expected a rehash of Eleven's vanishing act at the end of series 6. I was very pleasantly surprised by how it actually worked out.

[selenak]

Oh God, the Eleven possibility didn't even occur to me. Now I'm doubly grateful it worked differently with Sherlock.

[night_train_fm]

The only question I still have is why the kidnapped girl screamed when Sherlock walked in the room. Did I miss that?

[selenak]

No, you didn't, but I suspect it was something as simple as one of Moriarty's henchmen having used a Sherlock mask (that's what the Alias fan in me says *g*), which will probably also be used as an explanation of how Sherlock's death was faked originally.

[airie_fairy]

MOLLYYYYY. I'm guessing that she's who Sherlock enlisted to help him fake his death. I wonder if she was fully aware of what she was helping him with, and is now harboring his secret. I'd have been curious to see her at his funeral or something. I think the way Molly's grown from a minor character not just on the show but in Sherlock's life to possibly the one person who knows the truth about him, and especially in the case where she alone does know he's alive is great development. And my guess is her not being on the list of three targets come from the fact that Sherlock himself has only just realized the significance of Molly to his success, and so Moriarty wouldn't be aware.

[selenak]

Molly helping Sherlock to fake his death was my natural assumption, and I haven't come across a reviewer who didn't share it so far. And we're entirely in agreement about her awesomeness!

And my guess is her not being on the list of three targets come from the fact that Sherlock himself has only just realized the significance of Molly to his success, and so Moriarty wouldn't be aware.

Also Moriarty shares Sherlock's intellectual snobbery and dismissal of people not in his intelligence range without having Sherlock's increasing willingness to look beyond those assumptions (see also the Sherlock and Mycroft conversation in the morgue in Scandal). As Moriarty managed to trick Molly once easily, he dismisses her as unimportant, and that turns out to be a fatal mistake!