A Review that is Very Late in Coming

Because today happens to be the anniversary of John and Mary's wedding, I figured it would be the perfect time to write a (sort of) review of Sherlock season three. I think I've had time to formulate opinions and by now I think most of you have had ample time to watch it. However, if you haven't jumped on board the band wagon yet then stop right now and go watch it. Seriously. Don't read this until you've watched the show. (It's an awesome show by the way you definitely won't be disappointed).

And let's be honest, this is a great excuse for flooding my blog with Benedict Cumberbatch... ;P

I first saw The Empty Hearse at school with a bunch of friends because the English department hosted a little premier party. It was one of the best nights EVER. The whole episode was thrilling. It started off with the familiar Reichenbach fall and then we got a wild and crazy explanation of how Sherlock did it. Then there was that thing with Molly and Sherlock... just as I was wondering what on earth had happened, we found out that this was just some crazy fan theory by Anderson and company. And the episode just got better from there.

The scene where Sherlock reveals that he's not dead to John was one of the funniest and yet most heartbreaking scenes ever. I will never stop praising Benedict and Martin's superb acting. I simultaneously laughed at Sherlock's antics ("Certainly endeavoring to, sir") and felt pain and betrayal with John. That scene was perfectly done. The other great scene from this was when Sherlock and John try to defuse the bomb. By that point I was so emotionally invested for so long that when Sherlock started laughing I think my stomach dropped into my shoes. How can he be so heartless? And yet the great thing about this show is that Sherlock isn't heartless at all.

I loved Mary in this episode. She was cute and funny and perfect. All along I was worried about her because I figured she would either die or turn out evil. I desperately hoped she would die so that there would at least be a happy end... but I'm getting ahead of myself. I also liked Anderson, his fan club, and his "Jack the Ripper How I Did It" It was poking fun at all of us fans and it was quite amusing. While I would have appreciated finding out how Sherlock really did survive the fall, I'm pleased with the way it was handled. No matter what solution they would have given, there would be people complaining. Instead, we get the rather standard solution that was plastered everywhere on the internet and then get to understand that it is most likely not true. And I'm okay with that. This show is really more about the characters than the solutions. And the characters were perfect in this episode. By the end of the episode I was so ecstatic I could barely contain myself. I was basically on a Sherlock high and Ellie and I fan-girled all the way home. I wondered what the next episode would be like... would it be as good?

No, not as good. Better. Amazing. Spectacular. Funny and mysterious and clever and sad and everything you look for in Sherlock. The Sign Of Three was definitely my favorite of the three episodes in the series. It was laid out different than all the others: the focus was definitely not the mystery. It was the characters. It gave us an in depth look into John's character and especially Sherlock's. It was great to see how Sherlock tries to deal with the emotions of a wedding, especially when emotions are contrary to his cold and collected mindset. Seeing inside his deduction process was really neat, especially when working with the Mayfly Man. Really, everything in this episode was perfection: when John asked Sherlock to be his best man, when Sherlock gave his long winded speech, even when Sherlock left early (yes I know it's sad but it fits him so well and the foreshadowing in Mrs. Hudson... just wow).

While this show has many themes and lines and actions that are not Christian, this episode still has some great Christian themes in it (in my opinion at least). In this episode, Sherlock announces that he is rude, ignorant, obnoxious, dismissive of virtue, and unaware of the beautiful. He never deserved or expected to be someone's best friend. "John, I am a ridiculous man redeemed only by the warmth and constancy of your friendship." Here we see someone loving the unlovable, and the unlovable being redeemed by this love. Sherlock becomes more and more human because of the friendship of John Watson. There are other parallels to be drawn in this show of course, the obvious one being that Sherlock "died" and "rose again" to save John, but this scene really struck me. I guess that's why I love this show so much. There are so many layers to it and there are some great themes in it like this one, even amidst the not so good ones.

Overall, The Sign of Three was one of the happiest episodes (probably the happiest) and I should have guessed that things could not remain so happy. After all, I was becoming more and more attached to Mary which could only mean one thing...

She's both dead and evil. Oh the joy.

His Last Vow was kind of like a long drawn out nightmare for me. Seriously, it was. The whole episode I sat, wide eyed and open mouthed, shocked and startled that any of this was actually happening. What do you mean Sherlock is dating the maid of honor?!?! What do you mean Sherlock's now a homeless drug addict?!?! What do you mean Mary isn't Mary?!?! What do you mean Sherlock was shot by Mary and now is on the verge of death!!?!? What do you mean this creepy weirdo is controlling everybody on this show?!?!? What do you mean!?!?!?... you get the picture. I was in shock. When this roller coaster of an episode ended I didn't know what to think. Did I like it? Did I hate it? To be honest, I still haven't rewatched it yet to completely formulate my opinions. But this is what I think now, a couple months later.

This is going to surprise you but... I liked the character development. I'm sure you never saw that coming. I appreciated how John forgave Mary. I thought creepy Augustus Magnussen was the embodiment of evil. I adored the mind palace scenes with Sherlock (and Redbeard... oh how sad). I loved how Sherlock was willing to give up his life again to save both John and Mary (his last vow, anyone?) I loved the sad goodbyes (Sherlock is actually a girl's name). This episode was just overall pure heartache. I don't know what to make of it.

The Moriarty bit at the end was, frankly, not as shocking for me as it was for others. Honestly, I think my nerves had been worn thin by that point. My theory is that Moriarty is very much dead and very much not coming back. I originally thought this was a big scheme of Mycroft to save his brother, but since then I've read better theories and now I believe it was Moran. Moran played a bigger part in the books and his screen time was very limited in The Empty Hearse. It makes sense that he would play a bigger role in the future and that he would use Moriarty to get started. Go read it for yourself.

Overall, series three was amazing. One of the high points for me was Mycroft's character. Before, he was just another character for me. I neither really liked nor really disliked him. In this season I loved him. He got so much deeper and more relatable somehow. I don't know. But now he's one of my favorite characters. As always, the cinematography and soundtrack and dialogue and overall quality of the whole show was top notch. It doesn't get any better than this. While I still haven't decided about the last episode (I get headaches just trying to remember it all and piece it together), the first two definitely made up for that.

Now we just have to wait another fifteen years for series four...