Writing things up on the screen to allow viewers to see how astonishingly swift Holmes can operate his grey cells was clever enough to have been invented by Sherlock himself. The bromance between the two main characters was kept just shy enough of overkill to make their bond effective and emotionally compelling.
Best of all the scripts and the cases were, for the most part, of such high standard that audiences rode a switchback of tension, excitement and satisfaction made all the more fulfilling by cinematic camera work and production values.
For the most part.
In this, probably the last ever Bumblyman and Freedent instalment in detecting and adventuring, Moffat and Gatiss appear to have foregone many of the qualities that made their show such a success, apparently more interested in one-upping themselves, Conan-Doyle and possibly even John Logie Baird in an attempt to create the single greatest piece of televisual excellence ever. And failing.
Sentimentally cloying rather than genuinely touching, the emotional impact of this episode aggravates the gag reflexes rather than the frontal lobes. The plot is unnecessarily complicated, way more unbelievable than that whole business with the surviving a fall from a rooftop and extremely badly resolved.
To distract us from these cold, hard facts we are presented with the psychotic younger sibling of the Holmes brothers while the pre-recorded ghost of Jim Moriaty is dangled in front of our reddened eyes like we're two year olds unable to contain our excitement when we see a jack-in-the-box. The pre-recorded message thing is a really annoying motif of this series, what with Mary Watson's appearances in the second and third eps being largely restricted to maybe we don't miss her as much as we thought we might DVD cameos. Moffat and Gatiss may very well have taped their own contributions to the script meetings rather than sitting down and formulating a truly effective conclusion to their otherwise genius offering.
If the BBC persuades them to do more I for one will anticipate Sherlock's return less enthusiastically than I have done previously. One episode too many, run out of ideas, lacking in true drama aside from the Molly Hooper phone call. The word I've been avoiding so far is 'boring'. Sorry Sherl, for once it all left me cold and a long way from the edge of my seat. Can we have Luther back now please?
Yeah, it was rediculous. I struggled to get through it all and breathed a sigh of relief when it was over because I could stop wasting my time. They became pickled in themselves, or put more simply the creators have become lost up their own arses.
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