Spoilers Sherlock Series 4 Discussion Thread

[The Wormhole]

Wow. This one was pretty good. Like really good. Top notch entertainment which pretty much kept me riveted, even in the parts where I kind of knew the outcome, like knowing that Watson and Mycroft wouldn't kill the Governor, and that Sherlock wouldn't kill them. Despite knowing how it would turn out, I still wanted to see what would happen anyway. This was definitely a complete 180 after the rather mediocre episodes of the past couple of weeks.

One minor quibble, it does seem this year they had trouble incorporating the support cast into the show. Mrs. Hudson was only really important last week and had very minor roles in this episode and the premiere. Likewise Lestrade, although this week I'm confused by his presence. I wasn't aware the Holmes manor was in London, so shouldn't it be outside his jurisdiction. I know cops on TV rarely adhere to these kind of realities anyway, and in this case we can just assume he was requested by Sherlock or something, but I thought it odd all the same. Finally, this week Molly has an important part of the plot, not so in the previous two. In fact, we haven't even seen her doing her job at all this season.

Really like the way this ended. There's a sense of closure so that if this is indeed the end, it's a fitting one. But the door is open for the show to make a return, and I am hoping it does, in some manner, be it another season or a special or whatever.

And the final shot "Rathbone Place", probably a real location, but possibly doubling as a little shout out to Basil Rathbone at the same time?

It is indeed a real place, but I'm sure it was intentionally chosen for obvious reasons.

 

[diankra]

Yep, there is a Rathbone Place, close to the Fitzroy Tavern (as Mark and Steve will know of old) and half a mile from Baker Street at most, so a double meaning. A War Machine trundles through it back in the 1966 Who story, ISTR.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

An incrediblely intense psychological thriller. A strange combination of what I expected and what I didn't expect from this episode.

I was initially puzzled by the conceit of returning to Sherrinford despite Eurus' long time escape from there, but slowly the reason for the return to the prison sank: To show she was in complete and utter control of the situation (even if that control was beyond reasonable circumstance).

The most remarkable aspect about this episode that struck me was how certain parts of the episode, particularly the scene with the Governor facing death and later when Sherlock was being "forced" to chose between John and Mycroft, reminded me of the deeply disturbing film Compliance. For those who haven't seen it, it's a quiet psychological film that's based on a real event where an anonymous prank phone caller who pretended to be a police officer and convinced a fast food manager to commit unlawful actions against an employee. I'm reminded of that film because of how Eurus controlled people at Sherrinford: She got into their heads and manipulated them for her own sadistic benefit. Even in the case of the Governor and the real threat of his wife's life, everyone in that cell was being pushed beyond reason to commit something heinous when they didn't have to do it. John broke from it, but the Governor couldn't.

The way this episode reminded me of Compliance (a film I don't think I could ever bring myself to watch again) truly cut into me and perhaps more so than it did for others who may have not seen the film.

And then we got to Victor.

I suspected there was something more going on with Redbeard. I even postulated this past week that perhaps there was a sister and a brother besides Sherlock and Mycroft, albeit partially for the wrong reason. But I didn't manage to put the two together. That revelation was almost as brutal as the Compliance parallels.

This episode will definitely have to take another viewing to really suck everything in properly.

I agree with others that this works a solid conclusion for the series, and that from here out, we may only get an episode here and there (hopefully with the return of Irene Adler).

One odd side note: The way Eurus's maintained her hair in prison (why change it from where she had it when she outside?) reminded me a lot of Samira's in The Ring, especially when she leapt on top of Sherlock early on.

And why did they/Sherlock play the game? The plane was going to crash anyway, Euros kept changing the rules... why not just sit down and not interact? Why didn't Euros just manipulate Sherlock to do her bidding? Don't quite understand her abilities, and what she actually hoped to achieve - someone to connect with?

It all comes down to what I describe above regarding Compliance. Perhaps better understood if you've seen the film.

 

[Christopher]

The usual mix of cool ideas and impressive moments with totally overdone and implausible nonsense. Moffat and Gatiss would be better writers if they weren't so desperate to show off how clever they can be at every turn. There's a good character story at the core of this, but it's just so overcomplicated. And the whole idea of Euros (that is how they were consistently pronouncing it, and they said it was Greek, so that's how I'm spelling it) being such a supergenius that she could magically enslave people's minds by talking to them for five minutes is just ridiculous. Although I guess it's consistent with M&G's approach of treating Sherlock's deductive abilities like a superpower.

I'm not sure the missing-glass gimmick would actually be convincing. After all, there'd be no reflections of the kind that were quite visible once the glass was restored. And throat mikes aside, I'd think Sherlock should've noticed that his own voice's echoes revealed he was in a larger space than it appeared.

Oh, and the whole "jumping out the windows barely ahead of the explosion" scene was every bit as ridiculous as the whole "Mary jumping at superspeed in front of a bullet" scene from two weeks ago. That close to an explosion, the pressure of the blast wave and the shrapnel would've killed them for sure. Plus, it was a really unconvincing composite shot.

I kept expecting that Sherlock's big coffin-smashing tantrum would turn out to be a ploy, that he'd used it as a cover for palming something, some piece of the coffin that he would turn into a lockpick or something. A bit surprising that it was just the genuine emotional moment it appeared to be. How rare for M&G to write a scene that doesn't have some surprise twist meaning.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Oh, and the whole "jumping out the windows barely ahead of the explosion" scene was every bit as ridiculous as the whole "Mary jumping at superspeed in front of a bullet" scene from two weeks ago. That close to an explosion, the pressure of the blast wave and the shrapnel would've killed them for sure. Plus, it was a really unconvincing composite shot.

As well as how all three of them managed to escape with minor injuries, unless there's some big time jump between the explosion and the visit to Sherrinford.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I thoroughly enjoyed the finale.

 

[Mojochi]

I just can't imagine how anybody couldn't find this show an enjoyable thrill. I've never had an ill critique of anything about this show, which is pretty rare for stuff I've viewed, though I will admit to having reservations about this incarnation of Moriarty, but they're mostly about the actor's performance choices. This show isn't meant to be perfect by everyone's standard. It's meant to be right, & I've never seen any of it that didn't feel right to me. They get it right... every time, in my opinion. I do hope to see more, and I don't mind waiting, or taking it in whatever doses it may come

 

[Allyn Gibson]

"The Final Problem" saw Sherlock's lowest ratings ever, on the overnights 5.9 million, down from 8.1 million overnight on "Thatchers." (Once time-shifts were taken into account, "Thatchers" had over 11 million viewers.)

 

[Christopher]

I just can't imagine how anybody couldn't find this show an enjoyable thrill.

It is enjoyable, in the way a lowbrow action movie is enjoyable. It has parts that are great fun and parts that are dumb as rocks, and many, many parts that are just trying too damn hard to be clever and amazing. And it has Moriarty, who's worse than chalk on a blackboard. I can enjoy it in the moment while still being annoyed by parts of it, and while still recognizing that it could be a whole lot better with more self-discipline on the storytellers' part.

Oh, and speaking of things that are dumb, or just nonsensical: If a grenade blew up on the floor of Holmes's flat, and it was so powerful that it would blow through the floor and endanger both Mrs. Hudson and the cafe two floors down, then how come we saw at the end that the floor and walls of Holmes's flat were perfectly intact and only the furniture was ruined? That's just cheating.

 

[Starkers]

Eurus is clever and clearly wanted Sherlock and co to survive, therefore the grenade was underpowered.

 

[Saul]

I was a little let down by the episode. It did have me at the edge of my seat at times and it was exciting but there's a bit of a "how deep does this rabbit hole go" expectation with nothing seeming what it actually is. I thought this episode made Sherlock larger than life and having them go around a prison solving puzzles was not as compelling as other episodes...
The ending when he finds his sister in her room feel completely flat for me. I thought "Is that it?" after all that he just had to find her?

I hope we get a full series 5. I don't see this as the end of Sherlock, merely an end to an arc.

 

[Velocity]

This series seems to be about a self-proclaimed high functioning sociopath who is only interested in "the game" and how he becomes a more caring human being through the love of his colleagues, especially the Watson family (even the baby!) More of a character study than just the mystery solver we are familiar with. Very interesting twists on the original. I wasn't crazy about the psychological horrors but it really gave some insight into how the Holmes boys got to where they were. Lascivious Mycroft was a hoot. The Behind the Scenes intro was fun. I'll miss this series.

 

[Mojochi]

One thing is certain. Whatever issues Watson has with HIS sister Harriet? He should probably not dwell on it too much anymore

 

[Kemaiku]

He clearly hasn't, not mentioning her existance for seasons now, and not inviting her or her partner to the wedding.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

He clearly hasn't, not mentioning her existance for seasons now, and not inviting her or her partner to the wedding.

Actually, John did invite Harriet but she didn't attend. Mary asks John about her during the reception and John says she was a "no show" and that it was a "bit of a punt asking her," but also noted a free bar wouldn't have been a good mix.

However, I do believe that is the last time she was mentioned.

 

[Samurai8472]

IMO I enjoyed the more linear storytelling this season.

Things just got really weird when Sherlock was shot in season 2 and the willed himself back or something like that after Irene Adler shot him.

 

[Kemaiku]

Actually, John did invite Harriet but she didn't attend. Mary asks John about her during the reception and John says she was a "no show" and that it was a "bit of a punt asking her," but also noted a free bar wouldn't have been a good mix.

However, I do believe that is the last time she was mentioned.

Ahh, I don't rewatch season 3 or that episode much, but I did wonder why they didn't involve them more in the series generally. That's two throwaway references out of the 13 stories.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

What follows is a rambling post about "The Final Problem" and Sherlock overall that I made on Facebook. I don't guarantee that it will make any sense. It's a bit random.

A coworker said to me this morning, "You either loved it or you hated it." I didn't hate it, but I'm not a fan of psychological horror, so I couldn't really love it. I got what (I think) it was going for last night, but it wasn't a journey I really wanted to go on.

The interview with Mark Gatiss in Radio Times was instructive, and it really confirmed the feeling I had coming out of "The Final Problem" -- emotionally it felt like the ending of Batman Begins, and Sherlock is now out of his "Sherlock Holmes Begins" phase. I mentioned this feeling to my coworker, to which he replied: "'He's not the Sherlock Holmes we want, but he's the Sherlock Holmes we need,'" which rewrites the line from the -next- Batman film, but it applied here. But it also feels like a giant retcon of the four seasons of Sherlock to suggest that he hasn't been "himself" for six years and hundreds of cases (a few recorded, most not) and only now he's the Sherlock Holmes he was always meant to be.

The fourth series, at least to me, seemed like Moffat and Gatiss said, "Anything you can do Elementary, we can do better." Elementary has a Sherlock post-rehab, and when he chased the dragon at the end of season three, we didn't see him high, only the aftermath. The fourth series of Sherlock has practically revelled in a Sherlock off his face, by contrast. Elementary had Sherlock's greatest nemesis -- a woman! -- defeated by love and imprisoned in an impregnable fortress, and when she escapes she's again defeated by love. Sherlock has Sherlock's greatest nemesis -- a woman! -- imprisoned in an impregnable fortress and defeated by love. I enjoy Elementary, and those two things -- a female archnemesis for Sherlock and a foregrounded drug addiction -- are things that I associate with Elementary, so seeing them so prominently in Sherlock these last three episodes felt a bit odd. (The only thing that would have made them odder would have been if Eurus occupied her time in Sherrinford by painting.)

As absurd as Eurus' years-in-the-making plan was, "The Lying Detective" laid the groundwork for it. Eurus was able to predict what Sherlock and John and even Moriarty would do years in the future with absolute accuracy so it would all come to a head -now-, as absolutely insane as that is. But Sherlock did the same thing with John in "The Lying Detective," setting up a situation in which John would have to rescue him a month in the future under very exact circumstances. The Holmes siblings clearly would put the Second Foundation to shame to be that accurate. But their powers of observation and deduction also come across as outright omniscience -- Super Saiyan God Mode Sherlock or what have you.

Speaking of the Holmes siblings, I was struck by how well they map to the Wiggins siblings from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series -- Mycroft/Peter, Eurus/Valentine, Sherlock/Ender. "Wait," you say, "Mycroft isn't a sadist like Peter, and Eurus lacks the empathy that Valentine has." First, we don't know that Mycroft isn't a sadist (or wasn't in his past), and Gatiss' Mycroft has always struck me as something of an unpleasant, monstrous figure. And second, Valentine was as just interested in power as Peter (she was his partner in the Demosthenes project) and her empathy was directed at her younger brother, just as Eurus' emotional energy, stunted though it was, was directed entirely at her younger brother, Sherlock. Intuitively, this all feels right to me.

I assume "The Final Problem" was the overall series finale. If we don't see this version of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson for five years, ten years, or even ever again, I'm fine with that. I loved the idea of Sherlock, sometimes I even loved the execution (particularly in series 1 and 2), but it wasn't quite the series I thought it could have been. In some ways, I blame the format; three 90-minute episodes per series forced some creative choices that were to Sherlock's detriment by making every episode a movie-scale epic that served a larger metaplot. In other ways, especially series 3, Sherlock's storytelling felt like it was geared toward fan service moments in search of a coherent narrative; the attitude of Moffat and Gatiss toward cliffhangers, or even following up on the implications and repercussions of events in their stories, I found frustrating and tiresome. In short, it could have been a more focused and disciplined program.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Things just got really weird when Sherlock was shot in season 2 and the willed himself back or something like that after Irene Adler shot him.

...except Irene Adler didn't shoot Sherlock. That was Mary in the following season.

Ahh, I don't rewatch season 3 or that episode much, but I did wonder why they didn't involve them more in the series generally. That's two throwaway references out of the 13 stories.

Yeah, I am disappointed Harriet never materialized in the show, especially considering the strong impression left in "A Study in Pink."

Speaking of the Holmes siblings, I was struck by how well they map to the Wiggins siblings from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series -- Mycroft/Peter, Eurus/Valentine, Sherlock/Ender. "Wait," you say, "Mycroft isn't a sadist like Peter, and Eurus lacks the empathy that Valentine has." First, we don't know that Mycroft isn't a sadist (or wasn't in his past), and Gatiss' Mycroft has always struck me as something of an unpleasant, monstrous figure. And second, Valentine was as just interested in power as Peter (she was his partner in the Demosthenes project) and her empathy was directed at her younger brother, just as Eurus' emotional energy, stunted though it was, was directed entirely at her younger brother, Sherlock. Intuitively, this all feels right to me.

Huh, that's an interesting parallel to draw. I haven't read Ender's Game in many years (and that was the only in the series I was ever interested in reading) so I'm not sure how well that lines up, but on the surface it does sound right.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Huh, that's an interesting parallel to draw. I haven't read Ender's Game in many years (and that was the only in the series I was ever interested in reading) so I'm not sure how well that lines up, but on the surface it does sound right.

I was drinking my coffee this morning when the idea struck me, and I'm still trying to process it.

Two families, each of three siblings, each of them super-geniuses, each of them (in descending age) boy-girl-boy. The oldest one is a master manipulator who goes into government, the middle one has a bond with her younger brother despite being separated by years and unable to communicate, the youngest one is gaslighted by those around him into not fully understanding the circumstances of the existence that molds him into being a driven individual with strong ethical imperatives.

I freely admit I'm cherry-picking details from the Ender books and Sherlock (both in general and "The Final Problem" specifically), but the more I think about it the more I wonder if Moffat and Gatiss were influenced at all by Card's work.