The Game is Afoot Again.

I could think of no better way to kick off 2014's posts than to talk a little bit about the series 3 premiere of Sherlock. After a 2 year hiatus the episode "The Empty Hearse" was aired on BBC1 yesterday and it basically broke the Tumblr fandom. It was as if the writer's of the show went through all the conspiracy theories and fan fictions and mashed it all together into one episode. Personally, I happened to find the gratuitous fandom service a bit too flashy though I will admit it was very entertaining. However, I think the main objective was to placate viewers who were driven to madness from having to wait so long to see the aftermath of series 2, in which Sherlock Holmes threw himself off the top of a tall building and somehow managed to survive. 

The episode seemed to lack the neatly packaged plot that we saw with "The Hounds of Baskerville" and instead presumably set the stage and tone of this upcoming season. The first half of the episode concentrated on showing how the various characters two years after the fateful fall. We begin with Anderson's high adrenaline theory of how he did it, which includes smashing hospital windows and some rather gratuitous Sherlolly action. While I was certainly among the many who was excited to believe that that was the true story, we cut to Lestrade and Anderson's conversation on the streets of London showing that it was indeed a farce. From the mini-episode released on Christmas Eve, we know that Anderson has been obsessively trying to piece together how Sherlock faked his death but Lestrade insists that he does this only out of profound guilt that Anderson must conceivably feel after pushing Sherlock to such drastic measures by calling him a fraud. 

John has tried to move on(literaly and figuratively) from his time at 221B Baker Street and is now sports a moustache and almost-fiancee. From what we've seen in previous episodes, I think it makes sense that John has had the most trouble moving on as he is prone to repress his emotions and as Sherlock was such a significant part of his life. He hasn't been in contact with Mrs. Hudson, his and Sherlock's former landlady and Mycroft has also kept a distant eye on him. He has obviously struggled in the past two years and it seems like he has tried for an entirely fresh start. 

And what of the mysterious Mr. Holmes? Sherlock has evidently spent the last two years dismantling Jim Moriarty's extensive criminal network. We first see him being tortured, with some rather bizarre Christ imagery but I'm not sure that's too relevant. Mycroft intervenes, brings his baby brother back to London and they attempt to figure out the newest threat: a looming terrorist attack on London. 

Sherlock first decides to surprise John, as he is trying to propose to his girlfriend Mary. While in the books John faints upon being reunited with Sherlock, Sherlock!John is rather more feisty and wallops him soundly and they get kicked out of three establishments as a result. Sherlock is a bit confused to his response but goes on to reveal himself to Molly and Lestrade. 

I won't say too much more about the plot line because you should watch the episode for yourself but there were a couple of things that I wanted to address:

1) I really like the character development with both Sherlock and Mycroft in this episode. When discussing the terrorist situation, it was revealed that the Holmes boys were playing the game of "Operation". In their game of deductions however, they finally show Mycroft as the equally talented older brother who may have pushed Sherlock around a bit when they were growing up. I feel like their dynamic up until this point hasn't really showcased Mycroft as a mastermind but evidently growing up he was "The Smart One" which I think was interesting. Also, we were introduced to Sherlock's parents, who were played by Benedict Cumberbatch's real parents. Not sure what the significance to the overall plot of series 3 but John does make the comment that they are so "ordinary" which seems to irk Sherlock. As such, it is hardly a surprise then that he had such an adverse reaction to Moriarty calling him "ordinary" in the series 2 finale. 

2) There's something about Mary: I'm not entirely sure how to feel about her. When I first watched the episode, I immediately liked her. She was sweet and caring, basically the antithesis of Sherlock. She was exactly what John needed to get himself through the last few years. But upon closer inspection, I noticed that Sherlock's deductions of her included that she was a "liar", "disillusioned", "short-sighted". As of right now, I have two theories about her. The first is that she is in fact evil and using John to get at Sherlock. She found John at his most vulnerable and would thus be in a perfect position to exploit him. Or, she will end up dead because writers never let us have nice things. Either way, something is going to happen with her this season, something big. 

3) Molly's boyfriend is seriously shady. After Sherlock's disappearance, Molly 'moved on' to date someone and evidently they are serious. And evidently he seriously looks like Sherlock, a fact which EVERYONE notices but Molly. Not sure if it's because I'm shipping Sherlock and Molly a little bit but I am not a fan of this Sherlock wannabe and would prefer that he not be in the picture, whether he turns out to be sinister or not. 

The Sherlock premiere definitely paid tribute to what the fans wanted and it was flashy and exciting and basically everything Tumblr expected it would be. However, I have to say that it felt almost like an action movie wannabe (almost Bond-like). It felt rather heavy-handed in some moments with the Moriarty-Sherlock kiss and the kind of campy scene where Sherlock attempts to reason out the train situation. And while I appreciate that the show wanted to cater to its viewers and found this episode very entertaining, I hope that the next episodes will focus more on telling the story, whatever that may be.