Television Review | Sherlock (The Sign of Three and His Last Vow)

If you want to read my review of Sherlock episode one, The Empty Hearse, click right here! Also, if you want to read my post analyzing Sherlock's character development in series 3, click here!

MAJOR SPOILERS: ENTER WITH CAUTION! 

The Sign of Three

It’s John Watson’s wedding day, and Sherlock Holmes is the best man. Sherlock is bound to face his greatest challenge yet: being John’s best friend. Sherlock is faced with the challenges of delivering a best man’s speech, a task this clever detective has yet to conquer.

Now, I don’t want to say that I was disappointed in this episode… But, it wasn’t my favorite Sherlock episode. Before you all run away and refuse to read any further, hear me out! I did like the episode; I thought it was genuinely funny and well written compared to any other show. But on a scale with the rest of this series, it definitely fell flat (no pun intended, Sherlock). Before I get into the things I didn’t like, let’s discuss the positives.

I was very impressed with the directing in this episode. What I love about Sherlock is it constantly has wonderfully beautiful productions. The directors are always inventive, fresh, and intriguing. The Sign of Three was no exception! My favorite moment in this episode was when the court room was used to display Sherlock’s mind palace. I am absolutely obsessed with how they represent Sherlock’s mind palace now! It’s so awesome! There is something special about how this production team approaches the visual aspect of this show. 

Because Sherlock Holmes has always been advanced for his time, it only seemed fitting for this show to replicate that. Sherlock is notorious for having modern, cutting edge directing, and these directors are constantly taking chances and pushing the limits. These risks are what make, for me, this show so special.

Aside from the directing, I also enjoyed, as always, the cast. Benedict and Martin are made for each other. They connect so well on camera, and you never question their artistic decisions. Their chemistry is so effortless, and they truly bring Sherlock and John to life. The comedy scenes were on spot, leaving me in stitches. I thought Benedict did a terrific job with Sherlock’s little… um, break… I guess you could call it. It wasn't over the top, but just the right amount of insanity. And like always, Martin is just effortless in his portray of John.  
  

And now, unfortunately, time for the negative.

From the opening sequence that had no purpose to some pretty lame deductions, the script for this episode definitely had its faults. I thought this episode was lacking in the spark that Sherlock normally has. It was very funny and sentimental, which isn’t Sherlock to me. I don’t watch Sherlock to get all warm and fuzzy over friendships and love, but to solve crimes and enjoy a good mystery. I don’t know when Sherlock turned into a romantic comedy, but I don’t like it. Also, the actual crime part of the plot was kind of lame. We all knew that the General was the target long before Sherlock did. 

Sherlock is clever. He is supposed to be two steps ahead of everyone else; the thrill of this show is you don’t know what’s going to happen next. You normally can’t guess how the episode is going to end, but this episode I did guess, and that makes me sad. This episode was so focused on the happy-go-lucky wedding and love and friendship, that they lost the complexity of a detective story. It was still an intriguing story, and an absolutely great script compared to any other show, but was weak for Sherlock's  reputation.

Although a weak script, the directing and cast held this episode together. I give The Sign of Three seven out of ten stars. I liked the episode, but it just didn’t have that Sherlock Holmes spark.

His Last Vow

Sherlock Holmes is forced to confront the one man who he hates the most: Charles Augustus Magnussen. Adopted from my favorite Sherlock Holmes short story, His Last Vow is the epic conclusion to series three. Sherlock is on the case to bring an end to this blackmailer’s empire, but Magnussen won’t be the most dangerous criminal he will face.

His Last Vow is absolutely astonishing. This episode reaffirmed my love for this fantastic television series. Contrasting to The Sign of Three, His Last Vow graced us with a fantastic script and plot twists that left my jaw dropped. From directing to acting to story, this episode had everything a Sherlock Holmes story should have. 

I'm not even going to try to explain how fantastic everyone's performance was in this episode. Benedict's subtle acting took main focus, as his Sherlock slowly began to digress into a mental break. Martian's Watson broke the heart of every single person watching, and Lars Mikkelsen was absolutely frightening as Magnussen. No matter how many times I watch this show, Benedict and Martin always amaze me with their fantastic acting. They both stepped up their game this series, delivering performances that put all other actors to shame. And of course, Andrew Scott was just perfection. He is just fantastic. I get chills every time Benedict and Andrew have a scene together. They are so fantastic.

My favorite part of this whole episode had to be the scene when Sherlock gets shot
(I must have watched this sequence about a 100 times already). This scene plays out like a physiological thriller. From the initial twist to the directing and acting, this scene was cinematic art. The visual representation of his mind palace was absolutely stunning. My jaw was dropped during the whole sequence. It was an absolutely brilliant idea to visually show how Sherlock survived getting shot. Plus, I believe this was a major clue in figuring out how Moriarty survived. 

Besides the clever idea, the way this scenes direction was stunning. From the symbolism to the cinematography, this scene was an absolute piece of art. Andrew Scott’s appearance as Moriarty was hauntingly beautiful. The chemistry between Benedict and Andrew makes for fantastic scenes. These two feed off each other in a way that makes every scene they're in together flawless.

So, I think we need to talk about this Mary situation. Wow, I can’t believe she shot Sherlock… What a jerk... But, really that plot twist literally blew my mind. Now, this is how a script is supposed to be written. Here we all thought, “Oh, poor Mary. She’s bound to die. Aw, poor John is going to lose his wife. Aw, let’s all feel bad because Moffat is going to kill off Mary.” …Little did we know… The one doing the killing was Mary. I thought that twist was so incredible. I literally lost my mind; I mean, she actually shot Sherlock! 

When we first met Mary in The Empty Hearse, I was a little disappointed by how flat her character was. But don’t fear; leave it to Moffat and Gatiss to never have a flat character. I absolutely loved what they did with her character, and I can’t wait to see how they evolve her character when series 4 airs in 3020.

   

So… let’s talk about the biggest thing that happened in His Last Vow… Mind my excitement… MORIARTY RETURNED! *Breaths into paper bag* I can’t handle this. Moriarty is such a fine villain, and Andrew Scott is pure perfection in the role. I am so incredibly happy he has returned, and I’m speaking very mildly here. I am or may not have thrown my computer across the room out of pure excitement when I saw him.

I know some people aren’t happy about his return, and some may say, "finish while you're on top." Moriarty had such a fantastic ending in Reichenbach Fall, and it would be a shame to ruin that great image of him by bringing back a bad, mediocre version of him. I trust Mark and Steven (... At least, I think...) that they will bring him back even better than before. Moriarty is just a brilliant villain, and Andrew and Benedict are just fantastic together. I just hope they live up to the past, and make him even better than before because he was pretty perfect in series 2. I cannot wait to see Andrew and Ben go head to head again.

With a positive, there must also be a negative. Like The Empty Hearse, there was very little I disliked about this episode. The one thing I didn’t like about this episode, funnily enough, I also didn’t like in The Empty Hearse. This series has been notorious for its flash forwards. For some reason, Steven and Mark were just obsessed with flashbacks/flash forwards in this series. I am not obsessed with these flash forwards. Every episode has had moments where the action will be climaxing, then, without warning, we are thrown forward considerably into the future, and are forced out of the climatic situation. I, quite frankly, hated this. In The Empty Hearse, it happened when the bomb was about to go off. We flash forward to Sherlock telling Anderson about how he survived the fall; later, we returned to that emotional, tense scene with John. All of the emotion was gone, because we were left laughing at that silly blue stunt mat. In The Sign of Three, the whole story was told through flashback; this worked fine, it didn’t distract me too much, but it was starting to drag by the end. 

Finally, in His Last Vow it was getting old. We are placed into this very intriguing, tense, emotional scene between Mary and Sherlock. At the height of this scene when John reveals himself to Mary and a conflict is about arise, we are abruptly removed from the scene and taken into the future to Christmas with the Holmes. Once again, we lose all emotion and tension and dramatics, and are taken to a comedic scene leaving us confused and, for me at least, slightly annoyed. And when we finally do return back to the dramatics, it takes even more work from the actors to bring us back into the moment (which of course wasn’t hard because the amazing skills of Benedict, Martin, and Amanda). Maybe this isn’t that big of a deal, but it just proved to be unnecessary. Hopefully we won’t see that technique returning with series 4 in 5080.

Overall, I loved His Last Vow. Constant entertainment and tension, fantastic directing, and acting capable of only the best, His Last Vow proved to be one of the best Sherlock episodes yet. I give His Last Vow 10 out of 10. 

Photo Credit: slouchingtowardsthatcham.com, telegraph.co.uk, screenrant.com, mirror.co.uk, rebloggy.com, hypable.com, cultfix.co.uk, renegadecinema.com, watchtvseriesonlie4free.com, mirror.co.uk, grumpyguidetobritian.wordpress.com projectfandom.com, tvequals.com, hellotrilor.blogspot.com, tvrage.com,