My review of "Sherlock" S3 E3

Here thar be SPOILERS!

Please, please don't read this if you have never seen Sherlock. Even a comment like I loved it or I hated it is a spoiler if you've never seen it.

And please don't watch Season 3 without seeing seasons 1 and 2 - that would completely deny you of the brilliance of this series.

Okay, what I loved about episode 3 of season 3:

• It was on and I got to watch it. Let's face it: Sherlock and Watson could just sit there and have witty banter and it would be better than everything else on TV. The two-year waits between seasons is excruciating. 
• John remains the heart of the show, particularly in this episode. That's what keeps me watching and loving the show even more than my geek outs over Benedict Cumberbatch, believe it or not. You're shocked, I know...
• All the references to things in Doyle’s stories - I LOVE how they do that: Sherlock found in a drug den, Sherlock involved with a woman but breaking it off - those, and other little details, are straight from Doyle. 
• Mind palace!
• That it was just SO British - so much so that, like some other episodes, I have to look some references up because I don't completely understand something that was said. Just as with the written stories, London is the third most important character. It's what makes the stories so much fun, and to see it on this version, particularly season 3, just feels so right. 

What I wasn’t crazy about:

• I didn’t get why the villain was so awful, so dangerous, that he had to be off’d. He was super icky (shiver), but I didn’t get the depth of evil such that it was necessary to shoot him. I didn't get Sherlock's depth of contempt for him, why he was SO dangerous. Bad? Yes. So dangerous he had to be killed? Hmmmm.... 
• Also, despite working so hard to avoid spoilers, two big surprises in the show had been spoiled for me weeks ago-I'll always wonder what it would have been like to have been surprised. How did I find out? Facebook friends would post comments about Sherlock and say, "no spoilers", but then their friends would post spoiler comments. Even the BBC teaser posts on Facebook spoiled some little things that would have been fun surprises for me. Next time, I'm reading NOTHING! I'm unfollowing everything even remotely associated with the show when it starts showing in the UK. 

Overall feelings about season 3:

It's the weakest of the three seasons, by far. It's still delightful, don't get me wrong - I enjoyed it. I laughed A LOT. Drunk Sherlock - that was awesome. I'll watch it all again. But season 3 is way, WAY below the awesomeness of Seasons 1 and 2. There were times, especially during episode 1 of season 3, where it was like fan fiction, and that was disappointing.

But, then again, those first two seasons were so mind-glowingly awesome that, really, how could that level be sustained?



So, Season 3, the fangirl season, was fun, but for season 4, Mr. Gatiss and Mr. Moffat:

• Please re-read at least some of the Doyle stories. Get back to the soul of Sherlock
• If you do anything with an evil twin, or a Dr. Who crossover, I'll quit watching, I swear
• Could we get back to the mystery solving and darkness and snark, please? 
• Could it be shown at the SAME time in the UK and USA, just like Dr. Who?

And now, the two-year wait for season 4 begins.

Red beard.