Well, that's it. For now, anyway.Last night brought the season finale of PBS' addictive Sherlock ("The Great Game") and what an installment it was. For a season composed of just three installments, it delivered quite the requisite bangs and thrills, particularly in this final act, which I rate as strong as the first episode ("A Study in Pink") in the series. (I reviewed the first three episodes of Sherlock here, and spoke with Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Martin Freeman in a feature over here at The Daily Beast.)
It contained all of the elements that make Sherlock just gleeful fun: Mark Gatiss' Mycroft, the banter between Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman), creepy criminals like the Golem, a fantastically deranged performance from Andrew Scott as the terrifying Moriarty, and one hell of an intricate mystery. Or in this case, no less than five interconnected mysteries designed to test Holmes' mettle, a battle of wills and minds between the consulting detective and the consulting criminal.
All this and one hell of a cliffhanger, designed to keep us on the edge of our seats until the second season. Despite the fact that Holmes as Saved Watson's life and gotten that pesky explosive vest off of his partner, Moriarty returned to finish them both off... but Holmes had another idea, shifting his gun from targeting Moriarty to that explosive vest, removed minutes earlier. Will he pull the trigger? Is he that desperate that he's willing to put all of their lives at risk or is it a dangerous bluff? We'll have to wait to find out.
But now that the episode has aired, I'm curious to know what you thought of "The Great Game" and the season as a whole? Did you fall in love with Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' take on the great detective? And with Cumberbatch and Freeman's performances as the famous sleuths? Were you glad that Watson may have found love with Zoe Telford's Sarah, rather than fall into the monk-like trap that most adaptations have placed him in? Did you gasp with appreciation at just how utterly insane this incarnation of Moriarty is?
And, most importantly, are you dying with anticipation for Season Two of Sherlock right now?
Talk back here.
Sherlock has already been commissioned for a second season by the BBC.
Comments
There was so much to enjoy about this wildly entertaining cocktail of mystery, brilliant performances, rapidfire banter and callbacks to the original Doyle canon that it actually gets even more entertaining with subsequent viewings. Andrew Scott's Moriarty is even better the second time around, and I've never enjoyed Mark Gatiss more than as Mycroft Holmes. Also, the fight with the Golem at the planetarium may be one of the finest staged sequences I've ever seen in a TV show.
One note on the ending though: I took the standoff at the pool to be Moffat and Gatiss giving us their modern take on Holmes & Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. Just throwing out a guess here, but if they stay close to the canon, then I'm thinking Series 2 will open with Watson married to Sarah, and Holmes presumed dead, killed in the explosion with Moriarty. Notice that Watson is skillfully positioned beside a large wall that could shield him from the blast in that final scene.
Now here's hoping we get to see Irene Adler and sniper Colonel Moran in the next trilogy.
So, yes, I am dying for Season 2. I read an interview somewhere last week where Moffat said the three words that would describe Season 2 are: "Reichenbach, Adler, Hound". I, too, thought the pool scene in TGG was a modern nod to Reichenbach, but perhaps not. All I know is, next fall cannot come soon enough. You can only watch 3 episodes over and over so many times, after all.
It seems like second season cannot come soon enough (still not in production phase yet). And I am definitely waiting for it on the edge of my seat…
-Beiah from Philippines