TV: Sherlock SE3 EP1

Sherlock
Crime, Drama, Mystery

Merry Christmas and Happy New Sherlock! I am beyond excited about this show and the return of everyone's favourite neurotic detective, so this will probably be an exceedingly long, swoony post. I - along with everyone else who's seen it - love this show. The cast is amazing and the 1.5hr long episodes are like mini movies which makes the 3 episode seasons not too bad. I know I go on and on about short seasons but if any show can get away with it, it's this one; English shows somehow manage to pull it off.

The opening was amazing, making us think that was how Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch - Star Trek Into Darkness) had managed to make everyone believe he was dead... except that's not how it actually happened is it? Will they ever tell us? How do you think he did it? The way Sherlock explained it to the journalist is probably the most liable. Though the jumping through the window and kissing Molly (Louise Brealey)... that scene alone would have made me happy with this episode.

We all knew that Sherlock wasn't dead and even though Watson (Martin Freeman - The Hobbit, The World's End) wished it wasn't so, he had no idea...poor Watson. I was absolutely horrified at that meeting scene... it was everything I could have wanted it to be. I knew he would punch Sherlock... in fact the hubs and I were egging him on the entire time! Sherlock is such an ass! What do we think about Watson's fiance, Mary (Amanda Abbington)? I had a momentary thought that maybe she was a plant... but Sherlock would have picked it up, right?

Mycroft (Mark Gatiss - Doctor Who) knew the whole time then hey? I love the banter between these two; they are each other's bouncing boards. Is Mycroft the smarter one? I wonder if they could do a spin-off for him... spending a day with him would be interesting. And how ordinary are their parents?! Hilarious! How did that happen? Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) is brilliant, just giggling away. Lestrade's (Rupert Graves) reaction was surprising.. I thought he would have smacked Sherlock one as well. I loved the fan-fiction Moriarty (Andrew Scott) slash Sherlock scene if only to see the amazing Moriarty again.

Speaking of Moriarty, who is this new nemesis? The one who kidnapped John and put him in the pyre? I wonder if these episodes are at all close to the books. I recently picked up a copy of the classic collection by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and mean to read some of them this year. I'll let you know.

I love the way this is shot; so much black, white and grey... very London! The observations coming up on screen in words, slow motion pan ins and over-layer photographs...great! It's like they show us all the pieces of the puzzle and give us just enough time to almost figure it out ourselves before Sherlock shows us. So well done! I like this show so much better than Elementary, I will probably post about each episode as they come... stay tuned!

5 out of 5 Happy New Sherlock...

Extras

They actually have "I don't shave for Sherlock Holmes shirts" here.

Did anyone else catch some of the #SherlockLives promo tweets? They had an empty hearse drive through London to some of the places Sherlock is filmed and used Twitter to spread the news of the new episode.