Plot: The world’s greatest consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), returns to his trusty blogger John Watson (Martin Freeman). But it’s been a long time since the great game was paused and not everyone is ready to start it again.
What the first two episodes of this series lack is a real challenge for Sherlock – a real mystery with real danger surrounding it. Instead everything is scaled down. The majority of Sherlock’s third round on our screens focuses more on its main characters, which had already been developed wonderfully throughout the show. What series three does is take two episodes to go into further detail on the Sherlock/Watson relationship. Whilst this was no doubt entertaining and often hilarious, I found myself getting frustrated with the lack of any serious threat.
An Empty Hearse offers the duo a case that would be far more satisfying if it wasn’t so bloody obvious – the episode takes place on bonfire night, so no points for guessing the villain’s genius plan, the overused phrase “no shit Sherlock” applies here (I’m sorry). The mystery instead surrounds how exactly Sherlock comes back, something which you can tell the show’s writers really had fun with. There’s comedy to be found here, and lots of it. Sherlock’s attempts to fix things with Watson are also hilarious, but this steals focus from everything else in the story, so much so that the ending feels rather rushed which, given the show’s lengthy running time, it really shouldn’t.
The Sign of Three is refreshingly different in structure but the mystery and danger still felt rather minor. Whilst it was entertaining seeing Sherlock awkwardly struggle his way through a personal challenge, it had me wondering if this was a show that had changed so much that it was turning into something I just liked rather than loved. The final part of series three threw that thought from my mind
His Last Vow reminded me just how good an episode of Sherlock can be. The stakes feel high again; everything built upon in the series is now at risk and all because Sherlock is finally given what he deserves – a real mystery, a real threat and a real villain. Magnussen (Lars Mikkelsen) is the kind of powerful genius that can actually intimidate Sherlock. The scenes that he has, he steals, and I found myself hating him but also wishing he had more screen time, which is undoubtably the sign of a good villain. JC
Verdict:
Sherlock still has the potential to be TV gold, even if it doesn’t always shine.
3/5
Screened 