Sherlock Season 3 discussion. SPOILERS AHOY!

Just came back from watching the first episode of season 3. Thought to start a thread here about it. Fair warning, spoilers a head.

I apologize for the chaotic order but I am still trying to gather my thoughts.

• While the mystery and the crime solving was kept to a bare minimum, I think the episode tackled a lot of material in the hour and half it had.
• The constant theories of how Sherlock faked his death were very well done and were also a very cool nod to the fans of the show, who were actually addressed, by proxy, in the show itself.
• The meeting between Sherlock and Watson was very well made and the one scene flowed to the next was just a treat to watch.
• Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch again show their great acting talent and the chemistry between them is amazing.
• Nice to see how Sherlock has indeed grown in the two years he was gone and how he does care for the people he left behind.
• I really enjoyed how Sherlock and Mycroft relationship as brother was more touched on.
• The various meeting between Sherlock and other characters were also very well made. The way Lestrade reacted was just awesome.
• They way they touched on the fallout of Sherlock's fake death and subsequent 2 year absence and how it effected the characters was very well done. The way we see how Henderson's mind just cracked under the pressure of extreme guilt was something unexpected. Donovan was suspiciously absent but I hope to see how her character has dealt with the fallout.
• Lastly, Molly. Well what I can say. The way her character managed to become such a favorite with little air time just shows to me the wonderful way her character is written and how wonderful Louise Brealey plays her. To me she is the soul of the show.

All in all I think the creators made the right move with this episode. The fact that the crime solving was kept to a minimum did not bother me at all as I think they had a ton of subjects to go though and I think they made a pretty good job at it.

That's about it for now.

What were your thoughts?

Good episode.

I wont lie, when I saw the first theory where he kisses the girl, I was ready to flip the table. I seriously thought they ruined the show. Sadly, I felt like I missed some of the key character moments, I just couldnt keep up. One such example was the conversation with Mycroft about him being lonely, something happened near the end and I didnt catch it. Another was after the restaurant when the lady friend said she would convince Watson, Sherlock noticed something but I didnt catch what it was. Also, why couldn't he tell Watson he was alive?

I know it has to be this way but I do wish Watson would step up in someway. He doesn't really contribute to solving the crime and if the end of the episode suggests that the enemy knows he is Sherlock's weakness. Sherlock didn't even look around for the would be perpetrator.

HA! This reminds me of how I felt when I saw The Dark Knight for the first time and the scene came on where Joker tells his origin story. I really thought they had a major fuck up until the party scene came on. Totally vindicated.

As far as Mycroft and Sherlock are concerned then I hope it's something that will further touched on.

As far as to what as Sherlock noticed about Wastson's fiancee, well I thought he was just doing his old thing of analyzing people.

Thought it was a really great episode. Loved the way they explained how he survived without really explaining it at all.

As for Watson's fiancee. There is defiantly something suspicious about her. When she got the cryptic text messages she knew it was a "skip code" not something most normal people would look for.

I thought it was an ok episode, but then again I love the crime solving stuff, and this episode didn't have a lot of it. I prefer it when Sherlock is just dominating people knowing tonnes of stuff, instead of running everywhere. Cool to see the new dimension to Mycroft and Sherlock's relationship. Something is definitely up with Watson's fiance, but I kind of wish they hadn't telegraphed it so obviously, and I was hoping Molly and Sherlock's relationship would go somewhere, ah well, maybe it still will.

It seemed ok. I was definitely entertained by it, but it felt like it was missing something.

The best thing about it was the direction. The way one scene flowed to the next, weird camera angles, use of light, the way the camera moved, it was all great.

I also didn't quite know what Sherlock noticed about Mary. When he was doing his usual analysis of her, his face made me think there might be some romantic thing between them (good chance for drama between Sherlock and Watson), but when he walked away he looked more suspicious than interested

@shortbreadtom: I think when he did his analysis of Mary it was to see whether or not he approved of her, and he did.

noticed on neogaf that someone said that one of the things Sherlock noticed was that she was a liar. That is definitely something that would make anyone suspicious. Anyone else for the "she is an enemy spy" camp.

She did "lie" about liking the moustache, so maybe it's just stuff like that instead of... being a spy. I got the feeling Sherlock found her to be a surprisingly appropriate match for John.

Yeah, I'm thinking there's more to her. Either she ends up being a villain, dead, or something else by the last episode.

The only thing is I didn't notice anything too suspicious when Sherlock was analyzing her and all of those words were whizzing by.

I was kinda disappointed with the train mystery. That's a solid Agatha Christie-style locked-room type of mystery, but then they just sort-of copped out. First they made this huge deal about there not being any side-tunnels, and then suddenly, there's a side tunnel! (or something, I wasn't sure I got everything there). Also, are you telling me that no one noticed that it was missing an entire carriage (sorry, "car")? Seems like a fairly obvious one to me, and something that someone who was obsessive about trains would have picked up in a second (not to mention Sherlock). Like, I could have figured that mystery out, so it's not particularly impressive.

I figured the answer would be that the guy never left the train, and that he was hiding somewhere in it (like the compartment that housed the bomb, for instance) in order to infiltrate the train depot or something. Would have made a way better solution.

Ooooh, I do like that explanation.

Great episode, but I was a bit lost about the connection between the maid -> ghost date -> locked room murderer.

His drunken analysis of the crime scene made me laugh heartily.

I knew about the method of murder and all that, just didn't quite catch the reasoning behind assuming the murderer and may fly man being one and the same (plus the maid).

The photographer was the ghost date. He was wearing disguises and dating female members of the Commanding Officer's staff to get info about the wedding so he could get close to him and kill him there. He never went out in public and was surrounded by security at home because of past death threats. The wedding was his only opportunity.

I loved this episode. What it lacked in a compelling mystery it made up for in amazing character moments.

He wasn't the original photographer. He only wormed his way into it after getting information from the women who worked for the major. He presumably found out about the wedding from the maid.

@the_ruiner: But didn't Sherlock check who the employer of all the women was? When he was having that conversation with all of them he said they had different employers.

I guess that's the part that was confusing. How did Sherlock find out they were working for the major?

@aegon said:

I was confused by that at first too, but since the major is such a target, it makes sense that they would have a cover. It's why they all signed off when Sherlock asked them if they had a secret.

I'm a little late to the party, but I think that second episode was maybe the best episode in the series. Drunken analysis, the best man speech, it was all amazing. Damn, that Cumberbatch bloke can act!

They certainly left the majority of the budget for the final episode. That was intense. I was expecting the twist on Mary's Character at some point (wouldn't do all that build-up for nothing) but the way they handled it and sort of moved on was the twist that surprised me. I really enjoyed the entire season but I think purely on pay-off this episode was the best of the three. Although Lestrade's absence other than that one joke was a little disappointing - he's my favourite character, would have liked to have seen more of him and Molly. I really liked the film techniques and editing in this latest episode as well, great use of imagery.

I don't think any individual episode was as good as season two's ones, but I think overall the continuation of ideas and seeing them grow over time within the same season was well done (I just personally enjoy the case parts more). Although maybe the many in-jokes might make some parts hard to watch later (unsure about that, but I feel it might date the episodes quicker).

Also, while I think the whole cast is great and Benedict Cumberbatch makes a great Sherlock, Martin Freeman really stole the show this season. The things that happen to John Watson and how he masterfully shows it is incredible.

I'll spoiler block my comment, since the twists are the sort of shit you can pick up on a glance and immediately figure what I'm talkin about.

Hurray for hyperbole.

Anyways this season has been fantastic so far. I love the focus on the characters and it's been the funniest season yet. Also the middle episode wasn't weak, for once. Just gotta stick the landing and they'll have their best season yet.

@theht: I'm wondering if Moriarty is actually back. I was talking to a friend who knows a lot about the original Sherlock Holmes stories over the weekend, and he mentioned that Moriarty had a Henchman that later becomes a villain(I forget the name). I'm hoping that's the case and not just a revival of Moriarty.

@yi_orange: A protege situation like Sherlock was setting up for himself would make sense. I can accept Sherlock faking his suicide even though they don't explain it outright, but someone coming back from a gunshot up the mouth is too much. Despite my misgivings about the season, they haven't done anything that would make me thing they'd actually do something so ridiculous like bringing Moriarty back.

That said, the whole "it's impossible, he's dead!" stuff at the end, and the after credits bit, they're all just so lame. When it comes to building intrigue they fall utterly flat. If it's a protege, then show me the protege or a subtle clue that someone out there has taken after Moriarty. Something besides Moriarty's big head on a screen and everyone acting like "durrr how's this possible" and then having Sherlock's plane just circle back and land as though all's forgiven because someone put Moriarty's face on a screen. The ending they went with just feels cheap.

It wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. It also wouldn't surprise me if it turns out the guy we know as "Moriarty" was the henchman, and we've never actually seen the real Moriarty yet.

Whatever they end up going with, I don't see how the Andrew Scott character could turn out to not be dead.

@theht: Yeah, I agree, and I feel like this season as a whole has lost some of the magic. Just some wishful thinking that they take the smart way out instead of just making Moriarty not actually dead.

Wonder where Moffat will go with the series now that he's kinda creating his own mythos now. Heard the next series will probably be the last so I wonder how they'll wrap the series off most likely in 2016.

I really enjoyed this season, but i do feel that its tone has changed remarkably. It feels a lot more farcical, and the way they wrote Sherlock felt a lot more knowing, and a lot more blatant than before. So many in-jokes and so many "he loves John really" moments. It's like they showed someone the scene where he says "I don't have friends!" and asked them to write most of his dialogue around that. A good set of episodes, but none better than what came before. I still think that my favourite episode is the very first one. It was a great introduction to the characters and the mystery was interesting. Well, it's either that or series 2 episode 3, just because they write Moriarty so well, and the actor is fantastic. I've got high hopes for the next series, I just hope it doesn't spiral down into a universe where nothing has consequence and they just start pandering to the crowd.

@dudeglove: Haha, wow. That was creepy.

I liked the season but for different reasons. I like all the character development they did but that came at the expense of the villains and investigation which all wrapped up super quickly and way too conveniently in the last minutes of each episodes which makes them almost entirely useless.

The bomb has an off switch so it's cool, Sherlock finally figures out the stabbing and the Photograph conveniently admits he did it in the span of 5 minutes and and last night's Magnussen was the worst because they spent so much time building up the treat this guy represents and how much Sherlock is at a lost on how to get him and then boom, shoot him in the face because we only have 5 minutes left before the credit rolls.

This is poor.

Everything else was excellent and better than previous years but the villains and investigation were bad, boring and really meaningless this time around. All 3 episodes were really uneven and do not live up to what they did in EP 1 and 3 last season.

Best season thus far. Loved the focus on the characters. There will be plenty of crimes and villains in the future. Also the funniest of the seasons, by far.

He has said they have already planned out stuff for a series 4 and 5. I guess that's not exactly a guarantee that 5 will happen, just saying that I haven't heard anything about 4 being the last.

I must of heard somewhere that series 4 was probably the last due to the scheduling and demand of both Freeman and Cumberbatch on other projects. Also, how much of Sherlock can really go on? They've already covered most of the major plot points from Arthur Conan Doyle stories. Only thing left for Moffat is to fuckin have Cumberbatch regenerate into Robert Downey Jr.