SPOILERS for Season 4 of Sherlock.
The first two seasons of Sherlock are as close to perfect as can be. The performances, the stories, the direction, the connection to the source material, all of it was superb. Those first two seasons are a big reason why the Cumberbitches became obsessed with Benedict Cumberbatch. Those first two seasons were almost legendary, especially given the massive cliffhanger at the end of Season 2, which turned into a massive internet conspiracy. Personally, I was okay with Season 3, the introduction of Mary Watson and the storylines around the Watson wedding and how they explained Sherlock’s “death” and more. Did I think the Charles Magnussen story was incredibly stupid in the end? For sure. But I still wasn’t prepared. Even with the Christmas special of The Abominable Bride – which sucked so hard – did not prepare me for Season 4.
So what happened with Season 4? They just rode the train off the rails completely. The first episode, The Six Thatchers, looked dated and totally ‘80s. The story was frenetic and stupid. The performances were all over the place. And the end? Mary taking a bullet for Sherlock and then John blaming Sherlock for it? Because in the world of Sherlock, women simply have no agency, I guess. The second episode, The Lying Detective, was probably the strongest episode of this very weak season, but again, that’s not saying much. Am I the only one who doesn’t have to be convinced through storytelling that Toby Jones is extremely creepy? He could be playing a saint and he would still make my skin crawl.
But the pièce de résistance of this crapfest of a season was absolutely last night’s episode, The Final Problem. I kept referring to it as “the final solution” in my mind, which is a terrible Nazi reference which they should have been prepared for. The Final Problem, as it turns out, is that Sherlock and Mycroft have a sister who is a brilliant psychopath. She left her underground prison cell to play games with Sherlock and Watson, then returned to jail as a way to bait them to come to her or something. At the end of the episode, the lesson was that she just wanted a friend. That’s why she did all of those terrible things. Incidentally, it was the most British thing in the world for everyone to be horror-struck when they believed she killed Sherlock’s childhood dog, but then when we discovered she actually killed a small child, that’s when people were like, “Oh, she just needs a friend, you guys!” Dog-killer = horrible monster. Child-killer = sympathetic villain.
There’s been a lot of talk about how Season 4 could be (or should be) the last season of Sherlock ever, or possibly the last season we get in many, many years. If they end it now… I won’t be mad. The ratings were terrible and I think interest has waned. I think they were even prepared for that, which is why we got that cheeseball montage at the end. So, congrats Gatiss and Moffat. You ran this thing into the f—king ground and destroyed all of that goodwill.
Photos courtesy of IMDB/Sherlock.
Source: celebitchy.com
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