After an eternity of waiting, we watched the season premiere of Sherlock the other night. And then we watched it a second time 24 hours later after we’d taken some time to process what we’d seen. Tivo is a wonderful invention, don’t you think?
Fellow fans, let’s discuss. For those of you who watched the season premiere of Sherlock, what did you think? What did you like and what did you not like?
BIG IMPORTANT NOTE: I think it goes without saying, the comments will be filled with SPOILERS. If you have not yet seen the episode in question, please click away. I don’t want to be responsible for the experience being ruined for you. Because people, spoilers in a blog post are the reason why I no longer watch Downton Abbey.
You don’t watch Downton Abbey?! Is it because of WHAT spoiler (oh God was it my spoiler?)? Because lemme tell you, I got spoiled for every season and it pissed me off so hard. But I did go ahead and watch the full 4th series and it ends so happily my heart about broke. The S is going HTF in series 5 though.
I was somewhat disappointed Sherlock didn’t tell us how he got off the roof. I hope they tell me for real before this season ends. It’s driving me nuts. I’m really glad Bilbo got rid of the ratstache. But I’ve only seen it once so I can’t remember any of my other feels for it. Other than total glee that we finally got more Sherlock.
Kris, I used to watch Downton Abbey. All the way through Season 2. But then someone put a spoiler about one of the sisters in Season 3 in a blog post with no warning whatsoever. (No, it wasn’t you.) I was both crushed and very angry.
I feel like we’ll eventually hear about how Sherlock did it, but I think it will be a continuing story arc.
The ratstache was ridiculous, which I think was the point.
We could not have been more excited for the return of Sherlock. My husband said he was a little disappointed in it - hard to pin down why he was, but he felt like not much happened for a 90 minute show. The multiple times they showed how Sherlock faked his death was confusing at first, but I think it was clever to show it from each person’s perspective. I agree with Kris - I hated the mustache on Watson, but then I am not a fan of facial hair generally. I did not love the ending where Sherlock went to such lengths to force Watson to forgive him at the end. To me, Sherlock’s personality is more business-like than that. My husband has some ideas as to the identity of the person behind the attack on Watson (said attack was so creepy, no?) but I won’t share them as he is almost always right. When we used to watch “24″, my daughter asked my husband to write his guesses down as she felt he spoiled every surprise!!
Lori, I’m trying to decide what I think about the changes in Sherlock’s personality. He is different, which could be attributed to all he’s been through in the preceding two years, but that doesn’t feel quite right to me.
I just love how it is filmed…the perspective from camera angles is so slick. And SCARY-Watson’s attack! It took me a while to figure out he was IN that bonfire.
I’ve seen all 3 so I am not saying anything until you guys have too.
I liked it very much. Yes, it was slow, but the first hour was really all about Sherlock trying to recapture his friendship with Watson. His inability to empathize led him to believe that John would be glad to see him and forgiveness would come immediately. I laughed at Sherlock’s French waiter bit. The actual case was a bit of an add on, just a framework for Sherlock to gain John’s forgiveness.
Things I liked:
- That each restaurant they ended up in was a little further down the social scale, didn’t he end up headbutting Sherlock at a deli counter?
- The insight into Mycroft and Sherlock’s childhoods. If Mycroft is the smarter brother then perhaps Sherlock’s career as a detective follows from him trying to beat his brother at “Deductions”.
- During that part, when Sherlock says to Mycroft “How would you know?” in regards to Mycroft’s recognizing isolation and a lack of friends was perfect payback for Mycroft saying “How would you know?” to Sherlock in “A Scandal in Belgravia” about sex, intimating that Sherlock is a virgin.
-That Mary likes Sherlock from the start.
-The way that a delighted Greg hugged Sherlock.
- The way the writers incorporated all the social media fuss about how Sherlock survived the fall by having all the various theories as part of the show, with #Sherlocklives and the action hero Sherlock snogging Molly, and the giggly Sherlock snogging Moriarty.
What I didn’t like:
- Mrs. Hudson still thinking that John and Sherlock are gay. People who didn’t know them, sure, but she practically lived with them and was present at the Christmas party where one of John’s girlfriends was also. I think that gag has been around long enough.
- How did Mary recognize a skip code? And why did Sherlock take her on the motorbike, he could have gone faster without her.
- Never in all the movies and tv shows I’ve ever seen was there an on/off switch on a bomb.
But those are small quibbles. Can’t wait til the next episode!
That should be “Mycroft’s NOT recognizing isolation and HIS lack of friends…”
This. This whole comment. Just put a big “me too” on it.
I am a person who doesn’t mind spoilers -I’d rather know ahead of time if a character is dying or being raped, so I can be prepared. I haven’t seen this episode of Sherlock yet -we usually watch them through Netflix, although now we have Apple TV, so I think we can actually access some PBS shows if we time it right. I enjoyed the little clip out earlier with Sherlock’s video. I love Watson, so I’m not happy to hear about a mustache! Yuck.
I don’t mind spoilers either and I’m still only on season 1 of Sherlock so there’s no chance of avoiding them. If you know what is going to happen, you can still enjoy the wordplay, the visual effects, the acting, etc.
Hi Jen-
Things I loved:
Sherlock fluffing his hair after crashing through that window, then kissing Molly. *I swooned*
Jon kept punching him in every restaurant they went to.
Mary and how much she obviously loves Jon, and that she instantly like Sherlock, and seemed to “get” their relationship.
Mrs. Hudson’s hysterics. It was so spot on from the story.
Graham, I mean Greg, hugging him when he realized he was alive.
Mycroft and Sherlock playing Operation- I laughed about that for awhile.
Sherlock calling Mycroft out on being lonely.
Sherlock and Mycroft’s parents- they are Ben’s parents in real life!
Didn’t like:
ratstache
I also read in a TCA report that the theory of how Sherlock survived that he told to Anderson was the truth. That is the way he did it, and they didn’t want to come out and say it, but the “blue pillow of life” was what saved our beloved Sherlock from certain death.
I also heard that now that Moriarity is dead, there is a new nemesis- Magnusson, or something like that.
I watched it twice too. And I’ll probably watch it a third time just for good measure. I loved it all. I don’t care if we ever find out the truth about Sherlocks fall. It adds to the mystery of the man. When Dr. Watson kept hitting Sherlock I was thrilled. He deserved it. The person at the end watching the replay of the bonfire was creepy. He seemed to be a bit older and my first thought was that it was Mycroft. I hope not.
I love Alison’s analysis and am in awe of her knowledge of Sherlock history. I agree with the list of things she didn’t like. I asked about the skip code at the time it happened…so random!
Thanks, Lori! I wonder if I spend too much time thinking about things like this. You should hear my Grey’s Anatomy wonderings.
I haven’t watched Grey’s Anatomy (gasp! I know). I suppose there are worse things you could spend your time on
Come on Jen, get back on the Downton bandwagon! I also had that season spoiled. Didn’t stop me from bawling like a baby… I hate shows being spoiled but recognize the risk when I don’t watch in real time. My husband pulled an idiot move on me the other day. I just finished Dexter (which he doesn’t watch). He was asking me if he’d like it and what I did/didn’t like about it. After I expressed my opinions he then compared it to Breaking Bad (which I haven’t started and he’s finished) and told me the damn ending! WTH. I’ll still watch it though…
As for Sherlock. I resisted as long as I could, but gave in at some point last year and binged on Netflix. O.M.G. That man makes me swoon. (And yes, it’s a damn character. I DON’T CARE!) Others have recapped all my likes/dislikes up above. I’ll just add: THAT KISS. *squee* (And did you watch the post-show? I loved how Louise (Molly) called it out.) I didn’t mind the ‘stache, but I like a man with facial hair. I like the addition of Mary. All in all: I am still giddy from this episode and will likely watch it 4 or 5 more times. In fact, I may just go back to Netflix and revisit seasons 1 and 2 a few times over the course of this season. I’ve already watched this one 3 times. I can’t help it. It’s intelligent, funny, and gorgeous on all levels. My only wish: MORE EPISODES!
Jen, I enjoyed Boo Mama’s comments on Sherlock. She posted on the Pioneer Woman blog: http://thepioneerwoman.com/entertainment/2014/01/the-man-with-the-funny-hat/