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| Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman with Loo Brealey as Molly Hooper |
Sherlock has become very famous thanks
to his recent high profile cases. Moriarty has some truly nefarious plans in
store for Sherlock. To achieve his ends, Moriarty deliberately gets arrested
and Sherlock is called in as the main witness. Moriarty gets acquitted
thanks to some behind the screen shenanigans. Right after his acquittal,
Moriarty pays Sherlock a visit at 221B and promises that he owes Sherlock a
fall.
Mycroft had given a lot of information
about Sherlock to Moriarty (when he was jailed) in order to gain some
information in return. Using the said information, Moriarty has a reporter put
the entire life story of Sherlock in print. The catch is that the story paints
Sherlock as the man who perpetrated the crimes.
Sherlock works on an abduction case and
figures out the location where the abducted kids are being kept. One of the
abducted children seems to be highly alarmed by the presence of Sherlock. Sgt
Donovan, never a big fan of Sherlock, raises the question: does Sherlock
set up the cases that he alone solves time and again without any official help.
In the very first episode A Study in Pink, Donovan had warned John
to stay away from Sherlock. Credit is due to Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss for
providing such a well thought-out character and story arc for the series.
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| Sherlock and Moriarty have a face-off |
Meanwhile, a reluctant Lestrade has
been ordered by his superior to have Sherlock arrested. But Sherlock has no
intentions of being incarcerated. Soon Sherlock and John find themselves on the
run from the official force, after resisting arrest. Sherlock arranges a
meeting with Moriarty atop St Bart's Hospital. Moriarty has already hired
sharpshooters to off Lestrade, John and Mrs Hudson unless Sherlock takes the
fall which in this case is a literal leap to his death.
Sherlock takes the fall or so John and
the rest of the world thinks. We have to wait for the next season for the
answer(s).
The newcomer with a significant screen
presence is Katherine Parkinson as Kitty Riley, the reporter. Cumberbatch and
Freeman continue their solid work. Gatiss and Graves have considerable presence
in this episode and as always are a pleasure to watch.
Loo Brealey makes a comeback as Molly
Hooper and continues her work as the counterpart of Twilight's Bella Swan with
Sherlock as her Edward. The pining on her behalf, the so close
yet distant Sherlock. The parallel to the Twilight series
is not insignificant, if you ask me!
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| Katherine Parkinson with Benedict Cumberbatch |
Andrew Scott gives yet another
over-the-top performance as Moriarty. The script writers have done an amazing
job with the way Moriarty plans to discredit Sherlock, but it is the way
Moriarty is portrayed that is a big letdown.
My favorite parts in the episode:
1. The cameo by the great Douglas
Wilmer as an elderly gent in the Diogenes Club. For the uninitiated, Wilmer
played Sherlock Holmes in the classic 1964-65 BBC series with Nigel Stock as Dr
Watson.
2. Moriarty’s story about Sir
Boast-A-Lot - captured perfectly the excessively show-offish nature of this
version of Sherlock Holmes.
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| Douglas Wilmer in "The Reichenbach Fall" |
The
stuff that did not really work for me:
1.
Despite Sherlock and John being fugitives, they are able to visit the St Bart's
hospital and 221 B Baker Street conveniently, without taking
any precautions (to the best of my knowledge) whatsoever to avoid getting
arrested. This seems quite improbable, considering that Scotland Yard must
(logically) be keeping an eye on these 2 places to apprehend the fugitives.
2.
Moriarty referring to the original story The Final Problem a
gazillion times. Yes we get it; the episode is based on that particular story.
Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock.
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| Canonical Nods in "The Empty Hearse" |
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| Canonical Nods in "The Sign of Three" |
