Sherlock (S03E03) Love and Other Drugs

Sherlock (S03E03) His Last Vow

At first you may notice that I did not title this “His Last Vow” even though it is the title of the episode. To be honest, I thought mine was more fitting due to the context of the material.

Spoiler Alert!

This episode revealed the bit a dialogue that mentioned in my last Sherlock post. I am glad to be proven right, but the connection was much different than what I expected. I thought it was amazing that she was a secret agent for the CIA. Mary was a real professional assassin with a background in Eastern and Western Europe.

I though the link between Mary and Watson was very interesting. Watson was addicted to danger (which led him to Mary), Sherlock was addicted to drugs (which was why he solved crimes), and Mary was addicted to John (and to some extent danger as well). This fact was exploited by Sherlock and made Watson really question himself as a person. It was dramatic to watch and full of great reactions.

I will attempt to make the argument that Mary was addicted to John. She loved him enough to start a new life with him and she was running away from her past. She finds solace in the made-up relationship she has created because of Johns addicted to danger and adventure. Although Watson is not aware of it, he eventually decides that Sherlock was right in his assessment (as he usually is). We are always learning new things about John.

I was sad however, to find out that Magnussen was not going to be in seasons 4 and 5 with have been announced. I thought he was a great character and to this day is the only one to outthink Sherlock. I kind of hated to see that he did. He brought the letters on purpose to keep the illusion that the evidence was all real. By the end you find out that there was no such thing and it was all a ruse in order to put Sherlock away in prison in order to put Mycroft in a difficult predicament.

By the end of the show I was less shocked than I should’ve been at the death of Charles Magnussen seeing as there was no other way out of the situation and the gun was fore-shadowed by Sherlock before they left. Maybe he did know that it was another option, but it didn’t really resolve anything. The same people in the government were still easily manipulated and his network of evil didn’t really go away. I am wondering if they are going to have Moriarty take over some of the things that Magnussen left.

Either way it was a fantastic episode that will leave us begging for even more. I guess until next year.