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. 

Sherlock (S03E02) A Psychopath. No, A High Functioning Sociopath.

Now I know that Sherlock is a television series, but due to the fact that each episode has a run time of almost an hour and 30 minutes I decided it would be alright if I reviewed this instead of a movie.

This is the episode where John Watson is going to marry Mary Morstan which has been dubiously linked with the new super villain we have not met this season. I realize that I am not the first to have figured this out because I noticed another blogger had seen the link to when I was looking for a good picture of the toast. The link was provided by a small snippet that I am sure many people missed, but on the second time viewing was too blatant to miss (DVR's are great). When Sherlock is reading the telegraphs, he mentions one that says "To Mary, lots of love poppet, oodles of love and heaps of good wishes. From Cam. Wish your family could have seen this." After Sherlock mentions this, the spotlight switches to Mary and on the first go around I didn't give it a second thought, but this time I realized her reaction was panic and not sadness. She was worried about the person sending this telegraph. When you think about the name Cam you probably think of Cameron, but the name of our unseen villain happens to be Charles Augustus Milverton or the initials CAM.

Mind blown? SO WAS MINE!!!

Being a fan of this show for some time, you start to pick up on some of the nuances. When Moriarty was in the medical examiners room, it seemed out of place. Many times trying to see the whole picture of the story will end up like looking for Waldo, but every now and again they throw you a bone that is too blatant to miss (The pig skewer, the connection in uniforms, the constant picture noises to cascade between scenes, the overuse of the pictures at the wedding, the new character preview before the show).

The foreshadowing for the entire episode was a bit intrusive throughout. If you were wondering about who did the crime then you should know that it was riddled throughout the episode and if you didn't notice it then you missed a lot of a cinematography on top of some revealing references. You can always tell on the longer shots that are seemingly out of place that there is something wrong with them. 

The ever developing relationship between Sherlock and Watson has been a delight overtime. Every episode you are wondering if they will stay friends or if John will eventually give up on him. I'm assuming the latter will eventually have to occur only to make things more interesting for a minute. Maybe it's the fact they are always at ends because of Sherlocks' demeanor that makes their relationship so diverse and divisive. 

It was interesting to see Sherlock actually have to say something nice in the best man speech about John while also giving away a small snippet about their dynamic. Sherlock mentioned that he could only solve the crimes, but John was one that could save the victims. Something unique from the other episodes. 

Sherlock is bewildered by the reactions he receives from that speech which only magnifies his dissonance from society while also enhancing his flaws as a person. 

If you've ever given a similar speech you know how difficult it can be to describe you best friend and your relationship with them to all your fiends and their family. I gave a best man speech for my best friend and although I wasn't nervous about speaking publicly I was nervous about what people would think of me. Would I be too cavalier with the details of our exploits? Or would I offend some party in the process? It's a difficult predicament to be in and I felt like Sherlock accurately portrayed the moment in his own unusual way. 

The best part of Sherlocks speech is how spastic his brain is during the whole thing. To me it kind of shows how a man thinks. It's sort of a one track mind type that has difficulty sifting through two separate activities at the same time. Normally Sherlock is amazing when it comes to multitasking, but due to the speeches emotional draw it was harder for him to accomplish. 

I must admit I am a huge fan of the cinematography in this show. You get to view so many things from so many angles and even at times you are viewing complete fantasy. The one scene that stands out from this episode is where Sherlock sifts through the woman online. It was absolutely brilliant. The text of web pages on their faces on top of the construct of the room was quite simply art. The appearances of Irene and Mycroft were entertaining and beautifully crafted into his psyche. 

Most of the actors in this show have wonderful voice and diction. They are able to deliver lines you are not used to seeing in regular television shows. It is very unlike American dramas that only involve sex and death with overly dramatic audible deliveries. Sherlock is not what I would call family friendly because of the nature of the crimes, but it is character driven and well scripted. The endings are somewhat hokey but that's not what the show is really about now is it? 

I have been SHER Locked for the past few years and I don't see that changing because this season has been great already. I look forward to the next episode.