Sherlock Series 3, Episode 1 -- Spoilers

[dr.girlfriend]

Anyone see it and want to talk about it?

[dr.girlfriend]

All right, but I'll warn you, I didn't like it, so don't get mad at me! :-)

Overall, the episode just struck me as having very much the wrong tone. I guess the heart of it is Sherlock’s incredible, unbelievable, unrelenting dickery. Which, okay, cold-hearted sociopath, emotionally tone-deaf and the like, but — really? Fake accent? Continued mustache jokes? Acknowledging that John knelt on the ground at St. Bart’s, holding his apparently lifeless hand and looking at his apparently crushed head, that he saw John basically falling to pieces at his grave, and…what? Ha ha, everyone knew except you, and I’ll just continue to joke about it?

I kind of wish I hadn’t read anything the creators said, because my impression was that they felt that ACD-John took the whole faked-my-death thing too much in stride, and that this episode would be about John coming to terms with what Sherlock did and finding a way to truly forgive it. Where was that storyline? In amongst the comical Homer-Simpsonesque stranglings?

My reaction may have been intensified by watching The Reichenbach Fall just the night before. That episode was so fraught with real, true, emotion — panic and frustration and fear, and poignant, real moments between characters. And this episode was…just played for yuks? The only truly emotional moment I felt was the race to get John out of the bonfire, and then the moment between Sherlock and Molly. The rest just seemed so tonally off from anything that I could have expected.

I can understand Sherlock being narcissistic and naive about what he did to John, but I figured somewhere along the way he might come to a greater understanding of it. Instead, he just…fucks with John again, making him think he is about to lose his life and fiance and hundreds of innocent people are going to die and all just…to extort a deathbed forgiveness? It was really, truly, uncomfortable for me to watch. Like prank-calling someone to tell them their child died and then saying, “Ha ha, just kidding — but I really had you going!” And John basically shrugs and goes, “Oh, you scamp — that’s my Sherlock!” Who would stand for that? — especially someone like John as he had been portrayed up until now, who has had absolutely no compunction about telling Sherlock in the past when he’s been a heartless asshole? Why on EARTH would he find anything this Sherlock has done forgivable? What Sherlock did to John, repeatedly, was like Baskerville times a thousand, with much less of an acknowledgement afterwards. For me it pretty much crossed the line from touching bromance into emotionally abusive relationship. Because putting your best (only) friend in the world through two years of needless (absolutely needless, given that the snipers were taken care of) grief wasn’t enough, let’s continue to psychologically torture the man with PTSD and trust issues. Why not, it serves some need for Sherlock to be complimented, because a graveside eulogy wasn’t enough for his ego? Even if Sherlock were so continually dense, why would John be? Why would Mary say, “Oh, I like that guy!” knowing what he did to someone you supposedly love?

The imaginary “how he did it” theories were amusing, although the end scene with Anderson really did strike me as a mean-spirited mocking of the fans (you losers and your crazy theories) rather than any sort of lovable homage to fandom. It was just so over-the-top and weird. And overall, I think mixing in all those is-it-real-or-is-this-some-crazy-theory scenes caused an extra level of emotional detachment in the viewer that was the absolute *last* thing this episode needed. In the end, even the most plausible of explanations, which I do think was all in Anderson’s mind (Sherlock repeatedly calling him Phillip when he still doesn’t know Lestrade’s first name?), didn’t make sense. Why throw a second body out at all? John saw Sherlock fall, John ran up to find Sherlock on the ground. Throwing an additional body serves no purpose.

I just…don’t see how they could set up such an amazing relationship between Sherlock and John, bring it to such an emotionally crucial point, and then just…try to resolve it with this series of gags (eyeliner moustache! fake accent!) and pratfalls (let me strangle Sherlock in three different locales!) and oh-let’s-cut-these-scenes-together-to-make-a-curse-word. I didn’t need Sherlock to prostrate himself in front of John in humble repentance, but this…an episode sucked dry of any sort of emotional resonance, replaced with a wink and a nod and a bad Bond-esque plot that will maybe go somewhere in future episodes but right now doesn’t make much sense at all…

I thought there were some really good things:

◦Sherlock’s initial obliviousness about what he’s done, in speaking to Mycroft.
◦I think the French waiter thing was over-the-top, but in general I like the idea of Sherlock being unthinkingly callous about how he springs his #notdead on John, and then being flummoxed by John’s reaction
◦John and Mary’s *initial* reaction — total, gobsmacked, stunned disbelief, not just at what Sherlock did but at his seemingly complete lack of awareness regarding what he did
◦The mood of John’s return to Baker Street — how he was unable to face the flat or even Mrs. Hudson, the moody dust cinematography
◦Sherlock hallucinating John’s voice while investigating, and that John was not being complimentary
◦Pretty much all of Mycroft — mastering Serbian, playing Operation, the conversation about loneliness, taking his parents to Les Mis
◦Sherlock wanting to thank Molly
◦The emotion of the race to save John from the bonfire. It seemed like it was dropped in from another episode, but the tone of it was much more what I was expecting from this episode
◦I liked the idea of Mary’s eventual easy relationship with both John and Sherlock. I just don’t believe she could get there in an hour.

But I don't think those nice moments were enough to get past Sherlock’s breathtaking cruelty and unrelenting emotional manipulation of John. “Hey John, I’m going to make you think that you, me, and HUNDREDS of innocent people are going to die, but — psych! Just wanted to get you to say something nice.” Yes, the viewers love Sherlock, even when he’s flawed, but that’s because he is brilliant and at times ruthless and oblivious, but he did, at heart seem to care about John. John wasn’t in it for the cases. He didn’t stand at Sherlock’s grave and say, “I was so bored.” He stood at Sherlock’s grave and said, “I was so alone.” Sherlock brought him out of that with his friendship, working toward trust and respect, and to see him repeatedly stomp on that throughout this episode — to pervert, manipulate, and exploit John’s emotions — and to see John (and Mary and Lestrade and basically everyone) not seem to care? The viewers love Sherlock, but they also love John, and seeing John suffer the emotional manipulation and cruelty that Sherlock is capable of, without any sense of underlying repentance or growth is just…sleazy. Without that emotional connection, Sherlock is not a flawed but fascinating character, he’s just a toxic arsehole. How can John truly forgive someone who is not sorry, and how can he trust Sherlock with his life if Sherlock proves himself to be so deeply, chronically untrustworthy?

Other things I didn't like:

◦Even the most plausible of “how he did it” scenarios didn’t make sense
◦Cheapening Molly’s happiness by indicating she just found a Sherlock clone. Unnecessary.
◦The whole “pathetic, unstable fan” thing. It really did seem to me to be a mean-spirited, deliberate dig at fandom.
◦Making Sherlock and Mycroft’s parents relentlessly ordinary seems to be shuttling some potentially fascinating characters in order to make an easy joke.

[chittybangbang]

I'm just going to ditto the above post.

Also random fact: the couple that played the Holmes parents are Benedict Cumberbatch's real parents.

[dr.girlfriend]

Bumping for anyone who saw it yesterday. :-D

[Myrrhine]

Thanks for bumping!

I enjoyed the episode overall, but I do recognize some significant flaws. The tone didn't bother me, and I liked that they gave plenty of narrative space to John being angry and not forgiving Sherlock. I also really got the sense that Sherlock missed John and was happy at the prospect of seeing him again and then continued to miss him when John (rightfully)rejected him.

I also really liked the fake explanations of the death defying fall. I consider that the explanation to Anderson was the real one even if M&G like to act as if it may not be. I was worried that the explanation would undermine some key things about TRF. I really wanted it to be the case that Sherlock was a) not faking his sadness when he said goodbye and b) was surprised by Moriarty blowing his brains out. I was relieved that both of those things remained in play at the end of this ep.

I also loved Sherlock and Molly.

What annoyed me the most (and struck me as a storytelling failing) was that poor John never got any decent explanation for why Sherlock faked his death and why he wasn't told about it. I feel like Sherlock saying he faked his death to save John and then kept him in the dark for some plausible reason (fear that Moriarty's gang would target John if they ever suspected Sherlock was alive / in contact, intense media scrutiny because he was known to be Sherlock's partner meant it wasn't safe, etc.) would have gone a really really long way toward John being able to believably let go of Sherlock's betrayal.

The whole bomb fake out didn't enrage me, but it left a sour taste in my mouth.

[dr.girlfriend]

I should have just waited for the AV club review, it pretty much said everything I was thinking. ;-)

www.avclub.com/review/the-empty-hearse-107058

[Myrrhine]

Yes, they were really unimpressed!

Do you agree with their other opinion piece about the superiority of Elementary?

[scribellesam]

I liked it, aside from the weirdly off-putting jokes-on-you attitude from Sherlock towards John. I also enjoyed the various "how he did it" theories.

Not my favorite, though.

[Deleted]

Hey all...I'm going to try to drop into this forum now, but I just have to say THANK YOU dr.girlfriend !!! You summed up ALL my feelings about the episode! We watched it last night and I was just so put off by the whole thing and even rather angered.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jan 21, 2014 8:30:06 GMT -5 Myrrhine said:

Yes, they were really unimpressed!

Do you agree with their other opinion piece about the superiority of Elementary?

I've only seen a few eps of Elementary.  Never really caught on with me.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jan 21, 2014 19:17:17 GMT -5 @ksta said:

Hey all...I'm going to try to drop into this forum now, but I just have to say THANK YOU dr.girlfriend !!! You summed up ALL my feelings about the episode! We watched it last night and I was just so put off by the whole thing and even rather angered.

If it helps episode 2 is TONS better!

I rewatched The Empty Hearse last night.  Going into it with managed expectations (and a lot of fan meta in my head, whether I fully buy it or not) definitely helped. I still find the emotional tone confusing and at times outright off-putting (Anderson’s ridiculously over-the-top breakdown being the worst of it), but there were a lot of quieter moments that I appreciated this time around.

The biggest standout to me on the re-watch was the “goldfish” scene between Sherlock and Mycroft. There was so much said (and unsaid) in that scene, and I really hope they are going somewhere with that beyond “Sherlock is all Mycroft has in the world.” I’d love to see Mycroft become more developed as his own character and not just a foil for Sherlock in future series.

As the husband said, the acting does a lot to mitigate the actual dialogue, which was more apparent on second viewing. Sometimes even when Sherlock is being an unbelievable dick Cumberbatch plays him as looking so abashed that you feel it has to lie somewhere in the middle. Interested to watch all three episodes more back-to-back to see if I can find some kind of coherent thread to what to me seem to be very discordant episodes right now.

[Deleted]

I can tell you that I come from my opinion not as a member of "fan-dom" per se. As in, I've only watched Season 1 and 2 through once, I enjoy little funny gifs and whatnot online, but mostly as they come across some of my Geek boards I follow on Pinterest, so I didn't have all that meta in my head and I was still disappointed. Er, its end of work day and I think my brain isn't communicating well.

It is good to know episode 2 is better! I'm not liking Downton Abbey this season and was so excited to get my Sherlock to wipe the bad taste from my mouth...and then it just salted it instead.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jan 21, 2014 19:55:32 GMT -5 @ksta said:

I can tell you that I come from my opinion not as a member of "fan-dom" per se. As in, I've only watched Season 1 and 2 through once, I enjoy little funny gifs and whatnot online, but mostly as they come across some of my Geek boards I follow on Pinterest, so I didn't have all that meta in my head and I was still disappointed. Er, its end of work day and I think my brain isn't communicating well.

It is good to know episode 2 is better! I'm not liking Downton Abbey this season and was so excited to get my Sherlock to wipe the bad taste from my mouth...and then it just salted it instead.

Yeah, I think all the fan-meta is basically people "fixing it" in their mind -- reading a lot between the lines so that it doesn't come across as badly as it seems.  Some of it I'm not sure I buy, but some of it I do -- that some of Sherlock's continued jokes at the restaurants were nervous babbling once he realizes what a mistake he's made, and that if you rewatch knowing when Sherlock switched off the bomb, everything after that is his true apology for what he did to John over the past two years.  And that this is the only kind of situation in which John would be forced to talk about his feelings.  Which -- meh.  Sherlock is still being a dick, and if John is that emotionally constipated it's probably *because* of Sherlock's dickery so I'm not sure that even more dickery is the cure, but...whatevs.  :-)  But, at first watching, I was just in horror the whole time, thinking "OMG, if this is a put-on by Sherlock this is it, he is a total toxic asshole!" and then it was, so I couldn't really appreciate the apology which did seem very genuine.

And I totally agree about Downton Abbey...DH and I were both like, "Oh, crap, there's another episode to watch" and finally we were like, "Let's just leave that on the DVR until it auto-deletes."

[Myrrhine]

Jan 21, 2014 19:42:13 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Jan 21, 2014 8:30:06 GMT -5 Myrrhine said:

Yes, they were really unimpressed!

Do you agree with their other opinion piece about the superiority of Elementary?

I've only seen a few eps of Elementary.  Never really caught on with me.

I find it to be moderately enjoyable sometimes, but compared to Sherlock, I think it's deadly dull. It's not as fun, it's not as beautiful, it's not as creative. To be fair, it may have fewer plot holes. If I had to pick a Sherlock homage set in the US, I'd go with the Mentalist.