S04.E03: The Final Problem

[vendredi3]

I've been disappointed ever since S03E01's resolution to the incredible series 2 finale, so I only have myself to blame for sticking it out this long. Make this two series that Moffat has ruined for me. Please keep him away from The Bachelor franchise, I can only imagine how he'd muck that up. Season Finale: You thought all those women got eliminated? No one gets eliminated on my watch! *Season retconned so every woman gets the final rose*

Edited January 16, 2017 by vendredi3

[Bama]

Molly is not a doctor like John, yet.  She's a "specialist registrar" - 

Quote

Specialist Registrars generally stay in post for around five years (more or less depending on the speciality), gaining experience in a broad speciality (e.g. general medicine), and in a subspeciality (e.g. cardiology) after which they receive the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT). The CCT is awarded based on satisfactory yearly Record of In Training Assessments (RITA) and completion of an 'exit' exam or fellowship diploma in the specialty from one of the Royal Colleges. Listing on the Specialist Register permits application to consultant jobs. Specialist registrars are encouraged to undertake research in their field, and many choose to do this by means of a PhD or MD.

Kind of like the level of a resident in US medicine?

The picture of Molly's badge is from the set designer's Twitter - he posted it in 2013.

[truther]

No - US medical residents are MDs who are now doing their post-graduate training in hospitals.  From the posted description, it sounds like a specialist registrar is more like a pre-med student in college.  

[statsgirl]

from wikipedia

Quote

A Specialist Registrar or SpR is a doctor in the Republic of Ireland and formerly in the United Kingdom who is receiving advanced training in a specialist field of medicine in order eventually to become a consultant. After graduation from medical school, they will have undertaken several years of work and training as a pre-registration house officer and senior house officer, and will usually have taken examinations for membership of the Royal College of their speciality. For example, medical registrars will take the MRCP examinations to enable progression to become registrars.

General practitioner, total 5 years in training;  Consultant, minimum 8 years total time in training.

Sounds like what is referred to as a fellowship to me, which would indeed make her a doctor and possibly more qualified than Watson who presumably stopped at his basic MD to go into the army.

The British "consultant" is like a specialist in the US.

Edited January 16, 2017 by statsgirl

[Chaos Theory]

Honestly I didn't like the season at all.  I know a lot of people didn't like Mary but I thought she was a fun character.  That being said this was the least irritating episode of the season. Honestly I couldn't care less about Eurous but I really liked the interplay between Sherlock, John and Mycroft.   

I also liked the tape with Mary and the ending with Lastrade.  Molls stuff worked as well.  Just didn't care at all about Eurous and the stuff with the plane made no sense.  

Otherwise didn't hate it as much as the rest of the season.  

[Ellaria]

Ugh...I did not enjoy it. I wanted more "solving of mysteries" and not disturbing psycho torture/horror. It was like an episode of Black Mirror. 

IMO, this should be the series finale. This season was a disappointment. I love BC and MF but even they could not get me to watch another season of this show. Was there an overall story arc? Why bother bringing in a baby? 

Agree that Molly, Mrs. Hudson and handsome Lestrade were underused. Did not need to ever see Moriarity again and have no idea why Moffat/Gatiss felt otherwise. 

Feeling quite unsatisfied by the direction that this show has taken...

[Kostgard]

So...yeah. If this is the last episode ever, I won't be sad. I haven't truly enjoyed this show since season two. My hopes were up a bit after last week's enjoyable episode, but this episode was a disappointment. 

I too hate the whole omniscient omnipotent villain thing. But...fine. So Sherlock's secret sister killed a kid because they wouldn't play with her. Fine.  Makes sense she got locked up after that. I can even buy Sherlock blocking that incident out. I have a much harder time buying that he completely blocked his sister's existence from his memory (it couldn't just be that he, like the rest of his family, thought she was dead? Or that he was never told what she did because they thought it was too awful for a little kid to deal with?). But I absolutely do not buy that the entire Holmes family never, ever mentioned Eurus again. Seriously? Their parents never spoke of her in Sherlock's presence in the the approximately 30 years since she was locked up? Did they get rid of every photograph of her? Was there no mention of her or no memorial service after she "died" in the fire? The parents seemed like they still cared about her at the end, so are we to believe that they had her locked up and then pretended that she never existed?

Moriarty's "return" was a big pile of nothing.

And I guess Molly's life sucks so hard she just sits around her kitchen with her head in her hands? And she basically only showed up to be emotionally manipulated through her crush on Sherlock. 

This episode basically had none of what made the show work - John and Sherlock bouncing off each other while they solve a case. If the show does come back, they need to go back to basics. If it doesn't come back, I'm fine with that. 

Edited January 16, 2017 by Kostgard

[maraleia]

When Moffatt finishes his run over at Doctor Who I will never watch anything else he does again because this season of Sherlock was horrible especially this episode which I felt was way too complicated for it's own good. I also hate the way Moffatt treats his women characters. I hope they are done with this show because it really can't go anywhere else but downhill even more.

[MisterGlass]

1 hour ago, statsgirl said:

It's as if Moffat and Gatiss let their success go to their heads.

I think it is more a misunderstanding of what makes the show work for the viewers.  I know I was excited at the outset by the use of technologies and the little splashes of whimsy.  I'm sure a lot of viewers enjoyed it.  And maybe they leaned into that because the viewers liked it.  And now the show has leaned so far toward whimsy that it doesn't have a logical basis on which to stand.

As others have said it does seem like the genre has gotten lost.  Sherlock wandered out of detective fiction and into magical realism.  Sherlock should leave that to Hannibal and head back to more stable ground.

[magdalene]

Was the show always this pretentious and up it's own ass?  I seem to remember enjoying it during its first series. 

Call me demanding but when I watch a drama in the mystery genre I want to see an actual coherent mystery and not some avantgarde mess with delusions of grandeur.

If this is the end, good riddance.

Edited January 16, 2017 by magdalene

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, statsgirl said:

They really hit the fanservicing buttons, didn't they?  Sherlock tells Molly "I love you", she says she can't get beyond him, and then it's completely dropped?  Mary returns via DVD to give her blessing to John and Sherlock's everlasting love?  And we end the show with Sherlock and John happily co-parenting Rosie for all the Sherlock/Watson shippers. 

And I might have missed it because my friend was talking, but didn't Sherlock tell Lestrade to "take care" of Mycroft or something? That Mycroft wasn't as strong as he liked to think he was? A little bone thrown to the Mystrade shippers?

[rereader2]

What can I say, I loved it--so far as I'm concerned, it worked emotionally, and it worked as a backstory to this take on a modern Sherlock, and it worked as a character study for this Sherlock, so I'm happy. I do think it needed about another 15 minutes of material at the end (if for no other reason but to give me time to stop my heart racing!), but as cinematic as the episodes are, they still are 90-minute TV episodes, and if they had cut material earlier to make time for a more drawn-out epilogue it would have been the character moments I wouldn't want to have had cut. 

And of course, it works well as either a series finale or as prologue to more, so that's good, too.

 

ETA: Re: plot holes--I'm reminded of a story Stephen Sondheim tells about West Side Story. In Act II, the scenes were originally in a different order, that made more sense plot-wise (if you know the play, the scene where Tony and Maria sleep together came earlier, before the fight). The book writers wanted it that way, Bernstein wanted it that way, and Sondheim wanted it that way--but Jerome Robbins said no, that scene had to come later. And they all argued with him that it made NO SENSE if it came later, but Robbins kept insisting and insisting and wouldn't shut up, so they agreed to try it his way in one of the out-of-town performances...and the whole Act II played so much better. And when they admitted Robbins was right, he told them that they made sense logically, but he made sense emotionally, and in drama, emotion always wins. 

Edited January 16, 2017 by rereader2

[statsgirl]

There are Mystrade shippers?  (Yes, Sherlock told Greg to take care of Mycroft.))

Does Mrs' Hudson get a ship too, or is she left all alone?

[Starchild]

2 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

There are Mystrade shippers?  (Yes, Sherlock told Greg to take care of Mycroft.))

Does Mrs' Hudson get a ship too, or is she left all alone?

Oh my yes there are Mystrade shippers. Many many of them. ... What?

No Mrs Hudson doesn't get much love.

[alrightokay]

25 minutes ago, MisterGlass said:

I think it is more a misunderstanding of what makes the show work for the viewers.  I know I was excited at the outset by the use of technologies and the little splashes of whimsy.  I'm sure a lot of viewers enjoyed it.  And maybe they leaned into that because the viewers liked it.  And now the show has leaned so far toward whimsy that it doesn't have a logical basis on which to stand.

As others have said it does seem like the genre has gotten lost.  Sherlock wandered out of detective fiction and into magical realism.  Sherlock should leave that to Hannibal and head back to more stable ground.

I also think that Moffat was simply stretched too thin by having to run both Sherlock and Doctor Who, and both shows suffered (though I think S9 of Who was a strong rebound after a wobbly S8).  It's true that Gatiss was co-running Sherlock, but it's interesting that both shows echoed each other in exploring what it means to be a "good man."  And in both shows, the Companion is torn between a lover and the titular genius (Clara/Danny/Doctor in Who vs. John/Mary/Sherlock).  

[hnygrl]

I tried. I gave up on episode one 15 minutes in and simply bailed on episode 2 (read it here and still don't regret not watching). Thought I'd put my big-girl pants on and wade through the final problem.

it's 20 minutes in.

I'm out. Ick. What happened to the smart, funny, touchingly brilliant show that was Sherlock? Cause this ain't it. I'm so sad. I freaking loved this show to distraction.

[ohjoy]

I'm happy to say I figured the girl and the plane did not exist in the present-day narrative pretty much from the jump. At first I thought she was somehow Eurus in the past, but then when Eurus was using her against Sherlock I began to think the plane situation was a recording that Sherlock would never be able to solve -- just something to string him along for all those stupid experiments.

In theory I get what they were trying to do/reveal about Sherlock's personal growth with this episode, and the acting was certainly on point (I'll be watching it again just for nuances because that's what I do), but the plot structure and execution were a mess. On the whole, this trio of episodes gave me the same bell curve of feeling I got from reading The Hunger Games -- first one was decent enough but I was really hoping it got better, the second one was really engaging and fantastic and I was really amped up for the finale, and then the third one was this depressing slog and I missed the secondary characters more than anyone else. (YMMV about both those and these episodes.)

 

3 hours ago, tankgirl73 said:

And what happened with Molly? After that heart wrenching conversation... it sure looked like he realized, while saying it, that he actually meant it. But... followup? In all the cut scenes in the closing montage, I think there was ONE of Molly coming into the flat, smiling... but... what more? Did they just say "oh it was a pressure situation, still friends, that's all" and forget it ever happened? Ugh.

 

2 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

And then there is this, of course. Such a big fail. One of the most powerful, emotional beats in the entire episode, maybe the series- it ranks up there with Sherlock's wedding speech, IMO)- and there is no follow through. No moment between Molly and Sherlock to address it at all. They threw in a moment for Sherlock and Lestrade (which was nice), but they couldn't manage a few minutes for Molly? Ugh. 

Yeah, I'm not a shipper of anyone on this show (I would have preferred that Molly/Sherlock had remained the sweet friendship that seemed settled in 3x01), but how can you have such a beautifully intense moment like that, and then have no follow up at all?! Even a tiny moment of definite eye contact and a smile of understanding passed between them would have counted for me (though that's probably not enough for others), but to have zero interaction at the end, barely even a glimpse of her coming through the doorway, was a major oversight.

 

ETA: Also, zero follow-up on Lady Smallwood changing her name to Alicia and giving Mycroft her number, huh? Oh well.

Edited January 16, 2017 by RandomMe

[bettername2come]

Oh, one more complaint! Why does child Sherlock have brown eyes when Benedict Cumberbatch's eyes are such a distinctive feature? It's like Lily Evans in the last Harry Potter movie all over again.

(Although, having said that, the child actors did a good job in their roles)

[buttersister]

Maybe Euros screwed with my head, but what happened to Mycroft saying he was taking care of Sherlock's memories, fine tuning them along the way? Did I dream that? Because it sounded like he put Sherlock into some hypno state or drug-induced (!) state every decade or so and made sure he didn't remember Euros or anything about her. Which makes me wonder why Mycroft previously brought up Redbeard to Sherlock in a torturous way (and we saw the boy and his dog)! WTF was that for?

John's feet were chained to keep him down in the watery well and the rope ladder was thrown down to him by people who couldn't see the chains? And then he yelled up to them and someone jumped in with a key? Gattis!

Speaking of, Mycroft was all over the place, so I'll chalk that up to his guilty conscience catching up with him (treats?). I thought all of the performances were good---in some cases, struggling to make things work, albeit, Ben's parents were kind of adorable (in a sad situation).

And so the moral of the story is: Deal with your shit and then you can get on with your life? Not exactly where I thought the series would end up, but maybe they were trying to stop fans screaming for more seasons? I've loved having Ben and Martin be buddies on my TV, and I'll miss all of the other characters. (Feel free to reboot them all back to solving mysteries, Mofftiss.)

[SueB]

I'm new to this board so my apologies for just joining in at the end.  Feel free to skip...

I freakin' loved it.  I LOVED:

- Mycroft being somewhat laid bare. First his utter inability to shoot David and then his somewhat transparent attempt to get Sherlock to kill him vice Watson.  
- Watson was so freakin' heroic.  That's my John right there.  I loved him every step of the way.  And Sherlock clearly NEEDS him.  They really are such an amazing pair.
- Molly broke my heart.  And she broke Sherlock's as well.  I don't blame her for loving him. He's Sherlock Freakin' Holmes, and he looks like Benedict Cumberbatch.  In my head canon, Sherlock went to Molly's flat and sat down and explained everything.  And he probably explained why he's still emotionally unable to be who she wants him to be while still loving her in his own way.  And I think she'll understand.
- I loved Greg being "Greg" to Sherlock now.  So much better than other incarnations of LeStrade IMO.
- Euros was really creepy. I liked the way she played the violin at the end -- adding a lovely harmony to Sherlock.  
- I loved Sherlock in this episode.  He's grown so MUCH as a human.  And this is John's influence on him.  I think he'll stay off the drugs so long as John is in his life.  And I think raising Rosie and being at Sherlock's side is enough for John.  At least for now. When you find your purpose in life, it's okay to redefine happiness.  And that's what I think Mary was trying to say.  It's okay for them to be who they are.  

Finally, I have to wonder -- WTF is it with the Holmes kids???  The parents are pretty normal and yet they have three children who are not only geniuses but have extreme personality issues.  Mycroft likes to think he's completely cold and calculating but he also has been shown to soften over the course of the series.  Sherlock claims to be a high functioning sociopath but in reality, he's just .. different.  He's got actual feelings that he tries to repress and it hurts when they come out.  And Euros?  Well, she committed murder as a young girl.  She's pretty close to being the ACTUAL psychopath of the three. But, I wonder how much the death of the little boy caused a traumatic shift.  Perhaps she acted out of jealousy (normal childhood feeling) but her genius couldn't accept anything so... mundane.  In any case, I think all three children have created their own "persona" as a way of dealing with emotions they do not like and cannot reconcile with their genius.  Mycroft went cold, Sherlock became an addict, and Euros lived in her own private world/hell.  Of all the three, I think Sherlock was the most normal and the death of his childhood friend is what caused him to repress his emotions.  I can't explain why Mycroft went the way of non-emotion.  

[spottedreptile]

This wasn't clever. I truly hope it is the last episode because clearly Moftiss have absolutely nothing more to say. The laziest writing ever - just have everyone locked in a box and put them each in danger, good grief, Star Trek at its worst was better than this. The writers could not have more plainly shown their sneering contempt for their audience. Euros pointing a gun at John? Oh, Tranquiliser! Didn't you guess that, stupid people? Oh, look Moriarty is back, no he isn't it's a FLASHBACK!  Aren't we clever. Look, John's in danger! Mycroft's in danger! Sherlock's in danger! Random supporting people are in danger! Euros is sorry and cries. End of episode. John and Sherlock bring up a kid. Molly is confused. Mycroft fades away with Greg.

Gak. That was truly horrible. I feel insulted. Moftiss, Do Better. Or maybe just stop trying to write anything with any modicum of heart at all, since you clearly suck at it.

Edited January 16, 2017 by spottedreptile
Obviously I am severly p**sed off. I may temper my views, but . . .

[Bethorz]

I loved it. Sherlock was never ever about the cases and procedurals are boring. It's always had more the vibe of a sci-fi or adventure show to me. That's why I love it

[Starscream]

4 hours ago, tankgirl73 said:

 How was the song and the cypher of the dates a clue to find her in her bedroom, when she created that song when she was a little kid and it was supposed to be a hint to the location of the murdered dog/brother?

 

I think the point of the song was always to get Sherlock to go to her room to play with her.  That is what would have saved Redbeard, if Sherlock had done then exactly what he did in this episode.  He went to her room and asked her to help him save his friend.

 

I really enjoyed it overall.  I got a little bored with the seemingly endless games and airplane girl, but I loved a lot of it.  The ending made me a little misty-eyed.

Like many others, I was hoping for more case solving in this season, but I saw the ending as the beginning of a new era that would be more about case solving than family melodrama.  So this episode has me hoping for more episodes more than I had been before seeing it.

[snarktini]

21 minutes ago, SueB said:

And Euros?  Well, she committed murder as a young girl.  She's pretty close to being the ACTUAL psychopath of the three.

Pretty close?! She's a psychopath, no bones about it.

[Dodginblue]

This episode was incoherent psychobabble when it wasn't being derivative of either other shows/movies or even itself.  That thing about solving problems to save someone, they did that in Season 1.    

I wonder why it wasn't possible to figure out a way to continue to make this series fun and suspenseful and intriguing and instead the show's writers could only go with making everyone (outside the minor characters like Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade and Molly Hooper) creepy and mentally disturbed.   I mean, I hope it's because they just couldn't figure out a way to write the kind of episodes we saw in seasons one and two and had to come up with something, I hate to think they actually could have done it better and just chose not to.

[TrininisaScorp]

I've had a moment to chew on all of this.  I have decided I enjoyed it.  Was it disjointed?  Sure.  Were there ridiculous leaps of plotting?  Sure.  But, we were all quiet and on the edge of our seat watching this episode.  I really enjoyed the crazy as hell Euros, mostly because the actress was fabulous and went toe to toe with the rest of the cast.  While it felt tacked on, I loved seeing another moment of Andrew Scott (one last time?).  I liked the piece in the house with Mycroft and the horror movie style staging from Sherlock and John.  I liked the Redbeard piece coming to a close.  I enjoyed Mary's epilogue.

I don't know how it happened or why, but after The Fall, I found myself with a soft spot for Molly and Molly/Sherlock.  I find the chemistry between the actors interesting, and it was full display during the scene in tonight's episode.  While there isn't a definite answer on that front, I enjoyed the possibility.  Like everyone else, I would have loved to see a little something between them to try to read more into it.  But, I feel like it is the most canon Sherlock/Moly fans can hope for. 

The episode felt very final, though, didn't it?  If they are closing the book, they are, IMO, closing it at a great place.  As a fan, you can take it as you please.  You know Sherlock and John are doing their thing, while having Rosie, Mrs. Hudson, Molly, the Holmes family, and Greg as part of their lives.  If you like the Molly/Sherlock thing, you can take it from there in your mind.  If you like the ever popular JohnLock, you have what you want to see too.   And if they do come back, maybe it can be about the crazy cases, Sherlock's amazing mind, John and Sherlock's friendship that we all enjoy seeing without the larger conspiracy and mythology.

I'm satisfied.  God knows, if they come back, it'll be years and years, so I'll savor what I've gotten.

Edited January 16, 2017 by TrininisaScorp

[futurechemist]

I didn't really care for this season since it felt like it wasn't a detective show anymore.  Episode 1 felt like something out of James Bond.  The supposed mystery of the dead son was solved very quickly.  Episode 2 didn't really have mystery since we knew from the first scene that Toby Jones was the villain. There wasn't really a specific crime to solve. Episode 3 was (as others mentioned), an episode of Saw.

I will admit the show tricked me about the plane.  I assumed the girl was real, but was in a train rather than a plane.  Especially when Sherlock referred to the "driver".  Pretty sure "plane driver" isn't British slang.

In retrospect, the Moriarty cliffhanger was underwhelming.  Turns out at some point in the past, he made a bunch of videos for Euros and she used them as needed.  Which I suppose is 1 level above him recording her voicemail greeting.

[ohjoy]

12 minutes ago, Starscream said:

I think the point of the song was always to get Sherlock to go to her room to play with her.  That is what would have saved Redbeard, if Sherlock had done then exactly what he did in this episode.  He went to her room and asked her to help him save his friend.

I feel like there should have been more to it than that, but at the same time I was totally okay with it? Benedict Cumberbatch's performance in that scene was just sooo good.

34 minutes ago, SueB said:

- Molly broke my heart.  And she broke Sherlock's as well.  I don't blame her for loving him. He's Sherlock Freakin' Holmes, and he looks like Benedict Cumberbatch.

Heh -- makes perfect sense to me.

I'm liking it more on rewatch -- the little details in the character performances are my favorite things to examine. And while the plot and episode structure maybe all confused and convoluted, those little details are definitely still available to enjoy.

[Charlesman]

Booooooo!

Honestly, we wait years and get one better-than-average episode, and two full of self-indulgent wanking over 'how cute we all are, aren't we?' and I don't care for it.

 

If this is what's in store for season 5, end it. Just end it now. You've gone on one season too many at this point, would be better to bow out now that you've shown you can't do it anymore, than try and force more cash out of the stone. Jesus, they're going to turn this into Dexter before it's all over and be proud of it. Just end it.

Let it die.

[tanita]

IDK, to me Sherlocks I Love You was clearly forced for Molly. I think he cares about her as a friend and it hurt him to emotionally hurt her, which he knew saying ILY and not meaning it would do. If anything, this episode additionally emphysised how much Sherlock still thinks about Irene Adler 5 years later - the song he plays is about her, she is the first person that comes to John's mind when discussing people that may love Sherlock (although Molly was the clear and obvious choice), and that text at the end of the episode "You know where to find me. SH" was clearly intended for her (Happy New Year. SH from ASIB)

[TheOtherOne]

I was one of the apparently few who liked the first episode, but I really hated this. I don't like horror movie shit, and I'm really not here for that. All the pointless death, culminating in the horrible death of a child. Just grim and dark and gross, and when you throw Molly into it, unrelenting misery. I'm sorry I watched it, and I really wish I could wipe it from my memory.

Remember when this show was fun? That seems so long ago...

Edited January 16, 2017 by TheOtherOne

[catrox14]

I liked it but it was IMO once again overly convoluted.

I did tear up at the end because it felt like a goodbye.

[tanita]

Can I just say that I am glad that once and for all they confirmed it for everyone (thought I'm sure there will still be tinfoil fans for don't except it) that Moriarty is DEAD. The man blow his brains out.

One thing I don't get is how this could be Moffat's new favorite - IMO it was good, but not even close to A Scandal in Belgravia. I do love that the show isn't bound by a procedural nature, I like that fact that all the episodes have a different feel. Also, I'm probably one of the rare people who didn't hate the HOUND of Baskerville - I thought it was decent horror and suspense homage and as I love psychological thrillers this episode was right up my alley.

Edited January 16, 2017 by tanita

[Quilt Fairy]

I thought this was just unwatchable.

[zxy556575]

7 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

I think it is more a misunderstanding of what makes the show work for the viewers.

For this viewer, at least. I've never written, directed, created, starred or done anything related to TV shows other than watch, so forgive my ignorance. I can understand the people involved not wanting to become repetitive, hidebound and/or predictable. But this season was just too much of an over correction into psychological thriller. I'm not against that sort of show per se, but it isn't why I (used to) love Sherlock.

I made it about halfway through before deleting. That damned behind the scenes segment at the beginning made me cross to start with. FF > FF > FF > gah, it's still going??

And why was Mycroft wearing sleeve garters, of all things, in the opening scene. That's taking his punctilious sense of style to a new extreme.

Edited January 16, 2017 by lordonia

[TomServo]

I didn't particularly care for this episode, BUT I thought the plot holes in the Hound episode were worse, so I suppose there's that?

The whole story line with the flashback to the dog reminded me of the M*A*S*H episode where the woman on the bus kills a "chicken" in Hawkeye's memory, but in reality she had killed her own baby trying to keep it quiet.  Only M*A*S*H got the story over with in half an hour instead of an hour and a half.

I'm happy to assume there was a set of bolt cutters attached to the end of the rope they tossed down the well, but what I don't understand is how Eurus can control Moriarty after five minutes with him, can control Sherlock after about the same amount of time, yet John has a pretty decent ability to resist her when the plot needs advancing.  Sure, he started texting her at first, but came to his senses and broke it off.  She had to keep repeating her fake therapist questions because he wouldn't answer to her satisfaction, and then he caught her making a mistake by letting him know she already knew about the secret sibling. 

[Slovenly Muse]

Yeah, I gotta say, it really SUCKS to see a reboot of the Sherlock Holmes franchise helmed by someone who has no idea how to write a mystery. I mean, they used to write decent mysteries, right? What happened? Last week was so bad, with the time jumps and hallucinations (note to Moffat: Great mysteries keep the audience wondering how the events of the story could be possible! Not what the events even ARE!), but the final twist with Eurus at the end kept me around to see how they would use her in the finale. I mean, last time Moffat wrote a "powerful" female character, she was evil, her power came 100% from her sexuality, and she was undone by her delicate lady feelings. So I wasn't hopeful about Eurus, but I figured with Moffat and Gatiss co-writing, things might turn out a little better!

Sadly, Eurus can't be a truly intriguing or great character, just a twisted psycho. And of course, she only kills people because she's so sad that nobody loves her! What bullshit. She had such potential - an incredibly intelligent Holmes sibling who comes back after years of imprisonment and isolation to confront her family... If she had been even the slightest bit sane or sympathetic, this story could have been fascinating. Even if she wanted to punish them or make them confront how they had mistreated her, rather than making them solve pointless puzzles so she could... watch them? For some reason?.... it could have been better. But there didn't seem to be any sort of emotional connection between the trials she inflicted on her brothers and her identity as their sister. She really was just mad that she didn't have a friend like Sherlock had and wanted them all to suffer for it! And you can't even say that Mycroft robbed her of her ability to make friends by imprisoning her and denying her any human connection for most of her life... she's been pining for a friend since back when she was killing the neighbourhood kids who liked Sherlock better than her! Did they deliberately strip this story of any nuance and subtlety? Or just forget to put any in?

This episode... hell, this whole season... just feels like one big wasted opportunity.

[Ceindreadh]

If Mary had been in the cell with the Governor, I'm pretty sure she would have taken the shot, no problem!

[hjmugillecuty]

35 minutes ago, TomServo said:

The whole story line with the flashback to the dog reminded me of the M*A*S*H episode where the woman on the bus kills a "chicken" in Hawkeye's memory, but in reality she had killed her own baby trying to keep it quiet.  Only M*A*S*H got the story over with in half an hour instead of an hour and a half.
 

That M*A*S*H episode is actually the two hour finale.

The Musgrave Ritual is one of my favorite Holmes stories, so I liked seeing the show's take on it. It's ones of the stories not narrated by Watson,  and features a university friend of Holmes'.

[tankgirl73]

6 hours ago, buttersister said:

Maybe Euros screwed with my head, but what happened to Mycroft saying he was taking care of Sherlock's memories, fine tuning them along the way? Did I dream that? Because it sounded like he put Sherlock into some hypno state or drug-induced (!) state every decade or so and made sure he didn't remember Euros or anything about her. Which makes me wonder why Mycroft previously brought up Redbeard to Sherlock in a torturous way (and we saw the boy and his dog)! WTF was that for?

I'm pretty sure that Sherlock did the memory changes himself. Mycroft explained that over time, Sherlock appeared to gradually forget and/or replace existing memories with modified ones... Redbeard becomes a dog, forgetting about Eurus entirely. Mental defence mechanism in order to deal with the trauma.

What Mycroft was doing was *testing* Sherlock, to see if the memories were still in that state or if he was starting to remember. It was torturous but it was in order to keep an eye on things. So he was "taking care" of Sherlock by keeping tabs on the state of his memories, not by actually shaping and modifying them.

[Chaos Theory]

Sherlock has been shown able to delete memories he feels are unimportant or irrelevant so why not painful?  I thought switching Redbeard from a brother to a pet was a way to both keep and lose him.  Also wasn't a comment made during the Lying detective that people stop looking at three. So of course there are four siblings.  

Edited January 16, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[Eneya]

This was disappointing.
I loved the show when it aired initially, especially the first season. Sure, when I rewatched it a few times, I saw all the issues Moffat had (women, poc, etc.) but still enjoyed it. Then came season 2... at the end I was sure I am no longer a fan. Then season 3 came. I was bored. And then there was this hot mess.
This is beyond bored, this is... uncomfortable to watch in its sheer lack of point.
I am very sad for the talented actors wasted.

[PaulaO]

I fast forwarded thru various scenes so may have missed exactly why Mycroft allowed a 5 minute visit between Eurus and Moriarty?  She must have super special powers to mind bend Jim that quickly.  The only part I liked was the last few minutes.  This would have been a much better show if Gattis alone had written it.

[tankgirl73]

PaulaO -- she was helping British Intelligence. She'd look at tweets to find patterns and predict terrorist attacks because she's that smart, that sort of thing. In exchange, she requested "treats" apparently once a year. One year it was the violin. The next, 5 minutes with Moriarty. He was compelled to acquiesce in order to keep her cooperation for future Intelligence needs.

And yes, he was exceptionally dumb about that.

[Mrs Shibbles]

9 hours ago, Ellaria Sand said:

Ugh...I did not enjoy it. I wanted more "solving of mysteries" and not disturbing psycho torture/horror. It was like an episode of Black Mirror. 

l

My thoughts exactly/

[Amers]

So, I took it as was the master mind behind Moriarty the whole time. Which is why they showed us the pool, the water fall... because she was orchestrating all of it to mess with Sherlock. Is that not right? It feels like he was WAY to forgiving at the end if that's true. I mean, basically the majority of the show has been about him being mind screwed by Moriarty. 

 

And what was up with her saying Sherlock had had sex? With who?? Irene? 

[Chorusgirl]

This had to be the worst of not just the season but the series.  Mix the omnipotent villain of Jessica Jones with the senseless cruelty of Saw and why do I want to watch? The audience was the one who had to soldier through this mess.

[tanita]

IDK, this episode was mid-range in quality in my book. I'm shocked so many people hate it, but as they say "de gustibus non est disputandum".  If I had to rank them all :

A  Scandal in Belgravia (2.01)

The Reichenbach Fall (2.03)

The Sign of the Three (3.02)

The Lying Detective (4.02)

The Final Problem (4.03)

His Last Vow (3.03)

The Great Game (1.03)

A Study in Pink (1.01)

The Abominable Bride (4.00)

The Hound of Baskerville (2.02)

The Empty Hearse (3.01)

The Six Thatchers (4.01)

The Blind Banker (1.02)

Edited January 16, 2017 by tanita

[festivus]

9 hours ago, RandomMe said:

In theory I get what they were trying to do/reveal about Sherlock's personal growth with this episode, and the acting was certainly on point (I'll be watching it again just for nuances because that's what I do), but the plot structure and execution were a mess. On the whole, this trio of episodes gave me the same bell curve of feeling I got from reading The Hunger Games -- first one was decent enough but I was really hoping it got better, the second one was really engaging and fantastic and I was really amped up for the finale, and then the third one was this depressing slog and I missed the secondary characters more than anyone else. (YMMV about both those and these episodes.)

Yep, that's about right. I loved the second episode, it had some lovely character moments and the reveal of Eurus was truly intriguing. This episode was just a big ol' mess. I felt so let down at the end. The acting was great though so of course I'll watch again just for that.

I can handwave a lot in Sherlock but I had a problem with that explosion. At the very least there should have been some broken bones. Also, why would Eurus do that? I thought the whole point is that she wanted Sherlock to play her game and he could have easily died in that explosion. 

I thought the scene with Molly was the best one in the whole episode but there was no follow up with that at the end, just happy scenes. It left me feeling flat if this really is the end.

[HoodlumSheep]

I enjoyed this episode overall! It wasn't perfect, but I don't think it was bad by any means. I enjoyed it more than the six thatchers. TLD was definitely the strongest of the 3 eps and one of the best of the series. I still think TAB takes the cake for worst episode. :P

My complaints:

• Plotholes
• The super fake explosion straight out of the power rangers (and no one was hurt-they should have at least had scratches for crying out loud)
• the power of love saving the day. Pretty darn cheesy
• Molly's character. She's a sweetheart and deserves better, but at this point her character has basically become obsolete and serves no purpose on the show. They either need actually give her stuff to do or get rid of her. Preferably the former. 

What I liked:

• Moriarty is always a charmer
• Everyone's acting was up to snuff
• The redbeard stuff
• The ending/refocusing back on sherlock and john solving crimes by the look of it, even if it gave me the uneasy feeling of the show ending. 

I've never seen Saw, so I can't compare, but I agree that the crazy set-up of Eurus' games seemed something out of a B-slasher flick. Lol. 

Based on the entirety of this season, I'd rank it better than the 3rd series still, even if this season was sloppier than usual.