The wait is almost over! Sherlock Series 4!

[CaveMum]

So excited! I couldn't wait for tomorrow to start a thread

Ok watched it now.
the whole thing was saved by the performance of the cast as is usual
with Moffat's programmes IMO, Matk Gatiss has finally given Mycroft a personality which was a nice change and I thought Sherlock rescuing Euros at the end in her bedroom was quite touching really.
It could have been done in half the time and without most of the torture/games though.
Wtf that whole thing was with Molly I have no idea - I don't think they really like the character at all!
Definite shades of Heaven Sent with Peter Capaldi - the psychological torture and messing around with timelines is something Moffat actually does very well.
Not bad overall but if they do a series 5 then normal detectiving would be lovely!

They don't like women at all. That's one of the many problems.

Still doesn't answer any of the questions about the serial killer and his daughter in the previous episode?

I liked it very much bar the final denouement which felt tired although I suspected it was coming (little girl personality). The start with the film, clown and faceless girl shat me up. The bit that made me think the whole episode was indeed worth it was the shooting scene between siblings. That was moving. The sister being a multiple /split personality psychopath who killed a boy out of friendlessness/jealousy was harder to take.
If I look at the whole thing it may well unravel.

I used to live in Tenby. St Catherine's island has its own fb page and has apologised about Sherlock!

"Island looked as good as ever, shame about the film"

It was an utter bag o'shite.

'My Baker Street Boys'. Utterly pathetic.

Did they forget that Watson was chained to the bottom of the well as they got so carried away with their own self-importance?

Bag O'Shite.

The chain was unnecessary too, they could've just had him try and fail to climb out as it was so deep and slippery.

It was a pantomime horror show for me. I gave up at 10pm, but the kids filled me in.

The opening scene was good although I draw the line at the bleeding portrait eyes... and who wore the little girl & clown suits?? TV drama needs a rebirth of slow deep suspense and atmosphere. I'm bored of explosions, morally tortured emotional upheavals & bromance.

Why didn't John use the execution gun to shoot thru the glass? They knew they couldn't trust a word she said. Shoot her talking screen ideally. Talk about missed opportunity to disrupt. The plot holes drive me insane. Is action TV drama supposed to be comic book level realistic now?

Crazy (emotionally-tortured) people can't organise themselves out of paper bag never mind spend weeks and years orchestrating complicated conspiracies or hypnotising everyone into cooperation or playing personalities. If planet-sized brain & sane enough to run a huge conspiracy, why would you torture your siblings rather than go cure cancer, get rich, make the most amazing astrophysics discoveries? Hannibel Lector was so much better; he didn't mind-control anybody just made them terrified of their own weakness.

Once, Sherlock had just an ordinary chemistry degree. Back when our heroes were allowed to be a touch ordinary, and not all Superman amazing powerful.

YY to pp "saved by the cast"
Liked most of it but some of it (little boy in well, seeming obsession with tying ppl up) I found distasteful.
Some of it ridiculous (escaping unscathed from the grenade, and the chains made of liquorice)
And I find the Mary character with her "baker street boys fanclub" performance irksome and inappropriate. (Also, too much grinning and bobbing about of the head from her Imo)
I love molly.
Fuck me Sherlock is hot.

I think it's a shame Mary had the last word (and what a cheesy last word!)

I like Mary but surely Watson should have the last word in voiceover, if anything!

"- only that was more believable..."

And more awesome, RussT. With a better redemption arc.

Off topic - Rachel tallalay directed The Six Thatchers as well as Heaven Sent.

Those complaining about Watson being chained up: they don't have the time to show every little detail of his rescue!

To my mind the rope was dropped to lower someone in to cut the chains and Watson held on to it to keep his head above the water before being pulled up.

At the end of the day, it's not real life! There are going to be elements where you have to suspend your disbelief (surviving that explosion/fall for example), but come on! It's entertainment TV, it's not proclaiming itself to be a true-life documentary!

How did they get from the island to the house and I thought the house had burnt down?

At the end of the day, it's not real life!

Well if course not but it did seem to end like it was being written by a 10 year old who just realised that it was nearly playtime.

'And then they all went to the island and John got stuck in a well and Sherlock solved a puzzle and got John out of the well and the little girl wasn't real. Then they all went home and had a bath and had beans on toast for tea. Then their mum let them watch the A team before they went to bed'

No. It's not real life.
But there is a requirement for enough "reality" to aid one's suspension of disbelief surely.
OK, I buy the chains thing though, that works for me.

• alternatively: 'and then they woke up.'

'Fuck me Sherlock is hot'

This x 1000. Shaven, unshaven, high, not high - I'm not fussy. So long as he's wearing the hell out of one of his lovely suits. And the coat, oh god the coat. Must stop now 😊

Thought Moriarty had a great entrance last night (ahem). Very disappointing that his big bad demented sister just wanted a cuddle from her brother in the end. FFS.

And I wasn't as irritated by Mary's character as most of you were, but even I groaned when she popped up AGAIN at the end. Her 'Baker Street Boys' monologue was total cringe. I kind of hope that it is the end for Sherlock because they're clearly out of ideas and it's just become totally daft

'his sister' in my previous post means Sherlock, not Moriarty btw

Moriarty getting off tge helicopter to Queen was, as I said earlier my highlight. Adore him and rather heartbroken that it looks like he's really dead!

Well I gave up with 20mins to go. I was really tired and I was getting more and more irritated with the self indulgent rubbish that I thought I'd better get to bed and give it another chance this evening. It was like Crystal Maze meets the Hunger Games with a bit of Bond explosions thrown in. Got really encouraged when moriarty flew in in great style in the helicopter before I realised he was the Christmas present from 5 years earlier . I will watch the last 20 min later but from I gather from reading the comments here it didn't improve.

I also found Gatiss response to criticism of this series really really arrogant, telling people who can't follow it to go back and read children's stories. Eh no! how about listening to your critics and stop being so self indulgent and go back to the elements of Sherlock that got us hooked in the first place: the great crime solving episodes that spun you round and kept you guessing and wondering. This series wasn't hard to follow just rubbish.

Fuck me Sherlock is hot

Yes indeed. I enjoyed it, but agree that the torturing Sherlock bit went on too ling and the Mary bit at the end was annoying. But I never liked her anyway.

What I've liked about this series is the way that they've developed Sherlock's character actually. He has become more compassionate and less prickly but in a reasonably convincing way, compatible with his recent experiences and the influence of having people he's actually learnt to care about. But without losing his essential Sherlockness. The previous series felt like it was beginning to make him into something he wasn't.

What a crock of old shite that was!

Oh, they've totally gone character driven this series!

Andrew Scott is excellent at moriarty. Clean shaven Sherlock for me.

Though why mycroft would let Sherlock go alone to euros given all the fuss about people speaking to her, I don't know!

"they don't have the time to show every little detail of his rescue!"

I suspect the chain removal was left on the cutting room floor for time (did the cinema people get an extra 10 mins?) but IMO show runners do have a responsibility to make sure things still make sense afterwards.

Where does Christmas Day five years ago put the moriarty visit in the show timeline? Pre season 2?

Overall, I can accept it for a piece of fantastical drama and I love the cast. DH and I both got a bit bored in the middle when it turned into Saw and became slow moving. Far too much dialogue. But then it picked up by the end.

Sherlock's personality has changed so much. He's now all sensitive and it feels strange.

I think the writers created Euros to be SO clever and SO evil that they didn't really know where to go with it. They built her up so much and I expected a really clever, mind blowing story, but it just turned into X-Men or batman where people were invincible and she was like a cartoon character.

Oh well, fingers crossed for another instalment as it wasn't bad but also not as good as I would have hoped.

Disappointing to hear that Mark Gatiss is being shitty with people for criticising this series. I guess I can understand that if you've poured your heart and soul into something then it must hurt to hear that some people were less than impressed. I don't understand why people said they couldn't follow it though, unless it was your first ever Sherlock episode, in which case fair enough!