Sherlock Series 2: My Thoughts

So after a year and a half of waiting, Sherlock finally came back onto our screens this Year in three extended Episodes. After that jaw-dropping Cliffhanger to Series One I think we were all greatly looking forward to it's return, and it certainly didn't disappoint! We're only a month into 2012 and already I'm 100% certain that this is going in my Top Ten list for the Year. I wouldn't even be surprised if it ranked Number 1 either. These three so-called 'movies' topped anything that I saw last year (Doctor Who included) and probably this year as well. It was fantastic television in every second it occupied the screen. Here's my main thoughts on the 3 episodes: 


The first Episode 'A Scandal In Belgravia' aired on New Year's Day and was based off the great short story 'A Scandal In Bohemia' by Arthur Conan Doyle. As with the last Series, the Doctor Who show-runner Steven Moffat was on script duties here, and his penchant for crafting extremely witty but mind-boggingly complex tales were put to good use here, having based the story around Sherlock and his brief romance with Arene Adler. The resolution to the cliffhanger was audaciously cheeky, Moriarty's phone having gone off at the precise moment, just before Sherlock was going to pull the trigger (yes I do think he would have blown the place up). It could have been one of the worst cliffhanger resolutions ever, but they made the clever choice of making the B-Gee's song the ringtone for the phone, which instantly made it awesome and funny instead. I personally was expecting the Police to burst in and arrest Moriarty, revealing that one of the snipers was actually a cop but oh well: It was funny and unexpected, yet another moment in Moffat's scripts that tease the hell out of us but then pulled the carpet from under our feet at the last second *COUGH* Series Six *COUGH*. From then on it was fantastic: the Story, Cinematography, Performances and Plot merging together perfectly into a complex thriller that turned and twisted at every chance it could. The Character of Irene Adler is really well handled, and only at the Episode's end do you  find out whether she is in love with Sherlock, and the resolution to the phone's password was heartbraking. It's a shame her character was only in the one Episode though, because Lara Pulva's performance was simply stunning. Speaking of performances, the people that cast Sherlock should be given some sort of award, because there hasn't been ONE weak link all season. Everyone on Sherlock are fantastic, it truly is an acting tour-de-force, whether you're talking about Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Una Stubbs (Mrs Hudson) or Lara Pulva (Irene). So the story and the acting in this Episode was fantastic, but was there anything else fantastic here? Yep, two words: Cinematography, Music. Paul McGuigan returns to the Directors chair for this Episode and simply knocks any competition out of the water when it comes to visuals. Even when watching it on a normal T.V it looks stunning, and I can only imagine what it looks like in HD. The way the shots were filmed are frankly movie-quality, with no explosions, visual effects are action sequences in sight to spice up the appeal. For a show that's basically just people talking intellectually in different rooms for an hour-and-a-half, Sherlock makes it seem effortless in trying to capture that cinema feel. There's just something about the camera's and the style that makes everything pop. And the music? Again stunning, especially in the scene where Sherlock opens the door and figures out that Mrs Hudson has been captured by the CIA agents. It's just the perfect 'SHIT IS GOING TO GO DOWN' music, and every time they use it it raises the tension and suspense levels to almost astronomical levels. So as a recap, 'A Scandal in Belgravia' is amazing, and already became the highlight of the year despite the fact that it aired on the first day! Any negatives? A few, but they were far to insignificant to detract from my enjoyment of the Episode. The main ones were the constant use of the word 'Camera phone' which nobody says in today's world because EVERY PHONE HAS A CAMERA NOW and the CIA agents that as far as I can tell served no significance to the story and were just there to be a physical threat to the characters. Heck the Episode just forgets them half way through, with almost no mention of them again whatsoever! Another little niggle is the fact that when Sherlock does his deducing he's quite literally going at 400mph and it's almost impossible to retain all the information in one viewing. But then again I suppose his character is always one step ahead from everyone else so it kinda makes sense that you don't understand anything on your first viewing. 9,5/10. 


The second Episode 'The Hound of Baskerville' while not as good as the first one, is still really, really good. It's like comparing Batman Begins to The Dark Knight really, while one was really good, the other is fantastic and as a result it makes the other one look weak in comparison. Everything here is again top-notch, with great actors, great cinematography, a really moody soundtrack and a crackingly fun (if at times scary) script from Mark Gatiss, who weirdly enough plays Mycroft in the Series as well as being an executive Producer with Steven Moffat. The plot is a perfectly updated version of the Arthur Conan Doyle story 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' catching that perfect blend of old and new at the same time.  Oh and did I mention it was scary? Gatiss is a big fan of horror, and it shows more here than anything else he's done. At some points I was genuinely at the edge of my seat, particularly when Watson was trapped in the room with the supposed 'Hound'. It's also really funny at points, with the bromance between the two leads being the particular source of comedy. The acting was phenomenal, and I'm now quickly running out of adjectives to describe how good this stuff is: I've already used up fantastic, awesome and stunning! Oh dear, I'm going to have to get inventive pretty soon aren't I? So as I was saying, the performances were again phenomenal, Russell Tovey being the 'guest star' for this Episode, playing a much crazier version of Henry from the original Story. I really felt for him at the end, although his voice was a bit squeaky at times. The grim tone of the Episode was accentuated perfectly by the almost grey visuals of the moor, the fog during the night-time scenes being both atmospheric AND neatly addressed, as I was almost thinking 'Gosh, there's a bit to much fog in these scenes aren't there?'. Then there was the army base which was all flashy white lights and strobe flares, which made it seem like they had walked onto the set of a J.J Abrams movie (his movies have an enormous amount of lens flares in them). Very fitting if you think about it, what with Cumberbatch being cast as the villain in the next Star Trek movie, directed by J.J Abrams! The scene when Sherlock was accessing his 'memory palace' was also very Sci-Fi-y, Cumberbatch's movements matching perfectly with the graphically perfect on-screen display that was presented to us. It's a beautiful Episode, more-so than the last one in my opinion, simply because the locations allowed for a lot of contrast between scenes. So 'The Hound Of Baskerville' gets a 8,5/10 rating from me, the only negatives being that the CGI hound looked rubbish and the villain was SO CLEARLY telegraphed from the start. 


The last Episode 'The Reichenbach Fall' is quite possibly the best thing I've seen in years, ramping everything up to ten and giving us one hell of an ending. It's like cramming everything into one room and then throwing away the key! I mean where do I start? Everything is so god-damned perfect that I'd almost wondered if I'd died and gone to heaven half-way through watching it. The Story, based off 'The Final Problem' and written by Steve Thompson (who as a writer has had a rather bad reputation, writing episodes like 'The Curse Of The Black Spot' and the 'meh' episode that was 'The Blind Banker' from Series One), is basically the final confrontation between Sherlock and Moriarty. In the original version Sherlock escapes several assassination attempts from Moriarty, but bumps into him at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland to have a duff up which results with them both jumping into the waterfall and tumbling to their deaths. Of course Sherlock survived, but that was only because the public at large pleaded at Arthur Conan Doyle to write another story about him (it was intended to be Holmes last story). In the updated modern version (aka THIS episode) Reichenbach is the name of the case that made Sherlock an internet phenomenon and the so-called 'Fall' is both the Fall of his reputation and the actual fall that kills him. So the Episode uses these expectations to it's advantages and runs with it, single-handedly making Moriarty the best villain Sherlock has ever faced. The script is just choc-full of these brilliant moments that all revolve around Moriarty and Sherlock. It's amazing to see Moriarty's scheme come to fruition, just the way he brought everything about Sherlock's life and crushed it in one-fell swoop was incredible to observe. And Thompson had balls to write that ending the way he did, making us all believe that this was the perfect end to a perfect series. It felt final in the way it handled everything and I applaud him for that. The acting though? There aren't enough awards in the world to bestow upon these people, they're that fantastic. Andrew Scott as Moriarty has truly a break-out role, he's equal parts terrifying, evil genuis and camp all at the same time. The scene at the beginning when he was breaking into the Tower of London just showed how awesome his character was. The line 'No Rush' is an instant classic as far as I'm concerned! While some say he is only a lick of the lips away from being the Joker in The Dark Knight, they clearly haven't been watching Doctor Who because that guy would make the perfect Master. Benedict Cumberbatch just knocks it out of the park and into the galaxy as Holmes, even more so than previous instalments, and watching him turn into a human was spell bindingly good telly, his goodbye to John over the phone heart wrenchingly powerful. So what happens when you put Moriarty in a room with Sherlock Holmes? F*CKING mesmerizing telly, that's what! Who gives a crap about the plot, I could listen to Moriarty and Sherlock having a conversation all after-F*CKING-noon! Martin Freeman's acting chops were also put to good use to, John Watson barely managing to restrain his emotions until the very end, when it all came flooding out. Just give these actors all of the awards in the world will you? And you know what? Not even THAT would do them justice! The Music puts to good use that epic theme from 'A Scandal In Belgravia', every moment made even more powerful by that beautiful thundering score. And the beginning of the Episode is a case study on how well classical music mixes in with Live Action. Ugh, I'm practically drooling at the mouth now over my love for this episode! In the end it all fits everything together perfectly, but just a shame that it's the last we'll see of Moriarty. Well okay, he could have easily faked his death just like Sherlock did (and with considerably less effort), the problem is that if they do bring him back then everything that made this Episode great is going to get ignored, because the impact we got thinking that this was the end for them both made the Episode THAT MUCH MORE awesome. If ultimately nothing changes after this Story, if both Moriarty and Sherlock are still alive after this then the Episode will lose alot of it's impact, and that's something that I don't want to happen. BUT having just said that, I do want to see more of Moriarty because the actor playing him is just so FREAKING GOOD! Anyway back to the subject of Sherlock's death, just how did he do it? Well luckily I came across this nifty video online that explains the whole thing rather neatly: 

I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT SERIES. 10/10.