Sherlock is Back...

... and now it's gone again.

Damn the British series style... Why do they only do three-90 minute episodes per series, which incidentally only comes once every one and a half year. What the hell?!?

Anyway, not really here right now to bitch about the pro and con of US vs UK drama series culture. I am here to talk about Sherlock. The second series that is.

I guess if I have the time and the mood, I would go over all episodes like I did in the last series. But for now, let's just go with a quick sum-up.

Absolutely Brilliant, totally over-the-top first episode, I-guess-it-was-good-but-I-was-a-bit-indifferent second episode, and emotionally scary third episode. Gotta admit I haven't fully watched the third one yet. Heard it's for the kill... not for a weak heart. -- that would be me, then. :P

The last one. They said it was gut-wrenching. Very VERY sad. But as it turned out, it was not as devastating like I thought it would be.

Of course, it's the story of the Reichenbach Fall. The story that really got me from the original ACD stories. Not many occasions we would see Holmes cares. In that one, he does.

I guess this new telly one is similar. Except that this one does it in a way that shows explicitly that Sherlock cares. I mean, the whole shabang of Moriaty asking Sherlock to commit suicide otherwise he would kill his friends (I guess it's John, mainly, that counts significantly, but we also see how much Sherlock cares about Mrs Hudson in the Scandal in Belgravia). Having that spoken out-loud is probably too non-romantic for my taste... but I guess i was hoping too much for a non-explicit man-love. It's probably not how it goes these days.

Cut the story short. We ended up with the above shots. The scenario in which John had to witness Sherlock commit suicide. Come now... that was just cruel.. even for the standard of Sherlock, seriously.

Of course, lots of things (especially all minor this-and-that) are left to interpretations. With Sherlock begging John to fix his eyes on him - saying good bye - and then jumped off the rooftop.. that is just heart-wrenching. Poor old Watson. Seriously, does he deserve this?

OK. I guess it's me taking Watson's side (as always) again. It's probably very nice of Sherlock in doing so. I mean, he technically "died" for Watson, right? But still, I always, and I mean ALWAYS, think this part is cruel. It was cruel in the book and it is cruel here.

With Benedict C. performance, it does lessen down my anger on Sherlock quite substantially. I mean, the poor guy did cry and his voice tremble so pitifully in his last phone call. Surely, John knew something wasn't right. And somehow that softens the whole thing down a bit. But the last scene with John asking Sherlock to 'not be dead' for him... I mean, saying that, in words,.. could you please do that for me?.. 'just for me'... That brought me back to the "I-don't-agree-with-this-method" camp right away.

I gather the ending is sad for many people, even though Sherlock is not really dead, because the two characters end up not being together. They are alone, lonely, again. And I think for someone in their positions, becoming apart or being alone again must be wretched. It must be really cruel to find someone that you can finally share your lives with (and I mean it in the most straight way possible) and then having to be apart. And in John's case, he believe it is the life-time.. it's that he will never see Sherlock again. Anyhow, I can imagine (partially) that it must be hard for Sherlock as well. For someone not used to caring for someone, and having to see the person you care about being sad.. and I mean REALLY sad. It must be torturing.. or at least, i think it should be torturing for him.

In the book there is a good reason for Holmes letting Watson cried over and become miserable over his fake death. It is important for Watson to appear convincingly sad and depressed and totally convinced that Holmes was dead in order to keep Watson safe.

I just hope it's the same for the series. Faking your death in order to save your friend from having his head blown out is probably generally acceptable. But keeping your friend, your love one, miserable and wretched over your fake grave is NOT acceptable in every way I see it.

Seriously, I hope he has a good reason for it.. not just to try to get away from attentions. Because for only that, I really do hope Sherlock has a much better, more sensible method in dealing with the problem.