Sherlock - The Great Game

Okay, I guess quite many people are screaming like crazy now for the last ten minutes or so of the last episode in this current run of Sherlock. I did my fair share of screaming too - at Sherlock not making decisions in a certain way. I am guessing he is not really a sociopath after all.

Last frame, almost literally

There is probably no point discussing how the story goes. There are a lot of references to several stories of Sherlock Holmes, which is a nice touch, and I have to admit that the writer is definitely a big fan of Holmes. But that's really not the point of this episode, really. By the second bomber case, I assume most viewers realized that these small cases were just a distraction from the actual national defense stolen intel case. By that time, it's just the matter of "what will happen at the end?". And that's where all my screaming - serious, actual screaming - came from.

The scene: Sherlock came to meet Moriarty with Watson being strapped in a full-suit bomb. Things happened, etc, etc. The outside scene in my viewing room: me screaming like a mad woman "pleaseeee freaking shoot him in the head!" and "Would u guys just shut up?!!" and "please shut the f-ck up already and freaking shoot him!!" and finally, right before the ending "please freaking shoot that f-cking bomb!!!". OK, it's probably very obvious what state of mind I was in.

What was I expecting? Did I think Sherlock would actually shoot? Seriously, would he do that before the end? Surely my brain knew that he wouldn't. This is the end of the 3-part miniseries. They hope to do more of this, no way they are going to actually do anything dramatic. It's just the threat that they aimed for, not the actual act itself. Oh gosh, now I kidda hate the fact that they want to do more of this. With this kind of ending, they surely will get out of this in a not-quite-so-gracious way. They surely couldn't write Sherlock actually shoot the bomb at the beginning of the next series, and kill of all the main characters. At the same time, he cannot shoot and result in no one dying. That would be real stupid, unrealistic and completely lame. So something else must happen instead, possibly with some intervention from someone else, Mycroft, maybe? But that won't be cool, would it?

Of course, I wouldn't want Sherlock to die. What would my dear Watson do? Oh well, dying along side like the way the ending "suggests" doesn't look so bad really. In fact, I would really love that ending. Just blow the whole thing up to the kingdom comes and everybody dies. LoL (okie, I guess I am the sadistic one) But they surely will NOT do that. So the next best thing is for the next series, first episode, to be the one that Watson keeps remimising about Sherlock being dead, just to find out later toward the end that he's actually safe and sound (see The Adventure of the Empty House, for what I am talking about). Guess that means I am still a bit sadistic like my first choice, but it's not as psycho, I hope :P

Well, if they don't have the next series, this is surely a great ending. But with the expectation of the next series, the ending of Great Game becomes troublesome. How would they get out of this, really?(*) I am almost certain that it is not going to be great.

PS. The pic up there is the last we see of Sherlock's face. So, did he shoot? (me answering, of course!)

PS2. I now call Holmes "Sherlock" but still call Dr. Watson "Watson". Strange.

PS3. My most favorite Sherlock Holmes story is the Sign of Four - because it's the most fun, imo.

(*) There has been a suggestion on a review blog that Sherlock pointing the gun at the bomb is more like a threat shown to all the snipers, who may not be so loyal to Moriarty. By threathening to blow the whole place up, snipers may leave them alone. OK, that sounds quite nice and definitely something I cannot think of - given my psychotic nature that prefer shoot to kill rather than shoot for survival. But maybe I couldn't possibly have thought of that reason because I always thought of the ending in the Final Problem and the Moriarty's right hand man in The Adventure of the Empty House, who was a sniper, - that guy was very loyal to Moriarty, as I interpreted. I guess for me it's like Holmes gotta have a fetal encounter with Moriarty. Only that he should have sent Watson away like in the Final Problem. THAT was sweet of him. lol

At any rate, that line of reasoning suggested on that blog provides quite a nice way out of the cliff-hanger they put themselves in. I would like that as a solution for the beginning of the next series. Something plausible, not fully logically sound but acceptable. It will do just fine.

Sherlock - A Study in Pink

Being a book-fan of Sherlock Holmes and a geek who greatly adores Steven Moffat, I couldn't help getting a bit quite hived up about the BBC new mini-series Sherlock. It is supposedly an update version of Sherlock Holmes - Holmes in 2010, which i have to admit did not sound so great when I first heard about it. But then, I would definitely vote against seeing one of my favorite actors - Martin Freeman - in a 19th century setting, so a 21th century it is then.



I kidda half expected Sherlock to be a good show. Definitely anticipated it to be an enjoyable one since Mr. Moffat is responsible for it. So, on Monday afternoon, I found myself searching the internet quite relentlessly, looking for "A Study in Pink" the first episode of Sherlock, which is an update version of the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet. And since lately BBC is so efficient at deleting all famous BBC shows on youtube, it was so darn frustrating before I finally found a complete 90-minute episode of the show that day. But oh mine, the result of that long search was just (to quote Wolfe) an absolute satisfactory. Half into the episode, I was surprised to find myself giggling and beaming with a widest smile - something that hasn't happened to me while watching a television show for oh I don't know how long. I was "excited", if that's the right word to explain it. It was an excitement in a pretty childish way. Funny how hard this emotion can come around for me. The writing was funny and thrilling, the story was great-pacing, the visual was fantastically cheeky, that guy who played Sherlock was just wonderfully "Holmes", and my dear sweet Dr. Watson was... oh well, i am going to be biased on that, ain't i? but who cares..lol. So, my dear sweet Watson was still the reason why I love Sherlock Holmes. The whole thing just created this sensation of child-like happiness in me. What a wonderful time that was ^^

By the way, i really liked the way they put Mycroft (whom I just found out played by the co-creator and another writer of the Show, Mark Gratiss.. take that for a real surprise.. lol) as a member of british government and a secret service, mostly British but occasionally freelancing for CIA...haha. So there goes the not-like-to-do-anything elder brother of Sherlock as I recall. It should be fun to see how they play with this in the future stories. How useful it will be for Sherlock to have a brother who actually can do more stuffs than just solving difficult puzzles for him. Well, there are only two more left that they have done. And to tell the truth, I am not expecting any of them to be as much fun as this one, not having Moffat being the main writer is mostly why. But at least, the series should continue to be real chick. The 21th century Holmes and Watson will definitely be a joy to watch. Can't wait till the next Monday.. if I can find a place to see the next episode that is..lol.

PS. Gotta wait till Oct 24 before this show arrives the US on PBS. But it's PBS, so no commercials and no interuptions, like the way I could have watched on BBC One. Hoorah!