Sherlock Series 3 Review

I reviewed the first episode of Series 3: The Empty Hearse here, but decided to hold judgement on the second episode until I had seen the whole series. I still think Sherlock is miles ahead of any other TV show these days and the episodes weren't too bad, but I am disappointed with this third series in general.

As always, beware the SPOILERS

World-Building: Great, but not up to Sherlock standard
Characterization: Lacking
Plot: Decent in Episode 3, but still not completely satisfying

What I really don't like about series 3 is that it tries to humanize Sherlock. It tries to make him a sympathetic character and make us feel sorry for him. It tries to get us "inside his mind" through the stupid "mind-palace" sequences. It's as if the writers weren't watching the first two series of the show when they made this.

And yes, I do watch Sherlock for the detective stories and the mystery solving. The internet is exploding with comments basically telling us that we're stupid if that's why we tuned into Sherlock because that's not what it's about: it's about Sherlock and Watson and their relationship and so forth. Again, go watch the first two series. You may have heartily enjoyed the relationship between Sherlock and John Watson, but that relationship was never the focus and it was held up by very strong mystery/detective plot-lines in each episode. The cases they solved were the backbone and focus and the relationship happened in the sidelines.

Going back to Sherlock's characterization for a minute: Sherlock was interesting as a character because he was rude and convinced of his superior intellect. He was never nice. We didn't like him because we felt sorry for him and his poor dog redbeard or whatever... what is that even? With all the little redbeard hints being thrown around I thought it was some deep, dark devastating secret and then it turns out to be the fact that he had a dog he liked and it died... seriously? Can we go back to the crime solving now?

Now, the second episode included a couple of mysteries and the third one centered around the case with Magnussen, but let's be honest. They weren't well-plotted, they weren't really the focus, and there was very little of the Sherlock Holmes fast-paced detection to be found. I think the Guardsman case and the Magnussen story could have been awesome, but they never reached Series 1&2 episode potentials because of the all the mind-palace nonsense, the flashbacks, and the lack of any proper characters who aren't Sherlock and John.

Even Mary, who was supposed to be a focus of this season, wasn't really properly developed. Just the word liar floating around her head was supposed to prepare us for her sudden reveal as a former assassin? Why weren't there any other hints? Why didn't we see her doing anything else suspicious? Why didn't Sherlock try to figure out what the lie was and what she was up to? He apparently saw fit to interrogate every single wedding guest, so why didn't he investigate Mary? To be honest, although her acting was excellent I don't really care about Mary. Where was Lestrade? Where was Donovan?

Also, something that only just occurred to me: the whole John Watson is only attracted to sociopaths and psychopaths... River Song anyone?

Like I said at the top of this review, this series wasn't terrible, but it wasn't up to Sherlock standards and that's a little sad. I guess we'll have to keep re-watching those excellent episodes in series 1 & 2 to see real detective stories for now. I'll still watch series 4 if and when it ever comes on, but I won't have high hopes.