The more I think about this episode, the more problems I find with it, and that’s worrying.I believe the main problem of this season was that Sherlock, was trying not to be Sherlock but rather a James Bond flick. There was something off about season four as a whole due to this new tone. It was less about solving the cases and more about how much action the writers wanted to fit into a movie length episode. Action isn’t always bad of course, look at all the popular comic book movies out. But that’s the problem, the show’s trying to be a comic book or James Bond instead of being the unique show that it was back in the first two seasons. Sure, Sherlock has been done countless of times, but the modern twist on the stories was new and exciting to watch.
In this episode, however, it was less about crime solving and more about Sherlock and Mycroft dealing with their deranged sister who can mind-control people. . .somehow. Yeah, it’s never clearly explained how she was able to control an entire maximum security facility, nor how she was able to escape said facility that’s out in the middle of an ocean. Those questions kept running through my mind through out the episode. I wanted to enjoy watching the character, but the plot holes were distracting.
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Another thing that bothered me about the episode was characterization, specifically Mycroft and Molly. Mycroft was always stern and had his guard up, but in this episode he acted cowardly in the face of danger and it wasn’t like him. It just seemed like an excuse to show that Eurus was the smartest out of the Holmes, but it didn’t work. As for Molly, she barely played a role this season and her biggest part was being forced to confess her love to Sherlock. Molly deserved better than just being shoehorned in for that scene which in the end, didn’t matter since Molly was never in any danger. Afterwards, she appears for a mere second and that’s it. The writers said that Molly will simply get over what happened, and I think that’s a really dumb way to conclude that plot line.
The highlight of these episodes have been the actors performances. Despite that I had issues with the Sherlock/Molly scene, the acting was really well done and I did get tensed up. I thought this was one of Benedict Cumberbatch’s best episodes. He really nailed the emotional moments, especially when remembering who Redbeard was. Even though I didn't care much for the episode, the actors once again carried the story along despite that it doesn't make sense sometimes. Here’s hoping that if there's a season five, the focus will turn back to crime drama instead of family drama.
