Written by Mark Gatiss
Well
it has been two years since Sherlock jumped off that building and has been
thought to be dead by the person he associates with and that includes his best
friend John Watson. Now that he has
returned from the dead and being away from London for two years to shut down
Moriarty’s network Sherlock has returned.
In two years things have changed and people have gotten on with their
lives and how will they react to Sherlock returning to their lives. Well it has indeed been a long time since
Sherlock has been on television and The Empty Hearse has been one of the most
anticipated stories for a long time. Did
the resolution to how Sherlock faked his death satisfactory and what about the
story itself which fans have waited two years for did it stand up to all the
hoopla surrounding it?
Well
yes and no. The Empty Hearse didn’t have the feel of a typical Sherlock
episode. It just didn’t seem like the
mystery was all there. Sherlock comes
back to stop a terrorist attack and he just seems to stumble into finding it
out. After he reconciles with John the
pair seem to hunt for a subway car that is missing and could be a bomb. What they discover is that it is a bomb and
that Sherlock does not know how to disarm it.
But what this scenario really does is get Watson to admit he isn’t
really mad at Sherlock any more. What
seemed to be a letdown is that the bomb was disabled by an off switch. This part of the story just wasn’t as good
as the previous six stories. It just
seemed to be anticlimactic and was pretty much a throw away sequence which only
accomplished the reconciliation of the two friends and hopefully things will be
more like Sherlock of old in the mystery department.
What
I did like was seeing all the theories of how Sherlock could have faked his
death. My favorite one was with the mask
of Sherlock on Moriarty and Sherlock bungee cord diving into the window and
kissing Molly goodbye. What has me
wondering is did we actually see how he did it?
It did seem to be hinted at that we would not know even when he told Anderson. Even still this was a pretty clever way that
they did it and it keeps you guessing.
I’m sure the way it happened was how he told it to Anderson and how many
spotted the Doctor Who reference when Sherlock activated the plan. The code word was Lazarus the same character
Mark Gatiss played in The Lazarus Experiment.
I wonder how many of the fans deduced how he did it and got it correct.
I
did like how Sherlock revealed to Watson he was back and not dead. It was pretty clever seeing him disguise
himself as a waiter and then making the reveal.
But you did have to feel for Watson because it was at the point that he
was going to propose to Mary. What was
funny was how long Watson kept it together before he started punching Sherlock.
I think I would have punched him the minute he revealed himself. Also like the two other attacks Watson did to
Sherlock at two different restaurants with my favorite being the head butt.
This part of the story was good seeing how the two friends were getting along
without each other. We see Sherlock
spending the day with Molly investigating crimes and we see Watson being
incredibly bored at his practice. I
liked this part of the story and would not mind if the story took on this for
the most part of the story with the conclusion being Sherlock and Mary saving
Watson at the bonfire. Then they could
be wondering who did it and that could have been a good set up for the rest of
the series.
After
being away for two years it was really good to see Sherlock again. The Empty Hearse gave us a glimpse of
Sherlock that we have not seen before actually showing emotion and being
pleasant to those he works with. The
fact he gave Molly a kiss is something and the fact he realized he missed his
chance with her is something we have not seen and we see more of this when he
is talking with Mycroft later on while playing deductions. We see a resolution to what happened two
years ago and now the gang is back together again. The Empty Hearse was entertaining if somewhat
not up to standards in the mystery department but that does not really detract
from what was the main focal point of the episode which was the reconciliation
of the old friends and how much they need each other more than they are willing
to let on. The Empty Hearse was a
triumphant return for Sherlock and hopefully the mystery will be more prominent
in the next two stories.
Grade
B +
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