His Last Vow Review

I really didn't see the bit about the vaults coming. I suspected from the beginning of the episode that Magnussen was using a memory technique similar to Sherlock. However, I was under the impression that he had most of his information kept in the vault. It really threw me off when they showed him sitting in the vaults watching the video of John being dragged out of the fire. I thought he was watching a YouTube video on a computer monitor. It turns out he was simply remembering information from before.

Since The Empty Hearse, it was really obvious that something was off with Mary. The first clue was that she recognized skip code. The second was that Sherlock deduced far more about her than he does with average person. That seemed to suggest she was a very complicated person with intelligence training. Perhaps that she had multiple identities running simultaneously. Her short haircut seemed to suggest some sort of military lifestyle. I was actually under the impression she was hired by somebody to get close to John and Sherlock and spy on them. It turns out she was simply running from her past.

It was interesting to see inside Sherlock's mind palace again. It turns out there's more people in there than just him and Mycroft. Different people voice different types of information. Molly voices medical knowledge, while Anderson voices forensics. Mycroft is still the voice of reason and logic. I'm still not seeing a physical layout to the palace. The mind palace technique involves associating information with physical objects stored in an imaginary location. Once you find the object, you can find the information associated with it. I supposed the location doesn't have to be a real one, so it's possible Sherlock has hodgepodged together several different rooms and structures into one.

I didn't see the ending coming at all. I knew Sherlock would do something to fulfill his vow to protect John and Mary, but I thought that he would simply fail at it. In the books, Mary dies, so I was under the impression that she would get killed off in this episode (Moffat did say somebody would die). I certainly wasn't expecting Sherlock to shoot and kill Magnussen. Moriarty's return certainly did surprise me, although I'm not certain it's genuine. There's the possibility someone is going to masquerade as Moriarty in series 4 before being finally revealed as someone else. Then again, Sherlock and Moriarty may have simply fake suicided at each other.

I'm anxious to see how Moriarty hacked into every screen in the UK. My personal theory (as an engineering student) is that he lied when he told Sherlock the key code didn't exist. He actually did have a program that could hack any computer in existence, but he simply convinced Sherlock that it was a lie. It's either that, or he has a Doctor Who-style omcom and next season will see WhoLock.

The Sign of Three Review

This episode was the funniest out of three seasons, though I'm not sure if that was intentional. First there was the bit with Lestrade leaving an urgent bank robbery to rescue Sherlock and it turn out he needs help writing a best man's speech. Then there was the whole scene with John and Sherlock drunk in the flat. I liked "clueing for looks", the literal "elephant in the room", and the midget "poison giant".

We've learned a couple of things about Sherlock's mind palace. First, it's not 221B or the entire city of London as some fans have speculated. It appears to be the Parliament building. Second, Mycroft is there as the voice that makes deductions. I suppose that makes sense, because Mycroft is the older brother and probably taught Sherlock to make deductions.

One interesting thing about this episode was the majority of it consisted of Sherlock's best man speech, despite the fact that we was numerous bits in 221B, Buckingham Palace, and around London. All of that was described by Sherlock to a room full of people, including the drunk bits, Molly saying she has "lots of sex" with her boyfriend, and John talking without Sherlock actually being present. One can only imagine how Sherlock described that in his usual straight-to-the-point manner and how everyone reacted.

There didn't seem to be any references to Magnussen. When they introduced Moriarty in series 1, he was mentioned in every episode. Magnussen has only been mentioned in 1 of 2 so far. I suspect they'll go for the same cliffhanger ending that they did in series 1, though I may be wrong. Magnussen may only be a one-season villain, but it seems unlikely that he won't get at least a mention in series 4.

His Last Vow Promo Pics

Promo pics for the finale of Sherlock series 3.

His Last Vow Trailer

Trailer for the final episode of Sherlock series 3.

The Empty Hearse Review

This episode was not as good as some of the ones in the past.

Sherlock's behavior towards John when they first met seemed rather antagonizing. Sherlock can be rather insensitive, but he was being downright rude towards John when he was visibly upset. Sherlock does care about John, and it doesn't make sense that he would go making off-color remarks about John's mustache when he's obviously angry at Sherlock. I mean, even Sherlock knows it's not good to have your friends angry at you. It almost seemed like he was doing it on purpose.

John being kidnapped and almost killed is definitely part of this season's story arc. Charles Magnussen (the villain for this season) was definitely behind it. It remains to be seen whether he will be a single season villain, or a two season one like Moriarty. I'm guessing his reason for kidnapping John was to show Sherlock what he was capable of and that he can kill them at any time.

One thing I don't understand was who the villain was. It was stated to be an "underground terrorist network", but Lord Moran (the guy with his finger on the trigger) was stated to be working for North Korea. It could be stated-sponsored terrorism, but I wish they would be a little more clear on who this guy is working for.

I really don't like the timing of when they explained how Sherlock actually did it. They used a flashback (or flashforward, it's hard to tell) right in the middle of a high-tension scene. I would have much preferred to wait until John and Sherlock weren't about to be killed in order to find out how he survived.

I'll have to admit that Sherlock's plan was a lot more elaborate than I thought. I didn't really have my own theory on how he did it, but I didn't think it would involve 25 homeless people, several Doctors, and MI5. That seems like an awful lot of people to have in on the plan, which would increase the risk of a leak. Also, the fact that they closed off the entire street would make it even more obvious that something was going on. I mean, how did John not realize that his taxi was entering what was an otherwise blocked-off street?

I'm pretty sure the timing of the media clearing Sherlock's name was not coincidental. Mycroft must have given them that information when he knew Sherlock was wrapping up with Moriarty's network and would be returning to London. He simply arranged that so Sherlock wouldn't be harassed and discredited when he returned.

Synopsis for His Last Vow

The BBC have released the synopsis for the final episode of series 3, His Last Vow.

A case of stolen letters leads Sherlock Holmes into a long conflict with Charles Augustus Magnussen, the Napoleon of blackmail, and the one man he truly hates.

But how do you tackle a foe who knows the personal weakness of every person of importance in the Western world?