Well here it is Sunday night, and I find myself very depressed that there is no Sherlock to look forward to watching tonight. The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. We waited for months and months for Sherlock Season 4 to finally premiere, and after just three short weeks it is already gone. The last few weeks have been riveting, which makes the absence all that much more severe. The 4th season of Sherlock did not disappoint, in fact I think these last two episodes were some of the most brilliant that Sherlock has ever done.
Following the unexpected and tragic death of Mary Watson, as seen in the season premiere, Episode 2 showed us a version of Sherlock and John who are again very estranged. The last time we saw them this distant was when Sherlock faked his own death. But this is different. There is an even darker and more sorrowful element to it, as the woman who in many ways kept them together and bridged their personality divide is gone. They both loved her very much, in a very different way. Sherlock feels extreme guilt over not keeping his promise to protect her, and John feels extreme anger towards Sherlock for much the same thing, not to mention that she died saving his life. The episode opens with John grieving deeply and even seeking out therapy. Conversely we find Sherlock dealing with his grief in a much different way as he delves back into his drug addiction. What we don’t know until the very end of the episode is that part of Sherlock’s drug addiction is in fact his intense and sincere desire to follow Mary’s advice from the grave. After she was killed a cd was delivered in which she told Sherlock that he would need to save John Watson–from himself. John would not ask for help, and he would push others way. But if he felt that Sherlock needed him to save him–really and truly needed him, he would be there. But it can’t be fake, it needs to be a true and sincere need.
She advises Sherlock to put himself in serious danger. Not only does Sherlock again become addicted to drugs, but he engages with a very powerful and public philanthropist whom he accuses of being a serial killer. Taking on any sadistic serial killer is dangerous enough, but taking on a very public and popular figure and accusing them of such things, while being in a drug addicted state, is both completely ludicrous and completely brilliant. It is in this epic combination of characteristics that we find the heart and soul of Sherlock Holmes. The ridiculous and abrasive genius that we all love, despite his eccentricity and his apathetic attitude.
Of course Sherlock is right about the serial killer, who has indeed created his own hospital of terror where he can slip in and out of rooms and kill people at will, all while looking like a hero to the rest of the world. Watson breaks in to “save” Sherlock while he is being suffocated, but of course Sherlock has anticipated every move and records the killer’s confession. Probably the most beautiful thing about this episode is that Mary is still around–metaphorically anyway. John continues to see, hear and interact with his dead wife throughout the show, and the dialogue is incredibly clever and engaging. It also ends with a very poignant scene where John confesses to Sherlock (and the figment of Mary) that he cheated on her. Not in person, but through text messages where he corresponded with another woman. The guilt he feels, coupled with the love that is evident he feels for his wife, is an intense and tragic combination. Probably two of the best lines happen during this time when Sherlock says to him “It’s not okay. But it is what it is”. How often is this sentiment true during so many tragic moments of life. And then when he tells Mary that he wants to be the man she always saw him as and she tells him, “Well, then get the hell on with it”, in true Mary fashion.
The truck shock of the episode comes in the last 30 seconds or so, when John’s therapist is revealed to not only be the woman John has been texting, as well as the mysterious person who pretended to be the serial killer’s daughter, but Sherlock’s sister as well!! What?? Sherlock has a sister??! Which brings us to episode 4…
In one of the most haunting, intriguing and emotionally stark episodes Sherlock has ever done, we discover that Sherlock indeed has a sister. One that is incredibly brilliant, manipulative, and sadistic, and also severely emotionally scarred from their childhood. Sherlock was so scarred intact that his mind erased her completely. He simply does not remember her and has to know why. The episode opens with a girl being trapped on a plane where everyone is asleep and she doesn’t know how to wake them up to to land. She is panicked and afraid.
Then we jump to Mycroft being terrorized in his own home by clowns and all sorts of psycho encounters that seems may be linked to his sister, until we find out that it is Sherlock and John playing a horrible joke on him in order to get him to confess that Sherlock truly does have a sister, and that she has escaped and shot John (it was a tranquilizer dart so its okay).
Mycroft has had his sister locked up in one of the most secure facilities for mental patients for years because of an incident that happened when they were children. His parents believe she is dead but she is alive and Mycroft is the only one who has seen her. Then how did she get out to infiltrate herself into Sherlock’s life? Confused yet?? Just wait.
Yes, in true Sherlock style this episode was filled with flashbacks, words unsaid, mysteries, speaking in riddles and complex emotions that forced Sherlock to not only use his brilliant mind, but deal with his emotions as well. He discovers that his sister has not only taken over the entire prison (so that she controls everyone inside), but that she has a much darker trap in mind for him, one that she set up with Moriarty years ago during a brief visit between the two of them. Sherlock, John and Mycroft are then taken through a series of horrible situations where Sherlock must not only figure out different riddles but where someone will die unless he does. Time and time again even after figuring the riddle out, she kills these poor victims anyway. She is as brilliant as Sherlock but with even less empathy and emotion. For although Sherlock hides his emotions, they do exist. After years in solitude and feeling abandoned as a child, hers never formed.
While John’s life hangs in the balance, Sherlock literally races the clock and in a very moving moment realizes what it is that his sister has always wanted. She wants to be rescued. When they were children she killed his best friend, simply because she wanted to play with Sherlock, and so the horrifying scene is replaying itself again. He finds her, he hugs her and tells her that he will never leave her again and she tells him where John is being held.
This was one of the most intense episodes because of the emotionality that it contained. Sherlock’s dysfunctional and somewhat sadistic family is reunited, all siblings and parents. He and John reforge their friendship and their partnership. Mary’s voice again appears to foreshadow a future where Watson and Holmes will always be together, solving one case at a time. It was a pretty fitting tying together of all loose ends and a good place to end the series, and yet I am still in mourning. They did an excellent job with this season and with what “could” be the series finale, but part of me still hopes it is not the end.
There are so many new series introduced to us every few months on dozens of channels and streaming networks. Yet, truly epic characters and shows are not as frequent. Sherlock has been, for me, one of these epic shows where not only are our hearts tied to these characters and invested in their well-being, but where we are challenged intellectually as well. The cinematography was excellent, each storyline challenging and intriguing, and the acting brilliant. If it is truly the end, then what an amazing journey it has been, and we have all been privileged to be carried along.
