This post contains big, fat spoilers for the Sherlock Christmas special. If you haven’t watched it yet, please, please don’t go any further, because I don’t want to read your angry tweets about how I spoiled a perfectly amazing episode.
After a very long wait, Sherlock is finally back! Series creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss plopped one heck of a complicated but fantastically fun, time-traveling New Year’s Day episode on fans that, at first glance, seems like a one-off that isn’t related to the larger story arc of the entire series. Oh, but how wrong we were.
Here are five things we learned from that crazy, mind-bending episode.
1. SHERLOCK’S MIND PALACE IS AN INTENSE, CRAZY PLACE
For the past year, Moffat and Gatiss have lead fans to believe that this Christmas special was simply going to be a light, one-off episode meant to tide fans over until the series fully returns in 2017. We should have known better. The entire conceit of the Christmas special, that we’ve time traveled back to Victorian England, turns out to be a trip through Sherlock’s mind palace, (and if you don’t know what that is, please see Sherlock season 2, episode 2 and season 3, episode 3) as he tries to figure out how Moriarty could possibly be alive.
To do that, Sherlock takes a drug-induced trip back to 1895, to figure out the case of the “The Abominable Bride”, a woman who kept killing people even though she was supposed to be dead. Sound familiar?
Now, the conceit of ‘it was all really just happening inside Sherlock’s head’ could have gone very, very wrong but the complexity of the script and the incredible visual effects assured that the transitions between past and present were handled deftly. Rather than feel like a bait and switch, it felt like an intimate, if disturbing, look into Sherlock’s head.
For the past year, Moffat and Gatiss have lead fans to believe that this Christmas special was simply going to be a light, one-off episode meant to tide fans over until the series fully returns in 2017. We should have known better. The entire conceit of the Christmas special, that we’ve time traveled back to Victorian England, turns out to be a trip through Sherlock’s mind palace, (and if you don’t know what that is, please see Sherlock season 2, episode 2 and season 3, episode 3) as he tries to figure out how Moriarty could possibly be alive.
To do that, Sherlock takes a drug-induced trip back to 1895, to figure out the case of the “The Abominable Bride”, a woman who kept killing people even though she was supposed to be dead. Sound familiar?
Now, the conceit of ‘it was all really just happening inside Sherlock’s head’ could have gone very, very wrong but the complexity of the script and the incredible visual effects assured that the transitions between past and present were handled deftly. Rather than feel like a bait and switch, it felt like an intimate, if disturbing, look into Sherlock’s head.
Which brings us to the next point, Sherlock and his drug use. For the past three seasons, Sherlock’s drug use has been heavily alluded to in almost every episode, but he’s always walked on the side of recovery and not using. Not any more. Sherlock was apparently high at the end of season three, and has been keeping it a secret from John.
There were lots of small, charming and very human moments in this episode, but the most emotional had to be Mycroft asking Sherlock for “the list” of drugs he’s taken after finding him high as a kite on the jet.
Sherlock basically overdosed trying to solve the Moriarty puzzle, so we know that he’ll be more than reckless with his own safety if it means cracking the case.
3. MORIARTY MAY NOT BE ALIVE, BUT HE IS BACK
“I didn’t say he was alive, I said he was back,” shouts Sherlock towards the end of the episode. There’s a big difference between the two. We went through 90 minutes of being unstuck in time to learn that no, Moriarty (played by the amazing Andrew Scott) is not alive, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still around somehow and ready to cause all kinds of trouble for England.
Scott’s Moriarty is a chilling but charming foil to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and one of the many highlight’s of the episode was the scene where Moriarty lovingly places a gun inside his own mouth. So totally insane, but in the best way.
4. DON’T IGNORE THE WOMEN
Sherlock un-spools the mystery of the abominable bride and reveals a group of suffragettes are behind the series of killings blamed on Emilia Ricoletti. While the Gothic spectacle of the case was thrilling and wonderfully lurid, the resolution felt heavy-handed and came off as condescending and patronizing.
Moffat has taken a lot of heat for the sexual politics in his shows (Doctor Who) and this felt like a direct response those criticisms. But rather than come off as sophisticated commentary, it felt a bit like pandering.
Despite that, we can all agree that Ms. Hudson, Molly Hooper and Mary Watson are all highly important in the Sherlock universe and it’s about time the show recognized that.
5. THERE’S SERIOUS, SERIOUS, TROUBLE AHEAD FOR SHERLOCK
So, what have we established after all that? Sherlock is back to doing drugs, Moriarty is back and both Mycroft and John are very, very worried.
The episode ended with a plea from Mycroft to John to look after his brother, and it was more regretful and ominous than anything else. Mycroft and Sherlock have mostly had a contentious relationship, but it’s clear Mycroft cares deeply for his younger brother, and if he’s worried, we should be too.
And did anyone else get a good look at the notebook Mycroft was carrying? Scribbled inside were notes like “Redbeard”, which is Sherlock’s childhood dog, the numbers “611174” and the phrase “Scarlet Roll.”
Looks like we just have to wait till 2017 to find out. Happy New Year everyone!
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