As for why, ready yourself for a long read:
Spoiler:
Every problem mentioned with regard to the previous episode have not just been highlighted in this one but magnified considerably. I can't really think of much good to say about this one, really. Way too many contrived points to really fit into one post, but between the completely misguided tone and questionable lack of a coherent plot (which, when at the forefront, was pretty much implausible in just about every way), I didn't really find it very interesting or engaging. I always want Holmes adaptations to succeed, but this one is really sinking quick in a lot of ways but staying afloat due to having a core cast that's good and capable (including the newcomer for Mary).
Let me ask this: Is anyone going to make the argument that the majority of this episode (or season as a whole thus far) was anything but pure fan service? What percentage of the 1 hour and 25 minutes that it ran for was focused on the priming of GIF-ready tumblr moments? At least 65%? Higher? I would say upward of 80-if-not-85% was meant as winks and nods toward the fangirl populace. That's fine if that's the new direction for this series, but let me just be the first to say that this is going to wear this series thin much faster than it will gain new followers.
The extent of the so obviously deliberate GIF-worthy moments is impossible to miss or deny. The drunk scenes were so unnecessary and exist purely as fan service. It served no redeemable purpose, with that one absurdly obvious clue no doubt being implanted to make it seem like it wasn't completely about making sure fangirls knew they weren't being ignored for even a single minute of any episode.
On its own, the actual plot is surprisingly thin and may be indicative of a weakened sense of purpose for the series if not more directly the creators' interest in it. They already expended the major plot point of the canon, so I could conceivably understand that their own interest in the characters and continuing in a meaningful way may not be their foremost motivation right now. It really feels like fan fiction right now, and I have to say that I really don't think that's how a series should go. The fans are completely steering this ship right now. Something those fans will soon realize is that you actually don't want your wildest fantasies to come true at every turn. It also (as Stopwatch also correctly stated in her recent post) alienates people who don't really spend much time with Fanfiction.net, LiveJournal, and Tumblr. The problem with this is that the majority of the audience are also not in that camp, and they are the reason the show is able to exist. Having a vocal minority that obsesses over everything fan-ready is great, but now they are directly influencing the direction of the series and that really is a highly questionable move.
The mystery itself was not just implausible but also nearly nonexistent. The drama point here just wasn't effective ("Open the door!"), exactly like the last episode. The culprit again used the namesake of a canon character but pulled off a decidedly unclever crime with virtually no dialogue, instead taking the backseat to unquestionably poor drama. There's really not much point in discussing the core of the mystery on account of it really not being discussable--it accounted for about 10% of the episode at most and didn't really inspire much curiosity. What I will say is that it sure took Sherlock, in all his incredible brilliance, a loooooooooooooong time to piece together what was a very simple crime with one absurdly obvious, two-feet-taller-than-everyone-else target and a culprit that even the blind saw from miles away.
All that said, was the Waters gang plot at the beginning really just a setup for having a joke about Sherlock being best man? Really? Maybe I missed something as I had to pause around that time prior to watching the rest. That could have actually been an interesting plot (far more so than what we got later), so if that doesn't come back, I really don't even know what to say about what they're doing in that writer's room. I have an image of them now where the staff were plotting out what to do with the series and said, "We can't do that--it needs to be... more... memeable. Memeable is the word. If this scene can't be a GIF, we may as well not film it. *goes back to searching 'Sherlock' on Tumblr for inspiration*"
I have a feeling they are burning these episodes as close together as possible because they saw how poor the middle installment was for a mainstream audience and didn't want to lose any momentum from the series' much-anticipated return for the third and hopefully most worthy episode. It feels like, to me, that the series is really not about mysteries in the least anymore. It feels more like a freeform buddies' relationship exploration than anything in the mystery genre. And on a related note: Maybe it's just me, but the Mrs. Hudson character became considerably weaker in this episode. The back-story wasn't funny, it wasn't insightful, it wasn't interesting, and definitely was not in any way plausible.
This has always bothered me a little bit, but it was forgivable in the face of some really interesting and intriguing episodes in the past. But now, Sherlock and Mycroft's observations are just silly, aren't they? They are really just completely impossible and without even the slightest hint of practicality. What made that power of Holmes's actually plausible in the original stories was that it was grounded in practicality. That has always but most obviously lately been completely thrown out the window here. Conan Doyle was very grounded with how he approached this, but it's just really, really, really silly every single time Sherlock does it anymore.
What made Sherlock and John's interactions meaningful was that they were taking place within the context of unique problems and mysteries: that has always been the dynamic between these two characters, in all these interpretations and adaptations from the beginning. If you take them out of that, they really just aren't very compelling to watch interact. We need Sherlock seeing things in a brilliant way and Watson being the everyman--he sees and interprets for us, providing that balance between the mad genius that is Sherlock Holmes and the real, everyday world we're familiar with. When we really learn what these characters are about is when they interact in the course of immediate and meaningful danger. Right now, it just feels like sappy, stake-less, and sub-par drama that is doing its very best to exhaust all possible interesting directions to take these characters and their interactions.
All in all, it's like they've somehow concluded that they are incapable of writing 90 minute mysteries and instead fill the rest with fan service to fill out the runtime. Have they really run out of 90 minute ideas, or are they just making it seem that way on purpose? If you go back and rewatch the older episodes, you'll see exactly what I mean. The focus has shifted so much in these last two episodes that it really doesn't even feel like the same show anymore--and definitely isn't as good. They have really dropped the ball on this series and no doubt completely caved to the pressure. It doesn't even feel special, immediate, or interesting at this point--no longer must-see TV, barring one really stellar season finale. I'd shown earlier seasons to people in order to introduce them to what I consider one of the best Holmes features to date. However, there's really no way I'd consider showing this season to people--most of all this latest episode--lest I be held accountable for wasting their time with its innumerable shortcomings or be mistaken for in any way endorsing it as being of a high quality or worthwhile.
In short, I would say that the two years away from the show have left Gatiss and Moffat unable to remember what made the show good. As a result, they just fell back on their most basic sensibilities and played the safest cards imaginable to satisfy their most fervent fanbase and just hope they could get through the rest of it in the public eye intact.
Let me ask this: Is anyone going to make the argument that the majority of this episode (or season as a whole thus far) was anything but pure fan service? What percentage of the 1 hour and 25 minutes that it ran for was focused on the priming of GIF-ready tumblr moments? At least 65%? Higher? I would say upward of 80-if-not-85% was meant as winks and nods toward the fangirl populace. That's fine if that's the new direction for this series, but let me just be the first to say that this is going to wear this series thin much faster than it will gain new followers.
The extent of the so obviously deliberate GIF-worthy moments is impossible to miss or deny. The drunk scenes were so unnecessary and exist purely as fan service. It served no redeemable purpose, with that one absurdly obvious clue no doubt being implanted to make it seem like it wasn't completely about making sure fangirls knew they weren't being ignored for even a single minute of any episode.
On its own, the actual plot is surprisingly thin and may be indicative of a weakened sense of purpose for the series if not more directly the creators' interest in it. They already expended the major plot point of the canon, so I could conceivably understand that their own interest in the characters and continuing in a meaningful way may not be their foremost motivation right now. It really feels like fan fiction right now, and I have to say that I really don't think that's how a series should go. The fans are completely steering this ship right now. Something those fans will soon realize is that you actually don't want your wildest fantasies to come true at every turn. It also (as Stopwatch also correctly stated in her recent post) alienates people who don't really spend much time with Fanfiction.net, LiveJournal, and Tumblr. The problem with this is that the majority of the audience are also not in that camp, and they are the reason the show is able to exist. Having a vocal minority that obsesses over everything fan-ready is great, but now they are directly influencing the direction of the series and that really is a highly questionable move.
The mystery itself was not just implausible but also nearly nonexistent. The drama point here just wasn't effective ("Open the door!"), exactly like the last episode. The culprit again used the namesake of a canon character but pulled off a decidedly unclever crime with virtually no dialogue, instead taking the backseat to unquestionably poor drama. There's really not much point in discussing the core of the mystery on account of it really not being discussable--it accounted for about 10% of the episode at most and didn't really inspire much curiosity. What I will say is that it sure took Sherlock, in all his incredible brilliance, a loooooooooooooong time to piece together what was a very simple crime with one absurdly obvious, two-feet-taller-than-everyone-else target and a culprit that even the blind saw from miles away.
All that said, was the Waters gang plot at the beginning really just a setup for having a joke about Sherlock being best man? Really? Maybe I missed something as I had to pause around that time prior to watching the rest. That could have actually been an interesting plot (far more so than what we got later), so if that doesn't come back, I really don't even know what to say about what they're doing in that writer's room. I have an image of them now where the staff were plotting out what to do with the series and said, "We can't do that--it needs to be... more... memeable. Memeable is the word. If this scene can't be a GIF, we may as well not film it. *goes back to searching 'Sherlock' on Tumblr for inspiration*"
I have a feeling they are burning these episodes as close together as possible because they saw how poor the middle installment was for a mainstream audience and didn't want to lose any momentum from the series' much-anticipated return for the third and hopefully most worthy episode. It feels like, to me, that the series is really not about mysteries in the least anymore. It feels more like a freeform buddies' relationship exploration than anything in the mystery genre. And on a related note: Maybe it's just me, but the Mrs. Hudson character became considerably weaker in this episode. The back-story wasn't funny, it wasn't insightful, it wasn't interesting, and definitely was not in any way plausible.
This has always bothered me a little bit, but it was forgivable in the face of some really interesting and intriguing episodes in the past. But now, Sherlock and Mycroft's observations are just silly, aren't they? They are really just completely impossible and without even the slightest hint of practicality. What made that power of Holmes's actually plausible in the original stories was that it was grounded in practicality. That has always but most obviously lately been completely thrown out the window here. Conan Doyle was very grounded with how he approached this, but it's just really, really, really silly every single time Sherlock does it anymore.
What made Sherlock and John's interactions meaningful was that they were taking place within the context of unique problems and mysteries: that has always been the dynamic between these two characters, in all these interpretations and adaptations from the beginning. If you take them out of that, they really just aren't very compelling to watch interact. We need Sherlock seeing things in a brilliant way and Watson being the everyman--he sees and interprets for us, providing that balance between the mad genius that is Sherlock Holmes and the real, everyday world we're familiar with. When we really learn what these characters are about is when they interact in the course of immediate and meaningful danger. Right now, it just feels like sappy, stake-less, and sub-par drama that is doing its very best to exhaust all possible interesting directions to take these characters and their interactions.
All in all, it's like they've somehow concluded that they are incapable of writing 90 minute mysteries and instead fill the rest with fan service to fill out the runtime. Have they really run out of 90 minute ideas, or are they just making it seem that way on purpose? If you go back and rewatch the older episodes, you'll see exactly what I mean. The focus has shifted so much in these last two episodes that it really doesn't even feel like the same show anymore--and definitely isn't as good. They have really dropped the ball on this series and no doubt completely caved to the pressure. It doesn't even feel special, immediate, or interesting at this point--no longer must-see TV, barring one really stellar season finale. I'd shown earlier seasons to people in order to introduce them to what I consider one of the best Holmes features to date. However, there's really no way I'd consider showing this season to people--most of all this latest episode--lest I be held accountable for wasting their time with its innumerable shortcomings or be mistaken for in any way endorsing it as being of a high quality or worthwhile.
In short, I would say that the two years away from the show have left Gatiss and Moffat unable to remember what made the show good. As a result, they just fell back on their most basic sensibilities and played the safest cards imaginable to satisfy their most fervent fanbase and just hope they could get through the rest of it in the public eye intact.
[/spoiler]
