Let me take you back to Season 1, A study in pink. Moriarty is the last word uttered by the cab driver. Just a name is all we are given, yet it is known in the Sherlock universe as the number one nemesis. In the next episode, just a hint of the extent of his criminal 'web', culminating with his first appearance in The Great Game. It was unlike anything we had imagined. He was crazy. He was insane. He was utterly unpredictable to the point where Sherlock's last option was to kill all three of them. Build up of his character showed us just how menacing he is, and what great lengths he could go to push Sherlock to jump to his apparent death. Moriarty was the ultimate mastermind and foil to Sherlock Holmes from the very first episode.
And this is what was missing from the start of this season, the build up. Barely even a mention of Magnussen, other than what you may recall from the wedding and a certain 'Cam' on the telegrams. What we get instead is a rushed build up to his character in His Last Vow. "Charles Augustus Magnussen is the most dangerous man in London" and other variants. It's all talk however, because the so called king of blackmail actually has no leverage at all. In the worst plot twist (if you can call it that) so far, his files are revealed to be nothing more than memories in his mind palace. For all we know he could be making stuff up.
It is more to do with the lack of intelligence than anything which struggling to like this villain. Any smart blackmailer would have a fail-safe, which in the event of their death, would automatically release the blackmailing documents out into the public. This guarantees his safety, and yet Magnussen does not have any hint of this. Which actually makes it all too easy for any person to pop him in the head and be done with all this blackmailing business. Sherlock does so, but then begs the question, how had no one done it already?
Apart from this, his personality as the big bad of season 3 felt quite flat and even ridiculous at times. From literally taking the p*ss to Sherlock and John in their apartment, to flicking John's face repeatedly, I grew quite tired of him and even was a bit embarrassed. Oh yeah, and he licked the woman's face. It seemed to be a pathetic attempt to follow the crazy antics of Moriarty, but instead had me gaping at the screen. And of course, shaking my head while he whimpers on the ground at gunpoint to Mary, a gap in his villain persona which is the never addressed. Was he really helpless?
It seemed fitting that Sherlock would fulfill his first and last vow to protect John and Mary, by shooting Magnussen to end the chain of blackmail. However, the sincerity and the act of doing so is cheapened by the fact that he will get off easy. Magnussen, if we are to believe the vast and endless praise of his criminal genius, had half the government in his pocket, and in his death they are all freed. But even more so, they need Sherlock, because Moriarty had once again come back.
I feel oddly conflicted about the twist. The failure of Magnussen's character shows us how they got Moriarty right in the first two seasons, and I would love for him to be back. On the other hand, it felt like The Reichenbach Falls all over again. Once again we go into tin foil mode. Is he really dead? If not, how did he fake his death? The buzz of Sherlock's fake death had everyone anticipating this season, and this twist ending will do the same for the season 4. Gatiss and Moffat know this, and have executed it nicely, albeit over powering the ending of the finale. Intervening in the credits was a nice touch.
Mary and John's dilemma was a bit distracting at times. On one hand, I always though that Mary was a bit too perfect. She handled Sherlock perfectly from the start, and seemed to gel with the two nicely. On the other, her being a past SS agent was a bit much to take in. Her shooting Sherlock to 'incapacitate' seemed totally unnecessary and really didn't make much sense. Either she kills him for knowing too much, or realises Sherlock will find out eventually and doesn't, you know, shoot him near fatally. John is too nice to even care in the end, which makes sense, but really overshadowed what Mary had done.
The next season will be interesting. I really want Moriarty coming back, much like I want Sherlock to be with Molly. It would be cool to see, but ultimately affect the integrity of the show. One of the reason's I loved Moriarty's death is because is shows just how far he will go to destroy Sherlock. Now that he is probably alive, it cheapens his fake death in a way. But even then, I would rather Moriarty than another Magnussen.
7/10
Stray observations
And this is what was missing from the start of this season, the build up. Barely even a mention of Magnussen, other than what you may recall from the wedding and a certain 'Cam' on the telegrams. What we get instead is a rushed build up to his character in His Last Vow. "Charles Augustus Magnussen is the most dangerous man in London" and other variants. It's all talk however, because the so called king of blackmail actually has no leverage at all. In the worst plot twist (if you can call it that) so far, his files are revealed to be nothing more than memories in his mind palace. For all we know he could be making stuff up.
It is more to do with the lack of intelligence than anything which struggling to like this villain. Any smart blackmailer would have a fail-safe, which in the event of their death, would automatically release the blackmailing documents out into the public. This guarantees his safety, and yet Magnussen does not have any hint of this. Which actually makes it all too easy for any person to pop him in the head and be done with all this blackmailing business. Sherlock does so, but then begs the question, how had no one done it already?
Apart from this, his personality as the big bad of season 3 felt quite flat and even ridiculous at times. From literally taking the p*ss to Sherlock and John in their apartment, to flicking John's face repeatedly, I grew quite tired of him and even was a bit embarrassed. Oh yeah, and he licked the woman's face. It seemed to be a pathetic attempt to follow the crazy antics of Moriarty, but instead had me gaping at the screen. And of course, shaking my head while he whimpers on the ground at gunpoint to Mary, a gap in his villain persona which is the never addressed. Was he really helpless?
It seemed fitting that Sherlock would fulfill his first and last vow to protect John and Mary, by shooting Magnussen to end the chain of blackmail. However, the sincerity and the act of doing so is cheapened by the fact that he will get off easy. Magnussen, if we are to believe the vast and endless praise of his criminal genius, had half the government in his pocket, and in his death they are all freed. But even more so, they need Sherlock, because Moriarty had once again come back.
I feel oddly conflicted about the twist. The failure of Magnussen's character shows us how they got Moriarty right in the first two seasons, and I would love for him to be back. On the other hand, it felt like The Reichenbach Falls all over again. Once again we go into tin foil mode. Is he really dead? If not, how did he fake his death? The buzz of Sherlock's fake death had everyone anticipating this season, and this twist ending will do the same for the season 4. Gatiss and Moffat know this, and have executed it nicely, albeit over powering the ending of the finale. Intervening in the credits was a nice touch.
Mary and John's dilemma was a bit distracting at times. On one hand, I always though that Mary was a bit too perfect. She handled Sherlock perfectly from the start, and seemed to gel with the two nicely. On the other, her being a past SS agent was a bit much to take in. Her shooting Sherlock to 'incapacitate' seemed totally unnecessary and really didn't make much sense. Either she kills him for knowing too much, or realises Sherlock will find out eventually and doesn't, you know, shoot him near fatally. John is too nice to even care in the end, which makes sense, but really overshadowed what Mary had done.
The next season will be interesting. I really want Moriarty coming back, much like I want Sherlock to be with Molly. It would be cool to see, but ultimately affect the integrity of the show. One of the reason's I loved Moriarty's death is because is shows just how far he will go to destroy Sherlock. Now that he is probably alive, it cheapens his fake death in a way. But even then, I would rather Moriarty than another Magnussen.
7/10
Stray observations
- Loved the reaction of Molly to Sherlock's drug test. Really shows how much she cares about him and his 'gift'.
- Sherlock's attempts to escape death were interesting, but the use of the dream sequences was too dramatic. Him gasping and crawling up the stairs when we knew he wasn't going to die anyway was not really necessary.
- "And there's the back of the shirt."