Do You Miss Me?

what life? I've been away (grins)

Just when you thought that Elementary is hitting all the right notes and after wondering to myself whether Elementary is a good adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story or not, something arrives and reminds me that above the sky, there is another sky (this is an Indonesian proverb, so go figure). Sherlock is finally back after two years! And this morning/yesterday (depends on where you are), it wrapped its too-short season of three ninety-minute episodes. The series of course sees the return of now-international celebrities Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in their respective roles as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. And here I am reviewing the episodes of series three. Mind you, they don't come as brilliant as The Scandal in Belgravia but offering their own different merits. According to me, this series' theme is mind palace. What is mind palace exactly?

guess who's mind palaces are these?

By the way, this post is spoiler-free!

The Empty Hearse
This episode offers the best first 3 minutes of television, thanks to Anderson's wild imagination. The return of Sherlock Holmes from the dead is celebrated with this hilarious episode, a different take from the more-serious previous episodes. There's a brilliant scene where Sherlock takes on his clients while Watson takes on his patients. It is clear from this episode that this season's direction is more to the emotional and psychological aspect rather than just action. And that paid off, with a perfect take on Watson's future wife, Mary along with a superbly adorable Amanda Abbington (who's even more likable that she is Martin Freeman's real life partner!). What's even best is that this episode doesn't even provide us with a definite method on how Sherlock faked his death. And this is the first time the term 'mind palace' is spoken. Perfect beginning to the series.

The Sign of Three
Initially, for like the first 45 minutes or so, I hated this episode. This episode might came off to audience as unimportant and unintelligent. But then again I must be underestimating the very high-level intelligence of the writers, because it came out as the best episode of series three. To make an episode out of  Sherlock's best man speech isn't easy and this apparently became something really really unexpected. The story is so clever. I have no higher praise than that. The fact that Irene Adler briefly cameoed is another high point in this episode. I loved seeing Sherlock more than just a consulting detective and just a geek, in this episode he was shown to have a really great human interaction. His way of defining himself as high-functioning sociopath is almost irrelevant. This episode is actually really really really funny as well! And for the first time ever, Sherlock welcomed us to his mind palace.

His Last Vow
This was a return to basic after the previous funny episodes. We finally got a full look at this series' big baddie, Christian Magnussen. Different from the rock-n-roll, Staying Alive-hating Jim Moriarty, Magnussen is real creepy. And in this episode we got a big surprise reveal..... that Sherlock Holmes is sleeping with a girl! No, not that. A big surprise..... about Mary, which I won't disclose, especially that the US still has to wait for another 3 weeks to end series 3. Once again, this episode is a character and relationship-driven one, but also giving the punch at the plot as Sherlock's past and character is starting to unravel. I loved how the series approached John as an adrenaline junkie and how Sherlock is becoming even more human and becoming a best friend for John. This episode shows how Magnussen, a man of similar intelligence as Sherlock, misused his exceptional mind palace for bad things.
And guess who's back at the end of the episode?

Series 3 is yet another amazing series of Sherlock. Cumberbatch and Freeman gave their all. Particularly Cumberbatch in the last episode. The writing is top-notch. The music is eargasmic. Would it kill people if we have at least five episodes per series? And don't make Sherlock a once in two year event! Don't you dare and torture us fans like that again!