The Six Thatchers

I feel like the writers of Sherlock aren't even trying anymore. The "ah-hah" moments are completely phoned in every single time, the solutions to the mysteries are so far-fetched that you can easily tell that the writers were thinking "ok, what sounds ridiculous?"

It doesn't even feel clever anymore. It's the same old formulaic structure that is so open-ended that any character could be killed off and brought back at any moment.

Steven Moffat is doing the same thing to Sherlock that he's doing to Doctor Who. He's somehow able to create mediocre shows with huge fan bases who are willfully oblivious to how awful the shows actually are. Granted, I watch both of them, but now they're both guilty pleasures.

We saw the first episode on STAN in Sydney on 2 January. We are absolute dedicated Sherlock fans, but were disappointed with the offering. Not because of what happened in the end- that was predictable. It just seemed as though we were watching a pilot that had not been tightened up either that or the authors had grown tired of the writing the series. It was all a bit sloppy with silly and unnecessary dialog that could have been deleted. And it just seemed as though the whole cast was wondering where it was all going. What was the reason for that ridiculous coiffured Dr Watson hairdo? Freeman just didn't seem the same to us. Was this because of his real life breakup with his partner?

But the biggest omission to my mind: where was that thumping Arnold and Price music that kept the pace of previous episodes. All the dynamic music had been 'sucked out' of the presentation and we were left with limpid weedy muzak that reminded me of cheap 80's drama background of distant wailing strings not all that relevant to the story. It sounded like someone had left the radio on in the background. It was pathetic. It left the characters 'naked' with embarrassing dialog in many of the scenes. So were all of these changes because of budget limitations? Sorry I give it a bare 6.5 to 7/10.

The Six Napoleans has to be one of my favourite stories from Conan Doyle, so I was intrigued to see what work would be done for The Six Thatchers. The result was something quite wonderful, you can truly see that plenty of time and effort was put into every detail, from the script, to the casting, to the shock ending. Loaded with twists and turns, this has to be one of the best episodes of Sherlock to date, if this one is anything to go by then the series is going to be wonderful.

They played an absolute blinder with Marcia Warren, such a talented actress I always associate with humour and lighter roles, the ending she helped create was spectacular. Best episode I thought for Amanda Abbington, given a big story, to which she put an amazing performance into.

It will be interesting to see how the dynamic between Holmes and Watson develops....

Thrilling 9/10

Well that was a long hour and a half. This episode started off interesting but tried to intertwine too many twists- yes it is possible to have too many twists- making the entire episode feel very clinched. The plot was made too complicated but with too simple of conclusions.

Since season three, Sherlock has turned into a mix of unnecessary special effects weaved with too many artistic cinematography and empty plot points. What happened to the original Sherlock from season 1 & 2? What happened to the well wrote stories?

I may not be able to finish this season. It is too great of a disappointment from where it started from.

I am sure this episode isn't like anyone was expecting, it's not really this important, We don't really care about Mary Morstan or here future, we only care about Sherlock Vs. Moriarty.

That doesn't mean that the episode was bad but it should have been in the previous season or something not in this season "the final". we were expecting an epic start for the name of "Sherlock Holmes" final show.

Can't really imagine why they wasted one of only 3 episodes in this thing and what make them relying on only 2 episode to end this epic war. I can only hope the just don't disappoint us.

I will give it 8/10. Because again it's not a bad episode but it's not the time really.