New season of ‘Sherlock’ falls short
February 10, 2017
After two long years of waiting, the “Sherlock” fandom was just about ready to burst from anticipation. Season three left us on the edge of our seats with a game- changing cliffhanger, and the audience was forced to wait patiently for a resolution with nothing but one barely related Christmas special in the meantime.
This version of Sherlock Holmes is created by the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, and is another reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic novels. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, “Sherlock” takes place in modern day London where Sherlock and his best friend Doctor John Watson solve some of England’s most puzzling mysteries.
Now that the entire season has been released within a course of three weeks, the fandom has been expressing some extreme reactions on both sides of the spectrum.
Although I was disappointed that some aspects of the show were neglected, at the end of the day, I found it enjoyable and entertaining.
In the first three seasons of the show, each of the three 90-minute episodes were practically art work. Every single line of dialogue was clearly thought out, and there were subtle visual clues that added meaning to every scene. The fourth season wasn’t as well planned as previous seasons. There were countless loose ends, and tension or drama was briefly introduced to be practically forgotten.
Combining the sloppy writing with a darker tone shift, this season just felt disconnected from the rest of the show. To be fair, that may be because I binge watched the other seasons of the show in one or two sittings, and this was the first time where I had to wait for several years for closure, but the show didn’t feature as much humor or tension breaks.
Regarding strictly the plotline of the show, they did provide interesting premises. I thoroughly enjoyed the second and third episodes as they introduced fun new villains to terrorize our protagonists. They added a nice contrast to the antics of long time villain Moriarty. The characters, with the exception of one, were just as lovable and entertaining as ever. With an array of different personality types, it is always interesting to see them interact in various situations.
Overall, the series was still entertaining. If this were any other show, I would’ve been thrilled, but because they’ve set the bar so high for themselves and already established a different tone for the show, it was disappointing to see this quality of work.
