Sherlock: His Last Vow (S3E3)

And just like that, Sherlock is over once more. We all waited two years for Benedict Cumberbatch to return to our screens, and within 11 days, it ends yet again. With the previous episode being a slight let-down in terms of Sherlock-standards, I had incredibly high hopes that the season finale, His Last Vow, would surpass all of my expectations. In a certain sense, it most certainly did. 

This episode begins by introducing a brand new villain by the name of Charles Augustus Magnussen (Lars Mikkelsen). It is quickly established that this is no ordinary man, and is in fact a genius almost to the standards of Mr. Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) himself. We then quickly transition back to normality with Watson (Martin Freeman) and his newly wedded wife Mary (Amanda Abbington) being greeted by a neighbour who tells them their son has gone missing, most likely to a local abandoned factory in which drug-addicts reside. Watson hurries over in order to help locate the missing boy, and is surprisingly greeted by a familiar face. The episode then plays out with many twists and turns, but largely revolves around Sherlock attempting to confront the elusive and dangerously intelligent Magnussen. 

Charles Magnussen (Lars Mikkelsen)

As with every episode of Sherlock, the leading actors of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman play their roles to a superbly high standard which never falters. What surprised me most about this instalment however, was how talented Lars Mikkelsen was at conveying just how sinister and scarily devious the villain of Magnussen was. From the first few opening scenes, he portrays the character as a sick yet sophisticated individual who poses an entirely different threat to Sherlock, not hugely dissimilar to the previous season's James Moriarty (Andrew Scott). Of course, this was most likely purposeful, but to divulge why would be a rather large spoiler. 

As for the many twists featured in this episode, they were effective, but some lacked the punch that they perhaps should of. This is quite a reasonable spoiler, but when it is revealed that Mary isn't quite who she says she is, I didn't feel as shocked as was probably intended. This could be partly due to reading things prior to the episode hinting at such a twist, but it didn't come as such a huge surprise that such a newly introduced character wasn't telling the whole truth. I say some of the twists lacked punch, because the final minute or so of the episode contains such a large plot diversion that it not only saved the season from being entertaining at best, but it also rose it up to the incredible quality of Season 2.

James Watson (Martin Freeman)

I can't decide whether or not this is a positive though. The episode itself was in no way bad, but to rely largely on the final few scenes in order to excite your audience surely isn't a sign of stellar entertainment. Yes, I am now phenomenally excited for the next season (although that will probably be another few years to wait) and couldn't stop smiling when the final seconds drew to a close, but that doesn't stop the rest of the episode from being barely above average. The villain was, although very well acted, largely forgettable in comparison to Moriarty due to only featuring fully within this episode. The first third of His Last Vow also felt a bit disorganized, and although, like The Sign of Three, it did all come together, it still made watching it a little awkward. 

Verdict
His Last Vow has an incredibly enticing ending, but everything before that isn't as good as it could have been. It's almost if this entire season has been solely building up to the final scene in order to give it the powerful presence it demands. To give credit though, and if this was the intended goal, it definitely worked, as I am hugely excited to see how things will play out next, even if that is many years away. 

"Did you miss me?"