Sorry, not impressed.  It had some good emotional punch in many places; these actors are good at that.  But. . . 

As others have said, I can't imagine institutionalizing a five-year-old in the 1970's or later (?) and never again referring to her existence.  I can't imagine having three children, one of whom kills or at least does something to lead to the death of another's best friend, and not putting the whole family into serious counseling from the beginning.  I can't imagine having a missing child on your property and not thinking to search an open well.  I can't imagine taking someone who is deprived of the most basic human contact, including touch, because you are afraid of her influence over people, and giving that person access to the internet, through which she could easily influence others long-distance (a possibility that is never mentioned, which seems strange to me in this day of internet recruiting of terrorists).  But mostly, I cannot believe that a woman who had spent her entire life in mental institutions with "minimal human contact" could for an instant pull off her acting jobs as Faith, E, and the psychiatrist.  Look at her as she is portrayed in this episode;  she may be able to be persuasive and to mentally "take over" someone who spent a lot of time with her one-on-one, but no one, ever, would mistake her for a normal human being.

 

In ASIP, when Sherlock figures out who the shooter was, he asks John, "Are you OK? . . . You did just kill a man."  John seems slightly taken aback, and says, "Yes, I did, didn't I?  But he wasn't a very nice man."  I think John is "acclimatized to violence," and Sherlock, despite all his contact with already-dead corpses, isn't.
 

Yeah, it's an action show.  I wouldn't have complained about the scene at all except for that, but I thought that was over the top.  On the other hand, we got the really good line about John's hand tremor, so OK--but I also think it makes clear that Mycroft is not necessarily trustworthy.

Again, I am very late to the party here and I'm sure I am rehashing old ground, so ignore me unless I say something interesting.

Mycroft is set up in the first episode as a possible villain, and then revealed as the protective big brother at the end.  He is treated as more and more of a "good guy" throughout the series, although his protection of CAM (and sending Sherlock to his death rather than putting him on trial for murder) is a striking example of when he's not.  Mycroft, who "*is* the British government, when he isn't busy being the British Intelligence Service or the CIA on a freelance basis," comes across as pretty scary.  He shows John his control over surveillance cameras, abducts John off the street, and tries to bribe him to spy on Sherlock, while *quoting John's therapist's notes.*  John is not a criminal.  He has done absolutely nothing to justify this level of surveillance.  

So Mycroft, using his power in the British government, has already gotten copies of John's therapist's notes--within 48 hours--apparently without her knowledge, as John never confronts her on it and she never mentions it as far as we know.  That right there should have landed Mycroft in jail for a very, very long time.  Talk about abuse of power and lack of respect for privacy.  I don't think I have many illusions about the good behavior of governments, and I know the British put up with far more surveillance than Americans would (when we know about it), but really?  This kind of attitude of "I'm the good guy, so anything I do is OK" is one very good reason for Sherlock to dislike his brother, aside from a difficult childhood.  No, they are not always "on the same side," and that's fine with me.

So Sherlock did return to the flat from the hospital, without Mrs. Hudson noticing.  Not that hard, I guess; it's not like she never leaves.  And if Billy was with him, Billy could have moved the chair for him.  Sherlock never moved it himself; he has a hard enough time bending down to pick up a coin.

Also, we know that John is quite capable of doing real damage.  He didn't.  Or at least he was not aware of the possibility, not knowing that Sherlock had recently been beaten to a pulp.  He made his frustration clear in an extreme situation, and I do think it's at least partly something guys do, or at least something guys on film do.  Sherlock kept saying exactly the wrong thing.  I don't think he was doing it on purpose; I think Mary is right:  "Gosh, you really don't understand human nature, do you?"  John wanted to cause at least a little pain both in return for the pain he'd suffered and in an effort to get through to Sherlock, who continues clueless.  Only when he admits his parents knew as well does he really pull off an actual "sorry" rather than an automatic one.

Yeah, sorry, I didn't wade through all 241 pages before jumping in.  That's probably enough, though.  
 

besleybean wrote:

I think if she'd meant to kill him, she'd have a put a bullet through his brain.

Yes, exactly, and she's counting on his realizing that, and at least being curious enough to keep quiet til he can hear her out.  She's not sure about this, which is why she starts their encounter with, "What do you want, Sherlock?" and brings her gun, ready to shoot him again if necessary.  This is where I see Mary at her coldest and most dangerous, and she's scary.  She's also on the edge of despair, and I don't quite believe her.  While she says to Sherlock, "Please.  Understand.  There is nothing in this world I would not do to stop that happening," clearly there is, because she didn't kill him in the first place, which would have been by far the easiest way to keep her secret.

Just wondering a bit how much the level of dislike for Mary in this group has to do with the number of people who really want John and Sherlock to be a couple.  Jealousy, maybe?

To be clear, I would have no problem with their being a couple, especially in this updated version.  I would think it would be quite possible that they might have been a very closeted couple in Victorian times.  Well, I would have a problem with it because of Sherlock's character--I still don't think he's capable of that kind of relationship--but I'm not shocked by the idea.  I'm just letting the characters speak for themselves, and John at least is quite clear about it, repeatedly.

I loved the discussion in the special about how to bring Mary in.  They needed something new; she's in the canon; but they didn't want to "do the usual misogynistic thing about the ball and chain," or have her "be a drag," or "spoil the boys' fun."  "She's not the little woman, she's right in there with them."  YES.  Thank you, writers!

Mary's motivation was simple survival.  She never set out to lie to John specifically; she had created a new identity several years before she met him, and was trying to leave her old life behind.  I just re-watched the wedding reception and saw Sherlock read a telegram from "Cam," who says, "Wish your family could have seen this," and Mary gets upset.  So no, CAM was not at the wedding, but he did send a telegram letting her know he knew her secret.  

Wow.  Just thought of this:  Mary has just gotten this message from CAM when she hears there's a murderer at her wedding.  She does not "stay here."  She jumps in to help.  I wonder if she were assuming the murder had something to do with CAM.  That is pure speculation on my part, of course.

She went to his office to kill him, was interrupted by Sherlock, and from there I follow his deductions.  She actually does apologize for shooting him, as she's doing it (!!).  She didn't want John to know, because she didn't want to lose him.  She loves him.  Her name and identity are a lie, but her relationship with John (and Sherlock) is true.  She shoots Sherlock, knowing he might die but trying not to kill him, because she's desperate and can't think what else to do.  As Sherlock says, she was "hoping to buy time to negotiate my silence."  John forgives her, eventually, because he knows her well enough to know *who* she is, even though he doesn't know *what* she is (or was).  He decides Sherlock is right and he can trust her.  He figures her past can be irrelevant to their future, if she still wants a future with him--which she does.

I am supported in my opinion of Mary by the special episode, "Sherlock Uncovered: The Women."  There's a lot they leave out, but they make it clear that Mary truly loves John and has become good friends with Sherlock as well.  They make it clear that they are excited to have her as part of the group, and I hope she stays that way.