As i have been referred to this topic I take the freedom to reply even though i am "Johnny-come-lately" here. 

Sherlock Holmes wrote:

My point is though, even if you HAVE seen every single other episode of Sherlock but aren't part of the fandom...it's too much.

i can reply to this. A friend of mine has seen all the previous episodes but he is not involved in any kind of fandom. Let me say first that he utterly loved season 3 (maybe more than i did) but he didn't get many things! I had a LOT of explaining to do. Funniest thing was that he didn't even know Anderson! I had to explain to him who he is, he really though that he is entirely NEW character (yeah, i know, not really paying attention i guess) 
Having said this, he did enjoy the show nonetheless. I guess that the "regular" viewers of that TV show can enjoy it but they miss out a lot of the subtle things, obviously. Yet it seems to work nonetheless. 

Thank you all for your input, it is interesting to me even though i clearly see it a bit different. 

I will check it out for sure.
Apart from the fact that i really didn't find the one topic you linked here, it is also a bit tricky in general for newbies in forums cause in some forums it is not welcomed when you start several topics about the same thing (which i understand), in other forums it is frowned upon when you bump up an old thread (which i don't understand), so i am basically just feeling my way through here. 

Thanks besleybean. I am new to that forum and i don't wanna be a nuisance. Posting my first topic and then solidly flying off the rails, i was just not sure if people might be annoyed. So thanks!

Mattlocked, get your point now, thanks! And indeed you have a point here. agreed, a party with a gazillion guests would have been much more disturbing 

Yes, i know. He had a shot at the bar and spiked the beer with some hard liquor (is spiked the correct word??) 

Mattlocked, that is interesting trivia (i also didn't know there is a difference), yet it was not quite my point. I didn't actually say i missed more guests to that night out  Having said that, i did enjoy that scene to a degree, it was well played and it was funny. It is just not really "my" Sherlock! *lament lament* Even though i loved the notion how he thought he can actually conduct the state of drunkeness but even the best laid plans can (and usually do!) fail. 

Oh don't get me any wrong here, i loooved how they incoporated the different "how did he fake his death" theories which were flying around, that was superfun! It was tongue-in-cheek, a nod to the fandom, it was really really well done. And heaven's no, i am not saying they go and look around for ideas on the net! Totally not my point, that would mean i am saying they run out of ideas and take suggestions from fans. Nope, really not what i was thinking. Yet, that show is so popular and i am not entirely convinced that they can easily write without being influenced? I don't know? *thinking in progress* 

Thanks for your thoughts, Marta! Hmm, there must have been a stag night ? Says who? (says the man at the door, haha). Yeah, but really? Cause our Sherlock is ever so conventional? No wait, is he? 
The writers said it would very stupid if Sherlock wouldn't evolve and i fully subscribe to this. Yet it was quite a step away from the character they had been so painstakingly portrayed in the first two seasons. And in several ways. Not only was he more emotional (don't get me any wrong, i love that, personally) but he is kinda losing his game. He cannot figure out Mary (maybe didn't have the time but isn't he always so fast? Moriarty trial scene!) and he is completely wrong about CAM and his "archive" and he "solves" it by "just" shooting him? Okay, i drifting off my original issue, sorry about that. So yeah, i am not entirely sure if the writers aren't somehow influenced by all what is out there. That's why it is interesting to me how others see it. 
Btw, i didn't really have any expectations or wishes but maybe i am the odd one out.

Hey! Mistakes in grammar are not tolerated  .. just kidding. German here as well, also only just registered a few days ago. Germany going strong, it seems. So .. hello!