Hanka wrote:

I can't believe that Sherlock wouldn't have made sure that Moriarty was dead, like actually dead, before he spent two years destroying his network. You better have a good explanation, Moftiss. Also, that theory Sherlock told Anderson was the truth, then? Everybody kind of forgot about that after the wedding and that stuff.
But, yeah, not gonna lie, I loved all of it. Not really prepared to wait another two years?!

We're back to the question of 2 years ago: how did he fake his death???? But now is Moriarty... 
I don't know yet if I like this. I love Moriarty as a character, but back? I don't know...

I knew CAM was going to be vile, but really dude, pissing in the fireplace?

Mirthxx wrote:

Sherlock Holmes wrote:

Ozma wrote:

also, Sherlock was waiting for Mycroft to arrive, so that it would be absolutely clear that it was him who shot him. He was protecting John in all counts. He obviously hated seeing John being manhandled, so I'm sure he enjoyed shooting CAM even more.

I'm so glad it was Sherlock who shot him. Such a great little twist on the canon, and I always knew Sherlock was a bad ass.

@Ozma
Ah, yes.  I thought he was just in shock a bit, still trying to figure a way out, right up until he figured out the mind palace line.  But yes, your reasoning does make sense, why Sherlock wouldn't at least try to distract CAM, to take the heat off Watson with verbal distraction

.....and I suppose it's a lot easier to 'take' when you know you're about to blow the guys brians out.  *grin*.

Mxx

He also had to do it himself to protect John and make sure he could go on living his life. John was going to do something otherwise which was going to ruin his existence, so Sherlock sacrificed for him.

Hey did you see that little Easter Egg towards the beginning, when John passe an advert-wall with three posters partially ripped of. The biggest words on each of the remaining parts were
Information
is
power
Totally sounds like Magnussons motto.

Ozma wrote:

He also had to do it himself to protect John and make sure he could go on living his life. John was going to do something otherwise which was going to ruin his existence, so Sherlock sacrificed for him.

Yes, figured that.  Sherlock above all, knows how far John will go to protect those he loves.  He has a wife, and a baby on the way.  Sherlock saves three with one single bullet.  But I do think a part of him thinks Mycroft will save him, where he wouldn't save John.  I think that child at the end was Sherlock looking at his brother and asking him to make everything alright.  But that might just be my overindulgent imagination.  *grin*

Mxx

Mirthxx wrote:

Ozma wrote:

He also had to do it himself to protect John and make sure he could go on living his life. John was going to do something otherwise which was going to ruin his existence, so Sherlock sacrificed for him.

Yes, figured that.  Sherlock above all, knows how far John will go to protect those he loves.  He has a wife, and a baby on the way.  Sherlock saves three with one single bullet.  But I do think a part of him thinks Mycroft will save him, where he wouldn't save John.  I think that child at the end was Sherlock looking at his brother and asking him to make everything alright.  But that might just be my overindulgent imagination.  *grin*

Mxx

Well, then we have the same overindulgent imagination

Because that's what it looked to me too, above all  as Kid!Lock was crying in that scene. I thought it was very wise to use this image, because Grown up Sherlock would certainly not cry and beg his brother to help him. I thought that was what the kid was saying too, "big brother, help me..." . And I need to watch this again (because then again, maybe I've imagined this because I want things to be like that, hehe), but I definitely think Mycroft was utterly shocked and sad when he said "Oh sherlock, what have you done?", I don't feel there was reproach in his voice, just a profound sadness but maybe i'm wrong.

Last edited by Punch me in the face (January 13, 2014 12:48 am)

Didn´t I say I don´t need a cliffhanger like in TRF? Thanks for that, all together, that was much better for me. My first reaction was like: Why do we have to watch most of the time this shitty predictable, absolut political correct crap on TV when obviously it is possible to make it so much better?

I’ve always wanted to use the word “gobsmacked” and I think my reaction to this episode warrants it.
 
Before reading anyone else’s comments, here are mine:
 
About the plot:
* The intro was intriguing—it made me want to know more about who CAM was.
* When he lasciviously licked Lady Smallwood’s face, that was a really good indication of CAM’s character.  Very creepy.
* Was sort of but not really surprised to see Sherlock in the drug den.  I hadn’t expected it but when I saw him there, I didn’t think it was because he needed a fix.  I believed Sherlock when he said he was on a case.  So I enjoyed the subsequent scenes with Anderson and Molly and Mrs. Hudson and how they hearkened back to ASIP.
* Janine appearing in Sherlock’s flat half-dressed after that was hilarious.  As was John’s reaction.  It was pretty clear to me that Sherlock was using her, and when he and John were trying to get into CAM’s office, that’s when I realized who she really was.
* Mary shooting Sherlock and all the scenes of people telling Sherlock how to survive were great.  I hadn’t expected it to be Mary—Moftiss set up Lady Smallwood very well for that.
* Loved seeing Moriarty in chains in…wherever that was in Sherlock’s mind.  Very clever way of Moftiss bringing him back: Yes, he’s dead, but he can still appear in the show!
* Loved the Christmas scenes at the Holmes’ parents place.  So many fun scenes and lines, especially the smoking outside and Mycroft’s comment about Sherlock breaking his heart.  Which of course sets up the climax very well, too.  It was great to see Ben’s parents again as well.  And hearing his mother refer to Mycroft as “Mike” and he correcting her by reminding her she named him and she could dang well manage to say the rest of his name, thank you very much: That was very funny.
* Mary as an assassin: I knew she was too good to be true!  I liked how Sherlock made his deductions about her, especially the scene in the empty house (!) testing her shooting ability.  Also liked John hearing her confession and his reaction.
* John must love Mary to death!  I was surprised that John didn’t look at the contents of the flashdrive.  I would’ve thought he’d be real curious.  I guess love really does conquer all.
* Not sure about why Sherlock called the ambulance from his flat—did he actually know he needed to go to the hospital again or was that a set-up in some way?
* It was funny when Sherlock examined CAM’s glasses, expecting to find some sort of GoogleGlass contraption.
* Is Appledore a name from the canon?  If not, it seems kind of odd as the name for an estate, especially as I have a copy of a 19th century cookbook by that name (it was a resort off the coast of Maine).
* I still want to know what all those weird gewgaws were in CAM’s mind palace.  I liked how CAM’s journey through his mind palace was portrayed, using his hands.
* Loved scene on the patio when Sherlock tells John to let CAM flick his eye.  It sort of seemed Sherlock might have a plan to get the better of CAM but that he had to let CAM victimize John first and that he didn’t like it but was powerless to stop it.
* Sherlock’s expression upon hearing CAM say that he and John were about to be arrested for divulging state secrets was wonderful.  Sherlock’s realization that CAM had gotten the better of him, as shown in his facial expression, was amazing.
* Sherlock didn’t seem to know what to do when Mycroft ordered him and John to move away from CAM.  I wasn’t sure if he truly didn’t know what to do or just hadn’t decided what to do.  I noticed that Mycroft gave the order three times before something happened.
* I was blown away that Sherlock killed CAM in cold blood.  Though at that point, it wasn’t clear to me that CAM was actually dead--Sherlock could have just shot him the way Mary shot Sherlock.  On the other hand, I was immediately reminded that, as Sherlock said, he may be on the side of angels but he definitely isn’t one.
* It was obvious that Mycroft’s comment upon seeing that was going to be, “What have you done?”  I hadn’t predicted the “Oh, Sherlock” preface, though.  That made it all the more poignant.
* When Mycroft referred to Sherlock as a murderer, I could hear the heartbreak in his voice.  Like—all the times and all the ways he’d tried to protect his little brother had come to naught.  Sherlock still managed to get himself in huge trouble, despite Mycroft’s best efforts.  Poor Mycroft.
* The scene at the airfield: I thought Sherlock would be in handcuffs. 
* When Sherlock asks for a moment alone, he didn’t appear heartbroken over the fact this was going to be the last time he ever saw John Watson but I think his jokes revealed that he was.  I think he made those comments because he couldn’t say what he really felt.  Sherlock uses humor to avoid showing real emotion.
* Sherlock didn’t seem too upset by what was happening; either he didn’t care or he was confident he could outwit whoever his adversaries were going to be.  I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.  But he seemed genuinely pleased to see Mary and know that she was safe now, thanks to him.  He did, indeed, fulfill his last vow to her and John.
* A handshake with John?  Really???  A backslapping hug seemed more appropriate and more in line with the emotion of the moment.  I guess Moftiss felt they’d already done the hug thing so it wasn’t necessary?  But, really, it was.  They'd humanized Sherlock so much in Series 3--and done an excellent job of it--that they could have included that final hug, too.
* Sherlock looking out the window of the plane at the end was sad.  He gave up everything he'd struggled to become (whether he'd wanted to or not) -- a man with real feelings he wasn't afraid to express -- to save his best friend and the woman he loved.  Talk about sacrifice.  (And I'm sure we will!)
* I was initially confused about the static on the TV and what was going on, as I suppose I was meant to be.  Then when it showed Moriarty, I was like: Wow, cool, what a great resurrection!
* Sherlock’s reaction to Mycroft (I’ve only been away four minutes!) was great.  Interesting how things can change so suddenly: One moment, Sherlock is on his way to exile and almost certain death, another he’s being hailed as the savior of the realm.  It’s enough to make me think Sherlock engineered Moriarty’s reappearance on purpose. 
 
About the direction:
* I found it much easier to follow the flashbacks and interior mind scenes in HLV than the ones in TEH.
* I really liked how CAM’s conclusions about people were shown on screen: Very linear and in red color.  It was visually different and a great way to show the difference between Sherlock and CAM.
* I didn’t really care for all the extreme facial close-ups of people; I thought that was overdone a bit.
* Ben and Martin’s acting was superb.  I think Ben had the more fun role but Martin had the more difficult job.  Martin had to show a lot of emotional reactions to experiences and revelations, whereas Ben just had lots of different emotions to play.  Amanda did a good job in her role, too.
 
I really like how this episode didn’t end with a cliffhanger about Sherlock and John’s survival.  That’s so two years ago.  The conclusion to Series 3 is mysterious but more satisfying, to me anyway.  In the sense that, sure, it’ll be fun to speculate on how Moriarty can possibly be reincarnated—if that is, in fact, what has happened—but I don’t see myself obsessing over it like I did with TRF.  There's not a whole lot of interpretation possible about what actually happened, only about how it could happen.  I mean, sure, we can all offer guesses as to how Moriarty appeared on all those screens and what is his motive for doing so.  But that ending is not nearly as intense as the finale to TRF.

I really liked HLV but I think TSOT is my favorite episode of Series 3.  It will be a much easier wait for Series 4 this time.  And hopefully, a much quicker one, too. 

Now I'll go and read all the other comments.

Last edited by Sherli Bakerst (January 13, 2014 3:03 am)

Just in short - I loved it. Lots of stuff for discussion, excellent camera work,brilliant acting - wow. 

And, Ozma, I agree with your conclusions stated earlier in this thread.  I also really want to thank you for not letting any spoilers out (other than to tell us to keep watching after the end credits roll) -- it must have been extremely hard to keep your reactions to yourself!