I like HoB as well. The fireplace scene is one of my favourites. And there are many nice little details - the "looking mysterious" thing, the graveyard scene, Greg "that's his name" Lestrade, John in a purple shirt … 
As for series 3, however, I do not agree with you. I love TSoT and HLV and have made my peace with TEH. 
 

Last edited by SusiGo (June 1, 2014 9:14 pm)

I like both this one and The Blind Banker very much. Both are great character studies.

I think that Sherlock's breakdown is one of the most important moments of any of the series because it's one of the very rare emotive Sherlock scenes that you can actually trust you are not being manipulated and know for certain it is real.

John is wonderful in this, investigating on his own (nice catch with the receipt for the meat!).

We also get some very interesting insight into Lestrade and Sherlock's back story and Lestrade's relationship with Mycroft, which is definitely more involved than it might seem at first glance ("I don't just do what your brother tells me to." (!))

The case is really good; it's engaging and genuinely scary and straight forward.

Finally, this is the episode with the most hilarious revelation ever: not only does Sherlock know how to drive, it's such a perfectly normal thing for him to do that the absurdity of the fact is never brought up in the episode.

Mary

This is such a quotable episode!

I think my favourite line from it is from Mrs. Hudson: "How about a nice cuppa?" *beat* "And perhaps you could put away your harpoon!"

"Like a faery!" and "None of the cabs would take me!" are close seconds.

Mary

Yes, you are right on both points, I think. I love it when they continue such details. (And sometimes also within one episode - did you notice Mr Shilcott chewing the hat bobble when skyping with Sherlock and John?)

And they gave us one of the most wonderful quotes which I surely do not have to repeat here. 

I love the looong deduction scene at the fire place. Where Mark actually noted "Sorry Benedict" in the script.... 

He said so in the commentary, I think.
And Benedict said it was sooo hard because he had to talk so much quicker than he could think.

I think my favourite line is right near the beginning. Sherlock drenched in blood, holding a harpoon: "Well, that was tedious".

There were some great lines in this, but it felt a bit tenous to me ... that Sherlock would know hound was an acronym, that (secret?) research team would have t-shirts and that the killer would be wearing one, that people exposed to the drug would always see/imagine a demonic hound and not any other thing that might have been suggested to them or that scared them (actually, Sherlock does see Moriarty), the password (I'm never convinced about guessing passwords - at least SHER was more pertinent), that the ultrasecure research facility had pipes leaking hallucinogenic drugs, what made the footprint that the tour guide had (were we meant to assume it was a fake, or that it was made by Clive Mantle's character?), why were the landlords buying meat instead of dog food, etc.?  And I feel that the audience should be able to guess - the clues should be right there for us.   Although there were clues (for instance, flagging up that "hound" was an odd choice of word right at the beginning - although why doesn't Sherlock ask why Henry uses that word right at the beginning?).  But how could we guess that HOUND was the experimenters' intitials if we didn't know their names? 

t I have only watched it once (and again with the commentary), and I've found that the other episodes have made more sense on second viewing.

There was lots that I loved too.  The creepy atmosphere was fun, although I didn't find it at all scary (not sure why, as there were definitely scary bits and "jump" moments).  I liked Sherlock reaffirming his skills with his deductions about the mother and son.  I loved Sherlock standing on the rock.  It made me think of Wuthering Heights (different story, different type of character, different location, different time, but that's what came to mind!).  Loved the witty dialogue.  Loved Sherlock's fear and doubt.

Last edited by Liberty (July 13, 2014 9:41 am)

Updating an old thread here, but found this one to be the most appropriate. 

This is my... fourth? time watching this episode. Or perhaps the fifth. And I am enjoying it more than I ever did. This used to be one of my least favorite ones, but I find myself greatly enjoying it now.

The opening scene with Sherlock and John is just amazing. Sherlock being in withdrawal and John handling it with stoic patience. His "You are doing so well" while Sherlock is desperately throwing papers around is hilarious. Their bickering when Henry is in the flat is so cute ("Not now, Sherlock!" "Oh, come on, I've been cooped up in here for days!").

There are several really powerful scenes in this episode - Sherlock closing in on having a panic attack at doubting his own mind for the first time, the adorable apology scene that comes after, the experiment on John...

Speaking of John, I find this to be one of his strongest episodes. His calm and assured way of handling Sherlock out of control, him pulling rank, doing his own UMQRA-research, chatting up the psychiatrist, his calm and self-esteem while Sherlock tries to fumble his excuse, him finding the meat receipts of the veg restaurant, his logic in the face of horror during the "experiment", calling Sherlock out on his sugar error ... I can't recall any epsiode where John is as calm, assertive, strong and secure of himself as in this episode.

When I saw this episode for the first time, it was one thing that really stood out that told me I was watching a high quality show - the apology scene at the graveyard. You would think John would give in as soon as Sherlock admitted to doubt himself, but he didn't. You would surely think he would give in when Sherlock gave his Hollywood cliche "I don't have friends, I only have you" - and he didn't! I love when a show surprise me, and I can't predict correctly what will happen. And that scene did exactly that.

So, yeah, I think the one thing I love above anything about this episode is that it shows the strongest John I've ever seen.

(And, of course, the story will always be a bit special to me because it's the only ACD Sherlock story I've actually ever heard of before BBC Sherlock).

Last edited by Vhanja (February 17, 2015 10:10 pm)