BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / What is your favourite beginning and ending?

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** April 23, 2012 11:51 am

I made a list of them all just for fun and to compare them. What is your favourite beginning (pre credit scene) to a Sherlock episode, and what is your favourite ending?

SHERLOCK PRE CREDIT SCENES
ASIP – John in Afghanistan, nightmares. John talking to therapist about blog. “Nothing happens to me."
TBB – Soo Lin Yao does the tea ceremony. She packs away. Hears noise. Sees “something" (the cipher) and screams.
TGG – Sherlock being a grammar Nazi in Minsk
ASIB – Recap of TGG and conclusion of pool scene. Miss Adler seen getting ready to whip the royal.
THOB – Henry Knight as young boy running through woods, terrified. Sees woman with dog. Screams. Grown up Henry Knight in same woods, looking terrified again.
TRF – John at psychiatrist. Says Sherlock is dead.

SHERLOCK ENDINGS
ASIP – John and Sherlock walking off together into the distance. Mycroft says their names (epic)
TBB – General Shan talking to ‘M’ on Skype. Gets assassinated by sniper.
TGG – Cliffhanger. Pool scene.
ASIB – Sherlock saves Miss Adler’s life in Karachi. Then we see Sherlock stood in the window remembering it and smiling.
THOB – Mycroft releasing Moriarty after questioning him. We see he has written Sherlock all over his cell.
TRF – John at Sherlock’s grave. Pan out to reveal Sherlock still alive.

My favourite pre credit scene would probably have to be The Great Game. And my favourite ending...that's a little harder because I really like the ending to ASIP but then, the ending of TRF is so...*can't think of accurate enough word to describe it*. OK, I'll go with the ending to A Study In Pink because everytime I watch it it makes me literally shout "YES!" out loud.

**Posted by Wholocked** April 23, 2012 1:02 pm

Pre credit scene is definitely Belarus in TGG. I LOVE that scene. In fact, I think it's my favourite scene in the whole 6 episodes. Mostly because I'm a grammar nazi myself sometimes.

Ending though...that's harder. Possibly ASIB, or TRF.

**Posted by m0r1arty** April 23, 2012 1:23 pm

'The Great Game' for both.

A whole scene just to get the 'hanged' joke (Shot in German!) in is as luxurious as it gets, the cliffhanger ending was as powerful as the end of Star Trek TNG series 3 (With the same amount of time to view it's conclusion).

The ending of 'The Reichenbach Fall' is "epic" however seeing Sherlock took the sting out of it a little (Whilst warming cockles).

Nice thread!

-m0r

**Posted by Irene Adler** April 23, 2012 1:45 pm

Oh, this is a very, very difficult question...

I think my favorite pre credit scene would be the one in Scandal. That moment when Moriarty's phone starts ringing... you should have seen my face. Brilliant epic WTF moment... second place (but very close to this) is The Great Game and the grammar nazi thing. And in the third place (very very close too) the beginning of A Study in Pink. I think John saying "nothing happens to me" was the moment I got hooked in this show. The other three are good too, but I can hardly bear by now watching the pre credits to The Reichenbach Fall.

About the endings... for me the best one is The Reichenbach Fall. Martin Freeman is superb in that scene and the moment we see Sherlock alive... well, I knew he had to be alive, but I didn't expect it to be revealed in that moment. And, as happens with the pre credits scenes, a close second place would be the cliffhanger to The Great Game (but the whole scene... I mean, that "That's what people DO!!!!" from Moriarty froze my blood and made me realise that was a true Magnificent Bastard and not just a cartoony villain) and then A Study in Pink (epic ending to an epic episode).

You see? I can't just pick one

**Posted by tobeornot221b** April 23, 2012 4:10 pm

fav pre-credit scene:
ASiB – The one and only reason for my ringtone

fav ending:
TRF - Martin's ready-for-a-BAFTA scene

**Posted by Milkomeda** April 23, 2012 6:26 pm

Favorite beginning: TGG
Favorite ending: TRF - sad, beautiful and makes me cry.

**Posted by Anthea_MI6** April 23, 2012 6:30 pm

Fav beginning has to be...TGG - for many of the above reasons.. and I am also a grammar nazi..and I am like Irene - TRF makes me want to cry immediately..

Fav ending is TRF (but Godtiss are bastards)

**Posted by jenosborn** April 23, 2012 8:35 pm

I'm going to pick the beginning of Scandal, and the ending of TRF.

Though such a close runner up is the Great Game. I love
love love the grammar corrections in the opener,
and the end is a brilliantly executed cliffhanger, with the
added bonus that no main characters have apparently yet died.

for pure feel-good smiles, I turn to the beginning/ending of ASIP.

**Posted by Davina** April 23, 2012 8:43 pm

I am torn between the start and end of the Great Game and the start and end of The Reichenbach Fall.
I love the black humour of the grammar nazi stuff at the start of TGG and it links in a way with the cliffHANGER scene at the end of the episode, where the audience are kept hanging until the next series!
I love also the symbolism of the rain in the scene in the therapist's office in TRF and the way John's struggle to say that Sherlock is dead is mirrored by the scene by the graveside and the final reveal that he is, in fact, still alive.

**Posted by harleyq** November 2, 2012 6:41 pm

It's TRF for both for me. Powerfully shocking beginning an ending.

**Posted by Lelli** December 5, 2012 6:46 pm

TGG beginning is really great. I couldn't stop smiling… He must have courage to correct a criminal all the time… but after all… he is Sherlock.
And of course TRF beginning is shocking…

The ASIP ending is great and THOB ending too but of course the most memorable is FRT ending… I mean… how could you forget that?

For TRF and TGG endings: I hate waiting so much! cliffhangers are like the worst torturing device known to mankind since the invention of TV or at least since the Sherlock release…

In general I don't like beginnings and endings not related with Sherlock or John or at least Jim… Because the first episode I watched was TBB and the beginning was almost a little… boring… not boring but… to typical for crime stories.

MK

**Posted by MycroftHolmes** December 10, 2012 5:02 pm

my favorite is probaly TRB as it shocked me i litraly went WHAT as i hadnt read the cannons yet
ending probaly TGG as i thought he might shoot the bomb