Couldn't agree with you more nakahara!

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

Honestly, I thought s3 was ANTI-Johnlock-- it's like Mofftiss did every thing they could do to sink that ship!
:-D  It *did* go with the endlessly pining Sherlock (TSLSH), and we should have expected that. Err.. just because someone has a criticism of the show, and we don't agree with it-- that might be a little not good to tell them that they should just go watch another show... just thinking...
 

If you're refrering to my previous comment Raven, I meant no offense.  I have gotten so pissed off at certain shows that I did have to give them up all together.  Just pointing out that if you stop enjoying a show it's not horrible to just stop watching.  
 

Ok, I’ll admit I was getting a little too passionate when I said they turned it into a romcom/soap but, like so many other fans, I find it very hard to restrain myself when talking about this show. My apologies to those who were offended.

Re. the 'romance', was it not obviously the centrepiece of S3? For example:
[list=1]
[*]John’s reaction to Sherlock’s return, and particularly that inexplicable line "I don't care HOW you did it, I want to know WHY" was used to show us just how much John cares, and how badly he was hurt, in case we hadn’t got it by that point.
[*]John asking Sherlock to be best man was a declaration of his love for Sherlock.
[*]The best man speech was one long love letter from Sherlock to John.
[*]More love and tenderness poured out in HLV.
[/list]
 
 
Now, what I actually disliked about this is not the Sherlock-John personal equation itself, but how the makers abandoned their usual subtlety and finesse in their treatment of it.

There is uncharacteristic repetition and obviousness in S3, which I do NOT want to see in S4. For instance:
[list=1]
[*]"Of course, you're my best friend": Did it have to be spelled out? Why didn't they cut the scene at the point when Sherlock says 'friend' and John says 'man'? More elegant, and John’s expression has already done the talking.
[*]"I didn't expect to be anybody's best friend": Repetition; we would’ve known that from point 1. Also, Sherlock Holmes might think that in his head, but he won’t say such a thing in front of so many people. OOC! It reeks of self-pity, which belongs in soap-operas, not in Sherlock.
[*]"I'm an arsehole": see above. Additionally, did they have to so brutally sacrifice the supreme dignity of Sherlock Holmes, just to make him ‘likeable’? Everyone who knows him likes him anyway! (except maybe Donovan?)
[*]"You're the best and wisest man..": Said not once but a total of three times! It was touching when John said it at Sherlock’s grave in Series 2, and only because it was said in Sherlock’s perceived absence. The most wince-worthy occasion was in the Empty Hearse; when, for all the creators’ sentimentality and ‘humanization’, John’s feelings were dragged over coals to provide a ‘light’ moment! And the plot took a backseat. A conveniently obvious ‘off’ switch for a bomb this elaborate? Didn’t that strike you as a little dumb? (However, I have recently come across this heartening meta that plausibly hints the dumbness may have been deliberate. http://finalproblem.tumblr.com/post/76775276575/no-ordinary-criminal)
[*]“Did I do it wrong?”: Unnecessary, and obvious, cuteness. Of course Sherlock knew exactly what he was doing there-he took time to write that speech, and to research all the guests-he’s GOT to have thought through the reactions he would elicit. 
[*]The Hug: Follows on from point 5 above, and annoying because it is so soap-operatic – “you’re so cute I could hug you!” – and done in the context of forced cuteness. The Hug was there only, and very obviously, as fanservice.
[*]Sherlock taking a vow: Seriously, what? Sherlock Holmes has just denounced the very idea of marriage as a celebration of irrational sentimentality, and we are expected to believe that the next logical thing he’ll do is take a vow himself of protecting another person and their wife (effectively wedding himself to John & Mary)!? Sherlock Holmes is above all things a rational being, and taking this sort of vow, in public, is NOT in character. It is too over the top even by soap-opera standards.
[*]“We can’t all three dance”: Obviously. Unnecessary line. Some silence there would have been marvellous. But, we viewers may not get the obvious pathos of Sherlock’s loneliness now that John has married someone (else), so they had to make it a little more obvious.
[*]The Sign of Three overall was just an excuse for the writers to let fans see some of their fantasies on screen, and plot be damned. A stab through the stomach that a military man wouldn’t perceive?! Did anyone buy that? I agree it was a very entertaining episode; my favourite in Series 3 in fact, but only in a sitcom-y way not in the Sherlock way.
[*]“You will take care of him for me won’t you?”: Too obvious, too spelt-out, to be Sherlock. At most he’d say maybe a refined version of “John could get bored” or something, in his usual offhand way.
[/list]
There’s reams of subtext interpretation out there re. Series 3, and even without it, I think it’s just too OBVIOUS. Subtlety suits Sherlock far better.
God, I have rambled! Sorry about that. Also this probably belongs in another thread but I have to post it here to address recent comments.
 

Will you shoot that this year?
MOFFAT: I think we’re shooting next year, April-ish.

http://collider.com/sherlock-doctor-who-crossover-and-season-4-news-steven-moffat/
 

Last edited by Ivy (September 22, 2015 12:49 pm)

yes the "ish" worries me, too.

"Soonish" "Aprilish" either stuff is too far ahead for them to able to have concrete plans or it's just too early for us to be allowed the concrete plans that are already in place.

and yes, the special 'wasn't asked for'. No, we didn't ask for it. I wish they hadn't done it. I wish we could have s4 this January. I wish the whole cast and the showrunners would stop saying so many contrasting things that make no sense whatsover ('there's a reason why they're in the Victorian era', 'there is no reason why they are').

As you can probably tell, I'm not in the mood for them today....

I'm not wild about that special either. Of course Ill watch it, but it won't be the same.

I'm not even excited, honestly. If they didn't have time to shoot a whole series then I would have rather that they shot a 'bridge' between s3 and s4, started some of the story from s4, something like that.
After the mess that HLV was, I just want to know what happens next to be honest, I don't want to spend time messing about with a different universe and different characters and storylines.

Plus Sherlock doesn't even look like Sherlock with that hair. The teaser left me superunderwhelmed, and I'll say it as it is - if I wasn't so into this series as a whole, I would have already moved on by now.

I have to agree.  I think oftentimes you enjoy something more if it's not handed to you imeediately.  If you have to wait, there's also less of a chance of you getting oversaturated with it and then not enjoying it anymore.  You're not entitled to anything right away, especially not something that involved the work of many people.  I'd rather wait and have them make things that they have the time and money to put a good effort into.  
As much as sometimes I don't want to wait as long as we have to, I still enjoy the anticipation and the excitement.