This took a few days to write. Anyone who was not overwhelmed by His Last Vow is lying. Whether or not you thought it was good, whether or not you liked it, there had to be a visceral reaction on your first viewing. In my 23 years, I have NEVER been more surprised by an ending. EVER. Once the shock wore off (and on an encore viewing…or 2) I finally composed myself enough to have an opinion.
A disclaimer; I didn’t love all of it. I wanted to, just like I wanted to love this season. But I can’t. I just can’t. After this review, I’m going to do what I’m calling ”Open Letters to Moffat” about some of the larger issues that this series struggles with. But I digress; this is about HLV, and what I thought worked and didn’t. As I’ve said before, I’m critical because I care; I love Sherlock Holmes and I love this version and I want it to be the best it can be. Also, a lot of my feelings are shaped by my life experiences, namely dealing with chronic disease and transplant, and I realize not everyone may get that (though if you have questions, please do ask!).
But let’s start with what worked, because there were lots of good things. Moffat may not be able to write realistic female characters, he might not handle male relationships all that well, but damn can he create a villain. Charles Augustus Magnussen is terrifyingly creepy. Watching his performance actually made me uncomfortable; the closest thing I can compare it to is the Pale Man in Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. From the very beginning, it’s easy to see why this is the man Sherlock Holmes hates most; I saw a post on Tumblr that described him as the human incarnation of the word “moist” and I think that’s spot on. He’s such a departure from Moriarty and it’s thrilling to see Sherlock going against a new kind of threat.
But Moriarty isn’t far away; even taking out the jaw-dropping cliffhanger, Andrew Scott was phenomenal. He did more with 3 minutes of screen time than a lot of people do in entire movies. I’m just waiting for him to blow up the way so many others have, because I truly believe he’s the best actor working today.
The scene Andrew was part of was, for me, the cornerstone of the entire movie. The mind-palace sequence was simply mind-blowing. I could write posts on posts on posts about the cinematography. (Though I’m not sure who deserves the credit. Director of Photography? Neville Kidd. Editor? Yan Miles.) The score rose to the occasion like none other. Molly was perfect. Anderson was perfect. Redbeard was heartbreaking and perfect. Benedict Cumberbatch deserves awards for that montage alone. It was one of the most perfect sequences I’ve seen on screen, ever.
Another part that really got to me was the scene in 221B when John confronts Mary. I’ve said before that John is the emotional center of this show, and even though we’ve seen tremendous character development on the part of Sherlock, I still think that holds true. (And I’m hoping that season 4 is about John’s psyche). That scene is the most heartbreaking in the entire episode. You see a man completely and utterly broken down, and when he’s asking “Why is she like that?” he’s begging Sherlock to make it better. This is one of the moments I connect the most with because I’ve been there. I know what it feels like when every choice you make seems to hurt you in some way; though in my case the psychopaths weren’t my loved ones, they were my own white blood cells. Martin plays this devastation beautifully.
Finally, I’m going to comment on the ending, because I know a lot of people weren’t happy. Given Moffat’s lack of emotional understanding thus far, I’m surprised I liked it as much as I did. Yes, I think it could have gone a bit further, and I wish John could have been allowed a wider emotional range and maybe a little insight into the enormity of the sacrifice Sherlock made for him, but all in all it worked. I think that’s mostly due to Cumberbatch. The inner feelings he was able to portray (a mournful joy upon finding out the baby is a girl, a selfless desire to see John laugh once more) got across the love that Moffat failed to include in the script.
There were some truly beautiful moments. But they were bright lights in a dense fog; much like TEH, the overarching story itself felt disjointed. Until they break into Magnussen’s office, it follows the original ACD story fairly closely, but after that the narrative went a bit wonky. Previously, they’ve shown the passage of time with flashbacks intercut with present day, and for the most part it works, but I think it actually hurt the story here. By cutting back and forth between John finding out about Mary and John forgiving her, it undercuts the emotional turmoil he was going through. I’m sure the months in between were agonizing for him, but we see none of that. It comes off as him forgiving her almost instantly, and it makes him look incredibly naive. We needed the struggle so we could support his decision, but because we don’t get that, we end up second guessing him.
Now, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief a little to get lost in a good story, but when plot holes are too gaping they get distracting. Here are a couple of things that, try as I might, I just couldn’t get over.
- Even without the odd flashbacks, John’s choice seems a little ridiculous. You had a past life as a stripper? Fine I don’t need to know the details. You used to be an assassin for the CIA who went freelance? If we’re going to do this, I need some background information. No rational person would write that off so easily.
- I know the ending is tragic, with Sherlock being sent off to a fatal assignment, but he’s the greatest mind in Europe. Couldn’t he figure a way out of the situation before it turns deadly?
- On a similar note, this is a man who’s been following John around since they first met. He planned every detail of the wedding down to a tee. Yet he never thinks to look into the background of his best friend’s wife until she shoots him? Come on.
- On the flip side, if you were an assassin on the run, okay, maybe after awhile you would settle down, but once your prospective husband’s best friend turns up, who is again supposed to be the greatest mind in Europe, wouldn’t you calculate that you’d eventually be found out and disappear?
- This is a personal thing, but if a guy I’d been dating for only a month who disappears randomly for long periods of time proposed to me, my reaction would be much less positive, and I would definitely not buzz him into my super evil bosses’ private office.
- Again very personal – having spent long stretches in a hospital, no one looks that good hooked up to all of the machines.
*I realize a lot of this comes off as very negative towards Mary. I enjoyed that character and I think Amanda Abbington’s great, but I just think by adding this twist, they’re setting her up to not be around long term. I don’t think we’re ever going to get the chance to find out what exactly makes Mary tick, so I’m not going to get that invested.
So, a lot of those points are very nit-picky, I get that, but what I’m trying to say is that this episode didn’t quite add up to the sum of its parts. So much effort went into concentrated scenes the arch of the story as a whole seemed lost. It’s something I think this whole season has struggled with. There is really no resolution; questions from the premiere are still lingering, and now new ones are popping up. There are just too many loose threads. So while yes, it’s a little exasperating to think there was not one fake suicide but two, I welcome Moriarty’s return, especially if that means a return to the concise storytelling of the first two seasons. If I’m being honest, without Andrew Scott, I would have to think long and hard about how invested I was going to be in season 4.