I have to say I liked this episodes a lot, as well as the whole series 3, although it is very different from the first two series. Mark Gatiss said something like "we have to move on with the series else it would become boring somewhen" in the Q&A, and I agree with this. They might get back to more crime solving in the next series, who knows?
About Mary, I can`t make a decision yet. There`s something about her that makes me not really like her, on the other side I am willing to accept Sherlock's and John' s reactions. I could imagine John forgave her finally because Sherlock forgave her in the first place, or at least it made it easier for him.
For Benedict it must have been fun making this series, he got to kiss so many people
Concerning Moriarty: My first reaction was "NOOOOOO!!! Not HIM again." I am SO fed up with that guy, after TRF I got bored with his "games". Always the same baddie with kind of similar cases. And some others of you here I did not like the way he was played, the high voice and the way he talks get on my nerves a lot. But - did anybody think about that he might not be alive? Someone else could have used his face and voice to get more attention, for example Moran, or even Mycroft to fake some threat to be able to let Sherlock come back to London (better, to never leave). The writers made very clear in some interviews that Moriarty is definitely dead. OK, they might have lied, therefore I might become pissed with them. Well, we will have to wait and see. Hopefully not that long.....
I am going to watch this episode again tomorrow because I missed some parts and also did not understand everything (I`m not English), and because there were some scenes I want to re-watch for I liked them a lot - like the "are you two smoking?" - sorry, but Mycroft Looking forward to it and to the release of a translated DVD set.