shadragon

Series 3 Ep 3 - His Last Vow First, I'm a huge fan of the show. Up until Series 3 Ep. 2, I was completely happy with the series. Professional quality actors, excellent scripts, funny, intelligent, and decent twists. There were ups and downs, but nothing that turned me off. His Last Vow turned me off on several levels. Hate to be in the minority, but I felt this show was the worse one to date for multiple reasons. For those of you who remember Monty Python, I was expecting Graham Chapman to come out dressed as a Brigadier saying "Stop this, it's getting silly." OK, biggest issue (Without spoiling the show for those who haven't seen it) Where does the video of Watson being burned under the Guy Fawkes bonfire come from? Second, Magnusson is supposedly a newspaper man and uses his paper to reveal secrets. Okay, given the point above, if he prints something in his paper to reveal a secret and gets sued for libel and / or slander, where is the proof protecting himself? No one has ever called his bluff? Third, Fourth, the ending. Fifth, drug use. The reboot of the series was done magnificently well. I thought the replacement of Victorian hard drugs with cigarettes in Series 1 Ep 1 was masterful. Now, he's on heroin all of a sudden with no negative connotations at all? That's just irresponsible in this day and age. Sixth, a third Holmes brother is alluded to... In nine shows the writers have burned through about half of the available AC Doyle source material. Most of it in cut away gags (The Geek Interpreter, The Speckled Blonde, The Aluminum Crutch, etc). At that rate, it's unsurprising that they need to introduce new characters to create new stories. Overall, the story was rushed in places with contradictions that conflict with earlier shows. I'm getting the sense the writers are twisting twists rather than putting time into developing a coherent story arc. In trying to be clever, they're losing the essence of what made the show good to begin with. Coming soon, Mrs. Hudson's past revealed as a former member of a Royal Marine anti-terror squad. There's a lot more good than bad overall, but this episode showed cracks appearing in the show. I hope they can fix them.