What would you like to see in series 4?

[T.o.b.y]

Yes, I know series 3 hasn't even aired everywhere yet, but I had a lot of fun with a thread like this for series 3 and in spite of the danger of raising expectations, I thought it would be nice to have one for the next - must do something to tide over the long wait.

 

So - any items on your various wish lists yet?

[Ally.C]

I would like to see the series tackle Mary's death, be it actual death or perhaps just John losing her if she were to run off (or get put on a witness protection scheme in the Americas, haha). Might be a nice way to pull a child out without death too, hm?

 

I really want to see a lot of wind up with Moriarty being back. Clever schemes with phones and all the things Moriarty was doing prior to TGG... only for us to find out in a dramatic reveal to Sherlock that it's someone else.

[T.o.b.y]

I would really like the show to calm down again. Make an episode without helicopters and CIA killers and a lot of slow motion to the sound of wailing violins. Also no more fake deaths. None! Just keep the really good characters alive, please.

 

I really have no idea how they will fit the Watsons having a child into the big picture. There are never any children mentioned in Doyle's stories. I think I'd quite like it if they just let it be born during series 3 and 4 and then not make a big deal of it's existence. Just let Sherlock and John be the main characters, solving crimes together, and John be married and a father "on the side" (not from his point of view, of course, but from ours). I'd like that, it would be pleasantly mundane and believable (like Sherlock's parents, I really liked those. It was a nice, unexpected touch).

 

As for the cases, I think it's time they did a version of "The Speckled Band" and "The Red-Headed League".

[sherlockandjohn]

I agree; I would love to see the show calm down again, get back to its' detective roots a bit. And when I look around the Internet, it seems that a lot (and I really mean a lot) of fans agree. Skip all the overly dramatic character plots and the action, and do some real detective work again, in which it is Sherlock and John solving crimes together.

 

However, we know that a show cannot 'go back', it needs to move forward, so a new twist must be combined with the detective work. That new twist I sincerely hope will not involve Mary being some superwoman who works together with the two men. I want 'just the two of us against the rest of the world'.

 

As for Mary, I hope she dies, but even though I don't see how John and Sherlock could manage a baby on their own, I just don't like the idea of a baby dying. I really don't. Maybe Mrs. Hudson could look after it when Sherlock and John are out on cases. And of course they must both live in 221b again.

[T.o.b.y]

I agree; I would love to see the show calm down again, get back too its' detective roots a bit. And when I look around the Internet, it seems that a lot (and I really mean a lot) of fans agree.

 

Really? That's encouraging. All I've come across so far are rave reviews for His Last Vow. One called The Sign of Three a "bromantic lull". I'm sure it was not meant in a nice way, but I'd actually like a bit more lull. (And just for the record: The Sign of Three was the only episode this season that really engaged me in any way on first viewing.)

[Caya]

Fox had a brilliant idea about the baby, actually - the show already introduced a nice, loving elderly couple who would no doubt be delighted to spoil a step-granddaughter rotten, since their sons don't seem in any kind of hurry to supply them with grandkids. I love her suggestion that the Holmes parents take the girl - seems like an ideal solution for all parties concerned (well, except for Mary).

[sherlockandjohn]

Oh, I've also read lots of very positive reviews on HLV, but in general people seem to want more detective work.

Strangely enough, all three episodes this series have at first been a shock to me, in each their way, mostly HLV. Love TSoT!! And TEH is really good.

[T.o.b.y]

Fox had a brilliant idea about the baby, actually - the show already introduced a nice, loving elderly couple who would no doubt be delighted to spoil a step-granddaughter rotten, since their sons don't seem in any kind of hurry to supply them with grandkids. I love her suggestion that the Holmes parents take the girl - seems like an ideal solution for all parties concerned (well, except for Mary).

 

Yeah, it is a really good idea. Except for Mary of course. Who I still believe (and sometimes still hope) will not die. But she'll need foster grandparents in any case, seeing that she doesn't have any of her own and John's family doesn't seem to be such a hit.

 

 

 

 

[Ruthyone]

I hope Mary gets written out in the next series as I don't like the idea of a 'threesome' - she's not to be trusted!

[Slithytove]

I am afraid I want Mary to die or to run far, far away with the baby, and for John to move back in 221B. But first, I want him to come to his senses and realise he failed Sherlock terribly by staying with the person who inflicted such an appalling injury on him. I want him to go back to being a good man who would not want to be married to an assassin, however much he loved her.

 

And I know it is not a popular choice but I want Jim Moriarty back, with all his glorious, pointless and over-elaborate plots. I want Mary to turn out to be Jim's sister and the leading hit man of his network, working under deep cover as Mary Morstan and sent to get close to John when Jim, in retirement, got a hint that Sherlock was still alive. I want her to have gone through the fake wedding - of course her marriage to John is not legal because of her phoney ID - to remain as Jim's eyes and ears. I want the wedding telegram's reference to her family to have been a veiled reminder of her connection to Jim and I want her to be as mad and ruthless as her brother, prepared to kill anyone who is a threat to herself and Jim. I want Jim's return to have been perfectly timed to prevent Sherlock dying in an obscure corner of Eastern Europe, because Jim is bored and wants a re-match with his nemesis. And I want Sherlock and John to find out that they have risked everything to protect another homicidal member of the Moriarty family. Then I want John to shoot her.

 

Okay, it will never happen, but I really, really wish it would, just so we could see the look on John and Shetlock's faces..... Oh, and I want Lestrade to get more screen time because I love his character.

[Slithytove]

Shetlock? Sorry, typo! You know what I meant....

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oh, dear me, why is everyone so convinced that Mary is going to die (or at least leave) that the only discussion is over HOW?

 

In the first place, I doubt that she even wants to join "the team."  If she'd wanted that sort of risky life, she could have remained a professional killer, so I assume she actually wanted to retire to a more "normal" life.  Obviously, she does have skills that Sherlock and John might call upon from time to time, but in general I suspect she'll continue to be a nurse and then a mother, while "the boys" go about their detective work.

 

I would also like to point out that people were saying "Mary must die" even before the character was announced or even rumored.  Obviously no one wants to see the chemistry between Sherlock and John spoilt.  But there are a myriad ways of keeping that chemistry intact, and surely some of them could include Mary.  Moftiss have exhibited a modicum of originality before -- who knows, maybe they could do it again?  I suspect that whether Mary lives or dies or stays or leaves will depend more on what they think makes the best story, rather than on anything preordained.

 

[sherlockandjohn]

Carol, I hope you are right that Mary will not be part of a trio

 

I never disliked Mary before HLV, and I even thought it would bring a new, fun dynamic to the show with her in it. Which it did, at first. Naturally, when some people like myself find it more difficult to sympathise with her now, it would be nicer for us to have her excluded.

 

But by no means do I suggest that the writers want the same. I kind of doubt it, since she's pregnant.

[sherlockandjohn]

Lestrade, yes! More Lestrade, by all means - there was not nearly enough of him in this series. Though I did love him in TSoT... His explanation to the bloody guardsman mystery And the way he shouts 'Not really!' when a hung-over John asks him to whisper... so great

[sh_fan]

I, actually, see no reason why a show can't go backward - especially if they're returning to what worked (what made Sherlock Holmes so popular in the first place)!  What I want from season 4 is a return to seasons 1 & 2. 

 

Before HLV, when I liked Mary and thought her a good addition, I thought they might add her into the Holmes / Watson adventures (because of what Holmes said about how clever she was and how useful she could've been to his detective work in The Sign of Four).  Now, I think she's beyond redemption, and I don't know why anyone trusts her, and I hope she's gone in season 4.

 

Definitely more Lestrade!  I'd, actually, like to see less Mycroft.  It's true that he adds material to the potential episodes, but, Gatiss being one of the writers, it just feels to me as if he's just writing himself in because he wants to be in it more.  Mycroft barely appeared - ever - in the Holmes stories (once, that I remember, in the Greek Interpreter, where I laughed out loud when he was described as being so fat that when he reached out to shake John's hand, it reminded John of a Whale flipper)!

 

Yes, I'd like to see the Red Headed League, too - I'd also love to see what they'd do with the Six Napoleons or the Dancing Men!

 

And I DEFINITELY don't want Moriarty back!  Entertaining villain, but ridiculous, the idea of him surviving shooting himself in the head (I'm sure they won't tell us how that happened, either).

[Slithytove]

/>

Oh, dear me, why is everyone so convinced that Mary is going to die (or at least leave) that the only discussion is over HOW?

 

In the first place, I doubt that she even wants to join "the team." If she'd wanted that sort of risky life, she could have remained a professional killer, so I assume she actually wanted to retire to a more "normal" life. Obviously, she does have skills that Sherlock and John might call upon from time to time, but in general I suspect she'll continue to be a nurse and then a mother, while "the boys" go about their detective work.

 

I would also like to point out that people were saying "Mary must die" even before the character was announced or even rumored. Obviously no one wants to see the chemistry between Sherlock and John spoilt. But there are a myriad ways of keeping that chemistry intact, and surely some of them could include Mary. Moftiss have exhibited a modicum of originality before -- who knows, maybe they could do it again? I suspect that whether Mary lives or dies or stays or leaves will depend more on what they think makes the best story, rather than on anything preordained.

I am not all convinced that Mary will die. In fact, I highly doubt it. I just want her dead or otherwise gone. Or, at the very least, an opponent and not John's wife and Sherlock's bosom friend.

 

I do not like what it says about John as a man, that he would forgive her for hurting Sherlock and wouldn't even want to know about the people she murdered. John was a good man, not emotionally idiotic like Sherlock, and he used to know right from wrong.

 

And I don't know how we can be expected to like her and trust her, when we've seen her make Sherlock writhe around in shock and pain and then die during surgery. She hurt Sherlock - she should go.

 

(But I do like Amanda Abbington - she plays the character so well.)

[sherlockandjohn]

I, actually, see no reason why a show can't go backward - especially if they're returning to what worked (what made Sherlock Holmes so popular in the first place)!  What I want from season 4 is a return to seasons 1 & 2. 

 

Here's hoping I assume they can't keep making Sherlock bigger, wilder, and more action-driven without straying too far from the books... but then again, I haven't read them; I'm just going by what I've heard.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Now, I wonder whether anybody will agree with me on this. It doesn't matter because it isn't going to happen anyway, but what I really want is for series 4 to be the last.

 

Because I feel that there is hardly anything left to say. We have had both major villains. We have had all the really great, important moments and twists from Doyle's stories: the meeting, the woman, the hound, the dying, the return, the wedding, the end of his career (not - thankfully!). All major characters have been introduced and explored. And Sherlock himself - so far, the story has at least made sense on the level of us, the viewers, getting closer and closer to him. In the first series, we saw him strictly from the outside, through John's eyes, and he was very mysterious and seemed cold and barely human. We wondered whether he felt anything at all. The only clues we got were a widening of the eyes, a lowering of voice, a shaking hand. Then in series 2, we learned that he is by no means incapable of very strong "basic" emotions: desire and fear. And that, in spite of all protestations to the contrary, he was a hero. We got a glimpse into his head, saw the Mind Palace, but only on a factual level. And then series 3 went a big step further and took us right into Sherlock's head, his heart and finally the deepest recesses of his (sub)consciousness. We can't get any closer or look any deeper.

 

I feel that the story is over and I can't imagine anything to come that isn't a pathetic attempt to relive past successes (see Moriarty's resurrection) or a far-fetched experiment (like Mary's "real" identity). So I would really like just three more episodes to tie up loose ends, put the characters firmly in good places (and whether those are John and Mary with kids in a nice house and working together at the GP's office while Sherlock lives at Baker St and takes John on a murder chase once in a while or John and Sherlock back together in the old flat and Mary somewhere else, I don't care, just as long as everybody is happy and I feel I can leave them there like that for ever and ever).

[Sherlock_luvr]

What I'd like to see. Hmm.

 

I'd like to see more character development, even if its regressive for Sherlock. He's displayed an amazing amount of 'sentiment' in Series 3 and I'd like to see that come back and bite him - hard. Send him spiraling backward to the man we saw in Series 1.

 

I love Mycroft. I want more of him and his antagonistic arguments with Sherlock. I love them at odds with one another.

 

I loved Mary in the first two episodes but I do really hope she dies in some big dramatic way in Series 4. In my head, there's not room for 3 at the Baker Street Inn.

 

There are only so many stories the writers can mine so I hope they veer slowly away from the original source material and let the show evolve.

 

I like Moriarty but don't want them to fall back on the crutch of him just because he was popular. If he's alive, use him to his fullest potential to bring something out in Sherlock and John that we haven't seen before.

 

Create new nasty villains. Writers are incredibly talented folks. And these exceptionally so.

 

Love Lestrade and want more of him. Want more of Sally hating Sherlock. A pining Molly is always nice but I never, ever, want to see her as any sort of romantic interest for Sherlock. Irene is the closest he'll ever come to such attachment. I hope.  Would like to see more of Irene if there's a great story that can involve her and not rehash what we've already seen.

 

I want drama, emotional and physical pain, smart, witty writing and expert case deduction. I'm really not asking for much...

[T.o.b.y]

 

There are only so many stories the writers can mine so I hope they veer slowly away from the original source material and let the show evolve.

 

Oh, there are over 50 stories - I don't think there's any lack of material. I'm just concerned that they have used all the "great moments" and that there is nowhere left for the series to go except backwards or away from Doyle's world. I would disapprove of the first and be absolutely devastated by the latter! Because what has really tided me over series 3 (apart from Sherlock himself) is the way it really is a very clever and intriguing interpretation of something I liked to read. No, no, no, they must never leave off doing that!

 

Let me think, which cases have we had and what is left? There have been adaptations of three of the novels ("A Study in Scarlet", "The Sign of the Four" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles"). From the short stories, we've had "The Dancing Men", "The Bruce-Partington Plans", "The Five Orange Pips", "A Scandal in Belgravia", "The Final Problem", "The Empty House", "The Man with the Twisted Lip", "Charles Augustus Milverton", a touch of "The Illustrious Client" and "His Last Bow". 

 

The only novel left is "The Valley of Fear". Interesting, because that is the only story apart from The Final Problem that involves Moriarty. And now Moriarty is back. If this series weren't so unpredictable, I would make the prediction on what they are adapting next... Of the stories, there are so many, but none left that really make a big point about Holmes or involve a big change in his life. I think they've got to do "The Speckled Band" at some point. The only character form the original we haven't met yet in this reinvention is Victor Trevor. Something tells me the writers won't resist bringing him in. We've seen something of Sherlock's childhood now - maybe his teens and uni days will be the subject of the next series of flashbacks?

[Charles Augustus Magnussen]

I could do with coming back to life.

 

I loved Magnussen thought he was great (hence display name) but yeah he's dead no more fake deaths.

 

I'd quite like to see Irene Adler back, her character was very interesting and it was funny watching Sherlock and her have a battle of wills. I'm not sure how they would bring her back though as she didn't return in the books.

 

I'm not well versed in the books I've only read a few so I cant say anything about adapting certain storys, but I would like Sebastien Moran to be involved in Series 4 referring to the Moriaty is back thing.

 

 

 

 

[T.o.b.y]

I'd quite like to see Irene Adler back, her character was very interesting and it was funny watching Sherlock and her have a battle of wills. I'm not sure how they would bring her back though as she didn't return in the books.

 

I do not think the writers give a damn about that - in the books, Moriarty was also dead for good and Mary Morstan was certainly not an assassin living under an alias!

 

[Caya]

Oooh, lookit who's come to join the forum - welcome, Mr Magnussen . Please disregard anything I've opined about you in that other thread, it's certainly not worth making any of my secrects public over, isn't it?

[Ally.C]

I, personally, don't really want to see the return of someone like Irene. I found her character interesting, but I think it would just do more to take Sherlock from where it was in series 1 and 3. Meeting her now with all his sentiment exposed I can only feel like they'd try some attempt and romance and I just don't want that. I don't want any romance with Sherlock to be canon, not with Irene, Molly, John... Leave that for our speculations and fandom.

 

I would love to see Moran (though, perhaps the Lord Moran in TEH is all we will get, but I can hold out hope for another!) being the one who has 'brought back' Moriarty. A clever scheme devised if Jim were to ever disappear that Moran is running now.

 

Because I feel like Moriarty being alive also basically renders a lot of the reasoning of every action Sherlock takes in TRF moot.

[RedbeardDawson]

Hey guys, this is such an awesome forum. I just finished Sherlock season 3 and can't wait to see whats in store next. I wrote an article about what I'm looking forward to in the next season. Hope this is ok to post here and I look forward to talking with such great fans!

 

http://thenerdybomb.com/tv/four-things-sherlock-series-4/