Best episodes (ranking)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Upon having started to re-visit the older episodes, I find I that I may still love The Reichenbach Fall the best - even though the explanation Sherlock gave to his survival (and the months leading up to him faking his suicide) only serves to have me ask new questions. But, seeing as I will never have the answers, I may as well enjoy the episode for what it was: A great, intense drama with lots of beautiful, emotional scenes, and still a good portion of underlying humor.

I suspect "Reichenbach" will always be my favorite as well. I had fallen in love with the show just a few minutes into "Study in Pink," but that was a sort of intellectual love. "Reichenbach" really grabbed me by the emotions, so it'll always be special to me.

 

Why does everybody rank The Blind Baker last? Okay, okay, I know, it's been discussed in the thread for that episode. Plot holes and so on. I know. But the sillyness of the case is so Doyle-ish, I love it for that. It's really a very good adaptation of the original stories as far as spirit and style goes.

Well, if we're ranking them, then something has to be last.  While you have a good point about the Doyle-ishness of the episode, they all have their memorable moments, and the rest of them have better plots.  So "Banker" loses due to low plot points, I'm afraid.  That doesn't mean I don't like it, just that I have to watch it with my plot-faculties turned off.

 

[sherlockandjohn]

Okay, final ranking from my part - I won't do any more editing on it, even if I should change my mind. But now that I've had more time to digest the third series, this is how I feel:

 

1. The Reichenbach Fall - still my favorite. Intense drama.

2. A Study in Pink - perfect beginning to the series and the friendship.

3. The Hounds of Baskerville - has some of the best scenes between Sherlock and John.

4. The Great Game - love the pool scene, and the conflict between Sherlock and John. The cases are not very memorable, though.

5. The Sign of Three (tie) - very heartwarming, but the sentiment feels a bit "too much" at times.

5. The Empty Hearse (tie) - the emotional conclusion to Reichenbach. Moving and funny, though it still leaves me lacking some sort of closure.

7. His Last Vow - gut-wrenching and beautiful, but too controversial and dark for my taste.

8. A Scandal in Belgravia - beautifully portrayed emotions, but Irene is definitely not my cup of tea

9. The Blind Banker - overall fine episode, but the least memorable.

 

There isn't one 'a bit not good' episode in the bunch. However, it's the most recent three that I have most trouble ranking. While HLV has grown on me, it's just too sad. TSoT just feels a bit off, and TEH leaves me both moved and angry at the same time. I love John in TEH, but Sherlock drives me up the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I agree about the difficulty of ranking the most recent three.  They all have their wonderful moments and they all have their -- other moments.  I think that applies especially to "Last Vow."  (As I've probably said before, Steven Moffat seems to be responsible for a lot of what I don't like about this show -- but also responsible for a great deal of what I love.)

 

Of course, it took me two years to be completely comfortable ranking the first six!

 

[Pamela]

Like Carol, I'm only going to rate the first 6 for now:

 

1. Study in Pink

2. Great Game

3. Hounds

4. Reichenbach

5. Scandal

6. Blind Banker

 

And yes, it was very hard.  I still re-watch the first 5 (with and without commentaries) from time to time.

Looking back, I can't figure out why on earth I put Scandal as far down as I did.  Here's my new ranking:

 

1.  Study in Pink (perfect)

2.  Scandal (loved it all but the end)

3.  Great Game (sherlockandjohn - I actually enjoyed those cases)

4.  Sign of Three (sweet and endearing)

5.  Empty Hearse (satisfying)

6.  Hound (just plain good stuff)

7.  Reichenbach (exciting)

8.  Blind Banker (tie) (some nice scenes)

9.  His Last Vow (tie) (just too confusing)

[Carol the Dabbler]

2.  Scandal (loved it all but the end)

 

Which end?

 

[besleybean]

The rescue, I assume.

[T.o.b.y]

My brain tells me I shouldn't like The Sign of Three as well as I do, but I can't help it. That episode just punched me right in the gut. The other two in series 3 took getting used to, but that one - I loved it right from the start. It's just perfect comfort TV after coming home from long arduous workdays...

[Pamela]

 

2.  Scandal (loved it all but the end)

 

Which end?

 

Besleybean got it right.  My feeling may be unpopular, but if Irene managed to get herself into trouble in Karachi, I don't like that Sherlock saved her.  I mean, after all that she did?  Please.

 

Don't get me wrong.  I love her, but I love to despise her.

[T.o.b.y]

 

Besleybean got it right.  My feeling may be unpopular, but if Irene managed to get herself into trouble in Karachi, I don't like that Sherlock saved her.  I mean, after all that she did?  Please.

 

Don't get me wrong.  I love her, but I love to despise her.

 

 

Well, that's a reason for not liking the ending that I haven't heard before. Most people seem to object to Karachi because of feminist issues.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Or believability issues.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Oh yes. I'll side with that. I still like to take refuge in the idea that it was only a daydream of Sherlock's...

[Pamela]

So Carol, you don't believe it happened?  In other words, it was Sherlock's "fantasy"?  I'd like that version.  Yes, I'll hop on that bandwagon.

 

But if was real, I totally object to it.  Really, here's this evil woman, who just came this close ][ to totally destroying the country and then hopping off to get herself in the position of being beheaded in Karachi, and Sherlock saves her?  Preposterous.

 

I don't understand the feminism thing.  I never really did get feminism.

[besleybean]

She had to be saved...weak female.

That's how the argument goes, not that I buy it.

[T.o.b.y]

I don't understand the feminism thing.  I never really did get feminism.

 

Well, that's a refreshingly unusual statement!

 

Sherlock doesn't seem to care too much what "crimes" people have commited as long as he loves them. And he did fall in Love with Irene, so of course he'd help her out if she was in any real danger. He couldn't refrain from that if he wanted to. Which is why I still think that even if Karachi is real, she won in the end.

 

[Alex the Dabbler]

OK, I really love all of the episodes and have watched them all multiple times, but I'll take a quick stab at ranking them:

 

1. The Sign of Three

2. The Reichenbach Fall

3. A Study in Pink

4. The Empty Hearse

5. His Last Vow

6. The Great Game

7. A Scandal in Belgravia

8. The Hounds of Baskerville

9. The Blind Banker

 

[T.o.b.y]

The Sign of Three is your favorite! Can you say why?

[Carol the Dabbler]

So Carol, you don't believe it happened?  In other words, it was Sherlock's "fantasy"?  I'd like that version.  Yes, I'll hop on that bandwagon.

 

The way I see it, IF Irene was actually captured in Karachi, then Sherlock actually saved her -- otherwise he could hardly have gloated over that memory.

 

On the other hand, my current favorite theory is that Mycroft was telling the truth the first time, she really was in the witness protection program over here.  Mycroft changes his story not to protect Sherlock from the truth (Irene's dead), but rather to keep John from the truth (Irene's alive).  (Telling him the witness-protection story first and then -- with seeming hesitation -- telling him the Karachi story makes it much more likely that he'll totally swallow the second version, doesn't it?)  And then, yes, in that case, the rescue is Sherlock's little fantasy.

 

Note that either version is consistent with canon, since Watson believed Irene was dead.

 

[Alex the Dabbler]

I think The Sign of Three best shows what each main character is about and I also like the mystery. It's also the most fun!

 

Added:  OK, another personal reason why the Sign of Three is my favourite Sherlock episode is because that was the primary episode being filmed when Carol and I were in the UK and observed North Gower Street filming on 21 May 2013.

[T.o.b.y]

 

Note that either version is consistent with canon, since Watson believed Irene was dead.

 

Did he really think she was dead? Or did he just refer to her as "the late Irene Adler" because her name changed when she married?

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I was wondering the same thing just a few days ago, so I looked it up.  The full quote is "the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory."  He doesn't come right out and say that she's dead, but he does seem to imply it.

 

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that she actually died.  The Victorians sometimes used death-related words as euphemisms (e.g., my great-grandparents were divorced, but it took my uncle a long time to discover that, because Great-Grandma was listed in the city directory as a "widow").  Also Watson seems to be something of a prude.

 

However again, the main reason I believe that Watson truly believes her to be dead is that I don't think he would tell such a scandalous story about any living person (especially a woman, even a "disreputable" one).  For similar reasons, I also believe that the King is deceased, especially since Watson (unlike Holmes) seems to take his side.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

And if Irene Adler was alive, why not simply use her married name instead of referring to her as "the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory."  He could have given the married name then said something along the lines that when the case began she was then known as Irene Adler, the famous contralto, or some such.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Right, and I believe we even know her husband's surname -- yes, of course, we do -- she signs her note to Holmes using that name.  (Though darned if I can recall what it is.)

 

So yes, I'd say Watson thought she was dead.  The only alternative I can think of is that Holmes wanted Watson to write up the story as though she was dead -- but in that case, I strongly suspect that he would have simply let Watson think that she was dead (Watson being a rotten liar and all that).  So I guess we'll never know for sure whether she was actually dead at that time or not.

 

[Pamela]

Her husband's name was Godfrey Norton.

[cellisis]

here is mine (best to worst):

 

1. The Reichenbach Fall

2. The Scandal in Belfgravia

3. The Great Game

4. His Last Vow

5.  Study in Pink

6. The Empty Hearse

7. Hound of the Baskervilles

8. The Sign of Three

9. The Blind Banker

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hello, cellisis -- welcome to Sherlock Forum! 

 

It's good that you're jumping right in with your opinions and comments!