Contains spoilers
This one was inevitably all about Mary (Amanda Abbington) since the task of getting Sherlock's (Benedict Cumberbatch) name cleared was dealt with early on so he could return home. This was done by doctoring the footage of Sherlock shooting Magnussen and putting it down to a trigger happy squaddie. Clearly Sherlock was more interested in the Ginger Nuts and lollies! Engaging with Vivien, the secretary and that's all she was, glorified secretary with delusions of grandeur. Sherlock invariably tweeting cos Benedict doesn't! #OhWhatABeautifulMorning. He doesn't need stimulants, he's on an all natural high. Sherlock: "What would you do Vivien?" Quite frankly, the loaded question of the entire episode! What did you do Vivien? should've been more apt!
Moriarty he says is planning a 'possum's game." Planned when and if Sherlock survived the roof, you know, just a contingency. He tells Lady Smallwood (Lindsay Duncan) he's going to wait. Sherlock: "I always know when the game is on...because I love it." Sherlock then paying a visit to the London Aquarium to watch the fish and to ponder death always meeting at every corner and the story of the merchant and his Appointment in Samara'. Which everyone brings up sooner or later, (as in Supernatural 6.11 Appointment in Samara.) Which Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) later refers to as Appointment In Sumatra and how Sherlock was always obsessed with that story changing the ending. (From the Somerset Maugham story of the same name.)
Sherlock: "There was once a merchant in a famous market in Baghdad. One day he saw a stranger looking at him in surprise and he knew that this stranger was death...the merchant fled and made his way to the city of Samara..where he thought death could not follow...where the merchant saw waiting for him the grim figure of death...he looked so surprised...because I had an appointment with you in Samara."
Sherlock can now return to his sleuthing ways and has a slew of cases, not least of which is one LeStrade (Rupert Graves) brings him. One where a boy was found dead in the front seat of his car. His father had gotten a call from him via Skype at a party and then spoke to him over the phone. A drunk driver was chased by the police who just happened to turn into their driveway (with precision driving for a drunk) until he crashed into their son's car. The report shows there were two types of vinyl on the car seat which Sherlock is impressed with and John (Martin Freeman) says that he was already dead a week. Which intrigues Sherlock. They pay a visit to his parent's house and he notices the CCTV was broken and also notices the table where once stood the bust of Margaret Thatcher.
His father says there was a break-in and the bust was broken, but Sherlock notices the thick rug. Also is his annoying self (in a lovable) way when feigning not to know who Thatcher was and also forgetting Lestarde's name is Greg. When John called him that not moments before. As well as a reference to Sherlock wanting Lestarde to get recognition for his case, but he won't cos John will blog it. He explains how their son called but was really outside (said that) and how he was watching him the car when he was supposed to surprise him after he hid behind the vinyl cover. Said that too eventually, well actually sis did first. He had died a week before and if that drunk hadn't happened along, then he wouldn't have been found for an even longer time. But the bust still intrigues Sherlock when he says it was smashed outside.
Obviously the bust was involved - it wasn't called The Six Thatchers for nothing you know (though one was one too many or more than enough! Ha.) This leads him onto the other busts and the use of a hacker named Toby, however the hacker is Craig and his dog is Toby and he leads them around to the market and a trail of blood. Think he just wanted to get the bloodhound involved, reminding him of his own Redbeard. When I thought of this useless dog, thought of Columbo's useless mutt too! Ha. That trail was a dead end, until there are three more busts found to be have been broken in the same way and one of them Lestrade tells him involves a murder. He gets Craig to find that these busts are big business and were manufactured in Georgia. And that there is still one outstanding in Reading which is where Sherlock heads. When he gets there he waits around until the intruder arrives and they fight. Ending up in the pool once again, flashbacks to the Pilot episode 1 and how it all began. (Lestrade also tells the police woman of how it all began ten years ago, yeah it's been that long!!)
He smashes the bust hoping to find the Black Pearl of the Borgia's and instead he finds a memory stick with AGRA written on it. Again flashback to 3.3 and Mary giving the stick to John but he burns it without reading it, cos The "future is my privilege." However not for long. Sherlock mentions Mary and she burnt it and he asks about Mary. Saying she betrayed him. There was a hostage crisis in Georgia and they were sent in to rescue the hostages, but it went wrong. They were caught and he was kept and tortured. Saying the English woman betrayed him. Which obviously could've been anyone. Sherlock meets with Mary after the man escapes saying she's a "dead woman walking" and she tells him about AGRA. There were four of them and they went where they were hired to go. The memory sticks were insurance as they each knew everything about the other. She doesn't know anything about AJ (Sacha Dawaan) and she never betrayed him, she thought he was dead. She knocks Sherlock out after giving him a paper laced with chloroform and leaves.
Leaving a letter for John saying she has to go and how she loves Rosamund, Rosie for short. As that's what her name is. Rosamund but she always liked Mary (said that too about her name, as we know there wasn't an 'M' on the stick. Cue along series of scenes where she travels halfway round the world, practically and then ends up in Morocco and with Sherlock already there. Obviously the tracker was John's idea. Sherlock tells Mary she must come back to London where he can protect her as it's his city, he knows the turf. But not the people! That's what it seems. AJ tuns up as he followed Sherlock there and tells her he saw one of the other team being tortured and killed and they did the same for him for no reason, but the fun of it. He escaped and put the memory stick in the bust. Then they left him for six years in a cell until he finally escaped. AJ is killed by the police and Sherlock didn't get a reply to his question of what he was told exactly by his torturers.
He tells Mycroft about the stick and how AGRA was under his operation. But he doesn't use mercenaries anymore and it was disbanded. As well as telling him about the English woman and they assume it's Smallwood, she was too obvious a suspect and why would she betray them anyway, especially considering she required Sherlock's help with Magnussen and how she needed Sherlock back here when they thought Moriarty is back. Sherlock insisting he's dead and his message was an earlier recording. Though he was pleased to be back since it was his own life that was at stake not four hours ago and he was flying to his death.
Smallwood tells Mycroft she doesn't know what happened but she didn't betray anyone. Sherlock works out who the English woman would've been (cos frankly not many suspects) and meets her at the London Aquarium, messaging John and Mary to come too. John sends Mary first since he needs to find a babysitter for Rosie. Sherlock confronts Vivien who wanted to show everyone she had brains, and wasn't just a secretary. So when Smallwood ordered the AGRA team in to rescue the hostages, she called upon the men and told them of the operation. Sherlock tells her it was out of jealousy and she disagrees. But he proves his point. She wanted to show them she was better and that she was clever. More egotistical than jealous. She pulls out a gun from behind her bag which was obvious, but instead of using it on herself when the game was up, she thought she'd go one better and shoot Sherlock. Again out of jealousy, he figured out it was her and she couldn't match him in intelligence. So really she'd remain a nobody after all.
Leading to Sherlock being the one who seeks professional help from John's therapist. He doesn't know what to do about him.
Knew at the end Mary's case for Sherlock would be to "save John." That was apparent cos he couldn't keep his vow (His Last Vow) and save Mary or protect her. As soon as he said it, you knew it wouldn't turn out that way. With everyone thinking they were dealing with Moriarty and especially also when she sent him the DVD with "Miss Me" on it. That would catch his attention and how she kept saying if he's watching this then she's 'probably' dead and 'probably' gone. Well if she's gone, she's gone, no probablies about it. Though in a around about way it did remind me of Sherlock and Mary in Morocco when he spoke of probabilities and maths and was fast running out of clever things to say. As for Morocco and Mary taking detours on the way, just wanted to say did he really need a tracker, he found Irene Adler fine when he rescued her in Pakistan.
So John doesn't want to see him around anymore, we being too much at that cemetery and this time round he said goodbye to his wife for real, as opposed to Sherlock turning up alive and well. As we also get that mysterious 'E' in John's life now. A little too much of a coincidence he happens to 'meet' a random stranger on his bus and continues the text conversation with her, only for Mary to get killed off at the end. As for that 'taking bullet' can't believe Sherlock was just going to stand there and let the bullet get to him! Not to mention no one did anything to stop Vivien. No shootback or anything! As well as Sherlock's reminder to Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) that if he got too cocky or over confident to just say "Norbury" to him.
In the original Arthur Conan Doyle story, it was the busts of Napoleon that were smashed and there's a reference to that here as Craig says Thatcher's even overtaken Napoleon, Of course we know there were no political motivations in this smashing of the busts even before Sherlock says it, clearly there was something hidden in there and we all thought it was the pearl, maybe why Sherlock cleverly saying how we could just get another pearl. The original story also had heavy political references to immigrants and refugees, which was rather topical but not where Mark Gatiss wanted to go, understandably. So he made it about Mary. The Adventure of the Six Napoleons is where John Watson noticed a thawing of Sherlock's character, he became humanized a little and here Sherlock is exactly that. He keeps mentioning his vow for one and well, on more than one occasion and then he tells AJ that Mary is his friend and under his protection. He will always be there for her to protect her. Heck his face says it all when John lets out that almighty moan and then just looks at Sherlock before he speaks. Then when Molly (Louise Brearley) (who's godmother to Rosie) tells Sherlock John left a note and doesn't want him around here. A bit of a backtrack to when Sherlock supposedly died and how John reacted then was in complete contrast to how he reacts now. He seemingly severs all ties with his one time best friend. He was his friend. There'll be no blogging about this case it seems!
Just like Mary was Sherlock's friend and he acknowledges that, whereas the 'other' Sherlock wouldn't have! Even calling her at the end to come and wanting her to come investigate and follow the trail with Toby, since she's much better at this than John. She even apologizes to Sherlock for shooting him, though he does say work is good for getting over it. He'd prefer not to think about it, since an emotional Sherlock isn't a good Sherlock. As Sherlock makes reference to how he's become dramatic, as a nod to Benedict's time on the stage perhaps. Sherlock can do drama too! Though a funny scene was where Sherlock referenced Mycroft to being Wikipedia. Can't help but wonder if probabilities and the maths reference was an allusion to Sherlock's mother who wrote a book on Maths. (See His Last Vow.)
Oh John, John, John Sherlock told you ot be careful what you wish for when you wished for Sherlock's death. It came, not as it was expected, but this sort of thinking led to Mary's demise! Ahh RIP Mary. But John, you were not such a great husband. After they were married he kept his bag packed, wanted to still investigate with Sherlock and then the woman on the bus!! Even if he called 'it' off, he still texted and thought of her! Marriage vows??
It's unclear as to whether the cast will be able to be brought back for a season 5 and the final episode is entitled The Final Problem, Sherlock dies - for real. But even then Conan Doyle had to bring him back by popular demand. So fans may yet have an outlet for their love of Sherlock if the worst happens and there are no more. We'll certainly cry havoc and let rip the dogs of war, aka the hound of the Baskervilles and Sherlock's greatest fans!!
With the events of 2016, the US election, Brexit, Steven Moffat in an interview, spoke of how "being a hero isn't bigger, richer, more powerful than somebody else. It's being wiser and kinder." It was time for Sherlock to be less cocky and more humane. As well as the mention of Sherrinford Holmes, their older brother, so there's that to come too, hopefully.
See below His Last Vow
http://mila255.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sherlock-32-his-last-vow-review.html
where Magnussen was mentioned as "the Napolean of blackmailers." Which was what the story was originally called. Also in that Sherlock mentions that John and Mary will make good parents as they've had practise of looking after Sherlock. Not to mention how Lestrade and John speak of Sherlock and he asks if that's what they're actually doing. Then there was Mycroft's line of Sherlock slaying dragons and Mary mentions Sherlock being a dragon watching over her. yeah but not of the Smaug variety. Though could be said he was a sleeping dragon like Smaug since he couldn't save Mary!
As for Sherlock being humanized: called it here: (kinda)
http://mila255.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sherlocks-humanity-and-other-musings.html
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