Hey youtubers it’s charlie I hope you all had an awesome new years but the holiday is
over. time to go back to two twenty one baker street. Episode 1 the empty hearse just aired
so my first video will be a non-spoilery review just since a lot of people might not have
seen it yet.
I’ll be doing a q and a video for it tomorrow. be sure to subscribe to get it. So if you
have questions about what happened write them in the comments and I’ll include them in
the video. I’ll also be doing a detailed breakdown of the episode either tomorrow or
friday.
So where to start, so many things to talk about but, here are my top 5 favorite moments.
Number 5 - Sherlock and mycroft. Throughout the episode sherlock and mycroft have a number
of scenes that really turn the dial on mock resentment and anger up to 11. You also get
the sense that if Sherlock were ever to be incapacitated, Mycroft could do what he does
just as easily.
Mycroft’s skills as a detective become a big part of the comedy of the episode and
it was hilarious to watch the two of them dance around each other.
4 - The fan theories addressed. All of the sherlock
lives theories were filmed and presented in the most hilarious possible ways. Mark Gatiss
and Steven Moffat essentially winked from behind the camera every time we saw a new
theory play out.
I don’t think they’ll ever explicitly state which scenario was the correct one.
Meaning that there’s elements of truth to every one of the theories you see during the
episode.
I did a video of my own about which theory I think is the best, but my favorite one during
the episode was the sherlock fan club one. WTF.
3 - the mind palace. Sherlock uses the mind palace all the time, but you mostly just see
it during hound of baskerville in season 2. I really liked the way they turned it into
a joke in this episode.
To be clear he uses it several times, but I’m talking about the joke that’s made
about it near the end.
They also updated a lot of the way they show the mind palace visually and show you much
more of what sherlock is imagining in his head. I thought it was unnecessary, but I
can understand how they want to literally show us how hyperkinetic his mind is.
2 - the new characters. We get to meet Mary Morstan which was so much fun. I almost liked
sherlock scanning her more than I liked him trying to scan Irene Adler in scandal.
She’s not a huge part of this episode, but the wedding will be a big part of episode
2, so we’ll get a chance to learn more about her on sunday.
The other new character is the villain charles augustus magnussen. I liked the way the episode
teased him like it teased moriarty at the end of study in pink. But I didn’t think
we should have seen him. Just a minor complaint. I liked how we didn’t see moriarty until
great game.
I think they just wanted to put a face on the villain this soon just to speed up the
narrative. Because they went a whole episode last season without using moriarty which a
lot of people felt was a waste.
1 - sherlock and watson reunion. It had been implied for a long time that by the end of
this episode all of the core relationships would be restored, but the fun part was watching
the johnlock reunion play out over the course of the episode.
All I could think when sherlock first revealed himself to watson was that scene during scandal
where watson is punching and throttling sherlock on the ground.
It’s like sherlock is looking at watson and he’s staring death in the face right
and he just can’t see it.
I just crept to the edge of my seat and sure enough the music swells up and watson leaps
at him as the camera goes into slow motion.
There were so many moments to talk about, but since I don’t want to spoil too much
I’ll save a lot of that for my breakdown of the episode tomorrow.
Let me know what you’re favorite moment was whether it was the reunion or all the
jokes about the sherlock lives theories.
Here’s my review. Overall I thought it was perfect with a few exceptions. Just like a
study in pink, The real task of this episode was to form or re form Team Sherlock and it
did that perfectly. I was amazed at the lengths Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss went to to address
all of the fans questions.
The quite literally filmed almost every major sherlock lives theory and then made fun of
themselves in the most hilarious ways. One of the things that makes sherlock so great
is the wordplay and while benedict cumberbatch, martin freeman and the other actors are largely
responsible for the interpretation of those jokes. It’s really Mark Gatiss who deserves
the credit for writing such witty and funny dialogue.
He was the only credited writer on the episode, so he deserves the first high five. After
that it’s all cumberbatch and freeman. Not to leave out the rest of the cast, Amanda
Abbigngton is a very welcome addition to team sherlock.
I’ll talk more about the details of the three’s company situation that’s going
on right now between them tomorrow, but needless to say she will be a formidable opponent to
sherlock over watson’s affections.
The sheer amount of fan service that the episode performed was amazing and I loved that they
were able to do that for us without it seeming too ridiculous. One of the things I’ve always
liked about the show is how playful it allows everyone to be without the actors stepping
out of character.
Like i said, write your questions for my q and a in the comments, i’ll be posting that
detailed breakdown tomorrow too. Episode 2 is on sunday, so get excited!
Right now you can click here to watch my own sherlock lives theory and click here to see
my new year’s video.
Thanks so much for watching, high fives. See you guys tomorrow!