Hey youtubers it’s charlie and it’s time to take one last bow, sherlock’s time is
over now. His last vow just aired and there are so many things to talk about in addition
to series 4 which they’ve already started working on.
If you didn’t see my videos for the previous episodes, this video will be a non-spoilery
review of his last vow. Then tomorrow I’ll be doing a q&a video where I answer specific
questions you guys have about the episode and then the day after that I’ll post a
detailed breakdown of the episode with all the canon references and interesting facts
about the story. Be sure to subscribe to get everything.
Since this was the last episode I’ll also be doing a series 4 video the same day I post
that breakdown video.
So here are my top 5 favorite things about His Last Vow. Number 5 - The Comedy. The episode
is a really intense drama, you have a villain, sherlock and watson. and the threat that someone
is definitely going to die at the end. The actual pull quote from the trailer for the
episode was “Sometimes someone has to die.” But some of the funniest sherlock moments
come from the characters status as high functioning sociopath.
A normal person like Watson gets really intense during all the most dramatic moments, but
somehow sherlock still manages to slip in a subtle turn of phrase and it’s laugh out
loud funny.
On the other side of that coin, some of the funniest moments in the episode come when
character express geniune sentiment towards Sherlock and he recoils in fear.
I feel like it’s only a matter of time before we see a high functioning sociopath stand
up comedy tour. It will just be sherlock walking up to people saying awful things.
Number 4 - Mycroft. He’s one of the strangest holmes characters. And even though he’s
supposed to be very emotionally distant. Mark Gatiss still manages to surprise you with
some warmth and genuine emotion. There were some amazing scenes between sherlock and mycroft
that invoked a lot of holmes boys comedy. The episode gives you a lot of context for
why Mycroft behaves the way he does.
There were a few scenes that I actually though Mark Gatiss stole from Benedict Cumberbatch,
that’s how good he was. Typically people only see sherlock when he’s on screen, so
you can forget sometimes that Mark Gatiss is largely responsible for the dialogue given
to cumberbatch. So he’s really the most clever person on the set.
Number 3 - The canon references. This episode has way more canon than empty hearse or sign
of three. Even if you haven’t read any of the novels recently you get a sense of the
importance of places and events. One of the things I really like about adapted stories
is the opportunity to explore episodes over time. Nothing in the series is included in
the scripts or things in the set design and locations without subtle meaning.
Sherlock had this really amazing line in Sign of Three where he says the universe is rarely
so lazy. And it’s just a metaphor for the idea that everything is connected and there
are no coincidences.
Number 2 - The Villain. Lars Mikkelsen is definitely a worthy successor to Andrew Scott’s
Moriarty. Holmes cannon is so vast that there’s always more villains to pull off the page,
but it’s really the actors that are responsible for making them feel like a credible threat
to Sherlock.
One of the differences between the Magnussen character and the moriarty character that
I really liked was the absence of passion. Moriarty was a force of pure emotion. He was
the little kid on the playground that just liked smashing other kids toys. But magnussen
is a self-described businessman. Just acquiring and selling assets. If we’re living in the
information age, then he’s like the ultimate stock trader.
and my number 1 favorite - the hero’s journey. What I mean when I say that is Sherlock’s
journey. It’s the same journey from episode 1 to now. Sherlock in exile or hell clawing
his way back to heaven. His version of heaven anyway. I saw a lot of you guys commenting
on the big changes sherlock was going through in each episode this series. I just think
it was sherlock slowly healing himself. He was broken, team sherlock was broken and it
takes an entire series to put everything back together so they can go on and have more adventures.
The ending of this episode in particular gives you the sense that there will always be more
sherlock, because we as fans need him. and Because in the context of the story england
will always need him.
I guess that does make him kind of a time lord. Just regenerating himself every time
one adventure ends and another begins.
Now it’s your turn to let me know what your favorite part of the episode was. Was it the
plot or the surprise ending or all the funny moments.
Overall I thought the episode was brilliant as expected. It added a lot more context for
the core relationships between Sherlock and Mycroft and Watson and Mary’s relationship.
I’m always amazed by how good the new actors are each season.
Amanda Abbington was awesome. And Lars Mikkelsen was so much fun to watch. I kept having Doctor
Who flashbacks based on his mannerisms and abilities. I’ll talk more about that during
my breakdown video, but a lot of the credit goes to redbeard for writing such good characters.
I mean Mark Gatiss. He and steven Moffat are both responsible for casting, and they said
that they knew mikkelsen was the best choice for the new villain from the moment they saw
him.
Even though the episode was really intense it left me with this really strong sense of
optimism for the future of the core characters and the series in general. To be fair though,
steven moffat already started talking about series 5. So there was no danger of sherlock
ever going away anytime soon.
Just like last time I’ll be taking 20 of your questions from the comments tonight and
answering them in a q and a video tomorrow. I’ll mostly be focusing on episode 3. I
might do a series 4 q and a after I do a predictions video this week. Be sure to subscribe to get
everything.
The Breakdown video will post on tuesday. Right now click here to get that q&a video.
I’ll update the annotation when I post the video. and click here for the breakdown.
Thanks for watching, see you tomorrow! High Fives!