The Final Problem: Post-Episode Discussion Thread (SPOILERS)

[u/GoFlight]

[u/PM_ME_MALE_ANDROIDS]

The key to figuring out John's location was... finding Nemo.

[u/kunstlich]

Props to the Moriarty scene. When the prompt "5 years ago" came up I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

[u/x-rainy → u/kunstlich]

I laughed so I wouldn't cry.

[u/VV1N73RMVT3]

Why the hell didn't Holmes family look in the goddamn well when the creepy murderous child told them she drowned him. She wasn't even lying or being mysterious, she legitimately drowned him. You have a well on your property. Check the bloody well.

[u/kunstlich → u/VV1N73RMVT3]

An interesting point insofar as Sherlock doesn't know where the well is - as Watson mentions he is in one.

If we are to believe its on their property, why doesn't Sherlock know/remember, considering his memory seems to have recovered completely.

[u/neverbuythesun → u/VV1N73RMVT3]

"Yeah I drowned him, straight up, just fuckin' drowned him"

"Hmmm, must be some sort of code"

[u/jose602 → u/VV1N73RMVT3]

My wife: "Even Lassie got people to check wells."

[u/evilrustybob]

Imagine how awkward that final DVD would have been if Watson had just completely mugged off Sherlock in S4E02 and let him die.

[u/slocke200 → u/evilrustybob]

"Ha well fuck you i cheated on you with sherlocks sister"

John watson the real evil genius.

[u/ThoraeNL]

It feels like they wanted to reset the series with this episode

[u/Jademalo → u/ThoraeNL]

Arguably that's a good move, it means they can do some normal fun cases. The overarching story was getting in the way of them, so cleaning it up gives them a nice fresh slate.

[u/Kritigri]

I'm pretty miffed that they left us hanging on one of the core plot points of this series.

Did Mycroft call Lady Smallwood?

edit: Clarified who I meant, couldn't remember her name at the time.

[u/NotThatL]

Every time Andrew Scott is on screen he is totally engaging. Pity he spent most of his time on screen on a screen.

[u/[deleted]]

Eurus certainly spent a lot of time setting up all those traps; "yes, I want you to suspend all three of them in front of the window, yeah, and can you hook it up so when I press this button it detaches the rope? You can? Brilliant. Now, do you do coffins?"

[u/Scienlologist → u/[deleted]]

My thoughts during the entire episode

[u/daleygaga]

They really made it feel like it's the last one, isn't it? Sigh.

[u/[deleted] → u/daleygaga]

Well it shows them continuing, I think the point is that they can leave it here or pick it up again later.

[u/not_king_joffrey]

Everyone's acting was top notch. From Sherlock to John to Mycroft to Eurus to Molly to Moriarty, it was amazing. That acting was a joy to watch.

[u/faterampage → u/not_king_joffrey]

You forgot Greg.

Greg is the best.

[u/L8141]

Andrew Scott played Moriarty absolutely incredibly. Every time he was on screen I was mesmerised

[u/Meerrettig]

See ya in three years guys.

[u/Keith-Ledger → u/Meerrettig]

2021b Baker Street

[u/havasc → u/Meerrettig]

We got an optimist over here.

[u/merodm]

Am I the only one who thinks people are unnecessarily dicks to Mycroft? Especially when its Watson, Mrs Hudson and the Holmes parents in this episode.

Like yes he did fuck up by allowing Euros unsupervised time with Moriarty but he did it for a noble aim of ensuring her co-operation in preventing terrorist attacks.

Characters seem to always gripe at Mycroft, especially Hudson and Watson, even though in my view while occasionally flawed Mycroft is doing things for the greater good.

[u/stugots123]

Have I misunderstood something? Did Sherlock and John jump out of the window of Baker Street and that's it? They're fine? No broken legs or anything?

[u/CinnabarSurfer → u/stugots123]

Seems like their fall was broken by a fishing boat

[u/bacon_cake]

It's alright guys they've locked her in a secure prison. She probably won't get out this time.

[u/theLAZYmd]

Sherlock 3: Portal 2

[u/toblu → u/theLAZYmd]

I'm not even angry...
I'm being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart,
and killed me.

[u/HolyMackereltheThird]

Everyone's reaction to Euros -> http://68.media.tumblr.com/440a7cee5d8e588f3d40da93c11d10a5/tumblr_inline_npi2yhlkgG1rjrl4k_500.gif

[u/GingerHairedBreadMan]

That CGI though

[u/Shade_NLD → u/GingerHairedBreadMan]

I liked it. Over the top bad. C-movie bad.

If you can't do it right, do it extremely bad.

[u/cherik_mcfassy]

They have a dog bowl for Redbeard. They actually kept Victor as a pet wow didn't know the whole family are psychopaths

[u/OlleDes]

i don't really understand ... how sherlock fucking holmes ... couldn't see there wasn't any glass in front of him

[u/I_Have_Many_Names → u/OlleDes]

I think that's why she stopped him before he got closer and it became obvious with the violin scratch sound. Then she forced him to look at things like her and the violin that stopped him from focusing in the nearer field. While I'm not saying that'd necessarily work, clearly the writer thought about how to counteract the otherwise obviously missing glass. I would've thought the voice would be more obvious, but I guess if the loudspeakers are loud enough... I feel like you'd miss an echo off that patch of wall audibly, though...

[u/mandasnothere → u/OlleDes]

It's super magical plot-glass.

[u/SuperGameBoy01]

Wow, that was really enjoyable. I wonder if Reddit agrees.

reads this thread

Well fuck!

[u/Suchui]

Experienced Medical Doctor John Watson: Bones, Sherlock. There are bones in here.

Sherlock: What kind of bones?

Experienced Medical Doctor John Watson: Uh, I dunno. Small?

[u/romxilda]

Are we just going to ignore the fact that Molly strolled into 221B at the end as if she and Sherlock hadn't been through an incredibly emotional and traumatic ordeal which literally sent Sherlock into destruction mode without any sort of explanation of how it was resolved?

[u/YosoYolo → u/romxilda]

"Molly, it was just my sister pretending to kill you and the only way to save your life was making you say I love you in three minutes. We still friends?"

[u/callumyoung0128]

What gets me is that Euros killed a child and psychologically tormented her brother about it to the point of him re-writing his own memories and yet it still took her to blow the house up before people were like "we should probably send her away now lol"

[u/Tuxeedo]

hahaha wow, came here to say that I liked it and everyone else hated it. I still kinda liked it

[u/MelodyRaindo]

This episode answered all the questions I didn't have, ignored all the questions I did have, and raised more questions never to be bloody answered.

[u/xzbobzx]

Next season John wakes up.

"Damn, that was a bad dream."

John and Sherlock go back to solving regular old crimes :D

[u/Saaicspdrr1]

Didn't you feel shallowness in the writing? I mean, what kind of story did they write?

[u/SkywardWind]

So after Sherlock going full James Bond in episode 1, we're having a Saw episode now

[u/kaszzai]

Can we talk about how in a series about solving crimes and using logic and deduction in your thinking we now have a person who can control peoples minds by talking to them.

It's like if I was to watch a Scooby Doo episode and the villain turned out to be fucking Dracula himself.

[u/jesuskevin]

Can't wait for the band The Baker Street Boys

[u/BitByADeadBee]

I don't like that everyone's favourite villain just returned as a sound board of ticking noises and train puns.

[u/shoonsy → u/BitByADeadBee]

• Moriarty, The Consulting Criminal

• Brought back for an attempt at comic relief and nothing else

• except he wasn't even brought back

[u/TheGoodOttoKatz]

That ending montage is what I want from Sherlock. Two chaps solving crimes and mysteries not running around the place exploring the motivations of new characters.

What a tease.

[u/Maukeb]

Moffat seems to have an odd obsession with some extremely heavy handed devices. The ending was literally Mary telling everyone how amazing Sherlock and John are - it's a speech we seem to hear just about every episode now, and it reminds me of how Doctor Who finales always have someone explaining how scary the Doctor is.

Also falls often into the trap of writing people who are cleverer than he is. He has this idea that Eurus is so clever, and so capable at manipulation, that she can literally control people. It's kind of okay (in as much as it's a fucking stupid idea) as long as you don't see her ever, but as soon as we meet her character, in any way, even in the recordings, it stops making sense because the portrayal of her isn't as clever as her character, because Moffat himself is not as clever as her character. He can't convincingly write her doing these things, because he can't think of a way to do them, just that she can. It's a ridiculous jump of logic anyway - I would be much happier with a convincing manipulator of people with some manipulation plots going on.

He also seems to have a bit of a hard-on for soldiers making sacrifices - not the first time he has done that one.

[u/Totpoc → u/Maukeb]

I think Moriarty was a more convincing and impressive manipulator in The Reichenbach Fall: his methods and results were straightforward and believable.

[u/benc777]

That coffin was poorly constructed

[u/solpadoll]

He sent Irene Adler a text. She'll be the antagonist in the next season. Then they'll pump, then she'll die and send 500 dvds with prophetic messages on. He'll text Molly at the end of the third episode...and so on.

I got this shizz down, you all know I'm right :)

[u/bob1689321]

Wasn't john chained up what the fuck?

[u/[deleted] → u/bob1689321]

I assumed someone went down the rope

[u/Terroface]

I think it's a shame they went with her being able to manipulate people just by speaking with them. It feels too much like science fiction

[u/VV1N73RMVT3]

WHY BOTHER FAKE SHOOTING JOHN AT THE END OF LAST EPISODE.

WHY INVEST MONEY IN THAT HORRIFIC CGI TO BLOW UP 221B IF THEYRE JUST GOING TO BUILD IT TO LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME. HOW THE FUCK DID THEY SURVIVE THE EXPLOSION. WHO THE FUCK LOOKS AFTER JOHNS BABY, AT LEAST SHERLOCK REMEMBERED HER.

I was sure - sure! that the ridiculous bomb was going to be fake and they were going to jump and nothing was going to blow. And then! that hideous explosion i was sure that was fake. But no.

[u/mophair]

I have losts of issues with this one, but something that I think stands out: It Cheapened Moriarty - Dragging out the 'Did you miss me?' for how many years now? - there was no master plan that we would have expected just a loose connection acting as some inconsequential fanservice (which did a complete disservice to his character).

Although Andrew Scott killed it.

[u/lovablesnowman]

Oh

[u/jenjuniper1]

I wanted to watch a tv show about Sherlock Holmes, not a cheap, 'Sherlock: Arkham Asylum'.

Also - a child goes missing in the grounds of an old house, the first place you check is the fucking well.

AND - Sherlock & Watson jumped away from an explosion, out of the first (second?) floor of a building and came away completely unharmed?

[u/halfmanhalfvan]

Comically poor writing.

[u/ILOVEGLADOS]

So.... That was absolutely phenomenal till about the 75th minute where it completely collapsed like a flan in a cupboard. What the hell was that ending? It suddenly just realised that it had to end and just sort of... Died on it's arse.

Eurus is a great fucking character and although the opening was a slow burner, the sequences in Sherrinford and the puzzles and games were some of most tense television moments I've ever watched. It was hard to watch at times, but in a good way.

I'm still really not sure about anything in that ending though... Nothing felt explained or even felt satisfying.

[u/ubiquitous0bserver]

The Great Game redux: the "I wish it was 2010 again" edition

Euros just... really irritated me. She's, like, the epitome of every Genius Psychopath in how she can apparently just get people to do whatever she wants (while looking like she's ripping off that chick from the Ring). And for fuck's sake, how are we supposed to feel any sympathy for her? She literally killed a small child, burned the family house down, and god knows what else.

I am also somewhat irritated that Sherlock and Mycroft just played perfectly into her hands, and never questioned what she put in front of them. Why did neither of them ever float the possibility that the plane thing wasn't actually happening?

...I should really go watch Series 1 again.

[u/ally140992]

People asking everywhere if the girl landed the plane. Fs, give me strength.

[u/DoomslayIE]

A crashing plane was a fitting metaphor for this episode. We've gone meta.

[u/[deleted]]

I feel stressed and unhappy.

[u/gervasium]

People can rationalize it anyway they want but it won't make the episode what it wasn't. This wasn't necessarily a bad episode. It's on the level of the Blind Banker or Hounds. The problem is that it shouldn't have been.

There should have been consequences (which we were promised), there should have been something more to Moriarty than a conversation we don't get to see and doesn't end up mattering to the rest of the episode. There should have been more to his return than filler tapes (If it wasn't for the final scenes I'd assume there was more to it, and we would see it later on, but now I don't trust the writers anymore). I got the feeling that Moriarty's involvement was taking control of the facility (and creating the mind-slave myth, which sounds so much like him) and setting Euros free, which would have at least made him useful, but we never got confirmation of that. We never figured out how Moriarty or Euros or their men got to take over "every screen in the country" other than vague mind control superfuckingpowers.

And I absolutely cannot tolerate two Blind Banker episodes in one 3 episode season.

[u/[deleted]]

I LOVED this. Really felt the vibe, and loved all the scenes (esp the ones Mycroft was in, he's the fave). I hope they make another series, but if they don't it's a great send off to a fantastically made show that did not fail to lose my interest for 5 years. Hats off to Moffat and Gatiss for making such a delight for my eyes.

[u/Tungdil_Goldhand → u/[deleted]]

When I figured out that Mycroft was intentionally trying to get Sherlock to shoot him it became one of my favourite character-building moments in this show. It was heartbreaking.

[u/bigboss2014]

Suffered the exact same problem the last 2 seasons did: conclusions and no explanations. "Oh, she's so clever she can brain wash people by talking to them!", ye like, piss off if you're not going to explain how.

The 5 minutes Moriarty was back I was smiling, he really is the best TV character of the past decade.

[u/nxvacaiine]

I feel like it would of been better if it was Mrs Hudson saying Mary's monologue at the end? Sherlock and John have been Mrs Hudsons "Baker Street boys" for way longer than Mary's

[u/[deleted]]

I feel like I missed something. Was there ever any girl on a plane or was it just her imagination? The resolution of the episode happened really quickly.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed. I'm fine with the idea of her being more intelligent than even Mycroft, but so intelligent that she can brainwash people within minutes? That strains belief even for Sherlock.

And what was the point in all of Moriarty's "miss me?" messages? This was all Euros' plan. It seemed like his role was purely to record taunting messages for Sherlock.

---

This felt like the finale of the show rather than the season. They had a super-genius with Moriarty, now they've had an uber-genius and Moriarty's final plan. There's nowhere it can really go from here.

If this was the end I feel like it went out on a bit of a whimper. Episode two of the season was great, but this one and the premiere were disappointing to me. Everything after season two was a bit disappointing to me. Out of the thirteen episodes there are two I'd call really great (2.01 and 2.03), three good ones (1.01, 1.03, 4.02) and seven that were decent at best and a mess at worst.

I'd go so far as to say that the end of "The Reichenbach Fall" would've made a better finale than this. Sherlock beats Moriarty and lets John live his life in peace. There would've been unanswered questions, but I would've been satisfied.

---

Edit: also, I found the revelation that Redbeard was a child a little flat. I was expecting the truth to be that she had manipulated Sherlock into killing the dog, and to be honest I feel like that would've been more interesting.

Edit the second: while I'm on the subject, I found the tone a bit jarring this season. In season three they made a point about realistic gunshots when Sherlock was shot, but here John and Sherlock jump out of windows with an explosion right behind them and they're absolutely fine.

[u/Chiara_85]

Quite a mixed bag of reactions I see... :D

Well I, for one, genuinely enjoyed it. A lot.

Was there silliness ? Hell yeah ! Like in The Great Game, which was over-the-top silly (I know we tend to look back on the first couple of series with rose-tinted glasses but come on ! That hostage who supposedly stood still in the middle of a busy street for 6-7 hours with a red laser pointer light on his chest without anyone noticing, Moriarty apparently walking through walls to leave a pair of sneakers in a flat with a door that had not been opened in years, magically appearing and disappearing snipers...)

But overall, like with The Great Game and The Reichenbach Fall, there was more than enough payoff for me not to pay attention to the nonsensical :

• Moriarty's entrance to a live version of I Want to Break Free, complete with applause and crowd noises... Big J, you wonderful, murderous goofball

• "we are soldiers"... John was at his peak all the episode through; war is his environment and he took charge. The most perfect embodiment of that was his little "shit he's right" when Mycroft identified him as the one Sherlock should sacrifice. He can and will take one for the team because he is just that decent a fellow. The emotional core of the whole story.

• Mycroft's sacrifice was so beautifully subtle and his exchange with Sherlock highlighted the unspoken tenderness between the perpetually feuding brothers. "I suppose there's a heart in there... Not much of a target, I'm afraid" Yep, it most certainly is.

• Molly... I always liked the sweet pathologist. And I was glad she finally got that "reveal" off of her chest. I see that some viewers were left displeased that there was no follow-up to her confession but, while I can see where they are coming from, I would argue that no follow-up is needed. As Sherlock said, he already knew anyway. They both knew. She just finally got to say it without fear of being mocked or rejected. She is free from her secret (that was not really a secret to start with) ! Good for her !

• Redbeard : that was completely unexpected and dark as hell...

• Eurus : again, I can see why many viewers may have been left puzzled by her and her methods... She only convinces people by talking to them which, on the face of it, may sound odd but then, how else does one convince anyone to do anything ? How do cult leaders acquire disciples and followers ? She is, in her own weird way, a preacher. She fascinates and enthralls her preys like her brothers fascinate and enthrall anyone with their abilities and deductions. She only does it more. And worse.

• Sherlock definitely letting go of the last shreds of his emotional shutdown. After "Redbeard", he chose to build a wall between his rational thought process and his sentiments, believing the latter to be corrosive to the former (perhaps because he failed to find Victor and blamed his inability to put his sister's clues together on the fact that he was emotionally devastated at the time). But ultimately, it took him to make his rationality and his emotions work in tandem to make peace with Eurus and, thus, save John. Beautiful character development.

• the violin duet at the end. At long last and in spite of everything, someone plays with Eurus. And Sherlock, again, allows his emotions to be witnessed by the people around him through his music.

• the conclusion... I don't mind Guardian Angel!Mary. I know she may not be the most popular character but John was married to her and she was the mother of his chid ! It did make sense for her to give her blessing to her widower's choice of lifestyle. And that musical transition... From a very intimate, subdued violin duet to a full, bombastic rendition of The Game is On, from introspection to euphoria... Superb ! Yeah to the legend of the Baker Street Boys !

[u/GingerHairedBreadMan]

Jesus Mary fuck off

[u/unsuba]

I'm not sure I understand that whole "girl on plane" subplot. So Eurus was somehow talking as the girl while also talking as herself on camera, and neither Sherlock nor Mycroft noticed it was her voice and not a 10-year old girl's?

[u/nederlandic]

At parts, I was engrossed and impressed. At others, embarrassed I was even watching. I suppose that sums up Steven Moffat's entire career.

[u/Maukeb]

Episode 2 was just a complete accident, then?

[u/RainbowFanatic]

Im sorry but does anyone know what the fuck just happened???

[u/Mumble-]

At moments I thought it was amazing, at others I thought it was utter shit. Really unsure what to make of it.

p.s, mary can you plz leave.

[u/charlottedhouse]

I feel like I just watched some Shutter Island/Sherlock crossover fan fiction that got produced and put on TV.

And it wasn't even GOOD fan fiction.

I was profoundly disappointed. In this episode as a "finale" and in the entire season.

It was weirdly disjointed. There was no follow through with the sub plots (drug that can make you forget things, Rosie, John cheating on Mary, Molly's ordeal, the woman, the text Sherlock sent at the end of the finale, etc) and the characters were weirdly OOC.

The whole thing felt like they were deliberately jumping the shark.

[u/roseparades]

Okay but if they are literally acknowledging in their final voiceover that what Sherlock Holmes is all about is the stories and his relationship with John Watson, why did they spend the last two seasons on everything but that and instead focused on bullshit plots like Mary and Eurus? honestly

[u/bacon_cake]

Disbelief thoroughly, though not willingly, suspended.

See you all next time. BSB 4 lyf.

[u/The7thStreet]

Was a mixed episode, sometimes it was great others it was terrible

[u/pounro]

Ok, what the fuck just happened?

[u/Piggstein]

I thought it a bit disappointing that Sherlock's ultimate puzzle constructed by his supra-genius sister was a jumble-up-the-letters-and-numbers game such as you might find in a Quizkidz magazine or Usborne Puzzle Book.

[u/shieldedunicorn]

I read a few comment and can't understand why people seem to dislike it. It was maybe a bit more psychological than other episodes but it had everything I love about the serie. It might be one of my favorite episode so far.

[u/eppaleopardsy]

I HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS.

1. How did Eurus make the glass disappear and then reappear (to trap the three men) so quickly?

2. How did John get free of the chain in the well?

3. How did Eurus magically pour more water into the well? From afar?

4. How did Sherlock, John, and Mycroft survive a GRENADE?

5. EURUS CAN'T MIND-CONTROL EVERYONE LIKE WHAT. And nobody ever gets outside help? I mean, this isn't Kilgrave, this is a normal human. She can't even blackmail anyone properly, because she is in prison.

6. Mr. and Mrs. Holmes obviously still wanted to keep their daughter in their lives -- how did they never mention her in front of Sherlock? Or even allude to her unknowingly? Sherlock "Deduction" Holmes surely would have noticed. What are the chances?

7. I would still like to know how Mary managed to dive in front of a bullet fired at that distance.

8. Why does Mary make all these DVDs? Why does she give them such scary titles?

9. What was the point of The Abominable Bride? Seriously. It kind of seemed like the whole point was going to be that there was some kind of cult-of-Moriarty, but no -- just one person using clips of him. Hardly necessitating an entire special explaining it?

10. WHAT DID JOHN MEAN WHEN HE TOLD HIS THERAPIST HE NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO SAY SOMETHING TO SHERLOCK, WHAT WAS THE THING

11. How did Moriarty "burn the heart" out of Sherlock?

12. Why does this show keep excusing villains?! We're supposed to feel sympathy for Eurus? She killed the governor's wife in cold blood. She convinced a man to kill his family -- this had nothing to do with Sherlock, this was just for fun. And Mary -- Mary used to kill people for money. But this is okay, I guess?

13. What was Eurus' goal in all this? She wanted Sherlock to come find her in her room? That's what she wanted? That's why she psychologically tortured him? And put John in the well?

[u/[deleted]]

Didn't like it overall. I wasn't convinced that Euros was some extraordinary mind by what we were shown. We were just told that by the characters. There wasn't anything particular interesting in her experiments, they were just materialized simple thought experiments that people discuss all the time. They were just cruel. Also, the ending with the narration of Mary was campy as hell.

I liked a lot the origin story of the Sherlock siblings but I don't believe that it was communicated to us in a good way.

[u/minreii]

Mycroft talking shit so it would be easier for Sherlock to kill him, i saw right through it when he started, and I was crying a fucking river

[u/PM_ME_CAKE]

Mary had the last line. That is all. Also Baker Street Boys sounds like a band name.

[u/Wertyujh1]

Uh.. I liked it. I was thoroughly engaged to it, sucked in completely.

[u/rayman0121]

Did they just pull John up with a rope, even though he was chained to the floor

[u/llamame_gringo]

I haven't seen anyone mention this, but it infuriated me: When Sherlock figured out that the girl in the plane was a metaphor, he said "you thought of the perfect metaphor".

THIS IS THE WRITERS LITERALLY PATTING THEMSELVES ON THE BACK FOR BEING CLEVER.

Got me wound up. Sorry.

[u/[deleted]]

Went a bit hunger games on us there

[u/kixalix]

I'm most disappointed that Moriarty is actually dead. No more Andrew Scott :(

[u/x-rainy]

So... I saw on Tumblr that Moffat said this last episode was something 'never before done on TV'.

What exactly was supposed to be so game-breaking in this episode? This was a completely mediocre (even dare to say bad) Sherlock episode (when you consider how GOOD episodes we've gotten in the past).

I'm baffled and disappointed.

[u/6thirty6]

Moffat's ability to simultaneously write great and absolutely awful female characters Is astounding.

This whole strong woman push would be great if they just wrote it naturally. Some of it was just cringe inducing. I noticed lines last week too. Moffat seems obsessed with making women these over the top strong leads instead of equally capable. Instead of the times where women are written so well you barely notice it been done (in a good way), they always stand out with how unrealistic they end up. He makes them far too quirky.

Like wtf was that line about her needing emotion described to her because she can't tell? . Alluding to aspergers / autism right? Oh but wait she can totally emotionally manipulate people to her will and is also extremely detached at the same time as being a wreck.

I feel like they honestly write this stuff specifically for Tumblr.

I know people will probably say I'm touchy or w/e but everything felt so forced. Maybe I am being too bitcy.

Anyway props to the awesome acting from the whole cast.

[u/asdfreoiuzqwert]

What was this? Are they serious? Is this it?

[u/filofil]

Soo, i assume Charles Xaiver comes and Eurus joins X-Men crew after all of these.

[u/[deleted]]

Moriarty is back! Oh wait no he isn't.

You had a dog - oh wait no you didn't.

You have to kill someone Sherlock! - oh wait I guess you don't!

You have to save the girl in the plane! - Oh there isn't one.

Your sister is dangerous as hell! Oh no wait she just wants a friend

Where was the crime solving? Where was the mystery? Where was the adventurous romp? Why did MARY have any part in this?

This felt like an episode one to kickstart a season not a finale that leaves us with 3 years of nothing...

seriously disappointed :/

[u/MelodyRaindo]

So there was no explanation for the inconsistencies in T6T and TLD? Really?

[u/Marmite-Badger]

/r/Queen mod here: I know what my favourite bit was.

[u/bibikalo]

Just to point out, Mary left 2 videos for Sherlock, only one of which actually referred her FUCKIN HUSBAND as "...and dr. Watson".

I'm so done.

[u/[deleted]]

Good god, Mary just won't fuck off will she?

[u/Cleanspark]

Wow that ending was terrible

[u/[deleted]]

So, what was the point of Euros' scheming in the first two episodes? Just to get Sherlock's attention? She could have just called Sherlock and told him that he has a sister who is an evil genius and she's about to crash a plane, it would've been much more cost-effective than creating disguises and tranquilising his friend?

Edit: Oh and also, apparently, the moral of the story was that we have to sympathise with psychotic serial killers because they were alone as a kid and potentially a relative of our protagonist. Great message guys, if we keep it up like this, i might go and play some violin with Charles Manson next week...

Edit 2: Sorry i can't stop ranting but seriously, i actually enjoyed the third season and thought it was very well done, and the season three finale was by far my favourite episode. This season on the other hand, other than that genius episode last week, was absolutely horrible. Seriously, what happened to this show this season?

Also credit where it's due; i loved the victor trevor twist, if it was done within the right context, it would've been an incredible episode, and a ridiculously exciting twist.

[u/[deleted]]

How did the three gain seemingly NO INJURIES at all after the 221b explosion at the beginning?

[u/jpepsred]

You know what pisses me off about Moriarty? I know he's dead. He shot himself. We saw it. Sherlock held one of his hands and he shot himself with the other hand. There was no trickery. He's dead. They made a 90 minutes mediocre Christmas episode explaining that he is definitely dead. At the end of series 3, his photo showed up on every monitor in the country with a modulated voice saying "miss me". That's fine. It's just someone fucking with Sherlock using Moriarty's resemblance. But then, after the credits, they showed a video of him, full HD, real voice, real Moriarty, Andrew Scott in his full glory, and he said again "miss me". I really expected him to be alive after that. They shouldn't have teased like that if they weren't going to follow through and bring him back.

[u/GingerHairedBreadMan]

The intensity of the puzzles dropped to a lull to suddenly for me to fully take in what had just happened

[u/MelodyRaindo]

That was the most intense hour and a half of my life jesus

[u/ZeromusPrime]

"Wow, I really liked that, I wonder what Reddit thinks"

Click

"Oh"

[u/MelodyRaindo]

I totally thought Mycroft was going to take off his suit when he was adjusting his tie.

[u/rekt_n00b]

The episode was staggering. Some of those scenes really made me lose my shit.

• Mycroft tries to get Sherlock to shoot him. This was phenomenal - almost cried here.

• The initial interaction between Sherlock and Eurus - Even I didn't realize that there's no glass separator between them.

• That phone call between Molly and Sherlock.

My only problem is the resolution happened too quickly and not convincingly. But still, it was an intensely gripping episode and was marvelously made. I liked it.

Seems like the creators have a clean slate now. Season 5 (if we're lucky enough to get it) can literally go anywhere. Hopefully we'll get some of Season 2 type episodes again!

[u/Tessinator]

I am so pissed off at Mary getting to do the send off. Why not have John narrate? That is the whole point of his character! He is the window into Holmes' world for the audience and always has been and he's far more important than his dead wife!!

[u/ElCaminoInTheWest]

An episode of great moments, set in a patently absurd context.

The Moriarty flashback, the fisherman switch, the governor dilemma, the John v Mycroft, the Molly conversation, the no-glass shock - lots of truly great moments.

Unfortunately they seemed to jam it together in some sort of futuristic Saw-meets-Crystal Maze scenario, and resolved it with the uber-villain, the murderer, the world's greatest manipulator - just needing a cuddle.

5/7, will watch again. Of course I will, it's Sherlock. Even when it's bad, it's good.

Oh and also when will Mary ever fuck off once and for all. Seriously, just stop.

[u/Cleanspark]

Ending was so anti climax to an otherwise amazing episode

[u/yawnowl]

For me, it was one step too far from reality. Someone so smart they can control/hack someone else's mind is just not believable.

[u/ThrowAwayAcct0000]

I don't understand how at no point did they think, "Eh, that dude's wife is gonna get murdered anyway." I did, the moment she told them her little deal-- anyone associated with that prison was most likely not coming out alive. Same with the 3 guys hanging from ropes. They were all dead, no matter what. Why not call her bluff on things? Shoot the glass, waste the last bullet in a fit of anger, take the ball and go home. Refuse to play. There's no proof there's a plane at all. Ugh, that was annoying.

[u/vpsj]

"I didn't plant any explosives in Molly's house"

"You're lying, there is an S7 in her hand right now"

[u/[deleted]]

Well that was anticlimactic.

[u/[deleted]]

this seemed really messed up to me tbh and unclear

[u/TomHouston]

Good ideas but not so good execution imo.

[u/Aruu]

It's incredible that we're supposed to feel sorry for Eurus when she killed an innocent little boy because she wasn't getting any attention from her brother. No, she not only killed him, she left him to suffer an extremely horrible and terrifying death. She then mocked the brother she supposedly loves so much with his supposed whereabouts.

Just... no words.

[u/Zentoba]

It's almost as if for this episode they got carried away with it and realised they were at the 1 hour 20 mark and had to wrap it up. The resolution of Sherlock pretty much just telling Euros to stop was such a flat and unsatisfying resolution to what was quite a deep and psychologically challenging episode. The build-ups and climaxes this season were all a bit ... 'iffy'.

[u/AnExplosiveMonkey]

Did anyone else catch that throwback to "A Study in Pink", when Lestrade is the one saying to John, "Sherlock Holmes is a great man, and I think one day—if we’re very very lucky—he might even be a good one."

I really freaked out my brother by predicting the next line.

[u/tongxammo]

What is up with Moffat and Gatiss, did they seriously think THIS would be a satisfying conclusion to the series.

I was willing to let the first episode pass, it had some dumb stuff in it and I thought the second episode helped rectify some of the weird stuff in the first episode of this season (John's affair)

But now they come out with this, the very start of this episode completely blows off the shock ending of last episode, and just says john got tranquilized, what the hell?

I was willing to let that go too, but then the episode just got stupider and stupider, the whole molly sequence turned out pointless, and why the hell would Sherlock go play violin with his sister even after he discovered she drowned his childhood best friend.

Moriarty was totally wasted, I didn't think they had to bring him back as a physical presence, and I was totally on board with him mocking Sherlock over T.V. screens, but all he really does is just say "TICKTOCKTICKTOCK", what a waste.

And all the stuff involving the plane, was just ridiculous. So it was seriously just Euros pretending to be the little girl over the phone the whole time, why even do that, it's just a pointless twist and was totally unneeded, I thought the redbeard twist was good and was pleased, and then they followed it up with that.

And then Sherlock and John receive a disk from Mary, in which she gives some dumb corny speech about how Sherlock and John have to carry on doing cases, and then we see them rebuild the apartment exactly as it was (which they only did so they could reuse the set of 221B and not have to make a new one)

And to top it all off, we see Sherlock and John run towards the camera in slow motion.

Which is probably the lamest way they could have ended this season.

[u/Sphenoidman]

Tip: If you're gonna mess with your audience with the '5 years earlier' thing, you have to make the rest of the show better than what you teased, otherwise people will just be thinking about what could have been. The shadow of Moriarty has hung over every episode since he died. My desire for him to come back takes away so much from my enjoyment of any new plot and for as long as Sherlock exists I will think about what could have been if Moriarty were still around. Why you would kill such an amazing character off I will never know.

[u/xChinky123x]

Is anyone else deeply concerned that after all that, Eurus was just sent back to the same prison despite revealing that she could literally psychologically manipulate her way out?

I understand the 'Play with me' ending was poetic but she was dangerous, insane and had superpowers. She also manipulated every situation Sherlock was ever in... You'd think he'd harbour a little more resentment, even when he did save her. I think the only satisfying ending would be one where she ended up dead.

[u/sj2011]

Sherlock is at its best when a case comes in, they work on it, Sherlock reads some people, there are some hijinks, and they solve the case.

Sherlock is not at its best when everything is a 'gotcha!' moment, when there's always a bigger baddie behind this one, and when they rely on the almost-supernatural.

Episode 2 was the former. Episodes 1 and 3 were the latter.

[u/darnruski]

Came to read about how ridiculous and cliche this episode was. Was not disappointed.

[u/blake_is_right_here]

The last "Miss You" CD seemed forced..

[u/[deleted]]

So let me see if I understand Eurus's plan

She is able to get leverage because she magically knows when terror strikes are going to happen, based on looking at tweets, so she orders a meeting with Moriarty because she magically knows that he has a death wish, which is needed for sherlock to successfully fake his death, because she also magically knows what he's going to do that, and how he'll do it. She then magically manipulates the psychologists, magically knowing that there will not be one whistle blower on the whole staff as the facility gets compromised. I guess all the guards are thinking "I'm here for my pay cheque. I don't ask questions".

She then disguises herself as Watson's therapist, because she magically knew that he'd get a new one, because she magically knew that John would feel the need to get a new one after the death of his wife, which she also magically knew would happen. She then pointlessly decides to put on more disguises to make the reveal cooler because she's aware that she's being watched by a television audience. She then sends a drone into 221B to call attention because she magically knows where everyone is going to be standing so that they can get away (otherwise all her planning would have been for nothing. She then bates the gang into going to the facility to meet her, magically knowing that they'll be compelled to break in and meet her, and magically knowing that Sherlock specificialy will be the one to get into her chamber? After putting them through an obstacle course, she decides to put Sherlock in a fake room near their old house, because she wants to make the reveal cool for the television audience that she knows is watching, and she proceeds to torment Sherlock about making Redbeard into a dog because she also magically knew about that, and all that was to...threaten sherlock with Johns life so that she could get a hug because she figures that all this is going to endear her to people? ?

that requires a lot of assumptions

[u/Maukeb]

PS DON'T FORGET MARY STILL KNOWS THE MOST ABOUT EVERYTHING

[u/DolphinMemes]

That last bit felt like it was a memorial/celebration of Sherlock, like the writers sucking their own dick

[u/[deleted]]

That ending was kind of dreadful... Great episode other than that though

[u/metrize]

Please bring Sherlock back to its roots instead of these convoluted plots.

Russia send them an email please, thanks

[u/cheesy_meatballs]

Three words: what the fuck. I can't believe they actually made this trainwreck of an episode. It didn't make any sense whatsoever. Just... Why...

[u/the_long_way_round25]

Bit disappointed in Euros for not asking Sherlock if the lambs had stopped screaming.

[u/[deleted]]

When Sherlock says at the end of TAB "I know exactly what (Moriarty) is going to do next" what the fuck did he think?

"Oh right it must be my secret insane sister who killed my brother and I completely forgot about sending messages to me through Moriarty"

[u/Kraken314]

Anyone feel as though the ancestral home, self-denial, stages of grief and eventual acceptance were just a little too Skyfall? The episode felt rushed, Euros was one-dimensional and her motives were inexplicable, Moriarty was underused, Molly got the short end of the stick (again), and everything just did not work.

[u/[deleted]]

Mrs. Hudson listening to Iron Maiden was, by far, the best moment of the show.

[u/shumchum]

I actually really enjoyed that! Surprised to come on here and see so many didn't like it!

[u/TheBestIsaac]

It's not finished yet.

[u/ally140992]

Arthur Conan Doyle would be turning in his grave.

[u/blackbasset]

Oh and what was that Scene with Lady Smallwood, her name(s) and Mycroft and her doing it all about? That was way too emphasized to have been a lose end. ^{why am I even thinking about lose ends in a goddamn Moffat written show}

[u/miainglott]

Nothing at the end??????

[u/not_king_joffrey]

There will be a fifth season, right? I don't understand why Mary sent that second disk and this is no way to end the whole series.

[u/[deleted]]

Okay so this episode meant so much more to me than I thought. Not only was the story actually chilling to the bone. But it's so telling about Sherlock himself. In the beginning he's described as an emotional child. This whole series he's been announcing himself as a "high functioning sociopath" but that's not what this episode conveyed at all. He's not a high functioning sociopath, because when he's put up against a REAL sociopath he himself doesn't know how to manage. And the part I absolutely loved, is that that fact is in every meticulous detail of this episode. Even from the very beginning of his story with euros, their differences are so vastly different and you can tell she's a real psychopath without anyone having to say it. From Sherlock first meeting her, he claims playing the violin is beautiful. But she doesn't care about its beauty. She cares if it's right. She has no value for the beautiful. Sherlock does. She's more quick to Violence. But when she's quick to violence there's no build up. No rage. Nothing. She simply just does. Sherlock has never been like that. We've gotten peeks of sherlock's emotions in the past. That there's something more to his cold exterior. And now we know. The final problem wasn't exactly euros. Or redbeard. It was the fact that Sherlock was in fact not as emotionless as he thought. Throughout this episode we see him panic and even CRY. The scene with Molly was especially touching. He seemed so alarmed at the idea she could possibly die. And him saying the words " I love you " seem to have an effect ( one can only hope for Sherlolly at this point. ) . The idea of killing his brother or his best friend caused him grief so he turned it on himself. One could argue a regular sociopath put in a situation like this would pick the most logical choice. Or that in a highly stressful situation like this a sociopath wouldn't even think twice on who to shoot if it was inconveniencing the next part of his journey. But he had rather turn the gun on himself. And at the very end, when he found out what his sister had really done. He cried. He cried for a childhood friend who had little significance who he could barely remember. But he cried. And for so long he suppressed memories because they were simply too painful. Even Mycroft wasn't as emotionless as he was sometimes made out to be. By putting euros in the situation the creators did a very smart and practical thing. They showed us a real monster in comparison to people who always claimed to be. Like putting a stuffed lion in front of a real one. Euros not only made Sherlock realize how much different he was from the cold calculating man he thought himself to be. But she magnified who he truly is to all of us. Thank you for that creators. She was truly a nessecary element.

[u/Secludeddawn]

But can we talk about Lestrade's face when Sherlock gets his name right.

[u/Seeyouyeah]

Wow... So after the whole mind-control thing, a house unburning itself, the main source of tension (the little girl on the plane) turning out to be essentially 'it was all a dream lol', one of the most interesting and complex emotional moments (the scene with Molly) being resolved with a cheesy montage, John magically unchaining himself from the bottom of the well, a fucking dog turning out to be a kid, John and Sherlock jumping through plate glass one storey up with a fucking grenade going off behind them and not sustaining a single injury, I'm starting to wonder if this episode was some kind of prank, or if the writers just couldn't be arsed. Am I missing anything? I mean seriously what on earth was that.

[u/ben8jam]

How did she manage to get from the island to the house, setup all the electronics, the tvs, build a fake house, put Watson in a well... All on her own... just in a couple hours?

This show is the opposite of a detective series. Sherlock used to be able to deduce a rational explanation from an impossible situation, now we are just left with an impossible situation with no reasoning whatsoever.

[u/heirtotyrone]

I don't understand all the hate for this episode. Series 4 was much stronger than I expected.

My only major gripe with the episode was the ending, I don't like Mary's story arc anymore, and kinda hope they eventually get rid of her character completely.

The speech right at the end felt like it was straight from the pages of Dr who, doesn't belong in Sherlock.

[u/VV1N73RMVT3]

Sherlock finds a dog bowl with redbeard on it. Eurus didn't know that sherlock couldn't remember her, so why would she think sherlock thought redbeard was a dog?

[u/HahaNotAgain]

The contrast between Mycroft crumbling up under pressure and John just being the more composed one, that was good.

[u/Screaminmuffin4]

Why do maximum security prison cells have hidden doors installed that lead to other maximum security prison cells?

[u/justsayinguys]

Because we're pedantic, my friend and I actually sat down and worked out the graveyard cipher, numbers and verses and all. And we found a glaring issue (unless we missed something). The short of it is, the numbers don't match up to the full message text and it's not because some numbers were hidden/not shown, either. Pretty sure it's a mistake.

If you want the details, our full working with formatting and all is here.

[u/iluvhermione]

How chilling was the moment when you realized there actually was no glass separating Eurus and Sherlock?

[u/[deleted]]

This will inevitably get buried below the mountain of previous comments but it's something I feel has to be said. This was NOT an episode of Sherlock. There were no clever deductions, nearly everything felt forced instead of gradual realizations, there was no (ah-ha!) moment whatsoever, I felt absolutely nothing at Mycroft's DEAD obvious attempt to get Sherlock to kill him because Sister Mine had already stated the obvious in the Molly Test (availability of a third option). Also what the bloody hell was the mess with Redbeard? Oh, you were so severely traumatized you completely blocked out the memory of your sister and WITHIN the blocked memory decided to transform your best friend into a dog. Not to mention, I don't wish to see the human side of Sherlock for an hour and a half. I want to see evidence that he is in fact a high functioning sociopath with legendary skills of deduction, not a whining kid with anger issues. I had hope that he was playing the long-con as he did with "The Lady" and the phone reveal but it soon died. And what was with the sisters "hypnosis?" powers. She had a literal super power. There is no other way to describe talking her way Into taking over an entire prison. Also, WTF she spent a "treat" which she previously used for a 2 million fucking dollar violin (stradavarius) on filming 5 minutes of Moriarty lines? Are you kidding me? Where did she even get the camera? And I literally. 100%. Lost it when Mary delivered the ending lines of the ENTIRE series to a montage. This isn't witty, this isn't clever, this isn't fun, this was thoroughly rubbish and such a wonderful series deserved better. (Indiana Jones and the Crystal skull part 2? Or turning the Hobbit book into a trilogy. This travesty is on that level.)

[u/Anubissama]

Stuff happens! More stuff happens!

Why? Who cares why! Look quick editing!

How? Who cares how! Being a genius means being a wizard!

How is this based on the books? What books? Who cares!

Moriarty is alive! Moriarty is dead! Moriarty is alive! Mary is alive! Mary is dead!

Look! Misleading editing! That means we are clever!

[u/greensad]

Absolute garbage. Sherlock Holmes should be about giving the audience/reader information to potentially try and solve the mystery of the story themselves or at least so as when the solution is presented that the answer becomes an "ahh so that's how they done it" moment.

This was not that. It was not clever story telling. We had a cipher that Sherlock had to work out in a minute essentially off screen, a murder case in which Sherlock had to pick the murderer and the audience were given barely a glimpse of 3 photos and their names so again completely eliminating any mystery solving and flashbacks which were placed in order to purposefully mislead the viewer. No it's not clever that you had the little girl actor hold a toy plane because of the twist at the end. No it's not clever to cast a random child to act out Eurus' internal fear in order to trick the audience into associating her with another character. They're just ploys. Sherlock's Dad had a dog allergy?? Well I guess they must have had a shot of his Dad holding a packet of allergy medicine for 0.005 seconds in a previous episode in order to have the audience make that super intelligent connection.

Just frustrating from start to finish.

[u/ThatNordicGuy]

John, on the phone: I'm in a well!

Sherlock: Nah, shit, it's a mystery mate! I need to solve it!

*15 minutes later *

Sherlock: My God... JOHN IS IN SOME SORT OF WELL! HOLD ON, WE HAVE ONE OF THOSE BEHIND THE HOUSE! I am the greatest detective in the world!

[u/SmileAndLaughrica]

Between the "Sherlock is in love" and the "groundbreaking television"... The marketing was a lot of queerbaiting. They know the fans and they're shameless to tap in... Well, shame on the BBC for allowing that shit.

[u/cdftbt]

There was no cliffhanger? Is this the end?

[u/Nerdiator]

I went to the bathroom when the Molly Hooper thingy happened. Is she alive now? I'm scared...

[u/Zentoba]

Most underwhelming season so far. Now, that's not to say I didn't enjoy it but it just did not hold up to the previous three. It was all a bit rushed and had a lot of " .... really?" moments in my opinion.

[u/[deleted]]

My favourite thing about this episode was that Mrs. Hudson is a Maiden fan.

[u/tom_is_pullin]

The cases they show in the montage sequences (like the ventriloquist dummy in the latest episode, and the one last series with the set of clothes on the chair) always look more interesting than the ones they actually show in full!

[u/QueenSpleen]

Euros was shocked when Sherlock brought the gun to his head but had a whole backup plan for when he did?

Fuck this episode and fuck the second episode for making me hope this series was redeeming itself

[u/awadafuk]

1. Wish Mary would have stayed gone.

2. Ending felt almost like a cop-out, with a sappy ending rather than an ending that matured at its own rate. Don't get me wrong, I love a good montage, but those usually come during the development of characters that we later see the effect of, not at the end of a series that I may never see again, or at the very least for another three years.

3. There seemed to be no consequences for anyone bar the governor and his wife. In TST, he learnt that his arrogance could go too far, hence 'Norbury'. Meanwhile in this episode, the debacle with Molly was never resolved, Mycroft and John were both fine, no real consequences on their end, Eurus was 'just in need of a friend', we haven't seen what the effect of knowing about his brother was on Sherlock and the Holmes parents just chastised Mycroft, no biggie. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong in regards to the consequences. I reckon I just appreciate seeing the effects of these events on the characters I love.

4. Other people have pointed this out, but John was chained and they threw him a rope which was sufficient for his escape? Bullshit!

5. See point 1.

tl;dr fuck off Mary, I wanted to see what the consequences of this episode were given there's no more Sherlock for years, if ever.

p.s. some really great shots, acting on point as usual - bad episode of Sherlock for me, I still love it above most other shows though.

[u/[deleted]]

that... wasn't very good. inb4 "high expectations", the creators have been building up this episode as ground-breaking, television history, never been done before, the best episode of the show. this was none of that. oh, well.

[u/fadeawayslamdunk]

WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED

[u/[deleted]]

That phone call with Molly ripped my heart to shreds. Hearing someone you’ve loved for so long reciprocating, but at the same time knowing they don’t really mean it. Savoring it as the words enter your ears, but seconds later sinking into the realization that it changes nothing.

And then we get fuck all else of her in the episode. Fuck that.

[u/Black_Dahaka95]

So is the next Sherlock villain going to be someone literally omniscient? I mean how smart are we going to get and how bad is the explanation going to be?

[u/that_cad]

God, I miss when Sherlock just like, solved crimes, you know?

[u/twitchsavvystarfruit]

As a student of English and creative writing, I am sad.

[u/Shekket]

It was so cringe-y. I cannot believe how bad it was. Garbage writing.

[u/Arachnophobic-]

This season has been an unmitigated travesty, and this episode was the dingleberry on top of the dung heap. I don't even know where to begin. Let's just say it didn't feel anything like the Sherlock from the first two seasons. The levels of absurdity have got to a point where it seemed like I was watching the new Doctor Who. I DON'T WANT DOCTOR WHO, I WANT SHERLOCK.

The only two good things from this season: Mrs. Hudson's (suddenly unveiled, with no foreshadowing whatsoever) badassery, and Sherlock's chips 'date' with what turned out to his sister. (Edit, forgot the mention Andrew Scott. I wish it wasn't just a cameo)

[u/witchgamedev]

I realized this morning, after watching the episode again, why a lot of people don't like it. I'm in agreement for one simple reason...

It's not a bad episode. It's a "passable" episode. For a show with some excellent episodes, to have the possible final be built around so precious little that the show has had going for it for so long, and instead focus so much around something shoehorned into the final season, it's a very underwhelming and rather disconnected way to say goodbye.

There are a lot of questions that do have answers, but the answers feel unbelievably unfulfilling. Why did she send a grenade on a drone at the start of the episode? She knew they'd recognize it, jump out of harms way, and miraculously be safe? They leapt from a second story window with an explosion straight behind them and neither was actually injured? What was the point of the scene when we knew she was back already?

You see things like "5 years ago" come up, or the call with Molly (as great of a scene as that was), or the back and forth with killing the head of Sherrinford, and it feels like moments shoe-horned into the gaps to give moments of panic or false tensions. Then we're handed things like the rather "romantic" interaction between Moriarty and Euros where she says "redbeard" and yet...it should mean nothing to him. The Holmes parents are furious but...they didn't know that the best friend of Sherlock just out and out went missing? We see the water in the well rise to nearly neck level in a matter of minutes but then watch Holmes go on for an even longer period of time trying to talk to Euros and...the water is still neck level? There weren't any moments I felt like there was real danger to anyone, especially when they wanted you to feel like it. The pacing, the writing, and the build up were fumbled again and again.

This, at best, should have been filler for an early season. It feels like a middle episode, something that leads to something more. The episode in and of itself has moments that feel unbelievably forced, and many moments that make very little sense, but wasn't what I'd consider "bad"...just...passable. For a show that gained it's status for phenomenal episodes that bring us back even after gaps years long, to end on such an unenthusiastic, confusing, convoluted story is disappointing.

Also, yeah, they REALLY got heavy handed with the stuff with Mary this season. My god...

[u/Bunnrey]

Eurus is meant to be a god-tier genius capable of predicting to the day multiple terrorist strikes, but is astounded when Sherlock chose to self-sacrifice rather than murder his brother in cold blood? Even I could see that one coming.

[u/Jasonic05]

So basically she manipulates Sherlock and the guys into a series of fucked up "experiments" that culminate in her admitting she killed his old best friend and has put his current best friend in the same situation, and her justification is that they wouldnt play with her when she was like 6?

[u/[deleted]]

I thought this ep was stupid. The dragging out of Moriarty has been a real disappointment. Quit while you're ahead. Season 3 was much better.

[u/TabbyCallie]

So. I think I found an error in the most recent Sherlock episode.

Eurus’s song is:

I that am lost, oh who will find me? Deep down below the old beech tree Help succor me now the east winds blow Sixteen by six, brother, and under we go!

Without your love, he'll be gone before. Save pity for strangers, show love the door My soul seek the shade of my willow's bloom Inside brother mine - Let death make a room

Be not afraid to walk in the shade Save one, save all, come try! My steps - five by seven Life is closer to Heaven Look down, with dark gaze, from on high...

Before he was gone - right back over my hill Who now will find him? Why, nobody will Doom shall I bring to him, I that am queen Lost forever, nine by nineteen.

Bolded words are the words that are used, as indicated by Sherlock's mind palace. Bolded and italicized are the ones that weren't numbered in the sequence Sherlock gathers from the gravestones. Each verse is numbered from 1.

Numbers that Sherlock uses are: 134 1719 28 9 1520 1818 2426 1617 1822 32

1|3|4 17|19 28 9 15|20 1|8|18 24|26 16|17 18|22 32 I am lost, Help me brother, Save my life Before my doom I am ____ my soul seek my room

Now you can see there’s a gap between “I am” and “my soul”

What he SAYS/Deciphers is: I am lost. Help me brother. Save my life before my doom. I am lost without your love. Save my soul, seek my room.

The numbers that are lost are: 28 1|2|3|8

Interestingly, but probably irrelevant, 1238 is the year Joan of England died.

[u/miainglott]

Incredible. Utterly incredible

[u/RankedSickness]

What the fuck was the entire point of this episode. Can anyone explain me? Because after watching it, it really feels like there was no point at all.

Just a sloppy chain of random reveals that led to WHAT?

The stakes were....?

I don't even know what to say. I'm disappointed.

[u/blackbasset → u/[deleted]]

http://m.imgur.com/Mf42oBA?r

[u/SquiDark → u/[deleted]]

probably some psycho mating ritual.