We can call it a certainty; like gravity, like the changing seasons or a poor Jai Courtney performance. Somewhere down the line our children or friends of a younger generation will be complaining about waiting for something. Then we, as Sherlock fans, will turn to them with fire in our eyes for a gravelly 3 word whisper, “You... know... nothing”. 3 years, 3 years between seasons; that’s time for empires to rise and fall, for X-Factor winners to fade into obscurity and MCU phases. Ok, it’s still got nothing on waiting for George R R Martin to get his next book out but it still sucked. Now we come to the most crucial point of any wait by finally learning if it was worthwhile. Arguably the pressure has never been higher on Moffat, Cumberbatch and Freeman to deliver..... and thankfully they have. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve finally returned Holmes.
The Six Thatchers – With his killing of Magnussen now covered up, Sherlock awaits the next move in Moriarty’s posthumous plan. The smashing of various busts of Margaret Thatcher leads him to believe it’s game on at last!
So Sherlock’s comeback episode largely serves as a reset point for the show. The opening minutes clear up the prior events before implying the long term story arc of Morality’s grand scheme from the grave but make it clear it would not be immediate destination. That serves both the show and the episode well. Sherlock’s feature length episodes lend themselves towards self-contained stories. Yes, we want a building grand scheme but each episode should bring its own story rewards. Feature format aside it’s also still a season opener which means it must fully re-establish its characters for new viewers and this is an area Moffat and director Jeremy Loving really have some fun with as early montages see Sherlock effortlessly dispatching his more routine cases like their lack of challenge disappoints and even depresses him. Similarly his intellectual narcissism and unique social manner get a good showcasing but nobody sums it up finer than the ever suffering Watson, “He’s quite mad…. No he’s an arsehole but it’s an easy mistake”. The ending also places key characters in fascinating new positions for the remaining two episodes relationships destroyed and the ghosts of past actions. The repeated scripture quoting (The Appointment In Samarra) is a clear statement over the impending and unavoidable nature of some events, like death.
The episode story itself follows the formula generating intrigue by keeping the mystery front and centre. It does just enough to establish the smashed busts (a play on The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, featuring 6 busts of Mr short guy complex) us unusual while keeping us guessing over the purpose before the twists start changing our gaze. There’s a couple of well delivered sparing action bursts too that serve to break the tension and give the pace a brief up shift. The poolside tussle is particularly enjoyable. For the most part it all plays out well but ultimate villain/culprit is something of an anti-climax. While the core idea is good it’s more of a Scooby Doo level reveal than Sherlock’s usual quality. The episode also has some rather inconsistent pacing. The first 30 minutes ramble on at the typical blistering pace of a highly functioning sociopath in full flight but from there things get slowly and slower and the episode progresses. It does pay off in the finale. By that point things have reached the speed of a shuffling old deer in the supermarket which forces things to lingering over certain events like twisting a knife into our feels. The only trouble is that the decreasing momentum adversely effects things around the two thirds point. Without spoiling, developments naturally lean towards escalation and a dramatic built yet this is suppressed so the episode can keep decelerating. In fact one event retreading montage feels completely out of place.
This is still without doubt the Sherlock that the world has come to embrace as it seamlessly mixes great humour into its drama, powered a terrific set of characters. John and Mary get some good development as their family grows by a little one which makes for great material from Sherlock being highly unhelpful during Mary’s labour and to his frustration, unable to make a baby see logical reason. It was also nice to see the episode break out of London for a while during a section best referred to as “Mary Bourne”. The show’s augmented reality visual style has never looked better as we see the likes of Skype calls depicted on screen.
So The Six Thatchers was in many ways a transitional Sherlock episode that felt more like 3 disjointed stories reasonably well pieced together rather than a grand central mystery but it was still the entertaining affair fans wanted it to be with an extra lump of emotion stirred in for good measure. By the show’s own standards it was a weaker episode but in terms of overall quality it’s nothing to be ashamed of. The show is in dire need of a non-Moriarty villain that we can get behind…. A hole that the trailers imply Toby Jones’ Culverton Smith is about to fill so we can rest easy on that one. For now though let’s just be happy that Baker Street is open for business once more, or at least for two more Sundays before we start waiting again.