Series Review: Sherlock Series 3

Last week we finished watching the third series of Sherlock, courtesy of BBC iPlayer and my in-laws' internet connection. I have to say I think it's one of my favourite ones yet.

The big question was how they were actually going to bring Sherlock back. The first episode dealt with that in true Sherlock style; there were several possible explanations but even the one which was actually given as the real one still had a hint of doubt as to whether that was what happened.

I loved the bit where Sherlock actually revealed himself to John as he was preparing to propose to girlfriend, Mary Morstan. The way that John didn't pay any attention to the imitation waiter at first was hilarious, quickly followed by the realisation and shock. It was classic.

Of the three episodes the second was probably my favourite mainly because it kind of broke from the norm. This was 'The Sign of Three', set during John and Mary's wedding with virtually the entire episode revolving around Sherlock's best man's speech. It was such a clever way of telling the story. And I figured out what was happening, who the murder victim was, how they did it and who did, which always makes me feel smug and smart!

My least favourite was probably the final episode. I can't say I'm enamoured by the idea of Sherlock shooting the bad guy, it just doesn't seem cerebral enough for him. Mary being an assassin was a bit random, but it had been nicely tied in to the previous episode so I could learn to live with that. I guess it's set up the next series, whenever that comes along, it'll be interesting to see how it follows on from this episode.

My one complaint about the series, as ever, is that it's too short. I really shouldn't complain, I mean it's three episodes and each one is practically a little movie. The way it's filmed is beautiful, I could just sit for an hour and look at stills from the series. And I love the way that we're privy to what Sherlock is thinking, this was used to really good effect in the second episode when Sherlock and John got drunk; the bits of text on the screen included things like 'egg, oval, sitty thing' when he looked at a chair. It was brilliant.

I'm really looking forward to seeing where they will take the series next and I can't wait to get it on Blu-ray so we can watch it all over again!