(TV SERIES) Sherlock - Season 2 and 3

After watching the first season of Sherlock (which I happened to reviewed earlier before), I could not stand not to watch the second season after that. So once I got the chance, I immediately start watching season 2 and continued to season 3 in less than a week time.

Brief Story Line (spoiler warning, particularly with reference to season 1)

Season 2:

If you already watched season 1, you would know that by the season finale, Sherlock and Watson were threatened Moriarty's men and Sherlock threatened back by aiming his gun towards the bomb near Moriarty's location. The 1st episode of season 2 continued where it left off. Moriarty got a phone call and decided he would not kill Sherlock and Watson after all, leaving both of them relieved. Later, Mycroft requested Sherlock to acquire "indecent" photos of certain high powered political person in England from a dominatrix lady named Irene Adler. She was portrayed as a very smart woman and seemed able to match Sherlock's brilliance through her wit. I felt this episode was funny and enjoyable to watch, with Sherlock seemed to be a little bit attracted by Irene, even Watson and Mycroft can also sensed about this. The ending provide some shocking scenes as well.

Second episode titled "The Hound of Baskerville" was inspired by the same novel published in 1902. However, they made it into the modern world. Story was about Henry Knight who brought Sherlock the mystery about a giant hound that murdered his father when he was a young boy in a small town near Dartmoor where a military base called Baskerville was located. This story was different from other Sherlock's stories as it had a few element of thriller and suspense. The brilliance of Sherlock was not shown too much but it also showed that Sherlock was a human being after all as for the first time ever, he doubted his own mind. 

The season finale again pitted Sherlock with Moriarty. In this episode, Moriarty once again showed his brilliance by getting himself captured by police only to show Sherlock that he was capable of found not guilty during trial. This is where it gets interesting as Moriarty was able to put doubts in the eyes of police and press about Sherlock's ability. The doubts were so high that Sherlock had no choice but to run away from police hands when he was suspected of coordinating all crimes for him to solve in order to bring fame to himself. The episode ended with very very huge surprise and upset for the audience. Once again, I felt the thrill and excitement watching this episode and could not wait to watch the 3rd season.

Season 3 (spoiler warning)

The 1st episode of this season happened around 2 years after the supposed "suicide" of Sherlock Holmes, where he was finally asked by Mycroft to return to England to solve a possible terrorist attack. Watson who never knew about the fake suicide had finally returned to 221B Baker Street to meet with Mrs. Hudson and informed her that he was going to get married. Sherlock wanted to surprise Watson during the time when Watson wanted to propose to his girlfriend Mary which of course became hilarious as Watson understandably very very upset and angry for being kept in the dark more than 2 years. However, after Mary convinced Watson, he was of course coming back to help Sherlock on this case. I enjoyed this episode particularly seeing Watson's expressions when he found out Sherlock still alive. The case itself felt a little bit like background in this episode.

The 2nd episode was about Watson getting married to Mary. Before the wedding party, Sherlock and Watson went to help a British soldier who felt like being stalked and finally found dead when he was taking a shower in a locked bathroom. This was told through a flashback by Sherlock during his wedding speech as a best man for the wedding. Sherlock was unable to solve that case apparently. Later on, he also told another case involving some women who felt they were dating a ghost of a deceased man. This case was not able to be solved by Sherlock as well. When Sherlock finally wanted to put up the toast, he realized that there was going to be a murder during the wedding. So the wedding ceremony became like a "performance" by Sherlock. I enjoyed this episode a lot and I felt that this was a very touching episode. It truly showed the affection of Sherlock to his only friend while Watson also really loved Sherlock as his very best friend.

Finally the season finale. This episode introduced us to a new villain who was very obnoxious and snobby named Magnussen, a newspaper mogul who was able to know every dirty little secret of all powerful people in England and possibly the world. Sherlock who was asked by 1 of the person blackmailed, wanted to retrieve the letter consisting incriminating information which supposedly locked in the room of Magnussen's office. This episode also showed Sherlock having a relationship with Janine, Mary's bridesmaid from episode 2. When Sherlock and Watson was trying to locate the letter, there was a shocking moment when Magnussen was under threat and later Sherlock got shot by that person. Ultimately there were lots of twists and brilliance of Sherlock and of course Magnussen as the main villain. I also enjoyed this episode a lot and was amazed that I could still feel surprised on the story lines and the ending.

End of Brief Story Line

After watching 3 seasons of this TV Series, I felt that the 2nd and the 3rd season was exciting, a little bit darker, but also had some touching moments compared to the 1st season. However, even though they were still very very good seasons, I still feel that the 1st season was the best of them all.

Of course, if you are a fan of films where the detective is as smart as Sherlock Holmes, this TV Series still is a very recommended one to watch. My suggestion is to watch 1 episode a day or maximum 2, so that the episodes can be better absorbed by our mind, coz I personally felt a little bit overwhelmed when trying to watch 3 episodes in 1 night.

Btw, till now the 4th season has not aired yet. So at the moment, the season finale of 3rd season was the last episode that we could watch of this series. I hope they won't suddenly cancel it as it would leave a huge cliffhanger.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars