THE LEGEND HAS LANDED... "SHERLOCK – THE ABOMNIBAL BRIDE"

Well, it’s finally here. And oh boy, where we waiting for it. It has been a whole three years since the last “proper” season of Sherlock after all so like all the fans I pounced on the show the day it emerged blinking onto the TV screen. Oh it was fun. It was exciting and challenging and all the good things we like about the Sherlock shows… So was I content then, did I give it a full thumbs up? Um well… Not quite…

So let’s start at the beginning. The Abominable Bride  seems to be set, for all intents and purposes, in an alternative universe to our modern friend. A sort “how would it go if they were actually Victorian” type deal. And it is a story tinged with a bit of horror no less – supposedly the story of a bride who comes back from the dead to kill, first her own husband but then men who mistreat their wives pretty much everywhere. Naturally, even in Victorian times Holmes is not about to fall for the whole “ghost bride” deal, even if Watson himself is on the verge (but ehem, not quite)of believing the supernatural. But the whole supernatural aspect notwithstanding, there is a lot more to this case than first meets the eye… It may even – God help us – even tax our favourite television detective a tiny bit…

As you all know, I am as bigger fan as the next person of complicated storylines. I have often thrown my toys out of the pram when the story is too simple. But there can be a little too much of a good thing. Especially complications. Now, the storyline set in Victorian times itself, I have no trouble with. Nor do I have issues with the implied supernatural element.  After all  I am a bit of a horror fan (or have become so over the years – psychologists, weigh in lol) and I need to say this episode of Holmes has some quite strong chill credentials. By no means prohibitive for sensitive souls but notable. In a good way.      That’s what we like about the Sherlock series – completely logical and real, yet tooth-grindingly fiendish and very hard to solve without being Holmes (or, you know, a member of the cast with an actual script to hand). Besides if you are watching a whodunit, there needs to be a degree of challenge in answering the question otherwise there really is no point – take it from someone who spends an embarrassingly large chunk of her life on whodunits.

Ok, herein begin to lie spoilers so take head. Moving on, I could even buy the whole “first level” of tying in with the modern Sherlock. You know, it was all a mental exercise all along. And the whole episode ends with some very interesting crumbs dropped about the coming season so you know, good job on whetting our whistles. The bit where it does not work for me is when Holmes basically suddenly becomes able to travel into his “mind palace” at will, have long and entertaining chats with himself. In fact, his subconscious mind is so complicated and so developed that it can set him puzzles his conscious mind has trouble solving. Though of course logic sort of dictates that he SHOULD be able to solve it by definition – it is after all a puzzle he himself created. It’s a very interesting case of split personality if he couldn’t. It sort of mirrors the film Inception. And at a push it could have been argued away by saying “Oh well, you always knew his mind was different”. And I will concede to the fact that it basically is a prolongation of lucid dreaming. But I don’t know… I almost feel as if they have tried to show us how the goose that lays the golden eggs works. But in (proverbially) cutting Holmes open, they have slightly undone themselves…

I think part of the appeal of Sherlock has always been that it ultimately makes sense. You know it may well be nigh on impossible to actually happen but it sort of could. It’s not “magic”. Nor is it “mumbo jumbo computery stuff that sounds clever but actually means nothing”. It was always ever, quite simply, an almost completely (but not quite) unbelievable mind. And I am not saying that you should leave everything to faith to be oh so mysterious – especially not in our modern times. My argument is that IF you are going to try to explain any key concept of a series to death, you need to have a solid game plan going for you. Especially when talking about concepts like logic and the mind – because if you don’t get those arguments to make sense, there is a danger that you, ironically enough, seem to be unable to make sense of what is basically heightened common sense. There was absolutely no need for complicated party tricks methinks. We could just as well have left it to be inexplicable. In its current state, it have worked better.

Hopefully this was just a party trick for Christmas and we won’t have prolonged stays in Holmes’ mind palace in the upcoming season. I have a feeling we will be back to business as usual when the time comes though. After all, this is sort of what the first of January is all about no… A sort of netherworld between the new year and the old one when you sort of loll around on the couch, try and get your act together and mentally prepare for the year to come. I’m sure they will do better on the “real thing”.