The Empty Hearse

2 years. 2 years. But by god it was worth it, with everything from moustaches to Mycroft fitting together like cogs in the most perfect piece of machinery. this is the type of television that makes the world stop for 85 minutes for one evening and let yourself be taken away by the stunning acting of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. the best part has to be the flawless cinematography, every millisecond was so perfectly from the iconic "words around the head" to the posters in some window that flashes for a second. My one regret about the episode, is I watched it so now when i see it again i know what is going happen. please watch this, it will be the best thing you do the week and will hook you to the screen for 85 minutes of perfection.

I waited keenly to see the conclusion of the Reichenbach fall, and we get the Empty Hearse.

I enjoyed it as it continues to be bursting with exuberance, it's fun and wacky, but it is not the best, the plot is a bit on the thin side, and it just feels overly self satisfied. I could imagine Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat laughing maniacally and patting each other on the back during its creation.

It feels a little like we have a 15 minuted story with 75 minutes explaining Sherlock's bizarre survival, the on/off switch has been slammed many times, I need not add to that, it just seems a wee bit lazy.

There are great points though, some of the imaginings of Sherlocks death are fun, his actual parents are brilliant, the bonfire scene was superbly done, and Louise Brealey continues to shine brightly as Molly.

It delivers largely, but the bar has been set so high more was expected, 7/10

I only gave "The Empty Hearse" 6 stars for the effort and out of respect for the actors, who did the best they could with a very poor script. The episode seemed like endless nodding to Sherlock's fans. The writers spent so much time nodding that they forgot to actually look at the characters and notice what they were doing. And they were not doing much. Sharp concise dialogue of Sherlock Series 1 becomes in "The Empty Hearse" either syrupy squirts of sentimentality or a parody of itself. Since the camera-work was gone out of the series by Season 2, there is no need to mention it here. However, the creators thought it wise to eliminate the iconic music from Sherlock this time as well. In short, whereas in Season 1 and partially 2 Gatiss and Moffat treated the characters as real, complex, multi-faceted people, here they decided to turn them into caricatures of themselves.

My favorite episode so far. It's badly bashed online because it really has its flaws. The main argument is that this episode is more of a parody to Sherlock than it is new Sherlock story. The fact is that this episode does not bring new complicated crime and Sherlock's genius solution, and to a certain extent I can understand the disappointment of those who waited two years for this episode. But I, who waited for it just a few minutes, really cannot recall last time I had so much fun. It may be bad from the crime/mystery genre point of view, but it's not written in the stone that every episode must follow that pattern. It's premium entertainment and I am thrilled.

9/10

However, I have one objection. It is not a big deal and most of the audience won't even notice it, because it is obvious only to former Yugoslavian audience and Russians, but it needlessly undermines the quality of this awesome show. I will quote Bosnian guy who presented this issue par excellence:

"Besides Serbs always being the bad guys, torturing someone when they have nothing else to do, how come they wear Russian parade uniforms and talk their Serbian like a parrot with Aerosinusitis, which is hardly intelligible. I know that Mycroft had few hours to learn Serbian, but the other Serbian guy speaks his mother tongue like a text-to-speech software. It seems that using google translate instead of human keeps production costs low... just as the quality of it."

DISCLAIMER- Yes, you are reading this article as a movie review. It is so because I believe these episodes are more like a series of TV films; 90 minutes long TV films, and not a TV-Series! That being said, now you continue with the review. So it has been a little under two years since we last saw Sherlock Holmes fake his death. But the painful 717 days wait finally came to an end with the splendid "The Empty Hearse". Both Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have found fame in Hollywood with movies like Star Trek Into Darkness and The Hobbit. But it is indeed a huge relief that the series has returned; even though if it's only for another three episodes. With no more Moriarty in the picture, the opening instalment of Sherlock teased a new foe for the Baker Street detective and explained just how and why the lead character vanished from London for two years… well almost! "The Empty Hearse" then tells us the reason of detective's return which involves an underground terrorist cell planning an attack on London. It also shows the two year old John Watson preparing for his marital life whilst trying to move on with the grief of his best friend's death.

Like the rest of the Sherlock episodes, this Season 3 opener is brilliantly shot, astoundingly edited and stunningly directed by Jeremy Lovering and team. Though "The Empty Hearse" is a little more about the Watson-Holmes reunion; throughout the episode, there are plenty of intriguing moments that we've come to love about this series, both with certain visual and stylistic cues. Although it still feels surprisingly new and viewer friendly.

PS: There are some interesting new wrinkles added to the Sherlock Holmes myths – his parents – as well as some genuinely very funny moments for fans (Molly's fiancée). But to conclude it all, "The Empty Hearse" is indeed the best Sherlock episode till date. I would undoubtedly rate the entire series a flawless 10, but for once I just wish if there was something beyond 10 reserved for this masterpiece.

"The holiday is over… Back to Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes…"