The Final Problem

I am sad to say season 4 turns out to be my least favourite season of Sherlock. All of these trippy dream scenes and psychological drama are not what made the first three seasons such an enjoyable show for me, and this episode definitely has too much of that. Also, there are some plot holes and implausible scenarios. The scene with the glass is very questionable from a physics viewpoint, and as for the plane, without going into too much spoiling detail I can say that I saw this coming (whether that is necessarily a bad thing is something I leave up to you). I'm not saying it's not a gripping story, but perhaps it would have been better as a standalone film. It's not what I hoped to see on Sherlock. It feels a bit like the writers were overcomplicating things and going in the wrong direction thematically in an effort to create their masterpiece finale.

Some critics have been complaining about season 4 of Sherlock, but in spite of all the flaws, from with the utterly ridiculous denouement of episode 0 on, the series' high style and wit had me feeling that yes, the show is a mess, and yes, it's ridiculously over-the-top, and yes, it's painted itself into a corner, but man is it ever fun.

I was still feeling that way by the halfway point of The Final Problem. Sure, there were issues, but what a blast.

Somewhere around the middle, I started just getting annoyed at how stupid it all was.

The episode is a classic example of how the series keeps painting itself into corners. This begins with the antagonist, who is the super-est, most unstoppable antagonist ever.

This is because the series felt an obligation to out-do Moriarty, who was previously the super-est, most unstoppable antagonist ever. This shows a fundamental difference between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Steven Moffat. Doyle used Moriarty as a way to tell stories for a while, then got sick of the supervillain thing and killed him off. Moffat decided killing him off just meant he needed something more spectacular as a replacement. It reminded me of the way in Xena Warrior Princess Calisto had to keep becoming more and more powerful because once Xena beat her, she had to up her game. And finally, they had to kill her off because there was just nowhere for the character to go.

Moffat doesn't seem to accept that there is a limit to how big and crazy something can be. Instead, season 4 displayed a palpable desperation to be the very biggest, craziest, wildest Sherlock season ever. This means that the stories had to be insanely complex, and the solutions even more so.

The first half of this episode created such a build up that the second half floundered trying to match it, resulting in a crazy series of deadly puzzles that relied on a weirdly misguided trust that the game was being played fair. When the case was solved it was maudlin nonsense. The show followed up on that with this bizarre little speech by a dead character about how swell Sherlock and Watson were. It wasn't remotely in keeping with the rest of the episode and was so out of place that I thought it must signal that this was the final season and they wanted a kind of happy-goodbye sequence. But apparently, a fifth season is probably going to happen anyway.

This final episode shows how much fun can be had from Sherlock, but also feels like it's not just jumped the shark but has jumped on the shark for a soft-shoe routine. Overall, this season has been fun, but it hasn't necessarily been good.

Utter garbage of a finale. It is as writer never hear of what Sherlock Holmes is about and just invented his own new character. I have not been this mad at the TV in a long time. Honestly just delete this episode it from Netflix. You should feel horrible for making such garbage TV.

So the FINAL PROBLEM is here and hands down Moffat and Gattis have a commendable job to create the most tension filled and powerfully emotional episode of Sherlock till date. First of all those who are saying that Sherlock has lost its touch just don't listen to them because this episode is just mind blowing. You will find yourself discovering a new emotional side to Sherlock's character, the most powerful moment of the series featuring Molly Hooper, a highly entertaining and applaud-ably brilliant cameo, Cumberbatch's best performance as Sherlock till date and the dark secrets of the Holmes family disclosed.

Sian Brooke has just become the most menacing Sherlock villain of all time and Mycroft getting better screen presence are the high points or THE FINAL PROBLEM.

But despite all these exhilarating moments ,the climax is a bit let down but never the less we saw a humane side to Sherlock and a new angle to Mycroft's character. It may not reach perfection but has provided us with a more than satisfying possible ending to the world's most famous detective.

After being thrilled by the first three seasons of Sherlock it was with dismay that I watched the 4th season slide ever deeper into a convoluted mess. I am actually quite surprised the actors actually agreed to make this crap. The story in "The Final Problem" is so bizarre I think Moffat must have been on the same drugs Holmes used in the previous episode. Totally unbelievable throughout, it tries to be way too clever for its own good and ends up being stupid, and worse it makes Sherlock look stupid.

If this is the way it is to be from now on I would say please don't bother with another season, not unless you get a new writer. I give it 5 only for the fine acting which was the only thing that made this bearable to the end.