I have never before attempted an "interactive" review on IMDb so please bear with me. Take a piece of plain paper and a pen. Draw a vertical line down the middle so you have two columns. Label the column on the left "Flawless Narrative." Label the column on the right "Diddling with the Audience." Before we proceed, let's clarify the labels. The column on the left refers to, as the name suggests, writing that is absolutely brilliant yet at all times behaves within the Rules of Narrative. We do not have time here to go through the Rules of Narrative so, in the interest of saving space, let me gently suggest that anything, any scene, any dialogue, any plot twist, which clearly belongs in the right-most column (the "Diddling" column) is, prima facie, a violation of the aforesaid Rules. Also, for clarity, I will refer you to films like The Matrix or Citizen Kane for examples of the correct use of the Rules of Narrative, with attendant results. (The most obvious result is that the audience usually goes into a happy trance-like state that maintains itself until the credits role. Matrix is one of my all-time favourite narratives because, quite frankly, I have never been able to locate a specific point in the film where I did not truly and sincerely want to know what happened next...?) OK, you have your page all set up? Now we go through each scene in HIS LAST VOW and try to determine whether it belongs more correctly in the left or right-most column...? Again, in the interest of time, I will skip ahead to my Conclusions (and since this is an "interactive" review, it is acknowledged that you may have indeed reached conclusions which are, of course, no less valid than mine) CONCLUSIONS: 1. While the characters remain the same, this iteration of Sherlock, long-awaited, has very little in common with the narrative style that defined the first two seasons. Those first seasons mainly followed the Rules. This season does not. 2. Season Three, which of course concludes with this episode, makes more sense as a 'contiguous whole' than it does as a series of individual mysteries. This is generally good for the viewer (who, like Sherlock himself, becomes an unsuspecting addict in the process) but Conan Doyle is probably turning in his grave; and, that reminds me, someone should probably go check on him and set that right. 3. If you break down each scene and label each, as directed, you will find an almost equal number in each column. You will also have noticed that Sherlock Holmes, notwithstanding his name, does very little "deducting" in this episode; and indeed makes a number of mistakes, at least one of which gets him shot. That won't look good on the resume. 4. The supporting cast is brilliant beyond imagination but, on closer inspection, this brilliance is often used to "mask" the issues which you have just now identified. 5. If you are still with me -- I never said that an interactive review would be fun, or easy -- you have now likely come to the conclusion that, while this episode, and indeed the whole third season, is tremendously entertaining for fans, almost hypnotic, almost (THERE's THAT "A" WORD AGAIN!) addictively so, it is really not written as a typical Holmes mystery...? And, in case you missed the point of this review, there is an awful lot of literary diddling going on here. So, while we simply invoke the cliché "All's well that ends well," if this type of writing is about to become the template for the future of episodic TV, I worry for the future of British drama. And, based on viewer response, I could possibly be the only one with this concern.
Review of His Last Vow
