‘HIS LAST VOW’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s Watson meet Mikkelsen
‘His Last Vow’ is the third and final episode of Series 3 of ‘Sherlock’. Whilst this episode is a little better than ‘The Sign of Three’, I can’t say I’m in awe of it like other people seem to be in awe of it. 😦
This is ironic considering Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actors and Steven Moffat won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing.
I don’t understand why people praise the ‘Sherlock’ series highly. I can see plotholes in terms of the development of story and characters, and this is especially the case in checking out ‘His Last Vow’. 😦
Ironically, I did see the last act of this ‘Sherlock’ episode when I was on a weekend away at Stratford-upon-Avon in January 2014. I had no clue what was going on whilst I watched that certain segment. 😦
Even in watching the entire episode on Blu-ray, I’m not sure I fully understand what goes on in the episode. Do these ‘Sherlock’ episodes need to be seen more than once? I find them underwhelming.
In ‘His Last Vow’, Sherlock and Watson take on a case involving stolen letters. They come into conflict with Lars Mikkelsen as Charles Augustus Magnussen, a media mogul specialising in blackmail.
Apparently, this episode by Steven Moffat is based on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle short story ‘The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton’. Clearly, Milverton isn’t a suitable name for modern times. 😐
Whilst that’s a minor nitpick, I’m not sure I fully understand what Magnussen’s motives are as a villain. Much in the same way that I don’t fully understand what Moriarty’s motives are as a villain here! 😐
And look, don’t get me wrong. Lars Mikkelsen’s performance as Magnussen is very good. He plays the villainous role with a degree of calm and calculating menace. This, I guess, is in the episode’s appeal.
But the business of him having a vault inside his head and not actually having a vault containing letters to blackmail people is mindboggling. Apparently, Magnussen has his own mind palace there. 😐
Look, I can accept a mind vault in Magnussen’s head in a sci-fi drama. That I can get behind. But this is a crime drama! And surely not everyone can become like Sherlock who has his own mind palace. 😐
Magnussen also likes to take a pee when he’s at Sherlock’s apartment, doing it in the fireplace. Is this where the series finally pees itself? Also, is Magnussen a robot, since he doesn’t need glasses?
By the way, it’s made evident that Steven Moffat is a fan of the ‘Doctor Who’ stories ‘Kinda’ and ‘Snakedance’. This is shown in the mind-boggling sequences where we see inside Sherlock’s mind. 😐
Sherlock interacts with people like Louise Brealey as Molly; Jonathan Aris as Anderson; and Mark Gatiss as Mycroft when he’s trying to figure out how to cheat death when he’s been shot by Mary. 😦
Yeah, it turns out Amanda Abbington as Mary, Watson’s wife, was an assassin this whole time. Watson learns the truth about Mary from Sherlock and about the fact that she shot Sherlock in this.
Thankfully, Watson forgives Mary when they’re at Sherlock’s parents’ place for Christmas. 🙂 Interesting that he didn’t look up that data stick containing Mary’s past. I wonder if he did though. 😐
The episode also features Una Stubbs as Mrs. Hudson and Rupert Graves as D.I. Lestrade. There’s Lindsay Duncan, who I’ve seen in ‘Doctor Who’s ‘The Waters of Mars’, as Lady Elizabeth Smallwood.
There’s also Yasmine Akram as Janine, who is Sherlock’s short-lived girlfriend in the episode, and there’s Tom Brooke as Bill Wiggins, a drug dealer who assists Sherlock throughout the episode here.
Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton are also back to play Sherlock’s parents in the episode. It was pretty fascinating to see Sherlock’s parents interacting with Sherlock and Mycroft on Christmas Day.
There’s also Louis Moffat, who happens to be Steven Moffat’s real-life son, as a young Sherlock in certain scenes where Mycroft’s looking at his brother. It’s nice Steven Moffat’s son appeared in this.
The episode’s ending was rather baffling for me. As well as the face-flickering by Magnussen on Watson, Sherlock ends up shooting Magnussen rather than arresting him. Sherlock ends up arrested.
It also turns out Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty is still alive, and Sherlock is called in to help out again, ending Series 3 on a cliffhanger. I wonder if anybody did miss Moriarty when he said, “Did you miss me?”
People are bound to be looking at their TV screens going “Who are you?” 😀 Overall, ‘His Last Vow’ was very baffling to watch. I’m not in awe of the episode. A lot of things don’t add up for me in this.
On Disc 6 of the complete ‘Sherlock’ DVD/Blu-ray box set, there’s ‘Fans, Villains & Speculation’, which looks into the legacy of Sherlock Holmes as well as the making of Series 3. And there’s ‘Shooting Sherlock’, which looks into the filming of Sherlock’s near-death shooting in ‘His Last Vow’.
‘His Last Vow’ rating – 5/10
| The previous story was | The next story is |
| Return to Sherlock Holmes | |
| Return to Drama |
Bradley's Basement 