But the problem with Eurus and her plan is the same problem Sherlock has never quite figured out a solution to: in doing without the gradual accumulation of story and character development needed to deliver a payoff as revisionary as the one seen here, there is very little chance the revelation will have the intended emotional impact. As such, Eurus' plan to put her brothers through a similar series of experiments is meant to evince a level of betrayal felt by this brand new and previously unmentioned antagonist. There is an emotional core to what's going on, and to what Eurus wants from the family that never quite understood her and (as far as Mycroft is concerned) locked her away to be studied like a lab rat. Why spend the time laying the groundwork of a previously unfeeling, emotionally repressed, " high-functioning sociopath" fumbling his way to a real human connection when another posthumous video from Mary Watson (super ninja-assassin Mary Watson, that is) can just spell it all out for the characters and the viewers? To compensate, the series often simply insists an emotional through-line is present and leaves it at that. The flipside of this is that, while Sherlock's seasons avoid filler, they also avoid the necessary build-up things like suspense and satisfying emotional connections require. Beyond allowing the show to pop up as infrequently as its increasingly busy stars' schedules will allow, the strength of Sherlock's format is that it avoids the pitfalls of conventional television – even shorter 10-episode seasons common to cable – in that there is absolutely no room for filler. Sherlock is defined by the freedoms and restrictions afforded it by the unique format of three feature-length episodes per season. And yet, the result of leaving Professor James Moriarty in the ground turned out to be the discovery of a third Holmes sibling, a plot twist with such potentially immense emotional ramifications that it inadvertently highlights the show's limitations, and its reliance on grand spectacle in lieu of character moments and narratives that gradually build toward a satisfying climax, rather than exist as a series of small climaxes for 90 minutes at a time. Bringing Moriarty back from the dead (as it did Sherlock – though not literally) would be a step too far, even for this show. The specter of Moriarty has lingered since he took his own life, and in terms of addressing his continued presence (and possibly his ability to still draw breath), the show was damned if it did and damned if it didn't. It features a terrific performance from Andrew Scott as Moriarty, one that underlines just how important he is to the show, and how, despite having the audacity to kill Sherlock's nemesis and keep him dead, Sherlock never quite recovered from that loss. As Mycroft eventually tells his brother, "The man you are today is your memory of Eurus," which is intended to suggest that the ordeal of having spent a part of his childhood with an "era-defining genius" (who is also a psychopath), resulted in his inability to form emotional connections and, more importantly, forged his deep interest in (or obsession with) solving the most convoluted of crimes.īut 'The Final Problem' is more than just a showcase of Holmes family dysfunction. But as the finale tries its level best to convince those watching, Eurus is far more than just a melodramatic shift intended to knock Sherlock off its narrative moorings for the better part of an episode. ![]() Last week, at the end of ' The Lying Detective', it was discovered that Sherlock had a long-lost little sister, Eurus (Siân Brooke), who he had forgotten (or blocked out) as a way to deal with childhood trauma. If this is the end of Sherlock, then co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have gone to great lengths to produce one of the most outlandish episodes the series has ever seen, as the swan song to what has been, in its heart of hearts, a bizarre show obsessed with the power of showy deduction and reason, but was never too interested the latter.
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