Even though I don't really own a TV and what I do watch, when I do watch, usually consists of really large men wearing helmets and pads trying to get an oval ball down the field while other really large men try to smash them into the terra, I still made it a point this year to watch Sherlock.
Sherlock has consistently been a smart show for smart people written by clever folk. It excels at twisting and turning while building their audience’s calf muscles by keeping them on their toes. In the past, each moment of each episode added up to a larger piece of a bigger puzzle, nothing wasted, not even the bits you missed the first time. 2014’s season continued this trend, consisting of three episodes, one of which was called “The Sign of Three” (nothing wasted, after all). Here character relationships, always an important part of the series, began to take a larger chunk of the writer’s time and luckily, for the most part, the cast of actors was up to it.
Cumberbatch and Freeman were able to expertly bro it up, or bloke it up, or just plain chappy about. Freeman was unleashed and was finally able to show his range as an actor, while Cumberbatch displayed his chops and smoldered as a man who has distanced himself from his own emotions, emoting. While this year’s episodes ran thick with character building and was splatter painted with plot points that, at times, teetered on the melodramatic, there were still plenty of the requisite tight little locked boxes in search of crackerjack keys that fans of the show have come to expect.
While still remaining one of the best shows on television, this season the series began to show some of the crinkles inherent in its own success, seemingly playing to the desires of its fanbase more so than staying true to itself. Considering how damn good it is, though, even a little bend in its knees still makes it stand head and shoulders above most others.
This Review Originally Ran on Psycho-Drive In as part of their TOP TEN FAVORITE DRAMAS OF 2014
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