It's only January yet it seems we've already seen British television at its best...
It's been three all too quick weeks but Sherlock came to its dramatic conclusion last night, with a breathtaking cliff-hanger. There was no fancy technology used, no dramatic explosions, no long goodbyes, and thankfully there was not any of the very much overused "let's make this look dramatic by using slow-motion" in the series finale The Reichenbach Fall. There was just a moving and sad goodbye from Watson who simply pleaded for Sherlock not to be dead.
Sherlock is quite simply British Television at its best, superb acting, fantastic writing and brilliant filming. Who'd have thought that by time-travelling Sherlock into the 21st century, it's not only brought a breath of fresh air to British Television, but also displayed why even today, Conan Doyle's novels are so supremely brilliant.
The Reichenbach Fall is based on the story of the Final Problem and the untimely demise and death of Sherlock by his arch-nemesis Moriarty. In the books Moriarty was only there for a couple of fleeting moments simply to bring Sherlock's downfall, yet he became the known as the greatest arch-enemy of all time. And in this 21st century adaptation, Andrew Scott gave Moriarty his brief outing as the lead in the series 1 and 2 finale. A performance that will no doubt become iconic and know as one of the great if not the greatest portrayal of Moriarty.
Andrew Scott's portrayal has been mesmerising throughout his time on screen, a rather sane psycho path who seemed to genuinely like and enjoy Sherlock's company because he was a challenge and far from ordinary. When James Moriarty also known as Jim to friends and arch-nemesis alike, erased his entire history and created a whole new identity in the form of Richard Brooke. It was hard not to question Sherlock and his methods in particular when we saw Richard Brooke appear to run away in fear of Sherlock. Throughout his time on the show Andrew Scott's performance was a sheer joy to watch and dare I say that I'm actually rather sad Moriarty has already come to a rather quick demise, or so it would appear...
Once again both Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman proved that it's not all down to the writing, it has to be a combination of everything. Cumberbatch and Freeman's performances as a duo is one that will stand the test of time. There both Ying and Yang to each other. It's genuinely heart-warming to watch a truly beautiful and understated friendship come to life on screen. And this is what seems to not only make the characters work but actually makes it all the more real for the viewer, as in real life we rarely say how we truly feel about someone until it really is too late.
What was pure genius about the cliff-hanger ending is unlike Coyle Doyle's demise of Holmes, where there was no actual body found. Here Moffat and Gattias have left the audience on the biggest cliff-hanger of how on earth did he manage to cheat death when falling off a building and have a body appear readily at his disposal...
With two raising Hollywood stars and wanting to leave the audience hungry for more. I found myself at 22:28 on tenterhooks wondering whether Moffat and Gatiss had pulled off the biggest and best kept secret that recent television has seen... that this really was modern day Sherlock's final outing. Thankfully it's good to be wrong now and then. As it's been announced that a third series had actually been commissioned at the same time as the second. Now we've just got to wait until 2013 to find out just how exactly Sherlock managed to pull off cheating death itself and I for one cannot wait. Let the conspiracy theories begin....
If you've been a hermit recently or simply hidden under a rock for the past three weeks, have no fear all three episodes are still currently available on BBC iplayer. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01b2vl4/Sherlock_Series_2_The_Reichenbach_Fall/
Sherlock is released on DVD on 23rd January and is currently available to pre-order on both Amazon.co.uk and Play.com.
