[Sherlock] Lives: Season 3 January 2014

Mike Danger

Sherlock is the BBC's modernized version of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is made by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, who you might know from a bunch of other stuff.

Season 1 aired in summer 2010 and consisted of three 90-minute episodes:
A Study in Pink, loosely based on A Study in Scarlet
The Blind Banker, loosely based on The Adventure of the Dancing Men
The Great Game, loosely based on The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, The Five Orange Pips, and several others.

Season 2 aired in winter 2012 on BBC1 and also consisted of three 90-minute episodes.
A Scandal in Belgravia, loosely based on A Scandal in Bohemia
The Hounds of Baskerville, loosely based on The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Reichenbach Fall, loosely based on The Final Problem

Season 3's will air in January 2014 on BBC1 and PBS. The premiere will air January 1, 2014 in the UK, and January 19 in the US.

The Empty Hearse, loosely based on The Adventure of the Empty House
The Sign of Three, loosely based on The Sign of Four
His Last Vow, loosely based on The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

Lars Mikkelsen has been cast as Charles Augustus Magnussen, the show's version of Charles Augustus Milton from the story of the same name. The BBC has released this teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llGXWICGsD4

and this trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UcR9iKArd0#t=16

Dramatis Personae

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson (Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman)

Just like in the old stories, Dr. Watson, wounded in the war in Afghanistan, has come back to London, but needs a roommate. (The difference is that Watson was wounded in the War on Terror, not the Second Anglo-Afghan War.) He moves in with Sherlock Holmes, the brilliant but cold "consulting detective" to the London police. "Sherlock Holmes is a great man," says Lestrade at one point, "and I think one day - if we're very, very lucky - he might even be a good one."

Lately:

Trapped in an elaborate scheme by Moriarty to destroy his life and reputation, Sherlock (apparently) leapt to his death from the roof of St. Bart's Hospital as Watson looked on. Rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated.

Detective Inspector Lestrade (Rupert Graves)

Sherlock's man on the inside at Scotland Yard, Lestrade is constantly frustrated by his attitude towards the police, but when the chips are down, freely admits that he needs him.

Lately:

Lestrade was forced to arrest Sherlock as part of Moriarty's scheme, and his career is jeopardized with his superiors discovering how frequently he made use of Sherlock.

THE SUPPORTING CAST (spoilers beyond this point!)

Mycroft Holmes (Mark Gatiss)

Sherlock's (smarter?) brother, Mycroft has a colossal family feud with Sherlock. Exactly what he does for work is unclear, but he seems to be to espionage what Sherlock is to mysteries. Last seen in the season 2 finale getting taken to task by Watson.

Lately:

Mycroft arrested Moriarty and grilled him - giving away personal information about Sherlock in the process. This led to Moriarty's plan to destroy Sherlock, and Watson is pissed.

Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott)

Sherlock's opposite number, the "consulting criminal" behind the events of season 1. Basically, the same way that Holmes helps out the cops on cases that are out of their league, Moriarty helps out criminals with crimes that are out of their league.

Lately:

Killed himself to ensure Sherlock's destruction in season 2.

Irene Adler (Lara Pulver)

A shrewd professional dominatrix, Adler attempted to blackmail the royal family with compromising photographs of a young female family member.

Lately:

Having faked her own death once again (with an assist from Sherlock), Adler is presumably still out there somewhere.

Talk about how great this show is and how crazy the season 2 cliffhanger was and how excited you are to see it come back.

Bogart

The actress playing Adler looks suitably fruity.

KalTorak

FUCK YESSSSSS

"People have died."
"That's what PEOPLE DO."

DoctorArch

Sherlock has been one of my BBC gateway shows that I have everybody watch. I have yet to meet anybody that didn't love it.

APODionysus

Sherlock is one of the best adaptions of Holmes ever. Period.

Such a great show, I am so psyched for the second series. I just have ask... how long am I going to have to wait to get it in the states? I know masterpiece mysteries aired the last series for us a while after it aired across the pond (and even made it available for streaming which is how I watched it since I only have to most basic cable)

Given it's massive success, I'm wondering if they will make it available over here quicker.

darleysam

APODionysus wrote:

Sherlock is one of the best adaptions of Holmes ever. Period.

Such a great show, I am so psyched for the second series. I just have ask... how long am I going to have to wait to get it in the states? I know masterpiece mysteries aired the last series for us a while after it aired across the pond (and even made it available for streaming which is how I watched it since I only have to most basic cable)

Given it's massive success, I'm wondering if they will make it available over here quicker.

You may find an answer in here (thanks go to Willeth)
http://www.anglotopia.net/british-entertainment/brit-tv/sherlock-news-round-up-on-the-2nd-series-of-sherlock-airdate-interviews-pictures-and-more/

Mvrck

I am just constantly amazed that the same man that writes this, also wrote Jekyll and Doctor Who. Like, you shouldn't be that good at that many different genres.

APODionysus

Ok to summarize the pertinent info in darleysam's link for us US residents:

1) it'll air in the US on PBS in April or May.

2) if we don't want to wait there is apparently some streaming service called TheTelly.net that will let us watch it live with the UK audience. I haven't gone to the site yet, since I'm on my phone so I don't know if it's a pay service (or even a legit one), but with the five hour time difference that means I probably won't be able to watch it live anyway. I'm usually at work at 3pm and in a restaurant, I won't have New Years Day off. Probably.

autono-wally, erotibot300

Nice! Finally, was looking forward to this

wandering

DoctorArch wrote:

Sherlock has been one of my BBC gateway shows that I have everybody watch. I have yet to meet anybody that didn't love it.

I didn't love it. Or rather I loved the Moffat episode and didn't care for the other two. I hope the new season has more than a 33.3% success rate.

The Judge

So happy.

Taramoor

This show did manage to do very well the one thing that makes Sherlock Holmes enjoyable. You're able to follow his thought process.

The best example of this is the entire examination scene from Study in Pink. The clues pop up as Sherlock sees them, so you're in his head, but the entire explanation that he offers is not only brilliant and insightful and perfectly logical, but it's also (for the audience) easy to follow and comprehend.

Just excellent storytelling all around.

facetious

Wait hold up.

Mycroft was played by Gatiss?????

I never fucking realised. Holy shit.

BobCesca

Boo. I was gonna reserect my thread for the new eps.

So looking forward to this. Recently bought the DVD of the first season and rewatched them, and they're still awesome.

DasUberEdward

So excellent.

darleysam

APODionysus wrote:

Ok to summarize the pertinent info in darleysam's link for us US residents:

1) it'll air in the US on PBS in April or May.

2) if we don't want to wait there is apparently some streaming service called TheTelly.net that will let us watch it live with the UK audience. I haven't gone to the site yet, since I'm on my phone so I don't know if it's a pay service (or even a legit one), but with the five hour time difference that means I probably won't be able to watch it live anyway. I'm usually at work at 3pm and in a restaurant, I won't have New Years Day off. Probably.

Cheers, I would've written something like that myself, but was about to head out the door from work.

Richy

About time this show came back. It's so damn awesome.

BobCesca

Oh god. One day until the awesomeness!

Operative21

YES! I loved absolutely LOVED first season. I'm incredibly excited to see its return. Benedict Cumberbatch does a great Holmes interpretation in my opinion. Outside of Jeremy Brett, he's one of the few interpretations of Holmes that I really enjoy.

Absalon

Here's hoping all three episodes are as strong this time. The second one from last season felt quite out of place.

Thirith

I loved season 1 as well, but the second episode was a distinct drop in quality from the other two. Then again, the season finale was brilliantly written, fantastically paced, all round great entertainment.

iguanacus

APODionysus wrote:

Ok to summarize the pertinent info in darleysam's link for us US residents:

1) it'll air in the US on PBS in April or May.

2) if we don't want to wait there is apparently some streaming service called TheTelly.net that will let us watch it live with the UK audience. I haven't gone to the site yet, since I'm on my phone so I don't know if it's a pay service (or even a legit one), but with the five hour time difference that means I probably won't be able to watch it live anyway. I'm usually at work at 3pm and in a restaurant, I won't have New Years Day off. Probably.

TheTelly.net is in fact a pay streaming service, and one where you have to use their proprietary stb or a slingbox. And pretty outrageously priced at that.

area

Yep, that was a great episode. I particularly enjoyed what the unlock code for the phone turned out to be.

Bogart

That was enormous fun.

though the ending was very silly.

I guessed what her safe combination would refer to. Yay me.

japan

That was wonderful.

This is going to be classic BBC TV in a decade's time, I can tell.

Bogart

Lara Pulver was much, much better in this than she was in Spooks. I wouldn't have thought she could do sexy quite that well. Though admittedly her part in Spooks didn't do her many favours.

japan

I didn't even realise it was the same actress.

Her character in Spooks was a bit ... wet.

Daxon

Bogart wrote:

That was enormous fun.

though the ending was very silly.

I guessed what her safe combination would refer to. Yay me.

I think the ending was very fitting.

Bogart

japan wrote:

I didn't even realise it was the same actress.

Her character in Spooks was a bit ... wet.

I know, right? Bland and distinctly uninspiring. Shows what difference some decent lines and a character someone can get their teeth into makes.

Absalon

Baaaaah you lucky... Sods? Blighters?

Red or Alive

I'll second the ending being unfitting. The rest of the episode was terriffic, though; easily the equal of episodes 1 and 3 of the first series.

Bethryn

Sherlock crushing Molly was probably the highlight for me.

Julius

Bethryn wrote:

Sherlock crushing Molly was probably the highlight for me.

It was brilliant and sad.

Ego

Forgot how much I loved this show.

Particularly enjoyed

The 'fell out of a window' scene.

Even if that might mark me as being a little base .

surrealitycheck

It's nice that they've made Mycroft clever than Holmes - that's "proper" canon - but I am distressed by his activity level. In the books he sat around all day in a gentleman's club having a whale of a time. Although maybe British Intelligence is the modern equivalent...

Alfred J. Kwak

I absolutely love the actor playing Sherlock, he is mesmerizing

Absalon wrote:

Here's hoping all three episodes are as strong this time. The second one from last season felt quite out of place.

Indeed. Episode 2 got quite silly at times, I thought 1 and 3 were much more enjoyable

and the ricocheting bullet line was ridicules

Jacobkosh

Absalon wrote:

Here's hoping all three episodes are as strong this time. The second one from last season felt quite out of place.

Unfortunately, the screenwriter for that episode, Stephen Thompson, who also contributed the lackluster "Curse of the Black Spot" to Doctor Who this year, has written the Sherlock S2 finale.

I guess he's made a splash as a playwright but his TV work has been consistently subpar and it's kind of frustrating seeing him get chance after chance. Like the way Russell T Davies kept giving Chris Chibnall jobs, it really reeks of Moffat doing a favor for a mate who may not actually deserve it.

TeaSpoon

Alfred J. Kwak wrote:

I absolutely love the actor playing Sherlock, he is mesmerizing

Absalon wrote:

Here's hoping all three episodes are as strong this time. The second one from last season felt quite out of place.

Indeed. Episode 2 got quite silly at times, I thought 1 and 3 were much more enjoyable

and the ricocheting bullet line was ridicules

He has the most English name in the history of the world.

Jam Warrior

Could have lived without the last two minutes, but otherwise that was brilliant. I was worried it wouldn't live up to they hype after the large break but I was more than satisfied with that for an opener.

SniperGuy

Benedict Cumberbatch is indeed so british it makes me want tea.


That was a phenomenal episode. But hell all of these are. The ending actually shocked me quite a bit. The scene with the safe was also fantastic. Love these things.

Centipede Damascus

TeaSpoon wrote:

Alfred J. Kwak wrote:

I absolutely love the actor playing Sherlock, he is mesmerizing

Absalon wrote:

Here's hoping all three episodes are as strong this time. The second one from last season felt quite out of place.

Indeed. Episode 2 got quite silly at times, I thought 1 and 3 were much more enjoyable

and the ricocheting bullet line was ridicules

He has the most English name in the history of the world.

The Onion A.V. Club says that his name is so British, he counts as two British people.