[SPOILERS] Beyond a few quibbles, Mark Gatiss's "The Great Game" was a breathlessly assured finale to this three-part drama. It's just a pity Sherlock wasn't twice as long, if only to increase Moriarty's mystique before he made his on-screen debut as Sherlock's (Benedict Cumberbatch) archenemy, as his arrival felt slightly premature. Is there a risk this series has blown its load early? Isn't this akin to reintroducing the Daleks three episodes into Doctor Who's revival? Whatever your opinion, "The Great Game" was an early dessert of knotty narrative, delicious characterisation, spry action, and juicy thrills...
"The Great Game" was essentially Sherlock-meets-Die Hard With A Vengeance, with the despondent sleuth spurred into action by Lestrade (Rupert Graves) to foil a mad bomber who's fascinated by Sherlock's deductive reasoning and observational talent. Expectedly revealed to be his "number one fan" Moriarty, the bomber's plan involves kidnapping innocent people, outfitting them with explosives, and having them read out clues via phone to a particular mystery Sherlock must solve before an allotted period of time has passed... or else consign the kidnapped clue-readers to a fiery oblivion.A handful of baffling conundrums were posed; involving a pair of old trainers with a connection to Sherlock's childhood, a daytime TV presenter killed by tetanus, a victim of infamous Prague hitman "The Golem", a counterfeit painting valued at £30 million, and the staged death of a car salesman -- together with an additional case brought to Sherlock's attention by his brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss), about stolen MoD missile defense plans and a body found laying by the side of a railway track.
The episode was stuffed with incidents and the show's trademark deductions, making this episode feel like we essentially got half-a-dozen mini-adventures in one feature-length shebang. The addition of a ticking clock element elicited extra tension, as Sherlock raced around London trying to solve his opponent's mental obstacle course, although perhaps more could have been done to emphasize the against-the-clock element. Occasionally superimposing numbers to show the remaining hours left to crack each mystery worked fine, but I couldn't help feeling a constant ticking clock would have kept the anxiety simmering better.This episode did a particularly fine job of drawing Sherlock as a self-confessed sociopath; more a violin-playing insect than a human being, at times. A man who overcomes boredom by taking potshots at his livingroom's wall with a gun, admits his ignorance of things beyond his immediate concerns (the Earth revolving around the Sun was news to him!), is often so engrossed in work that he has poor John (Martin Freeman) fish his phone from his own coat pocket, keeps a decapitated head in his fridge, and in one bravely contemptible scene manipulated a grieving woman by pretending to be an inconsolable friend (stirring tears in himself just to wheedle information from her). In less skilled hands Sherlock would already be TV's biggest bastard, but the joy of this series has been seeing such despicable traits in a person work in an oddly sympathetic way. Sherlock's a genius whose work feeds his ego, but he's clearly suffering from a type of autism, too.
It was great to see John Watson grow in this episode; encouraged to try and deduce things by Sherlock -- who couldn't help criticizing his friend's relatively feeble effort with a trainer. What works is the sense that John's having a positive effect on Sherlock, however marginally right now. We haven't had enough episodes to see the evolution clearly, but undoubtedly the intention is that two halves make a crime-fighting whole.Naturally, there were some downsides to this jam-packed finale. The storyline didn't really need 90-minutes to tell its tale; so, consequently, a feeling of exhaustion seeped into the episode halfway through. There were simply so many crises for Sherlock to solve that they became a little overwhelming. If Moriarty had only concocted three devilish cases for his nemesis to solve, I think this story would have been fresher and tighter at an hour.
Paul McGuigan returned behind the camera and surpassed his own estimable work from "A Study In Pink", giving the production a richness and visual pizazz that other UK dramas must envy. I particularly enjoyed the planetarium brawl against The Golem (Sherlock's version of Jaws from the James Bond movies?), which was given a delirious feel via the room's video projector malfunctioning to create a strobing effect with a scratching audio track. The climactic sequence set in a spooky, rippling indoor swimming pool was also incredibly cinematic. Is there any chance McGuigan can be persuaded to lend his keen eye to Doctor Who?Speaking of the climax, I'm sure the unveiling of Moriarty surprised most people watching. This being the brainchild of two writers famed for their involvement with Doctor Who, it was unavoidable we'd expect them to cast a celebrity in such an iconic role (a John Simm, Derek Jacobi, or Timothy Dalton, say). Instead, rather brilliantly, little-known Irish actor Andrew Scott took the role, keeping his native accent and playing literature's first supervillain as a highly intelligent, lyrical, cunning, and chillingly playful "consultant criminal". A performance that wasn't anything like I expected, but all the better for it.
As a miniseries, Sherlock proved itself an immediate critical success and a hit with audiences, so there will definitely be more from this update (hopefully in greater quantity). But I think it's worth remembering that Sherlock isn't perfect yet: the female characters were practically non-existent, and the few involved were given little to do. Giving John a girlfriend had great potential, but Sarah (Zoe Telfer) was sidelined for the majority of the two episodes she only briefly appeared in, and landlady Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) was nothing but a walking cliché. I also think D.I Lestrade was a sore disappointment, only adequately portrayed by Graves, and too obviously used as a plot-device (introducing Sherlock to each case, asking expositional questions at crime scenes). I'd love to see his character and back-story fleshed out in future.Still, none of that can overshadow what's been a marvelous Sunday night treat that took the potentially embarrassing conceit of updating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters and made it work, thanks to a combination of excellent casting, slick direction, and witty scripts. It's going to be tough waiting to see the resolution to the cliffhanger -- with Sherlock perhaps opting to defeat Moriarty by detonating a discarded booby-trapped vest (my money's on Sherlock and John surviving its explosion by diving into the nearby pool) -- but I'll definitely be watching to find out for sure...
It's elementary.
Asides
- Sherlock finally whips out his iconic magnifying glass, which is naturally a stylish modern version resembling an extendable plastic slide.
- I thought Mycroft worked better this week because Gatiss played him less broadly, but I hope he won't always be used in such a manipulative way for the benefit of the story. He's invaluable as someone who can puncture Sherlock's hard, insensitive shell... so I'd like to see him used in a more interesting way.
- A simple idea, but having Moriarty's potential victims address Sherlock over a phone was incredibly haunting, and a great way to update the idea of Moriarty as someone who lurks in the shadows and doesn't get his hands dirty.
- Is it realistic that John is allowed to blog about cases he solves with Sherlock? I know they're not active investigations now, but still.
- You may recognize Andrew Scott as Paul McCartney from the recent BBC4 biopic Lennon Naked. But if you do, Sherlock has competition!
- One aspect of this finale I enjoyed was how the reveal of Moriarty tested the audience's own observational skills, as Moriarty had actually already appeared earlier as Jim, the "gay friend" of the lab assistant who fancies Sherlock. Very clever. I certainly didn't recognize him, until Moriarty himself mentioned his earlier disguise.
WRITER: Mark Gatiss
DIRECTOR: Paul McGuigan
GUEST CAST: Rupert Graves, Una Stubbs, Zoe Telford, Louise Brealey, Andrew Scott, Vinette Robinson, Matthew Needham, Kemal Sylvester, San Shella, Deborah Moore, Laurence Crace, Nicholas Gadd, Caroline Trowbridge, Paul Alberson, Rita Davies, Di Botcher, John Sessions, Stefano Braschi, Jeany Spark, Alison Lintott, Haydn Gywnne, Doug Allen, John Lebar & Lynn Farleigh
TRANSMISSION: 1 August 2010 – BBC1/HD, 9PM
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