my theory is that the text of the letter is actually something Sherlock wrote to Irene before she was killed, adding another twist to the knife of Moriarty writing to him now. And another reason for the voice over to be mostly his.

I saw this episode at the Paley Center last weekend, and I remain astounded by the fact that the details did not leak (at least not in the corner of the internet I frequent). The two downsides to getting to see it early were 1. not being able to talk about it with others who hadn't seen it, and 2. having to wait until…

it also harkens back to the proposal scene in "Details" when Sherlock says he's not sure why he's better with Watson, "but perhaps I'll solve that in time, as well."

oh okay, yes, that's an important distinction. guilt as toxic substance left unabated vs. guilt as an obstacle to dismantle or an attachment to release.  
I also see a the parallel between clean but self-abnegating "her life was ruined because of me" Sherlock and still-seeking-penance Watson. And I hope future episodes…

My only quibble with this insightful review is that I would say that Sherlock is not "just" learning about living with guilt since reconnecting with Lestrade and Mycroft. He had been carrying enormous guilt over Irene's death for almost as long as Watson's guilt over Castoro: first by (he thought) putting Irene in M's…

Another facet of his frustration with her self-doubt that I loved was that when he says she should wallow in private, he doesn't tell her not to feel it, doesn't tell her she's wrong to feel it.  in other words, he doesn't question her self-doubt — she feels what she feels — even though he believes it's unfounded.

I've also been wondering how unreliable a narrator Holmes is w/r/t his father. The maker and breaker of promises appears fairly substantiated IMO and I have no trouble believing him as a terrible parent, but the more theatrical Holmes's descriptions of his evil baseness become, the more I doubt that he's some sort of…

Considering the high profile given to Bell's past role in exposing a colleague who planted evidence (1x16), I do have some hope that Gregson's past in this regard will come up again.

Yes. At least she pushed back against some of his attitude (I didn't fail and I'm not discouraged; why do I have to read *this* book; what do you want from me? when she didn't get a hair sample, etc).

I agree that there were too many murders. And while I liked that Lydon made clear that Crabtree was gay (I helped him and his partner adopt their daughter), I didn't like that they killed him off.

Jerry: http://equanimousicons.tumb…

and please let them never revert to menstruation "humor" again. yes, it's plausible that Holmes would make such observations. but they don't need to waste valuable episode time on them.

I'm kinda loving not being able to decide whether Holmes knows or not. half the time I'm convinced he knows, whether from deducing early on or from the phone call in this episode, and is keeping it to himself for Reasons. The other half I think he can't possibly know because we'd have seen it - a friend suggested the…

on rewatch I noticed that Watson seemed to be extra-disturbed by the operating room crime scene: didn't engage with it at all, barely left the doorway, only said 2 words: not her usual M.O. I think I have to bump my grade up a notch for that tidbit of character detail.

I also graded this one a C+ for most of the same reasons already given.

the continuity critique was (I assume unintentionally, given production schedules) amusing given a somewhat prominent error in the opening scene of The Red Team in which Watson is suddenly holding the milk bottle Holmes has just set down on the other side of the counter…

Starting from the exchange in 1x13 when Gregson throws him out of the interrogation room and kicks him out of the station, Holmes starts standing further away from Gregson. When he shows up at the hotel toward the end, he steps well back from Gregson while Bell walks up between them. (He does step definitively into…

I agree about her moral flexibility. but I also hope we might see a delayed reaction eventually to having had a friend/housemate/client almost become a very intentional murderer. even if she didn't feel directly or physically threatened, it would still have an emotional impact we haven't seen her express much.

for my own experience and other Elementary viewers I know, the procedural portion is often the B-story. By which I mean, don't let not being a procedural person keep you away.

If delving deep into a joke sucks all the fun out of it, I don't want any fun! I would apply the same technique to Clyde and the tortoise metaphor: isolated creature, withdrawing into shell — but not to he extent he did previously, etc. While I didn't really expect Holmes to butcher Clyde for dinner, I was surprised…