Yeah, they're definitely not calling Sherlock a murderer in this episode. They said Moriarty did it.

Well, Mycroft was in on it at some point. I just don't know when. If not the act itself, then starting with the coverup. Clearly from before the funeral. Because obviously, Mycroft would be able to identify that the corpse wasn't Sherlock. And he would know Sherlock wasn't buried. And their parents weren't at the…

I'm going to look at this season as a transition season. Presumably the next one will spend more time on the mystery solving aspect. At least, I hope so, based on the teaser ending.

Yeah, the episode does nothing to explain anything that happened. So, no one really knows what Molly did to help him.

Meh. I thought at that point, it was the only thing that could have happened. I'm just now questioning why they were ever at the mansion. Because…. that was the only thing that could have happened. So, why'd the dude bring them there?

S1
1. A
2. D
3. A+

#2 seems most plausible.

There's one massive plot hole which has gnawed on me more and more the more I think about it. It didn't bother me on first watch. But….we'll see how annoying this is when I re-watch it.

Didn't want you to think you'd been spoiled by, "Hey, Moriarty appears in the third episode!"

I'm voting for irritating.

Yeah! Watson spends half the episode refusing to speak to Sherlock after punching him in the face. The episode barely has a mystery! The most dramatic scene in it is Watson being kidnapped and burned, and that doesn't have anything to do with the mystery in this episode.

Yeah…. it isn't great. But, it could have been worse. I'm hoping we can just all move on now.

I'd say this is probably a C-grade episode relative to this series. I have no problem with it.

Oh, and there are Moffat and Gatiss in the interview after the show joking, "Hey, if Sherlock pulled that off he probably wouldn't admit to how he did it! Ha ha ha ha!!!"

Yeah, I don't find this to be an inaccurate depiction at all. Actually, that conversation Mycroft and Sherlock have at Baker St in this episode is a wonderful depiction of Sherlock that Gatiss wrote.

Oh God, I forgot about that. Damn.

It seems to me that it must be the real solution, because it is the only one that makes a modicum of sense. You had to figure after Reichenbach Fall that Mycroft was in on it. So, everything else just follows from that.

I guess that is a good way to look at it. I'm just not sure if this really is what I wanted. It feels like stuff *other* fans wanted. The second episode has just as much fan service, but I liked it a lot more. So, maybe that one just had more of what I wanted.

No way. I just re-watched it. It is still boring. And mocking of the fans. And has way too much fan service.

Yeah, Moriarty actually has a presence throughout the season. But, I doubt anyone really knows why.