I have to admit, I used to comment a lot during season 3, but I do not share the current main reviewer's priorities, so I haven't commented significantly in the last season.

Welcome back, Myles, albeit briefly! Also, I thought this week's case had a lot of reflections with "A Case of Identity," one of the rarely remembered early stories of Sherlock Holmes - from the core of the case being about hidden identities and deception in romance - even the idea of a predator is presaged in the…

I have not seen delivery shorts that short. :)

I'm going to miss Iris - though I'm glad she's not currently dead. I hope they don't yank her back just to kill her off.

Excellent points. I also wanted to point out that even though there's already been some excellent Empty House references in the season 3 premiere episode (with the impossible locked room shooting that no one heard despite being surrounded by people, and Holmes's return from London), there was a lovely Empty House bit…

It's nowhere near as strong as Watson's arc in the first season, or Moriarty's arc, or Kitty's, but I'd say it's more consistent than Mycroft in season 2.

I tend to agree that Kitty's midseason finale was the last really excellent episode - but I think this season has been fairly high quality on a episodic level. The two episodes with Watson's sister were really good, and I've enjoyed a lot of the other cases (even if there were two or three overly preachy episodes as…

Fourthed. Valentine is bitingly intelligent, but it's clear she doesn't enjoy the show as whole, though I appreciate her good faith efforts to highlight the positive. For fans of the show, it's really disheartening to come wanting to have a conversation about something we love and be scolded every week. I've stopped…

I did like the final two scenes - there was some emotion there - but it didn't come anywhere close to the power of season 1 or the season 3 mid-finale with Kitty. It didn't even hit as strongly as Mycroft's "I love you, brother. The past year…it's been a gift."

I disagree - I think the guards were Vikner's, but they didn't want to risk an open coup without Moreland taking control - a symbolic gesture that Moreland is participating in the takeover, not just Zoya pulling strings and him parachuting in.

Despite disagreeing with Genevieve on the exact ways this season has been significantly less strong than previous seasons, I do agree that there wasn't the same impact as the Moriarty or Kitty plots - and even the Mycroft plot had a bit more punch emotionally.

I thought the point was that the guards were part of Zoya's plot - they were her men, not Vikner's.

I had a similar reaction, except that I've not seen Hannibal, and am going off of Marina in The Magicians. :)

I haven't noticed a particular shift in Watson's dialogue or intelligence, but I do agree that this particular episode strained a bit at balancing exposition with characterization. I think the Holmes watching the butt thing was a bit of Watson looking out for Fiona, though - at least, that's how I read it.

I actually think that the British series errs in making Watson's development solely to make Sherlock look more awesome (which is what critics of Elementary for this reason accuse the showrrunners of as well). But I think that Elementary does a much better job of making Watson someone with her own opinions which are…

Very reasonable expectations. I don't share them, but I appreciate your articulation of them and agree they have weight.

Nicely said!

Thanks for mentioning Valentine's commentary on canon - it prompted me to go back and do some reading of the reviews I'd skipped.

That's totally a fine reason to be interested in the show - though Watson's casting is hardly the only thing that sets it apart from other adaptations. I would argue that the writing and acting for JLM's Holmes, while strongly canonical in many aspects, has set up a new and very interesting interpretation of Holmes…

I'm sure they wouldn't explicitly say it's *because* of her non-white female status, but when you see what their commentary revolves around, particularly that the reason they are upset is because Sherlock is getting developed, and they consistently bring up Sherlock's white male status, I'm hard pressed to draw…