I agree with all of this. The point I was not making well was that this, even in the original, was never a case where Sherlock defeated the bad guy through deduction. It was a case that was resolved a different way. Here we had the original ending (Sherlock witnessing a murder) twisted into an attempted murder and…

But Holmes didn't get the blackmailer really in the original story, other events did. And what if the violent conclusion was Mycroft outwitting Magnusson?

I feel like Mycroft gave Sherlock the go ahead. I think the mention of the job offer was Mycroft stating that was the chip he had to play if Sherlock got into trouble. Additionally, why would he tell Sherlock to stay around for dragon slaying as it seemed like they had already defined Magnusson as a dragon (from…

I liked the episode quite a bit, but do worry about character tics for the sake of tics, and flash for the sake of flash (which seems to be a criticism of Moffat), but felt the actors sold it. Also thought it was pretty funny that Sherlock and Community were almost the same episode this week. Like an AV Club…