Sherlock - Season 3 Finale - Recap: There's Something About Mary
Recap and review of Sherlock - Season 3 Finale - His Last Vow:
"His Last Vow" is one of those episodes of Sherlock with a twist you'll either love or absolutely loathe. I know a lot of people were predicting Mary (Amanda Abbington) to bite the bullet this week, since blissful happiness is occasionally a dramatic forebear to tragedy, yet I'm not sure I ever would have predicted the twist the show actually had in store. Hell, I'm still not entirely buying that Watson (Martin Freeman) would have been able to put it all behind him, but her betrayal is likely to be an issue as the series goes forward, as we're unlikely to have heard the last of Mary's mysterious, possibly sinister past. But ignoring that twist, "His Last Vow" is a pretty terrific finale, even if it did ultimately burn through a potentially great villain way too fast. It's hard for an episode of Sherlock to ever truly disappoint, so even while I didn't love this, there was still a lot about this episode that I really enjoyed, particularly in the performance of Benedict Cumberbatch, who makes Sherlock Holmes one of TV's most electrifying figures.
Credit: BBC
The objective this week centers on bringing down "the one man Sherlock truly hates," Charles Augustus Magnussen (Lars Mikkelsen), a newspaper magnate who is essentially the Michael Jordan of blackmail. In attempting to bring down Magnussen, Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) seeks to stop Magnussen's blackmail attempts against Lady Smallwood (Lindsay Duncan), a high-ranking government official. This is an intriguing enough story on its own, but the lengths to which Sherlock goes to gain access to Magnussen's "files" are much more interesting. Apparently, in the time since John and Mary's wedding, Sherlock has entered into a relationship with Mary's bridesmaid, Janine (Yasmine Akram). It's presented as fairly straightforward, with the two carrying on as any couple might, and given how dejected Sherlock seemed at the end of last week's episode, I pretty much bought it at face value. Of course, as much as it was foolish for me to be taken in by it, given the kind of person Sherlock has been illustrated to be, it's also a credit to Cumberbatch's performance and the strength of Steven Moffat's script that it seemed as plausible as it did. But as we quickly learn, Sherlock has ulterior motives for the relationship.
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As he explains to John, who's been absent as of late due to Mary's pregnancy and other responsibilities, Janine is Magnussen's personal assistant. By dating her, he can use her to gain access to Magnussen's private office. But John doesn't care about any of that, since he's far more concerned about the drug habit Sherlock has apparently acquired. In attempting to retrieve a neighbor's son from a drug den, he discovers Sherlock high as a kite, claiming to have gone undercover in the den as part of a case. John, however, doesn't buy the explanation, nor does Molly (Louise Brealey), Mycroft (Mark Gatiss), or any of the other people who are ashamed of and disappointed by Sherlock's drug use. Yet Sherlock is eventually able to convince Mycroft that getting the drugs in his system really was part of a case, as he intends to give Magnussen a perceived weakness (or "pressure point") to exploit. Mycroft is mortified and warns Sherlock against pursuing Magnussen, as he won't be able to protect Sherlock from the inevitable fallout. The warning is, naturally, foreshadowing for later, but not in the way we might have expected, as it portends not just what Magnussen is capable of doing to Sherlock, but also how Magnussen is capable of corrupting and perverting Sherlock's support systems, essentially uprooting his entire world.
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In using Janine to break into Magnussen's apartment, Sherlock discovers Magnussen being held at gunpoint by a masked female. Expecting to find Lady Smallwood attempting to get her letters back from the blackmailer, Sherlock approaches. However, he is utterly stunned to discover it's Mary. A confused Sherlock tries to reason with her, but ends up getting shot for his troubles, leading to an absolutely terrific sequence in which Sherlock fights to stay alive, a struggle represented through a trippy collection of scenes in which Holmes calls upon all his mental powers in order to stay conscious and keep from bleeding out. He even hallucinates Moriarty (Andrew Scott), who inadvertently gives him that last crucial incentive to come thundering back to life. There's a lot to love about the visual language of the episode, from Sherlock's internalized experiences,to the reveal that Magnussen's glasses, which give him readouts of his victims in real time thanks to their implied link to his mythic database, are actually just plain old glasses. The readouts we see from Magnussen's perspective aren't really there, it's just a visual representation of how Magnussen processes information. There is no "vault" where his blackmailing files are housed. It's all in his own "mind palace", meaning Magnussen just might have Sherlock's number. And Lord knows, he's likely had his number for a while now, as he sees right through Sherlock's transparent attempts at manufacturing a "pressure point", and pinpoints his true weakness: John Watson. And he's known ever since he had John abducted and placed in the bonfire back in the season premiere, settling that little mystery definitively.
Credit: BBC
The second half of the episode takes a turn from a purely plot-driven story, and veers into character study, as Sherlock escapes from his hospital bed and, instead of telling John the truth about his wife, confronts Mary the hollow facade of a hotel, deciding to give her a chance to explain herself once he deduces that she purposely shot him in a non-lethal area and then called an ambulance herself. Mary reveals she was being blackmailed by Magnussen, who possessed a flash drive containing her entire past, including the horrific things she'd done as a secret agent/assassin. The series doesn't try to paint this as a full-fledged betrayal on Mary's part: yes, she's been lying to both Sherlock and John, but she hasn't faked caring for them. In particular, she still loves John with all her heart, and wants to keep him from finding out about her terrible past. However, John steps forward from seclusion in the shadows, revealing he heard the entire conversation. Watson articulates his outrage and storms off, yet Sherlock takes the curious position of putting this outcome on John. He accuses John of being attracted to a dangerous kind of lifestyle, and also of being easily drawn to those who live such lifestyles. It's such a weird position for Sherlock to take, but Cumberbatch and Freeman are mostly able to pull it off, imbuing the conversation with a feeling of introspection, as John takes inventory of his life and the decisions that brought him to this point, to being married to a woman who is basically a reformed assassin. Mary turns over the flash drive to John (emblazoned with the initials of her real name, "A. G. RA"), containing the entire history of her past, including who she really is. But she pleads with him never to look at it, since it will obliterate whatever love he has for her. So John is left with a choice, and it's one of the more substantive of the series, as he needs to decide just how much a person's past should weigh upon their future. For a man who saw his share of atrocities in Afghanistan, it's a weighted choice for John to have to make, but one with considerable dramatic import.
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We find out John's decision after several months have passed. It's a bit of a jarring change of tone for the episode, as it's suddenly Christmas, and we're given some comedy with Sherlock's parents and awkwardness between the Holmes brothers, who are nearly caught smoking by their mother. But it's a screen for one of the most poignant moments of the series. After holding onto the flash drive for all this time, John comes to the decision to destroy the information without ever reading it, asserting that he loves Mary regardless of what she's done before. In the episode's best line, John declares, "The problems of your past are your business. The problems of your future are my privilege." He tosses the flash drive into the fire and that's that...except for settling the score with Magnussen.
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John and Sherlock leave the Christmas festivities (after Sherlock drugs everyone in the house to provide himself and John with an opportunity to leave) in order to meet Magnussen at his estate, Appledore. But they don't find what they expect once they get there, as it's here that Sherlock learns that Magnussen's "vault" doesn't actually exist. Sherlock tries to negotiate the purchase of all of Magnussen's information on Mary, by offering state secrets from Mycroft's laptop. But these tactics ultimately fail when Sherlock learns the truth about the "vaults," and so Holmes and Watson are essentially now guilty of treason, with no discernible reward to show for it. Victoriously, Magnussen taunts Sherlock while forcing John to endure the indignation and humiliation of being repeatedly flicked in the face, as Magnussen threatens to make the call to all the men hunting for Mary if John doesn't stand there and take it. Mycroft arrives with a tactical squad via helicopter, but he's incapable of doing anything to stop what comes next: Sherlock, recognizing that as long as Magnussen lives, John and Mary will never be safe, shoots the blackmailer in the head. In doing so, he not only spares John from learning the truth about Mary, but he also saves John from being implicated in the sale of state secrets. It's a powerful moment that illustrates the depth of Sherlock's attachment to John, the one person for whom he'd gladly fall on the sword.
Credit: BBC
Naturally, what makes this decision all the more affecting is the recognition that Sherlock did this knowing full well that it would likely end in his own death -- and it nearly does. Mycroft is unable to save Sherlock from accusations of treason, but he is able to get Sherlock's punishment commuted to a suicidal MI-6 mission to Eastern Europe. A mission that, earlier in the episode, Mycroft states would end in Sherlock's death within six months. Sherlock has a poignant, though understated, farewell conversation with John, who is happily reunited with Mary. Holmes acknowledges that this is likely the last conversation he'll ever have with his best friend...except it's not. No sooner is Sherlock on a plane to meet his death, than he's called back by Mycroft. Apparently, TVs and video screens all over England have been hacked, and they're all playing the same video on loop: Moriarty asking "Did you miss me?" Is Moriarty really alive? If so, how the hell is this possible? Guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out.
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Ultimately, "His Last Vow" is a powerful capper to the season, and offers a terrific cliffhanger for next season. I'm not entirely sure how they're going to swing the notion of Moriarty possibly being alive, although it's not at all beyond the realm of possibility that his network is still active. The series has been remarkably deft at crafting compelling villains for Sherlock to defeat, as Magnussen was every bit as chilling as Moriarty was monstrous. Mikkelsen is positively fantastic in the role, and I wish he'd had the opportunity to stay around a bit longer. But even in the wake of his death, I have faith that the show will replace him with a villain of equal, if not greater, monstrosity. It's the particular hallmark of Sherlock that the villains are as fractured, dangerous, and resourceful as the titular consulting detective himself. Season 3's exploration into the levels of Sherlock's damage has been a fitting element of nuance to the largely plot-driven episodes, and Cumberbatch continues to be outstanding at imbuing Holmes with more than just sociopathic characteristics. In his interactions with Freeman and Abbington, equally fantastic in their roles, Sherlock aspires to a far greater depth of feeling. And it's ultimately his attachments to the people he loves that defines his story, far less so than his opposition towards the people he loathes. Even Mycroft admits that losing Sherlock would devastate him, and it feels of a piece with the theme of connection, as Sherlock, now more than ever, is not a solitary man. Sherlock Holmes is many within the one.