Catch Up // Sherlock: Series 3, Episode 2 – The Sign of Three
SPOILERS AHEAD!
After
series 3 opener The Empty Hearse,
episode two, The Sign of Three,
continues Sherlock’s enormous
self-confidence as a programme while showing Sherlock the man at the most
uncomfortable we’ve ever seen him as he takes on Best Man duties at John
Watson’s marriage to his beloved Mary Morstan.
Delivered
with the most frantic of styles, The Sign
of Three centres around Sherlock’s Best Man speech intercut with flashbacks
to the wedding planning as well as a number of old cases, including the literal
“elephant in the room”. There is also,
quite fittingly for a wedding where Sherlock is present, a murder about to
happen that needs to be resolved before the DJ takes over for the “night do”.
The
writing, direction and tone of The Sign
of Three has divided critics and fans more than any episode of Sherlock so far. Here at #srcz we love The Sign of Three for all its mad, choppy
direction and its focus on the Sherlock/John bromance. It is like having an old suitcase overstuffed
with goodies – all crammed in, and not one of which you’d want to leave out.
We
have the most awkward, but ultimately moving, Best Man speech ever committed to
the silver screen as well as the best depiction of a drunken stag night à deux we can remember. The direction
and acting here – Cumberbatch and Freeman play excellent drunks – leave you
swooning while you do an actual laugh out loud.
The
wedding planning flashbacks are wonderfully done and Amanda
Abbingdon gives such a lovely turn as John’s fiancée, Mary, that you feel she
must have been part of the show form the start.
Far from being an awkward third wheel, Mary is a welcome addition to a
cast that already felt as tight-knit as they come.
But back to the wedding:
As Sherlock’s interminable and wince-making speech flashes
backward/forward/present to the case of the invisible man in the locked room
and that of the Mayfly Man, he’s hit with the realisation that a murder is
about to happen and he must solve it before it happens.
Of course, this is one
episode where – if you’re paying attention – you can guess who the victim is
before Sherlock does and it’s even possible to guess the who and the how. But
that doesn’t detract from The Sign of
Three’s enormous agreeableness at all.
Cumberbatch’s
interactions with Mark Gatiss as Sherlock’s brother Mycroft Holmes and with
Yasmine Akram as Chief Bridesmaid Janine – “Can
I keep you?” - have some of the best chemistry in an episode packed with
the stuff.
There
are so many little treats in the midst of a chock-full story, from a sizzled
Sherlock’s “I’ll just whip this out” to the source material related dwarf with
a poison dart, that it’s well worth watching The Sign of Three all over again just to catch the bits you missed
first time round.
But
what about the mysterious and sinister specs wearing baddy from The Empty Hearse? We can only hope that
the series finale His Last Vow has
some answers to that one…
Reviewed
by Andrea McGuire. Images ©BBC
