TV: What the HECK Happened to "Sherlock"?!

For the longest time, since first catching the pilot of "Elementary" in September of 2012, to me Jonny Lee Miller was THE modern-day interpretation of Sherlock Holmes.  It therefore took me awhile to even watch "Sherlock", but by series two had heard so much about it, I started from the beginning with Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson - and within the first few minutes fell in love with both the show and its leads.  I love Miller no less, but learned there is definitely room for more than one interpretation of arguably the most well-known figure in the history of mystery fiction.

I caught up watching the show, and like other fans grew frustrated with the uber-long breaks between series, only to get just a few TV-movie-length "episodes".  But it was always worth it.  The show never ceased to amaze with impeccable writing and direction and cast.  The show also remains incredible to look at, via its cinematography and direction.  
Then came series four.

"The Abominable Bride"wasn't a complete success, but a worthwhile effort to break the mold and take the series and its characters back to their roots of the 1890's.  It also made for a cool Christmas special in-between series three and four, to buffer the interminably long wait. 

Then "The Six Thatchers" immediately reminded me of one of my favorite of the original Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Holmes/Watson films, The Pearl of Death.  Only this IS "Sherlock", so the twists kept you from guessing where things were going until you were like "Whaaaat??" in front of the television.  It was also great seeing Harry Potter alum Sacha Dhawan in a guest starring role!  But I was never a particular fan of Mary Watson, and when the episode turned into a storyline essentially about her my interest waned a bit, though the structure of the storyline and that WTF?! ending put it back more firmly into established "Sherlock" territory.

"The Lying Detective" gave me mixed emotions from the start, mainly due to the great rift between Sherlock and Watson (and Holmes's spiral back down into drugs), caused by the previous episode's events being a real downer, mixed with the coming-from-nowhere arch-villain, millionaire serial killer Culverton Smith (an oh-so-creepyToby Jones), who - as the episode goes on - comes off more like a cartoonvillain from the old "Batman" TV series than something more high caliber.  The episode stretched out a bit toward the end, but by the time you learn all that's really been going on it was all pretty much worth it.  Except maybe for the final, super-melodramatic cliffhanger.

Then, for me, it all fell apart with "The Final Problem".  Sian Brooke held little to no menace to me as Eurus, and while it started off great until the initial surprise/twist, I found the last two-thirds of the episode nearly impossible to sit through.  What was supposed to be high tension and suspense, to me was repetitive, aggravating, and - yeah - at times even downright monotonous.  A lot of promise even seemed inherent in the bringing back of the wonderful Andrew Scott as Moriarty, but GOOD LORD what a waste they made of him, turning the character into an even bigger annoyance in the episode, as he pops in every once in awhile like the freaking Joker only to chide Holmes or egg him on.  So, so hard to sit through ... especially when, in the end, the big twist was a very rushed yawn at the end of ninety minutes of some of the most melodramatic television I have seen in ages.

No word on a series five yet, but I hope it continues (though this finale seemed pretty ... final).  Hope they can get the train back on the track, too, if it does.  And Lord, please, let's be done with both Mary and Eurus.