The Great Game

Despite gluing my eyes to the screen, and my ears to the speakers, I lost the plot in several places while watching this. I have a number of unanswered questions, but I won't go into them for fear of spoiling the enjoyment of those who haven't seen it yet.

However, it is no secret that Moriarty (not credited) reveals himself in this episode, which is exciting.

In fact the whole thing is thrilling and the fact that I am baffled half the time doesn't put me off.

Cumberbatch is excellent, and so is Freeman, whose role as Watson is harder to make interesting.

Watch this series - it's great.

Much has been made of this updating of Holmes to a modern age and I think that a lot of praise for this has been a little bit based around the fact that the show has generally done well and didn't fall on its face. I'll not join it in this gush of praise over the modernisation though because frankly the show is not hugely different from a lot of other crime shows at the moment. What we have in Sherlock is a brilliant detective who has a "difficult" character but is put up with because he can solve weekly crimes like nobody else. If that sound familiar it is not a million miles away from the main characters in Psych, Monk, The Mentalist, Lie to Me, House and many other shows in the "quirky but brilliant investigator" genre at the moment. I don't say this to belittle the show but rather just to observe that Sherlock is another show in a very crowded genre.

It is this crowded genre that means it deserves praise though, because it does standout and it is enjoyable whereas several shows in the genre do seem to be going through the motions without any reason to watch them over their cousins. Sherlock is of course given a boost by who the character is but it could also have been a millstone around its neck. To its credit the very first episode makes the update easy. Instant messaging and access to information on the internet is brought into it but never to such a point where it is forced into the viewer's face. More importantly, the level below this superficial update focuses on the deductive powers of the detective, the crimes and the relationship with Watson. All of these things are well done and are the reason why the three episodes are enjoyable. It is also telling that the second episode (The Blind Banker) didn't have as good dialogue between Sherlock and Watson and wasn't as enjoyable as a result.

The Doctor Who effect on the tone is present but not to the point where it makes it silly or just loud for the sake of being loud (which that show often can be). Instead it seems to make it energetic and accessible but without making it into a 5pm tea-time family romp. It does have a bit of darkness to it and in particular the first episode does very well to build tension (although the "pill" confrontation isn't as good as I had hoped) but it needs to do it more often. The reveal of Moriarty is OK but not great; his character is probably the most obvious bit of Dr Who in here since he is in the mould of the new flamboyant Master. He didn't quite convince opposite Sherlock but it will be down to the writers in the second series to use this character well to produce some great mental battles. Certainly Cumberbatch is up to the task and I found him very good in the title role, just the right amount of superiority without being annoying or remote while also conveying the intellect side well. He works well with Freeman, who is also very good despite essentially doing the same sort of character he did in The Office and since. With these two working well as they do the show is already done but the supporting cast are generally strong as well.

Generally Sherlock produced perfect Sunday night viewing. It is an engaging show without taking itself too seriously; it is fast paced with humour without being silly or overly loud and it has elements of the New Who in terms of accessibility without taking too many of the negative aspects of that show with it. I found it very easy to enjoy and am one of many looking forward to the second season when it inevitably comes.

In this first real brush with James Moriarty, the notorious arch-nemesis of Sherlock Holmes going back to the original stories, The Great Game presents a kind of plot that is perfect for a Sherlock Holmes story: what happens when the 'Game' of it becomes the whole point, and that a mystery wraps into a riddle and then another mystery, all leading to a painting that may (or may not!) be a fake. At the start of the episode Sherlock is bored with the cases he's been having and is then rocked into one by an explosion that rocks his own 221 Baker street home. Then there's the big 'plot' of the thing, where people keep turning up with phone calls, frightened voices, and bombs attached to them. Will they go off or will Holmes follow the game to where it needs to go and crack the codes and so on?

He does, and the fun in watching this episode/film is how Holmes realizes that the man behind all of this is Moriarty, which makes him have to turn up the stakes for himself (more than usual anyway, which are already petty high), and it becomes one of the better stories for this Sherlock a) Cumberbatch is so good, b) Freeman matches up (or tries to keep up) with his co-star, and c) when Andrew Scott finally appears as Moriarty, he really brings it and makes a big impression. I love this Moriarty as a man who is super-intelligent, but also wants to see Holmes as something more extraordinary, not just another ordinary person. Moriarty is a freak, but so is Holmes, and they complete each other in that odd way of nemeses. That scene alone, the climax of the thing (and how it does a twist, and then maybe another twist, in the showdown), is worth watching the episode all on its own.

The height of brilliance is how I'd describe The Great Game, it's a deeply complex and multi layered story, that on the surface is quite hard to follow, partly because the show is so energetic and pacey, that it moves from one conundrum to another. It all seems to make sense in the end during the first proper encounter between Holmes and Moriarty.

It's eighty minutes of tantalising, gripping non stop energy, and ten minutes of the best TV viewing of all time, Cumberbatch and Freeman are excellent, both so impressive in their roles, but the magic comes from the full introduction of Andrew Scott, his characterisation of the normally sober Moriarty must rank as one of the best performances of all time. Scott is breathtakingly good in the role, drowning in charisma and personality, he played the definitive Moriarty, talk about elevating the show. That showdown scene was simply perfect.

I loved it. 10/10

A very interesting ending of the season. We are finally getting to the real Sherlock Holmes! The real game will start now!

I was really stunned about Andrew Scott, he did a very good job in this episode!