Retrospective Review Re-post
#10: The Abominable Bride
Sigh…
…yeah this episode showed plenty of echoes of what was to come in Season 4 of Sherlock, what with the unnecessarily complex Swiss cheese plots, the excessive and insufferable fanservice, and the over-over-overornate…well, everything. Most of us Sherlock followers (even the rabid fans) began to get itchy and doubtful in Season 3, but then gave up on the whole thing after having sat through Season 4. I don’t know that anyone is asking anyone about Season 5 possibilities anymore—really they should have ended a while before they did, as you’ll see. Since my retro-reviews for the Sherlock’s Home fansite ended after ‘The Abominable Bride,’ I have decided to put myself through the Season 4 ordeal once more, for completion’s and your sake. I do this so you won’t have to. Yer welcome.
Written by Prof. Jenn
As a reminder: I am writing these as RETROSPECTIVE reviews, so I will be discussing reveals, revolutions of cliffhangers, ends of plots, etc. If you are reading these reviews without having seen the eps, a) what is wrong with you?? Go watch them now! and b) these reviews are not for you till you’ve seen them.
NOTE: This is the last retrospective review I wrote for Sherlock’s Home, and it appeared there in Fall 2016. The site went largely dormant after that, and my own personal fandom hit a definite lull after Season 4 finally came out, and…/shudder/ Well, you’ll see. Lucky you, I’ll be returning to the Retro-Review cycle next week and will be tackling all three Season 4 episodes. Because I’m a glutton for punishment, I suppose. But this retro-review is still for SH, which is a UK-based site, and so my syntax is more Brit here than it is normally. It has also been adapted and revised a little bit since then. And now, without further ado:
Er, hm. THAT was interesting…
And by interesting, I mean…I don’t even know. Postmodern? Meta? Fanservice upon fanservice upon convoluted bloat? Seriously. I’m exhausted.
Christmas special 2016, aka Episode 4.0, aka ‘The Abominable Bride’, opens much the same way as the Granada series. Actually, nearly exactly like the Granada series, right down to its theme music. We have some lovely Victorian snowy London and some delightful banter between our heroes and beloved Mrs. Hudson, putting us right back in comfy territory as far our characters go, even if the clothing is a little stiffer. Back when Mofftiss announced this special, they declared it would be set in the “proper” era, and would be a fun one-off. When pressed as to why they decided to do a Victorian era episode, they responded that there was no reason for it, that it was just fun, and that it wouldn’t have anything to do with the continuing longer arcs of the plot of the show proper.
Ahem.
Well.
Honestly, if they had kept to that premise, I’d have appreciated it a lot more. The way-too-heavy-handed feminist message notwithstanding, it was charming, if fanservicey, to see the Victorian versions of all the characters we already know and love. Especially original character Molly Hooper, who does not show up in original canon, of course—makes sense how she’d have to finagle things to have the same job she does in the current era, and it was just heaps of fun to see Mary Watson retain her spy-assassin badassery in the older time period. So that’s all well and good. Even Increased!Mycroft, who was, though goofier, much more like the canon version of the character.
But then…
Really? This is it? This?
Mofftiss, from all the excellent writing you’ve both done, all the nods and all the brilliant new as well as original turns from the three series so far, the best you could come up with is: “It was all a drug dream?” Really?
Okay, sure, argue with me that it was a mind palace trip and not a drug dream, but I submit the appearance of Sherlock’s mind palace and its properties in ep. 3.2, 3.3, and then this. This is not his mind palace, this is …. I don’t even know what this is. Once we meet Moriarty and especially when we’re at the Reichenbach Falls (Victorian version), Watson talking about: what’s the other version of me like, blah blah blah…
Just. Stop. And did you have to have Sherlock say “Elementary, my dear Watson?” Did you? Really? Is that good writing? Or is it nothing but a long chain of winks and nudges to your followers instead?
FINAL THOUGHT: Though it’s ridiculous to include if this really is Sherlock’s mind palace (mind palace within the mind palace?), I did muchly enjoy the Victorian version of the mind palace: grabbing all the scraps of paper out of the air. It was a cool effect—very visually pleasing.
EASTER EGG: There are plenty of Easter Eggs in this episode, but one of my favorites is just the title of the episode itself. Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife is mentioned in passing by Watson in the canon, of a case that maybe one day he’d put into print, but never does. It doesn’t look like Mr. Ricoletti had a club foot in this ep, though it is kinda hard to tell…
RATING: 2 murderous proto-feminists out of 5