Nobody ever believed Sherlock Holmes would really die, but The Great Game's finale cut it mighty close. For all intent and purposes, it really did look as if the World's Greatest Detective had bitten the dust/pavement. Yet as the emotionally resonant coda made clear, this was not so. Sherlock was alive and watching John mourn at his fake grave from a distance. Roll credits. Then came what's now become known as 'The Great Hiatus.' The show took a break for two years so its stars could have a crack at Hollywood, and this plot thread was left dangling. Forums were set alight with theories on how Holmes cheated death, and naturally we all expected a clever, Moffat-tastic explanation as The Empty Hearse rolled up. Yet what we got was odd to say the least. Unable to resist their inner trolls, Stephen Moffat and episode writer Mark Gatiss chose instead to bait the fans by transferring their feverish hypothesising onto the guilt-wracked Anderson and the Sherlock fan club. Cue bungee jumps, Derren Brown and a bizarre shout-out to slash fiction, each one dismissed as in Inspector Lestrade's words b*llocks. When we were eventually given an excellent idea as to how Sherlock managed to dupe John, this theory was also thrown bodily under the Anderson imagination bus (which also sounds like a fantastic kid's TV show). I'm not complaining to harshly the skits were cheeky, irreverent, and entertaining but you can't deny it's a bit cowardly too. While palming off the series' cliffhangers with something ridiculous has become a Sherlock trademark remember Staying Alive? dismissing something so thought-provoking with the logic of 'just bloody well accept it, it's Sherlock Holmes' is something of a kick in the crotch. Or teeth. Or wherever you fancy being kicked, you perverts. Admittedly this might pan out in a different way and we could still find out what truly happened in the series finale, but at the moment we're in severe danger that Moffat just might dispose of this golden goose without so much as a second glance. For something which inspired verbal wars online, that's definitely a shame.
Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League.
You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.
