When Sherlock first began, it subverted the ideas of an icon; the deerstalker hat was loathed by the man himself, and pipe-smoking was replaced by nicotine patches. But Benedict Cumberbatch is an icon all by himself now, renowned for the hair, the coat, the cheekbones; he's more famous to some kids than the original Holmes is. So just as Moffat and Gatiss played with the big Conan-Doyle images, Series 3 has seen the writers play with what we expect from our Cumbatchian hero. 'The Empty Hearse' began with a crazy theory of how viewers expected him to survive the fall, and 'His Last Vow' ended with the credits being interrupted, almost as a wink at us: "Of course we're going to give you another big cliffhanger". Perhaps the biggest parody of all though happened on the stag do; the theme tune descended into dubstep, Sherlock began arguing over tobacco ash, and the famous "deduction direction" led to some hilarious captions while Sherlock was "cluing for looks". What's so fantastic about the parodying, is that it rewards the fans. These nuances feel like in-jokes aimed at us, and it's wonderful that the writers acknowledge how much we adore this show.
