Sherlock: The Worst Episode From Every Season
Sherlock may have been a great show, but not every episode of the series was a great one.
BBC's Sherlock is often considered by many as one of the greatest TV series of all time and for good reason. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson, the series gave us terrific writing and incredible directing, all elevated by fantastic performances from its talented cast, particularly Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character.
The show was smart, unpredictable, and even occasionally funny, making for a fun and entertaining experience with every season. From the first season, many viewers were very much along for the ride to see where this modern retelling of Sherlock Holmes would go. While a 5th season is still a possibility, the series hasn't had a new episode in more than 4 years, leaving the state of its future uncertain.
However, while there's no denying that Sherlock has certainly earned its critical acclaim and dedicated fanbase, not every episode in the series was a winner. Like every great TV series, some episodes of Sherlock shined and others faltered in comparison, making for underwhelming or even straight-up disappointing episodes. Here are all the worst episodes from every season on Sherlock.
5. Season Four - The Six Thatchers
What a lackluster episode. It's honestly so disappointing to see a once-great show like Sherlock become such a pointless, unfocused, convoluted, rushed, and even an unintentionally goofy mess. This was the show that gave us episodes like A Study in Pink and The Reichenbach Fall, only for the show to eventually give us a show like this. This episode had terrible writing, terrible directing, terrible pacing — all in all, it was just a terrible episode.
For some reason, the writers thought it would be a great idea to center an entire episode around the character Mary Watson, even if we've only known her for one season and quite frankly, don't care for her much at all. It's almost as if the writers were trying to justify that pointless plot twist concerning Mary in the last season, having us wondering, 'Is this show going to be twists for twists' sake?'
Even if you did care about Mary Watson, this episode is so janky, messy, and unstructured, it's hard to get invested in any of the plot points at all. The episode just kind of jumps from scene to scene with barely anything connecting them. There's also very little tension in the episode, which is a problem because, well, it's a Sherlock episode. What is a detective show without tension or thrill?