Scandal in My Television - BBC's Sherlock, Season 2

I wasn't able to watch 'Scandal in Belgravia' in real time last night, because I had to work.  But it was recorded for me, and except for cutting out about five minutes to the end right after Mycroft and John  were talking and John is told Irene Adler was caught and killed, I got to see the entire thing.

I can't wait till the end of the month when I can get these on DVD and watch them over and over and obsess about the end of the Reichenbach Fall.

I thought this was a strong episode to start out with for Season Two, though a couple of things bothered me.  I actually really liked how things in the pool wound up (Stayin' Alive?  Seriously???), but at the same time, the overall mystery bugged me a bit.  In the first season, each episode had its own mystery, found and solved within the time frame of the episode, with the underlying threat of Moriarty being the one in the background, pulling the strings of the different people involved.

This one, you knew Moriarty was involved, you knew his hand was in it, but at the same time, it was so much more than that.  More than just an underlying threat, I got the sense that Sherlock was just a pawn in a huge game of chess going on, that he's honestly completely unaware of.  Well, after this episode, not completely unaware, but only minimally.

And what the heck is Mycroft into?  Something shady is definitely going on with him.  It's like he's picked out a direction he wants Sherlock to go, and is doing everything he can to lead him that way.  Which, considering how this season ends, may absolutely be the point.

I've seen different articles and whatnot about the third episode, The Reichenbach Fall, and one of them had a quote from the show's producer.  Or writer, I can't recall which.  It was someone involved with the show.  Anyway, he said that despite everyone's guesses, everyone was missing one important clue concerning Sherlock's 'jump.'  I'm not going to write about it now, but my mind's already piecing together possibilities.  When the shows initially aired in England, I wrote up my own theories about the third episode.  After The Reichenbach Fall airs on this side of the pond, I'll rewrite my theories (if they significantly change.  If not, I'll simply overview them, and undoubtedly add a lot more since I'll have actually seen the episode now instead of relying on thirty second YouTube clips,)  and post them in a new entry.

I honestly think one of my favorite parts of this episode was when Molly and the rest of them are gathered at Baker Street (why'd they not keep Sarah in the show?  I liked her!) for Christmas and Sherlock goes through the whole, "Oh, Molly, you have a new boyfriend?" speech, then looks at the tag and sees the gift that started his whole deduction is for him.

I also loved how, throughout the episode, Irene Adler is trying her damnedest to get a rise out of him, but he refuses to take the bait.  He's so stoic and controlled.  I'm glad they didn't go into any kind of out-of-character stuff with Sherlock.  They didn't have him drawn in by her feminine wiles.  Yes, he was drawn in, but more because he was drawn to the case and trying to figure her out analytically.  I can't help thinking that the entire time he was looking at her, all he saw were the question marks they showed the first time he looked at her.

And the difference between Irene Adler and Molly is so striking.  On one hand, we have this poised, self-assured, beautiful woman who can pretty much make just about any man do whatever she wants them to.  On the other, we have a woman who seems younger somehow, makes jokes about working with cadavers, and gives off the feeling of a little girl playing dress up with a big sister or mommy's clothes when she tries to look fancy.

Yet which one did Sherlock apologize to and give a kiss on the cheek?

Molly Hooper - 1

Irene Adler - 0