I believe that they have already filmed the explanation.

Watson's Latest Blog Post

First comments:

Or indeed the Conan Doyle original. Sherlock returns. Watson faints. After that it's as if nothing happened.

So much of the original stories is absolutely brilliant. That particular sequence was not Conan Doyle at his finest. This was vastly superior - a proper character study that felt realistic (insofar that anything like this can be realistic!)

Completely agree, loads of little nuggets in there for fans to chuckle at. Even non-Sherlock stuff like the 'I like trains' was brilliant I thought

^ This.

Quite. I love the original stories with a passion. I grew up on them. But that wouldn't fly these days. At all.

"Johnikins". LOL.

I enjoyed the episode but then I was less bothered about how Sherlock staged his death and more interested in how the Holmes/Watson reunion was handled.
I think Cumberbutch and Freeman play off each other really well and the peripheral characters are all very well drawn.
There was more scene setting and rebuilding of relationships in this episode than clue finding and deductions, but I think that was necessary given how the last series ended and how long the break was - I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Uh...squeeeeeeeeeeee?

A good writer would've done both i.e. told a story and explored the fall-out. Gatiss proved capable of doing only the one and spent the entire episode doing it.

My only major issue with it is that I really can't see why Watson even likes Sherlock as a friend - he treats him like crap most of the time! The bomb stuff tonight was a prime example. And having no idea that his way of reintroducing himself to Watson might not be a good way. It bugs me because he does it so often it makes it a lot harder to buy the friendship moments between them. They haven't got the balance right imo as things like Elementary and the RDJ films have.

On the other hand I think the relationship between Sherlock and Mycroft is far more interesting.

Exactly. John picks himself up, dusts himself down, and then they both just get on with things heheh.

Well, the wait is over, and frankly, I’m still trying to process the whole thing. The episode was good. It wraps everything up in a perfectly satisfactory way. The gang is back together, everybody is happy, there are new mysteries afoot…but…I don’t know…something feels a little flat to me. I think that – for me, at any rate – the heart of the series has always been John and Sherlock’s relationship (I’m a slasher, but I think that the same rings true even if one choses to see them simply as bestest best heterosexual life buddies). This reunion just felt somewhat lacking to me.

Mary was a bit of a gooseberry throughout most of the episode, and took the focus away from the Sherlock/John dynamic. She was too much of a strong character to be included in those crucial early scenes…I found that my attention was on her and her reactions, rather than what was playing out between the boys. And when John and Sherlock are on the train, finally together, finally alone, and we get the big emotional build up when it looks like they’ve failed and the bomb is going to detonate…John admits what we’ve waited two years to hear him say…and then Sherlock’s just like ‘meh, it was all just a joke. Mwaha, look, made you think we wuz gonna die. Snerk’. I mean, I know Sherlock is socially impaired, but John has always been the one person that he genuinely respects and cares for. That whole sequence just didn’t sit right with me. In fact, Sherlock’s asshat-ness really threw me for most of the episode. I expected something more from him. Some sign of emotional distress, more hints of the burden that he’s been carrying alone for the past two years. Benny and Martin did a fantastic job, acting wise, all the ingredients were there…but it just all played out a little too smoothly, and I didn’t really feel like the script supported that these were two guys that had really loved (platonically, romantically, whatever) and missed each other for two years.

I dunno. Just my opinion. Will rewatch it again tomorrow and see if another viewing changes things.

am not a big fan of (any) sherlock holmes but have watched all these new series, well its more 'on in the background' tbh.

has sherlocks character changed in this episode from previous episodes? he was very funny and happy. whereas in others hes very dour and not up for a laugh?

I preferred it to Doyle's version but still thought it was quite poor.

They had plenty of time to come up with a great episode, and they didn't. The 'case', the non-explanations, and the John Sherlock relationship were all like separate fragments, rather than forming a coherent whole, and while there were clever ideas in each, the result was something less than the sum of it's parts, rather than more.

I quite liked it, but it seemed almost like a filler episode, which is not that great as they only do 3 episodes every 2 years or so.

As I said above, I think they've been playing this aspect up more and more and it doesn't work. He just looks like an arsehole. Holmes is traditionally very good with people because it benefits him to be so. He really isn't that clueless or heartless.

Mrs Hudson: "My boys! Back together!"

I love John's blog and the comments afterwards.

You finished with my head, cause I kind of need it for work tomorrow?

She really doesn't play a huge part in the original stories, and when she dies (just how she dies Sir Arthur never actually bothers to relate) Watson just moves back in to 221b and never mentions her again.

Oddly in the novels she dies some time after Holmes fakes his death, because upon Holmes return he mentions her death to Watson. So on TV she's turning up just as she originally died.

An enjoyable return. Probably about the best 85mins that's been on, over the festive period. Mind, that wouldn't be hard Looking forward to the next instalment on Sunday now.

More reviews

Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra...es-cumberbatch
Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...se-review.html

Shelock had 13 scenarios. But the ones we've seen are additional to these 13, as they were from the fans

IIRC some people have figured out with the timelines that Watson must have been married 5 times! He was obviously a bit slack with losing them. Unsurprisingly most versions simply stick to Mary being his wife these days.

Who mentioned what they have in common? He simply made the observation that it was more comprehensible than Christmas Doctor Who.