He was a psychopath and couldn't resist showing off to Holmes.

Holmes knew where the archive was perhaps even earlier than the restaurant scene but he had to be sure.

He knew Magnusson couldn't resist showing off to the great Sherlock Holmes.

Once Holmes had been arrested, it would be easy enough for Magnusson to say that there in fact was a secret vault somewhere after all which would blow wide open on his death. Because no one really knew if that was true or not (apart from Holmes), it would still be too risky to kill him. A similar puzzle to Irene Adlers password on her phone - if you don't know what's true, then nothing is true.

Anyway, in magnussons plan, Holmes would have been severely disgraced and discredited - making his word less creditable.

Also, he was an audacious man, doing things that no other person would consider. He felt invincible. He also didn't know that Holmes is in fact a sociopath which was a fatal error.

Well, I thought it was a brilliant episode, full of fizz and energy and most of all with a lot of Andrew Scott, whose Moriarty I loved. Mrs. Hudson and Molly were a joy, as was Mycroft 'Mike' Holmes. The last episode showed the reason that the Holmes parents had to be introduced, and also shows that the parents aren't quite so ordinary after all.

I loved the junkie Sherlock-protegee and hope he comes back too.

I think Mary's capabilities will be very useful to the Boys in the future, and Sherlock hasn't been canon Conan Doyle at any point anyway.

Whatever the holes in the plot, the writers and actors have created some fabulously engaging characters, and what more could you ask from a TV entertainment?

Much satisfied.

Do you think it was played for laughs though? To me she was absolutely heartbroken that this man she obviously worships could seemingly throw away his gifts. I do hate how women on men violence is played for a laugh (especially in the soaps) but in this case I think it was a justified reaction.

Pfft It was still weak. Mycroft 'the most powerful man in the country' too scared to let Sherlock investigate Magnusson because he thinks Magnusson has a secret cellar with papers in.

He could have stormed he joint if he thought that.

The actor can act more menacing than the children's entertainer that is Moriarty. A waste really.

Just like John Simm in DW we're supposed to see him as a maniac, but I just see someone being asked to overact.

Think of it a bit like the nuclear deterrent.

Magnusson knew secrets so he got his own way. But if he went too far or divulged the secrets then Mycroft and co would take him out.

But Mycroft and co would only take him out if he crossed the line because there were secrets that they didn't want getting out.

Mycroft's role was to keep the secrets secret and Magnusson knew that as long as kept to the right side of the line he would be left alone.

They were worried that Sherlock's probing would push Magnusson over the edge and make him reveal things that they didn't want revealed.

Essentially, yes. Sherlock murdered Magnusson in cold blood but ZOMG, THERE'S MORIARTY!!!!!!!

Irene Adler outsmarted Holmes in the original books. He wasn't infallible.

ETA I know I'm banging on about Appledore.

I did enjoy the programme - most of it good and some of it scintillating
... so don't lump me in with the usual trolls and kranks on here!

If the conclusion is: Magnusson was overconfident I guess we can agree on that.

On reflection Magnusson may have had a number of mind palaces but his deductive reasoning was well below par.

During the scene where Sherlock and Mycroft are smoking together he outlines that Magnusson never causes too much damage to anyone important and is occasionally useful. Therefore not only is he not a problem for the Government (hence them not sending someone in to get rid of him) but he's actually useful to them every now and again. Perhaps quite similarly to Sherlock himself.

Additionally Mycroft declares at the start of the episode that Magnusson is under his protection. From this we can assume one of two things - he's useful enough for Mycroft to want him kept around or he has enough dirt on people that he's able to keep himself secure. Or indeed both of the above.

I did have flashbacks to Simms Master when Moriarty appeared on all the tv screens and Bill boards.

And ,for a mysterious criminal mastermind, at the centre of a web of crime it felt very Dr Evil or even Dr Who , really felt out of place.

I do agree with the point made here.....
I also think that the Moriarty reveal felt a bit too cartoonish and implausible, and the way it was done seemed better suited to a comic book superhero film. It felt more like Batman using his batsignal projection in the sky. I wouldn't have had it revealed on television like that. I'd had have preferred it to be more subtle and ambiguous. One or two messages in the disguised voice sent to Sherlock or Moriarty and to be just left there to leave us hanging.

Apart from those two criticisms, sadly right at the end, I found it to be a wonderful episode and I'm extremely happy about Moriarty being back.

I think Holmes had Magnusson rumbled from the time he realised that the glasses were a red herring. He just needed to be sure which is why he set out to make Magnusson think he'd won so he would become over confident and start boasting.

Better, but in a detective series lasting 4.5 hours of telly I can't remember much detecting actually taking place.

I agree with you on that one.

And it left him profoundly disturbed. Now it's 'yeah, someone fooled me. Where's my gun'.

Nope, his deductive reasoning was bang on, he just didn't realise that Holmes was a cold blooded killer, perhaps because he was not a cold blooded killer. His psychopathy was of a different sort.
He did say he wasn't a killer and he even had men standing by to pull John out of the bonfire. He thought Holmes was like him, but Holmes surprised him by being a cold blooded murderer.

The problem with this though is that Magnusson says that Mycrofts pressure point is Holmes, Holmes is Watson and Watson's is Mary.

Well it doesn't take a genius to realise that works the other way and that by going after Mary you take on Mycroft.

Magnusson was evil and snakelike but in the end he was an idiot who couldn't see the bleeding obvious and who solved Holmes case for him with his big mouth.

But this assumes that Mycroft can be a truly independent actor and as the final scenes of the episode demonstrated he can't. At least not in all things. Mycroft may very well have wanted to take Magnusson out but that decision may also have been out of his hands. Equally its about calculated risk. The potential benefit of having a pressure point directly on Mycroft outweighs the potential for retribution.

Isn't that how it should be?
If he didn't do that wouldn't you be criticising him for bad plotting and continuity being thrown out of the window.
Moffat and Gatiss work together closely on this so isn't it more natural and make a lot of sense for them to work closely together on the writing?

And certainly Mycroft values his job and position very highly indeed. He is also sanguine about his little brother and perhaps realised he can only protect him so much.

And would you say the same about Hercule Poirot? Because Poirot does the same when he comes across a dangerous character who practices evil in a way that the authorities can't deal with.

In fact I was waiting for exactly that criticism off some on here - that this was a copy of Curtains, but apparently the critics don't know their Christie.

I liked the episode even though I moaned a lot about Mary.

He was able to get him off a murder charge !!!