'Sherlock' Season 4 (episodes 1 and 2) - TV Review

Season 4 of "Sherlock" consists of three episodes: "The Six Thatchers," "The Lying Detective," and "The Final Problem."

Sherlock Holmes is a detective, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle did, on a couple occasions, put Sherlock in direct personal danger (Moriarty), but most of the stories were about Sherlock solving cases. But Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the people behind this modern re-imagining of Sherlock, didn't feel this was enough. Every episode is now about one of the main players being in deep personal danger. And there are deaths - and unbelievably narrow escapes, in every episode. I'm entirely failing to see what's the problem with having Sherlock solving problems at arm's length: it was an extremely successful formula for Conan Doyle. I suppose that Moffat and Gatiss have made it more personal from the start, but not like this. Two episodes in high gear with full, in-your-face absurdity and cliff-hangers between episodes has done me in.

The series started in 2010 with "A Study in Pink," which gave us what amounts to "the origin story" of Holmes and Watson, as they meet, become flat-mates, and learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. I've made it this far into the series because I thought "A Study in Pink" was one of the best stand-alone detective movies ever made.

I made it through to the end of season 4, episode 2, and have no intention whatsoever of finding out about the third (non-canon) sibling we've been introduced to who appears in episode 3. I'm done with the show.