Penny Thoughts ‘14—Sherlock: His Last Vow (2014) ****

TV-14, 90 min.

Creators: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat

Director: Nick Hurran

Writers: Steven Moffat, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (works)

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Amanda Abbington, Mark Gatiss, Una Stubbs, Lars Mikkelsen, Andrew Scott, Louise Breasley, Rupert Graves, Jonathan Aris, Lindsay Duncan, Yasmine Akram, Tom Brooke, Wanda Ventham, Timothy Cariton

As with any good suspense/mystery series “Sherlock” series three ends with some shocking developments. There are three whoppers in “His Last Vow”, one happens pretty early on in the proceedings, one verifies Sherlock’s claims that he is a high functioning sociopath and the third brings back one of the most beloved villains in all of television. Of course, I would not deign to spoil any of these developments with any more details, but…. Pow! “Sherlock” gets it done in the cliffhanger department; that’s for sure.

That being said, I’m not too sure how much more I can discuss about this final mystery of the third season of “Sherlock” films from the BBC. Like always, the title, “His Last Vow” refers to an official Sherlock story, the final Sherlock adventure penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, at least in terms of chronology. “His Last Bow” has very little to do with this story beyond the fact that the plot involves the theft of British state secrets and the line “There’s an East Wind coming,” is evoked by Sherlock in reference to a big change in store for the crime fighting duo.

As always the storytelling here is top notch with Sherlock’s unique ability to see things visualized in text exhibiting itself in another character. Mary Watson continues to play a large role to the joy and some shock of fans, who seem to universally like the character’s presence in Holmes and Watson’s lives. As always the relationship between Holmes and Watson is the most important aspect of the story; and Watson is still woefully many steps behind Sherlock, yet somehow an invaluable asset to the detective. This series just gets better and better with every adventure. I don’t know if I can wait another year or longer for more.