Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
[WARNING: Spoilers]
I debated writing about this one since it is technically a show and not a movie, and also because I have only ever written about Sherlock as re-watches. However, this one was a stand-alone that played in theatres, and the series could technically be seen as a small number of short TV movies. Also, I may need someone to clarify what happened.
Let me try to sum it up. Set in the 1890s, this Christmas special features the bizarre case of a woman who commits suicide on balcony after her marriage, then appears in the night to murder her husband in front of more witnesses. It appears to both witnesses and the detective duo that the woman came back to life, then returned to the morgue. In the following months, the ghost of the dead bride begins to murder other men. Sherlock being Sherlock believes, one might even say "knows," that the supernatural and resurrection are not possible. After a terrifying stakeout, Mary helps John and Sherlock to find the truth of the case. The solution: the bride faked her initial suicide, then killed herself after killing her husband and every murder since her actual death was perpetrated by an underground organization of women (potentially all women) who are taking revenge on men who belittle them or treat them unfairly and/or inappropriately. And then Sherlock wakes up on the plane after Mycroft called him back to deal with the new Moriarty problem, and he is struggling to come back to reality after his drug use. The dreams keep coming, but include things like the bride resurrecting and Sherlock being trapped in the empty grave as he tries to prove that she really is dead. One is a reimagining of the Reichenbach fall (set at the actual falls) in which Sherlock struggles with Moriarty, but Watson interferes and Sherlock survives while Moriarty goes over. The more that Sherlock comes in and out of his drug-induced visions, the more difficult it is to figure out whether the old or modern storyline is really the dream. Assuming that this fits into the canon of the previous episodes, the 1890s were in fact a vision or dream of his in which Sherlock was attempting to grapple with the fact that Moriarty may be back, and if so, how.
So where do I begin? I think that the whole thing makes sense to me now that I've had all this time to think it over, but I fear that watching it a second time would make all of my thoughts fuzzy again. It was a very different Sherlock story, but it was meant to be. In parts of The Abominable Bride, it was clear that Moffat and Gatiss were saying, "If you really can't wait for another episode, then fine have this." Knowing them, the ambiguity and confusion of this episode was intentional so that fans would be caught up discussing this episode so much that they would stop begging for more.
I have so much respect for Moftiss (as they are affectionately known to fans) for managing to create a story so completely unrelated to those which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, and for making it fit in so well to their series with its complexity and the Sherlock universe over-all.
The women's rights side of this episode was a welcome surprise. The writers cleverly used the setting of a time when women were fighting hard for equality to comment on the equality which is still being sought today, though perhaps in a different way and on a different scale. I also thought that it was a nice touch having Molly still be the coroner, but pretending to be a man. And I loved that Watson had figured it out, but Holmes hadn't.
What this episode makes me wonder is, if the bride blew out her brains but didn't die, has Moriarty done the same thing? Or is this all just Sherlock being paranoid? What does Season 4 have in store for us? I can't wait!
I debated writing about this one since it is technically a show and not a movie, and also because I have only ever written about Sherlock as re-watches. However, this one was a stand-alone that played in theatres, and the series could technically be seen as a small number of short TV movies. Also, I may need someone to clarify what happened.
Let me try to sum it up. Set in the 1890s, this Christmas special features the bizarre case of a woman who commits suicide on balcony after her marriage, then appears in the night to murder her husband in front of more witnesses. It appears to both witnesses and the detective duo that the woman came back to life, then returned to the morgue. In the following months, the ghost of the dead bride begins to murder other men. Sherlock being Sherlock believes, one might even say "knows," that the supernatural and resurrection are not possible. After a terrifying stakeout, Mary helps John and Sherlock to find the truth of the case. The solution: the bride faked her initial suicide, then killed herself after killing her husband and every murder since her actual death was perpetrated by an underground organization of women (potentially all women) who are taking revenge on men who belittle them or treat them unfairly and/or inappropriately. And then Sherlock wakes up on the plane after Mycroft called him back to deal with the new Moriarty problem, and he is struggling to come back to reality after his drug use. The dreams keep coming, but include things like the bride resurrecting and Sherlock being trapped in the empty grave as he tries to prove that she really is dead. One is a reimagining of the Reichenbach fall (set at the actual falls) in which Sherlock struggles with Moriarty, but Watson interferes and Sherlock survives while Moriarty goes over. The more that Sherlock comes in and out of his drug-induced visions, the more difficult it is to figure out whether the old or modern storyline is really the dream. Assuming that this fits into the canon of the previous episodes, the 1890s were in fact a vision or dream of his in which Sherlock was attempting to grapple with the fact that Moriarty may be back, and if so, how.
So where do I begin? I think that the whole thing makes sense to me now that I've had all this time to think it over, but I fear that watching it a second time would make all of my thoughts fuzzy again. It was a very different Sherlock story, but it was meant to be. In parts of The Abominable Bride, it was clear that Moffat and Gatiss were saying, "If you really can't wait for another episode, then fine have this." Knowing them, the ambiguity and confusion of this episode was intentional so that fans would be caught up discussing this episode so much that they would stop begging for more.
I have so much respect for Moftiss (as they are affectionately known to fans) for managing to create a story so completely unrelated to those which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, and for making it fit in so well to their series with its complexity and the Sherlock universe over-all.
The women's rights side of this episode was a welcome surprise. The writers cleverly used the setting of a time when women were fighting hard for equality to comment on the equality which is still being sought today, though perhaps in a different way and on a different scale. I also thought that it was a nice touch having Molly still be the coroner, but pretending to be a man. And I loved that Watson had figured it out, but Holmes hadn't.
What this episode makes me wonder is, if the bride blew out her brains but didn't die, has Moriarty done the same thing? Or is this all just Sherlock being paranoid? What does Season 4 have in store for us? I can't wait!
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