Reviewed: Sherlock - The Empty Hearse...

With Doctor Who now on the backburner until its return in late 2014, much attention has been turned to the other ratings-busting, cultural touchstone on which Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss work so closely: Sherlock. Nearly two years after we saw (or did we?) the master sleuth fall from the top of St.Bart's (or did he?) and land on the hard pavement below (or was it?), the series returns with everyone wanting to know how Sherlock survived and what happens next.

There must have been an audible groan and much gnashing of teeth when we opened on the 'solution'. (Bungees? Derren Brown? Really? Wasn't he already busy covering up the Tardis's arrival at Trafalgar Square?)  Thankfully, there will have been a release of held breath when this 'first' version of events proved to be a genuinely unlikely chain-yank to the masses and merely the guilt-feeling guesswork of disgraced police-officer and his geeky conspiracy-theorists. It was the first of several versions of how the death-defying climax could have been resolved.

Holmes, as we know, survived the previous story and we discover he's been travelling the world 'dismantling' Moriarty's empire piece-by-piece, keeping his survival a secret. Except from Mycroft. And Molly. And his parents. And possibly others. But John Watson didn't know... he hoped, but that hope was fading and now, two years on, he is preapring to move on with the help of soon-to-be fiancee Mary Morstan (Amanda Abbington) and the ill-advised moustache he thinks makes him more distinguished.  Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) dislikes the moustache and thinks Mary is probably a beard, but wishes everyone well.  But with Sherlock now back in London - Mycroft needing his help with an apparent 'underground network' threatening a major bombing - the time has come to tell Watson that his friend and partner is back. Holmes is sure that Watson will take itall  on the chin. Unsurprisingly, the reaction is more of the bloody-nose variety.

However, a bigger game's afoot and as the media-storm (that has conveniently cleared him of the charges from last season)  gathers, Holmes must use all his abilities and friends to discover what's really going on.

The action quotient comes later as Sherlock and Watson's fiancee raced to a bonfire-night party (perhaps indicating that the original broadcast was due earlier?) to save John from a burning death at the heart of the potential funeral pyre. There's a real sense of claustraphobia and urgency here, though it ultimately proves a distraction to the main thread. And, yes, closer-inspection might reveal that the story itself was a bit of a mess - the actual investigation seeming to be very closely inspired by V for Vendetta rather than Arthur Conan Doyle - but the Powers That Be knew we were really here for the reunion of Holmes and Watson. Though with moments of genuine pathos, Gatiss's script had a lightness of touch, making much of the absurdity of certain elements and the genuine mixture of emotions that someone feels when  genuine relief is mixed with genuine anger. Sherlock genuinely realises he needs to apologise to John for not revealing he escaped death, but still weighs that revelation with as much import as ridiculing his partner's ridiculous moustache.

So, after all this time, do we really know how Sherlock cheated fate? Moffat and Gatiss are predictably, even annoyingly evasive in the exact details. Several versions were on show (including an hilarious fan-fiction variant) and the message is that it's less important than the fact he did. It's a narrative escape-hatch used too often in another Moffat show, but here it's at least genuine fun. And, hey, Cumberbatch and Freeman are on great form. 

If the argument is being made, with some justification, that Doctor Who has recently suffered from a vagueness and lack of clarity in its resolutions, then it's clear to see where more of the time and effort has gone in the last year or so. Yes, there will be some of the same niggles of style over content, but there's a more detailed and  attention-received complexity on show here (even if sometimes a convenient one) that is a more satisfying version of 'hand-wavium' than it's time-travelling counterpart. Holmes remains a delicious mixture of functioning sociopath who enjoys the attention and befuddlement of others as much as he pretends to despise it. As much as his rekindling of his friendship with John, his treatement of Molly (Louise Brearley) within this episode is especially touching, though he'd probably deny the intent himself. 

Much of this much-anticipated return was guaranteed and styled to entertain the audience, over self-referencing the existing Sherlock mythology, even to the casting of various supporting characters with relatives of the actors themselves.  It was a clear message from the production that it was embracing and mocking the popularity of the show and characters on a metatextual level rarely seen in such a mainstream show - except, again, maybe Doctor Who. Maybe it was all a bit TOO clever and self-congratulatory at points, too many nudges, winks and chortles  about how aware it all was... but the zingers and zigzags were there to cushion the blow like an air-bag outside St Bart's....

Sometimes silly not never stupid, The Hearse may have been Empty  but as a vehicle for snark-filled sleuthing it was full to the brim of that finally-embraced deer-stalker and it's still good to welcome the master back...