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Sherlock: Season 3

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 23 Critics

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 754 Ratings

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8.5

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8.5	User Score Universal acclaim based on 754 Ratings

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Sherlock

Season Details & Credits

BBC-1 | PBS | BBC | Season Premiere Date: January 1, 2014

Starring: Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch

Summary: Two years have passed since the end of The Reichenbach Fall and Sherlock returns to London to find not everything is the same in the first episode, which was loosely based on Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Empty House.

Creator: Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss

Genre(s): Drama, Suspense

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Show Guide

88
Series Overview
88
Season 3 Overview
Air Date: January 1, 2014
tbd
S3:E3. His Last Vow
Air Date: January 12, 2014
tbd
S3:E2. The Sign of Three
Air Date: January 5, 2014
tbd
S3:E1. The Empty Hearse
Air Date: January 1, 2014

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

David Wiegand

Jan 14, 2014

The performances are even better than in previous years, with brand new but fully credible sides of Holmes’ and Watson’s characters. And the writing, by Moffat and Gatiss, is in a league by itself. Read full review

100

Nancy DeWolf Smith

Jan 16, 2014

The PBS series is more marvelous, and thrilling, than ever. Read full review

100

Margaret Lyons

Jan 17, 2014

Sherlock (and Sherlock [the show]) is that good, we do forgive his callousness, and yeah, we'll wait for two years for his return and never let our fervor flag. In exchange, when the miracle happens and he (and the show) come back, he's as good or maybe better than ever. Read full review

Brian Lowry

Jan 15, 2014

Mostly, the show deserves to do well because it’s so bloody good--smart, whimsical and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, finding fresh, distinctive avenues into this venerable character, even with multiple incarnations currently in circulation. Read full review

Ted Pigeon

Jan 15, 2014

[Sherlock's third season] at last settles into its own assured rhythm, simultaneously honoring the swift escapist roots of Doyle's writing while also mounting a heady meditation on friendship and brotherhood. Read full review

Jeff Jensen

Jan 10, 2014

Watching these two friends bond anew--and meeting a more empathetic. vulnerable Holmes--makes for warm and witty fun. [17 Jan 2014, p.61]

Hank Stuever

Jan 17, 2014

Sherlock moves swiftly and intelligently but also a little too coldly, like a long commercial for better WiFi..... Cumberbatch’s take on Holmes’s narcissism can come off as skeevishly robotic. If not for Freeman’s deeper, more human work as Watson, the style would soon go sterile. Read full review

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User Score

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8.5

User Reviews

manishnair1989

Apr 21, 2014

Sherlock Holmes has always been the fascination of crime investigation fans all over the world. Many would like to imagine what would he be if had all the modern technology at his disposal to solve crimes, he'd simply be an automated crime solving machine. The makers have wonderfully imbibedSherlock Holmes has always been the fascination of crime investigation fans all over the world. Many would like to imagine what would he be if had all the modern technology at his disposal to solve crimes, he'd simply be an automated crime solving machine. The makers have wonderfully imbibed the technologies of this era to take this version to a whole higher level. Plus the equally matched counterpart villains make it the must watch of the century. No matter what you understand about Sherlock, he shall always baffle you in the end.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

whovian1

Jan 22, 2014

this was even better than the last one which is almost impossible. its hard to believe that some people hate this show its incredible this is the greatest to happen to entertainment since doctor who and breaking bad. apparently the creators of the show were not expecting this show to be athis was even better than the last one which is almost impossible. its hard to believe that some people hate this show its incredible this is the greatest to happen to entertainment since doctor who and breaking bad. apparently the creators of the show were not expecting this show to be a hit let alone a global phenomenon… Expand

2 of 7 users found this helpful25

RedOwlReviews

Jan 19, 2014

After a year and a half hiatus, the greatest British television phenomenon since Doctor Who proves that, going into its third season, it's not planning on slowing down or falling for third season slump. BBC's Sherlock, which features electrifying writing, high-end production, and absolutelyAfter a year and a half hiatus, the greatest British television phenomenon since Doctor Who proves that, going into its third season, it's not planning on slowing down or falling for third season slump. BBC's Sherlock, which features electrifying writing, high-end production, and absolutely phenomenal acting, hits the ground running in its first episode, resolving the cliffhanger of the decade from season two while warmly inviting its viewers back into its slick crime-solving, ego-busting milieu.
If there is one thing in this first episode that stands out as particularly laudable, it is Martin Freeman's dazzling portrayal of John Watson. After spending more than a year coping with the traumatic suicide of his closest friend (the feelings run so deep, some will speculate it goes beyond platonic), he reacts to the untimely and jocular return of Sherlock with such passion and credibility that he uncompromisingly validates - no, reifies - no, objectifies the character he has been able to establish with only nine hours of television. If Freeman (and to a lesser extent, Cumberbatch) are not showered with nominations by around this time of the year in 2015, you can be rest assured I will throw a fit.
Glossy visual effects create more elaborated manifestations of Sherlock's enigmatic thought processes (more words are floating in mid-air, more images and memories whoosh by the screen to the sound of beeping technology and murmuring voices), but it's always for the better. Although some may consider the crime the duo solve in the first episode to be a little underdeveloped and convoluted, any returning fan (I included) will proudly proclaim how blown away they were by what is arguably the most impressive season premiere in Sherlock history. Unsurprisingly, the Brits at BBC have done it again.

FINAL SCORE: 97.5 (almost perfect ---------------o----- perfect)… Expand

9 of 17 users found this helpful98

zero298

Jan 25, 2014

It took me a while to come around to this show, but I kept wanting to come back and re-watch all the episodes over from the beginning. This season starts off strong, but episode 2 is stellar and makes the whole season great. The 3rd episode is the weakest to me though. The villain is anIt took me a while to come around to this show, but I kept wanting to come back and re-watch all the episodes over from the beginning. This season starts off strong, but episode 2 is stellar and makes the whole season great. The 3rd episode is the weakest to me though. The villain is an interesting complement to Sherlock, but its ending is bothersome. Still, a great season though.… Expand

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

TaisenZ

Aug 2, 2019

Cada vez menos apresentando o desenvolvimento dos casos, apesar de ainda ser divertida de se ver, é evidente a perda da essência que a série tinha no começo.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

rgang

Jan 21, 2014

this is probably catering towards a larger audience, the series packs a lot of drama,delves more into character development, and relationships... but falls kinda flat when it comes to what Conan Doyle's canon is known for, mysteries/story-telling

5 of 10 users found this helpful55

NikolayG

Aug 19, 2017

Atrocious. Among the worst television ever produced.

It can best be explained by discussing the episode that really killed the series. So, with regard to one episode only, I am about to provide numerous spoilers. So .... SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT - regarding only the blackmailerAtrocious. Among the worst television ever produced.

It can best be explained by discussing the episode that really killed the series. So, with regard to one episode only, I am about to provide numerous spoilers. So ....

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT - regarding only the blackmailer episode, which I believe was the final one of the season.

SPOILERS START NOW.

The final episode (inspired somewhat by The Aventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, by Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Jeremy Brett Sherlcok Holmes episode, The Master Blackmailer) took the cake. You see there is a blackmailer who wears computerized eyeglasses - like Google Glass - with a screen that recognizes the faces of everyone the blackmailer looks at and - through a connection to some kind of grand computer database - provides the vitals on each person, the most important vital being their "pressure point" or blackmail-worthy secret. Sherlock's client wishes that Sherlock would get back from this evil fellow compromising letters he has in his possession.

It's a long ridiculous tale, but by the end we learn that Watson's wife secretly is an assassin who has killed several people including for the CIA, and that Watson doesn't even know her real name. In seeking to keep the blackmailer from divulging this information, which he has on a USB drive, she gets the thumb drive back from him at gun point, and when Sherlock bursts in during the middle of all this, Watson's wife turns and deliberately shoots Sherlock in the chest knowing full well that it is Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock survives and for some reason (because she dialed an ambulance I believe) he forgives her and all is well. But he's still after the blackmailer. Ultimately the blackmailer promises to show Sherlock his grand database and takes him into a room where the blackmailer sits in a chair and says that his mind is the database - that he sits there memorizing all the dirt he learns about people, and that there is no actual computer database at all.

Now this is stupid for two reasons. First, he had google glass-like computer eyeglasses on for the first part of the show and we saw the computerized information coming up on the screen in front of his eyes - so what is he even talking about? Second, if he had no backup to his information, no documentation, none of it could be used to blackmail anyone, but when confronted with this rather obvious fact he says blithely, "I don't deal in information; I deal in news," meaning he can publish it and ruin someone anyway, which is obviously not true or the tabloids would have ruined everyone by now. So that's rubbish. Thirdly, he had letters - he showed them to Sherlock - that Sherlock's original client in this episode wanted back as they contained proof of something that could be used for blackmail. So the whole ending where all the blackmail info is just in the bad guy's head doesn't make any sense and is incosistent with the first portion of the episode.

Finally, as if a blackmailer without proof (except those letters and his computer glasses which I suppose in the latter part of the show we are supposed to forgot existed in the earlier part of the show) and as if Watson's wife being an assassin who intentionally shoots Sherlock in the chest, aren't bad enough, in the end Sherlock shoots and kills the blackmailer in cold blood to rid the world of the information in his head and free everyone from his potential blackmailing. Yes, Sherlock Holmes is a cold blooded murderer. The man had no gun, no weapon, and made no suggestion that he had any weapon. Sherlock just popped him like a Mafioso.

This is the episode that many times over ruined this series for me. It had gotten quite bad but this was not just jumping the shark; it was jumping a dozen sharks and a killer whale. Sherlock is done.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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