Review: 'Sherlock' The Great Game

By Ian Cullen Aug 13, 2010, 4:10 GMT

Synopsis: Five deadly puzzles. A deranged bomber. A battle of wits ensues between Sherlock and the shadowy stranger who seems to know all the answers.

Synopsis: Five deadly puzzles. A deranged bomber. A battle of wits ensues between Sherlock and the shadowy stranger who seems to know all the answers.

The last episode of the series really amps up the challenge for Sherlock, and if being given 12 hours to solve crimes while dancing to the tune of a deranged bomber, who is using his victims to relay messages to Sherlock over the phone with clues and other more trivial information isn’t a big puzzle, I don’t know what is.

While all of this is going on, Watson is working on what is seemingly an unrelated case for Holmes' older brother Mycroft, who is played devilishly well by Mark Gatiss.

This episode picks up the pace somewhat and is more in line with ‘A Study In Scarlett’ in terms of the episodes pacing, only the road to the episodes conclusion, which as it happens is a cliffhanger is filled with puzzles that only the worlds only consulting detective can solve. Puzzles, which have been devised by the worlds only consulting criminal James Moriarty. The iconic arch nemesis to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.

The episode has several cases within it, which are all related and all lead to the master criminal, and the confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty is mind blowing. Especially given that Moriarty begins the confrontation via Doctor Watson who has been wired up to a bomb.

Andrew Scott puts in a chilling performance as Moriarty, who is a tad more unhinged than Sherlock.

The close of the episode sees a stalemate between the two arch rivals, but was a big ballsy gamble for the writers given that they didn’t know the series would get picked up for a second year.

Some brilliant performances all round, and for my money the strongest of the three episode run of the series.