Reaction to "His Last Vow"
If it's canon that Sherlock - our Sherlock - had a drug problem in the past, and it certainly looked that way with Mycroft getting Anderson and his friend to search the flat, taking a dose of heroin and then being on morphine would seem to be a great way to get the habit restarted. I hope Moffat and Gatiss are not going to make the Sherlock they humanized so superhuman that he can overcome a resurgent drug addiction through force of will.
Since they gave Mary a real name, though we weren't told what it was, I wonder if it will appear in Season 4.
I have received the impression that some people feel as betrayed as John did that Mary was (if Magnussen was telling the truth) an assassin and black ops specialist - was the Black Widow, basically. And yet, she planned to spend her life as Mrs. John Watson. There's no suggestion that she was exploiting him for his proximity to Sherlock: Sherlock was supposed to be dead!
If John unconsciously picked Mary for her dangerous qualities, she very likely did the same. They're a short, plain, jumper-wearing version of the assassin couple in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".
Sherlock liked Mary, esteemed Mary, trusted Mary to look after John : I think she's okay.
I quite liked Janine, thought that she and Sherlock had chemistry. While I certainly don't ship them, I think, as she said, they could have been friends. And I think Sherlock was struck by that, that someone as normative as Janine still saw enough in the real him to like that she would have wanted to have been his friend.
I do have a bit of trouble with Mary shooting Sherlock, although it led to a great showpiece sequence (interesting that Molly is now one of his inner voices). But I *guess* it makes sense: she knew John would be there, didn't want him finding out, didn't want him being arrested: shooting Sherlock put him, the witness, out of action long enough to buy her a bit of time. There weren't a lot of other ways to shut him up quickly.
Even though Mary shooting Sherlock kept Sherlock from being suspected in the assault on Magnussen, I'm not clear on how Janine found out that Sherlock had seduced her (metaphorically) in order to gain access to Magnussen. It could have passed as a coincidence that they arrived while another assault was going on, as, now that I think about it, it actually was. Only John's presence would have needed explanation, since Sherlock had flashed an engagement ring at Janine to account for his own. I have to conclude that Magnussen told her.
I didn't quite catch what Magnussen had done to Janine, but I gather it was very offensive and added to Sherlock's feeling that Magnussen should die. I kind of hope that she eventually learns that Sherlock was the one who killed Magnussen, and that it was in part (a small part) because of what he'd done to her.
It did take me aback that Sherlock drugged everybody. And Billy Wiggins is a strange addition to the family, although I've read that there's precedent for him in canon.
I'm glad Moriarty is back, or seems to be: it seemed a shame to do away with such a major villain in the second series!
Pursuant to the juxtaposition of Moriarty and Magnussen: I suppose Magnussen thought he couldn't be killed because people would expect that "Appledore" and all their secrets would be found. Yet the end has Magnussen standing alone with two dangerous men, with no security, having just revealed that he has no failsafe. He should have expected them to hurt him.
So that makes me wonder if he *does* have a failsafe, whether floods of compromising information will flood the airwaves now that he's dead. It seems a very "him" thing to do: ruin everybody he tortured as a final, unstoppable step to show that their cooperation with him only bought them time, not safety.
Does anyone know what the post-credit twist was supposed to be? My copy ended with someone in period clothing nearly being stabbed by a dagger, which hardly seems related to Sherlock, the show.
I've expanded my comments, by the way. I found I had more to say about Janine.
It just occurred to me to wonder how Molly will react to "Jim" being back! Poor Molly!
I worry about her much less than I used to. She seems to have grown up while Sherlock was playing dead.