There are a lot of different ways to generate hype for a returning show. An overwhelming majority of them seem to involve releasing some kind of footage or pictures from the upcoming season. Earlier this month, Sherlock followed that conventional route via this teaser, but fortunately for all of us, the beloved, irregularly aired BBC One/ PBS whodunit didn’t stop there. Instead, the producers just dropped a mini-episode to bridge the time between last season’s finale and this season’s premiere, and like everything else related to the show, it’s both a whole lot of fun and slyly clever.
What follows involves spoilers from Season 2. If you’re not caught up yet, you should get on that immediately.
At the end of Season 2, Sherlock, of course, killed himself in order to rid his loved ones from the evil clutches of supervillain Moriarty. Viewers were informed almost immediately via camerashot that the famed detective actually faked his own death, but those in Sherlock’s inner circle have no idea whatsoever. In fact, most of them have come to terms with what has happened, except apparently a bearded-up Anderson who has learned first hand over the years exactly how conniving and brilliant the supposedly deceased sleuth actually is.
If you haven’t watched it yet, the above video features Inspector Lestrade fighting off a host of wild theories on Sherlock’s whereabouts delivered by Anderson. He’s heard rumblings that the lanky genius has been embedded with monks, working behind the scenes in India and serving as a juror on high profile European cases. In the end, his theories are all dismissed, but not before a slight bit of lingering doubt is implanted in Lestrade’s brain and later passed along to Watson via some found footage.
If you want to know how good Sherlock is, look no further than many fans’ complete lack of interest in watching Elementary. The CBS procedural is actually way better than you would expect. In fact, it’s arguably the best detective procedural on American television, but in Sherlock’s lofty shadow, it fails to attract any kind of critical acclaim or widespread buzz.
We don’t know a ton about the forthcoming series, but it apparently will introduce Charles Augustus Magnussen and debut in the United States on PBS in January. If you’ve never watched the program before, fortunately for you, you’ve only missed six episodes and can very easily catch up prior to the airing. Now, do yourself a favor and carve out several hours during the Christmas holiday to get that done. You’ll thank me later.
