winobliss-09728 This was most clever and entertaining episode. I absolutely love this interpretation of Sherlock Holmes. I also enjoyed they way the writers managed to go back and fourth in time. The excellent acting of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in these roles makes this one of the best programs to watch.The writing is terrific with a plot that had more ups and downs than a mountain range, more ins and outs than a maze and more twists and turns than a dozen corkscrews, in short it was a triumph. Starting with a Victorian-era impossible murder with an even more impossible murderer, guest appearances by all the previous supporting cast including a massively-bloated Mycroft, surely a homage to Sydney Greenstreet and the return of the master-criminal we've all missed, a premonition of another husband-slaying in a big old house after dark, a recreation of the real Reichenbach Fall climax of yore, an ingenious denouement anticipating female suffrage years later but perhaps the best thing of all was the promise of a new series to come. BRAVO!!!

pjgs200 Overall, I really liked the Gothic portions of this episode, and overweight Mycroft was very entertaining. I expected this episode to be a one off, and I was disappointed to see that it wasn't. The direction was great, and the story was good, but the Mind-palace twist was unnecessary. The episode became hard to follow and messy. I really was enjoying the mystery, but all of it being in Sherlock's head seemed like a way to justify the episode being in the 1800s, which didn't need justifying. It ruined the great mystery we had that was hugely entertaining. The back and forth from the 1800s to modern Sherlock was disorienting. The Abominable Bride would have been much better as a standalone episode. I appreciate the Gothic portions, as they were a good kind of weird, but the ties into last season were unnecessary and unexpected (not in a good way). It was billed as a one-off, but it wasn't. Overall- 6/10

pruiett This was purported to be a flashback to the 1890s and a more "true" depiction of Conan Doyle's Holmes. It was a dark and hopeless episode centered on Holmes overdosing on cocaine and hallucinating the entire story. Holmes was at his worst: arrogant, aloof, and depressed. Death, infidelity, murder, and quasi-homosexual obsessions and innuendo between Holmes and Moriarty made for a totally unedifying movie. It starts out dark and ends even more darkly. Never a ray of virtue, hope, or wholesome values.The writers and producers of this episode seem proud of their work. But unless you are a Goth drug addict who wants to wallow in darkness for 90 minutes, this is not for you, and definitely not for family viewing.Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, did a good job of interpreting Doyle without dragging the viewer into total darkness. The screen writers, directors, and actors of their many movies provided some sunshine at least at the end of the story.When "artists" have to resort to continual and amplified displays of gore, lust, sexual innuendo, and drug addiction, it is a sign of a lack of creativity. Modern "Hollywood" has spent years nurturing in its audience a taste for unsavory, crude, and bawdy junk-food entertainment and fills its menu with nothing else it seems.As you can tell, I am disappointed with the new "normal" in movies.

Gabo Amorim Shetrlock is definitely my favorite TV-series and I was really excited for this episode, because it was going to be at the Victorian era and with apparently a dark case for sherlock to solve. The problem is that the storytelling was very messy, there is no great conclusion to the case, he simply solves it while there is another story running (no spoiler). In the end, everything was just a promo for season 4 and is related to Moriarty's death and the sherlock's true reality. Good things: Victorian era was beautifully represented and the acting is magnificent and a good and promising end. Bad: Confusing storytelling. I would give 8/10