User Reviews

Legendary episode I must say.

The way everything was shown and the intensity of it...just cant be explained in words!! The music added a lot of emotions to the scenes and the love between the character that is shown is downright brilliant!

What Sherlock can do for his near and dear ones is just amazing to see! and how much Mary and John loves each other is beyond explanation. The first half of the show kept me on my toes and I was literally pulling my hair off!!

Overall, I must say, this episode will give those people, who thought the previous ones were bad, something to think upon and be amazed!

Series 3 is excellent, and the finale maintains the standard. It doesn't surprise me that this episode is rated so incredibly highly.

A few vague elements from the works of Conan Doyle, most notably the case of the Master Blackmailer, and instead of Milverton, we get Magnussen, a Scandinavian, with an unusual gift. Lars Mikkelsen is the standout, he's repulsive, charismatic and utterly loathsome in equal measure, he will leave you feeling uncomfortable.

The writing is terrific, it's slick, imaginative and bold, very clever. If I'm honest I'd say the scene with Moriarty is a bit too clever and smug for its own good, this sense of being to smart would affect Series 4.

All in all, I would say it's one of the best, it puts you through a rollercoaster of emotions, it's fizzing with energy.

Amazing. 10/10

So basically, that episode was bloody magnificent. I am confused and still shaking and drying my tears, but I have never had that experience from watching an episode of a TV series, with anything actually.

I have watched Sherlock since The Fall episode, I obviously fell in absolute love with the show after watching such an amazing episode. I didn't think that they could top it, but they have topped it ten fold.

If you have not watched Sherlock, I highly advice that you do. You will never have this kind of experience with any other show or movie, I promise you that now.

I don't understand how people don't like Sherlock, I mean.. have they even watched it? are they not a highly functioning psychopath? obviously not.

Thank you BBC. omg.

O dear, o dear, o dear

This one absolutely contains every attractive aspect that any motion picture has to offer.

This is the ultimate joy of watching a TV series and the best possible finale for a season.

You're going to feel many things during this incredible 89 minutes of breathtaking show:

Fear, betrayal, unexplainable surprise, witty, satisfaction, sick sarcasm, real romance and ....

And it's amazing how different characters and situations click together to form this overwhelmingly fulfilling episode.

PS: Just watch it (over and over again) and don't forget the post credit scene...

Haters gonna hate but believe me, if you like Sherlock this episode will blow your mind and satisfy the core of your heart.

If you were bored by the first two episodes like me, this episode will remove the boringness. This episode was very much needed to restore the reputation of Sherlock series. This one episode proves Sherlock is here to stay and blowing minds in regular interval.

As always, Benedict Cumberbatch did a fabulous work along with Martin Freeman. Besides, you'll always like conversation between Mycroft and Sherlock. Their witty conversation will give you pleasure to watch. Enjoy this episode. The villain is just as good as it needed to be.

Moffat and Gattis nailed it.

Sherlock is recruited to help stop a media mogul from blackmailing a member of the House of Lords.

This is an amusing and compelling episode with some surprise character moments and the usual strong banter.

There is little I can say about the plot without spoilers so I will just say that it periodically throws dramatic twists and revelations at the audience and ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger.

The character development is probably the strongest aspect of the writing. Poor Dr Watson is caught in the middle of everything as usual and is put through the wringer once more. Martin Freeman shows excellent range in portraying this character. Benedict Cumberbatch is great as always, likewise Mark Gatiss.

Lars Mikkelson is hideously creepy as the primary antagonist, but the character is written as a fairly one dimensional villain in my opinion.

The cinematography, editing and general visuals are up the usual high standards of the show.

After watching for about one and a half hour, I was thinking that this was like a usual sherlock episode (you know usually a great one). But then I saw the last two minutes to realize that it was an epic one.

As usual the concept and the story was great. And the direction was superb. The thing I hate a bit was that they show sherlock a bit emotional. But its also good some times. The writer had done justice to the season opener. I hope he will do the same for the next season. You will know what I meant if you see this episode.

Really waiting for the next season to come. Highly recommended for watching.

Well after completing three series i can say that so far the journey was extraordinary . Series 3 may not be the best series probably because of the second episode the three signs but the first and particularly the last one,his last vow were awesome. I fervently wish that the entire team of sherlock comes with a bang this time . And i can say that i am deeply satisfied how the series is running. Talk about favorites,Than my personal favorites were three episodes the Reichenberg falls , a scandal in Bulgaria and his last vow and the best series was undoubtedly series 2.I just hope that they never change the cast especially martin freeman

This episode is amazing, just like every other episode, but speaking as a danish person, it's so awesome to see a character on tv that is danish, personally I've never seen it happen before, and he is an amazing villain really well acted and well written and just over all incredible!

The first series of Sherlock was brilliant, the second series nearly matched it and this third series started off well enough.................but then went downhill rapidly.

The problem for me sees to be that writers have become rather self-indulgent and self-congratulatory. The aim of the script seems to be to show the viewer how clever the writer is (and to give the impression that the writer is more clever than the viewer) rather than to actually provide entertainment.

Sherlock stories don't need to be run at break-neck speeds, with more plot twists than a spiral of DNA. They should be given time to develop and tease rather than rush from A to B at a million miles and hour. The comic book style editing doesn't help either, it just increases the likelihood of an epileptic seizure.

Where has the whimsical, wry humour gone? The thoughtful interplay between the characters? The careful plot development? Lost in the belief that modern television audiences don't have the patience to enjoy something that builds to a crescendo rather than starting with a big bang and then attempting to hold your attention by turning Sherlock into some sort of pseudo action hero.

Not good - the writers have lost the plot! 3/10 - must do better in future.

Who'd have thought that a Scandinavian media magnate blackmailing political dignitaries as a pastime would be a compelling villain in a programme of Sherlock's calibre? Well, brownie point if you did, but that's not what matters. Instead, it's that "His Last Vow" managed to make me look forward to the return of Sherlock again after the third series only had me coming up with more and more imaginative synonyms for 'disappointment' thus far.

The affable mister I was alluding to goes by the name of Charles Augustus Magnussen and makes no bones about him having the characteristics of a bellend by his licking a woman's face to compare the taste and smell of her perfume and his mistaking the mantelpiece in Sherlock's flat for a lavatory. Sherlock and John start the investigation rolling, the episode gets gripping, the game is on. But around the 30-minute-mark, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss interrupt the extravaganza to bring you Mary shooting Sherlock. Excuse me for a moment, while I go ramming my head against a wall in utter bafflement of what has just happened.

Assessing this composedly, such a radical turn of BLOODY HELL, WHAT THE ACTUAL @$#*%! WAS THAT?

Ah hem, now, let me try that again: such a radical turn of events can easily fall into the category of surprise for nothing but surprise's sake, and I wasn't immediately convinced by Sherlock's latest tricking its viewership. However, with the help of flashbacks and mind palace visits, screenwriter Moffat quelled my confusion and scepticism and instead transformed it into admiration. In fact, I have come to consider it one of the most impressive about-turns in recent television history, making way for an astonishing jaunt to Sherlock's subconscious and the nearly perfect second half of this episode.

The ingenuity of Sherlock also lies in cuts as the one from John, Mary, and Sherlock's fiery encounter at Leinster Gardens to Christmas at the Holmeses', where Mycroft brilliantly comments his brother's recuperation with: »Am I happy too? I haven't checked.« Thinking about it, he would basically be Sherlock if his score on the prick/charmer scale were just a little more balanced. Apart from such fine writing that one has been able to bank on even at the programme's shoddiest moments, "His Last Vow" leaves many enigmas behind, something Gatiss and Moffat have evidently been fond of since creating "The Reichenbach Fall".

The mysteries aren't as colossal as faking a death, but there is no lack of small ones: was Sherlock really taking drugs or was Molly helping him yet another time to persuade John, Mary, Mycroft, and most importantly, Magnussen into believing he had? Has Sherlock taken Anderson into his employ, seeing as he's part of the 'drug bust' in 221B Baker Street, appears in his mind palace, and leads Mary to him? Does Janine hint at more than relationships when telling her ex-boyfriend "You shouldn't have lied to me. We could have been friends."? What's the story behind the third Holmes brother Mycroft so casually references at the end of the episode?

Such burning questions will probably make the wait for Sherlock's comeback sometime in 2016 quite a bit tougher than it were if the only plot point remaining unresolved after this series had been the name of John and Mary's offspring (I'm still advocating Hamish, by the way). Providentially, the programme demonstrates all of its quality before vanishing for yet another immoderately long hiatus, making use of an enjoyable villain that provides a welcome contrast to the psychopathic Moriarty, the ideal blend of suspense and humour, and an outstanding screenplay.

And if you haven't hurriedly turned off your television as soon as the first notes of Sherlock's theme were heralding the closing credits, you will have also had the pleasure of seeing one of the programme's best sequences of all time, a character resurrection making the transitory deaths of Gandalf, Harry Potter, Neo, Ethan Hunt, Lois Lane, E.T., and, yes, even Sherlock Holmes look like loo breaks: Jim Moriarty is alive. After two unsatisfactory episodes that lacked Andrew Scott's unequalled portrayal of Sherlock's nemesis, I'm beginning to think that he may be the only reason for Sherlock being as superb as it is.

My detective scribblings: • With blokes like Bill, addict or hipster is hard to determine. • I wonder if for Janine, it's also 'Charlie Magnussen' and 'Jimmie Moriarty'. • The viewers who believed Sherlock's relationship with Janine know him about as well as Lestrade does (taking Sherlock's 'Help!' text seriously in the previous episode). • Am I alone with discerning a resemblance between Sherlock's father and Mr Rogers? • If Magnussen »… never believed the drug thing for a moment«, how come it's among his pressure points for Sherlock? • John's t-shirt collection now contains 'I don't shave for Sherlock Holmes.' and 'I don't understand.', just in case anyone was longing for that information. • What good are the 'porn preferences' in Magnussen's archives if none of Sherlock's characters chalk up an 'abnormal' on it? • Sherlock isn't punished for killing someone due to him being related to a senior government official who deems him 'needed'. That is either a subtle hint at corruption or profoundly slipshod writing. • Again, a cliffhanger is resolved at the end of the series already. Again, it feels bizarre. • Best quote: »I hope I won't have to threaten you as well.« - »I think we'd both find that embarrassing.« - I'd venture to name this Martin Freeman's best performance on Sherlock as of yet.

For those of you who are Star Wars fans, the antagonist in this episode is the voice actor for grand admiral thrawn

The pure Art of perfection! This episode is once again an absolute masterpiece. In its creativity of directing and storytelling this episode is nearly unsurpassed.

After, in my opinion, two misfires in the first two of this new three-part "Sherlock" series, it was a relief to see it finish on a high with a taut, topical, thrilling finale, which held out the promise of even better to come, if you followed it all the way through to the end credits.

This time around, there was less frippery and humour, the whole 90 minutes this time apparently devoted to the plot and a good one it is too. Lars Mikkelson from "Borgen" and "The Killing" makes for a suitably reptilian and unscrupulous scandal-sheet publisher with the goods it seems on every prominent figure in the country rendering him at once both above the law and his own law-maker, any resemblance between him and a certain Australian media magnate being purely coincidental of course.

That's not all, as we learn that the new Mrs Watson is not what she seems, with these two major plot-strands ingeniously brought together in a nail-biting finale and Sherlock left with a life or death decision which risks his own liberty.

Mikkelson is a great foil for Cumberbatch's Holmes, both actors on top of their game while Martin Freeman does his best work yet in a more than supporting role for once.

All in all, this episode was an overdue reminder of what made the earlier series so entertaining and with that sting in the tale right at the end, fans can be hopeful that the dynamic duo and their deadliest enemy will return in a new adventure in the hopefully near future.

"Sherlock", still one of the best entertaining show on TV so far. Well made, great acting, and of course excellent story. "Sherlock" is nothing without good story.

I prefer "The Reichenbach Fall" then this "His Last Vow". I don't know, maybe just this episode just more less in drama and exciting big case. But, still it's great. I have to say that the last two episodes was boring compare to episode 1 & 2 the last two season, somehow Sherlock character just different after his "resurrection". He's more "happy", more "smiling", more "joke", more "funny", less "drama", less "observation", less "bad-ass", less "cold-heart", and less "genius".

And I see it now after finished this last season 3 episode. The whole Sherlock back again and it's really entertaining. It's great to see how he figure out a way go, even though this time he didn't kill himself but somebody else.

I really miss Moriarty, his arc-enemy. This last episode just perfect for Moriarty back from the dead. I just can't wait till next year how Sherlock, John, and new player, Mary, battle against Moriarty. Who will win? Doesn't matter. Great story plot will prove it all.