Being an avid fan, watching this "pre-season 4" movie became the one drive I had for the past fortnight. Frankly I was slightly disappointed right after the movie, with a faint aftertaste of cobwebs and dust mixed with an unappeased appetite. The first impression was that the writers had too much fun with the script and it was a mumbo jumbo of ghoul brides and murderous feminists which turned out to be a kaleidoscope of the protagonist's "mind palace" fueled by his drug habits. Then it struck me that the characters did drop hints about all the 19th century scenes being played out in Holmes' mind only - note the impossibly modern manner of speech everyone was using and the jarring phrases like "in a nutshell" and "virus on your disk". Much as I liked the Victorian era setting and the brave new world the "fairer sex" were fighting for, some parts were overdone (rather badly) for a couple of ingenious chefs like Gatiss and Moffat. Molly Hooper with her shabby moustache, Mycroft with his obese meatsuit, the suffragettes and the fighters of women's rights being mixed up with a cult of "femmes fatales" who only wanted to get rid of their husbands and pin the deeds on the "ghost bride", etc. All in all, this turned out to be a rather long and over-complicated intermission before the official season 4 - so take this in a spirit of fun and goodwill, don't scowl because this isn't the Blue Carbuncle but a coloured paste replica. Viewers are reminded to stay after the credits with the BBC cast interviewed about their feelings for the series and the movie.
Review of The Abominable Bride
