Sherlock’s End In Sight?!
Beth Bender
As a huge fan of the BBC, I have spent many a times combing through the British section of the DVDs in all the bookstores I visit, and eagerly await the return of such shows as Downton Abbey and Doctor Who. Perhaps the greatest amount of anticipation though comes with the anxious wait for the third series of Sherlock. As both the UK and the US wait for the sleuthing-duo’s return to the telly, the latest hint at Series 3 leaves the future of the show in question.
Series creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have recently revealed the words “Rat, Wedding, Bow”, hinting at the three Conan-Doyle stories used as the plotlines for the upcoming series, while also suggesting that the last episode of Series 3, presumably based off the last Sherlock Holmes story, “His Last Bow”, could spell the end of the show’s run.
As my inner Sherlock fan screams in frustration and demands for the show to continue, I also have to take a step back and think about what would be for the best. Moffat and Gatiss work on both Sherlock and Doctor Who, two of the most beloved British shows in the United States. Creating a season of Sherlock takes up an immense amount of time, and while I hate to say it (and if I’m wrong, I’ll eat my hat), Doctor Who is the show from across the pond that has the strongest fan-base.
So where does that leave Sherlock? After Season Two’s dramatic and nail-biting cliffhanger, Moffat and Gatiss would have an enormous task to accomplish in continuing to up the stakes. Season Two was such a well-written and dramatic season that I feel that only one more season would be necessary to wrap up the show’s run. Some television shows start off fantastic in their early seasons but crumble in the following years, and I would hate to see Sherlock become such a show. A trilogy of seasons would provide a nice, well-rounded package of television that is fantastically written and filled with the drama and suspense that the American audience loves.
In the end, though I would love to see Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman portray their characters into their senior years (Sherlock would even be more disagreeable!), I am also looking forward to their upcoming and future projects, such as their roles in The Hobbit. Sherlock is ser to return in the fall of 2013, and while many fans (including myself) would hope for more episodes, Season 3 would whet our appetites and leave us with the happy thought that the mystery never truly ends and that Sherlock and Watson are still in 221B, waiting for the next adventure.
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