Sherlock Series 3 Review

I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes. I haven't read many of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books and stories, but I really enjoy seeing Holmes and Watson on TV. This year we have been doubly blessed at our house with Elementary season 2 and Series 3 of the BBC's Sherlock. Having just seen all 3 episodes via the PBS app on my Apple TV, I thought it would be a good idea to bring the show to your attention (if you didn't already know about it) so that you can catch it before it drops off the on-demand viewing from PBS.

Sherlock, a wildly popular show, began before Elementary started in the US. While both shows depict detective Sherlock Holmes and partner Dr. Watson helping the police to solve crimes, they couldn't be more different in their approach. In Sherlock series 1, we find Sherlock Holmes living at 221B Baker Street in London and in the first episode he meets former Army doctor, John Watson, who is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Together they form a partner ship and use their talents to solve crimes and cases for the police and their clients. Holmes is played superbly by Benedict Cumberbatch as an energetic, enigmatic and incredibly observant/intelligent detective. Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman), who while playing more of an every man to Holmes' brilliance, holds his own with the detective without having the same memory and observation skills. The two work well on screen and make a believable pair.

Unlike Elementary, most of the episodes of Sherlock is directly and/or loosely based on one of the original Sherlock Holmes stories. For example in Series 2 (my review here) we get adaptations of The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Final Problem. Sherlock is aired as 3 episodes each series, each one approximately 90 minutes long. The result is more time to present stories that are more complicated, often with two or three plot lines, seemingly disjointed, that intersect or collide in complex ways. I also really enjoy the way we get to see things from Holmes' perspective with text floating into view of the insights he gathers from just looking at a room.

Series 3 consists of the stories The Empty Hearse, The Sign of Three and His Last Vow. Throughout the show, Holmes describes himself as a functioning Sociopath and we get to explore this in these episodes. Holmes thinks nothing of using people and manipulating situations into the position he needs to overcome the obstacles in front of him. It is interesting that as we are introduced to Mary (future Mrs. Watson played by Amanda Abbington) who is able to hold her own with Holmes and Watson. Often in Sherlock Holmes productions Mrs. Watson is a background character or suffers the boys to go off to play together at detective work. Here we have a woman who seems to know that the two need and are good for each other. Other favorite characters from Series 1 and 2 are back as well with Mycroft Holmes (who seems to be the smarter brother), Molly Hooper, Mrs. Hudson and DI Lestrade all involved. Plus we get to explore Holmes' mind palace quite a bit (his memory technique).

Some viewers thought that Series 3 catered to fans a little heavily with shout-outs and references to fan theories. While some of that is there, it doesn't detract from the stories and lessen the show. I found episodes 2 and 3 to be especially good. Particularly His Last Vow, which modernizes and interweaves a couple of the original Holmes stories into a believable and timely story that will make you think they took the story direct from headlines today.

If you like complicated mysteries and are okay with strange camera angles and disjointed storytelling, then this show is fantastic and a must see. It is the best Sherlock Holmes going, which is saying a lot because Elementary is very good. However, Sherlock is more of a movie event except we get 3 movies each series. The show will be back for at least a Series 4, which is great for fans. You can find Series 1 and 2 on-demand through Netflix (and probably others) and Series 3 is available for a limited time through PBS here in the US. Set aside 13.5 hours over a weekend and mainline these shows right into your brain. The only downside will be having to wait for more episodes. Sherlock (and series 3) gets 5 Mick Happies. The game is on (afoot).

Doctor Who: Legacy Review

It is very rare (read basically never happens) that my wife and I like the same game. I am all about role playing, strategic, action RPG, simulation type games. She likes hidden object and match 3 games. What we both like though, is the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant Doctors. If you don't know what those are, you must be under a rock since they are part of the BBC's long-running Science Fiction show, Doctor Who. And a couple of weeks ago, Tiny Rebel Games released a licensed Doctor Who game called Doctor Who: Legacy (DW:L).

DW:L is a free to play match 3 game where you assemble a team consisting of the Doctor and up to five companions to try to defeat levels that the game calls episodes. These episodes are based on some of the actual episodes from the TV show, starting with Season 7.

To play the game, you match 3 or more gems of different colors. To match gems you just touch and drag the gem where you like it to be. No swapping with just the gem next to it, you can move it anywhere on the board. How you move it to where you want it will impact how the gems displaced move. Depending on the color you matched, one of your companions (or the Doctor) will attack the enemies shown at the top of the screen. The amount of damage done is dependent on the attack value of the character (more on that later). Combos (matching several gem groups of 3 or more) amplify the attack or healing effect of the matched gems. When each of the enemies health bar gets to zero, you move to the next wave (or win the episode). Each enemy you defeat has a chance to drop a time fragment or unlock a new companion or alternate art for your characters. (When you select the episode you want to play, it tells you what rewards are possible). You may even get a time crystal which can be spent in the game's store to unlock new companions.

Each of the characters in the game are from the TV show. Some are generic like the UNIT Commander, while others are well-known from the show like Rory and Amy Pond. Each character gains experience when you successfully complete episodes. That experience can be used to level up the character and allow you to raise their health, attack or heal values (all used during episodes to keep the team alive or defeat enemies). Each character also has a special ability that can be used after a specific number of turns or matches of gems. For instance, Rory's ability is Brace, which can heal allies for a certain amount of health. You start the game with the Matt Smith Doctor and Madame Vastra as your companion, but soon you will have a whole slew of characters to choose from.

Companion characters max out their level at 10. Then to progress them further, you use the time fragments you unlocked to raise their rank (unlocking the next 10 levels for them to gain). Even the Doctor's rank can be raised with the right combination of time fragments. Raising the rank also makes each character's special ability more powerful. This is essential as each episode of the game gets progressively harder and you need a maxed out team to defeat some of the hardest.

Earlier I mentioned that this is a free-to-play game. Unlike other free-to-play games, there are no timers. You can play as long as you like. The currency in the game (time crystals) seems to only be usable to unlock new companions at the moment, which is not necessary as new companions can drop from episodes. Note that some companions drop automatically on a given episode (like Porridge) while others seem to never drop no matter how many times you play the Angels Take Manhattan episode (River Song). Maybe I am just unlucky.

For those who aren't patient, you can purchase time crystals and use them to get companions (randomly) or through the Women of Doctor Who pack that contains Amy Pond, River Song, Clara Oswald and Nefertiti. I can imagine that eventually new "seasons" of episodes may also be available from the store by spending time crystals. Purchasing a pack of time crystals also opens up a fan area in the game that has more goodies to play with. So far, nothing feels like you need to spend to win. My wife did by some time crystals just to support the developers.

The developers for the game, Tiny Rebel Games, have done a great job with it and are actively with their player base. For the month of December, they are doing an advent calendar promotion by providing codes to unlock companions, time fragments or new outfits for characters and opening up special (very very difficult) bonus levels to play through when you have completed most of the other content in the game. All of which is free from their website. I particularly liked my new K-9 companion.

DW:L is a fun, easy to pick up but full of depth match-3 game. No timers and little need to spend to win. It is available on Android and iOS. If you are a fan of match-3 games or Doctor Who, go check it out. DW:L gets 5 Mick Happies. Allon-sy.

Sherlock Series Two Review

Sherlock is fantastic. By Sherlock, I mean the BBC television reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (who also plays Sherlock's brother). The show is set in modern day with Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, as a private investigator with incredible talents of observation and deduction. His friend and accomplice Dr. Watson, played by Martin Freeeman, is an Afghan War veteran and medical doctor who lives at 221B Baker Street with Holmes.

The show first aired in 2010 with a three episode first series that is currently available via Netflix streaming (go catch up). Each 90-minute of Sherlock focuses on a specific case and is more of a movie than a television show. The second series, which just aired in the United Kingdom and was released on DVD on January 23, 2012 also includes three episodes. The episodes in series two are: "A Scandal in Belgravia", a retelling of the original Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia, The Hound of the Baskervilles (if you know anything about Sherlock Holmes, you have heard of this story), and "The Reichenbach Fall", which refers to the Holmes story The Final Problem.

There are several things that are great about this show. The acting is superb with Cumberbatch playing a very believable Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman is very good as his suffering sidekick (it’s hard to be Sherlock Holmes’ associate). The writing team translates the Holmes stories into modern times well and the twists and turns in each episode leave you guessing until the very end. They have even figured out a way to visually give you an idea of what Sherlock is seeing and how his brain works that don’t jar you out of the show, but enhance it.

Sherlock series two will be coming to America in May on PBS Masterpiece starting on May 6. Be sure to find it, this is great television – not to be missed. Sherlock earns 5 Mick Happies.

On a side note, I purchased series 2 of Sherlock on DVD and had it shipped from the UK to watch on a region-free DVD player. To rant a little, I am perfectly happy to pay for shows that I want to see, but I am often annoyed that good shows aren’t available because of distribution rights and nonsense that should have been resolved by now in our globally connected world. To content producers and providers: if you can stream or digitally distribute shows over the internet, do it. We will pay for it and don’t want to wait months for you to figure out how to distribute it in another region. Rant over.