So, I finally did it. I finally watched “The Reichenbach Fall,” the third episode of Series 2. It is definitely one of the best episodes of the entire series. I had put it off for so long because I knew Series 3 hadn’t even been filmed, and there was no premiere date set when Series 2 originally aired. But now that both things have happened, I felt like I could finally watch the episode, enjoy it, and know that I didn’t have to wait a year before seeing what happens next.

How do you talk about a show that has two “series” but only 6 episodes??? I feel like the first series was okay, but the 90 minute productions seem to drag in the middle, except for the finale. Series 2 was a lot stronger, I felt all three episodes were right where they needed to be, they had the flow of a movie rather than a TV show and I think that is the way it has to be approached. Not a television show but a series of films inspired by Sherlock Holmes stories.

While Benedict Cumberbatch gets much of the attention, I have to say that Martin Freeman is the one hitting it out of the park on every episode, especially the finale. Of course, they are foils for each other and the performances of either elevates the other. Cumberbatch’s detached Sherlock is all the more likeable because he has Freeman’s Dr. Watson not taking any of his sarcasm and Freeman does the emoting for both of them.

These are so much better than the recent Guy Ritchie movies, which I also think elevates the series. The humor, the characters, even those little winks to the Sherlock/John shippers are handled much more eloquently by this reboot than the blockbuster, explosion and fistfight filled movies.

And can we talk about Andrew Scott‘s Moriarty? Holy crap, what he does with his voice, it’s like an Irish Buffalo Bill (from ‘Silence of the Lambs’) and it just makes the hair on my neck stand up.

If you’re hesitant to watch the series, I understand. 90 minutes an episode is a chunk of time. Honestly, you can skip the second episode, it’s probably the slowest and my least favorite of the entire series. But you have to watch the first one for the origin story and the third one to meet Moriarty. And then Series 2 is near perfect.

As for me, I’m going to be counting the days until the story is continued…