Sherlock: The Abominable Bride: Season 1

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Generally favorable reviews based on 86 Ratings

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7.4

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7.4	Your Score
7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 86 Ratings

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Season Details & Credits

PBS | BBC | Season Premiere Date: January 1, 2016

Summary: The Victorian set special finds Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman) investigating the supposed appearance of Mrs. Ricoletti's ghost in 1895.

Genre(s): Drama, Movie/Mini-Series, Suspense

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Critic Reviews

100

IndieWire Kaite Welsh

Jan 2, 2016

If it takes talent to make a good cliché work, making a bad one brilliant is Holmes-level genius. Read full review

Allison Shoemaker

Jan 2, 2016

"The Abominable Bride" poises itself to become one of the best episodes the series has offered thus far. And then it doesn’t stop. And it still doesn’t stop. And it keeps on not stopping. Read full review

Emily VanDerWerff

Jan 2, 2016

The special ... didn't just irritate me; it made me actively angry at how it wasted a great idea in the name of pointless complications and fan service. Read full review

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User Reviews

TimW001

Jul 19, 2016

What a wonderful series. One of the best television shows. An achievement of the BBC. This episode was movie length and well worth every second. A must watch.

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

SomePersona

Jan 18, 2017

This episode really works as a Christmas special while working to progress the show further into the fourth series. Andrew Scott is awesome as Moriarty, and Cumberbatch and Freeman fit well into the clothes of 19th century Holmes and Watson.

The Abominable Bride: 7.5/10

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

TrilobiteG

Jan 1, 2016

A blend of what seems to be Sherlock and Inception, also burrowing it's way as a lead to the next series, this proves to be a great episode. It's not the greatest Sherlock episode, but it's editing, writing, performances and interweaving messages prove undoubtedly that it is great andA blend of what seems to be Sherlock and Inception, also burrowing it's way as a lead to the next series, this proves to be a great episode. It's not the greatest Sherlock episode, but it's editing, writing, performances and interweaving messages prove undoubtedly that it is great and wonderfully sets up the next series. Underlings afoot for the future for Sherlock in praise, this feature does lose some applause in it's cloudy pacing in the decency for murder due to misogyny. Victorian society was eagerly misogynistic...but it never proposed the victims as awful people. Which is somewhat disturbing as an ideology. Nonetheless, a good tie in with a old fashioned Sherlock for classic buffs whilst letting fans of the modern salivate of what's to come.… Expand

2 of 7 users found this helpful25

oDjento

Jan 2, 2016

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride was an interesting and arty take on the Sherlock story that intertwines itself a bit with the start of episode 4, but loses any real impact it might have had due to it being lots of artiness but not enough substance.
Whilst this episode was quite unique inSherlock: The Abominable Bride was an interesting and arty take on the Sherlock story that intertwines itself a bit with the start of episode 4, but loses any real impact it might have had due to it being lots of artiness but not enough substance.
Whilst this episode was quite unique in what it tried to do, you can’t help but realise the episode is just a bit (and I use this in lack of a more to the point word) pointless. Instead of focusing on a certain investigation or story arc the plot ping pongs at first between beginning its journey and prematurely ending it and then between the old and new. There is this lack of any real point of what is going on, and the reward of watching this episode is completely unsatisfying.
Despite this, chemistry between Cumberbatch and Freeman is as great as ever and we do get some catchy bits of dialogue. The acting is great overall but at some points I believe they overdo the time periods speech and line deliveries come out oddly.
However, one thing this episode does incredibly is setting up an extremely creepy atmosphere to the episode, with a very dark tone taking place amongst the whole episode and hopefully indicating how dark this show is about to go. There were plenty of times where I genuinely felt unsettled. Maybe this episode was Mark Gattis dibbling in a bit of Sherlock horror.
The episode also provides a few good laughs which has become expected within the series but not all jokes land on two feet.
Overall I let this episode off with the fact that it isn’t actually what season 4 is, merely a spin-off of sorts. Nevertheless, the episode felt meaningless and unsatisfying, and therefore deserves itself an average score.
5.5/10… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

meldrew

Jan 9, 2016

An intriguing set-up that ends up trying too hard to be smart at the expense of providing a satisfying 90 minutes for the viewer.

I enjoy a narrative that's not straight-forward and for about 45 minutes this was engaging stuff. But the longer it self-indulgently crawled to its conclusionAn intriguing set-up that ends up trying too hard to be smart at the expense of providing a satisfying 90 minutes for the viewer.

I enjoy a narrative that's not straight-forward and for about 45 minutes this was engaging stuff. But the longer it self-indulgently crawled to its conclusion the more annoying it became.

OK Mr. Moffat and Mr. Gatiss, we get that you must be clever blokes. But now you've shown us, can we please have something a little less 'Look At Us!' next time?… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

YorkMan

Jan 1, 2016

Oh dear.... The Abominable Bride was a massive disappointment, especially after the previous 9 'episodes' had so wonderfully recreated the 'classic' Holmes narrative into a modern, digitally interconnected London.

In TAB Holmes is back in late Victorian London, facing a conundrum that isOh dear.... The Abominable Bride was a massive disappointment, especially after the previous 9 'episodes' had so wonderfully recreated the 'classic' Holmes narrative into a modern, digitally interconnected London.

In TAB Holmes is back in late Victorian London, facing a conundrum that is completely underwhelming. A 90 minute piece of predictability in which every cliche in the book is thrown at the audience, resulting in no less than three conclusions to a somewhat jumbled story.

It's frustrating to watch something so hackneyed, as the writers try to invent ways of tying events in this 'episode' into those of earlier ones, whilst also bringing together modern tropes established before into the Victorian timeframe.

It's watchable, but it's definitely not very good. Of course it will become a must have DVD when the BBC put it on sale at Easter time, but I can't see anyone choosing to re-watch in preference to any of the other 'episodes' in the series.… Expand

4 of 9 users found this helpful45

NikolayG

Jan 8, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I was hoping that, given that this episode of Sherlock takes place in the appropriate time period, it would be an improvement over other episodes. But alas it is not. Sherlock is, essentially, a parody of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, styling Holmes as a sociopath, as Holmes says repeatedly throughout the series. When it is not being self consciously cute with silly jokes, it conjures absurd plots (such as a killer who stabs people who inexplicably never notice having been stabbed) or it is busy violating Holmes' character by, for example, showing him committing cold blooded murder. Perhaps my dislike for this show is now apparent.

Amongst all the cuteness, there is a plot in The Abominable Bride. It has something to do with the original story, The Five Orange Pips, but not having read the story in decades I can't say how much. A woman who committed suicide comes back to life, freaking out a man so much by declaring to him that he will soon be dead, that his wife seeks Sherlock's help in solving the mystery her return and her premonition.

Mind you, the plot of an earlier episode that revealed the killer to be a man who stabbed people hours in advance (without their feeling it, no explanation for their numbness to the deadly stab given; an slight oversight), left me without much hope that the solution to The Abominable Bride would be satisfying. And my lack of hope was fulfilled; instead of a decent plot it turned out to have something to do with a secret society of women dedicated to vindicating wronged women by killing abusive men, and generally to committing acts in the name of women's rights, or some such thing. Just about as high a jump of the shark as there can possibly be.

The story that takes place in the past is wrapped around a story in the present day - Holmes is dreaming the story that takes place in the past you see, a drug induced dream or something. The present day story has to do with discovering if Moriarty is back from the dead and, if so, how.

All in all a goofy atrocious mess.

I pine for Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes. It was written so much better and acted to perfection. For anyone who really wants to see true to the source material Sherlock Holmes, please do watch the Granada Series starring Jeremy Brett. The best of them are only on DVD. Those for sale are the two-hour movies, and they aren't as good as the hour long shows.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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Seasons & Episodes

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Series Overview
Season 1

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- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: January 1, 2016
- No episode information is currently available for this season