Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

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Season 1
  • Network: PBS , BBC
  • Series Premiere Date: Jan 1, 2016
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
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Critic Reviews

  1. IndieWire
    Reviewed by: Kaite Welsh
    Jan 2, 2016
    100
    If it takes talent to make a good cliché work, making a bad one brilliant is Holmes-level genius.
  2. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Allison Shoemaker
    Jan 2, 2016
    58
    "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.
  3. Vox.com
    Reviewed by: Emily VanDerWerff
    Jan 2, 2016
    30
    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.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 86 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 86
  3. Negative: 12 out of 86
  1. iseenthefuture
    Jan 3, 2016
    3
    This franchise has had a season and a bit to falter and fail to retrieve any of the promise of the first two seasons. To answer the question;This franchise has had a season and a bit to falter and fail to retrieve any of the promise of the first two seasons. To answer the question; where can we go with these characters? Gatiss and co have come up with the answer; down the same old avenues but this time in clown shoes. Every character except the title character have become ridiculous caricatures of their former selves. How many times must ubber-earnest Dr. Watson profess his man-love through misty eyes and missed breaths? How often must Mycroft deny his man-love and brotherly concern? How did anyone think giving Mycroft Holmes the Kranks treatment or giving Molly Hooper a bad case of pantomime transvestitism was anything short of a death knell for a show which is very much rudderless in high seas? The best thing that ever happened in this series was the again pantomime baddy Moriarty shutting his own gapping face hole with a bullet. How short on ideas must you be to be forced to resurrect your most gratuitous over-actor to puff out a ver thin and inconsequential mystery. (Bobby Euing in the shower post-mortem.) It is absolutely certain that this initial gush of support for this instalment comes from those who were told to expect clever and don't have the wit or courage to recognise that they didn't get it. This bandwagon support will soon be superseded by laments for the promise that was once apparent, but in the hands of this team was not realisable. "Look he just survived the Reichenbach Fall..deal with it." This is not cute or an inside joke, and has shown nothing but incompetence from the writers. Anyone can write a protagonist onto a ledge, miracling them down again is the price you pay. Cheats!
    Looking at Gatiss's credentials based on cooky spooky comedy, and seeing now that he has nowhere further to go with these characters except up in flames, he should do himself and everybody else a favour and stop. He makes fiction for teens and his ideas are restricted by his life's work. Just as he could not convincingly resurrect Sherlock in series three he has already, with a sad admission coped out of his promise at the end of the same season to resurrect his over-camp version of Moriarty. Very obviously to all that the writers had not the first clue how to do either and whats worse weren't going to try. Don't believe the ratings..blind fan support and watching in disbelief will be shown for what they are when the dust settles or in this case the ash. A good start achieves little that a bad ending won't blot out.    … Full Review »
  2. YorkMan
    Jan 1, 2016
    3
    Oh dear.... The Abominable Bride was a massive disappointment, especially after the previous 9 'episodes' had so wonderfully recreated theOh 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.    … Full Review »
  3. shoulderoforion
    Jan 11, 2016
    1
    Unwatchable, from the first two seasons of near brilliance, this show has fallen off a cliff, Season 3 was nothing but one big settup forUnwatchable, from the first two seasons of near brilliance, this show has fallen off a cliff, Season 3 was nothing but one big settup for Season 4 and this special I turned off with 20 minutes left disgusted at how lazy & un-entertaining Sherlock now is. They ruined it, blech.… Full Review »
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