cimorene

'the final problem' is a tense and exciting story, but the screen increases that exponentially. it's the best i've seen, really exciting, action-packed, cinematographically pretty, excellently cut. (obviously, there will be spoilers here, along with fairly detailed descriptions and a lot of raving--i LOVE this episode!) the first scene is one of holmes. he's running in the street, chased by a cab which crushes his hat instead of his head at the last moment; he foils two thugs who are after him, running through some kind of church. the light is beautiful. then w. appears trudging up the street and we learn he's been out for a while. we're watching him through the cross-hairs of a gun as he goes up to the door.

inside he finds h's pipe lying out. he's picking it up and looking at it angstily. mrs hudson tells him holmes came in and left again in the morning.

there's a knock at the window. w. picks up a poker, then sees h.'s frantic face. when he lets h. in, he's forestalled from conversation--h darts and ducks around and w says, 'what is it?' h says, 'airguns.' he's plastered to the wall, disheveled. watson closes the blinds and h. thanks him, moving to his chair, bending over shakily and asking for a light. then he tells the whole story.

he has foiled p. moriarty for the last time by recovering the mona lisa, which was stolen from the louvre. (he apologizes for leaving w. so suddenly when he was whisked to the louvre--he didn't know mission or destination at that time.) the flashback scenes here are excellent, including a scene of moriarty as he discovers he's been foiled. then he tells how moriarty came to his rooms in baker street to visit him. they circle warily and compliment each other; m. threatens and h. refuses to go away or lay off. m. says he will be sorry to do away with h. then we get a shot of h., shirt undone, at the window, glaring after m. and looking very nervous. with reason.

a brief shot of h. and w.--h. says they must go on holiday. he says he would be very happy if w. would go to europe with him. w. stares, and the tension is palpable. of course he will, he says, but why? h. doesn't really explain. but he says, this is what you must do, and then his voiceover begins. w. goes through many elaborate machinations to ensure he's not followed--mrs h gets him a cab at a certain time; he takes the third that comes to the door, sends his baggage unlabelled to the train, jumps out of the cab without warning at a certain intersection and jumps into a cart driven by a man in a heavy coat. he goes to the train station and jumps on the train just as it's leaving. we see him peering out the window of the cabin, head wreathed in either smoke or steam or mist. he's very angsty. where is holmes?

he's in disguise, inside the train compartment. h. is introspective and nervous and there's a definite air of sadness. he rips off his disguise. they stare out the window together as the train pulls away--just as moriarty appears in the train station.

they get off without their baggage at a certain stop and hide between a cart and the wall while moriarty's hired private train rushes after theirs. they buy carpet bags and start a tour. they end up in switzerland. the costumes change. the scenery is beautiful. holmes is still very unhappy, which even watson notices, though he's not as worried himself. h. tries to send him home for his own safety and w. refuses. 'would you be rid of me?' he says, hurt. h. says, surprised, but perhaps not entirely--smiling sadly--'not for the world, if not for this.' (wording approximate.)

w.'s face when he realizes he's been tricked is beautiful; there's another running scene, back up to the falls. there's his imagining of what happened there as he reads h.'s letter, and he actually cries. beautiful. i almost cried. my little heart went pitapat.

high points: the scene with holmes and the professional painting copyist in france. 'and if the mona lisa is not in the louvre?' says h. the copyist says, 'but m'sieur, you are joking.' h. just chuckles dryly, tilts his head sideways and swings his cane as the scene fades out. also the confrontation with moriarty and watson's race to the train.
low points: none.
slashy points: ahahah. everywhere.

i went mad making caps of this episode. i'm must say i'm very proud of all