Mycroft needs Sherlock's help, but a remorseless criminal mastermind puts Sherlock on a distracting crime-solving spree via a series of hostage human bombs through which he speaks.
It would be harsh to dismiss the previous two episodes as set-up for this one and yet…
This is fantastic TV. This one takes more pleasure in the solving than in the outcome and it’s all the better for it. Not least because we know what the outcome is going to be anyway.
If I had to pick a low point, though, it’d be some of the music. Yep, violins, I get it, but it’s just a bit one dimensional.
★★★★½
A string of apparent suicides has Scotland Yard baffled in London 2010, and officials turn to their consultant, Sherlock Holmes, for assistance.
I love this for the introduction of (this version of) Holmes and Watson. Especially Watson, who is far more interesting than he’s ever been.
Don’t love the case, though. The “headology” explanation is not very satisfying. Not a patch on developing a tolerance to iocaine powder.
★★★½
PhilHumans are terrible at sustained vigilance for rare events in high-volume streams. – https://mastodon.online/@pseudonym/116135917950981989
See also https://electrek.co/2026/03/17/former-uber-self-driving-chief-tesla-fsd-crash-supervision-problem/:
Tesla is asking humans to supervise a system that is specifically designed to make supervision feel pointless. As he puts it, an unreliable machine keeps you alert, and a perfect machine needs no oversight, but one that works almost perfectly creates a trap where drivers trust it just enough to stop paying attention.
The 33-year-old Columbia University protester had been held in an immigration detention centre for a year.
It’s ludicrous, but I genuinely hope the law eventually catches up. Assuming it is allowed to…
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
It’s well made but, although the story seems clever, I’m not sure it makes any sense. Like, at all.
★★★
Why are the problems here not manifestly obvious to all involved?
When scientists discover something near Antarctica that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they send a research team out to investigate. Little do they know that they are about to step into a hunting ground where Aliens are grown as sport for the Predator race.
It’s by no means good but I like parts of what it does, like our first Predator “final girl”. I don’t even mind the story that much; the idea that aliens advanced human technology is hardly new.
However, the tone is completely different from its predecessors (I always think of the Merovingian when I use that word) and it plays out more like a video game adaptation. And, since I mentioned the Matrix, maybe that’s just where we were in the early 00s – studios wanted PG13s and video gamers’ bums on seats?
The upshot is, you can sell the same audience Prey 18 years later at a fraction of the cost and go hard R. So, net win?
★★½
For me, this is the most damaging result of our short-sighted rush towards #AI “productivity”:
More recently, heads said parents had been using AI to generate lengthy, legalistic complaints that required increasing amounts of time to administer.
This is a completely justified use of an LLM and it’s going to cost more time than an LLM will ever save. Unless you use an LLM to respond, in which case we’ll just have LLMs burning resources achieving nothing.
Shameful
Detective Scott Turner has three days left in the local police department before he moves to a bigger city to get some 'real' cases—not just misdemeanors. When Amos Reed is murdered, Scott sets himself on the case, but the closest thing to a witness to the murder is Reed's dog, Hooch, which Scott has to take care of—to avoid Hooch being 'put to sleep'.
I definitely did not enjoy this as much as I did when I saw it in the cinema but it’s fine. Again, weird amount of sexy times and partial nudity for a kid’s film! Put some clothes on, Tom!
★★★