I think maybe the biggest mistake, and the one that sort of screwed everything else up, was having Irene be allied with Moriarty. If she had just had her own criminal plotting going on, it could have been much more lah-di-dah-extortion-for-fun-and-profit -- like, yes she's an absolutely brilliant criminal, more than a match for Sherlock, but she can win and the audience can still feel pretty good about how it turned out. There are fun, intriguing villains and then there are villain villains, and Moriarty is definitely a villain villain. Sherlock can't let him or anyone associated with him win, ever. Since Irene is working with him (which, what? She's totally smart enough to figure out this scheme on her own, thank you), she can't win, because it would be a win for Moriarty as well.
I also wish they'd been a bit more careful with the dominatrix thing (pfft, like that was ever going to happen) -- I didn't have a problem with the drugging, since that's pretty common as a diversionary escape-from-my-pursuers tactic in film and TV, but her beating a drugged-out Sherlock with her riding crop did piss me off. There are plenty things she could have done that would have been more effective at getting the phone out of his hand, but nooo, she's a dominatrix, they hit people with riding crops! Um, not in that situation, they don't. Jeez.
I am so very annoyed at her sexuality being the reason she loses, and I can't find any way to explain it to myself that makes it even a little bit better. It really is a straight-up "lol women and their ~feelings~" deal, and I hate it. I am trying to console myself by insisting that it's not the kind of mistake she'll make twice, and from now on she'll be a good five steps ahead of Sherlock at all times, attraction or no... but it's not really helping. ARGH. You were SO CLOSE TO BEING GOOD, Moffatt, WHYYYYY?!
Also, minor as all hell, but I'm really starting to hate this apparent trend of using the name of a show as a huge plot point within the show, because it's like Moffatt is jumping up and down yelling LOOK HOW CLEVER I AM and um, no, you're kind of not. You've figured out how to use extremely basic wordplay, congrats, now could you maybe concentrate on not writing like a huge asshat?
And yes, Molly! Man, if she turns out to be a criminal mastermind it'll be no more than Sherlock deserves. He's so gleefully nasty to her at the Christmas party, she should get some comeuppance at some point.
Re: This has nothing to do with your meme, but:
I also wish they'd been a bit more careful with the dominatrix thing (pfft, like that was ever going to happen) -- I didn't have a problem with the drugging, since that's pretty common as a diversionary escape-from-my-pursuers tactic in film and TV, but her beating a drugged-out Sherlock with her riding crop did piss me off. There are plenty things she could have done that would have been more effective at getting the phone out of his hand, but nooo, she's a dominatrix, they hit people with riding crops! Um, not in that situation, they don't. Jeez.
I am so very annoyed at her sexuality being the reason she loses, and I can't find any way to explain it to myself that makes it even a little bit better. It really is a straight-up "lol women and their ~feelings~" deal, and I hate it. I am trying to console myself by insisting that it's not the kind of mistake she'll make twice, and from now on she'll be a good five steps ahead of Sherlock at all times, attraction or no... but it's not really helping. ARGH. You were SO CLOSE TO BEING GOOD, Moffatt, WHYYYYY?!
Also, minor as all hell, but I'm really starting to hate this apparent trend of using the name of a show as a huge plot point within the show, because it's like Moffatt is jumping up and down yelling LOOK HOW CLEVER I AM and um, no, you're kind of not. You've figured out how to use extremely basic wordplay, congrats, now could you maybe concentrate on not writing like a huge asshat?
And yes, Molly! Man, if she turns out to be a criminal mastermind it'll be no more than Sherlock deserves. He's so gleefully nasty to her at the Christmas party, she should get some comeuppance at some point.