Patience is a Virtue…Or Maybe an Attempt to Delay the Inevitable

Sherlock (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Series 3 of BBC’s Sherlock premiered in the U.K. on January 1st. Fans have been waiting over a year and a half to see how the writers get Sherlock out of the situation they left him in in the series 2 finale. While the show won’t premier here in the U.S. until January 19th, a large number of over-eager fans will find ways to watch the new episodes. And that means the internet will be brimming with spoilers about the new season from now until January 19th.

That’s a bit of a problem for me.

I’m a huge Sherlock fan. I absolutely love how the writers have remained true to the original stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and also updated them for a modern audience. The actors do a phenomenal job of bringing the characters to life. I’m excited for the new series.

One of the unique aspects of Sherlock is that each series consists of three episodes at ninety minutes each. It’s also infamous for taking a long time in between series as pretty everyone involved end up having full schedules. In between series 2 and 3, Benedict Cumberbatch filmed Star Trek: Into Darkness and played Smaug in the new Hobbit  movies. Martin Freeman also had plenty of work starring as Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit movies. Add in stage roles, commitments to other shows (writer Steven Moffat also has a large producer/writer role with Doctor Who), and dozens of other happenstances that life likes to throw in the way, and almost two years pass.

So who’s to say that the wait for series 4 won’t be another two years?

That’s why I’m going to be doing my best to stay away from any spoilers or online versions of the show over the course of the next few weeks. I don’t want to know what happens just yet. Because now I can still relish in the fact that series 3 will be on PBS in a few weeks. Then I’ll have three whole weeks to absorb the awesomeness of that is Sherlock before realizing I don’t get to see anymore for a while.

I’ll go through a grieving process, the same one other viewers will be going through in less than two weeks. I’m going to curse the BBC, Mark Gatiss, and Steven Moffat. I’ll rewatch series 1 and 2 until I can practically recite lines with the actors. Then I’ll get over the worst of it and sit here patiently for news about the next series.

But not yet. To paraphrase Game of Thrones: “What do we say to Sherlock?” “Not today.”