Finally got the time to watch His Last Vow again. Love the sequence immediately following the shooting as he mind palaces through his predicament. Also, the confrontation behind the facade and back at Baker Street may be the finest acting yet from Cumberbatch and Freeman. This time I noticed that scene mirrors the earlier girlfriend scene where Sherlock is trying to focus on the case and Watson is too distracted by personal issues to pay attention.
On the negative, I really hate this Magnussen character. It's in the writing. He is so confident in his power position that he does physically ugly things to his enemies. These moments took evil into ridiculous corners. Licking, peeing, face flicking, even eating the olive from Sherlock's pasta, all of them had me going "dumb". I wanted to be done with him. Also, it doesn't make sense that when Magnussen shows up at Baker St. there are two bodyguards who first frisk our heroes, yet even this minimal level of security is absent at the end.
Kind of a cool note, I noticed Mycroft's line this time tying in James Bond where he mentions a co-worker who believes in occasionally using "a blunt instrument."
RATING: * * * 1/2
UPDATED RANKINGS:
1. A Scandal in Belgravia
2. The Great Game
3. The Reichenbach Fall
4. A Study in Pink
5. His Last Vow
6. The Sign of Three
7. The Blind Banker
8. The Hounds of Baskerville
9. The Empty Hearse