Spoiler-free review:
This episode was more simple and tighter in terms of plot than A Scandal in Belgravia. Still lots of fun though!

Click through if you want to read an embarrassing, spoiler-laden review of the episode.
WARNING: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT.

So! I enjoyed this one too! As I mentioned above, this episode is quite different from A Scandal in Belgravia, mostly because the plot in A Scandal in Belgravia stretched over a number of months and so was quite convoluted and diffuse. In contrast, The Hounds of Baskerville was a neater package but perhaps contained less in terms of character development.

Right, as it worked for me last time, I'm going to give this post a table of contents.

Contents:
1. This is a horror story
2. Everyone gets scared
3. Let's talk about Sherlock and John
4. Sherlock does normal people things
5. Jokes jokes jokes jokes jokes
6. The not-so-good bits
7. Conclusions and future directions

***

1. This is a horror story

Do you know, it wasn't until they started walking through the moors at night that I finally twigged why Mark Gatiss chose to write this episode. Before, I didn't give it much thought, but suddenly the tension started mounting and I realised: Oh, wait, it's a horror story. No wonder Gatiss was all over this one!

I do like the fact that they went all out on the horror part. The book itself (which I read for the first time a couple of weeks ago) is almost a textbook lesson on how to create a spooky atmosphere, so it's no surprise that they wanted to use all the horror-film tricks for the episode.

If a horror film is done well, they never show you much of the monster; it's always left as a dark, lurking shadow because people's imaginations are always better at inventing scary stuff than special-effects teams. The Hounds of Baskerville did this very well. We don't see the hound for most of the show, just glimpses, and it's all good, solid horror-story stuff. The neat twist, of course, is that we don't see much of the hound because it doesn't actually exist. Sadly though, when we do see the hound it's a little bit disappointing, but I'll get onto that later.

2. Everyone gets scared

There were some great depictions of fear in this episode.

A special mention needs to go to the special guest, Russell Tovey, who I think came across very well indeed. Well done, man. The part where he was left huddled next to his patio doors, terrified but too scared to let the garden out of his sight, was almost heartbreaking.

John Watson has his run-in with the hound in the lab and it is great stuff. I love the way you can slowly see his fear building and building, and by the time he's locked himself in the cage it's hard to watch because you're scared right along with him. Superb.

The bit that actually got to me the most was Sherlock freaking out in the pub. Watching someone having a panic attack, when you're not fond of them yourself, is not a comfortable thing to do. I don't know what was worse, the fact that it was very believable or the fact that it was Sherlock Holmes! He's not supposed to get scared! If Sherlock's scared then you know that whatever it is must be really scary. Seriously, I nearly had a panic attack right along with him when I realised he wasn't faking it.

3. Let's talk about Sherlock and John

So, apparently we're back to: 'Everyone thinks they're bumming, har de har har'. Not sure how I feel about that. As a joke, it's beginning to feel a little old now, especially after the character-building in the last episode.

Still, that was only a minor part. The big part is that we get to see Sherlock call John his friend. Everybody say 'awww!' It was touching. For a moment, with Sherlock looking like a lost puppy, you can almost imagine that he's not a dick. Almost!

But then Sherlock drugs the hell out of John for an experiment and the dick levels go through the roof. Seriously, Sherlock, John was terrified, that's a horrible thing to do. Really really not good. Thankfully, this is John Watson and he's the sort of person who can handle it. I think anyone else would have been through with Sherlock right then and there.

John also manages to prove that he's very competent, which is nice to see. Think it earns some brownie points with Sherlock too. Oh, look, we're back to 'awww' again.

And then, at the end there, are they talking about John's pissing habits? Because it sounds like they're talking about John's pissing habits. Close flatmates are close.

4. Sherlock does normal people things

Like anyone, I am constantly amazed when we see Sherlock doing something normal.

First, we see him driving. It's odd how you can be knocked for six by the fact that someone can drive a car, but there you go. Of course, when you think about it, it makes sense. Being able to drive must surely open a lot of doors; it's a valuable skill, therefore Sherlock has cultivated it.

Then we see Sherlock drinking. I have to say, on my first watch, I was convinced that Sherlock was drinking pints. 'What what what,' said my brain. 'Pints? My friends drink pints! My Dad drinks pints! How can anyone as exotic as Sherlock drink pints?' Then, on my second watch, I realised that Sherlock isn't drinking a pint at all. He steals someone's dregs from an empty table and uses it to pose as a normal person. If you watch, he's very careful not to take a sip at all (which is good because, ick, someone elses dregs). Phew. No pint drinking. Disaster averted. The world can keep turning and nothing is wrong.

And finally, we get to see Sherlock struggling to give up smoking. While it's very fun to watch, I also find it quite interesting. In the first series, it wasn't really touched on at all; Sherlock used nicotine patches and that's just the way it was. In this series, it feels as if Sherlock's almost regressed a few steps and is now finding it more difficult to give up. I wonder why. Maybe they just wanted to be able to explore it a bit more.

Actually, going back to A Scandal in Belgravia for a second, we see that Sherlock's not entirely sure that smoking in public has been banned. In the first series, when he declares something along the lines of, 'It's impossible to keep up a smoking habit in London these days,' I assumed he knew about the new laws and that's why he decided to give up. What we realise in the light of the second series is that Sherlock didn't really know about the new laws at all. Presumably he carried on lighting-up everywhere after the new laws came into force, and spent enough time being confusedly forced out of a number of establishments that he decided it was too annoying to keep trying.

5. Jokes jokes jokes jokes jokes

Like the previous episode, the jokes in The Hounds of Baskerville tend to fall at the beginning of the episode before the tension really starts to kick in. And, also like the previous episode, there are some marvellous jokes in there.

Sherlock's entrance, covered in blood, holding a harpoon, and announcing, 'Well, that was tedious,' is my favourite beginning to any Sherlock episode. Glorious. Glorious.

Also, more cheekbone references. Is it one reference per episode now? I laughed. I admit it. A word of warning though; any more references and it might start getting a little bit stale. Let's hope they steer clear of them for the next episode.

And then we have things like Sherlock trying to breathe in second-hand smoke (ridiculous but hilarious) and Cluedo and it just keeps getting better and better. You know, as an aside, I think I'd quite happily watch an episode where Sherlock and John do nothing but play board games. From trivial pursuit to kerplunk to hungry hippos. It would be brilliant.

But, for me, the highlight of the whole episode was John coming across the dogging. Dogging! I still don't quite believe they went there. John sets out in search of a hound and all he finds is dogging! I laughed long and hard at that one. The next scene was meant to be a scary one but I laughed all the way through it. In fact, I kept giggling to myself at inopportune moments throughout the episode when I remembered it. A+++ would laugh again. Sadly, I went on the internet afterwards and was quite disappointed to find that not many other people seemed to be impressed with the joke. It was only after a while that I discovered that dogging is only a British term. Shame. You don't know what you're missing, guys (in terms of the joke, I mean, not in terms of dogging, although that's all fine too if that's your thing).

6. The not-so-good bits

Ok. The CGI hound was really bad. Really really bad. The scariness was done so well throughout the rest of the episode; it's sad that it had to be let down by this. I console myself with the fact that it was all in people's heads anyway so it wasn't supposed to look real, right? :(

This next bit isn't bad, as such, just me having a gripe. Because why is science on TV never like science in real life? I know that as stories go, Sherlock is not like real life at all, so I shouldn't care, but the little pedant in my can't help from shouting out: 'That doesn't look like any labs I've seen.' 'Why are you using a microscope for every experiment ever?' 'Why are you doing genetic testing on rabbits instead of mice?' Luckily, my inner pedant is small so I'm able to suspend disbelief for the most part.

I always do get a little bit sad when there's scare-mongering about genetic modifications though. I've never been in a top-secrit army lab and I left the science world years ago, but I'm still pretty sure that people don't just GM things for the fun of it. Seriously, glowing genes are added to animals to show where specific genes are switched on so we can find out what they do and how they work; they're not just there because those crazy scientists want a rabbit that matches the new green sofa. Sigh. But that's the end of my rant. THIS IS A TV SHOW ABOUT A MAN WHO TRAVELS ON THE TUBE WITH A HARPOON, IT IS CLEARLY NOT REAL LIFE, JANINE.

And the ending. This isn't a complaint! It's more due to me being a bit sad that the episode was over. I know seeing Moriarty is meant to make me feel more excited for the next episode, but in reality, I was disappointed because I would rather that the time was filled with more banter and jokes (I missed Baker Street by the end, guys).

7. Conclusions and future directions

This episode was good and quick and funny and all the things an episode of Sherlock should be. The plot wasn't too hard to follow but I was still kept guessing until the big reveals. I'm a bit sad that they seemed to run out of jokes by the time they started Googling HOUND in the lab, but that's just me being picky.

I loved the focus on fear though, and the performances in this episode were great.

It makes me wonder. This episode's theme was fear. Last week's theme was love. So what's next week? It's not grief, is it? Please tell me it's not grief! (Dear Sherlock, do us all a favour and take this message to heart.)

While we're here, can we talk about Moriarty? His video on John's blog is scary stuff. Scary and funny. 'He's put headphones on a... Good God.' Hee. Moriarty is completely unhinged and I love it.

So, all we have left now is The Nickleback Reichenbach Fall. Eep. Let's not think about it too much. Good. Apart from the trailer for the episode; I'm happy to think about that plenty. Seriously, the music choice for the trailer is amazing. If you're wondering, the song they use is this one.