Sherlock S3E3 - "His Last Vow" Recap

Charles Augustus Magnussen is questioned on his influence over various British leaders. He appears to have a computer program hooked up to his glasses as he sees secrets about each person whom he speaks to. He is eerily calm as he speaks and states that he has an excellent memory. Later, he meets with the head of the group and frightens her immensely, blackmails, and even licks her face to confirm his theory on which perfume she is wearing. She is visibly shaken after the encounter, speaking of how no one ever stands up to Magnussen, before telling her driver to turn the car around and head to Baker Street.

John and Mary are visited by their distraught neighbour, in search of her drug-addicted son, Isaac. She gives the address of a drug house and John is determined to set off after him. Despite being now-visibly pregnant, Mary insists on coming along. Inside, he strategically sprains one addict to obtain the whereabouts of Isaac. After finding him, he finds Sherlock nearby and high. Sherlock insists that he was undercover for a case. Mary now drives John, Isaac, Sherlock, and the sprained druggie to St Barts. On a humorous note, the addict refers to Sherlock as "Shezza."

Molly tests Sherlock for drugs and she slaps him repeatedly for throwing away his gifts and tells him to say he's sorry. He apologises that her engagement has ended. Good riddance, Tom. All aboard the Sherlolly train. Sherlock deduces that Sherlock has been cycling to work and the sprained addict displays deductive abilities of his own when he provides the details of how Sherlock has deduced that. Addict's name is Bill.

Sherlock and John return to 221B and Sherlock unstraightens the knocker that Mycroft has OCD-straightened, whilst remaining oblivious to the fact that he has just displayed OCD tendencies of his own. Mycroft is in the flat, along with Anderson and a woman, who are concerned over Sherlock's apparent fall off the wagon. When Sherlock mentions Magnussen, Mycroft tells Anderson and the woman to forget that name, threatens them, and tells them to leave. Mycroft also tells Sherlock to forget about Magnussen but Sherlock merely orders him out, though not before pinning his arm behind his back. John learns that Sherlock has been in a relationship with Janine (Mary's bridesmaid from "The Sign of Three"). Magnussen visits them and refuses to negotiate the surrender over Sherlock's client's stolen letters. Magnussen also briefly mentions the name "Red Beard," (which Mycroft had also mentioned in "The Sign of Three"), which appears to catch Sherlock off guard. Add a giant dose of creepy, and Magnussen urinating in the 221B fireplace, and the scene is finished.

They attempt to break into Magnussen's office, where John learns that Janine is Magnussen's personal assistant. Sherlock sets off Magnussen's apartment, where he finds Mary holding him at gun point. Mary shoots Sherlock and employs his mental capabilities to stay alive (Ah.. ah... ah... ah...)
In large part, a vision of Molly talks him through the medical technicalities of his wound, risks, and the importance of falling to prevent dying from blood loss, and to feel the pain instead of going into shock. He also sees Mycroft and Anderson who talk him through other details. He interacts with the mysterious "Red Beard," who was his childhood dog that was put down. He also sees himself in a padded room with Moriarty chained and in a straight jacket. Moriarty sings and Andrew Scott delivers that deliciously mad Moriarty charm we're all so fond of. At the mention of John being in danger, Sherlock pulls himself up (at this point, he's in the hospital, and his heart has stopped). Sherlock's back and will not be taken down so easily! (much to the amazement of the doctors). Mary is alarmed by Sherlock's uttering her name first after he wakes. She warns him not to say anything. Janine visits Sherlock and reveals that she has sold a rather fabricated version of their relationship to the press but after a bit of verbal sparring, she and Sherlock part on surprisingly good and cheerful terms.

Sherlock escapes from the hospital and baits Mary in to coming after him. He gets her to confess to having stolen the real Mary Morstan's identity and to having been a secret agent/assassin. Magnussen is blackmailing her for this very reason. He deduces and she confirms her impeccable skills as a marksman and she had indeed shot him in a spot that would not kill him. She was also the one to call the ambulance. She does not want John knowing about the shameful things in her past but it's too late; John is there and has hear the conversation in its entirety. Sherlock tells John that John is addicted to a life that flirts with danger and was subconsciously attracted to Mary for her past. Mary gives John a memory stick containing information on her past and the initials "A. G. RA" on it - apparently her true initials. She tells him to not read it in front of her because she does not want to watch John lose his love for her.

Fast-forward to Christmas, where Sherlock, John, Mycroft, and Mary are all with the Holmes parents. John reveals to Mary that he has not read anything on the memory stick and chooses to destroy it. Their reconcile is touching and emotional. Outside, Mycroft and Sherlock once again discuss Magnussen. Mycroft also informs Sherlock that he has a job offer for him that he wants him to turn down; working undercover in Eastern Europe under dangerous circumstances that would likely kill him within six months. Sherlock is confused as to why Mycroft would care about his dying and Mycroft sasses him before eventually admitting that the loss would break his heart - much to the shock of Sherlock. Sherlock safely drugs his parents, Mycroft, and Mary so that he and John can go meet Magnussen.

Sherlock reveals that he had previously met with Magnussen, following his little breakout from the hospital and when he checked Magnussen's spectacles, which we all believed to contain software that would connect to a database of everyone's secrets were in fact, simply ordinary spectacles.

Sherlock and John arrive at Magnussen's country property, Appledore, to get near his blackmailing database. They learn that Magnussen was responsible for putting John in the bonfire. Apparently, putting pressure on Mary was to trigger John, to trigger Sherlock, to trigger Mycroft, the most powerful man in the country. Sherlock attempts to buy off the information on Mary with state secrets from Mycroft's laptop, which Sherlock has stolen and brought to him. Magnussen realises that there is a GPS tracker in the laptop and that Mycroft will be on his way as part of this trap that Sherlock has set up. This was done so that they could raid the property and find all the secrets in Magnussen's vault. Magnussen reveals that there is nothing in his vault and all of the secrets are stored away in his very own mind palace. He doesn't keep any physical records.

Outside, while waiting for Mycroft and authorities to arrive, Magnussen decides to pass the time by repeatedly flick John in the face because he simply wasn't creepy enough to begin with. Sherlock realises that there is no other way to keep John and Mary safe, so he shoots Magnussen in the head. Mycroft is visibly emotional over the well-being of his baby brother and even has a vision of him as a small boy. Mycroft gets the government to spare Sherlock's life by having him set off on that probably-fatal MI6 mission in Eastern Europe.

Sherlock and John say their goodbye and even discuss baby names - Sherlock is set on trying to find a way to have the baby named after him. Sherlock boards the plane and it takes off. TV screens all across the UK are hacked with a looped feed of an image of Moriarty and audio asking, "Did you miss me?" Mycroft calls Sherlock on the plane and has the plane turn around despite having only left minutes prior. Watch to the end of the credits, folks, we see Moriarty breaking the fourth wall ask, "Miss me?"
YES, Andrew Scott, YES. So much missing occurred. Welcome back, Moriarty!

Sherlock Series 3 is available for DVD purchase/ordering along with other merchandise from the BBC (or various artistically inclined Sherlockians).