Sherlock Episode Guide: Season Three
Here are summaries (warning—there are major spoilers) of episodes in season three.
Season Three (2014)
Episode 1: The Empty Hearse
The third season begins with a look back at Sherlock’s death in season two and then switches to a view of a man in Serbia, who is being chased and eventually captured. The man is revealed to be Sherlock.
Back in London, Watson tells Mrs. Hudson that he is going to propose to his girlfriend, Mary Morstan.
Sherlock surprises Watson to tell him that he’s alive, and it doesn’t go well. Watson is angry that Sherlock had faked his death and then didn’t contact him for two years.
Sherlock next tells Molly Hooper, Lestrade, and Mrs. Hudson that he is alive. The news spreads.
Watson is kidnapped, and Mary receives a text telling her about it. She goes to Sherlock, who realises that the place Watson is being held at a church. He and Mary go to the church, where they rescue Watson.
Meanwhile, Sherlock is still trying to sort out a mystery from earlier—the disappearance of Lord Moran in the Underground. Sherlock deduces that there must be a bomb in the car, and he and Watson go to find it. When they arrive, they realize that the car is wired with explosives (by Lord Moran). The remote timer is triggered and the two are stuck.
At some point, Sherlock realizes he had stopped the bomb. Watson realizes that Sherlock had called the police and this was all a trick by Sherlock to get Watson to admit how much he’d missed Sherlock.
Lord Moran is arrested.
Episode 2: The Sign of Three
DI Lestrade is investigating a series of bank robberies. As he’s about to make an arrest, Sherlock texts for help. Lestrade sends the police to Baker Street, only to find that Sherlock is writing a best man’s speech: Watson is getting married.
At the reception, Watson thanks Sholto, his old army commander, for coming. Sherlock begins his best man speech. During the speech, he recalls the case of the bloody guardsman—a case he never solved. During his speech, he realizes that there’s a killer at the wedding to murder Sholto.
Sholto locks himself in his hotel room because he fears that he is a danger to the others. Meanwhile, Sherlock figures out that Sholto and the bloody guardsman wore the same military-issue belt. The belt delivered a wound that, once the belt is removed, will kill the wearer. Sherlock convinces Sholto to let Watson help save him.
Sherlock next reveals that the wedding photographer is the murderer—his brother had been under Sholto’s command when the platoon was attacked in Afghanistan and was seeking revenge.
Everyone goes back to the wedding, where Sherlock proposes a toast to the “three of them.” He knows Mary is pregnant.
Episode 3: His Last Vow
A neighbor asks Watson and Mary to help her drug-addicted son, who did come back home last night. They look for the son and find him with an undercover Sherlock.
Sherlock plans to meet Charles Augustus Magnussen, a newspaper owner who blackmails people. Magnussen is blackmailing Lady Elizabeth Smallwood about her husband’s past.
Sherlock is in a pretend relationship with one of Mary’s bridesmaids, Janine, who is also Magnussen’s assistant. Sherlock breaks into Magnussen’s apartment and finds Mary holding Magnussen at gunpoint. Mary shoots Sherlock, who survives.
Sherlock secretly meets with Mary, who confesses to having a past as a secret agent and assassin. She says that Magnussen is blackmailing her, too. Watson overhears the conversation.
The couple spends Christmas with Sherlock and Mycroft. While there, Sherlock drugs everyone except Watson. The pair drives to Magnussen’s home where Magnussen says his plan was to get to Mycroft. Sherlock offers to exchange Mary’s info with Mycroft’s laptop. After the exchange, Magnussen explains that he knew that Sherlock was setting him up, but says it won’t work. Sherlock kills Magnussen.
Mycroft works out a deal to spare Sherlock a trial (for turning over state secrets) and sends him on a mission to Eastern Europe. While Sherlock is on the way, TV screens across the country broadcast a loop of Moriarty asking “Did you miss me?” Sherlock comes back home—and the series ends there.