Baby steps, I suppose (and not the tennis kind).  There were no preposterous 007 set pieces this week, which constitutes progress and made this episode more palatable.  Still, we’ve seemingly lapsed into the pattern of the first part of the series with Holmes being reduced to an appendage and Moriarty’s plaything, and Moriarty is just as infallible – and insufferable – as he’s ever been.  It strikes me as a pretty entry-level blunder to make the make character’s foil so patently weak in comparison – and perhaps it’s a symptom of insecurity in the writing.

We also have the problem of characters acting dumb on queue – both to advance the plot and make William look even smarter in comparison.  This week the honor falls to Lestrade and Arterton, who wind up on opposite sides of a very by the books subplot about the Yard framing an innocent doctor for the Ripper murders.  That could certainly happen but Arterton is strictly a punching bag of an antagonist, perhaps one of the least clever conspirators you’ll ever see.  As for Lestrade he’s used as a tool by his fellow inspector Patterson.  Which makes sense as Patterson is a Moriarty ally and Lestrade a Holmes supporter, so Lestrade has to be shown to be an idiot by comparison.

As for Patterson, this seems to be strictly a case of a minor Doyle character being repurposed for the series’ purposes.  Moriarty was happy enough to see the innocent doctor cleared, but his real purpose was to use the case to get Arterton removed from the Chief Inspector position and his own man installed in his place.  Moriarty can use any situation to his advantage and none of his initiatives fail, so there’s certainly no suspense as to how all this is going to turn out.  Heck, in this mythology even Mycroft is a Moriarty backer and admirer – he just can’t admit it publicly.