I'm pretty sure that Sherlock's expression at the very end, after the flashback type thing, is meant to indicate him remembering, with a sort of fond pleasure, exactly how awesome that rescue was. I never thought for a moment that that scene wasn't real. Although I do agree that it is wildly improbable. My personal theory, which admittedly has very little basis in anything apart from the fact that I don't really want it to be just a straight up rescue, is that the whole fake beheaded thing was a scheme they cooked up together to make things a bit easier for her. So in my mind its less 'Oh Sherlock! You saved me!' and more 'Oh Sherlock, right on time. Now lets wrap this up quickly so that you can get back to wake up Watson from those drugs I gave you so that he wouldn't notice that you randomly decided to fly off to a foreign country for a few days.'
As for whether or not the episode is faily when it comes to Irene. I feel that this one is really a matter for interpretation. Personally I would have loved it if Irene had beaten the Holmes boys at the end. It would have been a bit truer to the original story and wouldn't have left us all wondering whether she fell prey to sexy or not. But then I also understand that, yes it is prime time telly, and it isn't really the done thing to let your genius be defeated in the end. (even if that was the sort of the point of the original short story, the original was also just that, a short story, which just doesn't quite have the same stakes.)
I find myself in the position where I really, really enjoyed the episode while I was watching it, but then actually thinking about it afterwards I find myself worrying about things like the portrayal of Irene and whether or not the stuff they are doing with Sherlock/John is just more teasing gay subtext for the fans or if they are actually doing some proper textual queer relationship stuff. At this point I just can't tell. Although, whatever it was I do think that it was handled better than the 'Ho ho, everyone thinks we're gay' thing in the first episode of the last season.
I think what I'm mainly worried about is that, I know what I saw and I pretty much loved what I saw, but I'm not sure if what I saw was what the writers intended for me to see.
As an aside, The exchange between Irene and Watson about their respective 'feelings' for Sherlock worked for me in a sort of 'Irene points out that not all sexuality is straight up binary' way. Though, again the possibility of Fail! Sherlock: He so sexy he turns all your lesbians straight, is definitely there. BUT, then it is pointed out several times that 'brains are the new sexy'. So I can definitely buy an attraction which have nothing to do with sexuality and everything to do with a 'meeting of the minds'.
no subject
As for whether or not the episode is faily when it comes to Irene. I feel that this one is really a matter for interpretation. Personally I would have loved it if Irene had beaten the Holmes boys at the end. It would have been a bit truer to the original story and wouldn't have left us all wondering whether she fell prey to sexy or not. But then I also understand that, yes it is prime time telly, and it isn't really the done thing to let your genius be defeated in the end. (even if that was the sort of the point of the original short story, the original was also just that, a short story, which just doesn't quite have the same stakes.)
I find myself in the position where I really, really enjoyed the episode while I was watching it, but then actually thinking about it afterwards I find myself worrying about things like the portrayal of Irene and whether or not the stuff they are doing with Sherlock/John is just more teasing gay subtext for the fans or if they are actually doing some proper textual queer relationship stuff. At this point I just can't tell. Although, whatever it was I do think that it was handled better than the 'Ho ho, everyone thinks we're gay' thing in the first episode of the last season.
I think what I'm mainly worried about is that, I know what I saw and I pretty much loved what I saw, but I'm not sure if what I saw was what the writers intended for me to see.
As an aside, The exchange between Irene and Watson about their respective 'feelings' for Sherlock worked for me in a sort of 'Irene points out that not all sexuality is straight up binary' way. Though, again the possibility of Fail! Sherlock: He so sexy he turns all your lesbians straight, is definitely there. BUT, then it is pointed out several times that 'brains are the new sexy'. So I can definitely buy an attraction which have nothing to do with sexuality and everything to do with a 'meeting of the minds'.
Oh so confusing!