Top Ten Amy/Rory Moments

                 Amy and Rory Williams...The Last Centurion and The Girl Who Waited.  It doesn't matter what name you call them by, the fact still remains that they live one of the most epic and touching love stories ever to be put on television. So I took a poll from my readers and fellow Whovians asking them to describe and list their favorite Amy/Rory moments. The results are in. We have our list.

10: Fell From The Sky - Day of the Moon

           Personally I am not a fan of the way Moffat kept on teasing the Rory/Amy/Doctor love triangle. That was okay for the first series they ran together...but it quickly got old and cast a negative light on Amy's character. Not to mention the fact that in order for the red herrings to work again and again the writing had to become more and more full of 'convenient coincidences' that really took away from the credibility of the characters. But that is neither here nor there as this is not my list but a list created by fellow fans. Fellow fans who seem to enjoy Amy's misleading monologue and the realization that she was praising and pleading with Rory the entire time. The scene goes like this: Amy has been captured by the Silents, leaving behind only her hand recorder. Somehow everything she is saying while in captivity broadcasts itself back to that recorder and to the ears of Rory who thinks he hears Amy begging The Doctor, the one she's always loved, to come save her. Really, Amy later claims, she was talking about Rory with '...you fell from the sky...' being merely a metaphor for...something.


9: The Ponds & Baby Melody - A Good Man Goes To War

            I was ill-prepared for this very tumultuous episode. It goes from epic to triumphant to heat-warming to horrific to tearjerker...within the last fifteen minutes or so. The rest is all build-up to the battle of Demon's Run and the story itself doesn't really begin to shine until the battle is 'won' and the child 'recovered'. I've always felt rather bad for Rory, given that he doesn't even get to hold his beloved daughter before she is torn from him and raised as a weapon. The child he holds so tenderly isn't his child...she's a flesh avatar. The consolation is that at least baby Melody had a few more hours in the arms of someone who loves her before she awoke to the nightmare that was to be her life. If I'm being entirely honest, I choke up a bit while I'm watching Amy and Rory crying with joy and clinging to their family unit. It's such a sad, beautiful scene.


8: The Lone Centurion - The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang

           For this one I am not just looking at the 2,000 years that Rory waited for Amy to awaken, though that museum monologue will always put chills down my spine, but at the dreadful, emotional moments where Amy tearfully takes auton!Rory in her arms and tries desperately to help him hold on to his humanity. Rory's feats as The Lone Centurion are impressive and amazing, yes, but he wouldn't have been there to do that great deed were it not for Amy's love and persistence. I always point to this one whenever people start ragging to me about how one-sided Amy and Rory's relationship is...about how he loves her WAY more than she appreciates him. Uh-huh. With all due respect to you if you happen to subscribe to that theory, let me remind you that all marriages are a two-way street. Even in TVLand they just don't work out properly or happily if one person is taking out more than they put in. And Amy and Rory are happy - not because he's a milksop who takes all of her nonsense lying down, but because she works just as hard as he does and cherishes their bond just as much. She is just less openly demonstrative than he is and so she displays her love and affection in a very different sort of way. But it's there - it's right out there in the open if you are willing to look. Amy and Rory work together to keep their balanced, mutually respectful and loving relationship going.


7: Girl Talk With Amy & Amy - The Girl Who Waited

            I could just name this entire episode as one big, long highlight for Amy and Rory...but for the sake of your time and my sanity I have tried to extract the best moments from it. And for this particular entry I choose the scene where old!Amy and Amy talk with each other about Rory, reminiscing about how there were other boys who noticed her when she was younger but Rory was always there, not pushing, not nagging, not demanding attention, but being her support and friend just when she needed it the most. Amy then talks about how sometimes you meet someone you think is cool, but then you actually talk to them and they're 'dull as a brick'. And then other times you meet people that you don't think much of...until you get to know them. And then it's like they become so beautiful. "Rory's the most beautiful man I've ever met."


6: "Where's The Doctor?" "On the Wii" - The Power Of Three

              The consensus is nearly unanimous: Amy and Rory did get to raise a child...they had The Doctor hanging about their house. The Power of Three (aside from the shoddy ending) is a lovely little character episode that is both fluffy and domestic. The relationship between the Ponds and The Doctor is interesting in how it shifts. At the beginning he is the wise elder brother to Amy and a rival/vitriolic best friend to Rory - but by the end, simply by virtue of them maturing and his marrying their daughter, Amy and Rory start to treat The Doctor as though he is their son as well as their best friend. And he doesn't mind. In fact, when you think about it, if The Doctor really is just over a thousand years old, in Time Lord lifespans he's probably little more than an older teenager...


5: "How Long Can We Wait?" - Asylum of the Daleks

                This is a hard episode for me to watch (and I definitely have a few bones to pick with Steven Moffat...for once about something other than emotional trauma) because, with the exception of Oswin Oswald, it just isn't written very well. It contradicts itself and contains that stupid divorce that made no sense character-wise because we didn't see the developments on screen. But that's my beef and this isn't my list...so I'll try to stop going on and on about how much it leaves me rather peeved. What I do like is the scene where Rory asks Amy how long they can afford to wait and she tells him that they have the rest of their lives, sealing the reconciliatory gesture with a tender kiss. Whatever else you can say about him, Moffat knows how to manipulate our emotional responses!


4: "Where. Is. My. Wife?!" - A Good Man Goes To War

             I personally really love the first ten minutes of this episode and about the last fifteen. The middle is just kind of 'meh' in that it's good but not stellar. Fortunately those twenty-five minutes that are stellar are extremely stellar...and have quite a bit of re-watchability to them too. By far one of my favorite Rory moments (despite the classic Moffat Amy-misleading speech that plays over it which is slightly more palatable because she's reassuring her child) is the scene where he strides into a Cybership, all cool and collected, and chews them out while The Doctor does his dirty work for him. It is a great character moment for Rory, an awesome beginning to the episode, and a wonderful moment for the Ponds as we see the depth of their devotion, loyalty, and faith in each other.


3: Touched By An Angel - The Angels Take Manhattan
            This is perhaps the strongest evidence we're given that Amy loves Rory. Amy gives herself to a Weeping Angel that had taken Rory. Now just in case you missed out on the gravity of that statement, allow me to reiterate: Amy. Let. Herself. Be. Touched. By. A. Weeping. Angel. Just. On. The. Off. Chance. That. It. Would. Lead. Her. To. Rory. Get the picture yet? Amy was willing to give up her secure, comfortable, familiar life with The Doctor (the life she had dreamed of so desperately as a little girl) just because Rory was alone somewhere and scared. She went because her place was at his side. She went into the unknown, let the monster catch her, because that way she had a chance of seeing her husband again. As River Song put it: "It's called marriage, honey." That kind of sacrifice can only be seen through by extreme love for the person you're sacrificing for. Don't you try to tell me that Amy doesn't deserve Rory!


2: Rory's Choice, Amy's Sacrifice - The Girl Who Waited

             Okay. Confessions time! I cried and still do cry for this episode. I can't help it. Each time I swear that I'm going to make it through without bawling and each time I end up either pausing the player or diving for the tissues (sometimes both). And it takes something pretty powerful to move me in that way. I can count on one hand the different things that have actually made me shed a tear...and this episode is definitely one of them. It's emotional the whole way through, from the moment where Rory realizes that Amy was trapped for YEARS without him and his whole being crumples to the way Amy picks up her old tube of lipstick and for the first time in years puts some on because she wants to feel beautiful for Rory. But the real waterworks for me don't start until the ending where The Doctor, knowing that the TARDIS cannot sustain a paradox for long, tricks the older Amy and slams the door in her face. He then tells an angry Rory that he will have to choose between the Amys as both cannot come with them. Rory is in agony over this decision...he loves his wife so much that he doesn't agree that making it so old!Amy never existed is different than outright killing her. In the end, Amy herself takes the burden off of Rory's shoulders and tells him to go and live the life with her younger self. Stepping back from the TARDIS doors, Amy makes the choice for him and gives her younger self all of the lost days with him. Then Amy turns to the advancing handbots, asks to see the Earth for the last time, and spends her last moment remembering precious, secret moments she shared with her beloved husband. And...I think I'm crying again.


1: "Together...or not at all." - The Angels Take Manhattan

             Within hours of my sending out a poll to my various sources I knew that this moment was going to be the number one because all of the first respondents mentioned it in some form. And I can totally see why, given that the Ponds decide that they're going to go out together or not at all rather than taking the easy way out. It is an emotional scene with Rory trying to save Amy by jumping but needing her help to take that final step and Amy being unwilling to push Rory off that ledge, even though she knows he will probably come back because of the paradox they are trying to create. Even that stupid Statue of Liberty Angel fiasco leering in the background can't ruin the power of it. When at last Amy climbs up onto the ledge with Rory and they jump together, clinging tight to the other, I'll admit that I squeaked out a pained "NO!" at the screen as it happened. Amy and Rory: devoted to each other completely no matter what.

                

               So there's my list of the Top Ten Amy/Rory Moments. I just want to thank everyone who participated in the poll that created this list (you know who you are) as it really helped me to narrow down the moments and rank them (something I have trouble doing without bias). So thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Greatest Unsung Romances: Pride & Prejudice

          Sometimes, as I'm watching a movie or reading a book (or both), two characters simply jump out at me as the ones who should have ended up together. The two who should have ridden off into the metaphorical sunset together...either because their personalities were made for each other or because all of the other characters would have been better off had this pairing played out.

Mr. Collins/Mary - Pride & Prejudice 

             He really missed out on something when he overlooked the middle Bennet sister. Yes maybe she wasn't as pretty or outgoing as her sisters...but Mary was the determined brains of the family (meaning that she was determined to be the brains) and had a fondness for attempts at being profound and reading long, dry sermon compilations. She knew she was the plain one and that, among her beautiful siblings, she was the one most likely to end up an old maid and so Mary did the only thing she felt she could do - she fashioned a persona and mind for herself that focused more on the logical and intellectual than the flirtatious manner that Lydia subscribed to. Oh...and she totally had the hots for Mr. Collins.


          Yes Mr. Collins the obliviously socially awkward, toadying clergyman with a near unhealthy obsession about his patron. Mr. Collins the social climber and prime example of all that could possibly go wrong with the 'purchase your living' policy. Mr. Collins the immature and rather thick wannabe who considers himself quite the catch and a suave flatterer to boot. Mr. Collins who can't wipe his nose unless it is condoned and sponsored by the illustrious Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

           You know...I'm actually beginning to feel a bit sorry for poor Mary if that milksop was who she considered to be a fine candidate for a potential husband. Although, to be fair, she had to have noticed that he was probably her only candidate (much like Charlotte did) and that's what part of the appeal was, but still!

         If Mr. Collins had picked Mary, then he would have at least had a wife who would have looked up to him and not made fun of him behind his back (Not that I blame Charlotte!) and Lady Catherine would have loved her, seeing as how her 'plainness' would assure that dear Anne was still perceived as the loveliest young woman in the room. Mary would have been in too much awe of Lady Catherine to mouth off the way Lizzie did and she certainly would have been delighted to listen to Mr. Collins' attempts at being charismatic and eloquent.

       Would the match have actually worked? No. Probably not. If I'm honest with myself, then I have to say that no match involving Mr. Collins could ever actually work out with both parties completely happy. He wanted a trophy wife, not a life partner, and so (shallowly) would have eventually come to resent Mary for her plainness. He was just that kind of scumbag - incurable and completely narcissistic. From Mary's end, I think that once she had exhausted Mr. Collins' rather limited intellect she would have grown restless and discontented as well. Relationships never work whenever one or both participants are simply looking out for self-interest.

        Still...a girl can dream, right? If Mary had married Mr. Collins, Charlotte would have been freed, Mrs. Bennet wouldn't be fretting about 'those Lucases' getting their hands on Longbourne, Lizzie wouldn't be suffering through a slightly-damaged relationship with her best friend, and Lady Catherine wouldn't have a personal vendetta towards all things Bennet. (Of course Lizzie probably wouldn't end up with Darcy in that scenario either, given the fact that his disastrous proposal and her sharp dressing-down was the key ingredient in the change of their relationship, but that's a story for another time.)

         I know that changing one element of a story changes everything. But I just can't help myself; every time I watch Pride & Prejudice I can't help but think that Mary and Mr. Collins were made for each other. If nothing else they would have been happier together than he and Charlotte ever will be...!

Top Ten Awesome Supernatural Music Moments

              It's sort of a tradition on Supernatural for the intros, exits, segues, and just awesome moments in general of each episode to be backed by mullet rock, hard rock, and any-old-type-of rock. This is introduced in the pilot when Sam was scoffing over Dean's choice of music (on cassette, no less...) and Dean, in true big brother fashion, grins and turns the volume up.

  

15: Can't Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon) S02E05 "Simon Said"

        What I love about this particular scene is not the interaction between Jo and Dean...however funny his admission that he is afraid of her mother is. That's a lot of fun, but what is so great about it is the fact that, for all his griping about REO Speedwagon, he ends up singing the song a capella with great gusto as he drives his trusty Impala down the highway away from the Roadhouse...much to Sam's visible disturbed disgust. When he realizes what he was doing, Dean looks absolutely mortified!

14: Rock of Ages (Def Leppard) S05E22 "Swan Song"

          Nothing says 'Season Finale' quite so strongly as a face-off between Michael and Lucifer! Well, okay, it was a little bit more complicated than that. This scene takes place as Dean pops a cassette with this very appropriate selection into the Impala's player and rolls up to the cemetery to confront the two archangels (one avenging and one fallen) who have possessed his little brothers (Adam and Sam). They are about to have the apocalyptic confrontation when Dean rolls up, jauntily exits his car, and casually asks them if he is interrupting something. 

13: The Famous Final Scene (Bob Seger) S09E10 "Road Trip"

          Poor Kevin Tran was doomed from the moment he first began seeing the Word of God. We all knew that. What we didn't expect was for him to die in such an understated and, quite frankly, stupid way. Characters on Supernatural usually go out with a bang and/or die fighting. But Kevin wasn't given the dignity of that. No, instead he was murdered by a desperate angel occupying the body of one of his best friends who then fled and left Dean to silently bury Kevin and take care of his effects. This song plays while Dean is burning the body of the prophet and mourning him and it just makes the scene all the more sad.

12: Bad Company (Bad Company) S01E11 "Scarecrow"

           I never saw this one coming...really I didn't. I'm probably the only person alive who didn't realize that Meg Masters was a baddie of some sort (and the other 99.9% of people can go ahead and laugh, I probably deserve it) so when she asked the guy to pull over and then proceeded to slit his throat I nearly jumped out of my chair! Really, though, the inclusion of this particular song should have warned me that Sam's little buddy wasn't just a young woman trying to find purpose in life. 

11: Knocking on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan) S05E16 "Dark Side Of The Moon"

                Any scene involving Dean and young!Sam is bound to be absolutely adorable, no matter what it's about. Also, I love, love, LOVE Supernatural's idea of Heaven where you get to relive all of your greatest memories with your family and friends. One of Dean's memories is the July 4th where his dad was on a hunt and so he and Sammy set off fireworks in a park together. The look of awed joy on the brothers' faces as they watch the light show overhead warms the heart and that hug at the end of it all gets to me every time. 

10: Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple) S06E02 "Two And A Half Men"

               It was such a relief to see Dean unveil the Impala again and reunite with his baby. Probably whoever scripted that scene is a fan of muscle cars themselves, or maybe they just understand Dean's psyche really, really well, but whatever it is the scene is eye-candy for car fans, fun for Supernatural fans, and has a score that melds perfectly with the visuals to create something incredible.

9: Heat of the Moment (Asia) S03E11 "Mystery Spot"

             Here is a song that went from funny to tear-jerker within the space of one episode. Mystery Spot is basically this show's version of Groundhog Day...except they take it one step further by killing off one of the main protagonists over, and over, AND OVER! The song that, at the beginning of the episode, is humorously used to highlight Dean's morning clowning around quickly turns into Sam's nightmare as every time he hears it he knows another Tuesday has begun and he'll have to start the agonizing countdown to Dean's inevitable demise all over again. 

8: Long, Long Way From Home (Foreigner) S04E13 "After School Special"

           Episodes that look back at the Winchesters' childhoods are always a lot of fun. The child and teen actors do a great job and it's just fascinating to see what made Sam and Dean Winchester into the men they are today.

 

7: Laugh, I Nearly Died (The Rolling Stones) S01E05 "Bloody Mary"

            Like a lot of things on Supernatural, the ending to Bloody Mary is extremely bitter-sweet with Sam seeing a vision of Jess' spirit watching over him as he drives off with Dean. The lyrics fit perfectly with the overall situation as well as Sam's personal struggles while the sound of the orchestration matches seamlessly to the tone of the scene.

6: Turn Into Earth (The Yardbirds) S07E17 "The Born-Again Identity"

             The scene where the amnesiac Castiel comes back under the name Emmanuel is an interesting one. I really like how he was re-introduced to the show and the scene where he goes and regains his memory and powers by smiting the demons that are standing between Dean and Sam is a powerful one. The quiet backing soundtrack of The Yardbirds only serves to heighten the epic feel of the scene without overpowering anything. Definitely a classic SPN music moment!

5: Beautiful Loser (Bob Seger) S06E01 "Exile On Main Street"

            Even though we know Dean still misses Sam terribly and can't quite let the Hunter part of his life go it is just so wonderful to see him finally get some peace and happiness after all of the pain and heartache he went through. It is certainly understandable how RoboSam could have convinced Bobby that it was best to just let Dean be. We see that he's restless and mourning Sam, but Bobby would have seen that Dean got as close to happiness as is possible for a Hunter and, loving Dean the way he does, would have been reluctant to pull him away from that chance at life. It is sad, though, because we know that it can't last and Dean will be pulled back into the endless fight.

4: Bad Moon Rising (Creedance Clearwater Revival) S01E22 "Devil's Trap"

            Talk about one of the craziest season finales ever! The great thing about the music in this scene is that, despite the tone of the lyrics and the visuals, the song itself is extremely perky and has an upbeat rhythm as it plays over the prone and bleeding bodies of the Winchesters. Certainly it is very memorable!

 

3: Renegade (Styx) S02E12 "Nightshifter"

              Personally I was a big fan of the whole 'Winchesters: America's Most Wanted' arc simply because you knew that all of the break-ins and credit card fraud had to catch up with our heroes at some point...not to mention all of the killings. This is, by far, the best episode in that entire arc. I love Agent Henriksen, I liked the whole shapeshifter aspect, and I loved the moment when you realized that the Winchesters are in BIG trouble this time. But the best part in this best episode was the ending where Sam and Dean steal some uniforms from a SWAT team to escape the FBI and slowly walk back to where they hid the Impala while Styx played in the background. 

2: O' Death (Jen Titus) S05E21 "Two Minutes To Midnight"

               Death is the most interesting of the Four Horsemen and so naturally I am tickled pink that he is the recurring one. He also had the best entrance. I...I don't even know how to describe this: you just have to go and watch it for yourself: 

1: Carry On My Wayward Son (Kansas) Seasons 1-8 Finales...and presumably Seasons 9+ as well.

              By this time I have reached the point where I get a bit misty-eyed during each Season Finale 'The Road So Far' as this beautiful song by Kansas plays. It is about as close to a Theme Song as Supernatural has (the static during the titles doesn't count) at this point. The lyrics apply to the Winchester Boys so perfectly the song could have been written for them and each voice-over only adds to the overall feeling of epicness. I can't wait to see what the Season 9 finale will look like and I hope that whenever the show finally ends it will end with Sam and Dean together, backed by this song.



Sherlock Review: Series 3 Episode 2 "The Sign of Three"

By: Stephen Thompson, Mark Gatiss, & Steven Moffat

**SPOILERS**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

             Where do I even start with this one? It's like Moffat, Thompson, and Gatiss looked into the very depths of our souls and plucked forth the things we most wanted to see. This episode was definitely fanservice personified...all wrapped up and neatly delivered in the form of a rom-com containing a murder mystery. It is honestly the funniest and fluffiest episode of Sherlock we have seen yet and, while I wouldn't want the show to look like this always, I don't feel that it was a bad move for the writers to make.

Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- What makes the opening so funny is the fact we all know that it is coming. We know that Greg is going to get to 221B and discover that Sherlock was just yanking his chain (although in this case, I'd be willing to bet that it wasn't deliberately) and that knowledge just makes the build-up funnier than ever. The best part is the helicopter heard to be flying overhead. Just what did Greg's 'maximum backup' entail...?

- It is rather (hilariously) cute, though, to see the way Lestrade drops everything and panics the moment he sees Sherlock using the words 'help' and 'please'. He really does care about that arrogant sod despite it all.

- Sherlock does have an interesting point in this sentence: "Two people who currently live together are about to attend Church, have a party, go on a short holiday, and then carry on living together. What's big about that?" Hmmm...

- Those wedding photos are absolutely gorgeous and become even more impressive whenever you see the complicated rig of 60+ cameras that were required for each shot.

- First thing you need to know about this episode going in is that it is very nonlinear. It is not so much one story as it is a series of vignettes that eventually all tie together a the end. The first of these occurred at the wedding reception receiving line where we see just how seriously Sherlock has taken his Best Man duties. He interrogates Mary's ex (not because he doesn't trust Mary, but because he is trying to avoid any trouble for the happy couple) and bribes the reluctant ringbearer with crime scene photographs.

- The scene with the two of them sitting there bonding over maggots is one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

- It probably shouldn't be as funny as it is, but the sight of Mycroft jogging on a treadmill in that very unforgiving outfit sent me into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. 

- My mother and I were in stitches over the truly dreadful way that Sherlock begins his speech. I think that he managed to insult every single person in that room (including the catering staff) and yet turned it around into a rather bizarre, if completely heartfelt, compliment for John.

- Can we just stop here for a moment and talk about the fact that John is tearing up in public over Sherlock's speech? This is the man that, at the beginning of A Study in Pink never even really smiled (the only ones he did were painfully contrived and empty) and that in The Reichenbach Fall refused to cry in front of his therapist. Now we see him not only getting a bit sniffly over the speech, but we also hear from his conversation with Major Sholto that he still goes and visits his therapist from time to time...though now it seems to be more because they are on good terms than out of desperation. People always focus on how disconnected from reality and emotion Sherlock was, but we often forget that John was just as bad or perhaps even worse!

- For everyone who thinks that Sherlock is being too kind and too human this series, I just want you to look at the scene where he looks up and sees that everyone in the room is crying. Instantly he panics, not knowing why or how to 'make it better'...this is different from the 'old' Sherlock only in the sense that instead of sneering and going on he is worried about the reaction because he thinks he did something wrong. Sherlock heard John say that the wedding was the most important day of his life and so Sherlock is doing his best to make certain that everything is perfect.

- Oh. And the hug. Darn it all! I waited three series' for that hug!

- Even in a speech meant to extol the virtues of Doctor Watson, Sherlock can't resist getting in a crack about the infamous blog he so tries to hate.

- The Bloody Guardsman was a portion of the episode I enjoyed very much (personally I prefer the vignettes to the actual speech part) although at first I did find it a bit odd that it was Sherlock who was taking care of the wedding preparation help rather than Janine (the chief bridesmaid). But then I remembered that this is Sherlock...the man who obsesses over everything to catch his eye as important. The man who has a sock index. Of course he would insist on being the one to help out. And it is quite funny the way Mary uses his deduction skills to ferret out which guests secretly hate her.

- "I will solve your murder, but it takes John Watson to save your life."

- Would the attempted murder on Bainbridge (Dean Thomas for you Potterheads out there) actually have worked? It seems rather ludicrous that being stabbed through the belt wouldn't be felt and if it was truly a blade small enough for a person to write it off as a clothing article snagging on something how could you possibly bleed to death that fast? Why wasn't there a trail of blood to the shower?

- I guess it all comes down to the fact that it was an attempted murder. 

- And now I absolutely have to talk about the Stag Night!!!

- So Sherlock is going to take John on a pub crawl through all the streets that they've found a corpse in. And that just settled my feelings about whether weddingplanner!Sherlock was still our beloved Sherlock right away. Even Molly (the girl who makes jokes about postmortems) looked a bit disturbed.

- For some reason it just cracks me up that Sherlock and John walk into a barand Sherlock orders a precise amount of beer in two graduated cylinders. The poor bartender!

- The dubstep version of the iconic theme song that plays during the drunken montage is absolutely priceless. I want that for my ringtone!

- Why did Mrs. Hudson let Tessa up into the flat when she knew that Sherlock and John were drinking? It is also hilarious, but a bit sketchy, that Tessa (a nurse) didn't see anything wrong with two obviously inebriated men trying to solve her crime. Guess she was pretty desperate!

- The drunken deductions. Oh gosh...the drunken deductions! I still laugh when I think about Sherlock's infamous scan descending into Buffy Speak!

- "He's clueing for looks."

- Everything about that scene was perfection. From John fall asleep on the sofa, to Sherlock chiding him for being rude, to Tessa calmly taking them into the flat crime scene, to Sherlock puking on the rug after scolding someone for compromising the integrity of said crime scene, to John then looking for a high five because he finished Sherlock's sentence. HAHAHA!

- Thay also mangled their catchphrase: "The game is...SOMETHING!" "On?" "Yeah...that."

- Why didn't they invite Lestrade to the Stag Night?

-  I have to admit that around the time the actual case shows up, things start to fall apart. It's not the story telling is off (I mean...the whole thing was beautifully foreshadowed and set up) it's just that things really start to drag. They could have cut the whole 'deduce the guests' and 'stop Major Sholto' bit in half and it really would have helped.

- We had a cameo from Irene Adler too.

- I did enjoy the bit where Sherlock listens to the ringbearer, Archie, and gets the missing piece to the puzzle. Remember that Sherlock was once that kid who had the answer and the police wouldn't listen to him. He's not about to make the same mistake. And the kid got a headless nun picture out of it all...bet his mother LOVED that!

- Sherlock playing the violin for John and Mary's first waltz was just the icing on the cake for me. Also, as a violinist, I can say that Cumberbatch has gotten markedly better at miming his playing. I'm not certain if it's actually him playing along to the soundtrack there or if he actually is just pretending. He's always been good...but this was a treat to watch, especially the second time when I was actually trying to catch him out.

- And the episode title refers to the fact that the Watsons are going to be parents. D'awww!

            So what do I think of this episode? Personally I loved it. It gave us some more much-needed character development (because you can't have a hiatus like Sherlock pulled and just resolve it in one story) and set a nice, deliberate, fluffy tone that left us ill-prepared and nervous for the series finale. Whatever else you can say about Moffat, he is a master at manipulating emotion. There were some pacing issues, especially towards the end, and the flashback vignette format probably isn't for everyone, but I had fun with it. The Sign of Three is a 4/5.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?

Top Ten Romantic Doctor Who Moments

10. “I’m burning up a sun just to say goodbye.” – Doomsday

     

9. Astrid’s Burial – Voyage of the Damned

  

8. Donna/Lee – Forest of the Dead     

7. Amy’s Choice

        

6. Fixing River’s Wrist – The Angels Take Manhattan

        

5. “I don’t care that you got old…” – The Girl Who Waited

           

4. Resigned to the Slow Path – The Girl in the Fireplace

       

3. “A first time and a last.” – Day of the Moon

          

2. Jackie & Pete Reunite – Doomsday

   

1. “My TARDIS?” “My Doctor!” – The Doctor’s Wife