BBC dropped the very first Christmas special for “Sherlock” on Jan 1 2016, taking fans way back to the Victorian times with classic Sherlock Holmes and his partner John Watson as they piece together the puzzle of the Abominable bride.

After the famous moment when John Watson, a veteran of the Anglo-Afghan war, meets the well reputed Sherlock Holmes, the latter beating corpses to check for bruising, the pair’s friendship is sparked as they go on solving mysterious murders across London. Both book enthusiasts and zealous show lovers get a blend of what they love, the classic yet Cumberbatch Sherlock leaving everyone stunned with his high-functioning sociopathic ways.

Humor builds into the story as Watson’s blog is replaced by his book, in which Mrs. Hutchins’ function is satirized with the gender roles from the Victorian era. Molly Hooper, the coroner, is dressed like a man, and Mary Watson is restricted by the male dominant society. The dumbfounded Scotland Yard detective Craig comes to Sherlock with the case of the Abominable Bride.

And with this case, the plot progresses from making fun of Victorian London to streamlining the case of the bride to an old foe from series two. Craig tells Sherlock of a woman dressed in a bridal gown with a horrendous face, randomly shooting at passengers before she shoots herself in the mouth. After the bride is revealed to be Emelia Ricoletti, the irony lies that her actor also played Janine, the woman Sherlock played to get to the napoleon of blackmail, Charles Augustus Magnussen, from series three.

After Emelia’s death, witnesses claim to have seen the bride return and murder Mr. Ricoletti near a theater in the middle of the road. Sherlock immediately deduces the bride’s return as the work of a copycat. His brother Mycroft comes into play giving Sherlock and Watson a tip about Eustace Carmichael, a man who received threats through a telegram.

Arriving too late, Sherlock and Watson find Eustace mortally stabbed and Sherlock has his suspicions on the murderer being Eustace’s wife. A note attached to the dagger reads “Miss me”, the phrase used once by Sherlock’s deadliest foe, James Moriarty. Moriarty appears in Sherlock’s room asking him how Emelia Ricoletti could still be alive.

After realizing that Moriarty was a figment of his mind palace, Sherlock snaps back to receive an alert from John, Mary and Mycroft in the present day. Sherlock admits to taking drugs so that he could enter his mind palace and deduce the truth behind Moriarty’s return in the real world. The Victorian era was a figment of his mind palace, a false reality to learn the truth about Moriarty, a nearly perfect parallel to Nolan’s “Inception.”

Despite their warnings, the ever so bold Sherlock Holmes enters his mind palace again, receiving a tip from Victorian Mary Watson about the women’s independence members meeting at a church, where the bride was spotted. Surprisingly, Sherlock finds Molly, Irene Adler, and Watson’s maid along with the bride, and hoping to find Lady Carmichael under the veil, Sherlock lifts it to find Moriarty inside.

Waking back up to the present day, Sherlock discovers Moriarty’s plan, a parallel of his own. Moriarty had set into a motion a plan which would take place after his death. James Moriarty the human was dead, shot himself through the mouth, but the idea of Moriarty lived on.

One could definately not predict the outcome of the Christmas special, as it hits the audience as more than just a special, a long desired question has been answered, and with the incoming of series four, fans will finally see Sherlock back in action against the idea of his greatest foe and creation, James Moriarty.