Hello,I used to love Sherlock but I never watched season 4 because some of the reviews from fans kinda scared me away.I've been rewatching the show lately and I can't decide if I should finally give it a try or if I should spare myself.I adore Sherlock

Oh boy. I don’t think I can really give you a recommendation per se with this. With series 1 of Sherlock, the public immediately loved it and clamoured for more. Series 2 of Sherlock built on that and it got even more popular. Series 3 of Sherlock was highly, highly, highly anticipated, and while it got a generally pretty good public reception, it wasn’t as strong as the first two, and Johnlock shippers had mixed feelings (you know, particularly given how John married someone other than Sherlock, who also shot Sherlock in the heart, then unbelievably went back to her). Series 4 absolutely tanked with both the public and the fandom. Moffat and Gatiss have had a LONG-running habit of never fully resolving dropped plot threads or resolving serious emotional consequences of the things that happen between their characters. It’s something I definitely noticed and hated in their writing for Doctor Who and in the “resolution” to every cliffhanger ending of the first three series of Sherlock. Aka: 

Series 1 cliffhanger: Sherlock and John are trapped at the pool with Moriarty with a bomb about to go off, which Sherlock is about to shoot to set off to prevent Moriarty from getting away, even knowing that they’ll die along with him. John is fully on board. The stakes are massively high and the series ends like that. 

Series 1 resolution: Moriarty gets a phone call and changes his mind. Sort of funny, but also a completely lame resolution. Nothing is ever said between Sherlock and John that addresses the fact that they were about to die, that they were prepared to die together for the cause of not letting a terrorist escape, or what any of that might mean for anyone involved, the deeply serious nature of their work and how committed they are to it, etc. Not a word.

Series 2 cliffhanger: Sherlock has seemingly committed suicide in front of John, who is barely coping with his grief - and yet, right at the end, we see Sherlock watching him from afar at the cemetery. But how did he survive??? How will John react when he finds out??? How long will it take before Sherlock reveals the fact of his survival???? 

Series 2 resolution: We aren’t told, at least not for sure. We’re given a series of theories that openly parallel and/or mock fandom speculation, but never provided with a real answer. Sherlock and John’s long-awaited reunion is unbalanced by the presence of a third party (one which unbalances their dynamic for the remainder of the show from this point forward), and is turned into a tasteless joke. Eventually a bomb threat somewhat forces a surface resolution that never addresses any of the underlying issues, tensions, or problems between them - not then, nor at any point going forward. 

Series 3 cliffhanger: Moriarty is alive!!!!!!!!! But how???? Also, who cares? We just witnessed a terrible, stiff, cold parting scene on the tarmac between Sherlock and John, one which fits every single trope of an undeclared statement of love on Sherlock’s part. They shake hands. If I were being sent on a suicide mission after having saved my best friend from facing the consequences of his murder-wife’s international murder career and all I got was a handshake, nary a thank you, hug, “good luck, hope you don’t die after all”, any of it, I’d be pissed as hell. Really didn’t care about the Moriarty “revelation” at all. 

Series 3 resolution: Surprise, Moriarty isn’t alive. Yawn. I don’t even remember what the explanation was, if there was one. 

Series 4 does not end with a cliffhanger, pretty clearly signalling that the writers are done with the show, to which I say a hearty Thank God. Series 4 was brutal, in my personal opinion. The acting was good, but Martin and Amanda had just broken up, which made filming awkward for everyone and really affected the dynamics. The writing is inconsistent, unresolved (as per usual), and the last episode jumps the shark to a whole new level. They tried to write a Bond film in one episode, so you can only imagine how many threads they created and failed to resolve in 90 minutes of air time. The plot holes are staggering, and the unaddressed emotional consequences, as ever, are completely ignored. Moffat and Gatiss are lazy, lazy writers, who think that anyone who dares want a properly-written story is demanding “pablum”, as Gatiss once scoffed at some event or other. Series 4 has been dragged from one side of this fandom to the other, critics hated it, the public didn’t like it, and it’s all quite well-justified. 

That said… I’m one of those irritating people who can’t ignore the canon. The only show I’ve never watched all the way to the end is Doctor Who, because of the aforementioned terrible writing reasons. For me personally, I see my calling in life to fix this canon, which means that I feel duty-bound to know what it is. But was it an enjoyable experience to watch those three episodes? No. Do I recommend watching them? Also no. And yet, I would, just because I need to know what they did. I’ve only watched each episode exactly twice from start to finish. I’ve revisited individual scenes, just to see a facial expression or remember exactly what the line was, but transcripts are super helpful for that, too, so yeah. Even thinking about series 4 gives me heart palpitations, and I say that as someone who also hated series 3. So… take what you will from that????? If you do watch it, do come and tell me what you thought!