Worst villain ever
You know, I kind of wish Mycroft was Moriarty. I rewatched A Study in Pink and before it was revealed that Mycroft is actually Sherlock’s brother and basically a good guy, I actually found Mycroft convincing as a villain. He matches Sherlock’s intelligence, demonstrates his ability to elude Sherlock, and has a style that’s classy and you could easily imagine him as a cold psychopath who would kill you, wipe off the knife with an embroidered handkerchief, then walk away, umbrella slung over his shoulder like a gentleman. You know how Sherlock is outwardly cold and rude and people assume he’s a killer when he isn’t? Mycroft could have been his opposite; perfectly normal gentleman who appears kind and honest but is really a twisted killer on the inside.
Moriarty? Sure yeah, he’s smart, but he’s like a whiny douchebag. I think about half of it is the way the actor, director/writers chose to portray him, which is an annoying weasel. Seriously, “No you won’t!” in this silly sing-song voice when Sherlock is being all James Bond just made me laugh my ass off at an intense moment for all the wrong reasons. But it’s more than just that, and I think I know why. He’s the lowest common denominator of a villain, the terrorist. Terrorism is easy; anyone can strap a bomb to something and blow shit up. The guy can’t even make a graceful exit; he actually comes back just to shit with them more, ruining the tiny bit of effect he had. And you know, the fact that he needs a dozen snipers when confronting John and Sherlock just convinces me that he’s somehow the head of a terrorist group who do a lot of the spy work for him, but not in the cool, underplayed way Mycroft has people work for him. I mean, it’s threatening when it’s cameras and technology and you can’t see who’s pulling the strings. When there’s snipers and you yourself are there antagonizing the protagonist, shit’s not nearly as threatening. Yes, Moriarty can burn Sherlock’s heart out of him. But we’re going to assume that’s John, and really, the swimming pool can kill John just as well as Moriarty can. I want a villain that can tear apart Sherlock’s mind. An enemy that can use John, not just threaten his life but do shit to sow discord between them or kidnap John and make it a game for Sherlock to find him.
tl;dr, Moriarty sucks and I just pray that he either goes the hell away or it turns out that this isn’t the real Moriarty, because I’ll be so annoyed if this jackass is the recurring villain.