Responding to this post about "Many Happy Returns," mongette said: "See, this is why the minisode doesn’t really do it for me. There is so much winking at the camera - literal as well as metaphorical - that I just couldn’t sink into it. There wasn’t enough fourth wall to accept it as an in-universe story. It would have been a fine tack to take for a Doctor Who minisode, since that show is a lot more self-aware, but for Sherlock? No. Does not mesh with the tone of the series. In short, I felt more like the fans were being pandered to than appreciated."
Tiltedsyllogism asked about the same issue: "Oh, I’m so torn. I think you’re spot-on in your read here… but it felt a little too steeped in schtick to me, all the same (Lestrade’s faceplant didn’t help). How about you? Is there a gap for you between what they aimed for and what they achieved?"
I have to say, I think they achieved exactly what they aimed for, if I'm correct about the aim: like many tidbits of this kind, it was more of an advertisement, more a long trailer than a short episode, or webisode. The latter tend to fill in parts of the story that can make a material difference to how one experiences the main plot (I'm thinking of the Battlestar Galactica webisodes that ended up making a discrete story arc). But just as the Sherlock runners don't get the potential of John's blog (which is pretty much a waste of bandwidth imho), I don't think they fully appreciate how webisodes can work in giving the show not just more detail, but more depth. This was more just a bit of backstory, like a nice fanfic maybe.
So yes, it was a trailer more than a mini-episode. A witty, clever, very fun commercial. Definitely an appetizer, meant to whet the appetite without satisfying the actual hunger. I myself wasn't expecting any more, so I think it was just fine.
