Doctor Who: Season 8 in Retrospect, and Onward to Season 9!

And we're back! It has been awhile, hasn't it? Life got a bit busy over the summer, but really we've all just been killing time until the next season of Doctor Who. And on Saturday, it'll be here at last! I don't know about you, but I'm excited. :)

How has Season 8 held up since last year? Well, I re-watched it in preparation for Season 9, and you know what? It wasn't bad. It wasn't great, I'll give you that - we haven't had a truly great season since Seasons 4 and 5 - but Season 8, from purely an entertainment standpoint, is still enjoyable. 

Did some of my opinions change? Yes, and I'll tell you if they did and why:

Deep Breath - Exciting, if a bit unfocused

--You can't top some of the imagery in this episode - a dinosaur in London, the half-faced man - and the story does keep you intrigued, but the plot gets a little lost along the way. Still, it's a solid introductory episode for Twelve.

Into the Dalek - Decent

--Not bad, not great, it's stuck on the middle ground of good, with a few drawbacks in the plot and characters keeping it from being truly top quality.

Robot of Sherwood - Entertaining, but mostly forgettable

--Although I did enjoy this episode more the second time around, besides the Doctor's duel with a spoon I can't think of many parts of it that are really all that memorable.

Listen - A potential classic

--An unexpected dive into the Doctor's psyche. While a confusing plot stops this episode from becoming an instant classic like Blink, there's definite substance here, plus one of the creepiest monsters we've met (or haven't met, rather) on the show, at least for awhile.

Time Heist - Decent

--A clever idea that sometimes falls flat in its execution, but still an entertaining episode!

The Caretaker - Decent

--The Doctor as a janitor never gets old, and this episode holds welcome character development for Clara. More urgency within the plot and more focus on the villain would probably have made this stronger.

Kill the Moon - [Controversial]

--I can't help it, I still really love this episode. No, it wasn't as good the second time around, but I still love its message, and I feel like the people who dislike Kill the Moon are the ones trying to politicize it. Can't we just appreciate it for what it is - a piece of writing that shows us the Doctor still cares about life in all its beauty and wonder - and not argue about possible symbolism? However you take it, the visuals and the writing, especially in the second half, are pretty great.

Mummy on the Orient Express - A potential classic

--I'd just like to thank Jamie Mathieson for bringing his genius ideas to life in Season 8. This episode is wonderful, with all its callbacks to previous Doctors, and so is Flatline. I'm actually a bit upset that Mathieson is only writing one episode for Season 9, and it's a shared episode at that! But, if it's anywhere near as good as Mummy or Flatline, I look forward to it immensely!

Flatline - A potential classic

--A stunningly creative idea executed in genius fashion. This is what Doctor Who is all about!

In the Forest of the Night - Boring

--An episode where the Doctor really doesn't have any effect on anything that's happening, and Danny at his most annoying. Ugh.

Dark Water - A potential classic

The writing, acting, directing, even the music - all incredible! Suspenseful and thrilling, with great pacing and a chilling concept (especially for a kids' show!)!

Death in Heaven - Decent

--Okay, I'll admit it, this episode isn't as bad as I originally thought. I guess I was so surprised and delighted by the excellence of Dark Water that I amped myself up too much for the finale and ended up being disappointed. It's not a great finale, but it's not bad - the whole "love is a promise" thing still seems a little too convenient for the final plot resolution, but I'll take it.

 (On a side note, Missy killing everybody kind of made me wonder if, at least in this episode, she's supposed to be a representation of Steven Moffat. Particularly when she's holding on to the inside of the crashing plane and going "Nyoooow," I wonder if that's how Moffat's critics picture him running the show - crashing it straight into the ground with a crazed smile on his face, lol.)

Overall, I think Season 8 was good, it just wasn't a banner year for Who. There was good writing, but also some mediocre stuff, and I feel like a lot of people didn't think it balanced out in the end. 

As for new characters, Danny Pink was probably the weakest part of Season 8; it was like Season 5 if Rory hadn't been awesome. Clara just doesn't need a love interest; it makes things needlessly complicated, and things are already complicated - it's Doctor Who! Having said that, I think Missy was a great addition, with Michelle Gomez turning in a wonderfully insane performance, and I look forward to seeing her in Season 9!

Season 9:

So what have we got for Season 9? A lot of two-parters, apparently, which could go either way. Missy's back, Osgood is back (everyone called that one, I think!), and, to my surprise and delight, Rigsy is back! We actually have two female writers on staff - Catherine Tregenna and Sarah Dollard - which is the most New Who has had, with Helen Raynor being on staff for seasons 3 and 4. We've also got Hettie MacDonald, the director of Blink, back for two episodes! And, from the look of the trailer, I can't wait for the Doctor to wear sunglasses and play guitar, and I'm looking forward to finding out who Maisie Williams' character is!

Season 9 starts on Saturday! Allons-y!

A Bit of a Detour: Other TV Shows to Watch

Seeing as we won't have Season 9 of Doctor Who until September, and the Christmas special for Sherlock is obviously even further away (with Season 4 not filming until 2016 - ugh), I won't have much to talk about until then. So, I thought I would leave you with some of my personal recommendations for other shows to watch while we're waiting for Sherlock and Doctor Who to return:

Firefly

Genre: Space western

Number of seasons: 1

Best episodes: Our Mrs. Reynolds; Objects in Space

Created by Joss Whedon, this is one of the best shows ever produced, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. The crew of an illegal salvage (space)ship evades the corrupt Alliance government through heists pulled throughout space and on distant planets. There is not a single bad episode of this show, and its personal best are up there with television's best ever. The acting is great, the writing is great, the pacing, the stories, the complexity of the universe the characters inhabit (or should I say, the 'Verse) - everything is marvelous.

...And Fox had to ruin it by cancelling it after one season. Idiots.

Anyway, definitely go watch this show. It is phenomenal in every respect; you really come to love everyone in the crew - Mal, Wash, Zoe, Kaylee, Jayne, Inara, Book, Simon, River - and after awhile Serenity (their ship) starts to feel like home. The only bad thing I can think of for this show is when it's over, you'll be sad there isn't more.

Where to watch: Netflix

Agent Carter

Genre: Comic book, action, drama

Number of seasons: Season 2 set to air January 2016

Best episodes: Pilot; A Sin to Err

This is my new favorite show, and I'll tell you why: because Peggy is frikkin' awesome, that's why. There is no agenda here, no obnoxious "strong female character" to be shoved down our throats as cheap compensation for our pleas to have real, relatable women on screen. No, what's great about this show is that it doesn't make a big deal about gender - yes, it has its obvious points to make about sexism, but they aren't grating. Peggy has nothing to prove; she doesn't need to prove anything. She's an agent, and a badass one at that, who's just trying to do her job, and she does it damn well. She's not amazing because she's a woman - her gender is incidental. She's amazing because she's Peggy frikkin' Carter, and it's so refreshing to see that mindset on television at last. Give us more shows like this, please - where gender is important because it's not important within that fictional universe. Never mind that this show is also a ton of fun to watch, with great action and suspense and witty dialogue. Go watch it now, and catch up before Season 2!

Where to watch: Hulu

In the Flesh

Genre: Horror, drama

Number of seasons: 2

Best episode: Season 1, episode 3

In the Flesh is a hard show to describe, but it is definitely worth a watch. I would say a good description of it is an intelligent take on the zombie genre. In the show, Britain experiences an event called the Rising, where the dead rise from their graves and come back as zombies, attacking the living. When it turns out that the "Rotters" can be medicated and returned to a normal state, it lies with Kieren to deal with his family, who are still in pain over his death and now are frightened and emotionally disturbed by his return, and find his place in a society that sees his kind as monsters. 

I'm not going to lie, Season 1 was some of the most emotionally intense television I've ever watched. It is also a British show, so, as well as plenty of drama, it has its share of dry humor, such as the government trying to force everyone to be politically correct in referring to zombies as suffering from "Partially Deceased Syndrome." It's also, to my pleasant surprise, a show very positive towards the LGBTQ community, showing queer relationships in a respectful light that is, quite frankly, very refreshing.

Where to watch: Youtube (unfortunately that seems to be the only place it's available)

Downton Abbey

Genre: Period drama

Number of seasons: Season 6 (final season) set to air in 2016

Best seasons: 1-3

This show is just lovely, pure and simple. The first three seasons are the best, taking you through history and the subsequent changes in society by showing the fluctuating divide between the aristocratic family the Crawleys, owners of Downton Abbey, and their servants. With how many characters move through Downton's halls, it's astounding that you feel like you know and love them all: not just Lord and Lady Grantham and their daughters, and of course Lady Violet, but Carson, Mrs. Hughes, Bates, Anna, Daisy, etc. About midway through Season 2 (my favorite season), Downton starts to feel like home. There's so much to love; it's unfortunate that after Season 3 it seemed to lose its stride a bit, but it still has all the charm and wit to keep us enthralled as it heads towards its final season.

Where to watch: cokeandpopcorn.ch

Supernatural

Genre: Horror, drama

Number of seasons: Season 11 set to air October 2015

Best seasons: 1-6, 8

How to describe this show that I love in spite of myself? Is it pandering? Yes. Is it sexist? Yes (although, in fairness, it's been getting better...). Is it pretty ridiculous? Yes. 

But is it AWESOME? Hell. Yes.

Want great comedy? Watch "Hollywood Babylon," "Changing Channels," "Yellow Fever," or "The French Mistake." Want fantastic drama? Watch "The End," "What Is and What Should Never Be," "The Man Who Would Be King," and just pretty much all of Season 5. As well as delivering on both genre fronts, it's a show that's not afraid to be self aware and truly, hilariously meta, with episodes like (again) "The French Mistake," "Fan Fiction," "The Real Ghostbusters," and "The Monster at the End of This Book." Watching the show grow from seasons 1-5, going from hunting monsters to hunting demons, to fighting demons and angels, to getting mixed up in the war between heaven and hell and facing the apocalypse - I mean, WOW. What a grand master plan for showrunner Eric Kripke, and in the end, it really did give us an amazing arc for the story and the characters.

The show has started going downhill in recent years, unfortunately, as Kripke left after season 5; season 7 was a mess, and while season 8 pretty much saved the show, season 9 and 10 were not all that great. Still, it's definitely worth it to start watching, if only for the Kripke years and the characters you meet along the way - Dean, Sam, Cas, Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Jodie, Charlie, and so many more.

Where to watch: Netflix

Breaking Bad

Genre: Drama

Number of seasons: 5

Best episode: Ozymandias

While Sherlock and Doctor Who still remain my favorite shows, Breaking Bad is, hands down, the best show I've ever seen. Everything about it is quality - the acting, the writing, the cinematography, the editing, the music, EVERYTHING. If you haven't seen this, go watch it now. Even if you're a bit wary of the concept - a high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer starts cooking meth to pay for his treatment and provide for his family - give it a chance. It is so complex, so engrossing, and executed with such integrity and intent of purpose, you know that you are in the hands of a master showrunner. My kudos to you, Vince Gilligan - you gave us one for the ages.

Where to watch: Netflix

A Bit of a Detour: Some Supernatural Silliness

As August and, consequently, Season 9 of Doctor Who is a ways away, and Season 4 of Sherlock is even further away (eight months 'til the Christmas special, guys - we can do this!), I thought I would mention one of the other shows that I enjoy. You may have heard of it; while Sherlock and Doctor Who are two of the three biggest fandoms on the Internet, now we can address the third:

Supernatural, a monstrous (heh) hit for the CW, about two attractive brothers (as with all CW shows, the attractive part is key) who also happen to hunt monsters.

Now I'll say it, I'm a little embarrassed to admit I watch this show. It's gimmicky, and there's no denying its rather obvious marketing tactic (the original tagline for the show was "Scary Just Got Sexy." Really.).

Still, I have to hand it to Eric Kripke and the show runners after him, they (mostly) managed to get beyond the pandering to actually create an intriguing storyline and, honestly, really awesome characters. I won't go into it all now (that's for another post, another day), but I've never seen another show do what this show has done. We thought Sherlock's "Empty Hearse" was meta? Watch Supernatural's "The French Mistake" or "Fan Fiction" and see just how self aware (and hilariously so) a show can be. 

Ultimately, what keeps the show going is its characters. Dean? Frikkin' love him. Castiel? Love him even more; I think he's actually my favorite, he is fantastic. I'm not a huge fan of Sam, but Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Crowley, Jodie, Charlie - you find yourself surprised at just how much you love them all.

So, what I have for you today, as part of our detour from Wholock, is a small tribute to Supernatural:

You'll know the song 'Uptown Funk' from it being played on the radio pretty much 24/7. It's a great song, very catchy, very upbeat. Well, a fellow Supernatural fan and I were discussing that song, and pretty soon we came to the conclusion that a Supernatural parody of it would actually be really fun to write. So, without further ado, here is Doomsday Funk (from the perspective of Dean, of course):

This road, that ice cold                                                    

Demon hunter, that corpse cold

This one for them dead girls,

Them bled girls, straight cut to pieces!

Drivin', stylin', livin' it up in the city

Got Chuck in from heaven

Wanna kiss myself, I'm so pretty!

I'm too hot (hot damn)

Call the FBI and a fireman

I'm too hot (hot damn)

Make a demon wanna retire, man

I'm too hot (hot damn)

Say my name, you know who I am

I'm too hot (hot damn)

Am I bad 'bout those honeys, break it down

Cas saved me, hallelujah (OOH)

Cas saved me, hallelujah (OOH)

'Cause Winchesters gon' give it to ya

'Cause Winchesters gon' give it to ya

Tuesday in the Myst'ry Spot

Don't believe me, just watch (come on!)

Stop, wait a minute

Fill my flask, put some liquor in it

Take a sip, a case maybe

Sammy, get Baby!

Ride to Harlem, Hollywood,

Listening to rock, heavy,

If we show up, we gon' show out

Smoother than a ride in the Chevy

I'm too hot (hot damn)

Call the FBI and a fireman

I'm too hot (hot damn)

Make a Leviathan retire, man

I'm too hot (hot damn)

Witch, say my name, you know who I am

I'm too hot (hot damn)

Am I bad 'bout those honeys, break it down

Cas saved me, hallelujah (OOH)

Cas saved me, hallelujah (OOH)

'Cause Winchesters gon' give it to ya

Tuesday in the Myst'ry Spot

Don't believe me, just watch (come on!)

"Before we die, let me tell you somethin'..."

Hell will funk you up, hell will funk you up

Hell will funk you up, hell will funk you up...

(sorry for the feels)

(Etc.)

I'm sure the Supernatural exec producer will be contacting me soon to write one of their episodes, or at least their new theme song! :P

The Women of Sherlock: Mary

Mary Morstan Watson

First episode: The Empty Hearse

Seen also in: The Sign of Three, His Last Vow

Occupation: CIA agent (former), assassin (former), nurse

Show history: We're first properly introduced to Mary when John is about to propose to her during their dinner date, approximately two years after Sherlock's untimely death. Sherlock, of course, chooses this exact moment to reveal himself as "not dead," which overshadows the intended proposal just a bit.

A few days later, Mary alerts Sherlock to a text she's received from an unknown number - a threat against John's life. Sherlock and Mary run to the rescue to pull John out of a Guy Fawkes' Day bonfire, which, we later learn, Charles Augustus Magnussen had him placed in.

In "The Sign of Three," John and Mary are finally married - and there also happens to be a murderer on the loose, who has targeted one of the wedding guests. Though John tries to keep Mary safe and away from his and Sherlock's crime solving, she is having none of it, and helps them solve the case. At the end, in the midst of the celebration of the wedding and of the murderer being found, Sherlock also deduces that Mary is pregnant.

In "His Last Vow," the tables really turn, as Mary is revealed to be an ex-CIA agent out to kill Magnussen, who holds sensitive information about her "work" during her time as assassin A.G.R.A., before she escaped to the UK and changed her identity. Sherlock manages to kill Magnussen in the end, protecting Mary, John, and the soon-to-be-born Watson baby.

My take on her: In short, I like Mary. A lot of fans were worried that her presence would majorly disrupt the great dynamic between Sherlock and John, and I think that was an understandable concern. But, thanks to the writers, Mary was not just some killjoy; she wants Sherlock and John to still be friends and solve cases, and she loves danger as much as John does, which is one of the many reasons why they make such a wonderful match. 

My only problem is the twist in "His Last Vow." I guess it is a pretty interesting twist, and I could see the blocks being laid in "Hearse" and "Sign" to build up to it, so it's not like it was completely out of left field. I just wish that Mary didn't have to have some dark past to be seen as an intriguing character. She doesn't need to be an assassin to be awesome; she's awesome because she's frikkin' Mary Watson.

As for her future in the show, a lot of fans are worried that she'll be killed off, since she does die in the original books. I hope she doesn't; it would be such a waste of a great character. Plus, John doesn't need to have his heart broken again; he's already had that too many times already! 

As for the baby, I'm not so sure about that, either. A baby has never boded well for a TV show; while I think watching Sherlock interacting with a small child would probably be the cutest thing ever, I can't imagine it working very well for the show in the long-term. Mary and John can't just drop everything and run off to solve crimes with Sherlock when there's a baby that needs taken care of 24/7. But what are the alternatives? Mary has a miscarriage? The kid dies?? No, I don't think so. 

Whatever ends up happening, I'm very interested to see how the writers handle this!

The Women of Sherlock: Donovan

D.S. Sally Donovan

First episode: A Study in Pink

Seen also in: The Great Game, The Reichenbach Fall, The Sign of Three

Occupation: Detective sergeant for Scotland Yard

Show history: First seen at a press conference with Lestrade, Donovan is properly introduced as a general pain in the butt in "A Study in Pink" at the crime scene when she calls Sherlock "Freak"; he, in turn, deduces that she is having an affair with Anderson. When Sherlock abandons John, Donovan warns John to stay away from him, as he is a "psychopath."

In "The Great Game," Donovan hands Sherlock the phone when one of Moriarty's "voices" calls and asks for him. Her penultimate contribution to the show occurs in "The Reichenbach Fall," when she is the one who raises suspicions about Sherlock setting up the crimes himself, which leads to his eventual downfall in becoming a fugitive from justice and committing "suicide." 

Last seen in "The Sign of Three," she helps Lestrade arrest the Waters crime family.

My take on her: I try not to hate on Donovan too much. Even if she can come across as a bitch, she's really only trying to do her job; Sherlock is the one who keeps intruding on the police's work, even if he does help them solve the crimes in the end. Detective Sergeant is a hard rank to get to, so she obviously is intelligent and has the skills to get to where she is. Add in the fact that there aren't many female Detective Sergeants, and you can see why being routinely insulted by an amateur detective, even if he does happen to be a genius, would make anyone a little irritated. Calling him "Freak" is probably mild compared to what she really wants to call him. 

It's really too bad Donovan seems to have served her purpose within the show. Her character existed to bring the show full circle from "A Study in Pink" to "The Reichenbach Fall"; we barely saw her in Season 3 because there's not much left for her to do. She's demonized within the show, a bit unfairly; as I've said before, there's not many people left who will call Sherlock on his crap (minus Molly in "His Last Vow" - those slaps!), so it's sad we seem to be losing one of them.

The Women of Sherlock: Irene

Irene Adler

First episode: A Scandal in Belgravia

Seen also in: The Sign of Three (cameo)

Occupation: Dominatrix

Show history: Irene Adler crosses paths with Sherlock when she blackmails the royal family with pictures she's taken of one of its members. As Irene, or, as she is professionally known, "The Woman," is a dominatrix, these pictures are of an extremely compromising nature and a huge potential scandal for the royal family. Mycroft sets Sherlock on the case to reclaim the pictures, which leads Sherlock to a surprising discovery: Irene is nearly as intelligent as he is, and a worthy opponent within their battle of wits.

What starts out as a clash of the minds turns into a clash of hearts, as Sherlock and Irene's relationship becomes complicated as they grow more and more fascinated by each other. Before Sherlock, Irene has never met a man (or woman) who could resist her sexual charms; before Irene, Sherlock has never met a woman who is a match for his intellectual prowess. The potential for an intriguing, incredibly complex dynamic between them is crushed, unfortunately, when Irene is found dead, sending Sherlock into a quiet, but genuine, grieving period.

Sherlock's world is turned on its head, though, when six months later Irene reveals herself to be alive and well. She was in danger and had to disappear, and so left her camera phone with all her blackmail on it in Sherlock's care so that it would be kept safe until she could return. She asks Sherlock to decipher a coded email for her, which he does, and secretly sends Moriarty the decoded message. The message essentially brings Mycroft's operation for MI6 to a grinding halt and gives Irene the leverage to blackmail the British government into giving her whatever wealth and power she wants.

It looks as if Irene has won, until Sherlock realizes the code that unlocks her phone, which has read I AM _ _ _ _ LOCKED: I AM S H E R LOCKED. This reveals her genuine feelings for Sherlock, however ruthless her deception may have been, and unfortunately gives Mycroft access to all her blackmail, leaving her utterly defeated in all her strategic manipulations.

A few months later, Mycroft informs John that Irene has been executed while on the run in the Middle East. Though John tries to hide the truth from Sherlock, Sherlock hides his own secret from John: that Sherlock saved Irene's life just as she was about to be executed. 

My take on her: I think Irene is a pretty polarizing character for the fans, for obvious reasons. Steven Moffat takes a classic character from the Sherlock Holmes canon and reworks her in a very clever, very modern, and very risky (and risque) way. 

On the one hand, it's refreshing to see a female character who is very confident and comfortable with her sexuality (as well as being the first lesbian character on the show). On the other, that also makes her fall into the category of a cliched "strong woman" in Steven Moffat's repertoire: sexually voracious, good with a gun, etc. These characteristics, while not necessarily bad, are not what make a woman a strong character. 

I am glad that they made her very intelligent; her scenes of going back and forth with Sherlock are incredible to watch. But in the end, she is also defeated by something that has become part and parcel of a stereotype for women in television and films: she is defeated by her emotions. 

To reiterate: Irene can't win the game against Mycroft and the British government because she can't handle her emotions over Sherlock. I'm sorry, but that's just lame.

It's not completely one-sided, I suppose; Sherlock's emotions get the better of him, too, as he risks his life to save hers for no apparent logical reason - the only reason he could do so would be because of his affections towards her, however hard he tries to hide them.

So, while I can't hate Irene, I can't completely love her, either. She has such a fascinating build-up for her character, only to be let down by her inability to control her emotions - a disappointing resolution to what is otherwise a fantastic episode and an intriguing character.

Given her cameo in Sherlock's mind palace in "The Sign of Three," it looks like we may be seeing more of Irene in Season 4. Hopefully she can be redeemed from her cliched ending in "Scandal," and given a resolution more worthy of such an awesome character.  

The Women of Sherlock: Mrs. Hudson

Martha Louise Hudson

First episode: A Study in Pink

Seen also in: The Blind Banker, The Great Game, A Scandal in Belgravia, The Hounds of Baskerville, The Reichenbach Fall, The Empty Hearse, The Sign of Three, His Last Vow

Occupation: Landlady to 221B and 221C Baker Street

Show History: Mrs. Hudson is introduced as Sherlock and John's landlady when John first moves in with Sherlock; Sherlock is able to afford the flat, it seems, because he ensured Mrs. Hudson's husband would be executed for his crimes, namely murder. Although Mrs. Hudson is constantly reminding Sherlock and John that she's "not your housekeeper," she provides them with plentiful cups of tea and biscuits, and even manages to partially save John's date with Sarah in "The Blind Banker" by coming by with a tray of snacks. In "The Great Game," she also becomes crucial to solving the Connie Prince murder case, as her knowledge of celebrity gossip inadvertently reveals to Sherlock the cause of Prince's death (Botox). 

In Season 2, Mrs. Hudson has become something of a mother figure for Sherlock; she has clearly entered into Sherlock's small circle of friends who he loves dearly. His fury when she is violently interrogated by CIA agents in "A Scandal in Belgravia" reveals just how much she has come to mean to him; the agent he throws out the window surely won't forget that any time soon. In "The Hounds of Baskerville," she is seen attempting to kindle a relationship with the butcher working downstairs, which Sherlock promptly squashes; in "The Reichenbach Fall," she is one of the three targets Moriarty chooses for his assassins, and thus one of the three people - besides John and Lestrade - that Sherlock cares about most and would sacrifice his life for. 

In Season 3, Mrs. Hudson's back story is filled in a little more. "The Empty Hearse" shows her as still a member of Sherlock's circle of close friends when she is one of the people he chooses to visit when he "resurrects." In "The Sign of Three," she basically predicts the plot of "His Last Vow," as she tells John that her husband 1) cheated on her with many women, 2) ran a drug cartel, and 3) murdered a man by shooting him in the head, which are almost identical to when Sherlock 1) dates Janine, 2) takes drugs when he is undercover, and 3) kills Charles Augustus Magnussen in "His Last Vow." We also find out (thanks to Magnussen's files) Mrs. Hudson's full name (Martha Louise Hudson, maiden name Sissons), that she was an exotic dancer, and that she is apparently addicted to marijuana. 

My take on her: Una Stubbs is flawless as Mrs. Hudson, and does a perfect job of balancing both the motherly and quirky sides of the character. Mrs. Hudson may come across at first as a bit scatterbrained, but she is nobody's fool, especially when she manages to hide Irene's phone for Sherlock in "Scandal" during the CIA agents' interrogation. Although her meandering chatter may have Sherlock putting her on "semi-permanent mute," she always has words of wisdom to offer him and John (or, as she likes to call them, her "boys"), and hilarious anecdotes about her own bizarre past. Personally, I hope Mrs. Hudson never leaves Baker Street; as Sherlock would say, "England would fall!"