I did enjoy the episode, but I think that I find the modern tendency of these annoying nerd (read as virgin until they were married...if they married women at all) writers is to make the "powerful" women subservient to the men and to make sure that any "power" is only in the sexual arena. Here, I blame not only Moff, but RTD for Rose as well, because in the end, her wishes/plans were swept aside by the Doctor's paternal insistent on giving her a life that he chose for her...and suddenly it was all about sex...in Rose's case having a sexual partner/aging with her Doctor.

Basically, I liked John in the episode, but not much else. I didn't admire Irene, who seemed very shallow and unfocused to me. I felt it diminished Sherlock as much as Irene was diminished, myself, leaving him prey to feminine wiles which he then rejected until she begged. Beaten he was a better man, in my eyes, but, of course, Moff couldn't see that.