I never thought I'd say that i'm happy see the human side of sherlock homes. But the portrayal was too good to say otherwise. Last two seasons were basically cliff hangers, full of suspense that got us on toes. As per the novels, the last story of sherlock adventure was "His Last Vow". That's the season ender here as well. I won't spoil anything here, but remember sherlock's vow made at the final minutes of this episode. Since the directors already announced that the finale will be mesmerizing, imagine the setup created here in this episode 2 and what effect would it have if the finale had to have a tragic ending.
In my plain opinion, the point of this episode was to make a contrast before grand finale. Just as the calm before storm. If sherlock died/got defamed before, it would be a death/defamation of a brilliant detective. Now the director added the human element too, and did so skillfully. Here you see a tormented person, troubled by his own brilliance. I found this episode to be a very unexpected variation to the main structure of storyline. And it worked for me very well.