I totally agree. In the beginning, I was like YES! Irene Adler you are so strong and independent! Look at the way you hold your own against Sherlock! And then she turned out to be playing for Moriarty and was saved by Sherlock? When Mycroft was like "I was very thorough. It would take Sherlock Holmes to pull that off" or whatever, I was like "WELL Irene did outwit Sherlock!" but no. She had to be saved by him.

I definitely like the idea of Sherlock being more "human" over time because of the people he meets, but the difference between The Great Game and this episode was so huge. It was kind of off putting, even though Sherlock was rather endearing in many ways this episode (and annoying).