Hm, in the original story, she's a mistress to foreign nationals, so I guess dominatrix doesn't come out of nowhere, at least. I'm looking forward to reading the original stuff and catching the references...in series three! Which I presume will happen.

she was doing dealings with terrorists, et al. In my reading the big reveal was that she was worse than we'd been assuming all this time.

Yeah, that was my read as well, but I couldn't tell where she stacked up against, say, Moriarty, who seems worse. Yet, she appears to basically get a thrill out of fucking with people, no matter who gets hurt. Moriarty hurts with intent; she just doesn't give a fuck if you die while she has fun.

a mistress to foreign nationals, so I guess dominatrix doesn't come out of nowhere

Yes it does! Being someone's (or multiple someones) mistress has nothing to do with BDSM, professional or not.

I couldn't tell where she stacked up against, say, Moriarty, who seems worse

Damning with faint praise. However, she freely works with him, so that doesn't bother her either. I am so not sure why this person is trying to convince me she's misunderstood. Convince me instead that Sherlock doesn't care (although Mycroft seemed to be implying that he did, huh?).

Yet, she appears to basically get a thrill out of fucking with people, no matter who gets hurt.

I think they recognised the similarities in each other, though at least Sherlock has something more of a moral code (witness his care for Mrs. Hudson). It was interesting that Irene "needed" Moriarty to start a properly criminal career though.

I thought that was a blast, no drop-off in quality at all. Loved her password.

It's all about the coat.

In Doyle, Irene Adler had an extremely strong if somewhat unconventional ethical code - though not unconventional in everything. Her word was good, and she was kind and compassionate. But since this is 21st century Sherlock, reasonable variation on the original is to be expected, though making Irene Adler into Catwoman(amoral/evil version) does not strike me as the best choice.

More complaints about Moffat writing female characters: [link]

Adler is not "a mistress to foreign nationals" as if that's her profession. She's a retired opera singer who had an affair. And she's a foreign national herself, for that matter.

I enjoyed this review. [link]

I don't like the equation of the fact she slept with whoever with a sexual profession. Even though she was using that material as leverage, it's just not the same thing.

In Doyle, Irene Adler had an extremely strong if somewhat unconventional ethical code - though not unconventional in everything. Her word was good, and she was kind and compassionate.

Adler's specifically called out as an adventuress in ASiB. In the sense of "woman using unscrupulous means to gain wealth or social position." Watson's lens of "poor sweet thing!" aside, I don't see her as having enough characterization to draw the conclusion that she's kind and compassionate.

Also, I found Mycroft and company's cunning plan (to... terrify their citizenry without actual deaths and strengthen their position in terms of the politics of war, is the best I can come up with) about as amoral as anything else in there.

Far more so, I thought.

Really, there's a lot of "not good" going on in the series if you look for it. There's Mycroft's shennanigans, Irene attempts to steal information that could be used by terrorists (plus blackmail, etc.), Sherlock lets a victim suffer longer in a vest of explosives in "The Great Game" because he wants to get a leg up on Moriarty, John brags about killing people (and we've seen him do so once), Lestrade organizes a (possibly) baseless drugs bust in Sherlock's apartment to try to make Sherlock do what Lestrade wants (and his underlings help), Sarah covers up for a doctor that falls asleep on the job—the only recurring character who doesn't bend their position or abilities in questionable directions is Mrs. Hudson.

I love the show, and I can't wait for the next episode to hit iPlayer, but I'm not sure I'd look to most of the characters for moral guidance.