Episode: Series 4 Episode 2
Title: The Lying Detective
year: 2017
[May contains spoiler for Sherlock up to Season 4 Episode 2]
Ever since I blogged a few reviews and recommendation, I felt I have some responsibilities to the readers of my blog, all 2 of them and I am being generous here, to discern the nuance of a scene, to find plot holes, and to praise the good and criticize the bad. I was armed with this mindset when I turned on PBS (shout out to PBS and all the people who continue to support it so I can watch all those British dramas and Rick Steves meandering around with his backpack hanging nonchalantly off his one shoulder).
And I did begin with such a mindset. Kept asking questions and find things to criticize. What kind of accent does the therapist have? Is it good? Is Watson seeing a dead Mary who is whispering his own thoughts back to himself? Is this too much like interaction between the Doctor and the Moment in the Day of the Doctor? Wow is that Sherlock in that car? How James Bond of him? An Aston Martin. But by the time the title song played and Sherlock had that lovely talk and stroll with the woman claiming to be Faith Smith. It was over. I wasn't a critic anymore. Well, I was probably a lousy one to start with. I was a fanboy again giddy over the brilliance of Sherlock and the cinematic tricks and visual mastery. I was enamored with the night walking scene and have the incredible urge to stroll around London. And I lost completely objectiveness in this review. So be warned (my 2 readers, at least one of whom I hope to have had continued reading), the following review contains major spoilers and blatant fanboyism.
The deductions for the size and location of the room from a piece of paper just brings smile onto my face. I don't recall ever doing that at any previous Sherlock's deductions. It was just simple enough for me to understand and clever enough to make myself feel somewhat smart too in getting the explanation. And then the transformation from the middle of traffic to the middle of 221b Baker Street is just so smoothly bizarre and perception altering as if I were high on those intravenous white stuff at that moment too. And the manic cut and blend of Culverton Smith's TV clips and Sherlock's ranting and raving offered even more drug-induced phases that's probably as subtly and well depicted as any such scenes. The grainy TV clips reminds me of the equally terrifying drug-induced scenes from Requiem of A Dream. One thing I should add, Toby Jones may have been too crazy for my liking. He is creepy enough to pull off that subtle fear inducing aura like the dream master in Doctor Who. But he is just a manic in this one. Maybe he just acting like that because the character could and finds delight in arrogantly flaunting his power. Culverton Smith has been so untouchable that he has been thoroughly corrupted.
And these are just the appetizers. I have mistaken them for the entrees when I thought I was already totally satisfied with the reconciliation of Sherlock and Watson, the ever delightful Mrs Hudson, and the portrayal of the creepy villain by Toby Jones. When Mycroft was revealed to have a note about Sherrinford, I have happy to wait for Sherrinford in the next and final episode because I was full and don't need anything more. Well, maybe except for the reveal of whether that lady Sherlock met was real or imaginary. That would be the most wonderful complementary dessert to this already wonderful and satisfying courses of Sherlock adventure. And did they ever whet my palate! After the big reveal, I was not longer satisfy to wait for the next episode. I was hungry for more. I need to devour more of this Sherlock goodness
So what happened in the last 5 minutes? Who is Eurus? Apparently Eurus is Sherlock's long-lost sister who has disguised herself as new therapist of Watson, and the woman flirting with Watson on the bus, and the "Faith Smith" who strolled with Sherlock in the late night London. She was written and concealed so brilliantly that I couldn't even believe that the same actress played all 3 characters after the character told us that she did. There must have been a trick. But indeed, she was played by one talented unknown, Sian Brooke, who apparently had to audition separately for each of the roles. I am glad they cast an unknown protean actor for the role. If Tom Hiddleston or whoever the internet favorite was were cast, I doubt there wouldn't be such a surprise and such a twist on the plot.
Eurus is the East Wind. One of the Anemoi or Wind gods in Greek Mythology. Apparently her entrance has been cleverly planned and alluded to way back in the finale of Season 3, "His Last Vow", when Sherlock mentioned the story of the East Wind.
"The East Wind takes us all in the end, " Sherlock says. "It's a story my brother told me when we were kids. The East Wind - this terrifying force that lays waste to all in its path."
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| One of the Greek Wind Gods, Zephyr (or the God of the West Wind personifying gentle wind or summer breeze), is depicted in the top of left in Botticelli's Birth of Venus. |
But that still doesn't explain Sherrinford right? Sherrinford was teased a few times on Mycroft's itinerary. We all thought he was going to be the third Holmes brother since this is the name of oldest and brightest Holmes brother proposed by a noted Sherlock scholar. Since the reveal, this is speculated to be a code name or a facility associated with Eurus or maybe Eurus was simply a boy named Sherrinford before. But if we heed the warning of Sherlock himself and don't be complacent after the number 3, we might hazard the possibility that there still could be another brother named Sherrinford. After all, there are four major wind gods in Greek mythology. Who knows what's going to happen but I hope the next episode won't be the last.
Onward to "The Final Problem"!
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