review sherlock episode three season fourr

It’s a cool bit of backstory for Sherlock, but the show is smart not to pursue it too far. Only now, with Carl’s shoes having surfaced after a long absence, can he prove that Carl was murdered (the method: botulism poisoning). Watson listens with interest as Sherlock explains that, even as a pre-teen, he tried to get the police to investigate his suspicions of foul play, but he failed. Sherlock determines that the high-tops in question belonged to Carl Powers, his grade-school classmate who died after having a seizure in a swimming competition. (Sally Donovan, Lestrade’s petulant, mouthy sergeant, is the counterexample, an instance where the show’s writing for women is clumsy and unlikable.) She may be pathetic, but it’s nice that she’s not a doormat, given the paucity of appealing female roles on this show.

Molly fights back a bit, which is good to see from her. Sherlock runs down the extensive evidence that Jim From IT prefers the company of men, including his high-end underwear and the fact that he surreptitiously left his phone number for Sherlock. It’s a thinly veiled attempt on Molly’s part to stoke a little jealousy, and it backfires once Jim leaves the room. Poor Molly, the morgue staffer with a crush on Sherlock, makes another appearance, this time with a new beau in tow, Jim From IT. Thus starts the first round of the titular game. But if Sherlock can solve the mystery of 221C Baker within 12 hours, the bomb won’t go off, and the mule will be freed. He says that he’s set to detonate another one (the one strapped around the poor woman’s torso) somewhere in London.

She’s reading messages to Sherlock off a pager, acting as the mouthpiece for the bomber who set off the first explosion on Baker Street. As he examines a pair of old high-tops that sit in the middle of the floor, Sherlock gets a call from a terrified woman. They’re off to the empty house, which Sherlock recognizes as 221C Baker Street, his building’s basement apartment. By my count, that’s four Conan Doyle references in this scene alone-“A Scandal In Bohemia,” A Study In Scarlet, “The Five Orange Pips,” and “The Adventure Of The Empty House.” So, yeah, really packing them in there. The package contains a replica of the pink-cased phone from “A Study In Pink.” On the phone, Sherlock finds a recording of five monotone beeps-“the bloody Greenwich pips,” remarks Lestrade-and a photograph of an empty house. When Detective Inspector Lestrade gives him a call, however, he perks right up.Īt police HQ, Sherlock receives an envelope addressed to him, on Bohemian stationery. Sherlock professes a lack of interest in the case. They’re the “Bruce-Partington Plans,” in one of this episode’s many winking references to the Holmes canon. A government worker has been found dead on the train tracks, and the ultra-top-secret missile defense plans he carried are now gone. Back at Baker Street, Watson finds Sherlock in fine shape-the explosion only broke a few windows-and chatting with brother Mycroft about a national-security crisis.

Review sherlock episode three season fourr