BBC Sherlock Christmas Mini-Episode "Many Happy Returns" - Review

Dear Readers,

The Christmas mini episode of BBC Sherlock has arrived.

The rest of the post might contain spoilers. Please watch the video first, if you wish to avoid spoilers.

The episode opens in a Buddhist monastery, in which a blonde female smuggler is caught by an abbott with extraordinary powers of observation and deduction.

The scene cuts to Anderson (Jonathan Aris) and Detective Inspector Lestrade (Rupert Graves) discussing about the possibility of Sherlock surviving the fall. Anderson has been obsessively looking out for signs of Sherlock's existence, to the extent of losing his job.

Anderson brings up the next sighting in New Delhi, India where the solution to a particular case strongly suggests the presence of a genius. The third sighting is of an mysterious juror in Hamburg, where one Herr Trepoff is proven to be guilty of the murder of his wife, despite all the other jurors believing in his innocence.

Lestrade advises Anderson to try to get his job back and then meets John Watson (Martin Freeman) to hand over an uncut version of the video of Sherlock's message on John's birthday. Interesting thing to note is that John refers to Lestrade by his first name “Greg” (a nice nod to the inn scene in “The Hounds of Baskerville”).

Click on the link below to buy your copy of Season 2:

Canonical References

1. The first sighting of Sherlock by Anderson takes place in the Buddhist monastery - Sherlock Holmes states to Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Empty House: “I travelled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa, and spending some days with the head lama.”

2. In the second sighting in New Delhi, India: The local inspector solves the case by working out the depth to which the chocolate flake had sunk into victim's ice-cream cone. This is a reference to The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, in which Sherlock Holmes remarks to Dr John Watson: “You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.”

3. Anderson commenting to Lestrade about Sherlock's refusal to take credit for solving the latter's cases - Sherlock Holmes often refuses to take any credit from Scotland Yard in many cases in the Canon

4. Anderson chiding Lestrade for not “seeing” the signs of Sherlock's genius at work - Sherlock Holmes makes a similar statement to Dr John Watson in A Scandal in Bohemia: “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.” 

5. The Herr Trepoff case - Dr John Watson writes in A Scandal in Bohemia: “From time to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder,...”

6. Anderson notes that Sherlock is getting closer to London, with the recent sightings in Germany, Netherlands and the latest one in France - Sherlock Holmes informs Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Empty House: “Returning to France, I spent some months in a research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I conducted in a laboratory at Montpellier, in the south of France.” 

7. In addition to a pink phone (presumably from “A Study in Pink”), a yellow mask can be seen inside Lestrade's box - This is a reference to the main plot of The Adventure of the Yellow Face: Sherlock Holmes is sought out by Grant Munro to solve the mystery behind a yellow-faced person in a nearby cottage (credit to Swanpride)

8. Sherlock's statement about missing John's dinner: “Of course, I am going to miss dinner. There will be people” - 

Sherlock Holmes remarks to Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Gloria Scott: “I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I never mixed much with the men of my year.”

Dr John Watson also writes about Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia: “...Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature.”

9. Sherlock notes in the video that he has written an essay on suppressed hatred in close proximity after observing John's friends - Sherlock Holmes notes in The Adventure of the Dying Detective: “Malingering is a subject upon which I have sometimes thought of writing a monograph.” Holmes has already written monographs on cigar ashes (A Study in Scarlet) and tracing of footsteps (The Sign of the Four).

The episode has everything that fans have liked about the show so far: the trademark visual text, the humor (the newspaper headline proclaiming “The game is back on!”) and references to Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories.

Benedict Cumberbatch is back in the game as Sherlock. I liked his explanation for refusing to elaborate on his excuse to skip John's birthday: “Only lies have details”.

This is a veritable Christmas treat for fans. Sherlock Season 3 debuts with the first episode “The Empty Hearse” on Jan 01 2014 in the UK and on Jan 19 2014 in the US.

Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Sources: BBC Wales, Hartswood Films, Masterpiece Theatre

You might also like:

Canonical Nods in "The Empty Hearse"

Canonical Nods in "The Sign of Three"