BBC Sherlock Season 3 Episode # 1 "The Empty Hearse" - Review

Dear Readers,

Having seen and enjoyed Season 3 of BBC Sherlock, I have decided to put down my thoughts.

The first episode “The Empty Hearse” has been long awaited by fans eager to unravel the mystery of how Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) survived his fall at the end of “The Reichenbach Fall”.

Readers who have not yet seen the episode are welcome to skip the rest of the post, if they wish to avoid plot details.

The opening scenes offer a quick recap of the closing scenes of “The Reichenbach Fall”. Sherlock is seen taking the help of Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) and even shares a kiss with her. The body of the dead Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) is substituted for Sherlock's with the help of a mask.

This is yet another of the theories proposed by Anderson (Jonathan Aris) to the hapless Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade (Rupert Graves).  Lestrade is as usual dismissive of  this theory. We saw a similar scene being played out in the Christmas 2013 minisode “Many Happy Returns”.

Sherlock Holmes is being held captive and physically tortured. He manages to distract his captor through his deductions. The other person sitting nearby is revealed to be Mycroft Holmes (Mark Gatiss).

Sherlock has been working his way to dismantle Moriarty's criminal empire. Mycroft needs Sherlock's assistance to thwart an impending terrorist threat to London. Sherlock promises Mycroft that he will work on the case.

Sherlock's immediate priority is to reunite with John Watson (Martin Freeman) and the rest of the usual gang. Mycroft informs Sherlock about John's whereabouts for the day and Sherlock plans a reunion.

Sherlock adds a touch of drama by improvising a quick disguise and a French accent to surprise John at the restaurant. John is about to propose to Mary Morstan (Amanda Abbington). Sherlock's arrival not only shocks John, but also disrupts John's plans for the evening.

John is not happy with Sherlock's actions and expresses his displeasure by attacking Sherlock more than once. Mary promises to bring John around.

A disappointed Sherlock recruits Molly to be his assistant. John gets kidnapped and it is up to Sherlock to save both John and London.

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The episode is a mixed bag, with far more misses than hits. The usually reliable Mark Gatiss spends a considerable amount of screentime to fan service. The theories about how Sherlock survived the fall are especially unpalatable. While some fans might be thrilled to see their fantasies come to life on the screen, I was taken aback.

There are also lot of meta references. Martin Freeman's finger gesture, Martin and Amanda being John and Mary, Benedict's real life parents Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham and Martin/John's remark about Benedict/Sherlock enjoying being Sherlock again.

This combination results in a weak episode. The climax is also arguably a big letdown. “The Empty Hearse” is in my opinion, the least watchable/entertaining among the ten episodes aired so far (including the Christmas minisode).

However, there are some delights to be had. I personally liked the deduction game between Sherlock and Mycroft involving a prospective client's hat at 221 B Baker Street. The scene refers to the deductions made by Sherlock Holmes about Henry Baker's hat in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.

The client scenes at 221 B Baker Street are enjoyable as always. Couple of these cases refer to A Case of Identity and The Adventure of the Creeping Man.

Another of my favorite scenes is the investigation of the “corpse”. I enjoyed Sherlock's comments about the corpse belonging to a shoddy Victorian outfit from a museum and being displayed on a dummy. Mark Gatiss has often commented about the overly serious nature of certain Sherlock Holmes adaptations. This is clearly Mark's handiwork, done is true Sherlock style.

Benedict Cumberbatch continues his superlative turn as Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective. It is a tribute to his acting skills that despite the previously mentioned weaknesses in the script, he manages to deliver such an impressive performance.

I especially liked Sherlock's reunion with Greg the best. Perfectly acted by both Benedict and Rupert, this was both humorous and touching in equal measure. The closing scene where Benedict dons the deerstalker nicely captures the essence of how perfectly he has been cast as Sherlock Holmes.

Martin also displays his acting chops in the scene with the old seller of books/DVDs. A double reference to Dr Verner (The Adventure of the Norwood Builder) and The Adventure of the Empty House.

 

Mary reading out aloud John's blog entry was another nice touch. She almost read verbatim few lines from The Sign of the Four. The rest of that blog entry refers to the plot of The Adventure of the Speckled Band.

Speaking of references, Mark Gatiss has included a number of nods to the Canon. Please click here to read all the Canonical references.

Another plus is that the season really picks up with the second episode “The Sign of Three”.

Recommended to fans of the series. Watching the episode with lowered expectations will definitely help increase the enjoyment factor. 

Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock. 

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Image Sources: BBC Wales, Hartswood Films, Masterpiece Theatre

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BBC Sherlock Season 3 Episode # 1 "The Empty Hearse" - Canonical References

Dear Readers,

The third season of BBC Sherlock has premiered in the US.

As has been the case with the previous seasons, Mark Gatiss' script is packed with nods to the Sherlock Holmes Canon.

Readers who have not yet seen the episode are welcome to skip the rest of the post, if they wish to avoid plot details.  

Click here to read the review of “The Empty Hearse”.

Here are the references to Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories:

1. Sherlock deducing that his captor had worked in the navy and had an unhappy love affair. Sherlock also informs him that his wife is having an affair with the next door neighbor and that if the captor were to go home right then, he would catch them red-handed - Reference to the plots of The Adventure of the Abbey Grange and The Adventure of the Cardboard box

2. Sherlock also deduces that electricity is not working in his captor's bathroom - Sherlock Holmes makes a similar deduction about Dr John Watson's bedroom not getting enough sunlight in The Boscombe Valley Mystery

3. Mycroft's comment that Sherlock has been “quite the busy little bee” - In His Last Bow, Sherlock Holmes mentions he is writing a book on bee keeping titled “Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen”

4. Mycroft comments about Sherlock having quite a scheme in relation to Baron Maupertius and dismantling of Moriarty's criminal network. Sherlock replies: “Colossal” - Dr John Watson writes in The Reigate Puzzle: “The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in the minds of the public, and are too intimately concerned with politics and finance to be fitting subjects for this series of sketches.”

5. Mycroft's remark: “..field work is not my natural milieu” - Sherlock Holmes states about Mycroft in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter: “If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions,..”

6. Mycroft complaining about “the noise, the people” when discussing about his efforts to go undercover - Sherlock Holmes remarks about Mycroft Holmes in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter: “There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubable men in town. My brother was one of the founders,..”

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7. When Mycroft tells Sherlock that he does not know about John's plans for the evening, the latter replies: “You always know...” - Sherlock Holmes explains to Dr John Watson about Mycroft Holmes in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans: “He has the tidiest and most orderly brain, with the greatest capacity for storing facts, of any man living... In that great brain of his everything is pigeon-holed and can be handed out in an instant. Again and again his word has decided the national policy. He lives in it.”

8. Sherlock informs the man in “The Landmark” restaurant: “Your wife just texted you..” - Sherlock Holmes mentions in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “I have, as my friend Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of senses,..”

9. Sherlock using a French accent when disguised as the waiter in “The Landmark” restaurant - Sherlock Holmes explains about his ancestry in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter: “But, none the less, my turn that way is in my veins, and may have come with my grandmother, who was the sister of Vernet, the French artist.”

10. Sherlock's line to John in “The Landmark” restaurant: “Bit mean springing it on you like that, I know. Could have given you a heart attack...” - In The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, Sherlock Holmes performs a very similar trick on his client, Percy Phelps at the dining table in 221 B Baker Street. On that occasion, Sherlock explains to Percy: “It was too bad to spring it on you like this, but Watson here will tell you that I never can resist a touch of the dramatic.”

11. Sherlock further continues: “But in my defense, it was very funny” - Sherlock Holmes explains to an astonished Lord Cantlemere at 221 B Baker Street in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone: “My old friend here will tell you that I have an impish habit of practical joking. Also that I can never resist a dramatic situation.”

12. Sherlock refers to “a system of Japanese wrestling” when explaining his escape from the predicament at St Bart's - Sherlock Holmes explains about his encounter with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in The Adventure of the Empty House: “I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me.”

13. In response to Mary's question about his knowledge of human nature, Sherlock replies: “Hmm, Nature? No” - Sherlock Holmes showed his ignorance of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System in A Study in Scarlet.

14. Mrs Hudson's reaction to Sherlock's entrance at 221 B Baker Street - Sherlock Holmes tells Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Empty House: “I came over at once to London, called in my own person at Baker Street, threw Mrs. Hudson into violent hysterics,..”

15. From The Personal Blog of Dr John H. Watson, Mary Morstan reads aloud a few lines. These lines are taken almost verbatim from The Sign of the Four: “So swift, silent, and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained blood-hound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law, instead of exerting them in its defense.”

16. While working on the case of the underground terror cells, Sherlock thinks out aloud: “London. It's like a great cesspool into which all kinds of criminals, agents and drifters are irresistibly drained.” - Dr John Watson writes in A Study in Scarlet: “Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.”
 
17. Sherlock assuring Mycroft that he will find the answer and convey it via a misplaced lonely hearts ad - Sherlock Holmes mentions to Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Three Garridebs: “There have been no advertisements in the agony columns. You know that I miss nothing there. They are my favorite covert for putting up a bird, and I would never have overlooked such a cock pheasant as that.”

18. Sherlock recalling Mycroft's statement to him in their childhood: “Don't be smart, Sherlock. I'm the smart one.”. Mycroft replies back: “I am the smart one... Both of us thought you were an idiot, Sherlock” and further states that he always wins in a game of deduction with Sherlock. Sherlock acknowledges his brother's superiority by saying that is the reason why Mycroft cannot resist the urge to play - Sherlock Holmes says about his brother to Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter: “I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction.” and “When I say, therefore, that Mycroft has better powers of observation than I, you may take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth.”
 
19. Mycroft making the deduction that the hat owner is male due to “a strong balance of probability” about the size of the head. - Sherlock Holmes makes the following statement, when makding deductions from Henry Baker's hat in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: “...and yet there are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others which represent at least a strong balance of probability.” 

20. Mycroft also makes deductions that the owner had a hair cut and is out of condition (due to the perspiration stains). Sherlock deduces that the owner has done five repairs to the hat - Sherlock Holmes makes the following deductions about Henry Baker from the hat he left behind at 221 B Baker Street in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: “He is a man who leads a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream.”

21. Sherlock remarks about writing a blog entry on the varying tensile strengths of different natural fibers - Sherlock Holmes has written monographs on cigar ashes (A Study in Scarlet) and tracing of footsteps (The Sign of the Four).

22. Mycroft referring to one of his deductions as being “Elementary” while Sherlock sarcastically calls it “Brilliant” - In The Adventure of the Crooked Man: Sherlock says “Elementary” when Dr John Watson proclaims one of Sherlock's deductions to be “Excellent”.

23. Sherlock tells his client, Harcourt: “Monkey glands, but enough about Professor Presbury” - Reference to the plot of The Adventure of the Creeping Man, in which the aged Professor Presbury starts developing ape like abilities, after regularly consuming a potion that is supposed to help him regain his youth.

24. Sherlock solves the case for his female client, whose stepfather Mr Windibank has been posing as her online boyfriend. He then breaks off the relationship to ensure she stays single and he can keep her wages - Direct reference to the plot of A Case of Identity

25. John ask his patient, the old man: “Dr. Verner is your usual GP, yes?” - Dr John Watson writes in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder: “At the time of which I speak, Holmes had been back for some months, and I at his request had sold my practice and returned to share the old quarters in Baker Street. A young doctor, named Verner, had purchased my small Kensington practice, and given with astonishingly little demur the highest price that I ventured to ask–an incident which only explained itself some years later, when I found that Verner was a distant relation of Holmes, and that it was my friend who had really found the money.”

26. John mistakes an old man selling DVDs and sleazy magazines (“British Birds”) to be Sherlock Holmes in disguise. The old man informs John that he runs a little shop just on the corner of Church Street. He also brings along DVDs of “Tree Worshippers”( a very saucy corker) and “The Holy War” - In The Adventure of the Empty House, Sherlock Holmes appears disguised an an old bookseller to meet Dr John Watson at 221 B Baker Street and tells him: “Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour of yours, for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church Street, and very happy to see you, I am sure. Maybe you collect yourself, sir. Here's BRITISH BIRDS, and CATULLUS, and THE HOLY WAR - a bargain, every one of them.”

27. John commenting on Sherlock's old man accent not being as good as his French - Reference to Sherlock Holmes' French ancestry.

28. While taking Sherlock to the location of the human skeleton, DI Lestrade comments to Sherlock: “This one got us baffled”. Sherlock's reply: “I do not doubt it”.

And after working on the skeleton, the exchange continues - Sherlock: “I won't insult your intelligence”. Lestrade: “Please insult away”. - Sherlock Holmes is known for making fun of the Scotland Yard in the Canon. He remarks to Dr John Watson in A Study in Scarlet: “I have chaffed them so much...”

29. Sherlock deducing about pine, spruce and cedar and then about fire damage based on his sense of smell - Sherlock Holmes mentions in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “I have, as my friend Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of senses, and a faint but incisive scent was apparent.”

30. Sherlock missing John's presence while working on the case of the human skeleton - Sherlock's line to Dr John Watson just as he is about to receive his client, the King of Bohemia in A Scandal in Bohemia: “Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell.”

31. Sherlock commenting on the skeleton wearing a shoddy Victorian outfit from the museum and that it has been on a dummy for the recent years - An indirect reference to the Victorian times during which the original stories were written by Arthur Conan Doyle and the modern flavor of the BBC adaptation.

32. Sherlock knowing about St James the Less being a church and taking a number of detours to reach the place - Sherlock Holmes has intimate knowledge of London.

33. The cryptic message from John's captors reads: “John or James Watson?” - Reference to the fact that Dr John Watson is once referred to as “James” by his wife in The Man with the Twisted Lip.

34. Sherlock solving the cryptic message sent by John's kidnapper(s) - Sherlock Holmes mentions to Dr John Watson in The Sign of the Four: “My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere.” 

35. Mycroft taking his parents to “Les Miserables” - Another reference to the French Ancestry of the Holmes family.

36. Sherlock's line: “Once you eliminate all the factors, the remaining must be the truth” - Sherlock tells Dr John Watson in The Sign of the Four: “Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth”.

37. The character of Lord Moran, Peer of the Realm and Minister for Overseas Development - Possible reference to Colonel Sebastian Moran, Professor Moriarty's sharpshooter and according to Sherlock Holmes, “the second most dangerous man in London”. 

38. Howard Shilcott explains about Sumatra Road as being a station that got caught in legal disputes and was closed before it was ever opened - Sherlock Holmes explains to Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire: “Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson.. It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.”

39. Sherlock jimmies the lock in the train station to the underground - In The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, Sherlock Holmes displays Dr John Watson his burgling kit, complete with keys, glass-cutter and a jimmy.

40. John advises Sherlock to use his mind palace to stop the bomb from exploding. Sherlock rebukes John for thinking that he has got “how to defuse a bomb” tucked away in their somewhere - Sherlock Holmes lectures about the human brain to Dr John Watson in A Study in Scarlet: “I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose... Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order.”

41. Sherlock playing tricks on John in the train - Another reference to Sherlock Holmes' habit of practical joking.

42. John tells Sherlock: “You were the best and the wisest man I have ever known” - In The Final Problem, Dr John Watson refers to Sherlock Holmes as “the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known”.

43. Sherlock reveals that he used a squash ball under the armpit, to momentarily cut off the pulse - Sherlock Holmes faked a life threatening illness to fool Culverton Smith into making a confession in The Adventure of the Dying Detective. Sherlock also mentions to Dr John Watson: “Malingering is a subject upon which I have sometimes thought of writing a monograph.”

44. Phillip Anderson's question about Sherlock's homeless network - Reference to the Baker Street Irregulars, affectionately termed “the unofficial force” by Sherlock Holmes

45. Sherlock's line about his lack of knowledge of the person(s) who abducted John: “I don't know. I don't like not knowing” - Sherlock Holmes tells James Ryder in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: “My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know.”

46. Sherlock remarks to John: “Unlike the nicely embellished fictions on your blog, John, real life is rarely so neat” - This is a double reference.

• Sherlock Holmes often complains about John adding unnecessary touch of romanticism to his accounts of their cases. For example, he states in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “..since I have often had occasion to point out to him how superficial are his own accounts and to accuse him of pandering to popular taste instead of confining himself rigidly to facts and figures.”

• The second reference is to these lines spoken by Sherlock Holmes to Dr John Watson in A Case of Identity: “My dear fellow, life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man can invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction, with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions, most stale and unprofitable”

47. Sherlock's statement to John: “You know my methods, John. I am known to be indestructible.” - Sherlock Holmes tells Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: “You know my methods.”

I welcome the readers to add any other references that might have been missed.

Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock.

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Image Sources: BBC Wales, Hartswood Films, Masterpiece Theatre

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