Russian Sherlock Review - Episode # 3 "Clowns"

As seen in the last episode, Irene Adler (Lyanka Gryu) stole a photograph from Sherlock Holmes (Igor Petrenko) right from his coat at 221 B Baker Street. This photograph proves to be of great significance due to the fact that one of the men is a complete stranger unknown to Dr John Watson, who is able to name most of the them due to his experiences with them during the war.

That picture is now published in the papers and Holmes is mystified as to why Irene would have stolen a picture that is to be printed for public consumption. 

Inspector Lestrade (Mikhail Boyarskiy) needs Sherlock's help in solving a case of murder. A photographer is killed just as he is about to take a picture of Tom Taylor (Sergey Burunov) and Mary (Natalya Tyurkina), an engaged couple.

Sherlock, using his knowledge of chemistry, figures out that trinitrotoluene was used as the explosive. He also deduces that there was a fourth person present, who was the murderer.

Click on the link below to buy Vasily Livanov Holmes DVD:

Lestrade informs Holmes that it was Mycroft Holmes who had asked him to take Sherlock's help. Mycroft believes that Tom, the bridegroom was the target of this attack. Tom works for the Navy and was working on a very secret submarine project.

Sherlock and Dr John Watson (Andrei Panin) visit Bimbom Bramsel, a tavern frequented by Tom. They successfully capture Tom and after interrogating him, Sherlock concludes that he is not a spy.

Dr Watson identifies one of the persons in the photograph as one his wartime acquaintances, Charlie (Andrey Zibrov). Charlie is in jail right now and Sherlock and Dr Watson try to get him to identify the mysterious man in the picture.

Though Charlie recognizes the man, he is scared and pretends  not to know him. Despite Sherlock's warning that he is in mortal danger, Charlie pleads innocence. Just as Sherlock and Dr Watson are leaving, he is attacked in his cell and dies. He only mouths the word “Mor” and dies before he can complete the name.

Sherlock is forced to retrieve the picture from Irene Adler. He accomplishes this with Dr Watson's active help. As a result, Irene is kidnapped. Sherlock gets a ransom note: he has to steal the fur coat from the French Ambassador in exchange for Irene's safe return.

The rest of the episode deals with how Sherlock works with the French Ambassador, Charles Gauthier (Semyon Strugachyov) to save Irene's life.

Canonical References

1. During the opening credits scene, Dr John Watson's voiceover mentions the following lines from A Scandal in Bohemia - “To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position.... And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.”

2. The plot involving the conspiracy to kill a navy sailor for knowing secrets about a top secret submarine project and Mycroft enlisting Sherlock's help through Lestrade - This reminded me of the original story, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans in which Mycroft requests Sherlock's assistance to solve the mystery behind the death Arthur Cadogan West, a government clerk and the missing pages of a secret submarine project.

3. In the Admiralty office, Sherlock refuses to take the case, if he is not provided with information. The Admiral (Aleksandr Polovtsev) finally relents to share details - There is a similar scene in Arthur Conan Doyle's story, The Adventure of the Second Stain in which the Prime Minister of England himself visits Sherlock Holmes at 221 B Baker Street regarding a missing document of high importance. Holmes refuses to help, unless he is provided with complete details about the document. Faced with this obstacle, The Prime Minister is forced to reveal more details.

4. Sherlock interrupts Irene and a stranger walking together in the park and deduces that he is an American who has recently arrived in London - This is a tenuous reference: In A Scandal in Bohemia, Sherlock Holmes mentions that Irene Adler was born in New Jersey in the US in 1858.

5. In order to retrieve the photograph from Irene's safe, Dr Watson makes a plan and creates a fire using photographic chemicals inside Irene's place. His strategy works and Irene bring the photograph outside - In A Scandal in Bohemia, it is Sherlock Holmes who comes up with the plan and asks Dr Watson to create the distraction with fire. Here too, the intention is to make Irene disclose the hiding place of her photograph with the Crown Prince of Bohemia.

6. The American Ambassador's wife, Jane makes the suggestion to write a message on the wall with blood - Possible reference to A Study in Scarlet, in which the murderer writes the word “RACHE” on the wall in blood.

We finally come face to face with Professor Moriarty (Aleksey Gorbunov). He looks and actually comes across as a genuinely scary criminal mastermind. Credit to the casting director for making this choice.

Mrs Hudson (Ingeborga Dapkunaite)'s passion for astrological signs adds a facet to her character. Though not present in the Canon, this is an enjoyable aspect. The “reception” she gets when trying to help Sherlock and John as they are working on the case was funny.

The late Andrei Panin also contributes to the humor aspects. His reaction to Tom's reunion with his fiance underlines the decent nature of Dr John Watson well.

His scenes with the publisher continue to be the best scenes in the show. The publisher advises Dr Watson to write a detective tale involving a young lady who receives a pearl every year and comes to a detective for help - A clear reference to The Sign of the Four, on which the previous episode “Rock, Paper, Scissors” was loosely based on.

An interesting scene was the one in which Sherlock rouses Dr Watson from his sleep by playing on his violin. This scene was genuinely funny, with Andrei Panin's reaction being top notch. This is something that the writers and actors in the CBS show Elementary can learn, since Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock wakes up Joan in pretty much every second episode.

Guest actor, Semyon Strugachyov is a hoot as French Ambassador Charles Gauthier. He is great in all of his scenes and especially the dinner scene with the American Ambassador (Yaroslav Boyko) and his wife, Jane.

The show has a great sense of humor and this differentiates it from the other very serious minded adaptations. I personally prefer Sherlock Holmes adaptations with a lighter touch and this one scores on that front, just as it's legendary predecessor, the classic TV series with Vasily Livanov did.

Highly recommended to fans of Sherlock Holmes. 

Click here to read all my posts related to Russian adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. 

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

Image Sources: Channel One Russia, Central Partnership, Lenfilm Films Studio

You might also like:

“221 B Baker Street” - Review

“Rock, Paper, Scissors” - Review

Elementary Season 3 Episode 13 "Hemlock" – Recap and Review

After the departure of his protege Kitty Winter (Ophelia Lovibond), Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is desperate for company in the brownstone. He is even willing to use the women he sleeps with as a sounding board.

The opening scene shows one such instance where a shirtless Sherlock is discussing a case with couple of scantily clad women on the bed. Despite his enthusiasm, the ladies do not share his passion for crime solving.

The next day, Holmes receives a new case in the form of Jill Horowitz (Amy Hargreaves), who suspects her husband Steven Horowitz of having an affair. Steven is an attorney at Dorchester-Reid, a famous law firm.

At the firm, Sherlock and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) find out that Steven had been fired six months back. But, Steven has hidden this fact from his wife by having his secretary continue to take her calls and continue the pretense that he still has his job.

Steven runs SMH Inc., a debt collection agency. The NYPD picks up Eduardo Pena (Jacinto Taras Riddick), one of Steven's employees for questioning. He informs them that Steven had let go off all his employees last week.

Sherlock deduces that Eduardo has stolen the list of Steven's list of people. One of them is Owen Downey in Connecticut. Sherlock and Joan discover that he is bed-ridden and suffering from a life threatening disease. His aunt, Carla (Jayne Houdyshell) tells them that Steven had forgiven Owen's debt and was more of a friend to him.

Sherlock deduces that Steven was killed due to his sudden change of mind about collecting debts. The killer turns out to be one Coleman Brown (Ben Livingston), a partner in a firm whose attorneys turn out to be Steven's company, Dorchester-Reid.

Canonical References

The episode's plot reminded me of the original story, The Man with the Twisted Lip. In Arthur Conan Doyle's work, Neville St. Clair claims to be working a regular respectable job in the city. But he is actually a street beggar, earning alms to support his family.

In the customary subplot, Andrew Paek (Raza Jaffrey) is back in town, after setting up business in Copenhagen. He invites Joan to meet his father, Santosh Paek (Brian George) over a dinner.

But Joan is having doubts about the future of their relationship, as Sherlock correctly deduces. She decides to break up with him.

In the closing scene, she is having coffee with him and informs him of her decision. Andrew starts gagging and falls unconscious to the floor. Joan tries to revive him.

SPOILER ALERT................ (Scroll below to read)
















The preview for the next episode indicates that Andrew has died from hemlock poisoning in his drink.








........ END OF SPOILER

This made me think as to why this episode was named “Hemlock”, when that poisonous material plays such a small role in today's episode.

Everyone's favorite turtle, Clyde make his reappearance. He is inadvertently painting. 

After a relatively strong first half, this episode was a bit of a letdown. The impact of Kitty's absence was quite telling.

Hopefully, the next episode will pick up the steam as Joan seems to be the target this time (as was Kitty in the previous episodes).

Click here to read all my posts about CBS Elementary.

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

Image Source: CBS Broadcasting, Inc.

You might also like:

Elementary Season 1 Review

Elementary - Cast Review

Russian Sherlock 2013 Episode # 2 "Rock, Paper, Scissors" - Recap and Review

The opening shot is a beautifully rendered one - It is a foggy street and breaking out of this white veil, a hansom comes thundering out at us. Soon, the hansom is ambushed and the men escorting the treasure are shot dead.

At 221 B Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes (Igor Petrenko) and Dr John Watson (Andrei Panin) have had another of their friendly boxing bouts. Peter Small (Mikhail Evlanov), one of Dr Watson's former acquaintances arrives, seeking his help for his wounds.

It is too late for Peter and he dies shortly. Inspector Lestrade (Mikhail Boyarskiy) is hot on Peter's trail and demands an explanation from the residents of 221 B as to the whereabouts of a bag Peter was carrying.

Both Dr Watson and Sherlock claim to have seen Peter for the first time. After Lestrade leaves, Dr Watson explains about his past experiences with Peter Small. Peter had one of his legs cut off right in front of Dr Watson.

Sherlock deduces that Peter has a child at St. Marks' orphanage. He is proved right when they run into Peter's daughter, Mary Small at the orphanage. Mary has an visitor, Thaddeus “Tad” Sholto. Tad also happens to be one of Dr Watson's former army acquaintances and had saved the lives of Dr Watson and Peter Small in a military operation.

The rest of the episode focuses on how Sherlock and Dr Watson solve the mystery behind the death of Peter Small.

Click on the link below to buy Vasily Livanov Holmes DVD:

Canonical References
1. During the opening credits scene, Dr John Watson's voiceover mentions the following lines from the Canon - “Holmes certainly is not a difficult man to live with, but I got more and more interested in his personality. There wasn't an end to this energy. His eyes were sharp and piercing. If you didn't count the periods of stupor in which he was falling from time to time. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of an extraordinary delicacy of touch as I frequently had the occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments. Somebody may set me down as a hopeless busybody when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity and how often I endeavored to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself”.

2. Dr John Watson and Sherlock Holmes have the following exchange almost verbatim from A Study in Scarlet: “You remind me of Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories.” “No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin,...  Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial.”

3. Sherlock refers to a case in which a bankrupt landowner kills his wife, step daughters a year apart by poisoning with arsenic, in order to have the inheritance all for himself. When caught, he claimed that one of them died from a snake's bite. - This reminded me of the plot of The Adventure of the Speckled Band, in which Dr Grimesby Roylott killed his step daughter Julia Stoner using a swamp adder. Julia's twin sister, Helen Stoner then seeks Sherlock Holmes' assistance.

4. Sherlock deduces that Peter Small worked as a cab-man based on the callus between his fingers and the condition of his boot soles - Sherlock Holmes states in A Study in Scarlet: “By a man's finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs—by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable” 

5. Mycroft Holmes makes a mention of Francis Carfas, secret agent and helper - Possible reference to the original story, The Adventure of Lady Frances Carfax.

Igor Petrenko puts his own stamp on an iconic character. His take leans more towards the Robert Downey Jr. type - a bit over the top. 

Andrei Panin continues to impress as Dr John Watson. His impersonation of the affable doctor deserves to go down as one of the best ever on screen.

I liked the part where Dr Watson offers discounts to veterans and the disabled. Equally good was the reference to him being a student at the University of London.

The best part though is Dr Watson facing troubles with the publisher to get his poem about the war published. The publisher instead advises him to write something more palatable to the general taste like a cute love story with a touch of murder mystery. The publisher even gives Charles Dickens as an example, who did not mind  writing detective plots. Dr Watson decides to pay the money himself to have his poem printed, but lack of funds prevent him from sealing the deal. The publisher informs the budding author that writing detective stories instead would fetch him a handsome sum instead.

These scenes paralleled the real life obstacles faces by Arthur Conan Doyle in getting public approval for his serious works of non-fiction get. But much against his wishes his fictitious works featuring Sherlock Holmes proved to be bestsellers. Despite his lifelong efforts, Arthur Conan Doyle is still best known for his works involving the Bohemian detective.

These were nice touches and showed the passion of the show writers for the original stories.

This episode introduces us to two of the most important women in the Sherlock Holmes Canon - Mrs Hudson and Irene Adler, played by Ingeborga Dapkunaite  and Lyanka Gryu respectively.

Lyanka makes a pretty and playful Irene. She pays a visit to Sherlock at 221 B Baker Street and steals a photograph right under his nose. Their playful banter that hints at past intimacy is another influence of the Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey Jr. movies.

Ingeborga Dapkunaite, on the other hand plays a commanding and a relatively young Mrs Hudson. We are used to Mrs Hudson being played by very elderly actresses. The latest Russian adaptation makes a clear breakaway from this stereotyped portrayal.

Ingeborga makes her mark in the scene, where she has to choose between either having the detective and the army veteran as her tenants or the two elderly ladies who have had enough of the trouble brought on by the adorementioned two roommates.

In addition to these two ladies, we also meet Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's elder brother and one of the founders of the Diogenes Club. We do not get to see his face yet, but he still maintains his dominating presence and is treated with utmost respect by members of the official force, including Inspector Lestrade.

The episode is very loosely based on the original story “The Sign of the Four”. The writers have made changes to make this an interesting take on the classic story. There is an encounter between the good guys and baddies on a river, just as in the source novel. The final scene with Mary Small receiving a pearl every year to fund her education was touching and another nod to the original story, in which Mary Morstan receives a pearl every year from Thaddeus Sholto.

Recommended to fans of Sherlock Holmes.

Click here to read all my posts related to Russian adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

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

Image Sources: Central Partnership, Channel One Russia, Sherlock Holmes News 

You might also like:
 

Russian Sherlock 2013 “221 B Baker Street” - Review

Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes

Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 "The One That Got Away" – Recap and Review

As readers might remember, it was revealed at the end of the previous episode, Del Gruner (Stuart Townsend) was the man who had abused Kitty Winter (Ophelia Lovibond) five years back.

The episode begins with a flashback to eight months back with Kitty Winter in Scotland Yard. Kitty is trying to offer her assistance to the official force on a case involving the kidnapping of Latif, a boy by a suspected pedophile, but is politely turned down. While leaving the Yard, she runs into Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller).

Cut to the present. At the brownstone, Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) refuses to believe that her boss, Del Gruner had anything to do with Kitty Winter's sexual assault. Sherlock tries to convince her that Del has the money and power needed to track down Kitty.

Someone is listening to this conversation. Shortly, Joan receives a call from Del, informing her that she has been fired.

Del is taken for questioning by Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn) and Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill). He denies any involvement in the murder of Simon de Merville (P.J. Sosko) and/or the sexual assault on Kitty Winter.

Click on the image below to buy Season 3:

Due to the lack of any concrete evidence, the NYPD lets him go. Kitty decides to go back to London. She texts Sherlock that she has landed in London, but is actually still in the NYC. She is keeping an eye on Del Gruner.

Detective Marcus Bell informs Sherlock about Tabitha Laird (Jessica Blank), who had some bad experience in the past with Del Gruner. Tabitha works for Hearth and Home Foundation, a charity foundation, on whose board Del serves as a member.

Tabitha agrees that there were a couple of incidents involving Del. She insists that she has patched up things with Gruner and that there are no differences between them right now.

Joan pays a visit to Del at a function hosted by the foundation and warns him that he will be behind bars soon. She informs him about the meeting with Tabitha, at which Del becomes visibly alarmed.
 
Back at the brownstone, Sherlock deduces that Del had impregnated on his earlier victims and that that child is none other than Tabitha's adopted son, Jesse Laird.

Kitty kidnaps Del from his apartment and keeps him as hostage with the intention to torture and possibly murder him. Sherlock observes an elastic band at Del's place and realizes what has happened. He is able to make this conclusion as he had trained Kitty to break locks using the same tool back in London.

Sherlock tracks her down using an app on her mobile phone. He reveals to Kitty that she had saved him in London. He assures that whatever decision she takes regarding Del, she will always hold a special place in his heart.

Within a few hours, Sherlock is informed by Captain Gregson that  Del Gruner has been arrested. His face is heavily bandaged and he is unconscious. Gregson indicates that he might have to go after Kitty, if she is named by Del as the person who inflicted the horrific injuries on him.

Kitty finally leaves for London and calls Sherlock for one last time.

The episode keeps shuffling back and forth between the present happenings in the NYC and the budding relationship between Sherlock and Kitty in London, a few months back.

This was a good episode. A bit heavy on melodrama for a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. For a change, this did not sound as phony as it sometimes does on BBC Sherlock. Kudos to Miller and especially, Ophelia Lovibond for making these scenes work.

Joan also steals the limelight in her scene, when she warns Del to let go of his tight grip on her arm, citing the fact the she is a trained fighter and is not just some hapless victim for Del to intimidate.

In the original story, The Adventure of the Illustrious Client, Kitty throws vitriol on Baron Adelbert Gruner's face, thus disfiguring him for life. The Elementary adaptation follows a similar thread, with the difference being that Ophelia's Kitty uses a nutmeg concoction instead.

With Kitty gone (atleast for the near future), it is back to square one for Sherlock and Joan. The third peg in the wheel is gone and it is Sherlock and Joan' show all the way from the next episode.

Click here to read all my posts about CBS Elementary.

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

Image Source: CBS Broadcasting, Inc.

You might also like:

Elementary Season 1 Review

Elementary - Cast Review