Sunday, January 15, 2017

BBC Sherlock Canonical References - "The Lying Detective"

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There will be spoilers throughout and the readers who are yet to watch the episode are recommended to skip this post. Here are the nods to Arthur Conan Doyle's works:

1. The episode's title “The Lying Detective” - Reference to the short story The Adventure of the Dying Detective, on which the episode is based on. The original had Holmes faking a deadly affliction to fool Culverton Smith into confessing to the murder of his nephew (Victor Savage) and also of the attempted murder of Holmes himself. 

2. Faith's desperate pleas to Sherlock: Please.. I have no else to turn to....You are my last hope.” - Holmes states in The Sign of the Four: I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection. When Gregson or Lestrade or Athelney Jones are out of their depths -which, by the way, is their normal state - the matter is laid before me. I examine the data, as an expert, and pronounce a specialist's opinion.

3. Sherlock is convinced that Faith is about to commit suicide and yells at her: Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.” - In The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger, Holmes and Watson listen to Eugenia Ronder's tragic story as to how she lost her beauty. Then Holmes tells her strongly:  Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.

4. Sherlock's deductions about Faith sitting in the passenger seat based on the marks on her skirt. Faith confirms that she came in a taxi. - In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Holmes deduces that his client (Helen Stoner) came in a dog-cart: “The left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you sit on the left-hand side of the driver.”

5. Sherlock guessing the self-inflicted scars on Faith's left forearm that she deliberately hides under her sleeve. Faith confirms that Sherlock is correct. - In The Adventure of the Speckled BandHolmes observes five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb that were printed upon the white wrist of his client (Helen Stoner). In this case, it is Helen's stepfather Dr Grimesby Roylott who inflicts these wounds out of spite.

6. When another character interrupts Mycroft's call with the Prime Minister to inform him that Sherlock has left the flat, Mycroft retorts: “Was it on fire?” - Possible reference to The Final Problem. In the story, Moriarty's agents set the Baker Street rooms on fire.

7. Sherlock's line: The game's afoot.” - Sherlock Holmes awakens Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange and implores him: “Come, Watson, come! ... The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!”

8. Sherlock's remark about Culverton Smith: That creature, that rotting thing, is a living breathing coagulation of human evil, and if the only thing I ever do in this world is drive him out of it, then my life will not have been wasted.” - In The Final Problem, Holmes states about Professor Moriarty: I tell you, Watson, in all seriousness, that if I could beat that man, if I could free society of him, I should feel that my own career had reached its summit, and I should be prepared to turn to some more placid line in life.

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9. Sherlock angrily tells John: I have been many things, John, but when I ever been a malingerer? - In The Adventure of the Dying Detective, Holmes tells Dr Watson: Malingering is a subject upon which I have sometimes thought of writing a monograph.

10. Sherlock tells the children at the hospital: The main feature of interest in the field of criminal investigation is not the sensational aspects of the crime itself, but rather ... the iron chain of reason from cause to effect that reveals step by step the solution. That is the only truly remarkable aspect of the entire affair.” -

In The Sign of the Four, Holmes criticizes Dr Watson's previous write up (A Study in Scarlet): I glanced over it ... Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid ... The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes by which I succeeded in unraveling it.

11. At the hospital, Sherlock refers to the case of Blessington the poisoner that involved 5 suspects - Possible reference to The Adventure of the Resident Patient, which involved the Worthingdon bank gang. The gang had 5 members: Blessington/Sutton, Biddle, Hayward, Cartwright and Moffat. Yes, Steven could have very well scripted a meta reference to himself!

12. Culverton Smith asks John: You really a doctor? ...  Not a medical doctor, you know. Not just feet, or media studies or something....Are you?” and sarcastically refers to him as Doctor Watson.

AND

After John rescues Sherlock from Culverton, John asks him if he is ok. Sherlock replies: No of course I’m not ok. Malnourished, double kidney failure, and frankly I’ve been off my tits for weeks. What kind of a doctor are you?” -

In The Adventure of the Dying Detective, it is Holmes who tells Dr Watson: “If I am to have a doctor whether I will or not, let me at least have someone in whom I have confidence... after all, you are only a general practitioner with very limited experience and mediocre qualifications. It is painful to have to say these things, but you leave me no choice.”

13. Nurse Cornish's comment about Sherlock's physical strength: And yeah, he’s made a terrible mess of himself, but he’s awfully strong, so must look on the bright side.” - 

Dr Watson writes about his first meeting with Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet - “How are you?” he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.” 

Holmes displays his strength (after Dr Grimesby Roylott's departure) in The Adventure of the Speckled Band - “He seems a very amiable person,” said Holmes, laughing. “I am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own.” As he spoke he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again.


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14. There is an old envelope with address S. Holmes 156 Montague St on the mantelpiece at 221 B Baker Street.

Holmes tells Dr Watson in The Adventure of the Musgrave RitualWhen I first came up to London I had rooms in Montague Street, just round the corner from the British Museum, and there I waited, filling in my too abundant leisure time by studying all those branches of science which might make me more efficient.

15. Mrs Hudson explains about Sherlock's actions: Unsolved case - shoot the wall.... Unmade breakfast - karate the fridge ... Unanswered question. Well, what does he do with anything he can’t answer John, every time?” John answers: He stabs it.” - 

Dr Watson writes in The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual:  

“..... when I find a man who keeps ... his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself virtuous airs. I have always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his queer humors, would sit in an arm-chair with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it.

16. After hearing Irene's customized ringtone, John asks Sherlock and The Woman have a night of passion in High Wycombe?”. Sherlock replies: I once caught a triple poisoner in High Wycombe.” - 

In The Sign of the Four, Holmes states: I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money, and the most repellent man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor.

This is one of the best Canonical references in the series so far, as Moffat has referred to both Irene Adler and Culverton Smith. Hats off to Moffat!


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17. Sherlock expresses his lack of interest in getting involved with Irene Adler: 
As I have explained to you many times before, romantic entanglement, while fulfilling for other people...
John interrupts: ... would complete you as a human being
Sherlock responds: That does not even mean anything.

- Dr Watson writes about Holmes' feelings towards The Woman in A Scandal in BohemiaTo Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman ... 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 never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer.

18. John's therapist reveals her true identity as Eurus, the sister of the Holmes brothers. She also explains that the name means East Wind. -

In His Last Bow, Holmes tells Dr Watson: There's an east wind coming, Watson.
Watson: I think not, Holmes. It is very warm.
Holmes: Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.

Interestingly, at the climax of His Last Vow, Sherlock tells John: The East Wind takes us all in the end ... 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 ... It seeks out the unworthy and plucks them from the Earth. That was generally me.

Other References


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1. Sherlock mentions a case of the Drearcliffe House with one murder and ten suspects in which all of them were guilty - This is a reference to the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movie: Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear. There are seven single men living together in Drearcliffe House, a Scottish castle. One by one, they start dying till only one is left. Holmes however figures out that the remaining six had conspired to have the seventh arrested on murder charges for insurance money.

2. Culverton refers to H H Holmes as his favorite serial killer. He further says that H H Holmes loved the dead and that he mass produced them. Later, Smith explains to a hospitalized Sherlock: I built this whole wing... kept firing the architects and builders, so no one knew quite how it all fitted together.”.Murder Castle, done right.” - This is a reference to Dr Henry Howard Holmes (H H Holmes)the character from the novel The Devil in the White City”. H H Holmes was a real life serial killer and took his victims to his World's Fair Hotel and killed them there. He also fired the construction workers so that he was the only one with complete knowledge of the building.

3. Sherlock's seemingly drug-induced crazy monologue (at 221 B Baker Street) that starts with the following words: Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...” is taken from William Shakespeare's play Henry V and is spoken by King Henry.

4. The Zoo case/Case of the killer Orangutan brought up by Sherlock - Reference to the short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe. An orangutan is the killer in this story. 


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This story is considered to be the first modern detective story and introduces the character of C. Auguste Dupin. Poe was a significant influence on Arthur Conan Doyle for creating Sherlock Holmes. Doyle mentions Poe in A Study in Scarlet - Dr Watson:  “You remind me of Edgar Allen Poe’s Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories.” Holmes responds: “No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin.... Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow.... He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine.” 

Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock.
 
Special thanks to Ariane DeVere for pointing out Reference # 14.

Image Sources: Hartswood Films, BBC Wales, Masterpiece theater, Wikipedia

Monday, January 9, 2017

BBC Sherlock S4E1 "The Six Thatchers" - Recap and Review

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There will be spoilers throughout and the readers who are yet to watch the episode are recommended to skip this post.

At the end of His Last Vow”, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) shot Charles Magnussen (Lars Mikkelsen) at point blank range in order to protect Mary Watson (Amanda Abbington). Mycroft Holmes (Mark Gatiss) had arranged for Sherlock to leave the country on a MI6 mission, but the mission lasts only a few minutes thanks to a widely telecast video indicating the return of the allegedly dead criminal mastermind Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott).

With the help of technical experts, the footage showing Sherlock shooting Magnussen has been doctored to ensure Sherlock's continued free existence. John Watson (Martin Freeman) and Mary soon have a baby daughter, Rosamund Mary.

Sherlock is meanwhile awaiting Moriarty to make his presence known and is looking for patterns in seemingly trivial cases. DI Lestrade (Rupert Graves) and DI Hopkins (Eleanor Matsuura) try to help Sherlock in his quest. In a murder case, Sherlock notices that a bust of the late Margaret Thatcher has been broken to pieces.

Sherlock's instincts are proven right when four more incidents are reported, wherein a bust has been the target. Sherlock comes face-to-face with the criminal when he tries to break the sixth one. He is Ajay (Sacha Dhawan) and used to be on the same special ops team as Mary.

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Ajay believes that Mary betrayed him and three other members (their names are collectively referred to as A.G.R.A) during their last mission together. Readers might remember that, Mary had a flash drive (with the initials A.G.R.A. inscribed on it) containing details about her past life.

Ajay makes his exit and promises to go after Mary, despite Sherlock warning him that Mary is under his protection. Sherlock finds Mary and informs her about Ajay's intentions. Mary drugs him unconscious and flees.

Mary has a set of hiding spots that she chooses with a roll of the dice. She is in Morocco and is confident that she has thrown everyone off her tail. Of course, Sherlock knows where she is and is very much at home welcoming her to her own safe place. He has placed a tracker on Mary. But they are in for a nasty surprise, as Ajay turns up with vengeance in mind. He has been following Sherlock (!).

A shootout ensues and Mary tries to convince Ajay that she is not the traitor. Ajay has heard whispers of an Englishwoman who goes by the codename Ammo” as being responsible for the death of his ex-teammates.

Ajay is killed by the local police before he completes his self-appointed mission. Sherlock figures out that Ammo” is in fact Amo” which means I Love in Latin. This makes Lady Smallwood the primary suspect as her codeword is Love.


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Smallwood however protests her innocence. Sherlock then deduces that it is her secretary, Vivian Norbury (Marcia Warren) who is the mastermind.

Sherlock arranges a meeting with Vivian at the aquarium and also invites Mary, Mycroft, Lestrade among others. He proceeds to insult Vivian who shoots the arrogant detective. Mary jumps in front of Sherlock and takes the bullet.

Neither John's medical knowledge nor anybody else can save Mary from meeting her maker. Mary has left a final note for Sherlock via a DVD. She asks him to take care of John Watson.

This was an uneven episode that was boring at the beginning, picked up steam during the middle and fizzled out in the end.  The only case that Sherlock solved happened within the first 15 minutes and was strangely uninvolving. It was weird to see Sherlock suddenly having premonitions. On top of that, Sherlock solving cases without leaving 221 B Baker Street was a bit like Mycroft Holmes. As Holmes himself said about his elder brother in 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, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.

The lesser said about the opening scene where Sherlock is briefed by Mycroft, Lady Smallwood and Sir Edwin, the better. Sherlock just acts like a spoilt brat and is a far cry from the man described by Dr Watson in The Final Problem as “the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known. ”

It did not help that the chemistry among the ensemble cast was almost non-existent. In the previous seasons (including the much criticized Season 3), the cast seemed to be having a great time working together. But this time, it is a different story.


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Most of the cast members appear to have lost interest and there is a distinct sense of boredom in the proceedings.This point is best reflected by the non-human member of the cast: Toby. As Holmes himself said about dogs in The Adventure of the Creeping Man“A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one?”

Another interesting thing that struck me was the obvious cut in budget. Most of the scenes were clearly shot inside a studio. Compare this with any other episode and readers will appreciate the jarring difference.

Finally, I have to mention the number of shots showcasing bodies of water (aquarium, swimming pool etc.). I am sure there is a good point to all this, but it went right over my head. Perhaps, some reader who has understood this can enlighten me.

The best part of the episode was the standout performance by Amanda Abbington as Mary Watson in Jane Bond mode. She has amazing onscreen presence and it is a pity that her character had to go. Perhaps, Moffat and Gatiss can make a spin-off show based on her adventures. Since the show is called Sherlock”, this level of screen-time allocated to Mary (no matter how good Amanda is in the role) takes away the focus from the titular character and this is never a good idea.

Other performance worth mentioning is by Sacha Dhawan as the vengeful Ajay. He brings equal parts of pathos and determination to his role.

In a scene towards the end, Mycroft Holmes (Mark Gatiss) is seen placing a call to one Sherrinford Holmes. The character of Sherrinford Holmes was not created by Arthur Conan Doyle. William S. Baring-Gould created this character in his fictional biography “Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street”.

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But the most significant aspect of The Six Thatchers is the surprisingly dull performance of Benedict Cumberbatch. For the first time in the show's history, I saw him being bored with the role.

Personally speaking, Cumberbatch has been the # 1 reason for me enjoying the show so much. While the BBC version is quite different from the Canonical Holmes, still I like it for the sheer passion and dedication the actor brings to the table every time he is onscreen.

When a show's lead actor becomes tired of the character, it is not a good omen. We have to wait and see if Cumberbatch regains his enthusiasm failing which it would be best that the show wraps up with the third episode The Final Problem.

Click here to read all the Canonical references in the episode.  Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock.

Image Sources: Hartswood Films, BBC Wales, Masterpiece theater

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