Sherlock: A 14 Year Retrospective
By: Ethan Adkins
Sherlock's Season 4 poster. Photo Credit: The BBC.
This past October was the 14th anniversary of the release of the BBC’s Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson respectively. The show would run for 7 years spanning 4 seasons. The final episode, cleverly titled “The Final Problem”, would air in January of 2017 capping off a television show that would inspire many people to venture into the Sherlock stories and the broader mystery genre.
The series is inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic set of short stories starring none other than Sherlock Holmes. This rendition is set in the 2010s, so this gives the set of characters and stories a breath of fresh air and gives the characters a modern take instead of making the story set in the 1800s.
Watching the show for the first time is an experience. Each episode and case is written brilliantly, and the characters are down to earth and relatable. Sherlock’s character tends to be emotionless and more stuck up in most renditions. While that is true about Cumberbatch’s depiction of the character, the writers find a way to also add an emotional side to Sherlock, making the character known for his inhuman deduction ability, a little more human.
The way I will be rating these seasons will be 1-10 spy glasses (spy glasses are just what I’ll be calling my rating points), with 10 being amazing and 1 being terrible. We will look at a variety of different things from story, to the writing and characters and even how the seasonal stories flow to give it its rating.
We will be taking a look at season 1. All the seasons are absolutely brilliant, but I believe that looking at season 1 only will prove the point of how good the series is as a whole.
Now as Sherlock would say, “The game is on,” so let's take a deeper dive into the world, that is Sherlock.
Small spoiler warnings ahead, so be mindful.
Season 1
9/10 spy glasses
The first time I watched Sherlock I did not want to at all. My dad told me that he wanted me to watch this with him since he thought I would enjoy it, and I’ll be honest I was trying to convince myself to not like it. The episodes were an hour to an hour and a half long. I had other things I wanted to watch instead, but as I watched the first episode I quickly realized that this show was way more than just a show, it was the most entertaining, fun, and enjoyable show I had ever watched.
This show’s characters are very integral to the show's story. Naturally you have Sherlock Holmes and John Watson as the main characters, but you also have Inspector Lestrade who is one of the head police officers within the show. Another important character is Molly Hooper, she is a doctor that helps Sherlock with his medical examinations and gives him advice through the show. Sherlock also has an older brother named Mycroft, he is a top official within the British government that helps Sherlock receive information that may not be available to the normal person. Last but not least we have the lovely Mrs. Hudson who is the landlord for Baker Street.
The first episode, titled “A Study In Pink”, introduces us to a John Watson who has just returned home from war due to being “shot in the leg” and has been looking for a place to live and something to do now that he's been sent home. Then we cut to the Scotland Yard (London police station) where Inspector Lestrade is giving a press conference about a string of connected suicides, when Sherlock interrupts by sending texts to the press saying “wrong” every time Lestrade gives information.
While Watson is walking in the park he stumbles into an old friend and while catching up, he mentions that he’s looking for a place to live since he doesn't have a job, he can't afford a house in London. That’s when his old friend takes him to meet Sherlock. When they meet for the first time Sherlock uses his inhuman deduction ability to read Watson’s whole life story before he can even share anything about himself. As Sherlock leaves, he invites Watson over to his flat (British term for house or apartment) as a new roommate with the iconic line of, “My name is Sherlock Holmes, and the address is 221B Baker Street.”
Each season of this show brings a new theme to the table. This season's theme is new beginnings. The introduction of Watson to Sherlock brings a new beginning to these characters. However, this theme doesn’t just apply to Sherlock and Watson, for every character in the show this moment starts a new beginning to their lives, whether it be bringing on more cases, changing the way you interact with the people around you, or the beginning of new enemies and foes to face.
Throughout the remainder of the episode Sherlock and Watson continue to grow closer as friends. Sherlock brings him on as his assistant to work the case which, shockingly, turns out to be a string of murders. In an attempt to not spoil the episode’s ending I will not share the ending in exact detail, however towards the end of the episode while Sherlock gets himself stuck into a tricky situation Watson saves his newfound friend. Starting the friendship that will be known as legendary.
This blooming relationship between the two men increases as we move on to the second episode titled “The Blind Baker.” The opening scene of the episode is even Watson doing Sherlock’s grocery shopping. This is all elevated when Sherlock is challenged by a new criminal, or more like criminals. This time Sherlock has to go up against a Chinese Smuggling ring. It starts when he is called by an old acquaintance that the bank he works at was broken into and strange symbols were left on the wall.
During this episode Watson gets himself a date and invites her to a Chinese circus that came into town. Sherlock however cracks the case and realizes that this cult will be at the circus. To Watson’s frustration Sherlock ends up crashing their date in his pursuit to stop the cult there. The result of this is Watson and his date end up getting kidnapped by the cult where this time the table is turned and Sherlock ends up saving Watson and his date and putting an end to the cult.
Episode two is the odd one out in season 1. While I’d still give it massive praise for its brilliant writing and its very interesting characters and new foes, it is definitely the worst episode in the first season. As we continue on you’ll start to see that the stories of episodes 1 and 3 are always super fantastic where episode 2 in all seasons are always a little hit and miss comparatively. However, episode 3 is where the overarching story of the first season really picks up and starts to move and push our characters to their limits.
The final episode in season 1 titled “The Great Game,” introduces us to a new villain, Sherlock’s arch nemesis, but we’ll get to him shortly. Up to this point on my first viewing, I have really enjoyed the series, but this episode for me really sealed the deal on why it’s my favorite series or even favorite piece of media I have ever watched. This episode is so captivating, so exciting and nerve racking, it makes you come to the edge of your seat with just the thrill of the game.
The episode opens up with Sherlock struggling to get a new case to take one. One of the very common occurrences during the series is Sherlock getting “bored”. Throughout the entire show Sherlock is often seen as getting excited and joyful whenever there's a murder or a big new case to solve. This theme of him being almost too excited about new cases will be explored further in season two.
This boredom has him feeling miserable, he starts shooting the wall, doing saliva tests on a decapitated head and even drives Watson out of the house for the night to go see his girlfriend. Almost immediately as he leaves Baker Street an explosion sets off making a mess of the home.
The next morning as Watson returns to Baker Street he sees Sherlock talking to his brother Mycroft about a new case.
The case includes a government official being found dead near the train tracks but with a twist, it is strongly expected that it was not just an accident of being hit by a train, Mycroft suspects it to be murder. The guy that got murdered also had some top secret government missile plans that he doesn’t want to get into the wrong hands. Sherlock being Sherlock he of course denies the request to work the case for his brother, but luckily enough for him Lestrade calls to summon him for a brand new case, which seems to catch his attention.
In episode 1 Watson starts a blog to write down all the cases that he and Sherlock solve. So when Him and Sherlock arrive at Scotland Yard they learn there’s been an explosion just like the one at Baker Street, but this time a phone was found at the scene. This phone is identical to one of the major pieces of evidence in “The Study In Pink” case. While analyzing the phone he sees a picture taken from the basement of his flat, where when getting there, they find a pair of shoes, then the phone rings.
Before we continue with the episode it should be mentioned that it might come off as chaotic since there are a plethora of different cases and puzzles for our characters to solve. However, that is the point of this episode. It’s meant to feel anxiety filled and stressful. You’re not supposed to be chilled out during and normal, it is intended for your heart to race and you start to panic with the burning question, “How can he do it?”
As Sherlock picks up the phone he is greeted with sounds of a woman crying reading off a statement someone has given her. Sherlock doesn’t know but we as the audience sees that the woman crying has a bomb strapped to her. “You have 12 hours to solve my puzzle or I’m going to be so naughty,” this is the line Sherlock is left with before the phone hangs up. You may be wondering what is the puzzle, the only clue given to Sherlock is the shoes he found in the basement.
The next cut has us in the hospital or more specifically Molly Hooper’s lab where Sherlock is running tests on the shoes to see if they have anything on them as well as doing further examinations of the shoe. As his tests are complete Molly comes in with her boyfriend who introduces himself as Jim. Sherlock quickly dismisses Jim and calls him gay, this sends Molly out in anger and annoyance. After they leave Sherlock focuses back on the shoe where he uses his deduction ability to tell what’s different about them.
The rest of the episode follows this pattern of him solving a case and helping people but then being called with less amount of time to solve yet another big case. The last thing We’ll talk about in season 1 is its finale. The final piece to the puzzle that is episode 3 leads Sherlock to a public pool where Watson steps out and reveals he’s been strapped with a bomb. It is at this point where it also revealed who the mastermind behind all of the cases and puzzles that has been thrown at Sherlock. All this time it was Molly’s “boyfriend” aka Jim Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’s biggest rival throughout all Sherlock media.
Moriarty’s reveal is super interesting to me since before this show I have had zero experience with Sherlock media and seeing him walking out even not knowing who he was exactly was still so thrilling. It raises the stakes of the show and brings the question further on how Sherlock can get himself out of this one. Sadly, I strongly believe that if I were to continue explaining we might break the full-on spoiler wall more and ruin the show.
In conclusion Sherlock season 1 is a magnificent introduction to the series and in my opinion to Sherlock media. The way each case/episode is written keeps you as the watcher on your toes the whole time. Sherlock and Watson’s relationship in the first season only elevates the stories being told. While the cases would be good by themselves without the characters in them, it’s the dynamic that each character has on each other that brings the true spectacle out and allows us to thoroughly enjoy. I highly suggest watching this show and all of its seasons. It is streaming on a variety of different places such as Hulu/Disney+, Amazon Prime, PBS, and some British streaming services.
