Sherlock - A Scandal In Belgravia

[daibhidc]

Okay, this is a long one. Apparently that's what happens when you watch something on iPlayer and write the review as you go...

Firstly, that is the biggest cliffhanger copout I've ever seen. (And I note with irritation that John's blog, and the comments on it, have been rewritten to fit the new events; it used to stop dead, followed by a string of comments by Harry and Sarah who were worried because John had disappeared...)

Talking of John's blog, Sherlock is now an "internet phenomenon", reflecting the way Watson's stories in The Strand supposedly attracted clients in the original. Laughed out loud at Sherlock grabbing a deerstalker to hide his appearance.

(The adventures John's writing up here are actually there: there's a nice reversal of the twist in "The Speckled Blonde", whereas "The Geek Intepreter" has pretty much no connection to the original except the names.)

So the "King of Bohemia" becomes a anonymous member of our own royal family. Well, that's something you couldn't do in 1888 ... although Baring-Gould has suggested Watson was concealing the identity of the then Prince of Wales. And the client is refered to as "illustrious", referring to another story where the client is probably an anonymous royal.

"You don't trust your own secret service?" "Naturally not. They all spy on people for money."

Since in the original Holmes suggested that the King simply claim the letters were forged, until he was told about the photographs, I'm surprised Sherlock doesn't suggest claiming the photos were faked. I suppose he doesn't because there'd be no real answer to that...

In the original, Sherlock used his mastery of disguise to pose as two seperate people, fooling Irene Adler both times. In this version, his rather daft attempt to pose as a clergyman doesn't fool anyone for a second. Apart from that, it's a pretty direct version of the original gambit; there's a fire, and Irene instinctively looks towards the concealed safe. Then the Americans turn up...

The Americans turn out to be a slightly irrelevent complication at this point; Sherlock still unlocks the safe, gets hold of the photos, and doesn't manage to keep them. And that's the original story mined out for material, halfway through the episode, with an epilogue in which Mycroft complains about the situation (and gets glared at for snapping at Mrs Hudson!) seguing into Christmas. (Is this the first time we've seen Sherlock play the violin?)

Molly the pathologist returns, and in an interesting touch, the usual she's-crushing-on-Sherlock, he's-oblivious-and-staggeringly-rude routine gets subverted, with him actually apologising to her.

And then Sherlock discovers Irene's phone and realises she's been killed. Leading to more hints about Sherlock's druggie past, with Mycroft worrying Irene's death could lead to a relapse, and John having to keep an eye on him at the expense of his latest relationship.

Even after I was told there was a twist in the repeat of John getting picked up to meet Mycroft, I still didn't guess what the twist was. I half-suspected it might be Jim, since when John first met Mycroft we were led to believe Mycroft was Moriarty. But no, it's Irene, who's not dead after all, and who realises the Americans are still after her phone.

And the Americans have grabbed Mrs Hudson! In another example of how Sherlock does care about the people close to him, even if he can't express it, when he Sherlock-Scans the guy who hit her, all he sees are ways to hurt him. And then throws him out a window. Repeatedly.

And a Crowing Moment of Awesome for Mrs Hudson, when it turns out she had the phone all along, and kept quiet about it.

And eventually, we learn the secret of the phone -- it contains a copy of an MOD e-mail which "could save the world". Sherlock deduces that it relates to a Flight 007, and relates that to Mycroft talking about "Bond plane is go". Unfortunately, Irene turns out to be working with Moriarty...

The final scene was cleverly done. I'd got suspicious when Mycroft said only Sherlock could have faked Irene's second death, but I'd forgotten about that by the time I actually saw it. And "When I say run..." a Doctor Who reference from the Moff?

And two more references to the original story; Sherlock demands the phone, just as Holmes says the only payment he wants from the King of Bohemia is to keep a photograph of Irene, and her last text message is "Goodbye, Mr Holmes", a reference to her last words to Holmes in the original story being "Goodnight, Mr Holmes", as she slipped past him in male clothes (and the title of the first Irene Adler novel by Carole Nelson Douglas).

(ETA: Shortly after posting this I had an interesting discussion on Twitter about the Irene/Sherlock relationship, which I haven't really mentioned in this review at all. I think my position boils down to "Anyone who uses the original story to ship the couple is talking nonsense, but if adaptors have to give him a love interest, she's probably the best choice. They really shouldn't have to, though.")

Comments

[rhiannon-s.livejournal.com]

Any support for the "Arabian Rescue Scene" just being Sherlock imagining a happy ending (or a dying dream from Irene)? That's how I interpreted it.

[sabremeister]

Not much, I think. Take a look at John's face when Mycroft tells him that only Sherlock could have fooled him this time, and he wasn't on the scene. It looks to me like John's about to say something like, "actually, he did disappear at about that time, came back a week later with a mild tan."