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Remember how last season was pretty light on details from the original Sherlock Holmes stories until Irene Adler and Moriarty showed up? And how even that had a twist? Well, this season starts with Sherlock and Watson going to London, and it's got Inspector Lestrade and Sherlock's brother Mycroft!
But this is a Lestrade who became a big star as a result of having Sherlock Holmes solving all his cases for him. So his career went kind of squirrelly after Sherlock left, and now he's waving grenades around at funerals and hiding in a theatre from the newspaper heir he's been accusing of murder. Meanwhile, Mycroft is less fat and indolent than he is in the stories and Sherlock finds this absolutely infuriating, so he keeps calling him "Fatty." It's like he doesn't know Mycroft is being played by Rhys Ifans.
The deal is that Lestrade is in disgrace because he went too far trying to prove that Lawrence Pendry (the aforementioned newspaper heir) killed his wife. Sherlock has been called back to London to locate Lestrade before he hurts somebody, but he takes a few minutes to prove that Lestrade was correct. Lawrence Pendry made a pistol from a 3D printer, and then he melted down the gun so it looked like a bottle of milk. They go to confront Pendry's handyman, because Pendry cleverly avoided buying a 3D printer himself. But the handyman is dead! This is convenient, because it provides extra proof that Pendry is a murderer. And it also gives a brand new murder to pin on him, which means that Scotland Yard doesn't need to worry about the messiness of the earlier murder, which got Lestrade fired.
So the bad guy gets arrested. But Lestrade doesn't learn his lesson about taking credit for things he didn't do, and he ends the episode on television, talking smugly about how much he knows about 3D printers. Meanwhile, it turns out that Mycroft wants to reconnect to Sherlock because he's been terribly sick. Watson gives him some well-meaning device, but Mycroft chooses instead to just blow up all of Sherlock's stuff. This might include a Picasso. So everything's even between them now, although Sherlock seems a little thrown by the experience.
It's not actually all that much like the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories after all. But they do go to 221B Baker Street. So that's fun!
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open on Highgate Cemetery in London. That's in a whole different country! There's a very English funeral going on, so naturally it gets interrupted by a drunk man. The drunk shouts that Warren Pendry (the deceased) was a bad man. Lawrence Pendry, who we take to be Warren's son, tells him to leave. The drunk pulls out a grenade and shouts about how he was an officer of the law until Warren's "army of solicitors" stopped him. According to the drunk, Lawrence murdered his own wife and slaughtered him for trying to prove it. He holds the grenade up to Lawrence's face and introduces himself: " It's me. Lestrade." Gasp! Inspector Lestrade, of the Yard!
He, of course, is from the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, where he's the dumb policeman that Sherlock Holmes helps out. He's played by Sean Pertwee, and nerds will be interested to note that his father was Jon Pertwee, the third Doctor on Doctor Who. So that's who this is. He looks very convincing as a drunk who's past his pride. He tells Warren's tombstone that Warren did not, in fact, take the you-know-what out of him.
Sherlock Holmes is in Washington Square Park looking at pigeons. Watson joins him and complains about him skipping out on another rehab meeting. He claims to have had a breakthrough on the case they've been working on between seasons. Three US attorneys have been murdered while investigating a syndicate of pirates. They suspect a specific man of doing the killing, but they haven't been able to figure out how he gets his orders. Holmes's breakthrough was in deciding that they're using carrier pigeons. Classic! And sure enough, there's a pigeon here with a message on its foot. A man walks up, feeding the birds and grabbing the important one. When he sees Holmes and Watson walk up, he runs. And we've got a chase scene!
Holmes runs past him because he was hiding in the line for hot dogs. It's always the last place you look. He jogs in the other direction, but Watson catches him and wallops him with a stick. Now that the suspect is all crumpled up on the ground, Holmes strolls up and observes, "You've been tending to your self-defense. Well done."
Some unexplained amount of time later, Gregson and Bell show up. Gregson is cranky that six detectives couldn't get anywhere, while Holmes just had to follow a bird. You'd think he'd get used to Holmes being smarter than his entire police department. That's kind of relevant to what happens : Holmes gets a phone call from Unknown Number in the United Kingdom. We hear his side of the conversation: "Yes, I'm fine. What? Yes, of course. Straight away." He verifies that Watson has a current passport and explains that Inspector Lestrade needs his help, so the two of them need to go to London.
At the Brownstone, Holmes says that his relationship with Lestrade was a "marriage of convenience." Watson thinks it's weird that he never mentioned Lestrade. Holmes admits that he could be "quite cutting" toward him because he used to be colder. Our current Holmes is pretty much a sociopath, so it's fun to imagine what he was like before he loosened up. Back then, according to Holmes, Lestrade got all the credit for solving cases, and he became a metaphorical addict. Holmes knows the dangers of fame, so he avoids the power of the spotlight. He's being called in to find Lestrade, who has been fired, threatened someone (at the funeral in the first scene), and then vanished. Watson's being brought along so Holmes doesn't get sat to "a morbidly obese person. Or a child. Or a morbidly obese child." It seems extravagant, but plane trips can be pretty awful. I can see some value in choosing your travel companions. Holmes gets philosophical about whether he'll find London different: "London is always a different city.." And then we're there!
Welcome to London! Holmes and Watson are in a cab that drives past all the usual landmarks: the big silly wheel, Trafalgar Square, a bunch of Beefeaters, Parliament, and Big Ben. I know those last two are kind of the same thing, but they're in different shots here. It's such a generic montage, I'm surprised they didn't see the camera crew from NTSF:SD:SUV:: and Parks and Recreation, both of whom also went to London tonight. They arrive at New Scotland Yard and Holmes takes a breath. Watson mentions Step Nine, which is "making amends." She's just assuming he probably needs to make amends to someone around here. It's a good guess. An officer named DCI Hopkins comes out and squints at Holmes. Holmes notes that he's gained one and a quarter stone. Hopkins smirks, "You're slipping. I've gained one and a half stone." Holmes mutters, "I'm not slipping. I've just grown more courteous." I really like the idea that our Holmes has grown nicer as a result of his rehab and (especially) friendship with Watson. So the glimpses we get of his time in London will be of the total jerk-mode Sherlock.
Time for the briefing! Sherlock already knows about Lawrence Pendry, son of Warren Pendry. Warren owns half the newspapers in England. Or he did until he died last week. And with that, he vanishes from the conversation. As the actual case gets introduced, Sherlock leafs through pictures of the crime scene. Thirteen months ago, Lawrence called 999 (the British version of 911) to report that there was an armed intruder in his house. According to his story, he fought with the man and his gun went off and killed Lawrence's wife Mary. Lestrade didn't buy it, possibly because he had built a career on solving the kind of crazy mixed-up case you need Sherlock Holmes for. Upon further investigation, a neighbor heard the shot at 18:33, but Pendry made the call at 18:36. Police arrived a few minutes later and could not find the gun. So the question is how he got rid of the gun in that eight-minute period.
Lestrade accused Pendry of killing his wife, so Pendry's father used the power of "half the newspapers in Great Britain" attacked Lestrade and also Scotland Yard, and Lestrade was fired. And then he showed up at the funeral with a grenade. Holmes can tell at a glance that it's a fake. Anyway, the point is that Holmes has not been asked here to investigate the death of Mary Pendry. He's just supposed to find Lestrade, because everybody's a little uncomfortable with him being missing. As Holmes and Watson are being led out, Lawrence Pendry shows up for a meeting with Hopkins. He recognizes Holmes as "Lestrade's crutch." He claims that he wishes Holmes had still be in London: "Maybe the real killer would be in prison. And the inspector would still have his job."
Holmes has now taken Watson to his old lodgings: 221B Baker Street! He claims it's the only place in London that he missed. But everything should be in order, because someone named "Geezer Bob" has been watching it for him. As they go up the steps, he warns Watson that entering 221B will be like going into his mind. He transformed this place into a womb of creativity. He's going on about texts in dead languages and scientific experiments, so naturally when they get inside, it's all been redesigned to look like an IKEA catalog. Holmes declares that he's been betrayed and runs upstairs.
Watson idly looks out the window. And in this weird pause, a gentleman walks in and asks why she's there in his apartment. Sherlock runs downstairs, because he's realized who lives here now: it's Mycroft! Played by Rhys Ifans! I always enjoy a good Mycroft. Sherlock (I'm calling him that instead of "Holmes" because there are two Holmeses in the scene) does the introductions: "Fatty, this is Watson. Watson, this is Fatty." He demands to know why Mycroft no longer matches the name "Fatty," and he rejects Mycroft's explanation of exercise on the grounds that exercise requires energy and ambition. Mycroft introduces himself as Sherlock's brother, which we all already knew from him being Mycroft. Say, the Holmeses have weird names, don't they?
After some commercials, Sherlock is still cranky that his father gave 221B to Mycroft. I think Sherlock should consider putting together his own fortune, so his weird offscreen father can't take away his stuff. His complaints about how lazy Mycroft is stem from the way Mycroft cashed in his trust fund and opened restaurants. Mycroft comes in with tea for Watson. Sherlock asks what Mycroft did with all his stuff, and Mycroft cheerfully says that he gave them to charity shops because Sherlock didn't answer any of his messages. Mycroft claims his father's mentioned Watson several times. When she asks why Sherlock never mentioned his brother, Mycroft speculates, "Maybe it's because the last time I saw him, he was face-deep in my fiancée." Sherlock protests that it was five years ago, and he only did it to prove she was a gold-digger. Watson decides they should find a hotel, but Mycroft says they can stay in the guest rooms. Watson tells Sherlock, "We've been up for over twenty hours. It's nice here." Sherlock goes off to test a theory on how to find Lestrade. But really to get out of the situation where his precious 221B is occupied by Mycroft.
Sherlock lurks on the sidewalks of London and looks up the street. Inside a pub, he...finds Lestrade. That was easy! Lestrade calls him The Prodigal Detective. Unable to resist the urge to explain how great he is, Sherlock reminds him of the Adventure of the Norwood Builder (an actual Sherlock Holmes story, of course), in which he told Lestrade about his caches of money and passports around the city. He checked all the stashes, and the only untouched one was in a library across the street, and Lestrade must be waiting for the security guard to go off duty. Lestrade tries to talk about Lawrence Pendry, but Sherlock insists that he's here to drag him back to Scotland Yard. Or to call the detectives to come to the pub to get Lestrade.
They go out of the pub together, and Sherlock says Gregson isn't as sharp as Lestrade, "obviously." Lestrade hops a fence to go get the cash from Sherlock's secret money-hold. Sherlock seems surprised that Lestrade isn't just letting himself get dragged in, and Lestrade insists, "I'm gonna be there when Pendry is nicked." He reminds Sherlock of all the times Sherlock followed a million crazy theories until he found one that was right. And back then, Lestrade never even got to have an opinion! Lestrade says, "You can turn me in. You can do whatever you wanna do. Personally, what I would prefer, Sherlock, is if you and I could work together just one last time." Sherlock scowls.
Mycroft cuts vegetables and speaks French on the phone. Watson comes up the hallway, and there's a weird close-up of the knife in Mycroft's hand. That will be important later! They establish that Sherlock never came home last night. Mycroft says she must be learning from him, because that's the only way anyone can put up with him. She says she doesn't "put up" with him because they're friends, which prompts Mycroft to say the line that's practically this show's thesis: "Sherlock doesn't have friends." Watson doesn't blink: "Yesterday, I would have told you he doesn't have a brother. But he does." Mycroft says Sherlock is addicted to being himself. Watson gets a text (written in clear English, which is not the way Sherlock's been established to send text messages) summoning her to 360 Purcell Street. Watson leaves to get dressed, and Mycroft sighs.
The Purcell address turns out to be an abandoned theater, which is very picturesque. Sherlock explains that funding waxes and wanes, so there are always abandoned theaters available to use as hideouts. That sounds great. I would totally live in an abandoned theater. This one is currently the hideout of Gareth Lestrade. Watson calls it his "lair," and asks what's up. Holmes says: "Milk." See, because Lawrence Pendry was lactose-intolerant and his wife was vegan. But there's a picture of the crime scene showing that their fridge had a bottle of milk. Why? Watson guesses that it's for guests. Lestrade asks her to give him space, and she glares at him, because he doesn't understand that she's here as a full partner in deduction.
Mycroft is taking her to dinner, possibly at his restaurant that has two Michelin stars. Sherlock says Mycroft clearly intends to bed her as revenge. He alleges that she's attracted to Mycroft because she can't sleep with Sherlock, and Mycroft is a "cheap knockoff version." To get out of the conversation, Watson looks at the crime scene pictures. Sherlock declares that one of the masks on the wall in a picture is out of line. But they were perfectly lined up before Mary died, because Mary conveniently took a picture with them in the background. This show relies really heavily on the idea that people are constantly taking pictures that happen to show the alignment of their furniture and decorations. Holmes wants to investigate, but he has to do it under the aegis of the Lestrade investigation. So he plans to tell Lawrence he found a threatening suicide note from Lestrade. Which he now makes Lestrade write.
Lawrence reads the note, which is all about how Lestrade is going to kill Lawrence and then himself, so he can die a true policeman. Holmes recommends changing his routes to his office. Lawrence doesn't want to invite more police into his home, because he's already trying to protect himself from one rogue police officer. Holmes claims Watson is America's foremost expert on home security and gets Lawrence to let her look around the house. There are motion detectors and security nodes on the shatterproof windows. Lawrence mentions the security nodes again, but I'm no closer to knowing what those are. While Lawrence is distracted with his nodes, Holmes looks at the mask, and a nail falls out of the wall. Time to go! Once they're outside, Watson complains about having to be the number one security expert in America, because that's more pressure than being number twenty or so. Holmes ignores her so he can declare, "Lestrade was right. Lawrence Pendry did kill his wife. I know exactly how he did it."
Back to the theater. Holmes recaps the case. In his opinion, the murder weapon was in the kitchen when the police were there. It was a white plastic gun that Pendry melted with acetone. By the time the police arrived, the gun dissolved into a white milk-like liquid. Watson explains that it's from 3D printing, which can make a perfect gun that needs only one piece of metal: a nail to act as a firing pin. Holmes says the tip of the nail he found was slightly charred, which he attributes to "carbon scoring from where it struck the bullet." Lestrade wants to take this to Hopkins, and Holmes reminds him their actual evidence is pretty flimsy. They need to find out how and where he made that gun, so then they'll have something concrete. I mean, not that the gun will be concrete. That would be weird.
Out to the streets of London, which is a very pretty song. Holmes tells Watson about how London is riddled with CCTV cameras. He adds, "Now I know, for a fact, that some of London's network of watchmen verge on the competent." Which means that they know about the danger that 3D printers present. Looking up at a camera, Holmes holds up two handwritten signs: "Hello, I am Sherlock Holmes. I have a message for Langdale Pike. Need list of all 3D printers purchased past 24 months." Sherlock can't call him because Pike doesn't trust phones with GPSs. I don't think Mr. Pike is part of the official CCTV system, so it's not entirely clear why Holmes is using this technique to get in touch with him. Either the people who monitor the CCTV screens know how to get in touch with Langdale or Langdale himself is monitoring the screens.
Four hours later, Watson complains about standing around in a park waiting for a mysterious contact to bring them information. Sherlock says he's fine with Mycroft having retaliatory sex with her, but he warns her that she won't learn any childhood secrets, since he and Mycroft were packed off to different schools. A figure bumps her, and Watson suddenly has a list of 3D printer sales in her bag. Langdale Pike moves in mysterious ways. Holmes and Lestrade will investigate while Watson goes out with Mycroft. Sherlock wants to see who's right about Mycroft's intentions, adding, "My money's on me."
Mycroft welcomes Watson to his restaurant, which is vacant. He closed it so they could have a decent conversation. She tells him nothing's going to happen, and he sort of protests that it's not romantic. Although he doesn't say that exactly; he just asks if she thought it was supposed to be romantic. He says he lied when he claimed he lost weight through exercise. Watson interrupts that she knew he was sick. She saw scars on his wrists, which apparently were for "graft-versus-host." That means he had a bone marrow transplant in the last two years. He knows she's an ex-surgeon, so he's not surprised. He claims that his one regret is the state of his relationship with Sherlock. He wanted a way to make things better, but he fell into old habits as soon as he saw Sherlock. He butters Watson up by saying she's Sherlock's friend and asks her, "How does one become Sherlock Holmes's friend?"
Sherlock apologizes to Lestrade for not protecting him from the spotlight. But Lestrade says he loved it! Sherlock agrees that it was probably intoxicating. Lestrade: "I'm glad we helped so many people." Sherlock: "Well, I helped them. You only said you did." Dang. That's cold. Imagine what he was like before he became so courteous. Lestrade keeps studying the list of people who bought 3D printers. Holmes talks about making amends, and it's clear that he's going to try making amends to Lestrade for whatever he thinks he did to him. But before he can start, Lestrade notes that Nick Ginn (who he recognizes as Lawrence Pendry's handyman) bought a 3D printer a week before Mary Pendry died. He's very excited that this means he could be right, because he's more interested in being proved right than in justice.
Nick Ginn doesn't answer his door, so Holmes starts picking the lock. Lestrade asks to get the credit for this one, suggesting it would be some good amends-making. Holmes is taking too long, Lestrade kicks the door open. Nick Ginn is inside, dead from being stabbed in the stomach. Poor jerk never even got a line of dialogue.
Watson has caught up with them. Holmes says the place is clean. DCI Hopkins is outside, and he's not happy with all this, because Holmes's claim that he wasn't looking into Lawrence Pendry is not fooling anyone. And there's no 3D printer in there. Holmes says the printer must be gone, because if Ginn had it, he would have printed a new gun to protect himself from his boss. And Pendry certainly wouldn't save it. Watson gets all fancy and deduct-y and observes that Pendry wouldn't use the victim's own knife, because he's such a planner. And the stab wound was by someone who's left-handed. (BTW, quick tip for all you lefties out there: learn to stab with your right hand. You'll thank me when Sherlock Holmes shows up!).
Holmes isn't listening, although he knew Pendry was a righty. Watson asks why Pendry might have used his off-hand to stab someone, and that prompts Holmes to look under a table and in an apple basket. There's an apple with a tiny hole in it. He bites into it and finds...what is that? It's a tiny piece of white plastic. Holmes declares that Pendry built another gun.
Holmes leads a team of police into Lawrence Pendry's house. He announces, "Good evening. I have a confession to make. Miss Watson is not, in fact, a home security specialist." He's not here for Mary's murder, he's here for Ginn's. Watson recaps their theory: Pendry went to Ginn's place to kill him, but the gun exploded in his hand. He used a regular .22 bullet on Mary, but a .22 long on Ginn, and the gun just blew up. Boy, you'd think if you had the know-how to print yourself a dissolving gun, you'd get the right kind of bullets. Anyway, the gun blew up, which meant that he had to fight hand-to-hand, and his right hand was damaged so he had to stab with his left hand. And he cleaned the place of gun fragments, but he didn't find the sliver that embedded itself into an apple. They have a warrant to look at his right forearm to see if there are marks from an exploding plastic gun there. Pendry's phone rings and Holmes advises him to just say he's going into custody.
Pendry is taken outside, past Lestrade, who smirks. Lestrade thanks Holmes and cheerfully prepares to go to jail himself. Holmes says, "I'll thank you not to take credit for any of my insights into the case." Lestrade objects that this is not the kind of amends he had in mind, but Holmes says, "I will not enable you anymore. I am withdrawing your drug of choice." Lestrade shrugs, "Right. Well, it's back to obscurity for me, then. Don't be a stranger." He's taking this suspiciously well! Except in the scene, Lestrade is on television talking about how much he knows about 3D printers, which allegedly led him to crack the case. Watson thinks he knew that Holmes would never step forward to take credit. Holmes says he's feeling..."Anger, exasperation, and a hint of...." Watson finishes for him: "Worry? Yeah, well. Welcome to caring about an addict."
Sherlock gets a text from Mycroft to see him at 37 George's Mews. It's urgent. Nobody on television ever gets a text message that isn't urgent. When he gets there, Mycroft is sitting on a park bench and Sherlock is snippy and annoying. Mycroft gets him to sit down and reveals that Sherlock's stuff is actually in storage. He nods behind them to the storage area and says, "Over there, behind that door." Apparently Sherlock's collection included mildly illegal things like shrunken heads, a Picasso, and a collection of books on making homemade explosives. Sherlock insists again that Mycroft is incredibly lazy. Mycroft says that Watson told him that the secret to talking to Sherlock is to make sure he's listening. So Mycroft takes a remote control and blows up the storage unit. Boom! Sherlock's stunned, but not so stunned that he can't comment about the books on bomb building. Mycroft politely says, "I consider us even now. Which means I can tell you I forgive you. For everything." He walks away. Those Holmes boys are a little weird. Good. I like a formidable Mycroft.
Holmes meets Watson in the train station and tells her what happened. Then he gets philosophical: "Art in the blood, Watson. Takes the strangest forms." They get on the train. And presumably a plane. And then they come home to New York.
Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.