THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK

 THE EMPTY HEARSE

I’ve been waiting with great anticipation for the return of this show. It is an example of BBC drama at its best. It reeks of quality throughout: the cast, director and scripts are top notch. This program is everything that Elementary is not. Last season ended with the apparent death of Holmes, but this was a cleverly arranged ploy to save the lives of those closest to him. So the first question the viewer is asking is how did he do it?

The episode begins with Holmes on the roof preparing to jump. We see Moriartys body being dragged away as Holmes bungees down and lands in Molly's window. Outside, Watson is advancing in shock towards the body when he is stopped by Derrin Brown (What?) who hypnotizes him briefly to hold him up. Then he is hit by a cyclist before finally getting to the body, which is Moriartys with a Sherlock mask on.

We then cut to a scene with Anderson and LeStrade. It turns out that the above account is Anderson's latest theory. He has started a group called the empty hearse which sets out to prove that Sherlock is still alive. In the next scene a man is chased through some woods then captured by Russian soldiers. He is restrained and tortured until he starts playing mind games with his tormentor. Of course the captive is Holmes but fear not, brother Mycroft is at hand to rescue him. Holmes has spent the previous two years dismantling Moriartys criminal empire. Now Mycroft tells him it is time to come home.

The story line is laced throughout with humor. Watson has grown a mustache and he seems to be the only person that likes it. Everybody else is giving him grief for it. Sherlock decides to surprise John, as if retuning from the dead after two years wasn’t enough of a surprise. We see Sherlock make his way through a restaurant, lifting a tie from a diner and glasses from another, he draws a little ‘tache on his face and pretends to be a waiter. He approaches John, who is reading the menu and gives an order for champagne without looking up, much to Sherlock's frustration. When he returns to try again Johns date, Mary has arrived. Sherlock goes through his spiel and recognition dawns on Johns face. Holmes says quite dryly: “Short version, not dead.”

A fight ensues between the old allies followed by a few short scenes of Sherlock reuniting with his old friends. Next, there is an alternative explanation for Holmes’s fake death which ends with himself and Moriarty giggling on the roof before kissing… at which point Anderson interjects saying “That’s ridiculous” to the member of the empty hearse that just told the story. I think there was a nod from the director to tumblr followers, as this scenario was put on there by a fan. We later see Holmes giving the real version to Anderson. He tells him that Moriarty used a Sherlock lookalike in the previous series who he killed when he was done with him. Molly found the body by checking out mortuaries and they switched it with Holmes after he jumped on to a large inflated cushion. It was all done with Mycroft's men and Holmes’s homeless network.

The plot of the story revolves around a terrorist threat to London. Holmes has worked out that the houses of parliament are the target. An anti terrorist bill is being voted on. Ironically it is November 5^th, Guy Fawkes night, when the original gunpowder plot is remembered. As the story builds, and before he has agreed to work with Holmes again John is drugged and abducted by someone. Mary receives a text which she has already worked out is a skip code. She takes it to Sherlock then the two of them commandeer a motorbike and take off in pursuit. When Watson comes round he is hazy and can’t make out where he is. He is actually in a bonfire that is just about to be lit. Holmes pulls him from it just before he is set alight.

Back to the main case and one of Sherlocks network of informers gets in touch. He works for London underground and had found on TV data of a passenger getting into a car. He is the only person on the platform. When the train arrives at the next station it is empty. Holmes recognizes the man, who turns out to be a government minister who has been selling information to North Korea.  They wonder if Watson's abduction is related to it in some way. Holmes realizes that the man did not disappear, the carriage that he was in did. The train arrived at the next station with one less carriage. They go underground and find the carriage. A scene follows where just as they realize that the whole carriage is the bomb when it is triggered remotely and is counting down from two and a half minutes. Holmes and Watson are getting frantic because neither of them know how to turn it off. As they apparently wait for death John tells Sherlock what he meant to him. He goes on for a while and I thought “the bomb would have gone off by now.” Then Sherlock starts laughing: of course, he had switched it off about two minutes previously but couldn’t resist winding Watson up one more time.

The episode winds down with them reviewing the case and Watsons kidnap. I was wondering if Holmes had him kidnapped to reignite his passion (fitting that he chose a bonfire) for investigating. It looks like Mary is going to be more than just Watsons wife. She will probably be involved in future investigations. The return was well worth waiting for. The balance of humor and drama was spot on. The best thing about this program is the interplay of characters. The main characters all have their quirks which makes the dynamics between characters work so well. It is a joy to watch and I’m looking forward to the next episode. Well done Beeb!