The 4th series of Sherlock, airing in 2017, brings back our favorite detective, his faithful friend John Watson, John’s new wife Mary, and the other characters we love yet again. Series 4 is the show’s most unique and polarizing season, for better or worse. Let’s talk about why.
The Abominable Bride
Ok, this one wasn’t exactly part of Series 4, but the standalone “movie” has to go somewhere. Call it episode 0 of series 4, perhaps. Released between Series 3 and Series 4, “The Abominable Bride” sends our cast back to 1895 to solve a case involving a murderous corpse in a bridal gown. I’m not sure why it’s called a movie – while around 90 minutes in length, that’s pretty standard for episodes of this show.
The central mystery, the case of “The Abominable Bride” is pretty compelling at first. The ghostly aspect of the unsolved crimes works better in this setting than it did in, say, “The Hounds of Baskerville”. The bridal character is pretty spooky, and the foggy streets of 19th century London really enhance that aspect. It’s fun to see all the characters in their alternative element as well. I particularly like what they do with the women of the show, somehow maintaining their power in a setting far less conducive to it.
Unfortunately, this episode becomes a mess in its second half, with tie-ins to the present day narrative of the series that simply aren’t satisfying. The resolution of the mystery is less compelling or believable than you’d hope. An episode that seemed like an interesting standalone chapter winds up with a convoluted ending that depends on things you’ve seen before. It’s frustrating, though still a somewhat entertaining episode.
The Six Thatchers
“The Six Thatchers” kicks off Series 4 proper, and it begins where Series 3 left off, with England calling Sherlock back into service due to the seeming return of an old menace – Moriarty. This episode, I would imagine, is the most polarizing of the entire series to date, and it’s easy to see why.
On the one hand, the case at hand is interesting and hooks you. Why is someone smashing open busts of Margaret Thatcher? What’s most interesting is that no one seems to care except Sherlock, a twist on the standard formula. It’s not even a case, as Holmes is the only one to even notice. He basically hires himself here, determined that this is linked to Moriarty in some way. There are some thrilling scenes in “The Six Thatchers”, and it definitely sets up a the stage in a major way for the rest of Series 4.
Its polarization may come in a broader sense. “The Six Thatchers” deals heavily with Mary. In fact, she’s arguably the main character in the episode. While John has always been a thematic protagonist, his story has always been about Sherlock. This episode at times feels like it’s about Mary, with Sherlock joining John in the sense that we’re just watching another character’s story through their eyes. Sherlock uncovers some truths not through the power of deduction, but through characters just explaining what happened to him – a trope Sherlock had nicely avoided until now. This episode, despite its initial promise, doesn’t even play like an episode of Sherlock as much as it does an episode of an action spy series. There’s more choreographed fighting here than in all other episodes combined, I think. If you ever wished Sherlock was more like James Bond, this is the episode for you. There’s also a side story with John that goes in a way fans really didn’t like, and it’s a fair criticism. It’s out of character with Watson, and we never really see how he got to the point where he would act out of character. Instead of seeing characters develop, we just see what they developed into and occasionally get verbal explanations of how they got there.
Also, do you remember how one, in Series 3, John had trouble forgiving Sherlock for something and the narrative drove a wedge between them that something else would have to close? This episode’s conclusion gets us ready for more of the same!
The Lying Detective
In “The Lying Detective”, Holmes has temporarily lost his best friend to stubbornness. So, naturally, Sherlock careens into a drug-fueled weeks-long trip into his own paranoia. He meets a woman who tells him her father, Britain’s most beloved philanthropist/TV presenter, Culverton Smith (Toby Jones), is actually a killer. Sherlock becomes focused on this, tweeting out his accusations to the world. Their trio of supporting friends (Lestrade, Molly, Mrs. Hudson) help re-unite the duo, and they start looking into Smith together.
“The Lying Detective” is one of the better episodes of the series, thanks to a few different things. First, Sherlock seemingly has the “case” figured out from the beginning. Smith is the killer, for purposes of the episode, and this becomes more about how to catch someone protected by wealth, fame, and overwhelming public approval. It’s an interesting turn from the normal routine. Smith, who is at worst a serial killer or at best, extremely pissed off at Sherlock for spreading Twitter rumors, toys with Sherlock over this obstacle. His true weapon is his fame, and he knows how to wield it.
Toby Jones is magnificent, hands down the best single-episode guest star the series has found. He chews up the scenery in the best kind of way, and you can’t take your eyes off him. He might be the single scariest adversary of the series – there’s a hospital room scene with some kids that is unsettling purely thanks to Toby Jones’ ability to speak the sinister to people around him.
There’s also a pretty fun end to this episode. There’s a revelation, and while ultimately the payoff for this revelation is a little disappointing, the revelation itself is pretty wicked, taking what seems like a serene wrap-up scene and turning it on its head. It takes the viewer to an unexpected place, and it’s great. It ties up some loose ends just as you start to wonder why they were left untied, and that’s some excellent timing.
The Final Problem
As was set up in the previous episode, “The Final Problem” forces the Holmes brothers to face an old demon from their (considerably) younger days. Series 1 and Series 2 both had Big Bads – Moriarty each time – but while Series 3 went down a different path, Series 4 returns to the formula, and this time, we’re teased a bit that, impossibly, it might be Moriarty again.
Sherlock, John, and Mycroft head to a prison to deal with a particular inmate they know to not fully be an inmate anymore. John and Sherlock each had run-ins with this person in London, far away from the Alcatraz-like island facility where they are supposedly imprisoned. Here, they find the prison is not like what they expected. The old “inmates running the asylum” cliche is more explicitly depicted.
A little girl wakes up on a jet airliner with no other conscious passengers. Sherlock is occasionally given time to talk to her, trying to figure out how to safely get her out of the skies. But his time is cut short by the madman in charge of this house of horrors. If Sherlock wants a couple more minutes of phone time with this potential victim, he’ll have to play some sadistic games. It’s Sherlock‘s version of Saw, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.
This episode is certainly compelling. It’s a thrill ride, as you wonder what atrocity awaits in the next room in the funhouse. But does any of it make sense? The further we get into the episode, the more contrived and convoluted it gets, and the further it gets away from what makes Sherlock so good. This is indeed a fun episode; I’m just not entirely sure it’s a good one. It doesn’t have to be, of course – dumb, fun TV is still entertainment. But the resolution to the gauntlet of psychological and physical torture makes little or no sense, and you roll your eyes at moments.
The Big Bad is something of a caricature of villains you’ve seen before. A guard warns Sherlock at one point that this is like The Silence of the Lambs, but perhaps they should have said something like Austin Powers. In another problem with Series 4, we’re told about a character’s ability to do something rather than showing it. We’re told that 5 minutes alone with this prisoner can leave you bending to their will, and while they’re willing to show us the bending, they won’t really show us the 5 minutes alone. I’m never a fan of the Underpants Gnomes style of writing.
Then again, Sherlock has never truly mastered showing how the villains managed their villainy. From the series’ first episode, where the Cabbie’s process was a bit underwhelming, to Moriarty himself – we never really get satisfying answers as to how and why someone is so good at their villainy. We’re just told they are and to accept that. Maybe, for me, the unexplained worked better with Moriarty than it did here. I could believe that Moriarty was a criminal consultant, a genius on the level of Sherlock Holmes that just wanted to watch the world burn. But here, with this new Big Bad, maybe I need more proof of concept, because the whole “five minutes alone” thing is such a mysterious thing, and getting to witness five of those minutes would be great television.
Anyway, for all I disliked about the forest of this episode (I hadn’t mentioned the Michael Bay-esque moment of Sherlock and John jumping out of an explosion – yes, this happened), the trees still make it pretty enjoyable. Nearly each room is a new mystery for Sherlock, making it similar to the “The Great Game” (Episode 1.03). While “The Great Game” admittedly did it better, trying to recapture some of that magic isn’t a bad idea.
That, in a way, gets to the root of the problems with Series 4. That thing that “The Final Problem” gets right, a smattering of small mysteries to be solved, is one of the few parts of Series 4 where they seem to know why we’re really watching. We’re here to see Holmes and Watson solve mysteries through Sherlock’s deductions. We never tuned in to this show to see spies fighting terrorists or have supervillains explain their boss’s lairs to our heroes. We can get that anywhere. We’re here to see Sherlock Holmes outsmart everyone around him, even his friends. We get a big bowl of that in “The Lying Detective”, an excellent 90 minutes which feels like it could fit into any other season. And we get it in only in spoonfuls elsewhere in Series 4.
Is it Watchlist-worthy?
Yes. While Series 4 comes closer to the kind of stories you can find in plenty of other places on television, it’s still of a better quality than most of those types of shows. Series 4 takes some nice steps forward in cinematography and storytelling devices. It’s probably the least essential Sherlock season – characters somewhat spin their wheels and behave inconsistently, and it’s tonally all over the place – but if you can put aside the way it departs from what the series was before, it’s an awfully entertaining one. You may not be extremely satisfied with the story, but you will not be bored.