Sherlock

Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock.

Our episode opens on an airplane. A young girl wakes up, the oxygen masks have dropped. Looking around, everyone around her is unconscious.  Somewhere in the plane, a cell phone rings. She answers it, “Help Me! I’m on a plane, everyone’s asleep”. The voice on the other end is chilling. It’s Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott), “Welcome to the Final Problem”.

Meanwhile, Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) sits alone in a screening room. Glee crosses his face as he watches an old detective movie, he mouths the lines with the characters as the scene plays. All of a sudden, the film skips and is replaced by Holmes family home movies. As the film burns away, there’s a final card. “I’m Back!”. The usually unflappable Mycroft, sprints to the door, but finds it locked. There’s a whisper, “Mycroft” while the door behind him swings open. Uneasy, Mycroft steps through, jumping as it slams behind him.

While Mycroft continues down the corridor, he grabs his cane which hides a hidden sword. A child runs across the hall. “Who are you?” Mycroft asks. A child’s voice responds, “There’s an east wind, coming to get you Mycroft”. As he continues down the hall, the paintings lining the corridor bleed from the eyes. “You can’t have gotten out!” Suddenly, a clown leans out from the wall and produces a sword himself. “There’s nowhere to hide,” the child’s voice says as Mycroft takes off running. Suddenly, a familiar figure steps out of the darkness.

In fact, the terror was all orchestrated Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch). He looks down at his brother as he finally speaks, “I have a sister (Sian Brooke). She’s been incarcerated from an early age in an institution run by my brother… Hey bro!” At the same time, Watson emerges from the darkness, “And she’s out”. Thankfully our favorite Doctor is fine. “Why would he do that?” Mycroft asks. Watson (Martin Freeman) smirks, “Well, someone convinced him that you wouldn’t tell the truth unless you were wetting yourself… Probably me”.

Later, Mycroft stands awkwardly inside 221B Baker Street. There’s a painful silence as Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs) flashes a smirk, “You’ll have to sit down, they won’t talk to you unless you sit down”. In fact, Sherlock can’t remember having a sister. Mycroft looks to John, “This is a private matter… it’s family”. Sherlock snaps at his brother, “That’s why he stays”.

Mycroft looks to Sherlock, “The man you are today is your memory of Eurus”. In fact, she was an “era defining genius”. While he continues, Mycroft tells the story of their little sister, who is more coldly logical than Sherlock. As the scene continues, Sherlock remembers his dog, Redbeard. Mycroft tells them that Eurus locked up the dog, refusing to tell anyone she hid him. Unfortunately, the dog was never found. Still a child, Sherlock was traumatized and was permanently scarred by the incident.

Eurus sits on the floor, coloring childlike pictures of gravestones, Sherlock’s name shows prominently on the stones. Suddenly, she lights a match. Adult Mycroft watches while their ancestral home burns to the ground. Later, the little girl was sent away to Sherrinford. In fact, the mysterious Sherrinford is an island, where the worst criminals are locked up. Their conversation suddenly stops as a window shatters. Looking up, a drone flies into the room, there’s a device on top of it. According to Mycroft, it’s a “patience” grenade. If they move, the flat will explode.

With few other options, they make a loose plan. Sherlock and Watson leap for the windows, while Mycroft takes the stairs. As they run, the flat explodes dramatically.

Later, a boat cruises past Sherrinford. As one of the crew members steps outside, he’s blindsided. In fact, our intrepid detective and Dr. Watson have survived. Armed with guns, the two men take control of the boat. Meanwhile, the armed guards on the island hurriedly take their positions, as they find the crew from the boat tied up on the ground. Looking over the wall, there’s a message sketched in the sand: “Tell my sister I’m here”.

Two two men from the ship are captured, but they’re not sailors. In fact, they’re Mycroft and Watson. Sherlock hovers nearby, costumed and undercover. He hurries off as the Governor of the facility (Art Malik) tells him to go guard Eurus.

Sherlock moves through the layers of security before entering his sister’s cell. Inside, she’s completely engaged in playing her violin. Sherlock stands, listening to the music as he flashes back to childhood. Suddenly, she turns around, “Did you bring my hair band?” Sherlock is taken aback as he realizes his sister just as quick, if not more so, than he is. In fact, Sherlock has written his sister completely out of his memory. It turns out it was Eurus who taught her big brother how to play the violin.

Meanwhile, Mycroft and Watson watch videos of Eurus’ psychiatric evaluations. While they study the tapes, they discover the frightening extent of her intellect. She can play people. Rather, Eurus reprograms them. Suddenly, Dr. Watson realizes something, “If Eurus has enslaved you, then who’s in charge of this installation?” The Governor pulls an alarm from his pocket.

Meanwhile, Sherlock takes a step closer to the glass at Eurus’ insistence. Reaching out, they suddenly touch hands. In fact, there isn’t even glass in her cell. She looks up at him, “You keep asking how I got out of here… like this!” She boxes his ears. While Sherlock crumbles to the ground, Eurus leaps on top of him.

While Watson and Mycroft are restrained and led from the room, Watson manages to break free. Sprinting into a control room, John looks around stunned as Moriarty’s face flashes across the television, “Did you miss me?”.

Later, “I Want to Break Free” blares as Moriarty steps off a helicopter, two stern looking body guards follow close behind him. The Governor greets Moriarty on the beach before, leading him inside. As they enters his office, Mycroft is waiting. A subtitle comes across the screen: CHRISTMAS DAY- FIVE YEARS AGO.

Later, Moriarty enters Eurus’ cell. “I’m your Christmas present,” he says. He looks over her coyly.“What’s mine?” Her response is simple, “Redbeard”.

Meanwhile, John wakes in a heap: Mycroft, Sherlock and the Governor hover around him. Sherlock says, “Eurus’ in control”. They look to the sky as the girl from the plane is connected over the loudspeaker. As she’s about to give her name, the connection cuts out and is replaced by Eurus’ voice. She pulls back a curtain, revealing the Governor’s wife tied to a chair. She says, “There’s a gun in the hatch… Pick Dr. Watson or Mycroft to kill the governor”.

There’s an increasing sense of urgency as Mycroft refuses to kill the Governor, even as the man pleads to die. Finally, Watson takes the gun. As he places his fingers on the trigger, he can’t do it either. Panic stricken, the Governor grabs the gun from Watson, killing himself instead. An overcome Mycroft runs to the corner, vomiting.

Meanwhile, Eurus smirks. “Because of your moral code, two people are dead now instead of one”. With that, she turns away from the camera, and kills the Governor’s wife.

The door opens, and the men are ushered into another room. There’s an envelope on the table, along with a gun taped to the ceiling. Eurus describes a murder, giving Sherlock a few facts. However, Sherlock must solve the murder based on pictures alone. The stakes escalate as the three suspects drop from ropes outside the window. John quickly approaches panic mode, until Sherlock condemns the right man. They watch in terror however, as all three drop into the sea.

Meanwhile, they wander into another room where a coffin sits on a table. As Sherlock struggles to keep up with his thoughts, Mycroft picks up the lid and reads the tag, “I Love You.” Suddenly, Sherlock remembers Molly. In fact, Eurus has rigged her flat to explode. The only way she’ll survive is if she’ll tell Sherlock “I love you”. However, as Sherlock calls her, Molly doesn’t answer her phone. She ignores the call, only answering after the second call. She’s antsy as Sherlock asks her to say the magic words. Unfortunately, Molly is fragile, and refuses to say it. As the emotion builds in her voice, she finally admits, “It’s true… I love you.”.

Another door opens; however, Sherlock is overcome with emotion and tears at the coffin. Once John is able to pull Sherlock together, they enter the next room. It’s empty. Eurus giddily announces that only two can play the next game. Who is Sherlock going to kill? Friend or family?

Mycroft desperately struggles to cover his panic as he assumes Watson will be the one to die. He looks to Sherlock, who’s visibly torn, “You were always the slow one… For once in your life do the right thing. Put this stupid little man out of all our misery… You’ll find another one”. However, Sherlock turns, pulling the gun on his brother. Mycroft recounts Moriarty’s visit to Eurus five years ago. He admits, this is all his fault. “Goodbye, brother mine”. Suddenly, Sherlock presses the gun to his own chin. However, Eurus panics, this isn’t how the game is supposed to progress. Suddenly a tranquilizer dart flies from the wall, knocking him out.

Sherlock wakes up to the voice of the young girl on the plane. He’s alone as he walks down a picture lined corridor; he directs her to the cockpit on the plane. In fact, they’ve been asleep for hours.

Watson wakes up, it turns out he can hear Sherlock. Looking around, he is chained to the floor in about two feet of water at the bottom of a well.

Sherlock suddenly realizes, he’s no longer on Sherrinford. He taps the wall, which immediately falls down. Looking around, he’s home.

Meanwhile, John struggles to stay above water as the well fills around him. Furthermore, the panic increases as the girl’s plane goes into a dive. Suddenly, John’s voice cuts through the tension. “Mycroft has been lying to you”. He discovered bones at the bottom of the well, and they aren’t those of a dog. Suddenly, Sherlock flashes back as he plays on the beach with a redheaded boy. “Victor Trevor”, Sherlock says, suddenly remembering everything. The children were friends, inseparable friends. They used to play pirates together. “I wanted to play too,” Eurus says.

Suddenly, Sherlock takes off running to the graveyard. The dates on the tombstones never made sense, even Mycroft mentioned that. Sherlock quickly realizes, the strange years are in fact part of a cypher.

Putting everything together, Sherlock runs up a staircase. Eurus kneels on the floor. It turns out, the girl on the plane was a manifestation of her intellect. She didn’t truly exist. In fact, Eurus just wanted to be close to her family again. Sherlock puts everything together before finally saying, “Help me save John Watson”.

Suddenly, Watson looks up as a bright light floods the well. He’s being rescued.

Watson and Sherlock watch as Eurus is loaded into a truck. Lestrade (Rupert Graves) informs them that in fact, Mycroft has been found. He wasn’t hurt, just locked in Euros’ old cell. As Lestrade leaves with an Officer, the young man looks to his superior. “Is that Sherlock Holmes?… He’s a great man.” Lestrade is contemplative as he responds, “He’s more than that, he’s a good one”.

Later, Sherlock slowly enters his sister’s cell. Bending down, he pulls his violin from the bag while Eurus sits in stoic silence. Suddenly, she pulls her violin from the cabinet. They’re silent as they play together, both siblings in perfect harmony. This is what Eurus desperately wanted.

Later, John calls Sherlock over as discovers another DVD. As they play it, Mary’s smiling face fills the screen. “Who you really are, it doesn’t matter. It’s all about the stories, the adventures. When life gets to strange…there’s always one last hope…. my Baker Street boys, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson”.

As the episode ends, Sherlock and Watson are back together, solving cases as friends. It is currently unknown if Sherlock will return, and scheduling will undoubtably be difficult due to Freeman and Cumberbatch’s busy schedules. However, with the way the series was left, it could definitely return. Here’s hoping it won’t be three years from now.

 

 

 

 

Kimberly Pierce
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