Inspector Lewis: Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things

Sorry this post is so late -- I was sidelined with a terrible sinus headache yesterday (yes, that is an awesome way to spend a DAY OFF, but I digress...).

Inspector Lewis began its long-awaited Series IV debut Sunday with the episode Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things. I absolutely loved this return to Lewis & Hathaway's world -- the series regulars were in fine form, there were a couple of great guest stars, and Hathaway was deliciously cranky and wore a trench coat for nearly the entire episode. The ENTIRE episode -- be still my heart. :) Here's the episode summary:

Luminary graduates from Oxford's last surviving all-female college are on campus to honor beloved professor Diana Ellerby (Juliet Stevenson, Place of Execution). There is the confident lingerie CEO, the provocative newspaper columnist — and then there's the passive aggressive Poppy Toynton. Poppy never quite blossomed intellectually like her peers. When Poppy is found dead on the stairs, her seething rage against her fellow graduates exposed, Lewis and Hathaway step into the esteemed circle of women to investigate. But Lewis is haunted by memories of 15-year-old Chloe Brooks, attacked at the college ten years earlier. Lewis's work on that case interrupted by the death of his wife, now his deepening obsession with it threatens to derail the Toynton investigation. Is it unresolved grief or detective's intuition? Lewis and Hathaway get a dizzying education in the scandals and secrets of Lady Matilda's College, as well as a lesson or two in feminism, as they untangle a new case and bring a far off one back into terrifying focus. Kevin Whately, Laurence Fox and Hattie Morahan (Sense and Sensibility) star in Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things.

Lady Matilda's, the last all-female college at Oxford, is readying itself for change -- there was a recent vote to open to male students, and one of the college's most famous professors, Diana Ellerby (Juliet Stevenson), is leaving for Princeton. A party celebrating Diana's accomplishments brings her best and brightest students back to Oxford, including Freya Carlisle (Zoe Telford), a newspaper columnist, and Lakshmi Eyre (Stephanie Street), a retail executive. On the fringes of this glittering circle are Poppy Toynton (Kathryn O'Reilly), whose inclusion in Diana's "circle of trust" has always baffled the more successful members, and Ruth Brooks (Hattie Morahan), a nurse whose career stalled when her sister was attacked and left comatose at an Oxford party ten years prior -- a case Lewis investigated, that coincided with his wife's hit-and-run related death. (I realize Ruth's character doesn't show up until the second party, but I'm trying to condense things here.) Past and present collide as Lewis discovers that this latest case will force him to revisit some of his pasts most painful memories.

I've always rather felt that Inspector Lewis's strongest episodes are those that delve into the pasts of our beloved main characters -- Lewis (Kevin Whately), Hathaway (Laurence Fox), Hobson (Clare Holman), etc. -- and provide some glimmers of insight into the events that made them into the team that exists on our TV screens today. It's been almost two years since we really revisited the shattering event of Lewis's loss of his wife -- her death informs so much of his character, especially the reticent man he was early on in the show that it would be easy to surmise that the writers have exhausted (or forgotten) the event entirely. Since discovering who was responsible for his wife's death in the Series II episode The Quality of Mercy, we've seen a gradually more relaxed (marginally -- he's still delightfully set in his ways) Lewis, open even to the previously unthinkable possibility of dating again. Forcing Lewis to revisit a place that he associates with his greatest heartbreak turned out to be a highly effective way of revealing how such pain never really goes away, and the scar can be ripped open when one least expects it.

Hathaway makes my world go 'round, when it comes to this show, and watching the friendship and trust grow and develop between Lewis and Hathaway is one of the show's greatest joys. Seriously, I could write an ODE to those moments (that would quickly fall apart into incoherent fangirl babbling, but it's the thought that counts, right?). This episode was just chock-full of Hathaway-related goodness. By far the highlight was witnessing his concern over Lewis's reaction to revisiting an unfinished case, circa the time of his wife's death. Fox doesn't have to say much -- his character really is a man of very few words -- so the acting is all in the eyes and expressions and movement. Subtle but powerfully done.

It was particularly interesting to see Hathaway react to the re-entry of Lewis's former DS, Ali McLennon (Saskia Reeves). McLennon retired early and was apparently convinced that there was nothing left to investigate in Lewis's old case involving the Brooks sisters. Lewis can't shake the feeling there's more to the story, but for some INEXPLICABLE REASON (male stupidity? :P) seems really into the idea of reconnecting with Ali, who has apparently harbored a thing for him all these years. This brings up a couple of discussion points -- 1) Whatever happened to the burgeoning romance between Lewis and Hobson last year (in Your Sudden Death Question they're planning a weekend getaway, and in Falling Darkness Lewis gets all hot & bothered over Laura's past -- jealous much)? I did think their romance was progressing a tad fast, but if the showrunners' idea of back-pedaling is pretend that least season never happened, that doesn't work for me, either.

And 2) Seriously, how adorable was it watching Hathaway SEETHE WITH REPRESSED JEALOUSY when Lewis is (stupidly) WAY more interested in listening to his former DS than him, even going so far as to take her out for PINTS! I could just hear Hathaway mentally ranting -- "What ON EARTH are you taking that SKANKY FORMER COP out for PINTS FOR?!?! GOING FOR PINTS & DISCUSSING CASES IS OUR THING!!!!!!!" :) And despite the distinct LACK of Lewis appreciation for his loyalty, he goes ABOVE & BEYOND (read: sleepless) creating timeline boards for ten-year old cases, all in the name of supporting his BFF Lewis. I love these guys. :)

A couple of quick casting notes -- Zoe Telford as Freya may be a familiar face to Mystery fans, as she's appeared in episodes of Poirot and Foyle's War, and perhaps most notably as Watson's love interest Sarah in Sherlock. Juliet Stevenson (Diana Ellerby) is a period film veteran. Stevenson memorably portrayed Mrs. Elton in the 1996 Emma, and in the 2002 Nicholas Nickelby she proved just how adept she could be at playing creepy/crazy people. *wink* I am hard-pressed to think of an actress better suited to hide a whole lotta crazy beneath an icy veneer of respectability. Seriously, watching Stevenson fish around for a ten-year-old corpse is over-the-top, but it's the kind of melodrama amidst the ivy-drenched Oxford halls that makes this show so much fun. Casting-wise the best surprise of this episode was, for me, Hattie Morahan's appearance as Ruth Brooks, one of Diana's most promising students whose future was irrevocably altered by the horrifying attack on her sister. Morahan is perhaps best-recognized thanks to her appearance as Elinor Dashwood in the 2008 miniseries version of Sense & Sensibility -- and for my money this is her best TV appearance since that role. She brings the perfect balance of strength & vulnerability to Ruth's character (plus she has this awesome NAME!! HA!!), AND she gets to be on the receiving end of Hathaway's multi-tasking matchmaking AWESOMENESS -- so yeah, on the last point alone, EXCELLENT subplot there.

Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things was an excellent start to the newest slate of Inspector Lewis episodes. My boys Lewis and Hathaway are in fine form, and if this episode is any indication we're in for a real treat over the next few weeks. If you watched the episode I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Update 9/14/11: Read my DVD files update for this episode!

Sherlock: The Great Game

What do you get when a high-functioning sociopath meets a psychopath? Quite simply the most brilliant, gripping ninety minutes of television I’ve seen all year. Maybe ever. I’m still trying to decide. Masterpiece Mystery ended its 2010 season on an unbelievably high note with The Great Game, the final episode of Sherlock’s first season. You know, everything I’ve said about the first two episodes of Sherlock, about how much I absolutely fell head over heels for the show within the first five minutes of episode one, EVERYTHING pales in comparison with how brilliant The Great Game plays out. I absolutely adored every single second. Here’s the story summary from the PBS website:

Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Last Enemy) is bored. And he's not just staring at the wall, he's shooting at it. London is quiet and peaceful, and for Holmes, that is nothing short of maddening. An explosion rocks Holmes and Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman, The Office UK) out of their doldrums and into a series of deadly puzzles conceived by a brilliant bomber. It starts with a pair of shoes left in the center of an empty room — shoes connected to a case that caught Holmes's interest twenty years ago as a boy. Soon a blood-soaked car, a television star and a recovered classic painting figure into an ever-widening cat-and-mouse game. As fast as Holmes can deduce answers, more cryptic clues arrive from his intelligent and violent adversary. After many surreal twists and turns, the outcome of the game may be uncertain, but for once, Sherlock has found a worthy opponent. Sherlock is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and is co-created by Doctor Who producers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. (One episode; 90 minutes, TV-PG)

Massive spoiler-y discussion from this point on…

In keeping with this show’s tradition, The Great Game drew inspiration for its plot from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Holmes stories. This time the scriptwriter (and the show’s Mycroft) Mark Gatiss incorporated elements of “The Bruce-Partington Plans” and “The Five Orange Pips.” Sherlock has never been about making a straight translation of Doyle’s Victorian-era detective into the modern age, and I love that – rather, they incorporate enough canonical elements and “Easter eggs” for fans of Doyle’s work that makes the show both a tribute and a fantastical reinvention of Holmes. And always, always dancing in the background, just out of view until now is Sherlock’s nemesis, the master criminal Moriarty.

But before I delve into a discussion of the more serious, gripping elements of The Great Game, I want to talk for a moment about the developing Sherlock/Watson dynamic and the show’s wonderful, intelligent, ever-present humor. When this episode opens, Sherlock is bored – and as anyone who’s a fan of the great detective knows, that is the one state of being that he absolutely cannot tolerate. So of course he shoots a smiley face in the living room wall – makes perfect sense, right? *grin* Watson has also begun to chronicle life with Sherlock on his blog – now that he has such an interesting roommate his life positively overflows with blog-worthy happenings. The little discussion Sherlock and Watson have about Watson’s humble efforts to chronicle Sherlock’s cases (the first being “A Study in Pink”) was HILARIOUS. Cumberbatch skates a fine line between letting us think that Sherlock is just the teensiest bit flattered by Watson’s blog (though he’d DIE before admitting it) and annoyed that Watson’s revealing his elementary school knowledge shortcomings to the world (especially to those “lesser minds” at the police department – Lestrade’s reaction is particularly memorable). As Watson and Sherlock spar back-and-forth, Sherlock actually starts sulking. Watching Cumberbatch actually pout, and curl up on the sofa in a fetal position (as if that was going to get to Watson) was priceless. Sherlock and Watson really are like an old married couple, aren’t they? Freeman and Cumberbatch’s on-screen buddy chemistry is priceless. With their casting the filmmakers really caught lightning in a bottle – they are the ideal duo.

Soon Sherlock has two seemingly unrelated cases thrown his way – Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) returns in all his snarky glory to recruit Sherlock to go to bat for queen & country and retrieve the Bruce-Partington missile plans. Sherlock’s not really interested in that case, especially when “something new” appears – a bomber blows up the building across from 221B, leaving a message addressed to Sherlock. It’s a phone, retrofitted to resemble the pink phone that was so critical in the Pink case, that this anonymous bomber uses to contact Sherlock with his sick, twisted “challenges.” Sherlock’s given a cryptic clue, and if he doesn’t solve the case in the prescribed amount of time, the clock will run out for an innocent victim who’s wired to explode. At first Sherlock relishes the challenges. This unknown adversary is the “something new” he’s been craving, an opponent worthy of figuratively crossing blades with the world’s only consulting detective.

And this is where things really get interesting for me. Sherlock is such a prickly character, almost inhuman with his focus on facts, that he can be incredibly off-putting (personally, his anti-social tendencies are just one of things I love about him, but that’s just me). Until Watson appears in his life, he’s really without a human sound-board or moral compass – Watson sees the humanity that Sherlock is too – cerebral, if you will, to deign to recognize. At first Sherlock’s unseen opponent follows a pattern and appears to be playing by a set of rules – so when Sherlock handily solves the first two cases, he gets a little cocky. When the third case, involving an elderly blind woman used as bait, doesn’t follow the script, lives are lost, and though he doesn’t come out and admit it, I felt like Cumberbatch lets this little glimmer, a crack of humanity show through Sherlock’s demeanor. He may be intolerably full of himself, but he isn’t so callous that he doesn’t care when innocents die.

I don’t think I’ve ever anticipated or relished the reveal and first confrontation between a villain and hero as much as I have looked forward to Sherlock and Moriarty meeting face-to-face. Actor Andrew Scott plays Moriarty, the world’s foremost consulting criminal. Scott is not an entirely unfamiliar face – he appeared in an episode of Band of Brothers as well as Foyle’s War, and fans of the Beatles will get to see him play Paul McCartney in Lennon Naked when that airs on Masterpiece Contemporary. Scott is without a doubt in my mind the scariest Moriarty I've ever seen on film. The man isn’t just a criminal mastermind, he’s an outright terrorist. And seriously, all that aside is there anything creepier than a bad guy with a ridiculous sing-song voice?! *shivers* Now, unfortunately I can’t remember where I read this – I think it was an interview with Mark Gatiss – but I seem to recall Gatiss addressing the show’s depiction of Moriarty. They wanted Sherlock’s nemesis to be truly evil, to really give Sherlock the chance to be heroic. I love that.

One might wonder if that implies plans to “humanize” Sherlock, to really change the essence of the character into perhaps a more "traditional" hero. After viewing The Great Game I would say no – that most definitely isn’t necessary and I don't think that will happen. The Sherlock that Cumberbatch brings so brilliantly to life can still be an accurate and faithful reflection of Doyle’s creation while perhaps also being a hero in the more epic sense of the term, in that his adversary is incalculably evil and is capable of extracting great personal loss from Sherlock’s life. As Mycroft comments at the end of A Study in Pink, Watson could be the making of Sherlock. I think we see the beginnings of that in The Great Game. Sherlock’s friendship with Watson has widened the scope of his understanding, tapped into his humanity, reminds him of the personal toll to the cases his mind takes such intellectual delight in (though I’m sure he’d rather DIE of boredom than admit any of this, LOL!). Moriarty is Sherlock’s equal in each and every way, an adversary worthy of the detective’s great powers, but because he’s so good at being evil, it will require Sherlock to up his game.

Freeman and Cumberbatch are fabulous in the confrontation scene at the pool. For a show that’s only been around for three episodes, their unspoken communication during the final scenes is superb. I have to say Sherlock and Watson are truly equal partners in this incarnation of their story – any weakness or lack in one is more than compensated for by a strength or insight found in the other, and vice-versa. I adore their friendship. When Watson first appears at the pool, and Sherlock sees the bomb strapped to his friend, there’s a beat, a flash where you realize that he never saw the confrontation taking this route (possibly he wonders for a split second if Watson is Moriarty?), possibly exacting this cost. But of course, Sherlock being Sherlock, he carries on, his equilibrium barely rattled. And when Watson heroically grabs Moriarty in an ultimately fruitless effort to save Sherlock, I cheered. They may fight and bicker and not understand each other’s point of view most of the time, but when it comes down to what really matters, they’re willing to sacrifice for each other.

Some random notes:

• Loved it when Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs) comforts Sherlock by assuring him that a “nice murder” will come along to shake him out of the doldrums – and then a few minutes later is taking him to task for shooting up her wall.

• LOVED that Sarah (Zoe Telford) is playing a bit hard to get with Watson. Making him sleep on the sofa was a nice touch. The two of them are really an adorable couple.

• Rupert Graves is simply brilliant as Lestrade. He’s weary and run ragged, but he recognizes Sherlock’s genius and value and is willing to make allowances for him (and to put up with a great deal of ribbing for doing so). The fact that he devours Watson’s blog posts – priceless! He needs to appear in every episode of series 2!

• So Sherlock’s legendary “Baker Street Irregulars” are a network of homeless informants? Interesting modern-day twist. Enjoyed seeing Jeany Spark appear very briefly as this “face” of this group in The Great Game.

• Regarding the “Golem” hitman who committed the fourth murder – the “Golem” angle rang a very faint bell in my mind, so I googled Golem and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this morning. Apparently Doyle wrote a short story featuring the Golem legend, which you can read here. You can also read a bit about the Golem/Doyle connection here. Yet again another sign of how well Gatiss and Moffatt know and respect their source material.

• I totally called Jim, the hapless coroner’s boyfriend from IT, as being a Moriarty henchman, or the man himself. There was no WAY that scene was stuck in the script as just a throwaway example of Sherlock’s powers of observation and his tendency towards rudeness.

• The music for this series is spectacular! Composers David Arnold and Michael Price have simply outdone themselves! I desperately want a full soundtrack album, but since I can’t seem to find that one is available, this will have to do. You can download the theme here through Amazon.

• I thought it was absolutely hilarious when, after the case involving the reality TV star, Holmes gets hooked on reality TV. Freeman's delivery of the line "I knew it was a mistake to get you hooked on crap telly" was pitch-perfect and priceless!

The cliffhanger moment of this season was evil, diabolical, and mean, while simultaneously brilliant and ingenious. That, my friends, is a difficult feat to pull off. Normally I do NOT tolerate cliffhangers well, but this one is done so well, so brilliantly, that honestly there is a part of me that doesn’t mind waiting A WHOLE FREAKING YEAR for series two. Though Sherlock only gave us three episodes, they were unforgettable and brilliant and amazing and fulfilling, cliffhangers aside. Truly for me this was the television event of the year, and I’ll be savoring and pouring over these productions many times in the months to come, seeking any small, delightful detail or character insight that I may have missed.

• Check out Vic’s thoughts on The Great Game at Jane Austen’s World.
• Read my review of A Study in Pink.
• Read my review of The Blind Banker.

Now, on to some news about SEASON TWO!!! When I started contemplating season two after recovering somewhat from The Great Game, my first wish was that Irene Adler make an appearance. We just can't have a Sherlock as brilliant as Benedict Cumberbatch portrays him without bringing Irene into the picture. My mother and I also discussed what we thought might be the Reichenbach Falls moment in this series. In messing around on Google looking for photos for this post, I came across this link. Are you ready for three clues dropped by showrunner Steven Moffat for series two?

READY YET?!


Okay, if you insist:

1. Adler (YES!!!!)
2. Hound
3. Reichenbach

Yes, yes, YES!!!! Be still my heart...the wait till season two is gonna be even tougher... ;-)

Sherlock: The Blind Banker

Yesterday Sherlock continued on Masterpiece Mystery with a brand-new episode, entitled The Blind Banker. This story was loosely (VERY loosely) based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Holmes short story “The Dancing Men.” While story-wise I don’t feel that this episode is quite as strong as last week’s A Study in Pink, it was nevertheless a wildly enjoyable showcase for the developing Holmes-Watson dynamic. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman continue to shine as Holmes and Watson – their casting was a stroke of genius and their on-screen dynamic is electrifying.

Here’s the story summary for The Blind Banker from the PBS website:

Turns out that living with a genius isn't so easy — just ask Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman, The Office UK). Watson is scrambling to do the errands and find a job while Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Last Enemy) sits around, apparently in deep contemplation. Sherlock seems oblivious, and in no hurry to take a case. When there's been a break-in at a bank, Sherlock inexplicably springs into action. Nothing has been stolen, only indecipherable graffiti painted on a wall. A bank employee is soon found dead in his apartment, the windows and doors locked from the inside, and Sherlock is at full, frenetic attention. An exhausted and hungry Watson (Sherlock doesn't eat while on a case — it just slows him down) watches from the sidelines of a case of which he'll soon inexplicably find himself at the center. Sherlock is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and is co-created by Doctor Who producers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. (One episode; 90 minutes, TV-PG)

Spoilers...

The opening moments of this episode were so funny I was nearly in tears from laughing so hard. Apparently some time has passed since Watson has become Holmes’s roommate at 221B Baker St. He needs to generate some income so he’s trying to find work and run errands, because someone has to keep the household going since Sherlock apparently can’t be bothered. After all, the man sits at home all day thinking – or so Watson assumes. While the good doctor is engaging in verbal warfare with a self-checkout machine* at a grocery store, Sherlock is fending off sword-wielding assailants in their living room. When Watson returns to the apartment after the final insult (his debit card is denied), his absolute disgust and exasperation with Sherlock’s apparent laziness is practically palpable. And of course the fact that Sherlock would apparently rather die than admit what he’d been doing to his roommate only adds to the humor of the scene.

*This is probably a really dumb observation, but for some reason it never crossed my mind that self-checkout machines exist in other parts of the world. It is somewhat gratifying to realize that the British have equal opportunities to get annoyed by the whole “unauthorized item in the bagging area” spiel like me.

The crime in question concerns a mysterious break-in at a major London bank. Sherlock is called to investigate when he receives an e-mail from an old acquaintance he went to university with, Seb Wilkes (Bertie Carvel). Witnessing Sherlock’s interaction with Wilkes was quite enjoyable – Wilkes keeps trying to bait Sherlock by mocking his powers of observation, and Sherlock shows a great deal of restraint by not rising to the occasion. He’s intrigued enough by the crime, where there’s no sign of a break-in and only graffiti is left behind, to overlook lesser men attempting to insult his intelligence. The result of this was a nice moment where Watson gets to show how much he’s learned about his new friend by recognizing Sherlock’s restraint in not tearing Wilkes to intellectual shreds.

As I mentioned earlier, this story was loosely inspired by Doyle’s short story, “The Dancing Men.” It’s been a while since I’ve read the story or watched the episode Jeremy Brett filmed during his long run as Holmes, so forgive me if my memory of specifics is a bit hazy. Showrunners Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat used “Dancing Men” as a jumping off point to craft a fast-paced mystery where unintelligible ciphers are the only clues that bind together a series of seemingly unrelated murders. Both the “dancing men” and the yellow spray-painted symbols incite the same level of terror in their recipients, and the crux of both tales can be traced back to shady underworld organizations. Other than that, the two stories couldn’t be more different (but, I’d say, equally enjoyable).

In the case of The Blind Banker, the shady underworld organization dirtying up London with yellow graffiti is a Chinese smuggling ring called the Black Lotus. Now, I can’t for the life of me place it, but as the whole Black Lotus angle played out, I felt like I’d seen it before – everything seemed super familiar. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the Chinese underground angle gave the episode a “throwback” feel to the Brett/Holmes-era. I seem to recall more than one occasion where Holmes met some interesting characters when frequenting the Chinatown sections of London when on a case or in order to indulge his opium addiction.

One of the three targets of the Black Lotus organization is Soo Lin Yao (Gemma Chan), a curator at the National Antiquities Museum who lives above the Lucky Cat Emporium – the destination of the other two targets of the ciphers who turned up dead. I’d completely forgotten this until I looked up Chan on the IMDB, but she was in the Doctor Who special The Waters of Mars earlier this year. Anyway, I was not entirely happy with the way Soo Lin’s story ends. It is revealed that she was an unwilling participant in the Black Lotus’s smuggling operations, and thought she’d left that part of her past behind her for good. But the Black Lotus is after a priceless missing treasure, and Soo Lin is viewed as one of their assets. When she refuses to cooperate, her own brother is sent to kill her (and he obliges quite dispassionately). However, what rather upset me was that crack-shot Watson leaves her ALONE in the museum to go “help” Sherlock, which means both he & Sherlock were running around rather pointlessly, leaving Soo Lin unprotected. *sigh* Hopefully Watson will learn from this episode!

Another reason this felt like a throwback episode was the fact that the members of the Black Lotus gained entry visas into Britain by posing as members of a traveling circus troupe. It worked in the long run, but it was so over-the-top it almost felt a little funny. I mean it’s obviously a set-up when the performance is attended by 20 people at best. The circus turns out to be the scene of Watson’s first date with his boss at the medical clinic where he’s agreed to work part-time. Sarah, played by Zoe Telford, was overall a welcome addition to the cast, and she gets points for being game for anything and putting up with Watson’s unorthodox friends. *grin* Telford may be a familiar face to some – she’s appeared in Foyle’s War (the Killing Time episode) and Collision (from Masterpiece Contemporary). Only time will tell if Sarah ends up being a permanent love interest for Watson, but Telford and Freeman have great on-screen chemistry, and so far I really like her character. And I LOVE how she doesn’t let the fact that Sherlock appears to barely tolerate her association with Watson put her off, AND she gets to one-up the great detective by pointing out that Soo Lin had left him critical translation clues prior to her death. (I also loved the moment when Mrs. Hudson, played by Una Stubbs, makes a brief appearance and tries to help Watson salvage his date prior to the kidnapping – she’s so funny, and obviously has a soft spot for the long-suffering Watson.) Sarah’s presence was a welcome and funny shake-up to Sherlock’s equilibrium and plans, but doesn’t let anything put him off either – he barrels on with his agenda in spite of the fact that his presence proves to be anything but conducive to Watson’s romantic ambitions toward Sarah. Poor Sherlock…his rudeness can be quite the killjoy when he’s the unexpected “fifth wheel” on the date.

This episode culminates in a scene that’s both edge-of-your-seat suspenseful and just a tad cheesy in its over-the-top glory when Watson and Sarah are kidnapped by a Black Lotus flunkie and taken to a secret location to meet group’s “general.” They are operating under the mistaken assumption that Watson is actually Holmes (set up thanks to a series of comic moments throughout the film), and that they can scare him into revealing the location of their missing treasure by threatening Sarah’s life. This being a Holmes story, Sherlock arrives in the nick of time (and rather full of himself I might add!) to save the day, but Watson gets to save the girl. In spite of the fact that his rescue was rather contrived (Sarah could probably have saved herself if she’d thought to tip the chair she was tied to over on its side), it was a very welcome moment. It underscores the reality that this Watson is no dense sidekick; as played by Freeman, Watson is vibrant, active, and intelligent – and rather cheeky as he promises Sarah their second date won’t involve near-death experiences. Like me, he must’ve been able to sense that Sarah has a remarkably high tolerance for the bizarre in everyday life. *grin*

I have to come back to Holmes & Watson’s relationship in this episode (I’d say excuse my blathering on and on and ON about this show, but ya’ll should be used to my inability to be concise, especially when it comes to British TV *wink*). The mystery was fun – big and over-the-top and convoluted – but the heart of the episode was seeing how well Holmes and Watson work together. I’m having a hard time coming up with a comparable on-screen duo who jelled so well and so fast. The closest I’m coming up with are Peter and Neal from White Collar. Gatiss and Moffatt have crafted an electrifying version of Holmes and Watson, and it is a credit to their writing and to their luck in finding two actors in Cumberbatch and Freeman with great on-screen “buddy” chemistry to bring Holmes and Watson to vibrant life. The weaknesses in one are more than compensated for by the strengths in the other, and vice-versa, underscored by mutual support and a genuine regard that’s apparent in the Holmes and Watson relationship in spite of their near-constant bickering.

I fell so hard, so fast for Cumberbatch as Sherlock that I didn’t see how it would be possible to love him more – but The Blind Banker proved me wrong. Cumberbatch unleashes the full range of Sherlock’s moods, and his fits of manic energy and sulkiness and humor are all on glorious display. From hopping up and down in the bank, trying to find the best angle from which to view the first cipher, to refusing to admit to Watson that he was nearly strangled by an assassin in Soo Lin’s apartment, Sherlock is never so riveting as when he’s fully focused on a case and refuses to let anything get in his way. (Like admitting he could do with a bit of help, LOL!) And when he turns on the charm – be still my heart!* You know he’s being manipulative, but like the poor coroner who melts when Sherlock compliments her hair in order to get a look at two murder victims, we just don’t care because he’s THAT fabulous. While he may come across as a bit selfish, like when he crashes Watson’s “date,” Cumberbatch never fails to make sure that Sherlock skates the delicate balance between haughty brilliance and empathy. When one gains entrance to Sherlock’s inner circle, you get the feeling that there’s nothing he won’t do to protect a friend – and I LOVE that.

*Fun fact: I discovered that Cumberbatch's real-life girlfriend Olivia Poulet guest-starred in this episode as Amanda, the first victim's mistress. When Sherlock reveals that the longed-for treasure was in her possession, and it was worth a cool nine million pounds, the look of sheer delight on his face at Amanda's reaction rather means a little more to me knowing the two are in a relationship. One gets the sense Cumberbatch really got a kick out of playing that scene. *wink*

I can’t believe that next week’s episode is the finale of this season of Sherlock! Thankfully, the BBC has confirmed that the show is returning for three more episodes in fall 2011. This is one hiatus that is definitely going to try my patience! Next week we should see the return of Lestrade (Rupert Graves) and Mycroft (Gatiss), both of whom I found I sorely missed during this episode. Moriarty, the shadowy villain and “fan” of Sherlock’s, who has been lurking in the shadows for the past two weeks, may finally be revealed. People, I don’t think I’ve ever anticipated the reveal of a villain more – this Moriarty promises to be a properly threatening criminal mastermind, and I can’t WAIT for him to clash wits with Sherlock.

Believe it or not, I could continue to sing the praises of this wonderful show (I could write paragraphs about the gorgeous score, for example!), but I’ll stop here (for now…haha!!). If you haven’t been watching Sherlock, well what are you waiting for? PBS is streaming The Blind Banker online through December 7th. And then please come back and feel free to share your thoughts! :)

• Check out Vic’s thoughts on The Blind Banker at Jane Austen’s World.