Review: Sherlock 2.1: A Scandal In Belgravia

Sherlock refuses to dress. Even for royalty.

Based on "A Scandal In Bohemia", the first episode of this new series of Steven Moffat's adaptation took a very different tone than that of the first series over 18 months ago. Its source material, one of the earliest of Conan-Doyle's tales, is one of the only stories that show the title character as showing any interest in the opposite sex. Suffice to say that Moffat's script does not disappoint in its powerful and yet incredibly clever take on the classic mystery.

  Following directly on from the black-out cliffhanger of The Great Game, Sherlock and John escape the scenario troubling them and get back to detective work, which leads John's blog on the path to becoming an internet sensation. Sherlock is drafted, by his brother Mycroft (co-producer Mark Gattis) and the Royal Family into investigating one Irene Adler (Lara Pulver), a dominatrix going by the codename, "The Woman" who uses photos of her high-profile clients to blackmail herself into powerful positions. They immediately dispense with any attempts at disguise and Sherlock slowly works out where she's hiding her privvy information - on a camera-phone also locked by a four-digit code.
      After an attack by a group of Americans, Sherlock is drugged and wakes up with his phone personally stylised by Alder to respond to her texts. Over Christmas she flirts with him by phone, until he is called in to find a body that he can identify as hers. This troubles him immensely, but John soon finds that Irene has falsified her death; Sherlock soon finds out as well. Before he can react, he arrives home to find his flat accosted by the same American units, whom he beats up and hands over to the police. Irene turns up again, and lets Sherlock look at the privvy information - a code written in a private email from the MoD. He uses the code to realise that a plane will explode the next day, and that the Government is prepared to let it happen.

The seductive Irene Adler

     Irene sends this information to Moriarty, who then taunts Mycroft. Sherlock is invited to the plane and finds the seats already filled with corpses; Mycroft arrives and reveals that the plane was designed to explode without any loss of life, and that Sherlock has inadvertantly told the terrorist cell in question about the entire plan. Irene arrives to barter terms; she is prepared to blackmail the entire government if her demands aren't met. Sherlock, feeling humiliated, then realises the code - his own name, because Adler is in love with him. Mycroft arrives some time later to reveal to John that Irene has been executed in the Middle-East, but we see that Sherlock already saved her life.
     The episode revolves principally around the relationship between Adler and Sherlock, and the fact that Sherlock may or may not have feelings for her. Lara Pulver was the perfect choice, in my opinion - she looks similar to Cumberbatch facially, and she was able to grab the dominatrix persona effortlessly. Her character threatens at time to rob the story, but as always Moffat specialises in characters just like Sherlock and so his inner turmoil is perfectly demonstrated, with Cumberbatch's mannerisms cementing it. I also thought that Mark Gattis was used very well in this story; in his inital appearances in the first series he often became something of a parody, but here Gattis is as sly and as manipulative as his fictional brother.
      I'm still not quite used to stories that last one and a half hours, but it gives the story a guessless quality that felt perfectly. The story kept twisting and turning, and the unusual length allows that to happen without it becoming silly. The beauty of Moffat's script was that I was still guessing until the end. The attitude of contant and total mystery and manipulation of the truth that so plagues his Doctor Who offerings is suited almost too well to this genre, and that's what, at least for me, makes it so enjoyable.

The boys are back in action.

      Irene Adler was an excellent contribution to Sherlock's modern day exploits, and A Scandal In Belgravia was a brilliant start to a new series. It was tense, action-packed and yet intelligent as hell, all the while mixing a clever mystery with brilliant characterisation that leaped from the screen. Possibly the best episode yet, Scandal makes me look forward to this series immensely.

Thanks.