Sherlock: Three Questions for Season 4’s Second Episode
By Lacy Baugher
The Sherlock Season 4 premiere was dramatic and shocking. But where do we go from here? Here are three questions we have about what’s coming next.
The Sherlock Season 4 premiere featured several major events that will impact the show going forward forever. Relationships changed, someone died – and we even got a few answers to some of the lingering questions from last season. (But, of course, not the one we really wanted. They are going to tell us the truth about the Moriarty thing at some point, yes?)
As per usual with Sherlock, we know very little about Season 4’s upcoming second episode, entitled “The Lying Detective”. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of things we want to know. Let’s take a look at three big questions we have moving forward.
Where do Sherlock and John go from here?
Rightly or wrongly, John blames Sherlock for his wife Mary’s death. He’s furious and his anger has finally caused a real rift in their friendship. (Despite the fact that it has previously survived repeated lies, drugging and a multi-year faked death.) John doesn’t want to see him, they’re not speaking, and Sherlock doesn’t know what to do.
Mary’s death theoretically gets us back to the basics of Sherlock: Our two main characters solving mysteries in Baker Street. But if they’re not even talking to each other, how does that happen? How do they even work together after this? (Do they still work together?)
This is probably the real biggest mystery of Season 4. How are two incredibly codependent, but emotionally stunted men going to manage to become BFFs again? Who’s going to apologize or admit they were wrong? (We’ve already seen that Sherlock is awful at this.) And there are only two episodes left in this season, so we don’t have a lot of time for them to fix things. How will they get there?
Who is Culverton Smith?
Toby Jones officially joins the Sherlock cast this week, playing Season 4’s big villain, Culverton Smith. Speaking about the new season back at San Diego Comic Con, Steven Moffat called the character “the purest evil” and “the darkest villain we’ve had”. So, no pressure, dude. You’ve only got to follow Moriarty and a guy who used to lick people’s faces for fun.
“The Lying Detective” will theoretically be based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story “The Dying Detective”. The original tale involves Sherlock Holmes faking a terminal illness to solve a crime. Given that Sherlock episodes are generally based very loosely on the original stories, the television adaptation of this particular mystery may or may not look anything like this. (Basically “The Six Thatchers” resembles “The Six Napoleons” only in so much that the TV version also featured busts of a historical figure with a hidden item inside.)
We know very little information on Jones’ role beyond the fact that he is playing Smith. And the trailers feature a lot of shots of him doing an exceptionally dramatic maniacal laugh. Will he be as worthy an opponent as Moriarty? Could he be behind the Moriarty mystery we still don’t know the answer to? Anything is possible!
Will we ever find out what was up with the Moriarty video?
The big cliffhanger from Sherlock Season 3 involved a video of Sherlock’s (dead) arch-nemesis Moriarty broadcast all over London. Sherlock actually came back from exile and received a pardon for murder just so he could figure out what was going on with all that. And as yet, we still know nothing. “The Six Thatchers” teased the Moriarty mystery several times, only to fake us out repeatedly. Will “The Lying Detective” give us some answers? Maybe. Maybe not. It could be a trick from new baddie Culverton Smith. Or it might be nothing at all. Sherlock doesn’t exactly have the greatest track record for cliffhanger follow-through. So they might never tell us at all. (It wouldn’t be the first time.)
Next: The Definitive Ranking of Every Sherlock Episode (So Far)
Sherlock continues on January 8 on PBS.