'The Final Problem' is the third episode of the fourth series of the British television series Sherlock and the thirteenth episode overall. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One, PBS, Channel One^[1][2] and 1+1^[3] on 15 January 2017.

A dark secret in the Holmes family rears its head with a vengeance, putting Sherlock and friends through a series of sick, manipulative psychological and potentially fatal games. « Season 3 Season 4. The acting was incredible, even the smaller parts with continuing characters) and we love you, but Season 4 does not leave us as completely devoted and connected to a modern-day 'consulting detective' who was our favorite sociopath and his Dr. However, I will always BELIEVE in Sherlock Holmes.

The Netflix film Enola Holmes, which is based on The Enola Holmes Mysteries novels by Nancy Springer, explores the idea of Sherlock Holmes having a sister far better than Sherlock season 4 did. While Sherlock’s only sibling was his older brother Mycroft in the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (which included four. Sherlock: Created by Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat. With Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Rupert Graves. A modern update finds the famous sleuth and his doctor partner solving crime in 21st century London. 'The Lying Detective' is the second episode of the fourth series of the British television series Sherlock and the twelfth episode overall. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC First, PBS and Channel One 1 2 on 8 January 2017.

Plot[edit]

A panic-stricken little girl wakes up on an aeroplane and finds everybody asleep. She picks a mobile phone up and hears Jim Moriarty announce 'Welcome to the final problem'.

Mycroft Holmes is at home, where Sherlock and Watson disable his home security to trick him into revealing that his sister, Eurus, exists. At 221B Baker Street, Mycroft explains that Eurus was an era-defining genius on a par with Isaac Newton, with abilities far greater than Sherlock's and Mycroft's, coupled with a total lack of normal sensation and emotion. Mycroft reveals that their parents sent Eurus to a mental institution after she kidnapped and drowned Sherlock's dog Redbeard, and after she burned their home down. Mycroft withheld this from Sherlock because Eurus had psychologically traumatized him as a child, taunting him with an enigmatic song, and leading ultimately to Mycroft having his memories 'rewritten', he'd also been lying to their parents about Eurus not surviving the blaze she had set. An adult Mycroft then sent her to a Government 'Black site' and maximum-security facility a quote 'Prison within a prison', in the North Sea, Sherrinford, unknown to anyone outside very high ranking government officials and only on a need to know basis. When Mycroft insists that she is secured, a quadcopter carrying a motion-activated grenade flies into Sherlock's flat. John, Sherlock, and Mycroft flee as the bomb detonates, blasting Holmes and Watson out of the windows.

Later, John and Sherlock hijack a fishing trawler to travel to Sherrinford, carrying out a diversionary plan so that Sherlock can reach Eurus' cell. Mycroft and John corner the prison governor, discovering that he has explicitly disobeyed Mycroft's protocol and has allowed Eurus to interact with prison staff. Using her skill to 'reprogram' everyone she speaks with, Eurus has effectively taken full control of the prison. Meanwhile, Sherlock talks to Eurus, but she attacks him and knocks him unconscious. The guards lock Sherlock, John, Mycroft, and the governor together in Eurus's old cell.

Mycroft reveals that five years before, he granted Eurus an unsupervised interview with Moriarty as a Christmas present in exchange for detecting national security threats to Britain. During that time, Moriarty agreed to record video messages for her. After forcing the governor to commit suicide, Eurus torments Sherlock, Mycroft and Watson in a series of psychological ordeals, forcing Sherlock into sinister games to save their lives while videos of Moriarty heckle him. Although Eurus forces Sherlock onward with the prospect of saving the girl on the aeroplane, he eventually stops the games by threatening to shoot himself when she orders him to shoot either John or Mycroft. Furious, Eurus uses tranquilliser darts on the three of them.

Sherlock wakes up near the burnt-out wreckage of his family's old house. He speaks to the girl in the aeroplane to try to guide her in landing safely. John wakes up chained at the bottom of a well. As Eurus raises the water level in the well, John finds a human skull there, and Sherlock realizes that what he thought was his dog Redbeard was in fact his childhood friend, Victor Trevor. Eurus threw him into the well and left him for dead because she felt left out of Sherlock's attention as a child. Sherlock then deciphers the real meaning of the song that Eurus originally taunted him with when Victor went missing, which reveals that she wants him to find her. Sherlock deduces that the girl in the plane is actually Eurus's mental metaphor and that the game has been a cry for help. With Eurus' puzzle solved, Sherlock is able to send her back to Sherrinford after rescuing John.

Mycroft explains to his and Sherlock's parents, who are angry that they had been told that Eurus was dead, that she refuses to speak to people anymore. Sherlock visits her and they play the violin together, giving performances for their parents and Mycroft. While helping Sherlock repair his destroyed flat, John receives a video sent by Mary before she died, encouraging him to continue working with Sherlock.

Sources[edit]

The title of the episode is a reference to 'The Final Problem' (1893).^[4] The episode was partially based on 'The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual' (1893), which it directly references.^[4][5] Watson's mention of the east wind and the name of Eurus Holmes are a reference to 'His Last Bow' (1917), where Holmes says, 'There's an east wind coming, Watson.' The three Garrideb brothers seen in a puzzle sequence are an adaptation of 'The Adventure of the Three Garridebs' (1924).^[4] The character Victor Trevor is a reference to 'The Adventure of the Gloria Scott' (1893), where he appears as Holmes' first ever close friend, albeit in university rather than in childhood.^[4] Jim Moriarty's brother is mentioned as a broadcast station master, a reference to The Valley of Fear (1915), where James Moriarty's brother is noted to be a railway station master.^[4] The message on the coffin lid is a reference to 'The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax' (1911). The closing shot shows Holmes and Watson exiting 'Rathbone Place', a reference to Basil Rathbone, who played Sherlock Holmes in fourteen films and a radio series.^[6] In the final sequence, 'The Adventure of the Dancing Men' (1903) is referenced with the following cipher seen on a chalkboard,^[4] which reads 'AM HERE ABE SLANEY':

Production[edit]

The setting for Sherrinford, the high-security prison, was filmed at St Catherine's Fort, St Catherine's Island off Castle Beach in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales.^[7]

Musician Paul Weller made a cameo appearance, in a non-speaking role as a man lying on the floor in a Viking costume, seen near the end of the episode.^[8]

Leak and investigation[edit]

On 14 January, one day before the episode's broadcast, it was released online with Russian dialogue.^[9] Both the official SherlockTwitter account and members of the Sherlock team acknowledged this and asked people to not share it and keep the Internet free of spoilers.^[10]

On 16 January Channel One Russia, the network holding the rights to the broadcast in Russia, issued an apology, having determined that the material had been hacked from their system.^[9][11] Channel One Russia announced it was conducting an investigation,^[9][12] while BBC, through BBC Worldwide, announced its own full-scale investigation of the leak.^[13][14]

Broadcast and reception[edit]

'The Final Problem' received mixed reviews from critics. Among the more positive reviews was Sean O'Grady of The Independent who gave the episode four out of five stars, stating that 'Benedict Cumberbatch and Tim Freeman [sic] are their usual accomplished double act' although suggesting 'Maybe Sherlock needs a little more reimagining'.^[15] Meanwhile, Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph gave the episode five out of five stars, praising that 'the dazzling script delivered laughs, excitement, and emotion .. we were left with a wiser Holmes and Watson.' He also commented about the possibility of series 4 being the last series for Sherlock, stating 'if this was the last-ever episode, which it surely won't be, it worked well as a sign off.'^[16] Louisa Mellor of Den of Geek wrote 'this was fun to watch. Fun and ultra-tense with a terrific, whooshing sense of momentum. It went like the clappers, held its breath, went like the clappers again, held its breath some more until you thought you might pass out with the dizziness.'^[17] Neela Debnath of the Daily Express was also positive, writing 'I can't fault the thrill ride that The Final Problem takes viewers on from the beginning to the end. Sherlock has clawed itself back from the edge.'^[18] Two separate reviews in The Observer or The Guardian were positive, with one describing it as too byzantine, but 'much better than it looked'^[19] and the other writing 'with a visual swagger far beyond the budget – and including an eerily beautiful high-security violin duet for Sherlock and Eurus – this was a fine way to go.'^[20]

However, some reviews were more critical. A third Guardian review was negative, stating Holmes had 'become a parody of himself'.^[21] Kaite Welsh of IndieWire scored the episode a grade of B-, writing 'Steven Moffatt and Mark Gatiss wrap up their 13th episode on an elegiac note, musing on the legend that is Sherlock and Watson. It's just a shame the rest of the episode was such a mess, really'.^[22] Ian Hyland of The Daily Mirror stated that he preferred it 'when Holmes and Watson were just solving fairly believable mysteries. If it went back to that I'd welcome another series or two with open arms.' He compared the series to the BBC series Taboo, suggesting that the latter would be a better television series for those who love Sherlock.^[23] Aja Romano of Vox also criticized the episode, praising the usual drama of Sherlock, but being critical of the fact that the episode 'collapses into a muddled mess of melodrama and confusion ... there is even less logic.' Romano considered the episode to be an anticlimax, saying 'the episode feels like a window dressing on a completely different story.'^[24]

Issues of representation within the episode were raised by some commentators. Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of The Daily Dot called the episode the 'most sexist' of the TV show. She noted that Eurus, a stereotypical female villain, 'ticks every box for the kind of madwoman who gets locked up in an asylum in a 19th century melodrama' and commits crimes only motivated 'by a desire for male attention.'^[25]

References[edit]

1. ^Moskvitin, Egor (1 January 2017). ''Шерлок': что мы знаем о четвертом сезоне' [Sherlock: what do we know about the fourth series]. Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 9 January 2017.
2. ^Soshin, Dmitry (1 January 2017). 'Первый канал начинает показ нового сезона британского сериала 'Шерлок'' [The fourth series of Sherlock on Channel One]. Channel One (in Russian). Retrieved 9 January 2017.
3. ^'Шерлок – 4 сезон – 3 серія – онлайн' [Sherlock - Season 4 - Series 3 - Online]. 1+1. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
4. ^ ^abcdefLouisa Mellor (17 January 2017). 'Sherlock: 38 Things You Might Have Missed in The Final Problem'. Dennis Publishing.
5. ^'Moriarty Unmasked: Conan Doyle and an Anglo-Irish Quarrel', Jane Stanford, Carrowmore, pps. 87,88.
6. ^Moreland, Alex (16 January 2017). '4 Sherlock easter eggs you might not have noticed in The Final Problem'. MetroUK. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
7. ^Williams, Kathryn (15 January 2017). 'Revealed: Sherlock's Sherrinford is Tenby landmark St Catherine's'. Wales Online. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
8. ^O'Connor, Roisin (16 January 2017). 'Sherlock season four: Paul Weller makes cameo appearance in The Final Problem with friend Martin Freeman'. The Independent. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
9. ^ ^abcDowell, Ben (16 January 2017). 'Russian broadcaster at the centre of Sherlock leak believes it may have been hacked'. Radio Times. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
10. ^'Sherlock series finale leaked online'. BBC News. 15 January 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
11. ^Yelistratov, Vadim (14 January 2017). 'В сеть досрочно утекла финальная серия 'Шерлока' в переводе Первого канала' [Final episode of 'Sherlock' with translation by Channel One prematurely leaked]. DTF (in Russian). Retrieved 16 January 2017.
12. ^'Первый канал расследует слив серии 'Шерлока'' (in Russian). The Village. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
13. ^'Sherlock finale ratings hit all-time low'. BBC News. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
14. ^Yelistratov, Vadim (16 January 2017). 'Финал 'Шерлока' показал на родине самые низкие рейтинги со времён первого сезона' [Final 'Sherlock' has shown in his homeland lowest ratings since the first season]. DTF (in Russian). Retrieved 16 January 2017.
15. ^Sean O'Grady (24 November 2016). 'Sherlock season 4 episode 3 review: 'The Final Problem' maybe needs reimagining'. The Independent. Retrieved 16 January 2017.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
16. ^Michael Hogan. 'Sherlock episode 3: The Final Problem, review: 'an exhilarating thrill-ride''. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
17. ^'Sherlock series 4 episode 3 review: The Final Problem'. Den of Geek.
18. ^Debnath, Neela (15 January 2017). 'Sherlock The Final Problem review: Exhilarating from start to finish'. Express.co.uk.
19. ^Ferguson, Euan (22 January 2017). 'The week in TV: Horizon: Clean Eating – The Dirty Truth; Sherlock; Endeavour; A Series of Unfortunate Events; Antiques Roadshow'. The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
20. ^Lawson, Mark (15 January 2017). 'Sherlock finale trumped by Russian leak online' – via www.theguardian.com.
21. ^Heritage, Stuart (16 January 2017). 'Sherlock: how the TV phenomenon became an annoying self-parody'. the Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
22. ^Kaite Welsh. 'Sherlock Review: 'The Final Problem' Is A Problematic Season Finale'. IndieWire. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
23. ^16 January 2017Updated10:33, 16 January 2017. 'I preferred it when Sherlock and Watson were just solving fairly believable mysteries - Ian Hyland - Mirror Online'. Mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
24. ^Romano, Aja. 'Sherlock season 4, episode 3: 'The Final Problem' might be the series finale. If it is, it's a huge disappointment'. Vox. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
25. ^Gavia Baker-Whitelaw. ''The Final Problem' is season 4's most entertaining 'Sherlock' episode—and its most sexist'. The Daily Dot. Retrieved 19 January 2017.

External links[edit]

• 'The Final Problem' at IMDb

'The Lying Detective' is the second episode of the fourth series of the British television series Sherlock and the twelfth episode overall. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC First, PBS and Channel One^[1][2] on 8 January 2017.

Plot[edit]

Sherlock remains distant to Watson, who is still grieving over the death of his wife, Mary ('The Six Thatchers'). John, who is seeing a new therapist, conceals the fact that he is having hallucinations of Mary. Culverton Smith, a prominent entrepreneur and philanthropist, gathers close colleagues, including his daughter, Faith, to confess that he is going to kill somebody. Before he does so, he forcibly injects them with a serum that inhibits memory causing them to forget his confession. Despite that, Faith is able to remember fragments and writes them down on a sheet of paper. She comes to Sherlock, who has started abusing drugs again, with the sheet of paper saying that there was a name – one word – that shook her. Sherlock dismisses her case as being too weird and refers her to Scotland Yard. Before she leaves, Sherlock realises that Faith is suicidal, and offers to walk with her around London. Mycroft tracks Sherlock's movement across the city, and calls John out of concern, accidentally implying existence of another Holmes sibling. Sherlock and Faith walk all night, and the following morning he decides to take her case. Sherlock is momentarily overwhelmed by the side effects of his drug use and, upon gathering himself, finds Faith gone. As Sherlock stumbles back to his flat, he realises that the 'one name' was 'anyone'. Smith is a serial killer with the wealth and power to hide his crimes completely.

Sherlock Holmes Tv Series Season 3

Sherlock becomes obsessed with Smith, but his drug-addled antics frighten Mrs. Hudson, who subdues him. Mrs. Hudson takes Sherlock to see John while he is at his therapist's house for a session. Sherlock accuses Smith of being a serial killer and asks John to help bring him down. Much to John's shock and annoyance, the arrival of a car sent by Smith, and of Molly Hooper with an ambulance to his therapist's house at the exact time, were all prearranged by Sherlock two weeks prior, even before John had chosen his new therapist.

Sherlock and John arrive at a studio to meet with Smith, during which it's revealed Smith has used Sherlock's accusation as a publicity stunt to support his new brand of cereal, making him a 'Cereal Killer' and claiming Sherlock was in on the joke, after which the latter takes them to visit a new hospital wing for which he had been a major donor. He subtly hints to Sherlock and John at being a serial killer while meeting with a group of children at the hospital. Smith takes Sherlock and John to his 'favourite room', the mortuary, whilst repeatedly referring to the American serial killer H. H. Holmes. John asks Smith how he moves through all of the rooms freely, to which Smith replies that he has keys to the hospital. Sherlock tries to goad Smith into a confession just as Faith arrives, having been texted by Sherlock from Smith's phone. Upon seeing her, Sherlock realises that she was not the woman who had come to his flat. Frustrated and suffering from withdrawal, Sherlock attacks Smith with a scalpel, but is stopped by John. John attacks Sherlock out of anger, and blames him for Mary's death.

Sherlock is admitted into Smith's hospital, where John pays him one last visit. Sherlock is then visited by Smith, who enters the room through a secret door. Sherlock asks Smith to kill him, and Smith complies after confessing to his murders. Unknown to him, the events were part of Sherlock's elaborate plot to expose Smith and fulfill Mary's last wish for Sherlock to 'save John' by 'going to Hell'. Acting on Mary's orders, Sherlock puts himself in harm's way so that John would be compelled to rescue him, thus mending their broken friendship and 'saving' himself. After seeing Mary's video for himself, John rushes to the hospital and arrives in time to pull Smith off Sherlock. Believing that he would be able to get away without proof of his confession, Smith is surprised when Sherlock reveals a recording device hidden in John's walking stick which John had left behind earlier. John reconciles with Sherlock, telling him that he no longer blames him for Mary's death. He also confesses to Sherlock that he had cheated on her by texting with another woman. Sherlock comforts him as he weeps, and John's hallucinations of Mary finally disappear.

Later having pulled himself back together and resumed taking cases, Sherlock discovers the note 'Faith' had left him, proving the woman was real. Upon inspecting the note under a black light Sherlock finds the message 'Miss me?'. During John's next session, his therapist reveals she was the one who had pretended to be both Faith, having gained the letter from Smith, whom she knew through a 'Mutual Friend', and the woman with whom John had been texting. Holding John at gunpoint, she reveals herself to be Eurus, Sherlock and Mycroft's secret sibling (she explains that Eurus is Greek for the east wind). As John attempts to leave, Eurus pulls the trigger.

Production[edit]

The episode was based loosely on the Doyle short story 'The Adventure of the Dying Detective'.^[3] The villain, Culverton Smith, was loosely based on disgraced British entertainer and charity fundraiser Jimmy Savile, who was a BBC icon.^[4] Sam Wolfson of The Guardian noted that the Savile-esque character must have caused consternation behind the scenes at the BBC. Wolfson gave 'a respectful nod to the BBC,' writing, 'There must have been some unease in the corporation about having an episode in their flagship drama series in which a beloved public figure... uses his position of power and fame to commit monstrous crimes.'^[5]

Broadcast and reception[edit]

The episode received positive reviews from critics. Kaite Welsh of IndieWire graded 'The Lying Detective' an A+, particularly the plotline of Sherlock descending into drug addiction: 'He really does turn his kitchen into a meth lab, he is weeks away from death and hallucinating. It's the flip side of the genius that carries the show.'^[4]

Vox rated the episode 3.5/5 stars.^[6] Sean O'Grady of The Independent gave the episode 4/5 stars, describing it as 'Rarely can drama have come so morbidly loaded as last night's Sherlock, and rarely carry so much morbid fascination for the viewer'.^[7]IGN gave the episode a good rating with a 7/10, describing it as 'hampered by another unsatisfying case and some odd story beats'.^[8]

Allison Shoemaker of The A.V. Club praised the episode and the story, grading it a B+, writing, 'The Lying Detective' does what it does so dazzlingly well that it's easy to overlook its misses... It's got a couple of good twists, some familiar to readers of the stories and others not. It's affecting and funny and moving and smart, and in short, a great script. But just because something checks all the right boxes doesn't mean it totally works, and Steven Moffat's script falls a bit flat where it really counts. It's as if he's blinded to the big picture by his own considerable gifts. This is a great Sherlock/Watson story with time to spare for everything but them.'^[9]

References[edit]

Sherlock Holmes Tv Series Season 4 Download

1. ^Moskvitin, Egor (1 January 2017). ''Шерлок': что мы знаем о четвертом сезоне' [Sherlock: what do we know about the fourth series]. Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 9 January 2017.
2. ^Soshin, Dmitry (1 January 2017). 'Первый канал начинает показ нового сезона британского сериала 'Шерлок'' [The fourth series of Sherlock on Channel One]. Channel One (in Russian). Retrieved 9 January 2017.
3. ^Mellor, Louisa; Leane, Rob (25 September 2016). 'Sherlock series 4: first 2 episode titles revealed'. Den of Geek. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
4. ^ ^abWelsh, Kaite (9 January 2017). 'Sherlock Review: The Lying Detective Has Most Terrifying Villain Yet |'. IndieWire. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
5. ^Wolfson, Sam (9 January 2017). 'Sherlock recap: series four, episode two – The Lying Detective'. The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
6. ^Romano, Aja (9 January 2017). 'Sherlock season 4, episode 2: 'The Lying Detective' is the show at its best and worst'. Vox. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
7. ^O'Grady, Sean (9 January 2017). 'Sherlock season 4 episode 2 review: Detective drama takes a morbid turn'. The Independent. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
8. ^Krupa, Daniel (8 January 2017). 'Sherlock: 'The Lying Detective' review'. IGN. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
9. ^Shoemaker, Allison (9 January 2017). 'Sherlock observes, but doesn't see, in a thrilling but overcrowded episode'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved 9 January 2017.

External links[edit]

• 'The Lying Detective' at IMDb