Sherlock : "A Scandal in Belgravia" Review

When Series One of Sherlock concluded, Holmes and Watson were in deep trouble, with arch-enemy Moriarty revealing himself to be a sneaky and somewhat theatrical Irish scamp before placing them in the most explosive of situations.

Season Two failed to start with the expected bang however, Moriarty receiving a mysterious phone call and immediately diffusing the situation. The show nevertheless hit the ground running, quickly reintroducing the dynamic duo's amusingly fractious relationship, and immediately plunging them into a series of quick-fire cases.

Two mysteries in particular challenged the super-sleuth, the first involving a plane crash in Dusseldorf and a body in a boot in Southwark, the second revolving around a dead hiker and a backfiring Saab.

But more of them later, as Steven Moffat's script was more concerned with getting to the business of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle short story "A Scandal in Bohemia", here updated and sexed up to become A Scandal in Belgravia.

The original introduced Irene Adler to the world, and involved a royal blackmail plot involving an incriminating photograph, and found Holmes endeavouring to outwit 'The Woman' by donning a priest disguise and creating a diversion by way of a fake fire.

Bohemia employed all of these devices, but that's where the similarities between the stories ended, Moffat going decidedly off-piste to give the story a very modern spin involving terrorists, the CIA, that aforementioned Dusseldorf plane, and a kinky dose of S&M.;

So opera singer Adler was re-invented as a high-class dominatrix, dishing out 'recreational scolding' and playing power games with the British royal family by taking photos of a well-known royal in a seriously compromising position.

Buckingham Palace therefore called on the services of the world's foremost consulting detective, asking the super-sleuth to fathom her intentions, or better still retrieve the snaps.

What followed was a story of cross and double cross as Adler - played by the bewitching Lara Pulver - used her sexuality as a weapon to both dumbfound Holmes and protect her precious pictures. This was most evident during a startling scene in which Adler greeted him stark naked, her lack of attire preventing Holmes from sizing up her 'disguise' and therefore unable to utilise his dazzling powers of deduction.


At this point in the story Adler seemed both sexually and intellectually superior to Holmes, running him through the ringer with her suggestive talk, orgasmic texts and manipulation of his right-hand man Watson.

But as the story neared its conclusion, Adler was revealed to be rather weaker than she first appeared, a mere pawn in Moriarty's larger game, and worse still, a victim of her own emotions as her love for Sherlock scuppered her proposed plan. And this from a self-confessed lesbian!

The larger plot was also something of a disappointment; a faceless terrorist threat that lacked any real jeopardy or threat, driven on by equally anonymous CIA agents who added little to proceedings other than to slow them down.

That said, there was a lot to like in this episode, with Sherlock still superior to pretty much every other show on British television at present. Director Paul McGuigan oversaw proceedings with clarity and style, effortlessly merging the comedy and drama, and using all manner of clever devices - from slow-motion to match-cuts - to illustrate the brilliance of Sherlock's mind.

He also lent proceedings an undercurrent of brutality hitherto unseen in the show, upping the ante in the action sequences, inserting an entertaining Fight Club moment for the duo, and revealing Holmes to be as capable of physical cruelty as he is of the mental variety.

Meanwhile Benedict Cumberbatch continues to astound and electrify in the lead role, bringing the character of Sherlock Holmes to life in a way that few have managed over the last century (and certainly delivering a performance that's head-and-shoulders above what Robert Downey Jr. is currently attempting on the big screen).

He had multiple marvellous moments in this episode, from a cheeky nude scene at the Palace to a grandstanding explanation of the Saab/hiker mystery. But the stand-out was his annihilation of poor Molly Hooper, an agonizing scene in which all his foibles and faults were laid bare in the most painful way possible.

With Martin Freeman continuing to lend reliable support as Watson, and Una Stubbs and Mark Gatiss delivering laughs and no little pathos as Mrs. Hudson and Mycroft respectively, the ensemble was nigh-on perfect, which bodes well for the rest of the series.

And if Pulver gets the opportunity to return as Adler, and sets right all that was wrong in this episode by being less the damsel in distress at the end of the episode and more a strong and truly independent woman capable of actually getting the upper hand on Holmes, A Scandal in Bohemia will doubtless be worth revisiting.

For now however, it's an excellent episode scuppered by some muddled sexual politics and a somewhat duff conclusion.

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