Sherlock returns for season 4 on good form with an episode that balances its lightness and darkness…
After the twisty, time-travelling excess of last year’s Special, this series opener spends a good chunk of time re-establishing the status quo. For Sherlock that means cases, clients, comedy, and Benedict Cumberbatch delivering his lines with the speed and confidence of a Formula One champ.
Writer Mark Gatiss gets things moving at a brisk, even hyperactive, pace. One moody scene aside, The Six Thatchers piles gag on top of gag on top of gag. It’s a reminder of what a fine comic cast this show has assembled. Yes, Freeman and Cumberbatch can do action and heart-break, but these two never seem happier than when they’re landing punchlines, and Gatiss has provided plenty of those.
It’s a busy, entertaining start that takes the show back to basics: Sherlock and Watson, quipping, finding clues and solving cases. If you bristled at the rug-pull cleverness of The Abominable Bride (some did, though I wasn't among them) this will serve you well. It’s sprightly, moves along at a fair pace and has surprises in store.
The reason for all the laughs becomes clear towards the end of the episode, where the lightness is paid off with a turn towards the dark. Gatiss front-loads the fun to balance out a more somber final third.
Before that arrives though, there’s a different kind of fun to be had - the globe-trotting action-thriller kind. Channelling Christmas TV tradition, there are stunts and locations that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Bond film. Hand-to-hand fights, Mexican stand-offs, racing motorbikes, bodies smashing through plate glass windows, underwater grapples… it’s thrilling stuff.
The locations deserve particular praise, especially given that The Six Thatchers does it all without the benefit of a Bond or Bourne budget. From luxury modern mansions to exotic overseas backdrops via an intriguing Gothic grotto, there’s real variety and a sense of global scale here. The heart of Sherlock may still be 221B Baker Street, but its world extends far beyond that.
It’s not only the action scenes that channel Bond. The presence of Mycroft brings British Intelligence into play, as well as providing the always-winning combination of the Holmes brothers. Their chilly, competitive, relationship isn’t just good for a laugh, it’s also an intriguing one to explore.
The Six Thatchers may be more interested in relationships than any previous episode. The pressures on new parents provide some laughs, while friendships are also tested. By dint of its title character’s personality, Sherlock is rarely touchy feely when it comes to emotions and that doesn’t change here, but there are signs that Sherlock himself is changing. He’s still Sherlock—devilishly impatient, brilliant and arrogant—but he’s learned to play with people’s expectations of him, and he’s also learned to ask for help.
Visually, it’s never looked busier. The series one trick of text messages appearing on screen, which seemed such an exciting embellishment back in 2010, is now the least of it. Sherlock’s thought processes still bleed into reality, now jostling for screen space alongside video, maps, Google searches, scientific symbols, and more. The overall impression may not be one of elegance, but it certainly feels energetic. Director Rachel Talalay, fresh from working with the BBC and Steven Moffat on DoctorWho, has seized the opportunity to play with the episode’s look, characterizing one recurring theme with atmospheric, shimmering visuals.
That theme has to do with predestination and the (im)possibility of avoiding one’s fate. Actions have consequences you may not be able to run from, The Six Thatchers tells us. That though, we’ll save for the post-broadcast, spoiler-filled discussion.
What is it Geoffrey Rush’s character keeps saying in Shakespeare In Love? What the public really want from entertainment is comedy, love and a bit with a dog? The Six Thatchers has all that. And more.
The Six Thatchers airs on PBS at 8:00 pm on Sunday the 1st of January 2017.