Review of Guy Ritchie’s series Young Sherlock

Detective Sherlock Holmes is almost as popular in the media space as superheroes. This is one of those rare cases when all the books and stories were written long ago, yet adaptations keep appearing anyway. At the same time, many of these versions of the character truly stand out and bring something completely new to the familiar image. However, if you think about it, when modern viewers hear the name Sherlock Holmes, they will most likely think of the interpretations by Benedict Cumberbatch, Vasily Livanov, perhaps Jeremy Brett, and of course Robert Downey Jr. It just so happened that the other versions, even the good ones, didn’t really stay in the public consciousness. Which makes it all the more interesting that the director of the films with Downey Jr. — Guy Ritchie — decided to return to the character and started working on a completely new project about the youth of the iconic detective. Today we’ll talk about the series Young Sherlock and discuss whether this adaptation will manage to stay in people’s minds.

Hopefully it’s no secret to anyone that originally Guy Ritchie planned to make far more films about his version of Holmes and Watson (at least three). The fact that the third movie got stuck in development hell turned out to be a major disappointment, something the director regularly lamented in interviews. On top of that, Robert Downey Jr. keeps getting older, which means the chances of seeing the conclusion to the story that began with the 2009 film are approaching zero. All of this is important to understand before continuing our conversation. For years Ritchie wanted to say something more about the famous hero, and now he finally has the opportunity.

The series about young Sherlock is based on the books by British writer Andy Lane, the first of which was published in 2010. In total, the cycle includes eight novels. And let me immediately answer the main question. No, unfortunately this is not a prequel to the films with Downey Jr. Although Ritchie mentioned that if the series becomes successful he would like to recognize its events as canon for the two feature films, that sounds more like a marketing move. Young Sherlock differs both stylistically and emotionally. The project has completely different accents and even a different version of the main character. This 19-year-old detective could never realistically turn into Robert Downey Jr.’s character.

Sherlock in the series is more, let’s say, classical. At the moment he doesn’t know how to fight at all and occasionally commits petty thefts for fun. At the same time, his noble upbringing and the influence of his older brother still made him a gentleman. Holmes is certainly a joker, but nothing too outrageous. Even his regular stays in jail most often happen because of police stupidity. In the series’ version Sherlock will inevitably end up behind bars even if nobody actually saw him steal a wallet, but did see him give that same wallet back to its owner. Well then.

The role of the hero is played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin, mostly known for minor roles, including in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as well as the romantic series After. The guy is very handsome and distinctive, but, as you might guess, he has nothing in common with Downey Jr.’s type. Hero plays not a detective, but practically a teenager who still hasn’t found his place in life. Sherlock has a curious mind and zero understanding of how to apply it. Because of this he has a conflict with Mycroft and, apparently, poor relationships with his family.

His older brother decides to influence the young troublemaker’s life in a radical way and arranges for him to work as a servant at Oxford. Already at this stage several nuances become noticeable. First of all, London in the series looks unusually bright and ordinary. Sorry that I keep comparing it to Guy Ritchie’s films, but at first it was impossible not to. In those feature films London was portrayed as a truly astonishing place on the edge of steampunk. Cold blue color grading and stone everywhere, mixed with dirty crowds and monumental iron structures, created a unique atmosphere. None of that exists in the new series. The strongest association you’ll get is that the Oxford dining hall strongly resembles Hogwarts. That’s basically it. At the same time, the series has quite a lot of different locations and even countries. They are all well shot, but they don’t add much color, which is a shame.

The second point, strangely enough, is women. Yes, you understood that correctly. There are a lot of women at a higher educational institution in 1871. And when I write a lot, I mean in almost every frame. Suspicious, I checked the historical background. In 1870 a new law was adopted in England allowing women to attend lectures at universities, though they still couldn’t receive diplomas. In practice, however, things were far less optimistic, and women were simply driven out of classes because young male students were категорically against such coexistence and felt offended by it. Equality was not even close to being discussed.

In other words, this is not only a historical inaccuracy but also an unexpected nod to modern agenda, and a rather clumsy one. By making such a concession, the creators of the show arguably insult feminists themselves. By hiding the truth behind vanilla fantasies, directors and screenwriters devalue the entire path of struggle for equal rights that women around the world, and in England in particular, had to go through.

Even more fantastical is the arrival of a Chinese princess who is supposed to form an alliance with Oxford scholars and also receive education within the walls of this temple of science. The princess travels without any escort or guards and for some reason has the authority to make decisions on behalf of an entire country, after which she even becomes an ordinary student. This event essentially launches the plot, so it can’t be ignored. The show’s premise is, let’s say, debatable.

However, the detective component of the series is quite engaging. At first it seems that the events develop too quickly and inconsistently, and Sherlock gets entangled in several cases at once, but gradually all the storylines merge into a single narrative, and in a fairly logical way. I’ve seen opinions claiming the investigation turned out bland, but I strongly disagree. The writers chose an unusual approach and almost immediately tell the audience who the criminal is. Sherlock’s challenge is to confirm his suspicions and find evidence. In a sense this storytelling style is even harder than a traditional detective story, because it removes the possibility of shocking twists and requires deeper work on internal narrative details. The viewer is not focused solely on the heroes’ actions and constantly observes the decisions of both the good guys and the villains.

As I mentioned earlier, Holmes will face several problems. The first is mysterious deaths of professors at Oxford. The second is the tragedy of his own family. A lot of attention is given to the mother and father of the future genius. Until now these relatives of Sherlock were rarely shown, so such expansion feels interesting. In addition, Sherlock also had a sister who drowned in childhood. This is another element of his biography that filmmakers rarely use. I may be mistaken, but I believe the sister was first mentioned in the series with Benedict Cumberbatch. The final mystery is a secret research project within Oxford capable of shifting the balance of power on the global stage.

Eventually all three threads gradually merge into one, and personally I found the process of unraveling the web of mysteries quite engaging. Sherlock is still far from being called a genius and differs from most people mainly by his extraordinary observation skills. His photographic memory allows him to remember even things from deep childhood and return to those memories when necessary. This is how the first outlines of the famous mind palace are demonstrated, which will later become the detective’s trademark.

Reducing the level of Sherlock’s genius works in the show’s favor. It becomes easier to relate to him, and most of his conclusions could realistically be made by an attentive average person. This is also the moment to discuss another important feature of the series.

Since Sherlock has not yet met Watson, he needed a different companion. Initially it seemed logical that Mycroft would take this role, and partly he does. But unexpectedly the full-fledged second main character becomes James Moriarty, who meets Holmes at Oxford and for now shows no hint of a villainous nature. It is Moriarty who teaches the detective how to fight and how to make quick decisions on the fly.

At first it may seem that the two characters aren’t that different. Both are impulsive rebels and at the same time intelligent young men struggling to find their place in the world. But gradually their differences become clearer in dialogue. When Holmes strives for justice and truth for everyone, Moriarty is interested in personal benefit and entertainment. He befriends Sherlock only because no one else can compete with him intellectually. This realization comes gradually and fully forms by the season finale. Throughout all eight episodes there is strong chemistry between the two characters, making the Holmes–Moriarty relationship the main strength of the series and outweighing most of its flaws.

I’m even willing to admit that such a companion looks more vivid and interesting than the morally impeccable military doctor John Watson. Again, the ending of the story seems to cross out any possibility of future cooperation between the two. Anticipating criticism, I agree that we learn almost nothing about James himself. What was his life before Oxford? What is his relationship with his family? How does he spend time when Sherlock isn’t around? All of this remains off-screen. It definitely could have been explored more deeply.

Most of the other characters are also quite likable. Holmes’ mother is practically the jewel of the series, and I hope she appears in season two. The only character that confused me is probably the father. His motivation is extremely questionable, although it does have the right to exist. It’s impossible to explain without spoilers, so you’ll have to take my word for it. While watching you’ll probably have a similar reaction.

Action scenes remain secondary. There are almost no fights. Besides, Sherlock absolutely cannot fight, which is emphasized several times. Although the writers seem to forget how cleverly he dodged most attacks during the prison fight at the very beginning of the first episode, but that’s a minor detail. The show focuses on puzzles and chases rather than battles.

It’s worth noting that Guy Ritchie’s signature style hasn’t disappeared. The maestro personally directed the first two episodes and supervised the production of the rest. Thanks to this we get recognizable editing and the specific pacing present in all of the director’s works. It’s nice that a unified style was maintained even though an entire creative team worked on Young Sherlock.

The new interpretation of the famous detective turned out fairly good. It has interesting characters, a solid visual style, and a strong detective storyline. But unfortunately I couldn’t find that special spark that would make people remember Young Sherlock many years later. For reasons unknown to me, Ritchie abandoned all of his previous ideas for the character and showed a more traditional version that certainly has the right to exist, but is unlikely to stand out next to such giants as Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr. At the same time, the series received good ratings, so a second season will probably happen. I’ll keep an eye on the show myself, but for now it’s not a masterpiece, just a solid middle-tier project.