Even with its convoluted plot and a bit of a mid-series sag, Young Sherlock is tremendous fun, applauds Deepa Gahlot.
Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is unarguably the world's most popular fictional detective, who has generated his own mythology and several spinoff books, dozens of films, and even stage plays.
Guy Ritchie had a bash at him in 2009 and with a sequel in 2011, with Robert Downey Jr as his Sherlock Holmes. In the films, he was in pursuit of criminal mastermind and his nemesis Professor Moriarty. But in Gay Ritchie's new eight-part show, a young Holmes meets a young Moriarty and they become friends.
What Young Sherlock is about
The origin story gives hints of the traits that will become part of the Sherlock legend over time. But when the show starts in the mid 19th century, a teenage Sherlock (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) is a troublemaker, and a headache for his straight-arrow brother, Mycroft (Max Irons).
In jail for his pick-pocketing habit, Sherlock is put to work as an apprentice porter, or scout at Oxford as punishment. He is smarter than all the scholars there, even correcting the mistakes of a mathematics professor.
With typical British class snobbery, he is ignored by the others. The only one who befriends him is a scholarship student, James Moriarty (Donal Finn), whose past is hazy. Another student who falls into their ambit is a Chinese princess, Shou’an (Zine Tseng), when some priceless scrolls she was carrying get stolen.
Sherlock and Moriarty trace them, but also find themselves in the midst of murders of scientists and an international conspiracy at the centre of which seems to be a bewhiskered gent with the odd name of Bucephalus Hodge (Colin Firth).
Sherlock's father Silas (Joseph Fiennes) is abroad on business and his mother Cordelia (Natascha McElhone) is in an asylum, traumatised by the death of daughter Beatrice. So it's just Mycroft left to cope with his whirlwind of a brother, and his devious pal, who even springs Sherlock out of prison dressed as a laundry woman.
Then Sherlock springs his mother out from the asylum with Moriarty's help, and she joins their adventures.
To clear their names of the crimes, Sherlock and Moriarty have to find out what is going on and why. Mycroft, whose career in the foreign office is in jeopardy, has to reluctantly accompany them.
Fast-paced series
Considering the series, inspired by Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock books, is set when people travelled in carriages or on horseback and the fastest mode of communication was the telegram, it moves at a breathless pace. Characters reach far flung places in no time, and in keeping with the trend of modern-day thrillers, this one goes globe-trotting too.
Created by Peter Harness, Matthew Parkhill and Guy Ritchie, who also directs two episodes before handing over the reins to Anders Engstrom, Tricia Brock and Dennie Gordon, the series has a Tintin-like adolescent energy and looks wonderful as the well-dressed and good-looking troupe runs about the British countryside and even lands in a neighbouring country in the midst of a revolution ('What? Again?'). They also attend a bawdy cabaret because, well, people need entertainment as a diversion.
Donal Finn is a scene-stealer
Unfortunately, for Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who is actors Ralph Fiennes (who plays Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies) and Joseph (Shakespeare In Love) Fiennes's nephew, every scene is stolen by the magnificent Donal Finn. Incidentally, Max Irons is the son of Oscar winner Jeremy Irons (the villain in Die Hard With A Vengeance), so nobody can say nepo kids exist only in Bollywood.
To complete the diversity casting -- characters are Chinese, Turkish and so on -- one of the baddies is an Indian called Kishore Malik, and is played by Ravi Aujla.
John Watson is conspicuous by his absence because a 19-year-old Sherlock has not met him yet. However, an earlier Young Sherlock Holmes film made in 1985 by Barry Levinson, had imagined a teenage Holmes meeting Watson in boarding school.
Arthur Conan Doyle's creation is timeless
Even with its convoluted plot and a bit of a mid-series sag, Young Sherlock is tremendous fun, without too much VFX intervention like the 2010 series, Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The deer stalker hat, the violin and the opium make brief appearance, to indicate what the adult Sherlock will be like.
This just goes to show that Arthur Conan Doyle's creation is timeless; everybody has given the stories their own spin, set them in modern times, had a female (Lucy Liu) play Watson in Elementary, and generated films with Enola Holmes, as Sherlock and Mycroft's teenage sister.
In the Holmes Universe, games are always afoot, to paraphrase the Doyle detective.
Young Sherlock streams on Amazon Prime Video.
Young Sherlock Review Rediff Rating:
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