Sherlock must confiscate something of importance from a mysterious woman named Irene Adler.Sherlock must confiscate something of importance from a mysterious woman named Irene Adler.Sherlock must confiscate something of importance from a mysterious woman named Irene Adler.
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- TriviaBenedict's favorite scene is the ultra-slow motion scene where he opens Irene's safe and they take down the evil CIA agents. "I'll be proud to show that to my grandchildren."
- GoofsWhen Sherlock and Mycroft go to identify a body at Barts Hospital, they enter a door marked "Morgue". Like most British hospitals, Barts has a Mortuary, not a Morgue which is a mainly American word.
- Quotes
Sherlock Holmes: Oh, enjoying the thrill of the chase is fine, and creating the distraction of the game I sympathize entirely, but SENTIMENT... sentiment is a chemical defect found in the losing side.
Irene Adler: Sentiment? What are you talking about?
Sherlock Holmes: You.
Irene Adler: Oh, dear God. Look at the poor man. You don't actually think I was interested in you? Why? Because you're the great Sherlock Holmes, the clever detective in the funny hat?
Sherlock Holmes: No... because I took your pulse: elevated; your pupils: dilated. I imagine John Watson thinks love's a mystery to me, but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very destructive. When we first met, you told me that disguise is always a self-portrait; how true of you. The combination to your safe: your measurements - but this...
Sherlock Holmes: [taking her cell phone] ... this is far more intimate. This is your heart, and you should never let it rule your head. You could have chosen any random number and walked out of here today with everything you've worked for, but you just couldn't resist it, could you? I've always assumed that love is a dangerous disadvantage. Thank you for the final proof.
Irene Adler: Everything I said - it's not real. I was just playing the game.
Sherlock Holmes: I know. And this is just losing.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards (2012)
- SoundtracksStayin' Alive
(uncredited)
Written by Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, and Robin Gibb
Performed by The Bee Gees
[Jim Moriarty's cellphone ringtone]
How he comes upon Miss Adler is a mystery unto itself, except when we discover (though only later does the hero) what her connection is within the world of Sherlock. But not too much on that, that would spoil the fun. In this story, Sherlock, after getting out by chance/luck/huh from Moriarty's grasp, he takes on - or tries to take on - new cases, and all mostly for naught. While on a potential new case he is plucked out by secret service (and in just a sheet no less!) and is given the new case with shady intonations by his brother Mycroft at the palace: Miss Adler, a dominatrix (which Holmes needs a moment to process what that is), is behind some kind of secret with photographs, and Sherlock is only told so much. When he goes to see her, and following a very funny 'disguise' by having Watson hit him so he looks like he was just beaten up to be taken in for a moment, she appears "ready for battle" as she puts it to her assistant. How is this, you might ask?
Naked. Stark naked. When Holmes looks at her - another big laugh via Moffat's script - it's all question marks, which is unusual for Sherlock's super-incredible keen sense of seeing everything on a person like a computer. But the s*** gets deeper when a burglar comes about to get something from her safe, fight ensues, and then... well, all I'll say from here is that a certain ring-tone is put in Sherlock's phone of a female's 'pleasure' sound, and a game ensues over months between Sherlock and Irene. To put it bluntly about how good this episode is - if Sherlock is Batman (ala Moriarty's Joker or possible Riddler), then Irene Adler is Catwoman. She is an adversary, yet while she is a villain she can use her sexuality as a powerful tool against a man who may have intellectual prowess, but emotionally is not really all there.
Indeed this Batman/Catwoman dynamic is far different in this sort of case since Sherlock, or how Benedict Cumberbatch plays him and how Moffat writes him and Paul McGuigan (brilliantly) directs him, is with a big touch of asperger's. Or, rather, his genius comes with a sort of personal-emotional price with it. There are some twists along the way that Moffat lays out with the characters - some, frankly, will leave you slack-jawed in the best possible way - but it's really about this unlikely bond, this chess game that is played out in (not) dinner-time, and who wins will really be based on who loses control. We don't see much of Adler doing her 'dominatrix' thing (frankly, one scene where she is whipping a character is enough to get the point across, and it's very funny to see it), and really it's all on Lara Pulver's eyes, connecting (or trying to) with Cumberbatch, that gives the episode its edge and spark. Already the show is fantastic with its lead and Martin Freeman. With Pulver, it's another big notch on to the quality of the acting and electricity in the air, so to speak.
It's just sharp storytelling, some great twists and turns (some may or may not be surprises to those who've read A Scandal in Bohemia, which this is based upon), and that the story not so much takes a backseat but plays so well concurrently with it as a character piece that makes it such a smashing success (not just Holmes and Adler but little things between Holmes and Mycroft or Watson and his, uh, what's her name, the latest girlfriend, y'know). On top of this, because it's a sort of romantic piece, Moffat gets to have a lot of fun with little beats in the dialog, it's more than amusing about an emotionally-stunted man finding a romantic bond, and we have fun seeing where it could go. It's a lot of fun, but the filmmakers also never lose sight of making these characters matter deeply. The end is especially moving (albeit, yes, with one more twist, but hey why not).
- Quinoa1984
- Aug 23, 2012
Details
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD