Young Sherlock keeps viewers on their toes with unique pairing

A fascinating character created by author Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1800s and portrayed through numerous media adaptations over the span of nearly two centuries, Sherlock Holmes is an exemplar for sleuths and detectives.

With many film adaptations since the early 20th century, almost every possible ‘retells’ have been explored with creative liberty and this is what makes Young Sherlock an intriguing watch.

Director Guy Ritchie and showrunner Matthew Parkhill bring to the screen a younger version of Sherlock (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), prior to his infamous reputation as a reclusive-genius detective, who meets a young and equally intelligent James Moriarty (Donal Finn) from Oxford University.

This version takes place before the classic pairing of Sherlock and Dr Watson came to be.
Young Sherlock, instead, pairs the eventual nemesis – Sherlock and Moriarty together as they attempt to uncover clues of the murder of the Oxford elites, only to discover a more chilling truth that threatens to overthrow global order.

Exceeding expectations, the cast’s intensity kept us at the edge of our seats during the high-stakes murder mystery.

High-intensity plot, nearly burning out

The series kicks off with a young hoodlum Sherlock being bailed from prison by his older brother Mycroft Holmes (Max Irons). Later, he gets appointed as a porter in Oxford University and meets Moriarty there.

When a professor is murdered and his belongings are stolen, Sherlock gets framed for the crime. To clear his name, he teams up with Moriarty.

Taking pleasure in the thrilling chase, Moriarty unreservedly helps Sherlock by breaking him out of prison. In the process, he discovered that Princess Gulun Shou’an (Zine Tseng) is the mastermind behind the professor’s murder.

However, in the process of trying to capture her, he overhears a scheme against Sherlock’s mother Holmes (Natascha Cordelia McElhone). The plot thickens after Sherlock breaks his mother out of the asylum that she was admitted into after the alleged death of her daughter Beatrice Holmes.

In the events that follow, Sherlock’s father Silas Holmes returns to England, reuniting the family and setting in stone the uncovering of the grand scheme of things.

As the series further, the pacing was executed quite well until the last two episodes, which felt a little too rushed. All in all, the plot was pretty well thought out, but development of certain key characters could have been more intentional.

While it is a fictional series at its core, it felt like it was severed from the reality of things and unrealistic at some points, which was a bit of an overachievement on the production’s end. However, the show concluded well, as it gives us a glimpse of when Sherlock and Moriarty’s friendship takes a sharp turn, forming a silent rivalry, which defines the Sherlock Holmes universe.

Bringing an award-worthy performance

A show can never be successful without its cast. Young Sherlock’s cast carried the series throughout, even as it slowly splintered at the end.

From Tiffin (Sherlock) playing the troublesome and eccentric young Sherlock to Finn’s portrayal of Moriarty, the duo formed a tacit push-and-pull nature from the very beginning. A marvelous showcase of the duo’s chemistry, demonstrating they are part of the same coin but ultimately, they lay on opposite ends.

With the story centralising around the Holmes family, Max portrays Mycroft as a stern, by-the-book older brother to Sherlock. Sticking true to the characterisation as intended by Doyle, Mycroft remains the most grounded in his values out of everyone in the Holmes family, pulling the family back on track time and time again at his own expense.

The complicated dynamics of Natasha (Cordelia), who portrays a mother navigating through the loss of her youngest child, and Joseph, who heads the family through his secrets and lies, as parents foreshadows the man Sherlock eventually becomes.

Although much of series focuses around the Holmes family, many supporting cast such as Zine (Shou’an), Holly Cattle (Hodge’s assistant) and Colin Firth (Sir Bucephalus Hodge) brought their own strengths in the mix. Their portrayal of psychological manipulation and pathological greed were nothing short of brilliant.

Although not the official prequel to the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes films (also directed by Ritchie), Young Sherlock takes us into his traumatic past, which allows us a glimpse into the developing of a legendary detective and the beginning of his feud with his nemesis Moriarty.

Alas, the show is just the watch you need on a mundane Sunday afternoon. Young Sherlock can now be streamed on Prime Video.

Cast: Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Dónal Finn, Zine Tseng, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Max Irons, Colin Firth and Holly Cattle.

Plot: 8/10

E-Value: 8/10

Acting: 9/10

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 The Sun Malaysia