Carl Roberts 
“Guy Ritchie has returned to the sandbox and delivered a superb opening to Prime Video’s Young Sherlock Series. The game is most certainly afoot.”
After playing in the sandbox of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes with two hit movies, Guy Ritchie has returned to deduce more about the classic detective. Only not in the way you would think or suspect. Hitting Prime Video on March 4th is the eight-episode series, Young Sherlock. As you would suspect, this isn’t a prequel to Ritchie’s Robert Downey Jr. movies. Instead, it is an adaptation of Andrew Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes book series. Fans of these novels will know that they are a pastiche of Conan Doyle’s works.
The cast for the series includes Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Holmes, Dónal Finn as his soon-to-be nemesis James Moriarty, Zine Tseng as Princess Gulun Shou’an, Max Irons as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older brother, Joseph Fiennes as Silas Holmes, Natascha McElhone as Cordelia Holmes, and Colin Firth as Sir Bucephalus Hodge. Can the series stand on its own as a fine and enjoyable mystery? Or is the game truly afoot for the series to detect a failure?
PREMISE
As a 19-year-old at Oxford University, Sherlock Holmes is not yet the master detective he grows up to be. He is raw and unfiltered, and he lacks discipline. A murder at Oxford puts Holmes’s freedom at risk, and he sets out to solve the first murder mystery that leads him to a global-level conspiracy.
THOUGHTS
Before we get started, let me point out that I’ve only seen the opening two episodes of the series, and not the whole thing. However, I can report that the series is off to a flying and marvellously enjoyable start. It takes what we know about Sherlock Holmes and throws it out of the window. Ritchie himself has stated that we’ve never seen this version of Holmes before. In that respect, he is correct. This is Holmes at his rawest and most rebellious.
When the series first starts, we discover Sherlock in prison for pickpocketing. Did he do this for financial gain? No, he did it just to see if he could and what it would feel like. After Mycroft arranges for his release, Sherlock finds himself at Oxford University. Not to study but to be a skivvy, a person to clean, assist and do things for the students and staff.
When we observe this different opening to the legend, we are on new and unfamiliar ground, ground that we must walk very carefully over, so as not to lose our footing. But it is this that makes the series so much more than just another attempt at telling us the story of Sherlock and his adventures. It richly elevates the material into something that we find ourselves deeply involved with. We want Sherlock to learn his craft and to become the person we know and love. We want to see those traits that make him a favourite of readers and film and TV fans around the world. Slowly, he begins to develop these as the series moves along. This makes us happy to walk beside him on his journey to becoming a master detective.
THE CAST
The cast is perfectly suited to their roles in the series. Hero Fiennes Tiffin is marvellous as young Sherlock. All bravado, cunning, witty, and totally rebellious, Tiffin makes this version of the character into someone we know will become a master detective. But without the usual and expected traits on hand, Tiffin’s job is made that much harder in making his version believable. The way he pulls it off, making this version into a funny and charming cad, is brilliance personified. He is aided and abetted by Dónal Finn as Moriarty, who also delivers a fantastic performance. Watching the pair play off each other, match wits and generally have a good time is wonderful to watch. Yet it is heartbreaking at the same time. We know that these two, now such great friends, will turn into each other’s nemesis. That saddens us.
Zine Tseng as Princess Gulun Shou’an is also marvellously cast. When we first meet her, we think she is nothing more than a spoiled but proud Princess who will become a love interest and a damsel in distress. Nothing could be further from the truth. Gulan is martial arts trained and can kick ass without thinking. Zine Tseng is wonderful in her role, making us like Gulun from the start. Max Irons as Mycroft is equally impressive. Having to constantly get Sherlock out of trouble, Mycroft bears the weight of his brother’s mischief on his shoulders, adding to the burden of seeing his mother, Cordelia (Natascha McElhone), slowly succumbing to mental illness. Irons plays the part brilliantly, making us love Mycroft almost as much as his younger brother.
JOSEPH FIENNES AND COLIN FIRTH
Joseph Fiennes as Mycroft and Sherlock’s father, Silas, doesn’t feature prominently in the opening two episodes. He appears briefly in flashbacks that highlight a tragic event in the Holmes family’s past, along with various other scenes. This offers limited insight into his performance, but we can anticipate seeing more of him as the series unfolds. Colin Firth as Sir Bucephalus Hodge, on the other hand, features fairly prominently. When we meet him, Hodge comes across as a kindly, caring and warm member of the stiff upper lip brigade. However, as the series progresses, we start to see a different side of him, making us wary and cautious around him.
The mystery of what he is doing and what he is planning will be revealed during the series. Is he a villain? Is he misunderstood? Or is there something else going on that we are not in the know about yet? Firth, always watchable and enjoyable in whatever role he plays, is a supporting character here, playing along with the story and giving his all. His character, and the main characters in general, anchor the series, making it funny, mysterious and utterly gripping from the very start. We will need to keep a close eye on Hodge.
THE STYLE OF THE SERIES AND THE DIRECTING
The series’s style is what we have come to expect from Guy Ritchie. Despite being set in a time period that obviously doesn’t fit, some of the songs we hear in the series are modern. But no matter what we may think of this choice, it fits together perfectly, like a jigsaw puzzle being completed. From the very start of the series, we can see Ritchie’s style, subsatnce and fingerprints all over it. While it is different from his two Sherlock Holmes movies, we can see their style replicated here to some extent. This gives us solid ground to tread on at times, making us feel at ease. Ritchie also manages to convince us that we are back in the early days of the master detective, with locations that fit brilliantly.
As the series starts, we can see Ritchie’s visual style and directorial flair are in abundance. The way he directs the proceedings, from his actors, backgrounds, locations, and action, we again feel his fingerprints all over the series. This isn’t the classic Basil Rathbone stories, or even the Jeremy Brett TV series from years ago. This is Ritchie’s interpretation of the character and his rise to prominence. It is one that we sit down with, marvel at how good it looks and allow ourselves to be swept away with what we are given. Ritchie is a master storyteller, and with showrunner Matthew Parkhill’s incredible script, he once again proves it here.
VERDICT
Guy Ritchie has returned to the sandbox and delivered a superb opening to Prime Video’s Young Sherlock Series. The twists and turns, the unexpected events, the surprises and the sheer whole of the series make it a must-watch. From the opening two episodes, I found myself desperate for more, to discover exactly where the series would be going, and to learn the truth of what we see at first. Ritchie can’t help himself, though. He takes scenes from his two movies and recrafts them into sequences that we feel we have seen before. The beauty of it, however, is that we haven’t. Or if we have, Ritchie has wisely turned them on their head, making us think we know what we will see while pulling the rug out from under us.
With a cast as game as he is, Ritchie has delivered something that we will all enjoy. From unexpected friendships, unexpected plot twists, some brilliant comedic sequences, and some thrilling action, Young Sherlock will become something that will run and run. Featuring a brilliant cast, great locations, a superb script, and wonderful reinterpretations of the classic characters, this is something to binge-watch again and again. Turn off the lights, settle down, put on your deerstalker cap, light your pipe, and allow Young Sherlock seduce you with its fun and mystery. You’ll deduce a great time with it. The game is most certainly afoot.
Young Sherlock premieres with all episodes available on Prime Video on March 4th.
Introducing Carl! As the News Editor at Future of the Force, Carl has been an invaluable member of our team since early 2016. His expertise and dedication have made him an integral part of our editorial staff. Beyond his professional role, Carl is a fervent supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an avid follower of pop culture. He has a deep passion for Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the iconic movie franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
He can be found either at his neighborhood cinema, enjoying the latest releases on the big screen, or at home streaming the newest blockbuster movies.
