Prime Video’s Young Sherlock takes audiences back to when the famed sleuthing mastermind was just 19 years old. Though he’s usually the cleverest and sharpest person in any room, Sherlock is still unmistakably a young man with some growing up left to do. When viewers first meet Sherlock Holmes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), he is behind bars for thieving. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Season 1 of Young Sherlock.
His brother, Mycroft (Max Irons), who has a post in Her Majesty’s Foreign Office, gets his younger brother out of trouble and into Oxford — well, into the janitorial staff at Oxford, at least. It’s still, much, much better than prison. As it stands, Mycroft sees this as a chance to redirect Sherlock’s restless genius into something useful.
At Magdalen College, Sherlock may be polishing floors, but he is also slipping into advanced mathematics lectures, where he meets James Moriarty (Dónal Finn). The introduction is less hostile rivalry and more intellectual electricity; they challenge each other immediately and recognize each other as like-minded oddballs and peers whose intellects are above and beyond their classmates (and teachers). But because of their standing as outcasts, both make for the perfect patsies.
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When priceless Chinese scrolls tied to The Art of War are stolen from a visiting Princess (Zine Tseng), Sherlock is blamed, and James loses his scholarship in the fallout. Rather than turn on each other, the two join forces to clear their names. Their investigation reveals the theft was a distraction from the real threat hiding in the library: a bomb set to detonate during Sir Bucephalus Hodge’s (Colin Firth) gala for his new science building.
They save the party, but not the mystery… or themselves. Despite saving the lives of partygoers, Sherlock is soon drugged (possibly by the Princess) and is blamed for the murder of mathematics professor Charles Thompson. For his efforts at helping his friend, James Moriarty loses his scholarship thanks to the classist Hodges.
Based on the books by Andy Lane, Young Sherlock is not just about the making of a great detective, but an origin story for the most legendary duo in literary history. The feud between Holmes and Moriarty is the stuff of legend, so seeing them as bright, ambitious young men and, astonishingly, as friends before the rivalry and betrayal take root reframes everything we know about the duo. United by intellect and the thrill of the chase, Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty begin as allies, making their inevitable fall into enmity all the more tragic. To know that there was love before there was hate makes the knowledge of their inevitable death fall off Reichenbach Falls all the more grievous.
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According to showrunner Matthew Parkhill, Sherlock and James’ first meeting was a pivotal moment that set them on track to becoming legends.
“‘I have this theory: It’s like they’re inside a pinball machine, right? It’s action/reaction, and if they hadn’t met in that lecture theater… Moriarty wouldn’t have taken his path, and Sherlock wouldn’t have taken his path,” explained Parkhill. “Now, I have a multi-season arc to get there, but that inciting incident is the meeting.”
For both men, there are catalyzing events within the series that cause them to become great heroes and vile villains. “In Episode 2, Moriarty’s humiliation at the hands of Bucephalus Hodge comes at a key moment for him. He will never be humiliated like that again.”
“I love this idea. For me, it’s just a playful sort of idea that, in my head, if they hadn’t met, Moriarty would have become a math professor, and I don’t think — shock and horror to the Sherlock fans — Sherlock would have become the great detective. He becomes the great detective as a result of things that happen, as a result of meeting Moriarty, so that sort of pebble in the pond idea was something I was just really interested in exploring.”
Stars Donal Finn and Hero Fiennes Tiffin couldn’t agree more, as their unlikely friendship becomes the heart of the series.
“If you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes, there can initially be this kind of knee-jerk reaction to ‘Why would these people be friends?’ But you only think that because of the context from the art of [Arthur] Conan Doyle’s [story],” explained Finn. “But I think both of them find it hard to make a connection, given their level of brilliance. And I think you want to meet someone who’s going to challenge you on that kind of intellectual level. And they have an appreciation for that.”
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“I think the show does a great job of showing you how they have influenced each other to become the character and literature that we know and like,” continues Finn. “At one point, Moriarty says to Sherlock, ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, however improbable, whatever that is, must be the truth.’ And that is something that Sherlock later says to Watson in the books. It’s like [repeating] something that an ex-girlfriend once said to you. It’s brought with this level of heartache because it has this context of that it is coming from someone that you once really cared about, and it sharpens that sense of betrayal.”
Fiennes Tiffin agrees that the knowledge of a previous friendship makes their future rivalry that much more poignant, turning every fond memory into an eventual betrayal. “Once you understand that they were previously friends, it enriches the rivalry so much, because it just feels so much more loaded,” said Fiennes Tiffin. “They are misfits and outcasts, and they’re both just so exceptionally intellectual, even in an environment like Oxford, it’s very believable that they would be friends. It is just so fun to watch them. They’re such a great team. They’re so exceptional. And they even make up for where each other lacks.”
“I think there are multiple moments for both characters that feed into that notion,” said Fiennes Tiffin. “I think you start to understand that these characters would never become the polished, finished products that we meet in Arthur Conan Doyle‘s work without each other.”
Young Sherlock, Streaming now, Prime Video
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