The game is on … but will it continue? Can it still be considered a game when the stakes are raised and the lives of those closest to Sherlock Holmes — the man who once prided himself on being untouchable — are in jeopardy? The series four finale of “Sherlock,” entitled “The Final Problem,” aired on Jan. 16 and these are the questions that kept me on edge for the duration of the episode as the titular character, accompanied by his partner-in-crime John Watson (Martin Freeman) and elder brother Mycroft Holmes (Mark Gatiss), race against time in an attempt to outrun “the east wind.”
After a three-year hiatus — broken up by a special episode on Jan. 1, 2016 —, Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, returned to our screens to face a new enemy … though it was not clear who that enemy truly was until halfway through the series. For the first two episodes of the new series, it appeared that there was no particular focus. However, by the end of the second episode and the beginning of the third and final one, it became clear that Sherlock would have to confront his toughest opposition yet: his humanity. He realizes soon into the final episode that he cannot outrun what has haunted him for years that he has refused to acknowledge: the reality that he and Mycroft are not the only Holmes children, but in fact there is a third Holmes — Eurus, whose name in Greek means “the east wind.”
Throughout the episode, Eurus resurfaces to torment her brothers, putting them, along with Watson, through a series of trials that force them to test not only the limits of their intellect, but also their morality. Whether the trials include having to convince Molly Hooper — Sherlock and Watson’s longtime friend — to admit to Sherlock that she loves him or witness her threatened demise, or for Sherlock to shoot either Watson or Mycroft, the pacing of the episode sets it apart from the others in the series. As the tension builds with each trial, so does the viewer’s anticipation for the answers to two of the most important questions that were raised throughout “Sherlock,” the first question being, why does Sherlock not remember Eurus, and the second question, which was asked since the end of series three: what is the true significance of Redbeard?
“The Final Problem” expertly shows the development and growth of its three principle characters. Mycroft, who considers himself to be “the smarter one” of the two Holmes brothers, continues to reveal his fatal weakness: his family. Detached though he may be, the eldest Holmes tries to do whatever it takes to protect his family, whether it means incarcerating his sister, so that she cannot do harm to his family, or lying to his parents about the death of their daughter so that they are unaware of her troubling nature. In the end, he is shown to be the weakest of the three men, unable to rationalize his way out of the situation that they find themselves in when Eurus takes control of the prison.
Watson, who perhaps experiences the most emotional turbulence throughout the series, is front and center in the final episode. He is shown, as he tends to be, as a soldier who exhibits the bravery needed of a man in combat, while maintaining the heart and soul of a man who has experienced great loss and refuses to stand by idly and allow for suffering to occur or, worse yet, be the cause of it. Freeman’s acting throughout the series is strong and easily deserving of the highest recognition. He not only accurately portrays through his character the brevity of human life and the profound suffering that can result from that realization, but also he enables his character to act as a reminder that the human spirit is resilient and some days, in the face of great adversity, the only choice is to be a soldier.
Finally, Sherlock transforms as a character throughout the latest series, in no small part due to Cumberbatch’s unparalleled performance of the sleuthing detective. The once seemingly emotionally detached consulting detective is fully stripped of his cold exterior, and as Mycroft makes evident in “The Final Problem,” is forced to walk across the road paved by his demons that he has repressed since he was a young child. As the pieces begin to form together and we realize that the resident of 221B Baker Street was not always friendless, we finally learn the cause of his prolonged isolation that stretched from his childhood into adulthood, as well as how Eurus and the mystery of Redbeard are the cause of his immense trauma and suffering.
The latest series proved to be worth the three-year wait and will hopefully not be the final one that we have of the crime-solving duo and their associates. Although all of the loose ends appear to be tied up if the show runners and actors choose not to return to the series, we can only hope that the game will continue on the streets of London for years to come.
