Warning: if you haven’t watched ‘The Six Thatchers’ yet, the following review contains MAJOR spoilers!
Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, and the rest of the gang return in fitting form for the first episode of Sherlock’s fourth series titled “The Six Thatchers.” As usual, the episode sheds no light on how Sherlock evaded death, but is wrought by death nonetheless. In itself ominous, the episode is haunted by W. Somerset Maugham’s “The Appointment in Samarra,” where a man tries but fails to evade a meeting with Death, hinting at death’s inevitability.
It takes place immediately after last year’s special (and thus, shortly after the end of the third series). Sherlock is pardoned and returns to London after a four-minute exile sentenced due to the murder of Charles Magnussen. The name caught in everyone’s throat is James Moriarty, however. After a barrage of “miss me” messages all over London, the iconic villain seems to be back for an encore performance.
“A target waits,” says Sherlock. And so, we’re left waiting for when Moriarty makes his move throughout the episode. “The Six Thatchers” spends half the episode getting us back into the groove of things. Sherlock solves quick-fire cases here and there, John settles into the married life, Mary goes into labor, Sherlock becomes a godfather. We all have a laugh while we wait for Moriarty to make a move. But it never comes.
At the half, Lestrade comes in with the case that leads to the titular Six Thatchers. Finally, we’ve got a case on our hands, folks! Or not. Like his quick-fires, Sherlock quickly solves this one, except he’s left with the burning intuition that something’s off. A Thatcher bust unrelated to the case was burgled from the residence recently. And Sherlock thinks it might be Moriarty.
While we’re treated to the investigation sequence we all know and love, the case quickly barrels down into action territory. The Thatchers weren’t about Moriarty after all. They were about—gasp—Mary! A ghost from her past suddenly returns and she quickly turns into a superspy once again.
“The Six Thatchers” isn’t a classic Sherlock episode. We don’t have a central case we can wrap our heads around. It had the same charm but not the cohesiveness that all the other stories were built around. Sadly, the episode’s villains were also lackluster in their villainy. By normal standards, “The Six Thatchers” still delivers an amazing story from start to finish. Sherlock, as a whole show, has just set the bar incredibly high for succeeding episodes. The episode was great but it isn’t the best one in the show from a Sherlockian perspective. And while I miss solving a case alongside Sherlock, the episode made me fall in love with the characters once again. It explored and developed the relationship between Sherlock, John, and Mary right up to its harrowing twist.
And what a twist, indeed.
Mary dies at the end! She takes a bullet meant for Sherlock. In eight-nine minutes, they made us fall in love with Mary Watson. On the ninetieth, they take that away from us. George R. R. Martin couldn’t have done it better himself. Building up a character so well for multiple episodes and killing her off in tragic fashion is either an asshole or a masterful move. In Sherlock’s case, it’s masterful. Established with a good helping of pathos, Mary’s death tugged at enough heartstrings to make it emotional.
Her passing also sets up an interesting dynamic for the rest of the fourth series. Bereaved by his wife’s death, John blames Sherlock and vows never to speak to him. Sherlock is then left with the sad conclusion that his arrogance may be catastrophic for the people he loves. With a (posthumous?) duel with Moriarty in the cards, it leaves a tremendous amount of drama and loose ends to tie up for the rest of the fourth series.
And while Mary seems to be the one inevitably chased by death in “The Appointment in Samarra,” one has to ask whether Sherlock has an appointment with life’s cruel mistress as well.
