WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ‘THE LYING DETECTIVE’ WITHIN. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
Yesterday’s middle episode of Series Four, titled ‘The Lying Detective‘, brought with one one show-stopping twist. It turns out that Sherlock and Mycroft don’t have another brother, as was heavily hinted at – they have an evil sister, Euros, as played by Sian Brooke.
This isn’t an off-the-wall decision by showrunners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, as they have actually been playing with the idea of Sherlock having a sister since the very first series of the show. Here’s what Mark Gatiss had to say about it at a BAFTA screening of the episode:
“It started as a joke years, years ago. Right from the beginning of the first season, there was a line in ‘The Great Game’ when we were sort of sketching in the idea of the Holmes family and there was going to be a line about Mycroft being a member, Sherlock admitting that he was cleverer than him and then him kindly saying, mind you…my sister… It was absolutely cut off, and that’s really where it all began. [At the time] we thought, we won’t do too much. And thank god we didn’t, as it gives us this place to go.“
Moffat added:
“The scene where Euros finally unveils herself, we’ve been sitting on that since we sat talking about it on the production bus… when we were shooting His Last Vow. We’ve been talking about it ever since then, so it’s kind of weird that in few hours time we won’t have to kill people to keep the secret.”
On how they endeavored to keep Euros’ identity a secret for the audience, he had this to say:
“She doesn’t actually look all that different, but it’s always to try and keep you looking somewhere else. That’s the trick isn’t it? In terms of the frame, the shots…it’s your first look at Toby Jones as Culverton Smith, so your eyes drift to him…it’s your first look at druggy Sherlock Holmes, your eyes drift to him…you’re constantly looking. When you go back and look at that – talk about plain sight, right there! That’s two different women, and there’s one woman playing them.”
Did you guess the twist before it happened? Let us know in the comments below!
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It’s going even further. A Study in Pink… “Sister. It’s your sister. There’s always something”.
Hmm, of course, when you hear the name “Harry” you directly assume it is a male, same with Sherrinford. Altough Sherrinford isn’t such a common name as Harry is, you’d think it belongs to a male person.
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Remember what Sherlock said, people always stop looking after three.
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I am an Art teacher, and I see people in terms of bone structure, coloring, etc… I had a funny, nagging tickle in my mind about John’s therapist and the girl he was texting, but I didn’t have a clue, really, until the end. Sister! Wow!
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YESSSS, @Denise McRea! Thank you, yes! I’ve drawn and painted since childhood and I love looking at people and things with an eye to drawing and painting them. When I saw John’s therapist after Sherlock’s client flashback scene, I did a double-take: not the same woman surely? And the client wasn’t QUITE Culverton’s daughter, because the lip shape and cheekbones didn’t match.
(And I don’t know how Euros got the daughter’s handwritten note. It was about two yeaers old by the time Sherlock acquired it and Culverton was the last hands seen on it until Euros gave it to Sherlock … Hmmm … any theories on how that came about?)
I confess, I COMPLETELY missed Euros as John’s text-affair. *facepalm!*
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I was expecting “Sherrinford” to be a sister…there was too much talk about Tom Hiddleston for it NOT to be a sister. I just wasn’t expecting the twist as it was presented in TLD…I was thinking the actress playing all 3 characters was trying to get information and was ultimately working for Culverton Smith. How wrong I was!!! I love the twist!!
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I think it’s cheap. They teased a brother in Sherrinford and even took a photo op with Tom Hiddleston and holding up the sign ‘Sherrinford.’ Talk about a huge let down. I’m very disappointed.
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Well it is still not quite sure if Euros and Sherrinford are the same person. Because I don’t think so. It is possible that Sherrinford is an organisation or something and if he is a person, then I swear to god, I need Tom Hiddleston in Sherlock.
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I thought the therapist was oddly insightful in a Sherlocky-y kind of way, but other than that… nope, did not see that coming.
Anyone could have told there was something suspicious about John’s fling, though.
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i wish it could be a sister as in one book i love (Enola Holmes). And i’m happy they made it come true. Never thought she could be evil. But can’t wait to see how it goes.
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I called it with my daughter last season. Just a hunch, but I said, “The ‘other’ is going to be a sister, not a brother”. She didn’t believe me. I was so happy and thoroughly have enjoyed this season 5 thus far. Will be sad, again, when it ends!
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@Dea–The Other being a Sister. Yes, we should all have seen it coming. After all, in _The Empire Strikes Back_, the “other” hope of the Jedi turned out to be Luke’s sister, Leia.
So why not have a sister for Holmes?
Also, though in real life, “Sherringford” was a name that Conan Doyle crossed out in his manuscript in favor of another name, given how things have been changed around for the modern retelling of the Canon, “Sherringford” could just as easily be a place name, instead of a given name. Perhaps Sherringford is the name of the place at which Euros was being cared for. Or perhaps the name of her caretaker? Or it could be a code name for an Eyes-Only project.
I guess we’ll have to wait for the last episode of the series to find out.
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