The Great Game (Sherlock)

Sherlock Holmes is bored without stimulating cases. Mycroft Holmes urges Sherlock to investigate the death of Secret Intelligence Service clerk Andrew West and the disappearance of a flash drive containing missile plans. Sherlock refuses and then is called to Scotland Yard where Lestrade hands him an envelope containing a mobile phone identical to the victim's phone from "A Study in Pink". The phone shows a photo of a derelict room, which Sherlock recognises as the unoccupied flat 221c, downstairs from 221b. Sherlock, Watson and Lestrade enter the room and find a pair of trainers in the middle of the floor. The mobile rings, and the caller – a frightened hostage reading texts from her captor – states that if Sherlock cannot solve the puzzle in twelve hours, a bomb will kill her. After closely examining the shoes, Sherlock realises they belonged to Carl Powers, a schoolboy who drowned in a swimming pool 20 years previously. Evidence on the laces indicates that botulinum toxin was introduced into the boy's eczema medication, leading to his paralysis. Sherlock announces the solution to the bomber, and the hostage is freed. A second message shows a blood-stained sports car, and another hostage phones, giving Sherlock eight hours to solve this mystery. Finding the vehicle without its driver, Sherlock interviews the missing man's wife and the manager of the agency where the car had been rented. After finding that the blood in the car had been frozen, Sherlock announces that the missing man paid the rental agency owner to help him disappear, and the hostage is freed. A third message and hostage point Sherlock to the recent death of TV presenter Connie Prince, who allegedly died from tetanus. Watson interviews Prince's brother Kenny, and Sherlock shows that housekeeper Raoul de Santos — Kenny's lover — murdered Connie by increasing the dosage of her botox injection. Despite Sherlock solving the puzzle, the hostage is killed, along with several others, for describing the kidnapper's voice. The fourth message is a photograph of the River Thames, but no hostage calls. Sherlock and the police discover security guard Alex Woodbridge's body on the riverbank. Sherlock claims that Woodbridge was strangled by an assassin called the "Golem". He also deduces that Woodbridge worked at a local art gallery that is preparing to display an allegedly "lost" Johannes Vermeer painting. Watson visits Woodbridge's flat and finds he was interested in astronomy but not art and that a recent message on his answering machine from a professor stated that he'd been right about something. Sherlock deduces that the Vermeer painting is a forgery and that Woodbridge's discovery of it was why he was killed. The hostage calls and Sherlock gives his answer, but the hostage, a child, begins counting down. Realizing he must prove his deduction, Sherlock spots a supernova in the painting that actually appeared 200 years after Vermeer, thus saving the child. The museum curator confesses setting up the forgery and outs her accomplice: a man named "Moriarty". At Mycroft's insistence, Watson investigates West's death, and he and Sherlock track down Joe Harrison, the brother of West's fiancée, who admits to stealing the flash drive and accidentally killing West when he was confonted. Unable to sell it, Harrison kept the drive and gives it to Sherlock. Realizing that West's death and the missing flash drive were the fifth mystery, Sherlock texts the bomber, offering to turn over the device. But at the meeting place, it is Watson who arrives as the fifth hostage, wearing an explosive vest. Moriarty – who'd been seen earlier as Molly's new boyfriend Jim – appears and introduces himself as "a specialist, just like you." After taunting and threatening Sherlock, Moriarty leaves but returns after Sherlock removes Watson's vest. With multiple snipers aiming at Sherlock and Watson. Sherlock aims his handgun at the explosive vest, threatening mutual assured destruction. == Sources and allusions ==

As with all episodes of Sherlock, the plot combines those of a number of works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. • Sherlock's surprising ignorance, discussed on John's blog, about several commonplace subjects including astronomy, comes from A Study in Scarlet, as does Holmes' annoyance about ordinary people filling their minds with useless subjects. • Andrew West, the name of the MI6 clerk, comes from "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans". • The episode made reference to "The Five Orange Pips", being sent by an assassin organization as a warning. In the episode, these pips were five electronic beeps, like the pips (the time signal) broadcast on the hour by the BBC's analogue radio stations. == Production ==

According to the DVD commentary, "The Great Game" was the first episode of Sherlock to be produced after the BBC accepted the series. The series was filmed in reverse order because co-creator Steven Moffat, the writer of the first episode "A Study in Pink", was busy with the fifth series of Doctor Who. Andrew Scott made his first appearance as Jim Moriarty in "The Great Game". Moffat said, "We knew what we wanted to do with Moriarty from the very beginning. Moriarty is usually a rather dull, rather posh villain so we thought someone who was genuinely properly frightening. Someone who's an absolute psycho." Moffat and Gatiss were originally not going to put a confrontation between Moriarty and Sherlock into the first three episodes, but realised that they "just had to do a confrontation scene. We had to do a version of the scene in 'The Final Problem' in which the two arch-enemies meet each other." Baker Street was impractical because of heavy traffic and the number of things labelled "Sherlock Holmes", which would need to be disguised. "The Great Game" was partly set in a disused sewage works. == Broadcast and reception ==

"The Great Game" was first broadcast on BBC One on 8 August 2010. Overnight figures had been watched by 7.34 million viewers on BBC One and BBC HD, a 31.3% audience share. Final viewing figures rose to 9.18 million. Critical reception was highly positive. Chris Tilly of IGN rated "The Great Game" a 9.5 out of 10, describing it as "gripping from start to finish". John Teti, writing for The A.V. Club, awarded the episode an A− and called it an "extraordinarily dense 90 minutes". He further singled out Andrew Scott for praise, writing that his "portrayal of Moriarty is a thrilling departure from earlier incarnations of the man". The Guardian Sam Wollaston was optimistic for the programme, describing it as "smart, exciting, and just the right level of confusing" and described "The Great Game" as "a mash-up that totally works" and "an edge-of-the seat ride". == References ==