The Blind Banker

Not the strongest of episodes and a decline in quality. The first episode was a great and amazing start and a great introduction to these iconic characters. Sadly this episode didn't quite hit the mark and was a bit all over the place. I will off course continue watching.

This episode was funny, with good references and a good mystery, but the villain was disappointing.

Sherlock Holmes, assisted by Dr Watson, is hired by a large bank to investigate the vandalism of an artwork on the bank's premises. Someone managed to get into the bank and paint a symbol on the painting. Holmes works out that it was a message, and who the message was for. However, when he finds the person, he is dead, shot. To the police it is suicide, as nobody could have gotten into his apartment, it seems, but Holmes is convinced that he was murdered Just then a journalist turns up murdered in their apartment, and Holmes thinks the two crimes are connected. Through tracking the journalist's movements, Holmes discovers the connection - they both were presented with ancient Chinese symbols, sent as a warning. The key to the case lies with a Chinese woman, working at the museum.

Intriguing, dark and tension-filled. A good mystery that moves at a decent pace. Some decent action sequences too, some humour and even a bit of romance. Something for everybody.

With its major character introductions already out of the way, this second episode of BBC's Sherlock is able to focus more on defining roles and settling in. Holmes and Watson are already developing a prickly, sarcastic working relationship that's not without precedent but still somewhat befuddling. Watson, the kind-enough everyman, is so constantly on the pointed end of Sherlock's icy pokes and prods, it's easy to question why he sticks around - that is, until the duo lock in and begin functioning together near the end of the chapter. Even at their worst moments, though, the two work as a good balance for each other: Holmes as the brilliant, socially-stunted brains behind the operation and Watson the more personable, common sense-minded counterweight. The production values of this episode aren't quite up to those of the premiere, with a few major scenes looking very much like they were shot for TV, but it does manage to retain the cool, unique editing techniques and visually-indicated clues I liked so much in its debut. In terms of the plot, the B-level murder mystery does lead to a couple of surprisingly good scenes, but ultimately doesn't measure up to the high standards set by the first episode. Still, it's fine material that's much, much better than the Downey-helmed American interpretations.

Though maintaining an engaging rapport between its two protagonists and an imaginative filmmaking style, Sherlock sees a severe step back in quality in "The Blind Banker", a generic whodunit follow-up to the phenomenal pilot. There aren't any exciting villains or really interesting supporting characters, as both Mycroft and Lestrade have gone AWOL, and the feature-length second episode has a pace and thrill problem in general.

Curiously, it takes quite some time for that to become clear, as "The Blind Banker" commences with a lot of witty moments and the type of brilliant dead-pan situation analysing I've already grown to adore about Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes. However, after some thirty minutes, screenwriter Stephen Thompson appears to have run out of supplies and in exchange opts for only re-writing the source material and including an awful lot of detective story clichés. Neither would I have been surprised nor disappointed by that – at the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had been writing his Sherlock Holmes novels, these sorts of storytelling techniques hadn't been counting as clichés and this series is still an adaption of his works after all – hadn't the crime-solving part consumed such a vast portion of the episode, incorporating the development of John and Sherlock's relationship and the introduction of Sarah a bit sloppily just along the way.

For the crime story and its outcome itself, well, it's surely not on the qualitative upper end of all Sherlock Holmes stories and it will hardly be remembered for its clever or even genuinely threatening antagonists. And as if to secure that this episode is inferior to the whole rest of the bunch by an English-Channel-sized margin with all means available, there's also a colossal bouquet of plot holes to indulge in, along with some general oversimplifying, i.e. Sherlock and John ambling through the not particularly tiny city of London and encountering important hints for unravelling the murders as frequently as bookstalls. Then there's the ever-present prowess of Sherlock Holmes that does go beyond the boundaries of believability a handful of times in "The Blind Banker", but I guess that's something you've got to accept with such a series and its other instalments don't very much exclude it either.

"The Blind Banker" surely is a fun time to watch and benefits from passionate acting, excellent dialogue, and the basic idea behind Sherlock that is of course kept on with. However, whether it's viewed with a critical eye or not, this episode is simply subpar to all of the series's others and maybe would have been better off receiving a second attempt at filming it, just as the pilot had been.

My detective scribblings: • Sherlock ex machina. I was really hoping not having to use that terrible pun when reviewing this series, but here I am, thanks to Stephen Thompson's lack of imagination. • Smart reference to the source material with Sherlock just randomly fighting a robed figure in the beginning of the episode. • Since he is right about the epitome of a socially awkward fellow, it's only been a matter of time until the series included Sherlock Holmes simpering and, well, here it is! • What is with Sherlock's soft-focused establishing shots? It does provide them with a more distinctive touch, but I don't see it as a highly necessary thing to do. Otherwise, there are loads of good-looking shots in this episode. • WHAT? Sherlock Holmes is using Internet Explorer? • And I also do wonder what sorts of news websites he is visiting if they are listing things such as "Canine roller-coaster enthusiast" under their top news. • General Shan creeping from the other side of the street really was a well-done suspension building move "The Blind Banker" would have needed more of. • As if series creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss had listened to my criticisms about their pilot (and not minding the facts that I uttered these three years after this episode had already premiered), Sherlock's unneeded thought bubbles have been taken out for the biggest part. However, this has now led to him soliloquising here and there, which I don't really prefer over the on-screen writing. • Best line of dialogue: "I said could you pass me a pen." Taking Sherlock Holmes as an inspiration, I'll start conversations with that phrase more often from now on.