Sherlock Holmes is not real even though it may feel to the contrary. Some 126 years after his creation by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes continues to enjoy remarkable reimaginings, the best of which is the BBC’s highly acclaimed series ‘Sherlock.’
The second season of the hit series ended with Sherlock, played with wicked self-absorption by Benedict Cumberbatch, leaping to his “death.” Of course, the BBC knows better than to actually kill a perfectly profitable protagonist. So it has just released a free seven-minute teaser “mini” episode on YouTube titled ‘Many Happy Returns” before season 3 of the series goes back on air on January 1, 2014.
The teaser teases by having a series of global crimes, which includes one in New Delhi, getting solved in a manner that only Sherlock can. That seems to set the stage for his return from the dead. As bringing back a highly lucrative fictional character from the dead goes, this is a pretty inventive way. In case it is lost on anyone that Holmes is coming back in some form at least, a video recording of his that Dr. Watson (A very able Martin Freeman), is watching ends with the detective saying, “I’ll be seeing you again very soon.”
For all one knows, season 3 may not even bring back Sherlock in the traditional manner but merely have a Holmes like apparition solving crimes without being actually revealed.
Having read Holmes for 42 years out of my 52, I am at a stage where it is no longer the plot but the atmospherics that draw me to it. Holmes is a habit for me which I succumb to unthinkingly and often. I was already reading a relatively less known story titled ‘The Resident Patient’ last night. Although the Holmes of yore as conceived by Conan Doyle was way too cool in and of himself, the BBC’s modern telling has that glossy visual shine that I am a sucker for.
