New ‘Sherlock’ Mini-Episode Teases Detective’s Return
‘Sherlock’ certainly knows how to make a re-entrance. The acclaimed series is set to return next month for its third season on PBS and, to further stoke anticipation, the BBC has released an enigmatic new mini-episode online. It tracks the return of Benedict Cumberbatch‘s brilliant, socially-challenged detective from a grave that, one could deduce, he never filled.
“Many Happy Returns” follows up “The Reichenbach Fall,” the Season Two finale of January 2012 in which Sherlock faked his suicide in London. Now, years later, we open on a mysterious blonde drug smuggler uncovered among a group of monks – a stunning discovery that could only be attributed to Holmes, or so insists Detective Anderson (Jonathan Aris), who tries to convince Inspector Lestrade (Rupert Graves) that the detective isn’t dead after all.
Anderson points to two other cases – including one murder involving ice cream “solved” by an inspector in New Delhi – that bear Holmes’ trademark reasoning and reluctance to accept any credit. Still, Lestrade remains unconvinced, even as Anderson traces a line of miraculously solved crimes that seem to indicate a return to London.
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After finishing his pint, Lestrade goes to see John Watson (Martin Freeman) and hands Holmes’ trusty sidekick an uncut version of a video message the detective once made for Watson’s birthday. In it, we finally see Sherlock, unsure how to tell Watson why he can’t attend his birthday party. (The real reason: because there will be people.) “So what do you want me to do at the end?” Holmes asks. “Shall I smile and wink? I do that sometimes; I’ve no idea why. People seem to like it. It humanizes me. It’s fine, whatever.”
After insulting his friend in the sweetest way possible, we see Sherlock’s message, in which he offers Watson many happy returns and promises, “Don’t worry, I’m going to be with you again very soon.” Then Watson is distracted by a ringing phone. So how does the clip end? With Holmes offering a wink and a smile, of course.
Thanks to Sherlock, Cumberbatch has seen his Hollywood stock rise significantly in the past few years. He recently voiced the titular dragon in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, starred as the nefarious John Harrison in Star Trek Into Darkness, and made a turn as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate. Over the summer, Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro said he was hoping to cast the actor in his upcoming adaptation of Frankenstein.
Season Three of Sherlock will air on Sunday nights on PBS starting January 19th. The show will be paired, fittingly, with the fifth season of the hit BBC drama Downton Abbey.