"Sherlock" is back on the case for a second season on PBS’ "Masterpiece Mystery!" (8 p.m. Sunday). Once again, star Benedict Cumberbatch is magnetic with the quirky, sly demeanor he brings to Sherlock Holmes.
It was the one-two punch of "Sherlock" (in fall 2010) and season one of "Downton Abbey" (in early 2011) that made viewers start to rethink their notion of PBS as a network that only grandparents watch.
Season two of "Downton" brought a slew of younger viewers to PBS who may return again for these three new "Sherlock" episodes.
Sunday night’s premiere, "A Scandal in Belgravia," picks up right where season one ended. Evil Moriarty (Andrew Scott) has put John Watson (Martin Freeman, "The Office") in a bomb vest and has a gun on Holmes. That bit of messiness is untangled quickly and then Holmes auditions folks as he tries to find a new case. He dismisses many as "boring."
The first half-hour bounces from one case to another. It’s confusing, but Holmes eventually settles on investigating "the woman" after he gets called to Buckingham Palace by an unnamed but obviously high-profile client.
Leave it to this Holmes to appear at the palace dressed only in a bedsheet, much to the consternation of his older brother, Mycroft (Mark Gatiss), who maintains a lofty, if nebulous, position within the British government.
"The woman," who may possess photos of an important British figure in a compromising position, is Irene Adler (Lara Pulver, "True Blood"). She bears the same name as a character from Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1891 Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia."
This updated Adler is a dominatrix sex worker who causes Holmes to see question marks, clouding his ability to piece together her personality and background.
By the end of the episode, all the seemingly disparate cases introduced at the start have come together, proving them worthy of inclusion. But there are also a few disappointing deus ex machina plot twists.
The new episodes also make a point to play up the notion of Holmes as a public figure whose expertise in crime-solving results in news coverage on a regular basis. He’s even photographed wearing a familiar deerstalker hat.
Always arrogant, occasionally this Holmes can be ill-tempered, but most of the time Holmes’ cheeky sense of humor makes this version of the character a delight.
