‘THE BLIND BANKER’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The Black Lotus Tong with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s Watson
‘The Blind Banker’ is the second episode in Series 1 of ‘Sherlock’, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. The episode is by Stephen Thompson, who would go on to do ‘Doctor Who’ stories.
In Steven Moffat’s era of ‘Doctor Who’, Stephen Thompson wrote ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’, ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’ and ‘Time Heist’ (the later he co-wrote with Steven Moffat). 😀
‘The Blind Banker’ happens to be the first of three ‘Sherlock’ episodes that Stephen Thompson wrote for the series. This episode happens to be a loose adaptation of ‘The Adventure of the Dancing Men’.
In the 1939-46 film series, ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon’ is also loosely based on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story. Intriguing how the ‘Sherlock’ TV series tackled adapting from that story compared to ‘The Secret Weapon’ film.
The episode is also directed by Euros Lyn, who directed a number of ‘Doctor Who’ episodes in the Russell T. Davies era. Odd that Euros Lyn didn’t direct ‘Doctor Who’ episodes in Steven Moffat’s era.
‘The Blind Banker’ has Sherlock and Dr. John Watson investigating a series of ciphers representing numbers in an ancient Chinese numeral system. These have been left by a Chinese smuggling ring. 😐
They happen to be called the Black Lotus Tong, intent on killing people to retrieve an item that one of their members stole. The ring’s leader also seems to be in cahoots with a deadly foe of Sherlock’s.
Despite it attracting 8.07 million viewers on BBC One and BBC HD and the critical reception being positive, some reviewers felt this episode was inferior to the series’ first episode ‘A Study in Pink’. 😐
This was interesting to learn. I don’t mind this episode much and I’ve seen it more than once to get an idea of what’s going on in it. I also think the episode’s a bit clearer to follow compared to the first.
With that said, I’m not sure I entirely comprehend why the Black Lotus Tong would want to kill their members as Sherlock and Watson investigate. Mind you, this is a Chinese group we’re talking about.
Benedict Cumberbatch is good as Sherlock in the episode. I’d like to think he’s growing on me as the series progresses. He can still be a jerk though, especially when he tends to ignore Watson’s feelings.
Martin Freeman is equally good as John Watson in the episode. I enjoyed how he gets frustrated with Sherlock handling cases. It was nice to see Watson date a girlfriend whilst doing crime-fighting.
Louise Brealey returns as Molly Hooper and she continues to have a crush on Sherlock in the episode. 🙂 There’s also Zoe Telford as Dr. Sarah Sawyer, who ends up being Watson’s girlfriend here.
Gemma Chan guest stars as Soo Lin Yao, one of the Black Lotus Tong members who works at a London museum. Gemma Chan appeared in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode called ‘The Waters of Mars’. 🙂
She’s also in the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ film called ‘Eternals’. It was also very nice to see Al Weaver (who would go on to play Leonard Finch in ‘Grantchester’) as Andy Galbraith in the episode.
The episode also features Paul Chequer as D. I. Dimmock, who temporary takes charge of the crime investigation whilst Lestrade is away. There’s also Bertie Carvel as Seb Wilkes, a friend of Sherlock’s.
The rest of the cast include Daniel Percival as Eddie Van Coon, Howard Coggins as Brian Lukis, Janice Acquah as a museum director, Jack Bence as Raz and John MacMillan as a community police officer.
There’s also Olivia Poulet as Amanda. Olivia Poulet is well-known to Big Finish listeners for playing Emma Peel in ‘The Avengers’ audios. She’s also appeared in some ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventures. 🙂
The episode’s villain happens to be Sarah Lam as General Shan. It was tense when Shan assumed Watson was Sherlock and she was about to kill Watson’s girlfriend Sarah, before Sherlock stepped in.
At the end of the episode, Shan escapes and she’s in communication with a certain ‘M’. It’ll be interesting to see how Sherlock gets to meet the certain ‘M’ who clearly must be James Moriarty. 😀
‘The Blind Banker’ is an enjoyable ‘Sherlock’ episode in the series. I don’t think it’s a great episode but it was easier to follow compared to ‘A Study in Pink’ and the performances of the cast are good.
‘The Blind Banker’ rating – 7/10
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