Sherlock Holmes is a name that automatically evokes the image of a dashing, well-groomed gentleman in a hat, who makes everyone else look stupid just by walking into a room. And sometimes, that image can get pretty boring. Well, it seems Prime Video figured out a way around it because the streamer’s TV show, Young Sherlock, is anything but boring.
Instead of the polished version of the master detective, they decided to give viewers a 19-year-old version who is basically a hot mess. You know, the kind who cheats people out of their money with his big brain and makes family members cringe at dinner parties. This Sherlock is one stupid decision away from returning to the prison his brother bailed him out of at the start of the series. In fact, the creators took a significant risk by turning a beloved character into a criminal. It could have blown up in their faces and alienated audiences. But somehow, it totally works.
How Making Sherlock A Problem First Could Have Backfired
One of Sherlock’s biggest flexes is his calm, steady, already-ten-steps-ahead nature. No one asked for a Sherlock who needs his big brother to bail him out of prison. That’s not what fans of the character are used to. And it’s the kind of detail that has the potential to turn people off. But the creators of Young Sherlock felt it was worth the risk.
Right off the bat, you see that this Sherlock (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) is a headache to his family, friends, and everyone around him. On top of being a nuisance, albeit a brilliant one, he also carries himself like someone too smart to ever be wrong. This version of Sherlock is like that friend or relative who always embarrasses you and still thinks they know better than you, even when they’re wrong.
Now, making Sherlock such a mess could have backfired in a big way because there was always the chance that viewers would find him unlikeable as opposed to the usual “complicated” tag he gets. But the creators pulled things out of the fire for his time at Oxford, where he was forced to use his big brain for something bigger than causing trouble. Turns out making him a problem first is exactly what makes his story feel a little bit more grounded.
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Turning Moriarty Into A Friend Was Another Huge Gamble
So, yeah, maybe, just maybe, you get away with making Sherlock a young miscreant who broke the law more than once. But if there’s one thing fans of the Sherlock story don’t want you messing with, it’s the big bad that’s James Moriarty. This dude is just… the villain. The inevitable terror that Sherlock must eventually deal with. Plain and simple. Yet, in Young Sherlock, the creators go “let’s make him… normal, friendly, the invited-to-dinner kind.”
Now that’s risky in a completely different way. Why? Softening the image of Moriarty could have somehow made him feel less dangerous, less iconic, and more like a sidekick to Sherlock (it kinda did, by the way). But, in the end, it rightly had the opposite effect. All that camaraderie and “mind palace” rendezvous only served to make Moriarty’s (Dónal Finn) eventual betrayal in the Season 1 finale when he steals the bomb formula land harder.
Especially because Sherlock didn’t see it coming. Not because he wasn’t smart enough. At that point, he was already showing the level of brilliance we’ve come to expect from the character. It was simply because he trusted Moriarty. And with that, the show lets viewers in on the reason Sherlock rarely displays emotions and keeps people at arm’s length. It’s not necessarily because he’s above everyone else. It’s something deeper than that: he’s been burned before.
Sherlock’s First Case Turns Into Something Much Bigger
At first, the case is simple. A professor is dead. All clues point to Sherlock as the murderer, and he has to prove it wasn’t him. Easy premise, right? Wrong. So wrong. Instead, the story snowballs into something that would make veteran spies go, “Okay, that’s a lot.” You’ve got Xiao Wei (Zine Tseng) impersonating Princess Shou’an to avenge her family. Her quest, and subsequently Sherlock’s investigation, uncovers the fact that Oxford is hiding several people with scary secrets. Suddenly, it stops being about one dead professor. Now it’s about stolen artifacts, political games, and people who would squash a 19-year-old like a bug without thinking twice.
Guy Ritchie brings his chaotic style to this, which fits perfectly with how the mind of a teenage Sherlock works; and if anyone is the perfect fit to direct a Sherlock project, it’s Ritchie, who also directed the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies. Young Sherlock’s visuals are fast and loud, mirroring how a young and untrained mind might process a crime scene. Sherlock’s not cool and collected yet. He’s trying to solve a puzzle while the whole room’s on fire and everyone’s screaming. It’s stressful and exciting and kind of funny because you can tell he’s in way over his head.
The best part? By the end, he’s figured out that his brain isn’t just a toy for winning arguments. It’s actually useful for something real. Solving this case turns him from the problem child into the detective we all know he’s going to become. It’s a messy, fun ride that shows sometimes you have to get a little dirty yourself to catch the real monsters.
See all eight episodes of Young Sherlock on Prime Video. Watch the genius detective as a young man who falls flat on his face before he became the legend you know today.
