The Six Thatchers

"The Six Thatchers"
Sherlock episode
Episode no.	Episode 1
Directed by	Rachel Talalay
Written by	Mark Gatiss
Produced by	Mark Gatiss Steven Moffat Zakaria Alaoui
Featured music	David Arnold Michael Price
Cinematography by	Stuart Biddlecombe
Editing by	Will Oswald
Original air date	1 January 2017 (2017-01-01)
Running time	88 minutes

"The Six Thatchers" is the first episode of the fourth series of the British television programme Sherlock and the eleventh episode overall. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One and PBS on 1 January 2017.

Plot

The episode opens with a monologue from Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) telling the story of a merchant who comes in contact with Death and despite his attempts, cannot escape fate. Mycroft briefs Sherlock and a parliamentary committee chaired by Lady Smallwood on the new 'official' story of Charles Augustus Magnussen's death ("His Last Vow") — the video footage has been doctored to make it appear as though he was shot by a sniper. John and Mary Watson welcome the arrival of a baby daughter, whom they name Rosamund Mary. Following the events of "The Abominable Bride", Sherlock becomes obsessed with working out his archenemy Moriarty's posthumous revenge, with Mycroft and Scotland Yard detectives including Greg Lestrade assisting him in solving seemingly trivial cases, hoping it will lead them to a larger scheme.

Sherlock investigates a case where the son of a former Conservative MP is found dead in a car crash, despite seemingly being on a gap year in Tibet. Sherlock quickly solves the case, but is distracted by a missing bust of Margaret Thatcher at the victim's home, discovering that it was stolen and smashed upon the front porch. Four other identical busts are smashed and upon encountering and fighting the culprit, Sherlock discovers that the last bust contains a memory stick with information about Mary and her past as a government agent. The culprit, a former teammate, seeks revenge in the belief that Mary betrayed him. Upon being questioned by Sherlock, Mary explains that she was part of a freelance task force named 'A.G.R.A.', derived from the members’ names, Mary being 'R' for Rosamund (her real name) and 'A', her pursuer, Ajay (Sacha Dhawan). All members had a memory stick containing data on each other, in the event that one was betrayed. Six years ago, a rescue mission of hostages at the British embassy in Georgia goes wrong when a coup d'etat (set off by a code word Ammo) results in the death of presumably all A.G.R.A agents, save Mary. Sherlock tries to persuade Mary to not go after Ajay. Feigning agreement, Mary knocks Sherlock out with a drugged letter and escapes.

Sherlock visits Mycroft to discuss the situation. Mycroft explains that he had previously hired 'A.G.R.A.' for assignments but not since the failed mission. He also states that he has no knowledge of 'Ammo'. Meanwhile, Mary travels across the world following a random path to cover her tracks. However, Sherlock and John find her in Morocco, having placed a tracking device on the memory stick, but so does Ajay. Ajay explains that he was captured by the terrorists but not before hiding his memory stick in one of the Thatcher busts which he intended to recover to track down Mary who he blames for his capture. During his torture, Ajay heard whispers of "Ammo" and "the English woman" being the reason for the failure of the mission. Ajay attempts to kill the trio but is shot by police. They reflect on the events and realise that Ajay was working on the assumption that "the English woman" was Mary. Sherlock convinces Mary to return to London, where he can protect her as promised.

Sherlock calls Mycroft and explains that 'Ammo' is actually Amo, the Latin word for "I love". Lady Smallwood, whose codename is Love, is then questioned by Mycroft, but she proves to have no information about the coup. Sherlock later pieces together the final part of the puzzle when he recalls Mary mentioning the ability of receptionists to pick up and gather all kinds of information. He meets Smallwood's secretary Vivian Norbury in the London Aquarium. When the police and Mary arrive, Vivian reveals that she tipped off the terrorists in Georgia, using the code "Amo", on the rescue so that the hostages as well as 'A.G.R.A.' could be eliminated. Her motive was to kill the British ambassador who had found out that Vivian had sold national secrets. Vivian pulls out a gun and shoots at Sherlock, but Mary jumps in the way, taking the bullet. John arrives in time and Mary professes her love for being 'Mary Watson', before dying in his arms. As Sherlock had vowed to protect her, this creates a rift between him and John.

After Vivian’s arrest, Sherlock visits John’s therapist but is reluctant to converse. Returning to Baker Street, Sherlock and Mrs. Hudson lament the loss. Sherlock opens a parcel containing a DVD; with a posthumous message from Mary, where she instructs him to 'Save John Watson'. Returning to the story of the merchant, Sherlock concludes that death is inevitable but ponders if the circumstances are avoidable.

In a post-credits scene, additional footage from Mary’s DVD shows her saying 'Go to Hell, Sherlock'.

Production

The title and elements of the plot come from Conan Doyle's stories "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons", The Sign of the Four and "The Adventure of the Yellow Face"

Broadcast and reception

The episode premiered in the United Kingdom and the United States simultaneously. In the UK, it was premiered at 8:30pm GMT on BBC One and in the US, it premiered at 9 PM ET/PT on PBS.

The Guardian review gave a good review by saying "Cumberbatch channels Bond in the most explosive outing yet"., IGN gave a mixed review a 5.5/10 calling it "Mediocre" and "Sherlock returns with a confused and confusing case involving Margaret Thatcher's head.", Digital Spy called it "satisfying enough" and saying "'The Six Thatchers' is an engaging outing with one fatal flaw, Everything works... apart from the one thing that really needs to." . The Telegraph gave a good review with a rating of 4/5 stars, calling it " a dizzying triumph of complex plotting"

"Appointment in Samarra"

Sherlock's monologue at the opening of the episode is an abridged version of an ancient Middle Eastern fable, first appearing in its modern form at the conclusion of the play Sheppey (1933) by William Somerset Maugham.

External links

• "The Six Thatchers" at IMDb