Retrospective Review Re-post
#6.5: Many Happy Returns
Written by Prof. Jenn
Of course, as usual, this retrospective review is full of spoilers. But, like, you’ve got the whole min-ep right here, and it’ll only take up about 7 minutes of your time, so. Yanno. Get on that.
ALSO: this retro-review was originally posted on fansite Sherlock’s Home in 2016, and has been slightly revised since then, not including the British spelling and punctuation. Because seeing my writing looking all English tickles me pink. Or, should I say: I get chuffed to bits.
Before the resolution of the crazily wideswept and intricate “How did Sherlock survive” cliffhanger in Series 3, we got a charming little short released online called “Many Happy Returns.” The title is already a play on words as it refers not only to birthday greetings but also the imminent return of Sherlock. If you’ve never seen it before, watch it here.
Our story opens with the identical opening score from The Blind Banker, and we see a Tibetan monastery scene with the unveiling of a villain, which hard-cuts directly to newly-fanboy-crazed Anderson, who is in a pub with Lestrade, maps and notes spread out all over the table. We understand therefore that Anderson is quite changed from his previously antagonistic point of view, having turned 180 degrees from main accuser of Sherlock in “The Reichenbach Fall” to this bearded obsessive, and we also hear that this obsession has cost him his job. Lestrade is beyond skeptical, and exasperatedly listens to Anderson go through a story in India and then Germany, before he admonishes Anderson that Sherlock is indeed dead, and goes to the home of Dr. Watson.
Martin Freeman gives an exquisitely subtle acting job in his portrayal of grieving John, who’s apparently doing “much better,” which makes us think that maybe it got very bad for him. Lestrade returns (again with the play on Many Happy Returns) a box of some of Sherlock’s old things that were left at Scotland Yard, among which is an uncut version of a birthday video he had made for Watson. After pouring a stiff drink later, John watches the video, and has some odd, almost portentous, exchanges with it. Those of you who are Doctor Who fans will be reminded of eerie episode “Blink,” with its DVD-related puzzles and omens. Speaking of omens, we get one more right as Lestrade leaves, walking past a man reading a newspaper, the headline of which reads: “The Game is Back On.”
CLOSING THOUGHT: Though there is a scene at the beginning of “The Empty Hearse” between Lestrade and Anderson (the first of a few fanboy theories of Sherlock’s survival), I feel that this mini-episode is still an essential part of the series as a whole, and adds much depth to the continuity of the whole. What it does is twofold: it shows the change in Anderson’s character, and shows the seriousness of John’s grieving. Those two character developments, added to seeing bluff, competent Lestrade doing business as usual, prepares us much more completely for what “The Empty Hearse” then goes into.
EASTER EGG: Oh, there are a few, but my favorite one is the glimpse we get of the yellow face-mask in the box of Sherlock’s things. It’s a reference to Doyle story “The Adventure of the Yellow Face.” That and the Indian inspector’s deducing the time of death by the depth of chocolate flake sunk in an ice cream cone* both gave me delight, as they both are pretty obscure references to adventures (and mere mentions of unwritten adventures) in the original canon. So many delightful references, even here in a short film.
*the passing reference, from “The Six Napoleons,” goes like this:
“You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth to which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.”
Listen to how similar that line is to the line from “Many Happy Returns:”
“…which I did, by working out the depth to which the chocolate flake had sunk into the victim’s ice cream cone.”
RATING: 5 Xs on the map out of 5