The Curious Case of Young Sherlock, Moriarty, Mycroft et al

Crafting a classic prequel to the investigative endeavours of Sherlock Holmes, the series delves into a mystery during his younger days that shaped his career. Created by Mathew Parkhill, Peter Harness and Guy Ritchie, the plot searches the origin of one of the most revered analytical minds in the history of detective fiction, interpolating back to the days when the investigator in Sherlock was young and maturing.

The main theme revolves around a haunting event that struck the Holmes family when Sherlock was just a boy that apparently intertwines with a curious case that Sherlock gets involved in concerning murder, missing persons and theft. Pulled out from the gaols by his brother Mycroft, after being thrown in due to his attempts at mastering the art of picking pockets (and returning) went awry, the young and fiercely intelligent Sherlock is obviously frustrated to find himself in the shoes of a scout at Oxford, with the best prospect being graduating to the post of a porter of the college. But that could never be a deterrent to the enterprising Sherlock as knowledge could be gained from quality books that Oxford could never be scarce of. Taking sneak peeks to whatever volumes that he could lay hold of, the young porter enriched his already inquisitive mind with the developments in the world that had evolved.

But as quite a few good things do not have a very happy finale, his adventure with knowledge was sure to suffer a major jolt!

There was a theft in the college. This followed a murder. Queerly, in both, Sherlock got himself involved, suspected........ and finally, once more, found himself behind the prison bars.

Enter Moriarty, a student at the college, a friend to Sherlock by their common interest for the uncommon and with intellect comparable and complement to his friend.

Surely the pen is mightier than the sword, but when two sharp enterprising souls joins force, the iron bars of the gaol are surely not enough!

But a break from the prison might free him, the accusation, however, remains.

So, thus starts the trek through the layers of lies against forces that are sinister yet sober, which  camouflages behind the unspeakably unethical!

The series is a very interesting search on the origin of the investigative mind that had mesmerised the fans of detective narratives through decades.

However, this pilot season of what could be a quite remarkable series, is enjoyable for a slightly different aspect. The search for the intellectual maturity combines with the subtle search for the characters that mature as well, much needed for completing the portraits that could be admired, in case of Sherlock, feared, in case of James Moriarty and become increasingly and happily intriguing, for Mycroft Holmes of the future!