Pop Culture Pick: Enola Holmes Is On The Case

Sherlock's sister investigates her own mystery

Image Credit: Netflix

Welcome to Pop Culture Pick, a catch-all for subjects I want to highlight outside of the usual weekly Weekend Watch columns. In this edition, Enola Holmes proves to be a charming, engaging, adventurous romp.  

With so many adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes out in the world, it can be truly tough to find a new angle on the stories, even if you can question the logic of taking another trip into the master detective’s world. Fortunately for Enola Holmes, it has an answer for that: it isn’t about Sherlock and is all the better for that.

Adapting Nancy Springer’s young adult book series, the film finds Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown as Enola, a spirited, forward-thinking 16-year-old who grew up without much influence from older bothers Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin),  but tutored by her equally genius, eccentric mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter). Raised on a diet of unique educational methods, extensive reading, science experiments and tennis in the drawing-room, Enola has become her mother’s daughter – incredibly smart, deductive and redoubtable.

So when Eudoria disappears on Enola’s 16th  birthday, she naturally throws herself into the mystery of her mother’s whereabouts. Or she would if her older siblings didn’t show up and start to decide her future for her. Sherlock, brought to life by Cavill with an easy charm and a nice line in raised eyebrows, is sympathetic, and sees a kindred spirit in his sister. Mycroft, on the other hand (Claflin taking a healthy break from his usual blandly leading man roles to fully fill out the priggish, staid older brother) thinks she should be sewn into corsets and learn to be a proper young lady. Unimpressed by her “wild child” ways, he aims to pack Enola off to Miss Harrison’s (Fiona Shaw, all deportment and disapproval) finishing school. Enola, as you might expect, isn’t having any of it.

The stage is therefore set for what can best be described as a truly compelling romp, anchored by Brown, who breaks free of Eleven’s nosebleed telepathy to embody the dynamic young woman who relies on her wits, fighting skills and powers of reasoning instead of needing the men around her to save the day. And far from being what some fools could describe as a “Mary Sue” (a female hero inserted into a story who is perfect from the get-go), Enola is allowed to be reliably human, feeling the hits when they come. But even her potential love interest (and a key component in the story), Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge), is given some shades of grey in between floppy-haired glances at our heroine. 

Around this pair is built a solid mystery, Jack Thorne’s script providing a fleet-footed story that rarely stops for breath, but never forgets the finer details. The narrative drives forward, Enola letting us in on her inner thoughts via asides to camera. All that fourth-wall-breaking could leave rubble to trip up the plot, but fortunately, director Harry Bradbeer, a veteran of working with Phoebe Waller-Bridge on shows such as Fleabag and Killing Eve, handles it all with panache. Together, Thorne, Bradbeer and Brown ensure that it’s never overdone, and Enola remains entertaining throughout. In addition to its light touch and quick pace, the visual style is by turns sumptuous and fizzy, with animations filling in occasional exposition so that it doesn’t weigh down the movie. Also treated well are the ideas of tradition vs. reform and how tough it can be for some to adapt to change. 

There’s a lot to recommend about this new take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s sleuthing world (even if the estate has launched a vaguely ridiculous lawsuit against Netflix, Nancy Springer and others for use of an “empathetic” Sherlock it claims is only used in stories that are still under its copyright control), and if there’s any justice, it’ll launch a franchise of films so we all get to follow more of Enola’s adventures. It’s no mystery – this could be the start of something worth watching. 

Enola Holmes will debut on Netflix on 23 September.