The Blind Banker offers two strong performances which are unfortunately brought short by a clichéd and somewhat disorienting storyline. Yes, the basic pieces are here and they are great, but there are many things that someone even barely familiar with East Asia might find irritating.
First of all, a disclaimer: I am a sinologist and therefore obviously sensitized towards these things. However, I feel that this episodes gets things wrong at every turn - enough to warrant irritation for the casual viewer.
But let us begin from the start. Holmes and Watson investigate a series of murders only to stumble upon a cipher and traces leading to a Chinese crime syndicate.
The performances of the leads are strong. Lestrade is replaced by a stand-in, who does his best to dislike Holmes and makes for a few good exchanges, but is all in all unremarkable. Urban London is once again shown to great effect and the series once again manages to root its story in a very solid sense of time and space.
However, as noted above, I have several nits to pick. The episode manages an amazing feat: Making China a central plot point and meaning Japan. For example, Holmes and Watson visit a store that imports "lucky cats" from China. While it might be reasonable to assume that these cats, small figurines with a moving, "waving" arm, might be produced in China for the lower price of manufacture, they are as Japanese as Mount Fuji. Even worse, the episodes continues to try and convince us that the Japanese tea tradition is actually identical with the Chinese one, that a clearly Japanese painting is Chinese and many, many other inaccuracies that fall into a very colonial stereotype of eastern Asia. Oh, and the woman running said shop of course speaks heavily broken English and tries convince Watson to "Buy lucky cat!".
Even apart from this, the episode falls flat by making the central conflict and motive, the storyline around the smugglers, center on very uninteresting characters. Victims are all treated as throwaway plot devices, and while there is a potential backstory there, everything around the killer and his motives is very formulaic.
While the other two episodes are amazing productions, this one does not quite reach their brilliance due to some fatal errors made in writing, directing and selecting props.
First of all, a disclaimer: I am a sinologist and therefore obviously sensitized towards these things. However, I feel that this episodes gets things wrong at every turn - enough to warrant irritation for the casual viewer.
But let us begin from the start. Holmes and Watson investigate a series of murders only to stumble upon a cipher and traces leading to a Chinese crime syndicate.
The performances of the leads are strong. Lestrade is replaced by a stand-in, who does his best to dislike Holmes and makes for a few good exchanges, but is all in all unremarkable. Urban London is once again shown to great effect and the series once again manages to root its story in a very solid sense of time and space.
However, as noted above, I have several nits to pick. The episode manages an amazing feat: Making China a central plot point and meaning Japan. For example, Holmes and Watson visit a store that imports "lucky cats" from China. While it might be reasonable to assume that these cats, small figurines with a moving, "waving" arm, might be produced in China for the lower price of manufacture, they are as Japanese as Mount Fuji. Even worse, the episodes continues to try and convince us that the Japanese tea tradition is actually identical with the Chinese one, that a clearly Japanese painting is Chinese and many, many other inaccuracies that fall into a very colonial stereotype of eastern Asia. Oh, and the woman running said shop of course speaks heavily broken English and tries convince Watson to "Buy lucky cat!".
Even apart from this, the episode falls flat by making the central conflict and motive, the storyline around the smugglers, center on very uninteresting characters. Victims are all treated as throwaway plot devices, and while there is a potential backstory there, everything around the killer and his motives is very formulaic.
While the other two episodes are amazing productions, this one does not quite reach their brilliance due to some fatal errors made in writing, directing and selecting props.