#arthrecaps

A package just arrived in the hands of a maid in a big, elegant house.

For a Yuichi, apparently. But when the lady of the house opens it, she finds a nasty surprise: there's an ear inside...

The next scene we can see Wato coming home, where she finds Sherlock playing with a knife. Why? Well...

But when Sherlock starts to pass the blade over the inside of her wrists (like, Jesus Christ, Sherlock!), Wato takes the situation in her hands and confiscates the knife. And since Sherlock doesn't give a shit about personal space, as we learned during all the episodes, she wrestles Wato while she tries to take the knife back.

Yes, Sherlock, but that's not the point. Only the phone ringing distracts her, and it's Reimon who wants to submit her a bizarre case.

Half an hour later, both Wato and Sherlock are at this bizarre forensic lab (where all the technicians seem to be very squeamish and silence-loving) and they can finally see what this case is about: Yuichi Takayama, son of the famous politician Koichi Katayama, received a package with a cut ear. And apparently there's something inside the hearing canal.

That something is a small hearing aid. Shibata wonders if the victim is a woman who suffers from hearing loss, but Sherlock points out that the hearing aid is just too small and doesn't match the hearing canal. The aid was made for a woman, and that's a man's ear. That means that there's a man with a missing ear out there...

Tell them, Sherlock. Keep the hope alive.

The next day Wato and Sherlock go to the Katayama family's house to question the various witnesses, especially Yuichi who was the addressee. There they find Kento, who is there for the same reason: since Yuichi is the son of the ex police chief and current member of the parliament, this case is also investigated by the security office. Koichi Katayama has good chances to become the next First Minister, so the case must be closed quickly and discretely.

The son in question isn't very worried about the macabre package he received and his answers are not useful at all: he's just lounging around on the sofa playing with his cellphone while his mother, far more upset than him, caresses his legs and that's... a very weird scene. Sherlock is not impressed: she understands in a blink what kind of person he is, and tells him that, even though he is an university student, he clearly likes Porsche cars more than studying. And here we have Kento and Wato joining forces to rein Sherlock in.

Lol.

The trio leaves the house without useful informations, the whole situation with that kid was so annoying that even the ever compassionate Wato can't help to express her vexation.

Also, look at Sherlock's intense fascination with that huge bronze vase. We also learn that Yuichi should probaly die a very painful death hopefully in the near future, because he has a history of animal cruelty and bullying, all covered up by his daddy. Kento also updates them about the Shina sisters: Yuma committed suicide, and maybe now Arisa will be more collaborative. Or at least he hopes, Arisa is his only clue.

At home Wato is musing about Koichi Katayama: a father that covers up his son's misdeeds, what kind of First Minister will he be? Sherlock doesn't care, because:

So a First Minister wouldn't change things. Wato is having nothing of that: like, Sherlock, were you like this even when you were a child? Didn't you friends find it strange? Of course not, because

The bonus screencap of this episode is Wato being exasperated by Sherlock's monotonous taste in button-ups:

Well, because she likes them, of course. In that moment Mrs Hatano enters the room with, like, 20 Kg of sweet potatoes: a gift from a friend, but she can't eat all of them by herself. Wato says that maybe they should organize a sweet potato party, that should fix the issue. Mrs Hatano likes the idea, they could invite all their friends. Seriously, Sherlock, is Wato your only friend?

And Sherlock tells Mrs Hatano, for the nth time, that Wato is not her friend. And this time Wato looks genuinely annoyed.

(Please protect her)

But they can't discuss the party further, because Reimon calls with news about the case:

Oh, joy.

The thing is, that the poor victim is a cop. Yuzo Kawasaki, same department of Reimon and Shibata, a good detective with an immaculate service record, who cared a lot about the victims of the crimes he investigated. He also taught the ropes to a lot of newbie cops...Shibata included. He is so upset by Kawasaki's death that Sherlock suggest Reimon, only half-joking, that he should be removed from the case.

Kawasaki died two days earlier. He has been stabbed, bound, gagged then he had his hear removed. Sherlock notices that the cut is very clean, the murderer evidently knew what he was doing.

The next day doctor Mukayama, head of the forensic lab, confirms that the ear belongs to detective Kawasaki. Moreover, the hearing aid has been made five years ago and the detective wasn't hard of hearing. But apparently there aren't links between Kawasaki and Yuichi Katayama.

That evening Mukayama goes home only to find a hooded thug who stabs her. Farewell, competent and eccentric lady.

The next day Mrs Hatano and Wato greet Toru and doctor Irikawa for the party. But Wato doesn't want Sherlock to know Irikawa is her therapist. She'll tell Sherlock that she's a photographer like Toru, usually Sherlock guesses people's jobs right away, so she'll try to trick her. But expectations lose against reality:

Then Sherlock proceeds to list all the clues that told her Irikawa is a psychologist. The doctor is amazed. So the lunch begins, and all of them except Sherlock are interested in Irikawa's job and ask her questions about it. I'm wondering if the characters (or the writers?) forgot that Sherlock graduated in psychology too, with a specialization in Criminal Psychology, like Reimon has been so kind to tell us in the first episode.

A round of those pop-psychology tests follows, were all of them participate save for Sherlock, who took the question at face value. At that point Sherlock has a question too: Santa brings a soccer ball to a boy, but the boy isn't happy, why? Well, maybe because he doesn't like soccer, or he already has a ball? Everybody gives more or less the same answer, except Toru:

That is enough to spoil the mood of the party. But what does this test tell us?

It's clear that Sherlock is suspicious of Toru. It isn't said why, and I would be interested in knowing on what clues Sherlock based her decision to test him (well, test... this is pop psychology too, I bet she could have found a better way to learn if Toru was dangerous or not), and I don't understand if she did it to ruin the party or because she's worried for Wato and the time she spends with somebody who doesn't know very well and is quickly and steadily insinuating himself in her life. Remember that in the timeline of the tv series they met more or less a week ago (maybe ten days ago?).

But the party is interrupted by inspector Reimon: another package arrived, and this time it's a finger. Sherlock gives her goodbyes and runs away. Wato is so distressed seeing her going alone, that Mrs Hatano and even Toru encourage her to follow Sherlock. After they left, Mrs Hatano points out that Wato is becoming a good partner for Sherlock (we know, Mrs H., we know). Then she asks a poignant question:

Oh, my sweet Summer child...

At the forensic lab, Sherlock examines the finger: it sports a fake nail that doesn't match the size of the real nail, also the finger has a familiar freckle... where's the head of the lab? It seems she didn't come to work today. A visit to Mukayama's apartment confirms that the woman has been killed with the same modus operandi used for Kawasaki: stabbed, bound, gagged and mutilated. But this time the murderer took a finger.

The fake nail has a style that was popular five years ago, like the hearing aid has been made five years ago. These are messages. For who, exactly, and why? Luckily, Shibata found the owner of the hearing aid, maybe some light can be shed on this mistery.

The owner is a girl called Yuri Takai, 23 yo, nail artist, deaf, who died in a hit-and-run five years ago. The driver took her body and abandoned it in a forest. It was found two days later. Detective Kawasaki investigated the case, while Mukayama handled the evidences. But even though it was possible to trace the culprit, nobody has been accused or trialed. Sherlock has a theory, as usual.

It's time to know Yuri's family and question them, because this whole affair looks like a revenge.

Sherlock, Wato, Shibata and Reimon arrive at Yuri's home, an apartment above the small restaurant the family owned. It's closed, but Sherlock knows how to enter. Wato, Reimon and Shibata have to cover for her, especially because a neighbour came to see who they are. Even though she's curious, the woman manage to give them a few informations: she hasn't seen Mr Takai, Yuri's father, for six months. She doesn't know where he went, but he voluntereed for a while in a charity that helped the families that lost a loved one in a car accident, maybe they know something.

Sherlock manages to pick the restaurant lock. Reimon decides that he and Shibata are off duty now, so they won't have to report Sherlock for the crime she just committed. The place is empty, but somebody lived there recently: in one of the apartment rooms they find a disturbing sight:

A hundred of photographs that show that Kawasaki and Mukayama were stalked by Mr. Takai. They also find a knife. Takai was a chef, of course he knew how to use a knife. But why did he kill them? Sherlock is convinced that they both helped to cover the real culprit. Yuri's father learned that and now he's going on a killing spree. This enrages Shibata: Kawasaki was too honest to do something like that! But nobody is 100% free of sin. And they have another problem:

The real culprit, of course.

Wato and Sherlock go to question the president of the charity Takai volunteered at. He tells them that Takai was slowly healing after his daughter's death, and tried to overcome his pain helping others. Then, six months ago, he abruptly stopped volunteering. Then he saw him again two weeks ago, but he was a completely different person. Takai told him that only right thing for the families to do was finding the killers and take revenge.

Meanwhile Shibata and Reimon are talking to Takai's neighbour: she saw inspector Kawasaki more or less six months ago, kneeling in front of Takai and imploring his forgiveness. Takai was furious with him and refused his apology.

At home, Wato and Sherlock discuss the case: why did Takai send those body parts to Yuichi? He can't be him the one who killed Yuri, he was 17 years old five years ago, so he didn't drive yet. Wato offhandedly comments that it must be a lot of pressure to have such a famous and powerful father, even their names are similar. Then Sherlock realizes something, and rewards Wato for her input with the best prize she can think of: chocolate.

Later Koichi Katayama, similarly to his wife at the beginning of the episode, finds a nasty surprise in his car:

a nosy supersmart detective and her shy but ballsy sidekick. Basically the stuff of the nightmares.

So this is the situation: Koichi Katayama killed Yuri in that accident, Kawasaki destroyed the evidences and Mukayama helped too, because Katayama was the National Chief of Police and could do whatever he wanted. Takai learned it from Kawasaki, because the detective was devoured by guilt. Takai decided to kill all of them and started with the detective and the forensic doctor, then mailed their body parts to Koichi to threaten him.

Buuut... the characters for "Ko" and "Yu" are similar, the maid read the name wrong because Takai made a small mistake writing it (he wrote the characters using a ruler to hide his real handwriting) so the first package was given to Yuichi. The second one had the correct name, but nobody bothered to check. It's time to go to the police and confess. Takayama admits his crime, and tells Sherlock and Wato that the car he drew during the accident is hidden in the garage. The two enter the garage and Katayama's assistant locks them in after tying them.

Oooops. Katayama of course doesn't want to confess, and asks his assistant to kill them. The guy is a real psycho, he wants to do the job using a knife, and he wants to torture them a bit first. He decides to start from Sherlock, because she's the insolent one. But Sherlock doesn't want to die at the hands of someone so uncreative, she already freed herself and the two start wrestling. But it's Wato who saves Sherlock, knocking the thug out with a crowbar.

And in that moment Sherlock is furious enough that she almost stabs the guy, and only Wato screaming her to not do that stops her. Anyway, how did she free herself?

With Sherlock's knife, of course.

Sherlock opens her mouth to say something, but Wato prevents her:

Lol. Wato apologizes then she says they have to go and get Takayama. I can't post Sherlock's reaction to Wato's little speech because I'd need a gif, it's a series of expressions that must be seen.

When Katayama sees them emerging, unscathed, from the garage, he immediately understands that it's time to flee, so he gets in his car and drives away. While exiting his driveway he runs over something: horrified, he realizes it's his son Yuichi who has been put, already stabbed and bleeding to death, behind a curve so he couldn't see him.

While he tries to call for help, Takai shows himself, apparently ready to take his revenge over the Takayama family.

Sherlock and Wato arrive and while the latter tries to help Yuichi, the former is more interested in knowing what happened to Takai. He helped the families of the victims, but also helped the drivers who caused deathly accidents, what made him change so much? He doesn't give her a real answer:

The police is arriving, probably called by Sherlock and Wato, and at that point Takai smiles, and just like that... he cuts his own throat. Even the ever composed Sherlock is shocked by this outcome.

Later, at home, the Sherlock and Wato discuss the case again. Takayama confessed the hit and run. But Takai... maybe they could have saved him? Sherlock is convinced that Takai is better off dead. He had lost his purpose in life, and there's no point in living like that. Wato points out that as long as you're alive you can find a new purpose, like she did not so long ago.

Wato surprised Sherlock thrice this episode: the first one with her observation skills, the second one with her resourcefulness, the third one with her strength. Are you starting to admire her, Sherlock?

In that moment Kento enters the apartment bringing news about the Shina sisters. Arisa told him that her sister kept saying "Stella Maris" would show them the way. Sherlock theorizes that maybe it's a person, not an organization. Like the North Star, that guided the sailors...guiding, hhmmm...

Sherlock sits at the computer and contacts one of her professors at Cambridge. Doctor James is surprised to see her.

Firstly, he calls her Sherlock. So that means that she used that nickname for years, even during college, maybe?

Secondly, he seems genuinely happy to hear from her. For a woman who keeps insisting she never had friends, there are several people who respect her and like her a lot, like Reimon, Mrs Hatano and that flamboyant guy in episode 2. And now this Cambridge professor, that when he hears that Sherlocks needs a favor, is immediately willing to help her no questions asked.

So Sherlock asks him if he has access to the thesis on leading crime, a paper written by one of the students at Cambridge, because she needs it right now. Doctor James, after a quick search, tells her that the thesis is blocked, but he'll try to recover it for her. On another note, all the dialogue between the two happens in English, not in Japanese. Wato asks what that thesis was about.

Sherlock tells her that a Psychology student at Cambridge theorized that you could manipulate law-abiding citizens into becoming criminals.

They were convinced that the state of the orbitofrontal cortex could also be changed using dialogue, not just with physical traumas or surgery. It caused quite a stir. Maybe the author is Stella Maris? And then Sherlock realizes something again. She runs away so quickly that Wato has to chase her because she forgot her shoes.

They arrive at Takai's apartment, where Shibata and Reimon are still collecting evidences, and Sherlock tells them that there's a connection to Stella Maris in there. She notices that a few photos, that were pinned with thumbtacks of the same color, have been rearranged.

Well, the Little Dipper form is different, but I suppose that that will do. Anyway, Stella Maris planted their clutches into Takai and changed his personality. At the same moment, Sherlock receives an email by doctor James: he sent her the infamous thesis. It was written by Akira Moriwaki, this person is Stella Maris. Shibata notices that the pictures that form the Little Dipper have letters written on the back.

Sherlock rearranges the letters, and...

It seems that Akira Moriwaki left her a message.

Just like in the first episode, the scenes of the Funeral Ladies are intercut with scenes of two people wading through a thick fog on a mountain path.

But one of them slips and, apparently, falls.

The consequences of that slip is that Julie, Henriette, Maria and Sabine are preparing for the funeral of the poor victim, Karlheinz Gruber, director of the local bank. This time they are carpooling with Franzi, who has uncharacteristically accepted to accompaign them to the church. But they are late, since Julie refuses to sit in the back seat because she suffers of motion sickness.

After a lot of cajoling Julie boards the car, but the ride is not easy and they are even more late now because it seems that Franzi doesn't know the neighborhood of his own town.

Between his mother who berates him because he should have turned right, Henriette who asks him to change gear and Julie on the brink of losing her breakfast, Franzi is distracted enough that he risks to run over the funeral procession that is coming, on foot, from the opposite direction. Cue terrorized screams and a (almost unsuccessful) try to stop the car.

(LOL)

The pallbearers leave the casket to save their lives, and Franzi's car hits it sending it down the hill, with the majority of the funeral party chasing it.

(LOL)

The casket then flies over the head of poor, unsuspecting postman Toni,

(LOL) to end its run into a nearby canal.

Firefighters are called to recover the casket, everybody is sadder than before, but Julie and Henriette are always willing to see positive things even into the worst outcomes.

Then the group listens to the widow, Renate, who recounts the accident her husband incurred into: they were taking a walk on one of the mountain paths that circle Dorf-Ilm, and the weather was terrible, a thick fog shrouded everything and it was almost impossible to see where they where going.

Karlheinz slipped and fell down a ravine, and when they found him at the bottom he was so mangled that they recognized him only because of his shoes.

Maria remarks that he had two accidents in one week, that's shit luck. Of course Julie has her opinion about it:

then she proceeds to explain that Karlheinz was too experienced, too knowledgeable to fall to his death in that ridiculous way. Of course she doesn't want to offend Renate, but...

"Are you insinuating that my husband's death is not an accident?"

Of course she is. But she didn't say anything and, oh look, the casket fell into the canal again. Shit luck.

A few days later, the Funeral Ladies decide to take a walk on the same path where Gruber died.

I added this image just to show that Dorf-Ilm is near a lake.

Julie comments that this view may be blessed by the Lord, but weird things are happening here. Of course the widow is the first suspect, and Maria jokes that Julie should be a suspect too, since her husband died in an accident. This is the first mention of what will become a running joke throughout the first season, the death of Gustav, Julie's husband. He fell into a silo full of wheat and died, but in the next episodes we'll learn that he also fell from his tractor, was bitten by a tick and so on.

Anyway, Gruber had a lot of money he had earned with a couple of lucky investments, the main one in some brand of energy drinks, so his wife could have killed him for the inheritance. But that's just speculation, the only sure thing is that the path is so well beaten that it's impossible to lose it and fall into the ravine.

While they are walking they come across a handsome stranger, and they see him a few minutes later descending into the ravine where Gruber fell, as if he's looking for something.

The next day Henriette visits Maria at her bar, announcing that Renate is toasted.

Evidently the Grubers weren't doing so well, since it's impossible they didn't knew their investment in the energy drink company was lost.

Andy, who is there drinking with Franzy, doesn't like the two women's speculations. They ignore him and go immediately to the bank.

They strike a conversation with one of the clerks, saying that Salchegger, the owner of the inn, is seriously ill: a melanoma as big as a melon. It's a lie, of course, but they use it to nonchalantly ask about Gruber's private account. The clerk (ignoring the bank policy about privacy) says that the man, a couple of days before his accident, transferred a lot of money on a Swiss bank account. While they are leaving, Henriette takes a decision about her funds:

In the meantime, the news about Salchegger's misfortune have started to spread around the village, postman Tony is very sad when he learns about his friend's illness, but he swears he won't tell anyone. Even to Salchegger, lol.

Henriette is at the inn to update Julie and Sabine about what she and Maria heard from the clerk. Now the question is: who will take the money that Gruber managed to save? Renate or the creditors of the failed company? Apparently the two millions are blocked, only his wife will be able to touch them. And Julie remarks that he choose a very convenient moment to die: it's just too obvious, Julie is convinced that there's something else going on.

They are interrupted by the new Salchegger's employee: it's the handsome stranger they met during her walk. They're so overwhelmed by his presence that they forget how to talk coherently:

(LOL)

Sabine manages to free herself from his charms, and leaves her friends with him, who manages to convince them to order an apple strudel.

Julie thinks that this new, handsome addition to the staff deserves all her attention, so she calls Salchegger over to question him. Unfortunately, the first thing she does is asking the man how he's doing, and he is VERY displeased.

(LOL)

His mom called him and reprimanded him because he didn't tell her he has cancer. But he's perfectly healthy, and he has no idea why people keep to make so much fuss about a wart (that has been removed, by the way).

Julie then asks about his new waiter, and Salchegger tells her that since that young man is there, his earnings increased by 80%. And female clients all order the apple strudel.

Salchegger tells the two friends that the man is called Ahmet, and he's from Kossovo but he has lived in Austria for years. He arrived a couple of days earlier and asked for a job. He hired him on the spot, because he's very busy: he plans to expand the inn. He can do it because the bank granted him the loan he needed, after Gruber died he has been replaced by somebody that is more 'elastic' about loans. He's also beginning to warm up to Ahmet: not only the young man works hard, he also loves hiking, he takes a walk whenever he has time.

He bids Julie and Henriette goodbye because he has a lot of things to do, but he is interrupted by somebody calling him asking if he has AIDS. He's fuming, who the fuck spread those rumors?

And in that moment Maria arrives and ask Salchegger how he's doing.

That evening, Franzi is educating Rocco about the important things in life: car models.

Also, they're important pieces of a collection, so Rocco can't play with them. Sabine observes that if the kid can't touch them then they're as useless as Franzi, then proceeds to throw him out because his time of visitation has ended.

Franzi asks her if he can stay the night, and she says it's a good idea: she will spend the evening with her friends at Henriette's house, and him will babysit Rocco.

While Julie drives her car to the appointment, she is overtaken by a car driven by Gruber's wife. Ahmet is with her. Now she's sure she has solved the case, and she tells Sabine as soon as she sees her.

Henriette and Maria, who started without them, are already drunk. Maria says the killer is Salchegger, Henriette supports the accident theory, while Julie and Sabine insist that Ahmet killed Gruber on Renate's orders, because evidently Ahmet and the widow have a secret affair.

Maria is sure Salchegger did it. He had money issues, without Gruber he got the loan he desperately wanted, now he can restore and expand the inn. So he hired Ahmet to do the deed. Hearing that, Julie wonders why a man with a couple of months to live would do that. Everybody and their mom know that Valentin Salchegger has a brain tumor. Maria admits the lie, while Henriette is still convinced it was an accident.

Annoyed, Julie announces that they will follow two different investigative paths and leaves with Sabine.

The next day Ahmet enters a seemingly abandoned shack on the mountains, and searches a backpack he found there, finding a couple of items he seems to recognize. He doesn't look happy.

At the village, Franzi is helping Salchegger with the measurements for the new wing of the inn. Maria asks him about Gruber again, and it's evident that Valentin held a pretty big grudge toward the late bank director, he even admits it. He's so incensed that he hits Franzi's hand with the hammer he was using to plant a pegs. Maria is not impressed. While Salchegger and Franzi are busy, she slips a letter inside the cash register of the inn.

Maria joins Henriette at her house. Poor Henriette is so hangover that he took refuge in her cellar, where it's dark and silent, trying to ignore all the bottles around her. She's pretty annoyed because Maria is as fresh as a rose.

Maria announces that she found the assassin: it's Salchegger, he basically confessed. She left him a letter that says they know everything, and that he is invited in the shack of Gruber's garden. If he goes, it means that he is the killer. Maria asks Henriette to help her, but her friend is just too hangover.

Julie is on the same wavelenght, because that night she enters the Grubers' property to investigate, hoping she will be able to catch Renate and Achmed red-handed. She is so focused on her mission that she falls into the pond in the middle of the garden.

(LOL)

And thank god for that because Renate, who is crossing the lawn with a wine bottle and in an excellent mood, can't see her while she passes. Singing, she enters the shack.

Julie sees two shadows embracing, this is evidently the place where the two lovers use to consummate their adulterous relationship, so she tries to leave the pond to catch them.

At the inn, Ahmet is closing, and he finds Maria's letter in the cash register.

"We know everything. Come at Gruber's shack at midnight."

In the same moment Julie is preparing to surprise the two lovers,

but she hears a noise. The noise is heard by Renate too, and she exits the shack to check, so Julie runs to hide. She listens to Renate talking with the person inside the shack calling them 'love', that's a pretty damning evidence. Renate goes back into the house, and now Julie is burning with curiosity to see who the mystery man is...even though she has already a pretty good idea of his identity.

The noise was made by Maria and Henriette who are trying to climb over the Grubers' fence. Henriette, who's still hangover, curses the moment when she decided that following Maria was a good idea.

But her friend is sure that they will catch the killer, aka Salchegger.

And in that moment Ahmet enters the Grubers' garden, silently followed by Sabine who noticed his circumspect attitude and decided to stalk him. The stage is ready for beautiful scene of chaos.

I can only imagine Julie's surprise when she sees him walking towards the shack when she was convinced he was inside it.

On the other hand, Maria believes that Salchegger is so coward that he sent his killer. Ahmet enters the shack and sound of fighting and a scream are heard. A man dressed in dark clothes rund away, and when the funeral ladies enter the shack they find Ahmet dead.

Julie retrieve's Ahmet's passport and a couple of other documents, then they decide to call the police saying they were taking a walk and heard a noise, so they decided to investigate. Even though it isn't plausible, Sabine is convinced that Andi will believe their story.

At the same time, the mysterious man with dark clothes is still running, hiking on the mountains around Dorf-Ilm.

So the Funeral Ladies called the police, and Andi's stomach doesn't handle the crime scene very well: he's so disgusted that he starts to puke in a flowerbed.

While he tries to do the first examination of the crime scene, the four friends understand that they have to rethink their theories: somebody was lovey-dovey with Renate in the shack and poor Ahmet, who wasn't Renate's lover, was killed when he learned that person's identity.

But something doesn't add up: Maria left an anonymous letter to Salchegger, not Ahmet. Why did that young man come at Gruber's at the agreed time? Evidently he found the letter and came because he wanted informations, but what he wanted to know is still a mystery. Also, Renate lied, because she said she woke up because of the noise.

Since Andi doesn't know what he's doing, the Funeral Ladies will take the case.

The next day Dalina, Henriette's Kosovian maid, translates the documents Julie took from Ahmet's corpse: they are two letters from Rahim, Ahmet's brother.

Rahim ran to Austria because he killed a man in a car accident, and feared that the family of the man he accidentally killed would take revenge on him.

But he was negated asylum, so he began to live in hiding and wrote to his brother, who lived in Austria for years, to help him. He revealed that he was hiding in a shack on the Dorf-Ilm mountains, that's why Ahmet hiked so much, he was looking for his brother. But now, where's Rahim?

Sabine is stalking Renate, and the best place to do it is her aunt Martha's home: with the excuse to visit her, she surveils Renate's house until she sees her leaving the building in full hiking gear. She alerts the group and goes. So Henriette, Julie and Maria thank Dalina for her help and hurry toward the mountains hoping to catch Renate.

Sadly, the weather is complicating the chase, a thick fog is covering the mountain and they risk to get lost, morover, they aren't ready for a difficult hike.

They arrive at an old, abandoned shack that had been used as a refuge, and Julie insist to enter, armed with her old signal gun. But when the door of the shack opens, she panics and shoots. The interior of the refuge begins to burn and who does exit it?

The Grubers. Karlheinz is alive and well, and he and his wife have a lot of things to explain.

So, they heard Rahim's scream of terror in the fog, and they found him at the bottom of a ravine, he was completely disfigured because of the damages he took. Since he had been dead for a few minutes, they decided to use his corpse to simulate Karlheinz's death, take the money he managed to save and leave the country, solving their money issues.

But what was Renate doing with Ahmet? Well, she just gave him a ride to the village, because his car didn't work. And when Karlheinz saw him entering the shack he hit him on the head and ran away. He didn't want to kill him.

So the Gruber begin to follow the funeral ladies towards Dorf-Ilm, to explain everything to the police. But of course they don't want to go to jail, so they run for it.

The Ladies call them, to no avail. Tired and discouraged, the four friends decide to go back home.

Another day, another funeral: now the two brothers are resting together in Dorf-Ilm cemetery.

The Funeral Ladies payed for the ceremony and the tomb, because it was the right thing to do. The Grubers are still on the run, who knows where they are or if they will be caught. Truth is, everybody receive what they deserve and greed is a hungry beast, incredibly difficult to tame.

In the village of Dorf-Ilm a funeral is being celebrated. The scenes where our protagonists are preparing for the ceremony are intercut with shot of a nurse and a doctor who...ahem...are having an intimate moment.

While the two are engrossed in eachother, he's quoting Dante's Comedy, the fifth chapter, the one where Francesca da Rimini is telling how she fell in love with her brother-in-law and sinned with him. A classy man, indeed.

Then we see Julie Zirbner, farmer, and her not so subtle homage to the traditional Austrian attire. I think she's the most feminine one of the group, I don't remember I've ever seen her wearing pants in any episode of the show.

Maria Deng, owner of a bar, who is burdened by her unemployed son, Franzi, and his best friend and chief of police Andreas.

Sabine Schösswender, municipal secretary, who has a son too, Rocco. Franzi is the child's father, and it's evident that Sabine hasn't a good opinion of him.

The group enters the church, and we learn that the dead is Heinrich Kaspar, the doctor who was having fun with the nurse, a renowned cardiologist who worked at a geriatric clinic called "New Age".

The elegy for the departed is read by doctor Stefan, the director of the "New Age". The official version is that he died of heart attack while he was seated at his desk, in his office. But somebody knows that... well, he died happy, among them there's Pia, the nurse who was... making him happy. She's at the funeral too, and she's devastated.

Meanwhile Stefan, while saddened, can't help noticing the irony of a cardiologist dying of heart attack.

After the funeral there's the traditional funeral banquet, and Julie is disappointed by the choice of food that is being served. She expected chicken, potatoes and beer, not vegetarian meatballs.

But his wife, Henriette, is very health conscious. She also had a hand in financing the New Age clinic, moreover she's German, a foreigner, and that's enough for the three "Funeral Ladies" to start openly criticizing her in front of all the participants at the funeral. And at that point Julie says the words that will become her motto throughout the series:

I spare you all the dismayed and embarassed faces of the people seated at the table, and Henriette's indignation.

Later at the Salchegger's inn the three are discussing Henriette and Kaspar's love life. They are all convinced that Henriette cheated on her husband with a younger lover, and now that the doctor died the two can enjoy the mountain of money Kaspar's left his wife. Because of this the clinic risks to be closed, The Funeral Ladies don't think that Henriette will keep spending money to keep the estabilishment open.

But isn't it possible that the good doctor had a side chick too? says Sabine, ever the devil's advocate. Maria answers that Kaspar was too old to be satisfying in bed, everybody knows he had heart issues.

The next morning Julie opens the door of her house and finds a disturbing message on the steps:

She immediately brings it to Maria's bar, where the three friends reconvene to discuss it. I don't speak German, so I can't confirm, but Maria says that only a foreigner would write a message in that way, so I suppose that the letter is not written in the particular version of German they speak in the Dorf-Ilm region (the show is filmed in the Saltzburg province).

So they deduce that Henriette wrote it, and Sabine insists that they should report it to the police. Julie doesn't agree: it's evident that Henriette is underestimating them, reporting her to the police would alert her that they are onto her, so her suggestion is to keep quiet and investigate Kaspar's death.

Meanwhile Henriette is venting to Stefan, telling him that she wants to leave Dorf-Ilm and forget that painful situation as soon as possible. She also can't understand why the villagers have been so hostile towards them for all that time.

Stefan tells her they're just simpletons, and that the autopsy confirmed with no doubt that Kaspar died of heart attack. She also comforts her telling her he died doing a thing that made him happy. And here we realize that maybe this guy knows far more than he's letting on.

That evening Jonni, janitor at the clinic, is venting to Maria in front of a beer: Pia, who is his wife, is constantly crying because of Kaspar's death, and women are horrible creatures who only love assholes and leave nice men in the dust. Of course Maria isn't listening to him, at least until he says an interesting thing:

Kaspar was a scoundrel that just used Pia for his pleasure, but now that he's dead Pia decided to divorce Jonni nonetheless, she already bought a house and she's ready to leave Dorf-Ilm behind. And at that point, even though during his monologue he insisted he's crazy of Pia, Jonni makes a pass at Maria. Of course she rebuffs him, reinforcing his opinion that women are horrible, cruel creatures. Cry me a river, loser.

The news arrive immediately to Julie, who is at home watching... a movie where people die stabbed by a serial killer, I think. This new development seems to indicate that Henriette was jealous so she killed her husband. A classic motivation. Now they need Sabine.

The next day Julie and Maria visit Sabine at her office at the town hall, asking her to find informations at the New Age clinic. She has an uncle who is hospitalized there, so it should be easy for her to enter the clinic and investigate, using her relative as an excuse. Sabine isn't convinced: it's ages she doesn't see him, and... well, the man hasn't a fully furnished attic.

And in that moment the mayor enters the office and reprimands all of them: they should mind their business and stop investigating, because they are scaring people looking for an assassin that doesn't exist.

Of course this isn't enough to scare Julie from doing whatever she wants.

Later at the clinic we meet Sabine's uncle, Severin. He's a quite paranoid gentleman, who is convinced that a secret society called The White League is trying to put plutonium in his mattress. He saw something horrible but he can't speak about it.

But he cares about his niece, so he takes her into his bathroom and shows her that professor Kaspar's office is perfectly visible from the window. Then Severin tells her a pretty confusing story about how he saw an 'agent' giving Kaspar a pill, probably venom, then she sat on him and writhed until he died. But Sabine is smart, so it does take her just a minute to do the math. And when Pia comes into the room to check on him, Severin confirms it was her the 'agent' who was writhing on Kaspar.

When Sabine arrives at Julie's house to report, she finds Maria enjoying the sun while Julie is engrossed with her vegetables.

I don't think I need to say that Julie's house is really beatiful. Look at it. Anyway Sabine begins to tell the other two about her discovery: nobody killed anyone, it was just a case of a man who died happy. Julie doesn't understand, so Maria and Sabine enlighten her using delicate metaphors about trains.

Summarizing: Pia gave a Viagra pill to Kaspar, they had sex, but he had a heart attack during the intercourse and died. There are no assassins, no victims. Maybe Henriette deserves an apology.

Julie is pretty disappointed, and how do you explain the threatening letter she received?

Well, says Maria philosophically, maybe it was just somebody you pissed off. Apparently Julie is not good at keeping quiet and there's a long list of people who hold a grudge against her. Pissed off herself, Julie answers that Dolf-Ilm is not Chicago, something that made me laugh a lot, since in the village there will be a homicide every other week for the rest of the show, in defiance of any realistic statistic.

Julie's lamentations notwithstanding, the next day the three friends decide to crash Henriette's group of traditional singing to bring a peace offer: cakes, apple juice with ginger and Julie's renowned pear grappa. But Julie is still convinced Henriette is a murderer and accuses her in front of, like, twenty people, and the two begin fighting in earnest, with Julie saying Henriette killed Kaspar because he was cheating on her with Pia.

The discussion is interrupted by the mayor, who was passing to check on the group.

The next day at Maria's bar we assist at a very sad scene, where Franzi asks his mother the money to bring Rocco to the cinema. The scene is not sad because unemployed Franzi needs his mom's help, but because he wants 300 euros (his sports car needs a new spoiler) and when Maria gives him 50 he behaves like an ungrateful little shit.

Here is when I joined the "Franzi has to die old and alone" club.

Henriette enters the bar, making clear that now is aware that her husband has cheated on her, and since she understood that the Funeral Ladies seem to know much more than they should, she came to ask them about Kaspar's death.

Sabine and Maria are reluctant, since the whole story is... Boccaccio-esque, but at last Sabine caves in and starts telling about her uncle's paranoia.

At the butcher shop, Julie listens an interesting conversation about missing goods between the butcher and Head nurse Knapp, who works at the New Age clinic: apparently she discovered a missing cardiotonic in the clinic's drugs supply. Satisfied of what she heard, she exits the shop and meets Maria, who convinces her to drive to a certain place. When she learns they are going to Henriette's house Julie is outraged, but Maria knows very well how to pique her friend's curiosity.

Henriette welcomes all of them with the utmost courtesy, and even thanks Julie because her honesty shed a light on Kaspar's infidelity, but there are still a few details that need to be examined.

Kaspar took 200K Euros from his personal account before dying, and, incidentally, Pia recently bought a new house: like 2+2=4, it's easy to conclude that Pia killed Kaspar after he gave her the money and wrote the threatening letter Julie received. If you add the missing medicine, the picture becomes clear: the pill uncle Severin saw Pia giving Kaspar was a high dose of cardiotonic and not, as Kaspar was probably hoping, Viagra. A murder disguised as a sin of lust. But what's the motivation? They still don't know. Now the four of them have the same goal so, with her usual common sense, Maria says they should make amends.

Julie grudgingly admits that accusing Henriette has been a miscarriage of justice (lol). She never apologized to anyone in her life, so this time she really tries. Henriette graciously accepts the apology, acknowledging they started off on the wrong foot.

There's nothing better than a group of women who are up to no good- for justice, of course. Also, bar Sabine (Martina Poel was 31 in 2005), the protagonists are all middle-aged women, wit Gaby Dohm (Henriette) being 62 at the time, Brigitte Kren (Maria) 51 and Adele Neuhauser (Julie) 46. I think it's refreshing to see a series with capable, smart women of that age.

Later the squad storms into the clinic, terrorizing Pia who runs to Jonni to implore his help. The Funeral Ladies are there to talk to Stefan, and they update him about their suspicions, especially about the missing drug. He goes to check and tells them that head nurse Knapp probably got something wrong, because there aren't missing drugs. Mhhhhh...

They are all pretty disappointed, but Julie doesn't want to give up, she knows what she heard from nurse Knapp and she wants it confirmed, dammit! So she decides to bribe Knapp with a crate of cucumbers she has in her car.

Henriette tries to stop her: maybe Kaspar's death was really an unfortunate accident, miss Zirbner, and we all got carried away...

Holy shit, Julie.

Henriette is shocked and fascinated: she believed that beneath that though facade Julie was a sweet woman, but Maria confirms that beneath that tough facade, Julie is even worse.

So she unloads 10 pounds of cucumbers on Knapp's desktop and discreetely asks her if they fixed the issue she heard about that morning at the butcher's shop, that conudrum about a missing cardiotonic. Knapp thanks her because she wants to check again if that Cardiacon Strong is in its place.

At the same time, poor uncle Severin is being manhandled by Jonni, but Sabine manages to stop him. She immediately tells her friends about this, and Maria understands that maybe Jonni, since he wants Severin to shut up, isn't as angry with Pia as they thought. Julie says it's important to know how the missing cardiotonic worked, so they decide to have a meeting later at Maria's to take stock of the situation.

At the appointed hour, only Maria and Julie are present. Sabine can't come, because she couldn't find a babysitter for Rocco. And it's not the only thing Sabine has difficulties with.

But Julie can't help expressing her appreciation for doctor Stefan. He seems a reliable guy. Henriette arrives in that moment, and reveals she solved the drug mystery. Cardiaton Strong is a very powerful medicine, but Kaspar used a less strong drug for his heart issues. As they supposed, probably somebody laced the Viagra with that cardiotonic, and the combination was devastating for Kaspar's heart. Then, because nobody in the clinic uses that drug, the murderer disposed of it.

The only thing to do is to exhumate the corpse and find the traces of the drug, so Henriette is preparing herself to ask the coroner to open her husband's tomb.

At the same time we learn it's a good thing Sabine stayed at home with Rocco: Pia and Jonni are her neighbors and she sees them loading suitcases on their car, as if they're preparing to run away. She calls her friends, who suggest her to call the police.

At home, Henriette asks Stefan to help her with Kaspar's exhumation. He is perplexed.

But she insists, and he capitulates. After the calls she begins shifting through her husband's papers, and finds something that upsets her. It's time to regroup with the squad. She picks up the rest of the group and tells them she learnt that her husband was a thief, who based his career on an intellectual theft. Years ago he was working with a team of doctors trying to develop a new technique for heart surgery. A young assistant made a revolutionary discovery, so Kaspar welcomed him in the team but took all the merit for the surgery technique, that had been improved by that young assistant.

All the situation is explained in a few old letters written by that assistant, letters that include very explicit threats. Evidently Kaspar kept them to protect himself if the assistant dared to blackmail him. Then they lived in America for a several years, but when they came back, Kaspar met that assistant again. And we know who this man is.

While the Funeral Ladies are running to the police, Stefan leaves a message on Henriette's voicemail, reiterating the respect he has for her and confessing what he did: he killed Kaspar because when he arrived in his clinic, he took the command of the estabilishment like it was his, showing him into the shadows again.

When our heroes arrive at the police station, they find Andreas who was finishing the reasons to keep Pia and Jonni there. He had received the call from Sabine and arrested them immediately, but he is dismayed when he learns they aren't implicated in Kaspar's death. Pia is relieved, tho, because she believed that it had been their intercourse to kill him, she even apologized to Henriette when she entered the room.

They run to the clinic, but it's too late: Stefan already killed himself.

So, another funeral, and another funeral banquet at Salchegger's inn, with better food, this time.

Julie muses that it's not the first time that a murderer has a commemorative plaque.

Sabine says that he shot himself on the same armchair Kaspar died in.

Maria thinks it was an appropriate demise.

For her part, Henriette says that suicide cases are simple: the victim and the murderer are the same person. But Julie wants the last word, so...

And this time I'll show you the other participant's reaction because it's just too funny.

In the last part we had left Sherlock while she emerged from a pit of depression and discouragement with Mrs. Hatano's help. Now we are at the Dock, where Moriwaki keeps spinning her web.

All the people there look very happy and satisfied, they work together and cook together the vegetables they grow inside the facility. Moriwaki has a good word for everyone, even though she probably would sacrifice all of them if the need arises.

But she doesn't want Wato to do menial jobs, she has to prepare herself for a much more important task.

Hmmm. I'm not a nuclear engineer, but if I'm not mistaken it takes months to build an A-bomb, and...isn't it expensive? Unless Moriwaki has contacts in Syria that could build the bomb starting from the materials they already have and Wato has to bring them the specs, I don't think that a volunteer doctor (Moriwaki wants her to go as a medical volunteer like the last time) could board a plane with a bomb in her luggage.

Wato asks if this will help hers and Toru's cause. And...

Ok, we went from arresting Sherlock to killing her. Moriwaki answers "of course" to both her questions and Jesus Christ how I hate this woman when she touches Wato. Always there caressing her hair and face, it's creepy.

Meanwhile Reimon is a man on a mission. He wants to convince Shibata to withdraw his resignation and help him helping Sherlock, so he visits him on his job. He admits that yes, Sherlock is a selfish show-off, but she solves the cases. But all her knowledge and her observation skills are nothing without the legwork and the investigations he and Shibata do. Shibata realizes that his work is invaluable, and after Sherlock's praise this is just the last push he needed.

He's ready to take action.

At the Dock, Wato is training again, visualizing Sherlock in the place of her target.

This time the jar is destroyed. She's ready too.

At the Kanagawa Medical Prison, Sherlock enters using the main door, exhibiting a police badge she probably forged herself, and the guard at the gate doesn't recognize her.

Weird, isn't it? Probably the Commissioner, at Moriwaki's suggestion, ordered the staff to let her enter the building, so they will be able to find that thing that "she needs for her next crime" (my God what a bunch of morons). Probably Moriwaki hopes that the specs are written on paper and they're just well hidden, but the truth is a bit more complicated, as we'll see very soon.

She enters the medical wing and wears a police uniform, completing the disguise with a long-haired wig. Look at how satisfied she is.

She manages to enter Sakakibara's former cell without incidents, and she starts to reflect on where he could hide those damn specs.

She realizes something and, since she always has luminol with her, she starts spraying the wall. Her UV torch reveal that the specs were always hidden in plain sight (and that Moriwaki and her minions, just like the police, are a bunch of morons). Sakakibara wrote them on the wall with his blood, aware that blood would be there even when it had been, apparently, washed away.

But there's movement outside the cell, and she's aware of it. So she focuses all her attention on the wall, memorizing the writing.

Outside of the cell there are armed cops who are waiting for her to come out in order to arrest her. So this was indeed a trap, probably devised by Moriwaki. I still don't understand how she could convince the police that she was telling the truth and that they had to follow her suggestions to trap Sherlock. Also, did she really think that, whatever papers they found on Sherlock, she would have the chance to read them? They would be an evidence, so it's improbable that Moriwaki could put her hands on them.

At the HQ the Commissioner is following the operation, and Moriwaki and Wato are there with him. Moriwaki is particularly attentive, since she knows that Sherlock found those specs.

So Sherlock comes out of the cell sporting all the nonchalance of this world. The cops hold her at gunpoint, and if they were American they would have already shot her, just sayin'...

She waves at them, then she threatens them with a bottle of... something.

What's that? Poison? Nitroglycerine? A smoke bomb? The cops hesitate, she orders them to step back slowly, or else. The Commissioner is more and more nervous so he contacts the leader of the team, why didn't they arrest her already? And Sherlock chooses that moment to throw the bottle on the floor. The cops step back in panic, and Sherlock has all the time she needs to lock them into the Medical Wing and run away.

What was in the bottle? Oh, nothing special: while the Commissioner and Moriwaki listen in disbelief, they learn the true nature of the substance Sherlock unleashed on those poor, unsuspecting cops:

Lavender oil, one of Sherlock's aromatherapy projects.

Fuming, Moriwaki runs to the prison, and I reiterate that I still don't understand why they allow her to enter and to go to Sakakibara's cell like she owns the place. The Commissioner would love to tell her she should know her place because she's a civilian, but apparently he's willing to make an exception for her. And here we have the second prank of the day, even more hilarious than the one with the lavender oil.

When she enters the cell, Moriwaki understands in a few seconds where Sakakibara hid the specs, so she turns the UV flashlight on hoping to find something, but the specs are gone. Sherlock left a message, though:

Lol. I can't blame Sherlock for being petty and childish with this piece of shit.

While Moriwaki is freaking out for the loss of an important piece of her master plan, Sherlock has managed to exit the prison without issues, and finds that the cavalry has just arrived:

Reimon and Shibata are there to help her saving Wato.

Then we can see these delightful scene where Sherlock, in the car with the other two, is trying to find the words to thank them, but comes out empty handed. But friends (yes, Sherlock, friends), sometimes can understand you without words, and Reimon says she's welcome.

And Shibata adds that she doesn't need to thank them so many times. And at that point, for the first time, Sherlock manages awkwardly to say thanks.

After this embarassing moment, Reimon asks what did she find in that prison, and Sherlock tells him about Sakakibara and his specs. Reimon can't help to comment that that is a very disturbing thing, and Sherlock ressures him that those specs are gone...except the copy she keeps in her brain closet. And now she has a last favor to ask them.

Sherlock contacts Moriwaki a few hours later, telling her she has the specs.

She's willing to trade them for Wato. So she will wait for Moriwaki on the roof of the Reichenbach building.

At the Reichenbach we found Shibata in position, even though it appears he's there for his cleaning job. Anyway, Moriwaki doesn't notice him when she enters the building. She doesn't even notice Reimon who silently follows her.

On the roof, Sherlock is waiting, and she's immediately pissed off when she realizes that Moriwaki doesn't want to keep her end of the bargain.

Moriwaki will give Wato back when she'll finish proving her theory. She still wants Wato to go to Sirya and become a terrorist, and why does Sherlock complain so much?

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it doesn't matter if their reunion will happen in prison. Moriwaki is really a bastard, teasing Sherlock exploiting the feelings she has for Wato. And in that moment they realize that they aren't alone anymore: Wato followed Moriwaki because she knew the doctor would meet Sherlock, so here she is, ready to kill her.

Moriwaki is delighted: this means that Wato won't become a terrorist, but if she can shoot her friend, then her theory is proved noonetheless; Sherlock will have to admit she's mistaken, if she will be shot by Wato.

Reimon arrives and orders Wato to drop the gun, but she can obey only Moriwaki, so she doesn't listen. Reimon is another factor in the equation that sets the doctor up for failure: a police officer is there and he will see Wato shooting Sherlock while Moriwaki encourages her to do it (as you'll see a couple of paragraphs below): how the fuck does she think she will exit this situation scot-free? Unless she's planning to ask Wato to kill him too, there're no chances for Moriwaki to avoid prison.

Sherlock tries to talk to Wato, saying the leading crime theory is empy and doesn't work, but Moriwaki reiterates that, as long as she's alive, Wato will listen only her. And then Sherlock surrenders, telling Wato to shoot her.

; _ ; (and I have to add this is the first time that Sherlock calls Wato by her name. Without suffixes, too, that's a very intimate thing to do).

And Wato can't shoot her. Moriwaki says she's resisting, and that if she the keeps going on like that, she will develop a split personality, something I found...perplexing? I know that people can disassociate if they are subject to trauma, if I'm not mistaken, but can they really do that in these circumstances?

Moriwaki encourages Wato to shoot and at this point Reimon, pissed off because of the absolute nonsense of this whole thing, shoots in the air and that distracts the group. But not Sherlock.

She uses that moment of distraction to grab Moriwaki and tell Wato she'll be free. And then she jumps off the building taking the doctor with her.

And in that moment Wato comes to her senses and realizes what Sherlock did for her. It's not a good realization.

Reimon has to stop her from looking over the railing, or she will see the absolute mess a fall from the 10th floor can make of a human body. Maybe. Because there's something missing. And that something is Shibata. Do we really believe that Shibata didn't want participate to Wato's rescue and his presence at the Reichenbach was just a coincidence? No, we don't.

In the chaos that follows, we see paramedics load into an ambulance what it seems to be Sherlock's body (but we can't see its face...).

A few days later, Kento is reading a newspaper where an article recounts Moriwaki's crimes. The Dock has been found, and all the brainwashed patients have been saved. He isn't happy, though.

At 221b, things aren't going better. With a shot that parallels the one in the first half of the episode, we see Wato mourning Sherlock while looking at her empty armchair.

All Sherlock's possessions had been packed and put away (except for the infamous Hermes coat, it's Wato's now),and Wato is ready to go, too. Mrs Hatano tries to convince her to stay, but Wato feels she has to leave. One of her regrets is that she never asked her why she was called Sherlock. Mrs Hatano reassures her, saying the the time Wato spent there was precious to Sherlock, and concludes thanking Wato for everything she did for her.

The two embrace and say their farewells.

From the street, Shibata and Reimon observe Wato as she leaves. Shibata asks if they should tell her that Toru died because of the virus, not because of the bullet Sherlock hit him with.

Reimon thinks they should spare her this. She's suffering too much. And besides, he needs Shibata to write a report on the recent happenings: he knows Shibata has been fired from his job because of his inappropriate and unauthorized use of the glass washing lift (Hmmm... I wonder what he used it for...) so, isn't it convenient that he kept Shibata's resignation letter? If he didn't do it, now Shibata would be unemployed.

Wato has arrived on the Reichenback roof to leave a red rose for Sherlock (not pink or white, red).

And after the Reichenbach, she just stops at a bridge, looking at the water and embracing the Hermes coat. I don't know what she was planning to do after this, maybe going back home in Hokkaido?

So Wato is there, mourning her friend and probably contemplating all the decisions that took her at this point in her life, she's to distracted to hear the steps and to realize...

...that somebody is coming close. I recognize that trench and those shoes, and you?

In the first scene we find Wato practicing shooting. He eyes are completely empty, so we can see that Moriwaki's brainwashing is at work. How much time did pass? I think I remember that this episode takes place in the first week of December, but I admit I'm not sure. Anyway Wato has been with Stella Maris at least a couple of days since the events of episode 7.

It seems she has a shitty aim, because the jar she is aiming at is still whole. Not even imagining Sherlock in its place improves the situation. Wato (unconsciously?) keeps missing it.

(This scene is a punch in the gut, not gonna lie.)

I wonder where they filmed this. It's not an urban location, maybe the mountains somewhere out of Tokyo?

Wato is extremely upset by the whole situation, and she keeps shooting and crying until Moriwaki appears, trying to calm her: it's not Wato's fault, after all, but her friend's. Wato remembers what happened to Toru, and this is her answer:

Wato, no! ; _ ;

Moriwaki gently encourages Wato to reveal Sherlock's whereabouts, because the police can't find her and she might get away with her crimes. Wato is still too distraught to answer, and she really doesn't know where Sherlock might be. So she keeps training. But Moriwaki has a few ideas about Sherlock's hiding place.

In the meantime, the police formed a team to catch Sherlock. During the show she doesn't say it openly, but it's evident that Sherlock doesn't trust the police and thinks they are incompetent. She's right, because she's still wanted for the theft of the virus, the murders of Toru, Mitsuki and Tezuka and because she has stolen Shibata's gun. Basically, she saved the city and she risks death penalty, Moriwaki set her up very well.

From the documents in the police possession, we see that Sherlock is 35 (Yuko Takeuchi was 38 when she played Sherlock), but there's no real name or surname (even though we know that her surname is Futaba for sure, like Kento's). Probably her real name would have been the focus of the plot of one of the episodes of season 2, but alas, we will never see that.

Under her name there's also her job: コンサルタント (consultant). We also learn that Toru was 37. Now I wonder how old Wato is, I think she skews younger than them, maybe 30 (Shihori Kanjiya was 33 when she played Wato).

Anyway the Commissioner is pissed off because the team didn't manage to catch a dangerous, probably armed murderer, and tells them off because they're a buch of bumbling morons, not an elite police force.

In that moment Reimon enters the meeting room and tries to explain that Sherlock is innocent, but the Commissioner tells him he won't work at this case anymore. He never liked Sherlock and he had always been against hiring a civilian to help solving crimes.

And the situation is made even more difficult for Sherlock because the Commissioner orders all the participants to shoot her if she doesn't cooperate. Ouch.

Shibata is disappointed because Reimon is still on Sherlock's side. Ashamed and regretful because she managed to steal his gun, Shibata decides that working in the police force is not the kind of career that will give him happiness and satisfaction, so he quits.

That evening, Mrs. Hatano is entertaining a policeman who asked her if Sherlock showed up. Ooooohhhh, of course not, Hatano says, crossing her fingers behind her back. Who's playing the cello, then? the cop asks, and Mrs. Hatano is like "Yoyoma. It's a record". We love you, Mrs. Hatano.

And the fellow leaves without suspecting anything. Probably Sherlock is right about the fact that the police is made by an army of incompetents.

Of course Sherlock is back in her apartment, playing cello as she always does when she needs to reflect on something important. But this time she has an audience, because Akira Moriwaki somehow wormed her way into 221b. The doctor waits for Sherlock to finish the piece before entering, and Sherlock says she played it for her.

Moriwaki says she's glad Sherlock remembers her. They knew eachother? It's not clear. But it's improbable, since Sherlock should have recognized her when she met her at the party in episode 6, probably Moriwaki takes for granted that Sherlock, being a criminal psychologist, knows her work.

Sherlock is all business, and asks her why causing all those crimes. Moriwaki states Sherlock doesn't understand. Proving her theory of leading crime is the most important thing for her. Sherlock is wrong about everything, and she will realize it very soon. Lives aren't more important than proving her theory, doesn't Sherlock agree? And of course she won't reveal her real plan, but when Sherlock asks about Wato, Moriwaki concedes, giving her two hints:

And to keep Sherlock from hurting or manhandling her, she uses a threat that stops her immediately:

HA!

Now try to say you and Wato aren't friends, Sherlock. Well, of course she tries. And Moriwaki of course mocks her. She knows that Wato is important to Sherlock. Then she tries to caress Sherlock's face (ew, creeepy), and Sherlock slaps her hand away. Moriwaki exits the apartment without issues, leaving Sherlock upset and furious.

The next day, I think, a young man is explaining Wato how the Dock, the facility they live in, works, while Wato follows him around like a zombie. The building is full of people, Irikawa's patients who she brainwashed, but the young man insists that people may be "reborn" there. Then he casually mentions Sherlock as the cause of Toru's death, and Moriwaki has to intevene before Wato has a panic attack.

She also insinuates that Sherlock helping the police solving crimes was just a ruse to gain their trust then proceed to with her master plan. Wow, this would really be a sick way to play the long game. Wato of course believes her.

Meanwhile, tired of Moriwaki's taunts, Sherlock is searching her office. Her main worry is to find "The Dock", the facility where Wato is kept, but nothing is coming out and she's more angry and frustrated than ever.

Kento asks, because of course he managed to find her. Sherlock makes a point that emotions hamper intellectual productivity, so Kento is like, "then you are useless right now, sis". Canonically, Mycroft is smarter than Sherlock, and this version of Mycroft has also all the emotional intelligence Sherlock lacks. That's why he shoved her (literally) towards Wato, probably feeling that that young, compassionate doctor would be good for his sister (and also because he was worried for Wato, who was alone and lost at the time).

Sherlock tells him about the Dock and that she needs to find its location. I don't know what Sherlock wanted to do if she found it: storming in and taking Wato away? Bringing her somewhere hoping to undo the brainwash? Well, that would have been very interesting to watch.

Kento reminds her that important data are unhackable and unrestorable, so it's improbable she will find something useful. He also informs her that Reimon is out of the case and Shibata resigned because she stole his gun. Sherlock is not pleased (especially about the Shibata bit)

The gist is, nobody can help her. But Sherlock found something. Between Moriwaki's files she found data about a Kunio Sakakibara, who seems to be connected to Moriwaki's next plan, so she asks Kento to look for informations about him. Kento obliges, even though she tells her he's under surveillance now.

The next day we see Shibata working as a cleaning man for his father's company. Sherlock visits him to give him his gun back, acting surprised because he has changed his job. Shibata is still angry and humiliated, of course he quit the police, doesn't she know what happens to a cop who loses the gun to a civilian? Sherlock knows, and confesses she chose his gun because she trusted him.

She thought Shibata would never quit his job, because he loves it too much to resign. So she gives back his gun and leaves, while Shibata is like, "what the fuck".

Kento learned that Sakakibara was an atomic physicist, and was arrested a few year earlier because he tried to steal nuclear data. He died in the medical prison of Kanagawa of a severe lung disease, apparently he vomited blood. He stole that data because he was working on a project to build a portable atomic bomb. He completed it, but he disposed of the specs. Those projects would have been tempting for terrorists. And Sherlock remember the two hints Moriwaki gave her and realizes something.

Moriwaki is after those specs, they can't fall into her hands. Kento is sure they're gone because Sakakibara died 6 months ago, while Sherlock is sure they exist. Probably they are hidden in that prison, she needs help to enter it. But Kento can't help her, because he's still under surveillance.

Sherlock doesn't know that her cellphone is monitored (so much for "untraceable phone") and the Commissioner sends a patrol to the district from where the signal arrives. But she has taken refuge under a bridge with a kind homeless man called Daigoro who is an acquaintance of both Reimon and hers, so the patrol car just crosses the bridge without finding her. Lol, morons.

Sherlock and Daigoro seem to know eachother very well (he makes her choose what kind of prepackaged lunch she wants to eat, the scene is so cute) and I wonder if she used homeless people in Tokyo to gather information or something, like Sherlock Holmes did with the Irregulars. It would have been interesting to have that explored in the second season.

Reimon left a message for her, that Daigoro delivers using his trusty puppet, but Sherlock isn't convinced.

Reimon wants her to know he's on her side, and that she has to come clear about her reasons for shooting Moriya, and that they can find Wato afterwards. Sherlock doesn't want to hear that, of course turning herself to the police and explain the situation would take too much time, Wato is in danger she has to do something ASAP.

Meanwhile, Moriwaki has been informed that Sherlock broke into her office. She isn't worried, she left the clue about Sakakibara because she was sure Sherlock would have noticed it. Her plan is to make Sherlock enter the prison and find those projects for her (because the building has already been searched by her minions without results) then proceed with her master plan. But seriously, I have no idea of how a psychologist, it doesn't matter how smart, cunning and wealthy, could find all the resources she needs to make an atomic bomb.

So the whole thing has been an elaborate plan to trick Sherlock into finding those specs. Moriwaki is certain Sherlock will find them, because

Wato hasn't any opinion about that. She just wants Sherlock in prison.

It's surprising how genuinely cold and evil Moriwaki is. And how her faux sweet facade contrasts with her true personality. All the people that live in that facility are nothing to her: just objects, pawns, baits. She doesn't give a shit about them.

In Daigoro's shack, that has a web connection, Sherlock is trying to hack the database of the Kanagawa Medical Prison, without success. She's becoming more frayed and upset by the moment, and her mood is worsened by a message from Kento:

He's constantly followed even when he has to go to the toilet (literally) so he can't help her.

Moriwaki is at the police station with Wato, and tells the Commissioner Sherlock broke into her office. And then she spins this absurd tale that she put a bait in her computer files to lure her out, because esteemed Doctor Irikawa is a good citizen who wants to help police.

At this moment I would have, like, one thousand questions about her and what exactly there was in her computer and why Sherlock should want the data of an innocent, unassuming therapist, but since they are a bunch of morons, they trust her. She reveals that Sherlock will try to break into the Kanagawa Medical Prison.

That night Sherlock is there to do a bit of surveillance, and after a couple of minutes the Commissioner, the cops, Moriwaki and Wato arrive there. The Commissioner wonders why she should be in that place, and Moriwaki is like: "Here there's something she needs for her next crime", and lol how can they believe this pile of bullshit?

Then Moriwaki reassures Wato about the fact that now they'll be able to catch Sherlock and apparently Sherlock doesn't like the doctor being so touchy-feely with Wato. Or maybe she's enraged by Wato's almost catatonic state, but it's evident she's furious about the whole situation.

(Pain...)

Returned to 221b, Sherlock tries to deduce where Sakakibara hid those specs.

Sakakibara was obssessed by completing that portable atomic bomb, and Sherlock is thinking aloud, a habit she took since Wato moved into the apartment. Sakakibara was dying, so he has left those projects somewhere...

But her musings don't go anywhere, the empty chair in front of her is a harsh reminder that Wato is not with her.

A testament of how much space she made in her life for Wato, the void she left behind leaves her unable to function properly and with her intellectual abilities severely hampered. Frustrated, she begins to tear into another box of chocolates.

Morning comes and Mrs Hatano finds her in this pitiful state

insomniac, still dressed and surrounded by chocolate wraps. Also, her petulance got up a notch, because she kicks the table in frustration when Mrs Hatano tries to clean it. Usually chocolate helps her to focus but this time it didn't work.

Mrs Hatano is wise, so she isn't angry at all, she already knows why Sherlock is behaving like that:

we love you, Mrs. Hatano, but maybe mentioning Wato is not a good idea at the moment. Sherlock says in a scornful tone that it's fine if she doesn't come back, and she takes refuge into her office nook. Bad move, Sherlock, you awakened the Dragon.

Mrs Hatano joins her and forces Sherlock to look at her.

And then she slaps her.

"Do I have to slap you again?"

Sherlock shakes her head no, it seems that that slap pulled her out of her funk. She expects to be slapped again, but Mrs. Hatano hugs her instead.

Mrs. Hatano thinks Sherlock and Wato are family, now, so Sherlock has to focus on how to bring Wato back.

How could you possibly fail at something when you have Kimie Hatano believing in you? Yes, in this house we love Mrs. Hatano.

We left Sherlock after she made a disturbing discovery,

Toru is probably involved in the virus case, and Wato spent the night with him two days ago. I can't fathom what Sherlock is thinking now. Does she regret not talking to Wato about Toru's supposed psychopathy? We don't know, but apparently Sherlock has a plan, and orders Ota to turn the car because their destination changed, and she begins to send a message to somebody.

At the same time, Wato is with Moriya and Doctor Irikawa, trying to convince them to leave Tokyo, because the virus will be released that evening.

Sherlock is chased by the police, because they told Wato they have all the evidence they need to put her into jail. Anyway she's still convinced that Sherlock didn't steal the virus or kidnapped Mitsuki killed and her fiancee. She's outraged when Irikawa asks her if she believes Sherlock is a murderer.

And finally we learn who Sherlock was contacting while she was threatening Ota: she sent a message to Wato, telling her she's waiting for her. The two had picked a place to meet in case of an emergency, and that place is the church were Sherlock took refuge in the last two days. I think it's sweet that Sherlock informed Wato about her secret place, even though maybe from her point of view it was just useful. Since apparently only Kento knows about it, it's pretty indicative that Sherlock considers Wato as close to her as her own brother.

Toru offers to go with Wato, and they leave. They didn't realize that Reimon and Shibata were stalking her, so when they set off, the two cops immediately pursue them.

I also think that this isn't the street where Doctor Irikawa's house is? It's completely different, maybe it's Toru's address?

The church is located in a small park, and as soon as they get out of the car a bunch of police cars arrive at the entrance of the garden, and in the span of a few seconds the whole place is full of cops.

Wato is furious with Reimon because she realized he followed her.

Reimon is embarassed and entrusts Wato to another cop.

The rest of the team enters the church, and they find Ota there, bound, gagged and with a time bomb to keep him company.

They free Ota and run away while the commissioner orders to call the bomb squad, but when the timer rings, they discover that it was just a joke: there's no bomb, it's an alarm clock taped to... well, I think it's a piece of cheese?

The commissioner il furious, but the prank worked: firstly, it amused Reimon a lot. With his sense of humor, he's probably the only one who thinks it's funny.

Secondly, it gave Sherlock all the time she needed to steal one of the police cars. Lol, look at her.

All the team runs to try to catch her, but it's too late. She just hops into the car and speeds away, and the last look she exchanges with Wato is... well...

In the next scene we find Wato sitting against the church wall, evidently after what happened she decided she needed to be alone for a while. Her confidence that Sherlock isn't a terrorist or an assassin is beginning to slowly crumble. Toru joins her, telling her he called Doctor Irikawa, and that the therapist is very worried for her.

A cop runs out of the church saying he found a the special box that contained the vials of the virus. But the box is empty, for the police is clear that Sherlock brought the rest of the virus with her. So the Commissioner tells Wato that Sherlock has the virus and killed Mitsuki Kurata (an information that probably still hadn't found a way to her), imploring her to help the police finding Sherlock. The situation is dire and a lot of people will die, so they need her to cooperate, now.

The recovery of the box and Mitsuki's death seems to be the final hit to Wato's disgregating trust in Sherlock. Reimon asks her if she lost her faith in her friend and for the first time Wato doesn't know what to say.

It's late now, and Kento is imploring Kirishima to hold the press conference, at least to buy time. Sherlock is near to solve the case, the press conference would be an invaluable help.

Kirishima refuses, because he insists he has no idea of what this supposed 'terrible crime' is. And anyway, he doesn't want to commit a political suicide.

Kento tells him to do it for the Tokyo citizens, but Kirishima tells him to go out and find the virus, as he was tasked to do.

A few minutes later, Sherlock enters Toru's apartment to search it, but she's interrupted by Kento, who alerts her Kirishima refused to hold the press conference. Sherlock is not surprised. Politicians, am I right?

She informs her brother she is at Toru Moriya's apartment, explaining he's a war photographer and he has the virus. Kento has to help her to find him. He must have picked a place to release the virus and she's looking for clues. Finally she finds them in his camera: it's the Tokyo Station.

And Sherlock, since she cares, runs immediately there. And while she leaves, she notices the same picture Wato saw the previous day, and just like it happened to Wato, it gives her pause. And she draws the right conclusion.

Toru Moriya has the virus, Toru Moriya is in contact with Stella Maris, Wato is in love with somebody who is a terrorist and close to Stella Maris.

Oh no.

It's 6.05 pm, the terrorist in question is in his car, recording a message.

From the way it starts, it's probably the sort of emo whining you'd expect: when you see this I'll be dead and blah, blah, blah. But we'll be able to watch the whole message only at the end of the episode. At the same time, Sherlock is scouring the station looking for him.

It's almost 7.00 pm and Sherlock is exhausted, but she seems to realize something.

So, when Toru tries to cross the street in front of the building to enter the station, he finds behind him a pissed off Sherlock who keeps him at gunpoint.

And she takes her phone to make a call.

At the headquarters the Commissioner and the team have absolutely no idea of what to do. Wato is there (and I don't know what kind of elements she could add to the investigation, firstly because, well, Sherlock is innocent, secondly because Wato is evidently too distraught to function). Reimon answers to his phone and of course it's Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Sherlock brought Toru on the roof of a building, far from the people, her intention is probably to keep him there at gunpoint until the police arrives. To her, the case is closed.

And she berates herself because she didn't realize it sooner. He stole her fingerprints during that damn party. He planted the vials in the church. He conspired with Mitsuki Kurata to steal and spread the virus (and that's why Wato found his book at Tezuka's apartment, I'll add).

All of this in the name of what Mitsuki called justice?

Toru tells her he met Mitsuki in a war zone. It was him the one who discovered Teinichi Chemical misdeeds, and Mitsuki said he would help him. Apparently the village was completely destroyed and the survivors had no homes anymore. The whole tragedy has been covered up without remorse. Somebody had to punish them.

Sherlock logically asks him why million of innocents have to die, especially children. Now, where's the virus?

Well, Toru decided to sacrifice himself, because he' infected. It will be him the one who will punish the culprits, re-enacting that tragedy here in Tokyo.

Ok, he's gone now. Completely lost in his lust for revenge. He will change this hideous world and he will make "that person" happy.

Who, Akira Moriwaki? Sherlock asks, because she already understood what happened to Toru: a man destroyed by trauma who fell in Moriwaki's hands and became a terrorist.

And he tries to leave, even though Sherlock threatens to shoot him. In that moment the police arrives, with Wato in tow, and the scene they see is pretty damning: Sherlock who is keeping Toru at gunpoint, while he is completely unarmed.

Sherlock is distracted for a moment when she sees Wato, but she takes a decision: she can't allow Toru to move closer to Wato and the cops, because they risk to be infected, so she shoots him.

Shibata tries to catch her, or maybe to help Toru, and only Reimon's quick intellect, making him understand that Toru is infected, stops the young cop.

Wato is devastated and Sherlock hasn't the time to stay and explain, so she flees after taking Moriya's cellphone.

When I watch this scene, I can't decide if Wato is in that awful state because of Moriya's death (like I said in the previous recap, they didn't know eachother for long, so it's improbable that very deep feelings were involved), or because she saw a person she knew and trusted, a person who, with all her flaws, always strived for taking culprits to justice (it's exactly what she did, her cinicism notwithstanding), shooting her apparently innocent boyfriend.

Anyway, Wato is so out of her mind that Reimon has to physically stop her from running to Toru.

At the ministry, they're all congratulating themselves because the crisis is averted.

Kirishima is especially smug.

Kento is not happy at all. He swears he will bring Kirishima and Teinichi Chemical to justice, because now it's a personal matter.

Sherlock had to kill the terrorist in order to keep the virus from spreading, to save 13 millions of lives Kirishima didn't care about.

Ah, yes, the killing. How did Sherlock take it? Apparently, not well.

She is hiding under a pedestrian passageway, and it's evident that killing Toru took an enormous toll on her. For the first time in the series, we see her absolutely freaking out.

But she tries to get a hold of herself and check Toru's phone, finding the farewell message he recorded earlier.

The message is for a certain person who showed Moriya who he really was. He will fight for what he believes in (what did I tell you? Emo whining). As his final request, he asks this person to take care of Wato. He's sure that at The Dock they all will welcome her.

And apparently this is particularly scary to Sherlock. Then he concludes:

And Sherlock laughs. Akira Moriwaki is Mariko Irikawa. Who in that exact moment is collecting Wato after her recent trauma completely destroyed her judgement. Wato, who is so in pain and so confused that she will for sure entrust herself to the therapist that helped her in these last months.

And that's exactly what happens.

And while Sherlock desperately tries to call Wato, even though she's aware she won't answer, the episode ends.

In a place that is probably a lab for microbiological research, a man takes a few vials from a fridge. Spoiler: this event will have disastrous consequences for our heroes, but let's not rush things.

Sherlock is spending her morning studying the infamous thesis on leading crime. Then she proceeds to search the website of UK Homeland Security, trying to find Akira Moriwaki: if they studied in Cambridge, they should have been registered there. Sadly, she comes out empty-handed. It's like Moriwaki never visited UK. This is super strange. Kento calls, and brings bad news.

He used all his connections at the Security Office, but he couldn't find anything about Akira Moriwaki. It's as if they never existed. Ok, this won't do.

Meanwhile, Wato is having a more relaxing morning, because she evidently spent the night at Toru's home. Since the last time we saw them together, their relationship deepened enough that now they are comfortable being intimate.

And it seems that Wato is planning to leave 221b to move in with Toru. Honestly, I admit that their relationship is a head-scratcher.

How much time passed since Wato and Toru met? Well, we see Toru for the first time in episode 4, when Wato attends his exhibit. We know that his exhibit lasted until October 30th, and that in that episode the residents of 221 were ready to celebrate Halloween, so the events of episode 4 happen during the last week of October. I mean, the events of episode 5 take place between October 29th and November 1st: we have clues during the episode that that tell us what day it is, and in the last scenes of the episode we see that all the Halloween decorations have been removed. I don't think they began to prepare for Halloween 10 days in advance, also remember that at the end of the episode Wato had a war flashback and it's probable that she wanted to see Doctor Irikawa ASAP to talk about it (it's her first scene in ep 5), so I think it's safe to say that episode 4 takes place between 25th-28th of October.

A little bit of a spoiler: we'll see that the first part of episode 7 takes place on November 19th. So, at the time of episode 7, Wato and Toru knew eachother for less than a month. Enough to forge a connection, but IMHO not enough to form a full-fledged relationship, considering it's not like they are constantly together.

Anyway, Toru has a present for Wato:

It's his first photography book. It will be in the bookshops in a few days, but he wants Wato to have the first copy.

Sherlock bad day is continuing. Kento didn't just update her about Akira Moriwaki, he also told her that she has been summoned by the Minister of National Policy. The guy, Kirishima, has strong connections with other countries, especially in the Middle East, something that will be important later. So the two siblings go to the Intelligence Service Office, and Sherlock considers this a welcomed distraction from her current woes about Stella Maris. She doesn't know that because of this her week will become exponentially worse.

Yeah, you bet.

They find themselves in a meeting room with a selection of the worst stereotypes politics can offer. They called her specifically because there's an emergency. Mr. Ota, a representative of a company called Teinichi Chemical, explains that yesterday evening a sample of a lethal virus has been stolen from their labs. A very lethal virus.

Sympthoms appear in 24 hours. 1 million people can be infected in a few days, with the number of cases growing exponentially until a city like Tokyo could be wiped out in the span of a week. But why a private company produced this kind of virus? Kirishima insists that is was a byproduct of research to contrast bioterrorism. But that's not important, because they know who stole it:

Akihiko Tezuka, a researcher in their labs, who lives with his fiancee, Mitsuki Kurata. They're both missing, and the Security Office hasn't been able to discover their wereabouts. There's a cure for the virus, if it's administered in 24 hour the patient can recover quicky and completely, but...they have just 18 doses (and Sherlock says the thing the whole audience is thinking)

Look at Kento's super embarassed expression in the background. I can't decide if it's because he's embarassed for Sherlock's comment or the evident incompetence of his superiors. Anyway, they can produce just 100 vials of vaccine a week, so if the virus would be released right now, it would be the end of the world. Or, the end of Tokyo, for sure. While they are reflecting on the severity of the situation, a phone call arrives: Tezuka has been found dead. It's time to move.

In another part of Tokyo, called by Sherlock, Wato is preparing to leave Toru's apartment. Toru can't hide his dissatisfaction seeing his girlfriend leaving immediately when her roommate calls.

Lol. But we already know from the last episode that Wato thinks her duty is to rein Sherlock in during the investigations. Nobody asked her to do that, but she feels it's her role nonetheless. And while she recovers her cellphone, for the first time Wato notices something that gives her pause. A photo of the starry sky, maybe shot by Toru, is pinned to one of the walls. It's one of those long-exposure photographies, where the stars seem to form a vortex around the sky center: the North Star.

Of course Wato is understandably disturbed, Toru asks her if there's something wrong, but she just tells him she has to go, so off she goes.

And in the street she stops. And she seems to reflect on something. Come on, Wato. You can do it, listen to your guts, hone your intuition. I think that her inclination to always think the best of everyone and trusting people immediately is her weak spot. Also, she's a doctor, so she should know very well what a psychopath is. Sherlock's line about psychopaths in the previous episodes may have been in jest, but probably Wato should have worried about a man whose first answer to a pretty innocent question has been so creepy.

Tezuka's corpse has been found in an underground parking garage. Wato arrives just the minute Sherlock enters the premises. Sherlock immediately acknowledges that Wato is shaken, but she incorrectly deduces that her roommate is worried because of the virus. Reassurances ensue.

We already saw that Sherlock is able to be kind and considerate, but we never saw her trying to use words to express her kindness, so this is a first. But when Wato tells her she has a boyfriend now, so she can't allow the world to end, Sherlock retorts that she doesn't care if this corrupted world dies. Of course you care. The world ending means no more Kento, no more Mrs Hatano, no more Reimon and Shibata, no more Wato, no more cases and no more chocolate. Of course you care.

So, Tezuka has been shot, and there's no trace of the virus, so probably the murderer stole it. Wato begins examining the body without anybody asking (she really takes seriously her duty as Sherlock's partner/assistant) and she concludes that the man died 10 hours ago.

In that moment a team of the Public Security Bureau arrive and tell Reimon they will take the case. Reimon's division is under their command and all the forensic evidences and tests results will have to be given to them. They also ask the "spectators" (Wato and Sherlock) to leave the crime scene. Sherlock is unfazed, the scene has nothing more to tell her, now she wants to visit Tezuka's apartment. So our heroes have to leave the corpse to the PBS, and Shibata even pats Wato's shoulder in sympathy.

Tezuka lived with his fiancee, but Sherlock notices that the house doesn't seem to be inhabited by two people: apparently Mitsuki Kurata didn't keep many of her belongings in her boyfriend's apartment. Sherlock wonders if she actually lived there and Wato agrees.

And then there's something that gives Wato pause. Again. On the dining table there's a book, a book she has already seen a couple of hours ago, a book of which she should have the first and only copy before it hits the bookshops the next week.

So, there are a few explanations for this:

Tezuka and Mitsuki are somewhat involved with Toru's publisher and that allowed them to have a copy of the book

one of them or both are Toru's friends so he gifted them a copy of the book

For the first one: Tezuka was a researcher and we don't know anything about Mizuki, this occurrence is not impossible, but it's improbable anyway.

For the second one: if they are Toru's friends, enough for him to give them his still unreleased book, giving them the same treatment he reserved to his girlfriend, it's clear that he didn't bother to introduce her to them or viceversa, or even told her about them, in that case Wato would have known them at least by name. What does Wato know about Toru, anyway?

Probably it's this what Wato is thinking about. Or maybe she's just realizing that Toru's gift maybe is not that special, since there are people she doesn't know that already had that book before Toru gave her that copy.

So Toru is a liar at best. Come on, Wato. Discard the impossible, accept the unlikely truth. And just like it happened at the parking garage, Sherlock immediately notices Wato's turmoil, but she decides to not say anything.

At the headquarters they are organizing an investigative team, while Commissioner Takahashi in person is coordinating the work. Shibata is not exactly happy to play second fiddle to the Public Security Bureau and he's there helping to prepare the room when an agent enters with a message: the murderer sent an email, boasting they have the virus, and if the police wants the proof the agents just have to go to a certain old, abandoned arcade.

And above we have the evidence that the date is 19 November 2018.

Half of the police force runs to the arcade, and Sherlock and Reimon go too, followed by a distraught Wato.

At the arcade they find Mitsuki Kurata, infected, shackled to a videogame machine and kept under a medical plastic tent to keep the virus from spreading. The medical unit is called immediately, while the cops try to reassure the woman. In that moment Sherlock arrives and when an inspector asks Mitsuki if she remembers the culprit's face, she accuses Sherlock.

Reasonably, somebody asks her if her kidnapper is a woman, someone who looks like Sherlock, but she insists that Sherlock killed Tezuka, Sherlock kidnapped her, Sherlock infected her, Sherlock left her in that abandoned building. Since the victim seems so sure, the Commissioner decides to take Sherlock in to question her. Wato tries to protect her:

but the cops don't want to listen to her. They have to look into the victim claims, it's the protocol.

And Sherlock, understanding the game the terrorist (this is for sure a terrorist act) is playing with them, does something that will allow her to investigate but also will give her a lot of troubles: she steals Shibata's gun and takes him hostage. Whoever organized this ruse did it to keep Sherlock from helping, stalling the investigations and buying time to continue with their plan, and Sherlock can't allow the police to put her in prison, not even for 24h, not even if they will find her innocent of every accusation.

She reminds them what's at stake, then she manages to flee with Shibata's gun. Now Sherlock is a wanted, alleged terrorist, and the Public Security Bureau activates the emergency protocol.

The next day, after what was probably a sad and worrying night, at 9.02 in the morning, everybody is at the headquarters reading the list of requests the terrorist has made. Well, there's only one request: Minister Kirishima and a representant of Teinichi Chemical have to hold a press conference at 6.00 pm that same day, apologizing to citizens for the crime they committed 2 years ago.

What crime? Well, about that they are at a loss. But a first answer came out from the forensic labs: the gun used to kill Tezuka was in the place Mitsuki was held captive, and it has Sherlock's fingerprints on it. Fingerprints? Don't you think this is starting to seem a bit too convenient?

Wato still thinks Sherlock is innocent, and she doesn't know where Sherlock is. In the next part we'll see she's lying. But they have just 10 hours, says the commissioner, Wato should tell them everything she knows.

Meanwhile, Mrs Hatano is on Wato's same wavelenght, because she gives the same answer to the cops who came to search Sherlock and Wato's apartment. We love you, Mrs. Hatano.

They don't care, and proceed to enter the apartment to do their job.

Sherlock has taken refuge in an abandoned church. The building has a bit of a Phantom-of-the-Opera-esque vibe, with that broken chandelier.

She's there to regroup and eat chocolate, and to take a decision: paying a visit to a certain patient in a certain clinic in Tokyo, for example.

Said patient is Mitsuki Kurata, who now feels better thanks to the vaccine she has been given. She is waiting for Sherlock on the hospital's terrace, and she has even the gall to tell her she's late (it's 10.03 AM). Sherlock answers that her recent difficulties are all because of a certain liar.

She thought about it, and reached these conclusions: Mitsuki approached Tezuka on purpose and entered in a relationship with him only because he had access to the virus. She faked her own kidnapping, she impersonated the kidnapper asking the virus as a ransom. Tezuka stole the virus, and when he went to the appointed location, she killed him. Then she infected herself.

Now, where's the rest of the vials?

Mitsuki answers telling Sherlock a story where a village in Iraq had been decimated by a unknown illness. A virus developed by Teinichi Chemical. Apparently the company sold the virus to a terrorist group to test it. Teinichi is still making business with terrorists and Kirishima knows and covers it because he's getting kickbacks from Teinichi. They just have to hold a press conference to confess. If they don't the virus will be released in Tokyo.

Who cares about the deaths, they're fighting for justice. Sherlock tells her that trying to frame her won't work, lies are exposed sooner or later. Bur Mitsuki believes in her crusade so, after screaming for help, she kills herself jumping from the terrace before Sherlock can stop her. Sherlock runs away from the hospital and a couple of hours later the news reach Inspector Reimon and Shibata.

Shibata is disgusted. He never liked Sherlock because of her tendency to revel in tragedies, he's not surprised about this.

Sherlock has taken refuge into the church again, and she is so tired that she has fallen asleep.

She is woken up by Kento, who asks her what the fuck happened with Mitsuki Kurata. Sherlock explains she has been framed and when Kento asks her if she has proofs, she scoffs and she tells him she has to find the virus, let the police do their damn job and find the proofs. And for the first time we see her upset enough that she begins kicking things to unload her irritation. Kento gives her an untraceable phone and she takes her leave, ready to save Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Wato is unloading all her worries to Doctor Irikawa. While I think that therapy is important for mental health, and that it's good to have a psychologist always so ready to help and support you, maybe this isn't exactly a good idea at the moment.

And it's EVIDENT why it's not a good idea. Miss Sherlock is very rewarding if you are an attentive viewer. Also, if you look at the clock on the wall, this scene happens an hour and half after Sherlock and Kento's meeting.

Okay, let's continue. She has always thought about herself as a good person (especially if compared with her roommate and her antics), but now she's behaving selfishly: she asks Doctor Irikawa, who is important to her, to leave Tokyo because staying is too dangerous. In that moment Toru arrives, probably because of a therapy session, now there are two people that are dear to her in the room with her, and Wato becomes more flustered. So Doctor Irikawa asks her what she's willing to do in order to protect her loved ones. A dangerous question that will be answered in episode 8.

Twenty minutes later Mr. Ota, the rep of Teinichi Chemical, exits the building of the National Security Office, ready to go to lunch.

But lunch will have to wait, because a pissed off consulting detective has a couple of things to ask him.

So, two years ago they made a killer virus and sold it to terrorists. Then, what happened? Ota admits they sold it to a French company but he didn't know that it would be used to commit terrorist attacks. Sherlock orders him to hold that damn press conference with Kirishima, but Ota tells her Kirishima will never apologize. Also, it's six months they receive threats, but they never reported them to the police, probably to avoid scrutiny on their activities. Interesting, who was it? Mitsuki Kurata? No.