#baritsu

Before I begin this review: I was curious about the martial art "baritsu" that Sherlock Holmes mentions in this story. Almost certainly Doyle meant either jujitsu or Bartitsu, which was an English martial art inspired by jujitsu. But this introduced a wrinkle: the story takes place in 1894, when the martial art was only introduced in 1898 at the earliest. The fact the martial art would have died in 1902 if not for Doyle's work is interesting, and the fact it came from misunderstanding and mixing up the names is funny to me. Ah, Doyle, you very white Englishman.

But beyond that: as a justification for Sherlock Holmes not being quite as dead as we had believed, it's actually quite good. We get a little retcon about the ledge he disappeared over, and the sheer cliff he climbed to avoid detection, but this story also uses an offhand comment Sherlock made as foreshadowing for the denouement at the end, which is a clever bit of writing.

The mystery in the story is not really as interesting as the circumstances under which it happens. The central context of the story is that because a man is murdered, Sherlock Holmes has what he needs to restore his old life to himself. It is a little disappointing to make an easy guess for how the card player was murdered.

But even still the story is fun to read. Even though Sebastian Moran is easily captured by Sherlock's plan, he has an aura of menace to him that stands out quite strongly. And even though Sherlock Holmes doesn't explain who this villain is until the end of the story, so much of what happens is based around avoiding Moran's evil eye. I can see why he's stuck around for so many years, not least because he's an evil version of Watson.

Does our earl wear brands like Burberry?

Burberry was established in Basingstoke in 1856 (but has its HQ in London), so it was definitely around... even when Grandma P was watchdog. I find it interesting Burberry was established there because I once looked at Basingstoke as a potential area for Phantomhive Manor and its surrounding estate. Even tried to figure out whether St. Michael's Church in Basingstoke could be the reference for the parish church where Vincent and Rachel marry... and where Vicar Rathbone worked as reeve for Vincent -- because Rathbone even mentions St. Michael's Day -- but it doesn't seem to be. I still haven't definitively found the Phantomhive estate on a map of England, but the North Downs area is still promising....

I've also looked at Burberry for being the reference for Grelle's red trench coat, which I think might actually be true. (I think Abberline might be wearing an Aquascutum 🧥.)

You bring up a valid question, here. Is this:

This?

And I do believe the answer is YES. Yana-san has dressed the bunch in it, including Arthur:

And a lot of websites try to pass off similar designs, like these with extra red lines:

But true Burberry has those single red lines, like our earl and the others have donned.

Yana-san is lucky to not get sued for it, since... as I mentioned in the linked post above, Burberry also has licensing in Asia, so the brand might be looking for knockoffs or other trademark infringements there. In the west, Target (among other stores) has been sued over the years by copying the signature check pattern, sometimes even with the single red line. Target is lucky that the lawsuit was dropped after talks. Idk why it was dropped, honestly. 🤔

Anyway. Yeah.

Of course, in the Kuroverse, it might be that Nina Hopkins has made all sleuthing outfits worn by our earl and anyone else in his household. No telling where she claims to buy the fabrics she uses. 😆

But many fans recognize that iconic check.

Bonus: I searched my blog for "Basingstoke", hoping to find something about my old search for the Phantomhive estate, and lo and behold, the only post that came up was from the murders arc. But it's about Bartitsu... and Arthur accidentally calling it Baritsu. Someone says it's time to go to Basingstoke Bartitsu Irregulars. It's real. 😳😂

What an excellent question!

I think there are two plausible answers here... One is that Sherlock has a history working for whatever government agency Mycroft is supposed to represent, and got his training that way. Now, Sherlock implies on a few occasions that he refuses to work for Mycroft (like in ASIP and TGG), and sometimes they clearly work at cross purposes (like in HLV). But Mycroft does offer him work in HLV (which Sherlock is forced to accept by the end of the episode), and he probably wouldn't be able to do that if Sherlock didn't have some pre-existing relationship with whatever intelligence agency, along with appropriate training.

The other likely possibility is suggested by the original canon. In Doyle's stories, Holmes tells us that he has studied a martial art called Baritsu -- probably a reference to Bartitsu, a wacky but real fighting method drawing together jujitsu, boxing, and cane fighting, among others. If our Sherlock was engaged in something similar, he might be basically self-taught, or perhaps working with private trainers or sparring partners.

Personally, I think the first option is a bit more likely, but the second is more fun. ;)