Sherlock Recap: “The Blind Banker”

by Kimmie Chameleon:

Sherlock Recap: “The Blind Banker”
Original Air Date (BBC One): August 1, 2010
Series 1 Episode 2

Tea Time

We open with a young Chinese woman named Soo Lin who is carefully polishing ancient tea clay pots with tea after her tea ceremony demonstration at a London museum. A fellow co-worker, Andy, asks her out, but she reluctantly turns him down and leaves her alone. Soo Lin puts the pots away and is distracted by some noise. She notices the white cloth covering a statue is moving. When she lifts the sheet, a look of terror overcomes her face.

We are now focused on Dr. John Watson at the grocery store. He becomes frustrated with the self-checkout machine and then has his debit card declined. While John is out with these errands, back at home on 221B Baker St., Sherlock is in a death defying battle with a robed assailant. He quickly defeats the thug and sends him on his way just in time to look as if he has been relaxing when John arrives. John expresses to Sherlock that his bills are piling up, he needs to find a job, and wonders if he can borrow some money from him. Sherlock flatly replies, “I need to go to the bank.”

Sherlock and John arrive at a huge corporate bank where it now becomes clear to John that they have been hired by an old college acquaintance of Sherlock. Sebastian wishes for them to find out who broke into and vandalized the office on the 20^th floor. The surveillance security camera did not capture the perpetrator but does reveal that they entered the building at around 11pm and were in and out in under a minute. The graffiti is strange symbols spray painted on walls and objects. Sherlock accepts the case but refuses the hefty paycheck. He is nearly insulted by the payment of money. John, of course, takes the check. Sherlock begins poking around the office and removes the door name plate of a Edward Van Coon. Sherlock explains to John that the symbols were intended to be seen by someone that is in the office at that late hour of 11pm. Perhaps a trader that worked the Hong Kong trades.

John and Sherlock head over to Edward Van Coon’s apartment and cleverly make their way inside. As they inspect the flat, they discover that Van Coon has been shot dead. When the police arrive, DI Dimmock insists that Van Coon shot himself in the head. Sherlock disagrees. He believes that further investigation will reveal that Van Coon fired a shot with the gun in his hand but the bullet missed and flew out the window. Van Coon is left handed and the bullet is on the right side of his head. Sherlock also pulls out a folded black paper lotus from the inside of Van Coon’s mouth. It seems that nobody is taking Sherlock’s insistence that this is a homicide.

A Real Job

John is still desperate for money so he applies for temporary work at a hospital. A fellow doctor named Sarah interviews him and agrees to hire him. John is a bit more eager for the job due to the attraction he has for Sarah. When John arrives home, Sherlock shares a newspaper article that describes the same manner of murder as Van Coon. Both cases involve a murderer being able to enter the victims’ flats without unlocking their doors. The two immediately head over to the latest victim’s apartment. Journalist Brian Lukis is dead on the floor and has a folded black paper lotus next to him. Sherlock sees that Lukis had checked out a library book that day, so they head over there. John discovers that the same symbolic graffiti has been sprayed onto the shelf where Lukis pulled his book out from. Sherlock sends John to the police station to retrieve Lukis’s personal effects and diary to investigate, while he heads over to question Van Coon’s personal assistant, Amanda. Amanda cooperates with Sherlock and lets him sift through his things at the office. Sherlock seems to study Amanda a bit. Armed with receipts, Sherlock ventures off to retrace Van Coon’s steps the day that he died and is surprised when he runs into John. John explains that he read Lukis’s diary and it led him to this location. They are now at The Lucky Cat Emporium. The two browse inside the store and notice that the same cipher as the graffiti is written on the bottom labels of some items. It is now apparent that the cipher is Hang Zhou, an ancient Chinese dialect. What they don’t notice is a Chinese woman taking pictures of them. They sit down for a bite to eat and Sherlock surmises that Van Cook and Lukis both must be smugglers going back and forth with objects from China. This area that they are in must be the drop- off/pick- up area. He believes that one of them must’ve stolen something, but the killer doesn’t know which one was the thief. Sherlock also believes that the killer must be an acrobat, which would explain why the apartments and building were broken into without using doors. They must’ve used the windows. A wet phonebook at the doorstep of an apartment across the street catches Sherlock’s eye because he suspects this has something to do with the case. They rush over, but find the apartment is locked. Sherlock breaks in, but fails to let in a very annoyed John. Sherlock snoops around and guesses too late that somebody else is inside. It is the acrobat he has suspected. While John waits impatiently screaming outside to be let in, Sherlock fights for his life as the acrobat nearly strangles him to death. The acrobat dashes out as Sherlock collects himself and opens the front door. They notice that a note from a person named Andy has been left at the doorstep for the occupant of the apartment, Soo Lin. They notice that the note was written on a piece of paper from a museum so they head over there.

John and Sherlock locate Andy and question him about Soo Lin. Andy tells them that Soo Lin suddenly quit her precious job a few days ago and he reveals that this is highly out of character for her. As they take a look around they discover that the same ancient Hang Zhou number ciphers are on a statue near Soo Lin’s work station at the museum.

The Writing on the Wall

John and Sherlock leave the museum and intercept a local graffiti artist named Raz that they had talked to earlier. He points out that he has noticed some recent cipher tags on a street wall and takes them to see it. John quickly snaps a photo of the message. Sherlock is now convinced that a smuggling group is trying to communicate a message and that Soo Lin is the missing link. They head back to the museum the next day and Sherlock notices that one of the clay tea pots that Soo Lin cared for is shiny. He heads to a back room and finds Soo Lin secretly caring for the tea pots. Soo Lin reveals that she has been hiding from the killer called Zhi Zhu but still wishes to care for the pots. She shows them a foot tattoo on the bottom of her foot of a “Black Lotus” Tong mark. She explains that all smugglers have this mark. She smuggled drugs for the Tong ever since she was a child because her parents had died. She wanted to escape this group and ran to England where she has been hiding out for five years at the museum. She tells them that Zhi Zhu works for Shan, who is the Black Lotus general. Zhi Zhu came to ask her for help finding a stolen object, but Soo Lin refused to help. She knew she was in mortal danger when she saw the cipher. What disturbs her even more is that Zhi Zhu is her brother. Sherlock gives her a photograph of the cipher message that was sprayed on the street. Soo Lin tells them that it is a code and can be solved by referring to a single book. As she starts transcribing, shots are fired inside the museum. Soo Lin ends up shot dead.

Sherlock and John head to the police station and demand that DI Dimmock realize that these murders are connected. With all of the evidence, Dimmock agrees to have all of Van Coon’s and Lukis’s books delivered to John and Sherlock’s flat. They sift through all of the books to see if both of the victims have the same book.

First Date Jitters

After a long night without any sleep, John is discovered to be snoozing on the job by Sarah at the hospital. Still, the attraction is present, and Sarah agrees to go on a date with John.

John arrives at home and informs Sherlock that he has a date. Sherlock suggests that he take her to a Chinese circus and he will make the reservation. When John and Sarah arrive, they are stunned to find that Sherlock will be joining them. John is ticked, but Sherlock explains that the Chinese acrobat they are after must be involved with the circus. During the performance, Sherlock investigates and ends up being part of the show when he fights off a swordsman. Even Sarah gets involved and fights off Sherlock’s attacker. When DI Dimmock arrives on the scene it is revealed that the swordsman has the same Tong tattoo on the bottom of his foot. Sherlock still doesn’t know what item the Tong is looking for.

Sherlock, John, and Sarah head back to 221B Baker and try to figure out where the Tong hideout is. Sarah points out to Sherlock that DI Dimmock brought back the photo of the cipher that he gave to Soo Lin to translate. She had started to write down the code before she died. Sherlock heads over to the museum. It suddenly becomes apparent to Sherlock that the book with the code is the one he remembers sitting on Soo Lin’s work station, “A-Z London Guide”. Back at the flat, John hears a knock on the door. The deliveryman knocks John out and takes him and Sarah to a secret location. Meanwhile, Sherlock solves the code. It reads: “Nine mill for jade pin. Dragon den black tramway.” When Sherlock returns to 221B Baker St. he discovers the flat has been sprayed with the cipher graffiti and John and Sarah are nowhere to be found.

John wakes up in the Tong hideout. Sarah is tied up next to him. A woman that he recognizes from the circus introduces herself as Shan, the Black Lotus General. Shan concludes that John is Sherlock even though he vehemently denies it. Shan continues to press John for the location of the stolen Empress jade pin. John insists that he has no idea, so Shan threatens to kill Sarah unless he cooperates. Just in the nick of time, Sherlock arrives. A fight ensues and Sherlock, John, and Sarah are safe. Shan has escaped, much to Sherlock’s dismay.

Who Wants to Be a Million-Hair?

Sherlock has concluded that Van Coon was the pin thief and heads over to his office to speak to Amanda. He confronts Amanda about an affair he suspects she was having with Van Coon. When Amanda fesses up, she quickly dismisses the whole thing because she feels that she was insignificant to Van Coon. Sherlock asks to see the pin that she has in her hair that Van Coon gave her. It is the Empress jade pin. Amanda’s face lights up when Sherlock informs her that the pin is worth 9 million pounds, so she must have been of great value to Van Coon.

Shan is on the lam, but we see her communicating via instant messaging on a computer with a benefactor named “M”. She tells him that his safety has been compromised, but “M” doesn’t seem worried. Shan tries to convince “M” that she will not reveal who he is, but we leave off with the frightful image of a red laser dot on her forehead, and then a loud bang.

Quotable Quotes:

John to Sherlock: “I didn’t get the shopping.”
Sherlock to John: “What? Why not?”
John to Sherlock: “Because I had a row, in the shop, with a chip and pin machine!”
Sherlock to John: “You had a row with a machine?”
John to Sherlock: “Well, it kinda just stood there while I shouted abuse at it.”

John to Sherlock: “I need to get a job.”
Sherlock to John: “Oh. Dull.”

Sherlock to John: “I need to get some air. We’re going out tonight.”
John to Sherlock: “Actually, I’ve got a date.”
Sherlock to John: “What?”
John to Sherlock: “It’s where two people who like each other go out and have fun.”
Sherlock to John: “That’s what I was suggesting.”
John to Sherlock: “No it wasn’t. At least I hope not.”

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[Photo Credit: Hartswood Films]