The Empty Hearse

Plot

Two years after his supposed death, Sherlock Holmes has been completely exonerated of the slanderous accusations against him originated by James Moriarty and secretly returns to London to help his brother Mycroft uncover an apparent imminent and huge terrorist attack. An interleaved scene shows a version of how Sherlock might have faked his death: by jumping from the roof with a bungee cable, bouncing back and entering the building through a window, leaving Moriarty's body with a Sherlock mask to mislead John and other onlookers, John himself being hypnotised by Derren Brown to give the time for this to be set up (see "The Reichenbach Fall"§Speculation and response to the cliffhanger). This version of events is later shown to be a conspiracy theory invented by Philip Anderson, who feels responsible for Sherlock's death.

John now has a girlfriend, Mary Morstan (Amanda Abbington), to whom he intends to propose in a restaurant. At this point, Sherlock, disguised as a French waiter, approaches the couple, but is not immediately recognised by John. When Sherlock reveals his identity, John attacks him three times in three different restaurants. When John refuses to accept his explanations, Sherlock enlists Molly to assist him in his next case, that of an underground skeleton behind a desk containing a manuscript: How I Did It by Jack the Ripper, revealed toward the end of the episode to be a fake planted by Anderson to lure Sherlock out of hiding. Later that day, Mary receives a text in a skip code (first and every three words) telling her that John has been kidnapped by unknown assailants and will die if he is not rescued in time, along with a coded location. Sherlock and Mary come to his rescue on a motorcycle and manage to drag him out of a lit bonfire on which a "guy" (Guy Fawkes effigy) was about to be burned.

Sherlock is shown a video by a London Underground employee of a mysterious vanishing of a passenger from a train between two stations near Parliament and later identifies the passenger as a member of the House of Lords, Lord Moran, whom he knows to be a foreign agent and who is also acting unusually. He notices that it is not only Moran who vanished but an entire carriage of the train and deduces that the attack will be on the Houses of Parliament, which will be holding a late-night hearing on a new anti-terrorism bill on Guy Fawkes Night, 5 November. Sherlock and John enter the abandoned station near Parliament, finding the secretly diverted carriage. It is rigged with explosives to make an enormous bomb. Sherlock manages to defuse the bomb by turning the off-switch, but not before making John believe the bomb can't be defused, leading Sherlock to apologize to John for getting him involved and saying that John would have had a future if he hadn't come back. This all had the intended effect of causing John to panic and reveal to Sherlock how much he has missed him, to John's later embarrassment.

Another cut-scene intercut with the above shows Sherlock visiting Anderson and revealing to him how he faked his death as part of a plan to persuade Moriarty of his lost credibility and death, allowing him to successfully dissolve Moriarty's network. Sherlock tells Anderson that he and Mycroft had anticipated thirteen possible scenarios that could happen on the roof, and that while John's view was obstructed, members of his Homeless Network rolled out an inflatable mattress and took their roles as shocked bystanders and paramedics. With the aid of a squash ball under his arm to temporarily stop his pulse, Sherlock convincingly faked his own death. Anderson casts doubt on the veracity of this version of events, arguing it would be nearly impossible to ensure John remained exactly where Sherlock wanted. Anderson points out that he is "the last person" Sherlock would tell, but when he turns around the room is empty. Anderson then begins tearing his theories from the wall, laughing hysterically, and the intercut scene ends.

Moran is ambushed by the police and arrested as he leaves his hotel suite. John asks Sherlock who abducted him and why, questions to which Sherlock has no answers yet. In the final scene, a bespectacled man with blue eyes is seen observing footage of Sherlock and Mary rescuing John from the fire.

Casting

Many of the cast of the previous two series returned, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman playing Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson. Freeman's real-life partner Amanda Abbington joined the cast as Mary Morstan, Watson's girlfriend. Cumberbatch's parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton, had cameos as Sherlock's parents.

Writing

"The Empty Hearse" was written by the series' co-creator, Mark Gatiss. He was inspired to use the London Underground as a setting by the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Web of Fear, a story which is primarily set in the Underground after London is evacuated due to the spread of a deadly web-like fungus via the Tube network.

Filming

Principal photography on the episode began in March 2013. Tabloid newspaper Daily Mail reported that Benedict Cumberbatch and Amanda Abbington filmed the bonfire scene in Portland Square in Bristol.

The resolution to how Holmes had faked his death at the end of "The Reichenbach Fall" was filmed in April 2013 at St Bart's Hospital in London. The filming was attended by several hundred fans, whom producer Sue Vertue begged not to leak too much information. Telegraph journalist Sheryl Garratt reported that the filming was deliberately confusing to the watching fans, and the explanation of how Sherlock faked his death was blanked in the script.

The London Underground train used in the episode was built from scratch by the production to look like a District line carriage, as they were unable to acquire a real train. The never completed tube station called Sumatra Road is based on North End tube station. Filming was carried out at Westminster and Charing Cross stations.

Broadcast and reception

"The Empty Hearse" was first publicly exhibited at a special screening at the BFI Southbank in London on 15 December 2013. The screening was followed by a Q&A, hosted by Caitlin Moran, attended by the show's creators and key cast members.

The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2014. According to overnight figures, the episode was viewed by 9.2 million people in the UK on BBC One, with the viewership peaking at 9.7 million in the first 5 minutes. It premiered in the US on PBS as part of Masterpiece Mystery! on 19 January 2014.

"The Empty Hearse" received critical acclaim upon broadcast, with The Guardian's Sam Wollaston proclaiming "...an explosive return for Cumberbatch and Freeman, full of fizz, whizz and wit." Similarly, The Telegraph's Chris Harvey said, "This was the triumphant return of the most charismatic, most fun character on British television."

The Mirror gave the episode a perfect five star review, with the author Josh Wilding's headline being, "Stunning explanation in The Empty Hearse for how Sherlock faked his death won't satisfy everybody, but it works." whilst the author Anne-Marie Senior noted how viewers were left confused by the discontinuity showing different trains on the wrong tube lines, "Sherlock sparks Twitter fury as eagle-eyed viewers notice the lines on London Underground are WRONG."

Metro also awarded the episode four out of five stars, with reviewer Tim Liew stating, "The Empty Hearse is a fast-paced yarn filled with breathtaking audacity and laugh-out-loud moments." The episode also received very positive reviews from American critics, with The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman saying "The acclaimed detective, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, returns for season three as superb (and unscathed) as when he left." Oliver Jia of The Punk Effect stated that the episode was "well worth the [two-year-long hiatus]" and praised it as a "well-acted, well-produced, well-written, and extremely engrossing drama."

David Mather, who runs fan site Sherlockology, told BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire that he had been inundated with mixed responses from fans.