Young Sherlock Recap ‘The Case of the Missing Scrolls’: Sherlock and Moriarty Meet At Oxford

Young Sherlock Season 1 Episode 1

Warning: This recap contains SPOILERS for the first episode of Young Sherlock.

Before he became the legendary detective that we all know and love, Sherlock Holmes was just a brilliant young man able to indulge in his myriad of curiosities because he came from wealth. He wanted to learn how to pick pockets and did, and ended up in jail not just for his thieving offence but also for contempt of court. A person without his particular safety nets would have tried harder to stay out of jail. Sherlock made friends, got into a fight, and was waltzed out of prison by his brother Mycroft, who with his position at Her Majesty’s Foreign Office was able to pull enough strings to save his brother from having to serve the rest of his sentence. 

Mycroft took Sherlock to Oxford, not to study so he might find gainful employment at some point, but to work as a scout, as part of his plan to try and teach his already uncommonly intelligent brother a lesson. In between his duties of cleaning and fetching tea for the teaching staff, Sherlock read, a lot, so much so that he could understand Professor Thompson’s maths class better than his actual students. How many people his age in the 1870s could afford to chill at Oxford and learn what he felt like learning without even working toward a degree?

Why am I framing my viewing of Young Sherlock through the lens of wealth and class? Well, because based on what we saw in this first episode alone — and especially with the introduction of student on a scholarship James Moriarty — I think the themes of wealth and class will become important as the story progresses. Based on the young adult book series by Andrew Lane, Prime Video’s Young Sherlock is potentially a multi-season series. I am choosing these themes as starting points, let’s see where the show takes us.

Part of why Mycroft wanted Sherlock at Oxford was because he would be around to look after him. As part of his government duties, Mycroft was assisting an uber wealthy businessman Sir Bucephalus Hodge (Colin Firth) with the opening of his new science building. Hodge also gave out scholarships to a select number of students, James Moriarty amongst them. 

We who grew up with Sherlock Holmes tales, or at least watched the movies or tv shows (perhaps the most famous of the recent ones starred Benedict Cumberbatch – if you haven’t seen it, why?) are quite familiar with the character Moriarty. I’d like to try and be careful with writing these recaps, because there could be younger viewers who may not have the same familiarity with these characters. So, for this episode, Sherlock played the younger brother on a redemption arc when he served Hodge and Mycroft at the banquet hall. Unknown to both of them, and observed by young James, Sherlock practiced his pickpocketing skills and lifted Hodge’s pocket watch.

Sherlock and James next met at Professor Thompson’s class, when Sherlock corrected the professor on the equation he had written on the board. The professor left homework on the board, and when Sherlock tried to solve it, James came over and took over solving it. My brain tends to shut down whenever numbers are involved, so I am just going to assume they did something clever with maths there. Sherlock quoted The Art of War, which James recognised, and as these two men saw in each other the same intellectual gift the other possessed, they became fast friends. 

The party they snuck into was notable for a few things. It was James who showed Sherlock how easy it was to finagle invitations when neither of them had one. It was James who smoothly got drinks for a lady named Edie, who later turned out to be Hodge’s assistant. When Sherlock’s showcase of deductive skills led to a fight, Sherlock was pretty much out with a punch whilst James fought several men before he and Sherlock ran out of there. James was more socially experienced, more charming, and the better fighter. This was their dynamic when they met. It would be interesting to watch how this would evolve as the series goes on. 

Sherlock and James hid in the library; Sherlock as a scout had a key. James called out Sherlock’s lack of fighting skills. Though Sherlock claimed he was more a thinker than a fighter, James seemed to want him to reconsider this. As they hung out with their stolen bottle of whisky, Sherlock decided to show James something precious – part of the original scrolls from the 5th century BC of The Art of War, brought to Oxford by Princess Gulun Shou’an. James said they should steal it, but for once Sherlock chose caution. He did not want to return to jail. He locked the scrolls back into their case and he and James left.

The next day, the scrolls were stolen. Sherlock and James were the main suspects, since they were the last ones seen entering the library before the scrolls went missing. Hodge took James’s scholarship whilst Sherlock was headed back to  prison. Sherlock had no choice but to appeal for his brother Mycroft’s help. 

Sherlock was still investigating the library with James and Mycroft when Hodge arrived with the Princess, Edie, Constable Lestrade, and another unnamed constable. The princess had met Sherlock earlier when he took her case up to her room; she knew he spoke Mandarin. She switched to Mandarin to speak to Sherlock, then practically threatened Hodge into allowing Sherlock to continue investigating the theft.  

Whilst Hodge and the others were busy with the opening of the science building, Sherlock and James continued the investigation. They followed the footprints and the wheel print to a local bar, where a man carrying what turned out to be an empty scroll case attacked Sherlock. Sherlock figured out that the man was trying to lure them away. The scrolls were still in the library.

Sherlock’s deduction turned out to be correct; the scrolls were indeed hidden inside a John Donne bust in the library. But why stage a theft in the first place? The library was a busy place. Porters tended to regularly check on it even at night. The theft ensured that the library would be sealed off as a crime scene. Whoever staged the theft needed time inside the library, undisturbed.

Whilst James was the leader of the two when they snuck into that party, deduction was Sherlock’s world. He figured out the scroll case had been atop a cabinet that was now missing. Since the library used to be a medieval banqueting hall, it would have had five corridors (for the aristocracy, the masses, and the servants) that were now boarded up. He located the hollow wall that led to a narrow corridor where the cabinet was hidden, with a bomb inside. With the sound of the applause and Hodge’s voice coming through the walls, the target of the bomb must have been the gathering for the science building opening. 

Sherlock and James got through the chimney in time to warn the people about the bomb, and saved everyone from the explosion. Back in his room, James was just happy that they had located the scrolls. That meant he would get to keep his scholarship and Sherlock would not have to go back to jail. Their celebration was interrupted by the arrival of the Princess. Like a good bro, and though he must not have been happy with the Princess thanking Sherlock and only Sherlock, he left for the pub.

James may have thought he was doing his friend a solid by leaving him alone with a woman, and a princess at that, but the Princess drugged Sherlock’s drink. When he woke up, after visions or dreams of the day his sister Beatrice went missing and later found dead, after another wave of guilt that he did not simply play with her when she asked, Sherlock found himself arrested for the murder of Professor Thompson.

That was a solid first episode. I wanted to watch this show because of Dónal Finn (who wonderfully played Mat Cauthon in The Wheel of Time) but I confess to having some apprehension because, though I watched Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films, I wasn’t really a fan of them. His stylistic choices here felt toned down and not at all distracting. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this first episode and look forward to seeing (and hopefully recapping) the rest of the season.     

Rating: B+

Strays

🕵️Sherlock’s mother Cordelia was in a psychiatric facility whilst his father Silas was in Vienna. Cordelia pointed to a wall in her room and claimed a mysterious they were listening to her. She also said a man with a bird claw was coming back for her.  

🕵️On her way to Oxford, Princess Gulun Shou’an’s carriage was accosted by bandits. They killed her companion Mr. Chen, and tried to take the scroll and herself as hostage. She fought back and rode back to the carriage, much to the astonishment of the British government representative who accompanied her. 

🕵️Professor Thompson had a parchment he hid in his desk which referred to ‘Four Apostles’ and the professor being ‘Apostle 1’.

🕵️There was a connection between James and Edie, no?

Writers: Matthew Parkhill and Peter Harness

Director: Guy Ritchie

Original Release Date: March 4, 2026

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