Enola Holmes: Every Sherlock Holmes Easter Egg In The Movie
Netflix's Enola Holmes introduced Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock Holmes' younger sister. Here are all the Arthur Conan Doyle Easter eggs.
Here are all the Sherlock Holmes Easter eggs and references in Netflix's new Enola Holmes movie. Starring Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock Holmes' little sister Enola, the new Netflix film is based on Nancy Springer's series The Enola Holmes Mysteries. It's a tremendously fun reinvention of the Sherlock Holmes mythos, and Brown demonstrates the depth of her acting skill and charisma. There's far more to her than Eleven in Stranger Things.
Of course, Enola Holmes also introduces Henry Cavill as the latest iteration of Enola's older brother, Sherlock Holmes. Cavill gives a commanding performance, lacking the edge traditionally associated with the character - but then, Sherlock is dealing with his little sister here. The story is set at the beginning of Holmes' career, even before Doctor Watson has begun publishing his books and short stories, and as a result there aren't too many Easter eggs - but there are some entertaining deep cuts into Holmes lore all the same.
Here's our guide to all the Sherlock Holmes Easter eggs in Netflix's Enola Holmes, including some clever references to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, as well as some tremendous visual nods to Sidney Paget's unforgettable illustrations.
Sherlock Holmes aficionados will undoubtedly be delighted at the opening scenes, which are jam-packed with Holmes references. Enola is introduced cycling across the hills, desperately rushing to meet her brothers at the station. The scene is reminiscent of "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist," a short story originally published in 1903. Although Sherlock Holmes typically shows disdain towards women, Miss Violet Smith - the titular solitary cyclist - is one of the few he seems impressed with, in large part because of her natural intelligence. Perhaps she reminded him a little bit of his sister, who had come hurtling back into his life all those decades ago. Meanwhile, Enola Holmes' plot is a loose inversion of "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist," in which Violet Smith was followed by a man she believed to be an enemy, but who was actually trying to protect her. In contrast, Enola Holmes is deceived by the Viscount's grandmother, who initially pretends to have her grandson's best interests at heart - but is really the one attempting to kill him.
The opening of Enola Holmes is set in 1884, at the very beginning of Sherlock Holmes' career - so early, in fact, that he apparently hasn't met Doctor Watson yet. Still, it seems Holmes is already building up a reputation, because Enola has collected newspaper clippings about her brother. There appears to be a growing public appetite for knowledge about Sherlock Holmes, with one headline excitedly declaring him a "mysterious young detective." That provides a neat in-universe explanation for why Watson begins to publish accounts, meeting that public demand.
The clippings are actually a little anachronistic, because one of the images in this shot is actually connected to the Jack the Ripper killings; likewise, one of the headlines references Holmes catching a murderer in the East End, clearly another reference to Jack the Ripper. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself investigated the Ripper, attempting to apply his Great Detective's methods to identify the culprit, and indeed Doyle and his mentor Dr. Bell - the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes - both identified the same culprit. They reportedly filed a report to Scotland Yard, and soon afterward the murders stopped, which has led some to believe there was an official cover-up. In the real world, Jack the Ripper didn't begin to kill prostitutes in the East End until 1888, but it seems in Enola Holmes he struck several years early - and was caught by Sherlock Holmes.
Some of the other images will also be familiar to lovers of Sherlock Holmes. In one early scene, Enola Holmes describes her brother as "the famous detective, scholar, chemist, virtuoso violinist, expert marksman, swordsman, singlestick fighter, pugilist, and brilliant deductive thinker." The image accompanying the word 'pugilist' shows Sherlock Holmes throwing a punch, and Henry Cavill's face has been added to an illustration created by Sidney Paget for - appropriately enough - "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist." Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was never quite the man of action portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the Guy Ritchie films, but he was certainly able to handle himself, even claiming to have mastered a wrestling art called "Baritsu" in "The Adventure of the Empty House." Enola has been trained in some martial arts by her mother as well.
Another Sidney Paget portrait of Sherlock Holmes appears in this sequence, a famous image in which Sherlock is seated puffing his pipe. This illustration comes from 1891's "The Man With the Twisted Lip," and it's generally viewed as one of the most iconic Sherlock Holmes images of all time. Again, Henry Cavill's face has been superimposed upon the image, an amusing conceit. Even the original caption is reproduced in Enola Holmes.
The Sherlock of Enola Holmes is a lot less acerbic and disagree than many interpretations, which makes a refreshing change, but led to a bizarre lawsuit from the Conan Doyle Estate. One of the most subtle details is Sherlock's lack of political awareness, and in one scene the Great Detective says he finds politics "boring." That explains why it took him so long to unravel the Tewkesbury case, because the motivation was of course entirely political. It also fits perfectly with Watson's portrayal of Holmes, describing his knowledge on this topic as "feeble." In "A Study in Scarlet," Holmes justified this:
"A man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
Meanwhile, in another scene Enola and Lestrade trade Sherlock Holmes facts to prove to one another they know the Great Detective. Enola claims Holmes' favorite composer is Niccolò Paganini, and she's right; this is alluded to repeatedly in Doyle's Holmes stories.
Enola Holmes cleverly presents Viscount Tewkesbury as her own personal Doctor Watson right from the start. When the two first meet one another on the train, they pay homage to Sidney Paget illustrations of Sherlock and Watson in "The Bascombe Valley Mystery" and "Silver Blaze." In the latter scene, Sherlock is shown wearing his deerstalker cap, just as Enola is wearing a newsboy cap in the Netflix movie. The dynamic between the two is a fascinating one, with Enola Holmes deliberately subverting Victorian gender norms with them. In one close-up shot of them seated on a carriage, Enola is in a traditionally masculine pose, leaned forward with her legs uncrossed, while Tewkesbury is sat up straight with his legs crossed - a Victorian ladies' pose.
Along with his pipe and deerstalker hat, a prop that has become popularly associated with Sherlock Holmes is a trusty magnifying glass - something that no detective should be without. Enola Holmes has a visual nod to this when Sherlock comes to visit Enola at finishing school. After taking a seat at Miss Harrison's desk, he picks up a magnifying glass that she uses for reading and gestures with it to emphasize a point creating a very classic image of the master detective.
Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes plays a major role in Enola Holmes as well, although he cuts a far more pompous and less sympathetic figure. Mycroft's actual job in the government is never specified, but Sherlock clearly considers his older brother to be obsessed with money, asking him if "the government has cut your salary." In "The Bruce-Partington Plans," Holmes revisited the question of Mycroft's salary, but confirmed that by that time his brother had found satisfaction in something other than material wealth. "Mycroft draws four hundred and fifty pounds a year," Sherlock told Watson, "remains a subordinate, has no ambitions of any kind, will receive neither honour nor title, but remains the most indispensable man in the country."