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arthkael · 2 months ago

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Miss Sherlock Episode 2: Sachiko's Mustache

"Oooookay. Stay still and let me analyze you..."

Spoiler free summary: Wato and Sherlock now are living together and they have a rocky start. Mrs Maibara, a friend of Mrs Hatano, asks Sherlock to solve the mystery of the defacing of a beloved painting she lent to a museum, an apparenty senseless vandalistic act that Sherlock thinks has been done for a specific purpose. That intertwines with the murder of a famous art dealer, an unlucky artist's hopes and a rich collector's obsession. Sherlock reveals to Wato her addiction and Wato starts her therapy sessions with doctor Irikawa.

Triggers: su1c1de.

Episode 1 recap here.

SPOILER

It's morning at 221b and Sherlock, in an almost meditative state, is playing cello while reflecting on the last case she investigated on. She's still sure somebody helped Akiko with her gruesome plan.

The scenes of her playing (Yuko Takeuchi took cello lessons for a few months showing to be quite talented and she's really her who plays in this scene) are intercut with scenes of Wato and Mrs Hatano cooking a traditional Japanese breakfast. The whole moment has the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No.1 as background music, the piece Sherlock is currently playing, and that creates a very peaceful ambiance. A peace that, sadly, won't last.

Before going on I'd like to point out the excellent work the production did with the set of Sherlock's apartment. Or, well, the set of Sherlock's living room, because it's there that 99% of the scenes at 221 take place. I mean, look at it.

We were talking about a peace that doesn't last, and it's what Wato learns at her own expense when Sherlock tells her she doesn't want the Thank You Breakfast she slaved over since 5.00 am that day.

But Sherlock just wants a coffee and Wato shouldn't prepare breakfast when she hasn't been asked to. And about the things Wato should or shouldn't do, Sherlock has made a list of rules that Wato has to follow if she wants to keep living at 221b.

If she doesn't like them, she's free to go. What does the list say? If you are curious, and want to learn more about Sherlock (it's never said in the show but she's almost certainly autistic) and her sense of humor (a couple of the points of this list seem to have the specific purpose to rile Wato up) click on this link where the excellent legacy-of-the-westside-prince, with the help of other users, translated Sherlock's demands for all of us to enjoy.

So Sherlock has the coffee she wanted while Wato decides to eat by herself all the food she cooked. In that moment Mrs Hatano enters the living room telling Sherlock her new client has arrived, something Wato had to inform her about, but... ooops, apparently after the discussion about breakfast it slipped off her mind. Pity. It's interesting to see that Wato can be petty and she's not above getting revenge on Sherlock when she annoys her too much.

The client, Mrs Maibara, is the wife of a late antique dealer. Recently she lent to an art museum a beloved painting by Saneatsu Kishida that had been gifted to her by her husband. The painting, titled Sachiko (a portrait of Kishida's wife) has been defaced by an unknow vandal. Unknown because the man, after ruining the painting, had an accident while he ran away and now he's in coma at the hospital, and he hadn't with him an ID or other things that could help to determine his identity.

In Sherlock's opinion this isn't a case of casual vandalism: the man hadn't anything that could identify him because the painting has been ruined on somebody's request and this somebody didn't want to be linked to the vandal.

Wato and Sherlock go with Mrs Maibara to the art gallery where they are greeted by a mortified director, who immediately brings them to see the defaced painting. It's cute see that even the ever compassionate Wato can't help smiling when she sees the state "Sachiko" is in.

Sherlock asks Mrs Maibara if something unusual happened to her recently, and she says that an art dealer, Mr. Yanagisawa, tried to buy "Sachiko" offering her whatever amount of money she asked. She refused because the painting is too important to her. Sherlocks mulls over this and in that moment the restorer, Mr. Kuwabata, arrives with his assistants to take "Sachiko" away in order for it to be cleaned.

There's not much to do at the museum anymore, so Sherlock and Wato go to visit the vandal at the hospital. He's still in coma, but Sherlock seems to notice a few things about him.

After the hospital the two stop for a snack. Or, Wato stops for a snack, Sherlock's looks more like a lunch, with this luscious spread of traditional Japanese pastries.

That's Sherlock's addiction: sweets. Of course, because the brain can't work without sugar. During the series we'll often see her eating chocolate when she needs the energy to focus. While they eat (with Sherlock's selection of pastries not keeping her from stealing Wato's)

Sherlock explains that the vandal went to the museum with the intent of defacing "Sachiko". At the hospital she noticed he had the numbers 5-3 on the back of his hand, that concides with the number of the room and the number assigned to the painting, as written on a document Sherlock has 'accidentally' taken from the museum. He wrote a memo to be sure he would target "Sachiko" and not another painting. This is evidence he was ordered to deface "Sachiko" by the real culprit.

Also, Yanagisawa the art dealer must be interrogated, they'll go to him as soon as they'll finish eating. Wato declines, she states she has therapy, the medical corps recommend it to doctors who come back from a warzone. Sherlock scoffs and says therapy won't solve her problems. Is she speaking from experience? Anyway Sherlock's words will be prophetic, as we'll learn in the next episodes.

At Yanagisawa's gallery, Sherlock finds Reimon and Shibata. Apparently Yanagisawa killed himself the previous evening, jumping from the window of his office. It's almost certain it's a suicide because his employees say he had so many debts that he had take sleeping pills to fall asleep, and the man who witnessed his death didn't see anyone exiting the building while he was waiting for the police to to come. Also the whole building has been searched and the cops didn't find anybody, moreover Yanagisawa's office was locked from the inside.

Sherlock searches Yanagisawa's office and deduces he had been killed. The office key is not the right one, and when Sherlock inspects the roof she finds something: some kind of resin next to the railing. The killer left a decoy key to misled the investigation, he locked the office with the real key then he threw Yanagisawa from the roof.

Shibata is outraged: nobody else was in the building when Yanagisawa fell! But Sherlock doesn't want to listen to Shibata's complaints: she needs a few cops to search the street in front of the museum, where the vandal had the accident. She noticed he had a missing piercing, maybe if it's found they could have something to trace his identity. She believes that the defaced painting case and Yanagisawa's death are linked. Shibata is chosen as the errand boy.

Meanwhile Wato is at her therapy session, with a sweet-looking therapist called Mariko Irikawa. Irikawa recommends Wato to tell her whatever it's in her mind, without thinking about it too much. She's also available to just chat with her, whatever Wato needs.

Later in the afternoon Wato and Sherlock are following another lead: Yanagisawa had been tasked by a rich art collector, Mr. Takakura, to buy "Sachiko" from Mrs. Maibara. The two visit Takakura, who is surprised by Yanagisawa's suicide.

Takakura admits he's disappointed by Maibara's refusal to sell the painting, but also believes that art should stay with people who appreciate it, and clearly Mrs Maibara loves that painting more that he does. Just like he loves the portrait of the ballerina he keeps in his office.

He also has an alibi for Yanagisawa's death: he was at a party that celebrated his company, there are hundreds of witnesses.

Later, at 221b, Sherlock keeps working on the case while Wato reads a biography of Saneatsu Kishida, and says that Mr. Maibara gifted "Sachiko" to his wife because he knew that Kishida showed his love for his wife painting her portrait. Basically Maibara expressed his appreciation for his own wife giving her that painting. Sherlock has a more cynical point of view, probably Maibara chose that painting out of guilt because he cheated on her, or because her tried to tell his wife to be more devoted and to support him like Kishida's wife did with her husband.

Wato isn't having anything of that, and asks Sherlock if she ever fell in love, receiving a predictable answer:

(What did I say about Shihori Kanjiya faces? lol)

At that point, Sherlock focuses all the power of her deductive abilities on her roommate, entering her personal space and being... physical with her: the whole ordeal is extremely embarassing for poor Wato (making her gay panicking, of course).

The novelization is written from Wato's point of view, and in this scene of the book she informs the readers that having Sherlock's full attention focused on you is like being stripped naked. So Wato's reaction might seem exaggerated, but it's actually quite understandable. There are things about her she doesn't want Sherlock to know (they'll be revealed in a few episodes) but when you live with a crime-solving genius it's physically impossible to keep your life private. Because oh, yes, Sherlock knows.

When Mrs Hatano arrives with a cake, she finds them in this position and comments they're becoming good friends (Mrs Hatano. That's gay). Again, their answers are predictable: they're not friends, not even a bit.

Anyway Sherlock spent the evening analyzing the resin she found, and determined that it's Manila coppal, that it's used as a varnish in painting. And who could use it if not a restorer?

The next day Sherlock and Wato visit Kuwabata who is slowly but surely bringing back "Sachiko" to its former glory. They chose him to do the job because he contacted the musem right after the defacing incident, but Kuwabata points out he regularly contacts museums stating his availability. They learn that Kuwabata is also an artist, even though he hadn't much luck. Not coincidentally, Sherlock finds he uses Manila coppal for his work.

But it seems he didn't kill Yanagisawa because he was at a convenience store while the art dealer fell on the sidewalk, he still has the receipt. Apparently the investigation is at a standstill, both the suspects have a solid alibi.

But Sherlock says their alibis don't count, because Yanagisawa had been killed by a timing device. The killer visited Yanagisawa hours before he fell, and spiked his drink with his own sleeping pills. When the man fell asleep they brought him on the roof and put him on the ledge. Hours later Yanagisawa woke up and, disoriented and confused, fell from the ledge. The evidence he fell from there is the dust he has on his back, the same that Sherlock found on the ledge when she inspected the roof.

Also, it seems that Shibata found the vandal's piercing, and made some friends in the process.

With the picture of the piercing Sherlock and Wato investigate a few tattoo parlors until they find the right one: the owner says that piercing was made for a guy called Kijima, who worked recently for an art gallery in Ginza. So the vandal's name is Kijima and he was tasked to vandalize Sachiko by Yanagisawa.

That evening finds the two roommates enjoying a relaxed dinner at 221b, but it's more a banquet than a dinner, since Sherlock couldn't decide what to order and now they have food for at least 10 people.

But it doesn't matter, because discussing the case it's far more interesting than figuring out how they will manage to put all that stuff in their fridge. It's clear that the restorer, the art dealer and the collector are all involved in the case of the defaced painting. Buy why was Yanagisawa killed? Sherlock says they have to solve the Stradivarius mystery first. On the art dealer's desk there was a book about the famous Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari. And since Yanagisawa didn't deal in instruments and evidently he wasn't interested in music, it's probable that the book is linked to the case.

The chat is interrupted by some flamboyant guy, a Sherlock's acquaintance, who works for a museum and that lent his expertise to Sherlock in a case involving a fake Matisse. He visited to say hi, and he proceeds to tell about the case and the fact that fake paintings are really common. The man arrested for forgery had been a very capable restorer. At that point, Wato is certain she connected the dots.

We'll see she didn't connect shit. Bonus screencap for the absolutely dismayed face the guy made when he learned Sherlock and Wato aren't friends. I wonder why he was so scandalized.

The next day Sherlock and Wato burst in Kuwabata's laboratory, flamboyant guy in tow, while "Sachiko" is going to be given back to the museum director. Wato accuses Kuwabata of conspiring with Yanagisawa: the painting has been defaced so it could end in Kuwabata's hands and he could make a fake to return to Mrs. Maibara. Flamboyant guy examines "Sachiko" on Wato's request, but he says he's certain the painting is a Kishida original. But Sherlock noticed something: "Sachiko" and the beloved painting Takakura keeps in his office are exactly the same size. Wato doesn't understand, so Sherlock explains it in her inimitable way:

...and you're left with the unlikely truth. It's time to visit Mrs. Maibara and take a look at her husband's ledgers.

Hours later, Kuwabata brings Takakura a parcel of the exact size of "Sachiko". The restorer ask the collector to keep his promise to help him to become a famous artist and Takakura promises, but their meeting is crashed by Wato and Sherlock, who proceeds to explain what happened: Takakura is involved in the "Sachiko" scam, but he didn't want the painting, because he was interested in the frame. And the frame was made by...

The frame had been originally made by Stradivari for the ballerina painting Takakura keeps in his office. They had been separated for centuries and Takakura wanted nothing more than seeing them reunited.

But Mrs. Maibara didn't want to sell, so Yanagisawa used Kuwabata's skills to forge a new frame and get the original one for Takakura. Kuwabata killed Yanagisawa because the art dealer didn't want to keep his promise to help him becoming a real artist. Just like Takakura, who promised him a one-man exibition, but of course he lied.

Both Kuwabata and Takakura are arrested, and the frame is given back to its owner. A couple of days later, Mrs. Hatano brings Sherlock Mrs. Maibara's thanks and announces a surprising development:

But the painting won't be vandalized this time, because Mrs. Maibara decided to guard it herself, allowing herself to abandon the reclusive life she lead in the last years after her husband's death.

Meanwhile, Wato decided to visit doctor Irikawa to tell her about the mystery of Sachiko's mustache.

In the next episode Wato finds a job and somebody deceives her, Sherlock shows her disgust for loser men and somebody blackmails her, a genius doctor is kidnapped because somebody wants the data of his research, and evidence emerge that Sherlock mayyyyybeeee is beginning to care about Wato. Not much, just a little bit.

Episode 3 recap here

#miss sherlock #tv series #arthrecaps

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