History Recap / SherlockS01E02TheBlindBanker

** In particular, Su Lin claims ''all'' Chinese immigrants living in the UK can read the secret code the triad uses, as if they're all in on it, which can spread some very UnfortunateImplications about real-life immigrants.

Holmes is hired by an old frie-... acquaintance to investigate a mysterious break-in at a bank in the City. Although nothing was stolen, the bank is concerned that someone was able to get in undetected and want Sherlock to find out how, but Sherlock is more interested in the symbols the intruder spray-painted onto an office wall. He discovers they are a coded message intended for an employee of the bank, who is later discovered dead in his flat. The next day, a journalist is killed and the same symbols are found nearby. Holmes and Watson follow a trail of clues that link the two dead men to a Chinese smuggling ring, who are trying to retrieve a valuable item that one of them stole. Holmes eventually cracks the coded message based on Suzhou numerals and a book cipher, but not before Watson and a female friend are kidnapped by the criminals. Holmes rescues Watson's friend but the leader of the gang escapes. After escaping, the leader of the gang is in communication with her superior, who is identified by the initial "M". She is then shot by a sniper. Holmes figures out that the banker was killed because he took a piece of jewellery from one of his shipments as a gift to his girlfriend, not realizing how valuable it was.

* CainAndAbel: Zhi Zhu and Soo Lin, respectively. A pair of siblings who began working for the Black Lotus Tong as teenagers in order to survive, Soo Lin left that life behind to start over in England, while Zhi Zhu remained a fanatically loyal member. After Soo Lin refused to help her brother with his criminal activities, he accuses her of betraying him and marks her for death, and is the one to kill her later in the episode.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: There's this dialogue after John gets caught with Raz's spraypaint bag:

** The stolen Chinese treasure is a jade hairpin, which the thief gave to his secretary-slash-mistress and she has been wearing.

* LaserSight: Aimed at Shan in the last moments of the episode. Leading to her SoundOnlyDeath as the scene [[BlackScreenOfDeath cuts to black]] and a shot rings out.

** The plot draws on two Literature/SherlockHolmes stories, ''Literature/TheSignOfTheFour'' (oriental treasure, foreign killer who can climb into apparently-inaccessible places, Watson finds romance) and "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" (mysterious symbols left in a public place as a message for a woman trying to leave behind her dark past).

* NeverSuicide: There is the case of the first victim. Shot in the right side of the head, despite the victim being left-handed. Sherlock quickly points this out.
* OffscreenInertia: John invokes this trope on Sherlock. However, while John believes Sherlock hasn't moved in the intervening time, a flashback reveals that [[spoiler: Sherlock in fact has fought and defeated a mysterious sword-wielding intruder while John was out]].

* TheReveal: The spray-painted symbols are ancient Chinese numeric symbols--each referring to a page in a London street atlas that leads to the smugglers' hideout.

* SherlockScan: A DoubleSubversion. Sherlock tells a college acquaintance familiar with his deductive scans that he's been around the world twice in the last month. When asked how he knew, Sherlock says the secretary mentioned it, which John knows to be untrue. Sherlock later explains to John that he deduced it from looking at the man's watch and seeing the date changes, but felt like messing with the guy's head.

* SleepingWithTheBoss: Sherlock deducts that the secretary Amanda had an affair with her now-dead boss. It earned her an expensive hairpin.

* TooDumbToLive: Really, Chinese gangster? Do you ''think'' threatening Sherlock's life is a good idea? Nope. Not a smart-let alone survivable one.
** Goes Double for General Shan when she tries pleading with Moriarty by saying "I won't reveal your identity." when he's already aimed a sniper rifle at her. Yeah like those arguments ever worked.

* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: A group of Tong serves as the main villain, though it's referred to as an ancient Chinese crime syndicate rather than a Chinese-American organization a little over a century old ( and, as with the previous episode's villain, it turns out that Moriarty's {{The Man Behind the|Man}} DragonLady).
* UncoveringRelationshipStatus: Sarah mentions John's girlfriend, he replies that he doesn't have a girlfriend and invites her on a date.

** Sarah sitting calmly watching the iron ball (which will trigger the crossbow) descends... instead of just rocking the chair left-right until she falls down out of the way or the bolt (none of the bad guys is stopping her or even paying attention to her at that moment). And she is a doctor?! Double facepalm.

* DistressedDamsel: Sarah gets kidnapped by the Chinese gangsters. She handles herself relatively well, though.

-->'''Sherlock:''' Size 8 feet. Small, but... athletic. Small, strong hands. [[SerialKiller Our acrobat]]. Why didn't he close the window when he left-? *''{{Beat}}''* [[EurekaMoment Oh, stupid. Stupid! Obvious.]] ''[[WhamLine He's still here]]''.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Sherlock and the graffiti artist both scarper when the police show up, leaving John [[ICanExplain holding the bag.]]

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: John [[LetsSplitUpGang ditching Soo Lin]], who knew the code, in the dark museum, knowing she was marked for death by trained assassins who were most likely in the building. May have been to protect his [[HeterosexualLifePartners heterosexual Life Partner]] or serve his own BloodKnight tendencies.
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: A group of Tong serves as the main villain, though it's referred to as an ancient Chinese crime syndicate rather than a Chinese-American organization a little over a century old ( and, as with the previous episode's villain, it turns out that Moriarty's {{The Man Behind The|Man}} DragonLady).

* SpotOfTea: Soo Lin client makes Chinese tea with hundred-year-old teapots, and it becomes an important plot point that the antique pots have to be used regularly. I

* AbsenteeActor: The only episode of the series not to feature Mycroft or Lestrade. The latter is mentioned twice, once by Sherlock the first time he speaks to Dimmock, and again by Dimmock later on.

Holmes is hired by an old frie-... acquaintance to investigate a mysterious break-in at a bank in the City. Although nothing was stolen, the bank are concerned that someone was able to get in undetected and want Sherlock to find out how, but Sherlock is more interested in the symbols the intruder spray-painted onto an office wall. He discovers they are a coded message intended for an employee of the bank, who is later discovered dead in his flat. The next day, a journalist is killed and the same symbols are found nearby. Holmes and Watson follow a trail of clues that link the two dead men to a Chinese smuggling ring, who are trying to retrieve a valuable item that one of them stole. Holmes eventually cracks the coded message based on Suzhou numerals and a book cipher, but not before Watson and a female friend are kidnapped by the criminals. Holmes rescues Watson's friend but the leader of the gang escapes. After escaping, the leader of the gang is in communication with her superior, who is identified by the initial "M". She is then shot by a sniper. Holmes figures out that the banker was killed because he took a piece of jewellery from one of his shipments as a gift to his girlfriend, not realizing how valuable it was.

* TheKillerWasLeftHanded: Sherlock concludes that an apparent suicide was in fact a murder, because the left handed victim had been shot on the right side of his head, something which would be rather awkward to achieve with your left hand. What makes this rather silly is that it's actually quite common for a left handed person to use their right hand while shooting; Watson did that very thing in the previous episode.

* LockedRoomMystery: The question how the banker was murdered while the door to his apartment was locked from the inside. Turns out the killer was an acrobat coming through the window.

** The plot draws on two Literature/SherlockHolmes stories, ''Literature/TheSignOfTheFour'' (oriental treasure, foreign killer who can climb into apparently-inaccessible places, Watson finds romance) and "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" (mysterious symbols left in a public place as a message for woman trying to leave behind her dark past).

* SleepingWithTheBoss: Sherlock deducts that the secretary Amanda had an affair with her now dead boss. It earned her an expensive hairpin.

* SpotOfTea: Soo Lin client makes Chinese tea with hundred-year-old tea pots, and it becomes an important plot point that the antique pots have to be used regularly. I

* TimePassesMontage: When Sherlock and John [[TheBookCipher search the books for clues]] at Baker Street, we get get a transition from an orderly look during the night to a scattered room the next morning.

** Goes Double for General Shan when she tries pleading with Moriarty by saying “I won’t reveal your identity.” when he’s already aimed a sniper rifle at her. Yeah like that arguments ever worked.

** Goes Double for General Shang when she tries pleading with Moriarty by saying “I won’t reveal your identity.” when he’s already aimed a sniper rifle at her. Yeah like that arguments ever worked.

* DisposableLoveInterest: Sarah for John, they seem to be getting on great and she doesn't even hold it against him when his sideline almost gets her killed by Chinese gangsters, plus she takes an interest in the case and helps save Sherlock from one of the thugs. She and John are also still dating by the next episode, but then they split up offscreen afterwards at a point and for reasons unknown, and she isn't seen again.

* BigDamnHeroes: Sherlock pulls this one off when John gets captured.

* TheBookCipher: Sherlock and John encounter a number of symbols. This turns out to be numbers written in an ancient Chinese script, with the book being a Tour Guide of London (which ends up as part of Fridge Brilliance, as the Chinese Gang use these symbols to arrange meeting points.

* AbsenteeActor: The only episode of the series not to feature Mycroft or Lestrade. The latter is mentioned once by Sherlock the first time he speaks to Dimmock.