The Hounds of Baskerville story

sherlock2x02 · 2012-01-08

In the episode, Sherlock and his crime-solving partner John Watson take on the case of Henry Knight, who 20 years earlier witnessed the brutal killing of his father by a "gigantic hound" on Dartmoor. The investigation leads the pair to Baskerville, a military research base. In the conclusion it is revealed that the hounds were images induced by a mind-altering drug, a chemical weapon whose creator was in fact the real murderer of Henry's father. It is based on the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.

13 total · 6 major · 7 minor

ThemeLevelMotivation
attitude of superiority major Sherlock Holmes had a massive ego and condescended people, left, right and center.
chemical weapons major The plot turned on an aborted government project to create a hallucinogenic gas for military use.
government secrecy major Sherlock and Watson infiltrated a top secret government genetic research facility, and ultimately uncovered an aborted project to create a hallucinogenic gas for military use.
mentor and protégé major Sherlock Holmes and his crime-solving partner John Watson.
murder major Sherlock uncovered that Dr. Franklin had years ago murdered Henry Knight's father on the moors.
private investigator occupation major We saw Sherlock Holmes and Watson doing what they do best.
biological weapons minor The possibility that the secret government research facility was the site of a biological weapons research program was entertained.
childhood trauma minor Henry Knight had been traumatized in his childhood by the sight of his father being murdered by a monstrous hound on the moors.
fear minor Watson was gripped with fear while in the presence of what he presumed to be a gigantic, menacing hound.
genetics minor Dr Stapleton genetically engineered a rabbit to glow green, probably by inserting the GFP gene into its genome.