...I’ve Got Some Ideas! (This Ended Up Kind Of Long...oops)

...I’ve got some ideas! (This ended up kind of long...oops)

Okay, so the six books in the Enola Holmes series cover events over one year. I don’t think the movie will cover nearly that much time, so I think it will cover only the case from the first book (The Case of the Missing Marquess) and then it will end with the resolution from the sixth book in the series - perhaps with scenes from the other books sprinkled in.

There’s also going to be a number of things that are different from the books - in the books, Enola is not trained to fight, while in the movie she clearly is. In the books, Enola and her mother are not that close, but in the movie they clearly are - although, giving Helena Bonham Carter more screen time is certainly not something I’d complain about. Another major thing that might have plot ramifications is that in the books, Enola runs away before Mycroft can send her off to boarding school. Meanwhile, the trailer clearly shows scenes of Enola at boarding school, so the means of her escape are going to be different in the movie.

In the books, The Case of the Missing Marquess is actually one of the simplest that Enola solves - probably because it’s the first book, and so a great deal of it is taken up with exposition rather than mystery-solving. In the movie, I expect they’ll change that up and make the case more complicated and dramatic. Viscount Tewksbury (i.e. the marquess who went missing), who is introduced in the trailer as a blond teenager on a train, plays a very minor role in the books - also, in the books, he’s twelve. The trailer suggests that his role will be significantly expanded in the movie.

One thing that did bother me a bit about the trailer is that Enola disguises herself as a boy in it. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but in the books, she makes it a bit of a point of pride that she never disguises herself as male - for a couple reasons: one, she knows it is what her brothers will expect her to do, and she is trying to hide from them; and two, in the many ridiculous accoutrements of female fashion, Enola conceals money, candies, other bits and bobs, and her knife. In the books, Enola disguises herself as a widow, a nun, a secretary, an assistant, a scholar woman, a street-seller, an orphan girl, and, as shown in the trailer, a high-born lady. I think it will be something of a pity if the movie forgoes all those many disguises and uses only the disguises of a boy and a lady.

Also, in the books, Enola is largely solitary and mostly works alone, though she occasionally teams up with Sherlock. The movie, it seems, will be giving her some companions. I think that will be fun, but it will kind of reduce one of the books’ main arcs - that Enola can and will do very well on her own.

All in all, I think the movie will be fun to watch and will stay true to the spirit of the books, but the plot of the mystery will be different than anything already present in print. I think it probably would have been more effective to make this a TV series in order to cover more of the story and character development, but what’s done is done. I think the actors will do a marvelous job - I am really looking forward to how Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill portray Enola’s and Sherlock’s sibling relationship.

Some scenes that I hope would show up in the movie in one form or another, but that I think will probably get left out:

when Florence Nightingale gives Sherlock Holmes a piece of her mind

when Enola bursts into Dr. Watson’s home looking for help dressed as a nun and covered in blood, and Watson and Holmes think that she is injured until she whips a bloody knife out of her bodice

when Enola hides from her brother in his own flat, knowing it is the last place he would think to look (actually, I think this one might very well show up in the movie - at 1:00 in the trailer looks like it could be the scene I am referring to, but I can’t tell for sure)

when Enola throws a cat at Sherlock in order to create a distraction and slip out unnoticed

when Enola bumps into Mycroft and kicks him in the shin to get away

when John Watson tells Enola (while she is disguised) that he is worried for Sherlock, as he seems quite distressed over his missing sister

When Mycroft and Sherlock post an ad in the classifieds asking Enola to come home, and she replies: To M.H. and S.H. Rot. E.H.

When Mycroft bursts in to stop a wedding, claiming the bride is an imposter, and Enola rips off her veil, shouts at him, throws off the dress and runs out the door

(also, try this link to download an EPUB copy of that second book, The Case of the Left-Handed Lady.)

I read the Enola Holmes series in one afternoon like two years ago, and I really enjoyed it! I’m excited for this movie. I’m sure some things that I liked in the books will be missing, since that’s just the way of movies, but I really think I’m going to like this movie anyway!

I’m gonna re-read the series before I watch it though. 

(Also Henry Cavill is playing Sherlock?? So Superman is joining Iron Man and Dr.Strange in being Sherlock Holmes and I think that’s fun)