The Grand Experiment

"The Grand Experiment"
Season 2
Season 2
Episode 24
Episode 24
Directed by	John Polson
Written by	Robert Doherty & Craig Sweeny
Aired	May 15, 2014
Viewers (millions)	7.37
Episode guide
Previous	"Art in the Blood"
Next	"Enough Nemesis To Go Around"

Cast

Main cast

Jonny Lee Milleras Sherlock Holmes

Lucy Liuas Joan Watson

Aidan Quinnas Tommy Gregson

Jon Michael Hillas Marcus Bell

Featured cast

Rhys Ifansas Mycroft Holmes

Ralph Brownas Tim Sherrington

Jim Nortonas Sir James Walter

Variousas Everyone

Naseer Farisas Julian Afkhami

Plot

"You have this kind of pull. Like gravity. I'm so lucky that I fell into your orbit." — Watson to Holmes

After bursting in on Mycroft and Watson, Sherlock explains that Mycroft is being framed for murder and that the gun used to kill MI6 asset Arthur West turned up with Mycroft's fingerprints on it. Disbelieving, Mycroft thinks Sherlock is making an excuse to interrupt him and Watson until Sherlock activates the remote starter on Mycroft's car which explodes. At a safe house, Sherlock believes a mole in MI6 is framing Mycroft. He's told MI6 what he knows but also said that Mycroft is the mole. He hopes this will gain MI6's confidence and while pretending to work with them to find Mycroft, that he'll find the real mole. Sherlock meets MI6 Deputy Chief, Sir James Walter and Mycroft's handler, Tim Sherrington, but is unsuccessful in gaining access to their files. He lies that he'll let them know when he finds Mycroft. At the safe house, Mycroft expresses regret for re-joining MI6 and indicates he did it to gain favor with his father and Sherlock.

Or would you like to see what else the mole has in store?

Watson joins Sherlock on a stake-out of the bookstore of Julian Afkhami, who West believed was an Iranian spy. Holmes tells her that MI6 won't work with him and that he found a transmitter in the bookstore's phone junction box that West might have planted. Once Afkhami leaves, they break into his store and Sherlock finds a scrambler that Afkhami could use for certain calls. West wouldn't have understood the calls but Sherlock believes he would know the date, time and location of them. At the safe house, Sherlock examines the info West had tattooed on his arms. Although burner phones would have been used by Afkhami's contact, the code of the cell tower used would be part of the metadata of the call. Sherlock realizes this is what West tattooed on his arms. As he reads the locations and dates, Mycroft confirms that he was at locations. Watson deduces that Sherrington was also there and that he is the mole.

Mycroft protests that Sherrington brought Sherlock onto the investigation which indicates that he did so at his superior's request, Sir Walter. At The Brownstone, Sherrington calls Sherlock for a progress report. Sherlock lies that Mycroft accessed funds from one of his father's charities which he is using to find him. Watson offers to help Sherlock look at the dates Sherrington called Afkhami but he insists on working alone since Watson announced that she'll be moving out of the Brownstone. The next morning, Watson wakes to find a trail of flashcards bearing the dates tattooed on West's arms and a significant event that happened on the date. Sherlock has found that the dates correspond to events that benefited Iran and that Sherrington provided secret information to make the events occur. He's discovered the events on all dates but one, March 5. Captain Gregson then calls him to the 11th Precinct.

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