“Enola Holmes 2” is here, continuing the story set about in the 2020 Netflix film, but if you’re looking for a recap of the first film before you dive into the sequel, we’ve got you covered.
Starring Millie Bobby Brown in the titular role of Enola, the story follows Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister as she tries to shine outside the shadow of her well sought after detective brother. Adapted from Nancy Springer’s book series and directed by Harry Bradbeer, the “Enola Holmes” films also include Henry Cavill as Sherlock, Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria, Susan Wokoma as Edith and — in the first film — Sam Claflin as Mycroft.
Here’s what you need to remember from “Enola Holmes”Before you watch “Enola Holmes 2”:
A brief introduction
We meet Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) as she bikes through a meadow in England, and she immediately breaks the fourth wall, plunging viewers into her life’s story. Enola was born to Eudoria Holmes (Helena Bonham Carter) in 1884. She is kind to her ‘strange’Name. Her mother also loves word games. However, her name was spelled backwards. “alone.”Eudoria always encouraged Enola to be independent, even though they developed a strong bond as mother-daughter. Enola explains to Eudoria that her father died when Enola was a child. This is thanks to a grand collaged sequence which continues throughout the film. She doesn’t remember much of him, and both of her older brothers left home soon after his death. She doesn’t have too many memories of her brothers either, but she has plenty with her mother, who didn’t teach her ordinary lessons like “stringing seashells or practicing embroidery.”Enola’s mother taught her science, reading, math, sparring and physical exercise. Enola’s mother did have her own secrets, as Enola recalls interrupting one of her mother’s meetings — violating the privacy that her mother sought.
Enola’s Mother Disappears
Enola woke up on the morning of her sixteenth Birthday, a week earlier, to discover that Eudoria, her mother, had left Ferndell Hall, their house, sometime in the night. Eudoria didn’t return and the only gifts she left Enola were very small, seemingly meaningless, presents. Enola bikes to the train station in order to collect her brothers Mycroft and Sherlock (Henry Cavill), which have been summoned back to help with the estate’s arrangement and to look after Enola. Enola’s sweeping introduction of her genius brother, detective, scholar, chemist, virtuoso violinist, expert marksman, swordsman, fighter pugilist and brilliant deductive ctive thinker Sherlock Holmes rivals that of her oldest brother Mycroft, who was left in charge of the family and house after the death of their father. Mycroft is furious at Ferndell Hall’s state since he hasn’t returned for some time. Sherlock, however, is calm and takes in every detail, looking for clues to Eudoria’s disappearance. Since Eudoria had no plans to replace her worn-out drawing pencils, he concludes there was no foul play. Mycroft debates their mother’s sanity, but Sherlock argues she had her full wits about her to leave behind a subtle trail to her whereabouts. Mycroft agrees with him as he lists all the different ways Eudoria deceived him. Eudoria made Enola read every book in Ferndell Hall’s library all of her own accord.
The Brothers Take Charge
Enola is Mycroft’s oldest child. Mycroft works for government but attacks his brother and accuses them of not being interested in their family. Mycroft would like to find Enola, a boarding school. This he does with the help Fiona Shaw (his old friend) and also to find their mother. Sherlock is left with the mystery. The brothers argue about Enola’s personality and what is best for her, Sherlock trying to fight Mycroft on his strict approach.
Enola fights back and begs her brothers to allow her to stay at Ferndell. But Mycroft believes she must learn manners and etiquette to attract a husband. This is something Enola doesn’t intend to do. She begs Sherlock to accept her as his ward. He apologizes but refuses. It is decided that Mycroft will bring Enola to Miss Harrison’s school himself. Sherlock later discovers Enola sitting in a tree sketching, and she draws a humorous caricature. Sherlock shares his memories of Enola with her — recalling Dash, the pinecone wrapped in wool on a leash that she dragged around. She asks him why he didn’t visit, to which he says he leads a busy life. Enola tells him she kept every newspaper clipping of all of his cases, but it took their mother’s disappearance to bring Sherlock home. Sherlock warns Enola that being emotional is understandable but unnecessary, and he then encourages her to look for waht’s there, not what she wants to see.
The Game Is Afoot
First Enola receives a message from her mother in backwards cipher. It tells her to go to her chrysanthemums and that she will need to use a book to identify them. Eudoria isn’t referring to the bouquet of flowers in the vase; it’s the ones she has painted. Enola discovers money behind a framed picture and a note saying “I found money…” “Our future is up to us.” Enola runs away from Ferndell Hall in Sherlock’s childhood clothes to take a train not at her local station. She is able to hear a family trying to find their son on the train and they also seem to have vanished. He is in a suitcase in the car, and she happens to be sitting in it. In an uncharacteristic act of defiance, the Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilwether (Louis Partridge), sneezes and falls off the rack as he tries to escape from the bag. He confesses that he is hiding out and has bribed the porter to allow him on board. Enola warns him that Tewkesbury is being sought by a man wearing a brown bowler hat. Enola asked him to leave, but 37 seconds later Tewkesbury rushed back to Enola, asking for help. However, she tried her best to avoid getting caught up in his mess. She can’t resist her desire to help him, so she rescues him and he tumbles down a hillside, almost getting killed by the bowler hat man.
Sherlock easily reads through his sister’s tracks, both with her bicycle and the trail she left unravelling her mother’s clues. Tewkesbury connects them. After an adrenaline-filled escape Tewkesbury and Enola walk through the countryside. Enola is their fireman and Tewkesbury provides information that helps them to know the local fauna and flora. They have a lot of fun talking about their deceased fathers. Tewkesbury tells how a near-death experience in the past brought his life to a flash before his eyes. He was about take his seat in House of Lords. Tewkesbury’s politics were more open-minded and he supports the ideology of “Reform.”His family wanted him to go overseas and join the army, so Enola fled out of fear that he would be hateful every moment of his life. Enola accepts Tewkesbury’s offer to keep them together as they make their way to London. They will then part ways. To disguise her husband, she gives him a haircut. He confesses that he won’t forget her when they part, and you can tell this is young love.
Enola’s Adventures in London
Enola realizes she is not prepared for the outside world, but she manages to buy nice ladies’ clothes to disguise herself from her brothers, who expect her to run around like an underdressed urchin. The shopkeeper mistakes her for a boy since she still wears Sherlock’s clothes, but Enola soon convinces her otherwise with her fat wad of bills. She also finds lodging thanks to the woman from whom she purchases clothes — a whalebone corset, a symbol of oppression to those who wear it, and a beautiful red dress. Her chest bust enhancer and the hip regulators provide places to conceal her mother’s fortune (for she ‘chooses’The corset is worn by the woman. The shopkeeper is amazed at her transformation and pins a braid to her hair.
Her brothers have a conversation about the missing Marquess, Basilwether, who Mycroft considers a liberal. His absence is vital to the House of Lords voting. Sherlock claims that he was offered the Marquess case case but declined. He also saw that two boys leapt off the London Express. “The Pall Mall Gazette.”
Enola creates a cipher and puts it in the newspaper to let her mother know that Enola has found her. She decides how to phrase the message. “Thank you my chrysanthemum. Are you blooming? Send Iris, please.”According to her little flower guide Iris is a message. She places it in the personal ads column. “The Pall Mall Gazette,”which her mother had always read to her “The Magazine of Modern Womanhood,”And the “Journal of Dress Reform.”
Enola also memorized one of her mother’s only regular correspondences: Edith Grayston (Susan Wokoma), whom she visits to ask about her mother — Eudroia Vernet Holmes. Enola learned fighting techniques from Edith when she was younger. However, Edith couldn’t get the corkscrew to stop. Enola agrees. “a useless boy”he helped her to get to London, but she didn’t leave him. Edith has no idea what Eudoria’s up to but she does know that Edith knows. Enola recalls Edith at the meeting she once disrupted when her mother was plotting something. She only remembers Edith. “Ellie Houseman.”
Edith advises Enola that she must be strong and live the London life if she wants her to stay. She also tells Enola that it is important to look after herself and not her mother. Enola sees the marking of a red dragon on a box in Edith’s study, which flashes her back to the memory of interrupting her mother. Enola then recalls two additional scrambled words in addition to Edith’s. “Ellie Houseman”: “The Bankmen Met” “Entangle Herb.” She deciphers “The Bankmen Met”As “The Embankment,” which she read about in one of Ferndell Hall’s books. “Entangle Herb”It is “Bethnal Green,”This is another location on the London map. Her mother and her women team were trying to decide between these three locations. “Ellie Houseman”Turns out to have been Limehouse Lane. Enola then tracks down the Dragon Fireworks clue and finds an empty wearhouse. There she finds chemicals and gunpowder as well as a plan by her mother. . She remembers that all of the women present were wearing purple ribbon and she leads them to the correct location. It looks as if she plans to plant bombs that will spread copies of a poster advertising for getting womens’ suffrage.
Bowler Hat Man Finds Enola
Viscount Tewkesbury’s brown bowler hat man tracks Enola down in attempt to find the Marquess. The man keeps her submerged for longer periods until she appears to have drowned. To escape, she faked her limp posture to headbutt the man. Enola tells Enola the story of her typical day as a child with her mother, while she hides from him. The challenges her mother faced during her fight with the bowler hat man is mirrored in Enola’s fight with him. The fight takes place in an abandoned warehouse. Enola nearly gets stabbed in the stomach but her whalebone corset saves her. To distract her father, she uses the explosive materials her mother left to make her last escape.
Tewkesbury Savings
Enola recalls a time when she saved a sheep by rescuing it from a cliff. Her mother suggested that she “let nature take it’s course,”Enola can’t ignore the fact that Tewkesbury is safe from the bowler hat man, but Enola must not forget. She heads to his home mansion in widow’s garb, because people want to avoid conversations about death. When she arrives at the house, she disguises herself as May Beatrice Posy and offers her assistance in finding Tewkesbury. However, when she is refused, she adds another layer to her lies by claiming that she is Mr. Sherlock Holmes’ assistant. Lestrade of Scotland Yard (x), another detective competing for the case of the Marquess, claims she can’t possibly know Sherlock Holmes because he is a close friend. Enola challenges him with three questions about himself to find out which one knows him the best. Lady Tewkesbury dismisses them both from their manor. Lestrade asks Enola what Sherlock’s favorite tobacco (Black Shag), composer (Paganini) and case (the one before) are. She asks Lestrade what Sherlock’s favorite dessert (plum pie), meal of the day (breakfast) and board game (chess).
Lestrade soon realizes she knows Sherlock. After realizing this, she ran to a gardener to offer to pay five pounds to exchange clothes. The young man pointed her towards the woods and she asked him where Tewkesbury would go. He was always outdoors.
Sherlock pays Edith a visit, close on Enola’s tail. Edith reports on Enola’s safety to Sherlock. He questions the “mischief” Edith and Eudoria are up to, but she tells him he will never understand, because (as a man), he doesn’t understand his advantage in the world and how it would be if he did not have power. He then continues to admire his family which she summarizes as “a wonderful thing.” “lost child, a puffed up misanthrope, a revolutionary and yourself — no wife, no friends, just a strange occupation obsessed with footprints and coal dust.”She suggests that the reform bill is only the beginning of world change. She refers to Sherlock as an ostrich but admires the fact that he pays attention at least to Enola.
Mycroft had hired Lestrade as his Enola search agent. The two of them meet at the barbershop and Lestrade fills in the details. Mycroft promises a hefty reward for Lestrade’s bringing Enola to him.
She returns to Enola and finds the tree branch from a fallen tree. However, it turns out that this seemingly natural event was actually planned. He has left her clues behind. She climbs up to his treehouse, but Frances de la Tour, his grandmother, discovers her and invites her to a conversation about politics, the future, and trees. The Dowager is more traditionalist and believes Enola must be more open-minded than her grandfather, who was also a traditionalist. Enola does not fear the grandmother because of her admiration to Tewkesbury. Enola only has enough clues to find him. Enola discovers blue pressed roses in a book about London that marks the section about Covent Garden.
She finds Viscount Tewkesbury Marquess Basilwether selling flowers at the Basilwether and tells him that she misses him and that they are still in grave danger. She takes him back to her accommodations, where they almost kiss. Enola tells Tewkesbury her belief that the same person who wants his dead father killed him is Enola. Lestrade finds her as the lady from whom she received the tip gave her a tip. Her poster stating that she was missing had been removed by her. She tells Tewkesbury to leave — saying “if he catches you, you’re in danger, but if he catches me it is a life I simply do not want.”So she gives up her own self for him. True love is a beautiful thing. Tewkesbury escapes, and Lestrade returns Enola to Mycroft, who puts her in Miss Harrison’s Finishing School for Girls, taking the money her mother left for her. Sherlock visits her to comment on the bizarre rules of the school. He also brings back Dash the pet pinecone and offers more clues to solving mysteries. He discovers that she is in love with Tewkesbury and tracks her down to the school. Together they convince Miss Harrison to give her a package from Mycroft, convincing her that she was friends with Eudoria.
Enola is able to find another clue about why someone wants Tewkesbury killed through the newspaper Sherlock left her. She makes one last detour in Miss Harrison’s automobile — to Tewkesbury’s house, once she figures out who wants to kill Tewkesbury. He is her suspect, as Tewkesbury would vote in favor of the Reform Bill. However, if he dies, his uncle will inherit his estate, stopping that from happening. They return to the mansion to find nobody there, except for the bowler hat man. After a dangerous brawl between them and the bowler-hat man who shoots at them and nearly chokes Tewkesbury to his death, Enola succeeds in performing the corkscrew, and finally takes him down. The Dowager arrives, grabs the gun, and shoots Tewkesbury through the chest. Fortunately, he is wearing a bulletproof shield of armor.
Sherlock reaches the correct conclusion, explaining The Dowager’s motive. The uncle would have chosen to vote more conservatively. It wasn’t the uncle who killed Tewkesbury’s father either because he was overseas serving in the war. So The Dowager is responsible for the dad’s death. Enola visits Tewkesbury, before he takes a seat in the House of Lords. She offers him to stay with them but she refuses. She follows him, kissing his hand.
The Finding of Eudoria
Sherlock leaves Enola a numbered code in the newspaper. He tries to smoke her out of hiding but Enola notices the trick. He tells her to meet him at the Royal Academy. He signed the message as Mother and not Chrysanthemum. The Royal Academy does not allow women to sign. She places Dash on a statue near the school to assure Sherlock she received his message. She also exchanges clothes with a newspaperboy in order to hide her identity. Mycroft bought a paper from Mycroft without realizing that it was her.
Her mother will be waiting for her when she returns home to the same lodgings she moved to. Enola snaps at her as she is mad that she left. She attempts to get to know Enola better. Eudoria says she left for Enola, because she doesn’t want her to grow up in a world pre-Reform Bill. Enola was responsible for her future. Eudoria tells her she cannot stay, and they hug for a long while before she disappears.
The End
Enola owns her ending. She realizes that being alone doesn’t have to mean loneliness. Spurred on from her mother’s visit, she pursues her own path, purpose and future. “My life is my own,”She tells the viewers at the end. “And the future is up to us.”