Stranger Things aside, where has Millie Bobby Brown been up to all these years? She’s starred in a couple of Godzilla movies, gone viral on the internet several times (once for an “Imagine” video, once for being a flat Earther, and a few times for her appearance on Hot Ones), and continued to re-shave her head for Stranger Things. But Netflix’s Enola Holmes movies should solidify the young actress as a buoyant leading lady, with the perfect amount of naiveté, wit, and pluckiness to carry a movie.
Alas, only Netflix seems to have picked up on Brown’s undeniable charisma. Unfortunately, it’s taken the streamer years to update her two unfolding storylines. New seasons of Stranger Things, as we all know, take years to come out, and it’s been another couple of years since her triumphant Enola Holmes debuted. But Enola Holmes 2 is finally here to break the fourth wall all over again, with another wonderful performance from the chipper leading actress and her flurry of delightful co-stars.
Since it’s been a few years without her, let’s recap where we left little Miss Enola. In the wake of finding her radical feminist mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter), the young lass realized her calling in life was to become a detective—just like her older brother, Sherlock (Henry Cavill). Heard of him? Well, he’s also on board with becoming Enola’s legal guardian, since their mother’s got bigger fires to put out (or rather, set). Enola’s also not so sure where she stands with her love interest, the devilishly charming Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge).
Now, two years after the first film, Tewkesbury is a whole man. Gone are the boyish days of sneaking away and goofing around; he’s now passing bills and standing up for environmental protection as the Industrial Revolution takes over London. Yet Enola pays him no mind. She doesn’t need a man! She’s beginning her very own young ladies’ detective agency, where she’ll gladly take on any and all cases to solve around the city. There’s just one problem: Everyone thinks they’re going to get Sherlock Holmes on the case, not his pipsqueak sister.
Speaking of the Industrial Revolution, one of the great new additions of Enola Holmes 2 is its tie-ins to the real world. Though the first story primarily dealt with tales from Nancy Springer’s novels The Enola Holmes Mysteries, the sequel takes on the true story of the match girls’ strike in 1888. Enola’s first case as a private eye will be finding a missing sister of the match girls, also looping in with the abusive behavior of their boss at the match factory.
This historical event, woven in with Enola’s fictionalized personal life and separate pursuits, adds an extra layer of thrill to the mix. The stakes are higher than ever for Enola, who needs to free these poor match girls before they all develop a highly fatal disease called “phossy jaw,” an occupational disease that cursed a slew of folks working with white phosphorus in the late 1800s. Sherlock and Tewkesbury’s plots are expertly threaded into this same true story, with the former solving a case tied into the government’s cover-up of the match factory owners’ corruption, and the latter attempting to stand up for environmental rights around the city. (When he stands up for the environment—what a cutie!)
As original as the match factory incident addition is, Enola Holmes 2 can’t stop itself from repeating its predecessor’s same feminist arc, which grows stale in the process. We’ve seen this tale before, not only in Enola Holmes, but also in plenty of other similar stories about young women trying to find their way in a male-dominated world. No one believes in Enola because she’s too young, she’s a woman, and her brother has already garnered far more respect in the field. Naturally, she breaks down those barriers overcoming the doubts by showing how talented of a detective she can be. It’s uplifting, sure, but the exact same shtick doesn’t resonate as strongly this time around.
That aside, the sequel brings back one of the first movie’s most memorable gimmicks: fourth-wall breaks. Folks compared the first movie to Fleabag for all of Enola’s glances toward the camera, but the movie used those glances for more than just humor. Instead of shining a light on her personal struggle, Enola broke the fourth wall in order to move the plot forward, a quirky narration tool for a big detective story. With the sequel, however, Enola pulls back—which is a welcome change. She narrates less (since we know more about her life, there’s no reason for all the asides), but when she does turn to face us, it’s to unearth her emotions.
This is fun to watch, because Millie Bobby Brown whips up such delight in her quips to us, the viewers, as she reacts to the ever-changing world around her. She’s frequently glancing at us to talk about her tension with Tewkesbury (these feel more Fleabag than ever), raising her eyebrows as the pair drum up chemistry dancing with mere inches between them. Brown and Partridge are both so youthfully spirited, it’s a wonder Netflix hasn’t signed them to do a high school rom-com together.
By far the best part about Enola Holmes 2, though, is more Sherlock (aka “Swol-lock”) Holmes. Yes, it’s ironic—this is obviously Enola’s story about proving herself apart from her older brother. But the pair work so well together that it would be a crime to separate them. Enola, foolish and headstrong, butts her way into Sherlock’s detective work—though she’s often more social and thoughtful than him, he’s got quite a bit to teach her. Hearty, buff, and level-headed, Cavill is the perfect match for Brown’s bubbly Enola.
A good mystery and a fantastic heroine freshen up the classic stories behind the text in Enola Holmes 2. Unlike most of the Sherlock Holmes stories that came before, the new Enola Holmes never takes itself too seriously. The parts that it does treat with more respect—the match girls strike, the feminist movement, etc.—add a level of maturity to the mystery, but when it comes to Enola herself? She’s just a teenager! She has plenty of fun, saves the day, and we all have a great time watching her shine (and make a few hilarious mistakes along the way, too).
