Young Sherlock Ending Explained: Does Silas Die?

Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock’ traces the origin story of the infamous detective, laying the foundation for his eventual rise to detective stardom. The story begins with the theft of an ancient Chinese scroll, but the answer to it leads to another mystery and then another, until it all comes back in a circle, leading Sherlock to a greater mystery that had a catastrophic impact on his family. The season ends with a series of revelations and a final showdown between the good guys, the bad guys, and those who walk the morally gray line. The way things end, it becomes clear that this is just the beginning for young Sherlock Holmes, as a new chapter begins in his life. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Young Sherlock Plot Recap

A young Sherlock Holmes is uncontained chaos, so his brother Mycroft brings him to Oxford, where he starts working as a scout. The arrival of a Chinese princess, Shou’an, shakes things up, especially when her father’s scrolls are stolen. Things get worse when an Oxford professor is murdered, and Sherlock is arrested for it. Thanks to his new friend, James Moriarty, he breaks out of the place and starts to look into the mystery himself. In the midst of this, he also discovers that his mother, who has been kept in an asylum since his sister Beatrice’s death, was right when she claimed her conversations were being listened to. Then there is Shou’an, who seems to have an agenda of her own.

As Sherlock pieces together the different mysteries, it turns out that they are all connected, including the fake death of his sister all those years ago. In the end, it all comes down to Sherlock’s father, Silas, who turns out to be much more than a simple scientist and explorer on a journey to distant lands. Not only has he been orchestrating a deadly plan, but he has also severely betrayed his own family. All of Silas’ manipulations and deceptions finally come to light, and everyone, including Beatrice, becomes wise to his plans, which had been self-serving all along. Bea realises that she had been so influenced by her father’s lies that she never stopped to think that he had been keeping her away from her innocent mother.

But now that Sherlock had proven himself capable of uncovering everything, including Silas’ master plan of selling the nerve agent to different parties, he wanted his son to become his heir. She feels betrayed at this discovery and decides not to be the pawn in her father’s plans anymore. Meanwhile, Sherlock and the others figure out where the mine is, which serves as the factory that produces the nerve agent. While Cordelia and her sons focus on getting Bea back, Shou’an avenges her family and her village by killing Professor Malik and rigging the whole place, exploding the whole thing, and putting a rest to Silas’ machinations.

Does Silas Die?

Silas manages to escape the mines and tries to get away on his horse, having already sustained an injury at the hands of his daughter. Shou’an chases after him, closely followed by Sherlock and Bea. With a dead end ahead of him, Silas is cornered, with both women ready to take their shot at him. There is no place for him to run, as there is nothing but a great fall and a body of water behind him. While at first, it seems that the women will have their revenge, Silas calls out to his son’s good nature, and sure enough, Sherlock steps in. He stands between the women and his father, explaining that the right way would be to arrest him and make him face a trial, where his punishment will be decided by law.

Neither Shou’an nor Bea is convinced to do it, but they don’t want to shoot Sherlock. Silas uses this as an opportunity to hold his son tightly, and for a minute, it looks like he will jump to his death while dragging his son with him. Instead, he lets go of Sherlock as soon as he is close to the edge and falls down, presumably to his death. Considering how Silas’ every move has been calculated so far, it is fair to assume that he didn’t jump to his death. He knew the area well, and there was a reason he drew his pursuers to that place. He knew that now that his secrets were out, they would not stop until they’d killed him or had him behind bars, none of which Silas wanted for himself. The only way to get them off his case would be to make it look like he was dead, which is why he chose to corner himself in that specific spot.

He knew that Sherlock would come after him, too, which is why he called upon his moral values. His son acted just as he had expected, and to make sure that the women didn’t get a good shot at him, he used Sherlock as his shield long enough to get to the edge safely. Once that was done, he let go of his son and made it look like he had accepted his death. But then, we never really see his dead body. And by now, we know that even having a dead body is not a confirmation of a character’s death, not until we have seen the dead body’s face. So, it is fair to assume that Silas survived that fall and escaped to a different place, to start anew on his nefarious plans to sell the world just to have his pockets lined. The truth will come out eventually, but for now, Silas is dead to the world.

What did Silas Leave for Sherlock? What is the Key?

While Silas may have been a terrible husband and father, he knew his children well enough to know how to keep manipulating them even from his grave. The night that he offered his empire to Sherlock by declaring him his heir in return for Bea’s freedom, he used certain phrases that he knew would stick with Sherlock. He also knew that despite the recent exposure of his villainy, Sherlock had idealised him long enough not to grieve him. Sure enough, Sherlock feels bad about Silas’ death, and it leads him to look back at their conversations, where he realizes that his father quoted specific phrases like “survival of the fittest.” Because Silas had always been a very specific person, especially with his words, Sherlock wonders if all these phrases were a clue that he left behind for his son. As he discusses this possibility with Mycroft in Silas’ library, he finds Charles Darwin’s book, inside which is a key.

The fact that Silas left that key for him sparks Sherlock’s curiosity, but Mycroft warns him that it won’t lead to anything good, much like everything else they’ve found out about their father so far. The elder Holmes is smart enough to know that Silas’ intention of directing Sherlock to the key wouldn’t have been good, and this is yet another way for him to exercise his control and manipulation over his children. Mycroft doesn’t want them to be puppeteered by their dead father anymore, so he advises Sherlock not to be the curious cat. At the time, Sherlock concedes to his brother’s concerns and puts the key back, but even Mycroft should have known that his brother is not the kind to let a mystery rest. Sure enough, the next time we see Sherlock, he has the key, though he is yet to discover where it leads.

Given that Silas didn’t leave the key for Bea, who had not only been privy to his schemes but had also been an active part of them, it is fair to assume that this is a secret he wanted her to stay away from. There is a good chance that even Silas doesn’t know where the key leads. Or rather, he knows what the key leads to, but he doesn’t know how to find it. The reason he trusted Sherlock with it is that he has seen Sherlock’s mind in motion and how he was able to dig up the secrets and lies that had held up pretty well over the years. He knows that only Sherlock has the mental prowess and the unbridled dedication to go after the mystery of the key and solve it for good. So, all he has to do is sit back and watch Sherlock put everything together, and be there when the mystery is finally unraveled so he can lay a claim to the prize, thanks to his genius son.

What did Moriarty Steal from the Mines?

While the whole case turns out to be a Holmes family affair, there is one outsider who sees it through from the beginning to the end: James Moriarty. He becomes entangled in the mystery partly due to his curiosity and sense of adventure and partly because he likes Sherlock and wants to keep him from getting executed for murder. However, as the mystery unravels, we see his dark side creeping up, especially in the moment he kills a French soldier to save Shou’an. But this is not the only thing that enthralls him. While Sherlock and his family feel betrayed by Silas’ actions, Moriarty can’t help but be in awe of the Holmes patriarch, who built an empire of wealth and power out of nothing.

As a man who also comes from nothing and wants the world to dance at whim, Silas is an inspiration. Moriarty isn’t interested in bringing him to justice; he is interested in studying his ways so that he can become him. So, when Shou’an decides to blow up the factory, he searches through the place even as the walls crumble around him because he wants the formula for the nerve agent. Previously, he’d found a half-worked formula in Silas’ study in the house. At the time, he explained that if they had the formula to the nerve agent, they could use it to engineer an antidote, which seemed reasonable enough.

However, he’d also joked with Sherlock about keeping the formula for themselves, selling it to the highest bidder, and getting the money for themselves, which is why Sherlock knows exactly what his friend intends to do with it. He might like Moriarty, but he has seen the darkness in his friend’s eyes. So, later, when they meet up, he confronts him about getting his hands on the formula. Moriarty knows he cannot lie about the act, so once again, he lies about the intention, claiming that having the formula in their possession will allow them to come up with an antidote, in case someone tries to repeat what Silas did.

Sherlock is not convinced, which is why he doesn’t tell Moriarty about the key, at least not yet. But he doesn’t say anything either. What Sherlock also doesn’t know is that moments before he showed up, Moriarty was meeting Bea to discuss their plans about the formula, having figured out that she is the only Holmes who can be just as, if not more, morally unbridled as him. They’d formed a romantic bond back in Oxford, which they kept up in Constantinople, and now, their partnership has taken a new turn. Whatever he plans to do next, Moriarty will likely keep it out of Sherlock’s knowledge, and this secret might eventually be the thing that unravels their relationship and turns them into enemies.

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