Enola Holmes 2 ending spoilers follow.
Millie Bobby Brown is back on the case in Enola Holmes 2 and the new mystery involves a missing girl, stolen government property and a case that even Sherlock can't solve.
The Netflix sequel delivers a twisty plot that only reveals the true game going on in its action-packed finale, and it's a reveal that will have major ramifications for Enola and Sherlock going forward.
But to unravel the knotty plot and delve into that surprising Sherlock Holmes reveal, we'll have to go into major spoilers for Enola Holmes 2. Don't read on if you haven't seen the sequel yet.
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For the most part, Enola Holmes 2 sees Enola and Sherlock on separate cases that, eventually, merge into one big mystery. So let's start with Enola first who is hired by Bessie to find her "found sister" Sarah, who she worked with at the Lyon's match factory.
Sarah went missing after she stole some pages from the registry in the factory office. She also works at The Paragon Theatre as a performer, so Enola heads there and discovers a hidden love poem at her make-up chair, signed with a poppy.
Enola uncovers the hidden message in the poem (an address in Whitechapel) and heads there, only to find the dead body of Mae, another matchgirl at the factory. Mae has some music notes hidden in her pocket, which Enola hides from the police, including Superintendent Grail, when he finds Enola standing over Mae's body.
Apparently, Sarah is wanted for theft and blackmail, and Grail wants to question Enola as a suspect, but she escapes from the police. Enola works out that the poppy on the letter is actually a Sweet William, a nod to William Lyon who is the son of the factory owner Henry Lyon.
Enola goes undercover at the Matchmaker's Charity Ball, hoping to find out more about Sarah's disappearance from William. There, she also meets Mira Troy (remember her), private secretary to Lord McIntyre, but before she can find out more from William, Enola is arrested by the police for Mae's murder.
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It's okay though as her mother Eudoria and Edith break Enola out of prison, after Sherlock gives Edith the heads up about Enola's predicament. At the same time as Enola's investigation, Sherlock is on his own "vexing" case, so let's switch over to that for a bit.
Sherlock is investigating missing money from government offices, which has seen various transfers going into one private bank. Every time he thinks he's getting close to the owner of the account though, the money changes from bank to bank and the mastermind remains one step ahead of Sherlock.
The missing money could also be linked to a stolen document at Lord McIntyre's office that Sherlock has been hired to find. He's having no luck there until he visits the Whitechapel address where Enola found Mae's body, aiming to take over Enola's investigation. The hat of the robber is found in the room, meaning William Lyon stole the document.
While Enola is at the ball, Sherlock works out that the various banks that the money is being shifted to is a cipher. Sherlock uses a book called The Language of the Dance to decrypt it and it reads, "Good to meet you Sherlock Holmes", with the original account number translating to Moriarty.
But who is Moriarty and how does it link to Enola's case? Well all the threads come together in dramatic fashion.
Enola Holmes 2 ending explained: Who is Moriarty?
After her break-out from prison, Enola and Tewkesbury go to investigate the match factory and they find Sherlock already there. The trail that Moriarty was sending Sherlock with the accounts led to the factory, and they find William's body there when they investigate the office.
William stole the contract that proved Lord McIntyre and Henry Lyon were working together, profiting from a switch to cheaper phosphorus in the match formula. The change has been killing workers, but McIntyre and Lyon were covering it up as a typhus outbreak.
Mae and Sarah had proof that the new phosphorus was poisonous, but they needed somebody to help uncover it. What Enola didn't realise was that the society girl called Cicely she met at the charity ball was actually Sarah in disguise, with Sarah seeking Tewkesbury's help as he's leading the charge on social reform.
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The music note that was found on Mae's body called The Truth of the Gods was really a nod to the top level of the theatre where Mae worked. Enola, Sherlock and Tewkesbury head there and find the contract that William stole, as well as the pages that Sarah stole which names the girls that were killed. Sarah is there waiting for them too.
Unfortunately for them, Grail and the police arrive and a fight ensues. Eventually, they fight them off, only for Lord McIntyre to arrive with Lestrade and call for Sarah to be arrested for theft and blackmail.
Sherlock actually told McIntyre where they were, but it was all a ruse to draw out Moriarty who is really McIntyre's private secretary Mira Troy (Moriarty, geddit?). She hired Grail to track down the contract as she was blackmailing McIntyre and Lyon over it, leading to the deaths of Mae and William.
"Where is my place in this society? I am a woman. I cannot join clubs, I cannot own shares, I cannot advance myself as they can. So, I found my own way. And it was fun," she tells them all.
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Moriarty is arrested by Lestrade, but McIntyre burns the contract and any evidence they had of the conspiracy at the factory. It all works out in the end though as Sarah and Bessie lead the matchgirls out on a strike, and McIntyre is later arrested for corruption thanks to the efforts of Tewkesbury.
Sherlock offers to work with Enola, but she turns him down as she'd always "be in your shadow". The duo might need to work together in the future though as a report in the newspaper shows that Moriarty is on the run.
Enola has other concerns right now though as she ends the movie on a date with Tewkesbury, with the two having earlier admitted that they love each other. Awww.
As well as the introduction of Moriarty into the Enola Holmes universe, the sequel also brings Dr John Watson into the fold in the credit scene. If you want to read more about that scene, you can head over here.
Enola Holmes 2 is available to watch now on Netflix.
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Ian Sandwell
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
