‘Young Sherlock’: Zine Tseng on Using Grief as a Weapon (VIDEO)
What To Know
- Prime Video’s Young Sherlock explores the early adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his friendship with James Moriarty.
- The series also delves into themes of grief and vengeance. Star Zine Tseng explains that grounded her character’s actions.
Prime Video’s Young Sherlock is a whimsical fantasy adventure that follows the legendary sleuth (played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin) as a 19-year-old as he is still finding his footing in the investigating game. Still a bit green behind the ears and learning to use his powers of deduction, he meets his match and friend in James Moriarty (Dónal Finn) as the two set off to solve a mystery that will change the course of their lives forever.
But the fun adventure is more than just an origin story of two of the greatest literary foes in history. It is also a study in grief. Warning: Massive spoilers for Young Sherlock Season 1 ahead.
In the series, a devious plot emerges to manufacture and sell a noxious nerve agent, a weapon of mass destruction. But before it can be sold and deployed, the gas must be tested. The conspirators choose the very place where the mineral used to create it is discovered, a small village in China’s Gansu Corridor, killing the entire community.
A young woman (Zine Tseng) returns home to find her parents and neighbors dead from the so-called “creeping death.” Emotionally shattered by the massacre, she vows revenge. She is recruited by a man named Esad Kasgarli (Numan Acar), who promises to help her track down the man responsible for the slaughter, a scientist named Malik.
To get close to her target, she assumes the identity of Princess Shou’an, who is visiting Oxford, and begins systematically hunting down everyone connected to the plot that destroyed her village as she works her way toward Malik. Motivated by grief, she transforms her loss into a relentless campaign for vengeance.
Speaking with TV Insider, actress Zine Tseng explained that portraying intense grief and rage can be challenging. However, by grounding those emotions in the character’s backstory, she was able to better understand and convey the motivations driving her actions.
“For me, grief is very difficult to play as an actor,” Tseng told TV Insider. “So let’s make grief the history, the legacy, the background, the layer, the rich soil, but then we find something that makes it easy to enter the character, which is motivation, action. Let’s say, what do I want…my desire…that paired together with grief, it got me excited to do.”
Young Sherlock, Season 1, Stream Now, Prime Video
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