| “ | Enola: She's just a little girl. Grail: Oh, but that's how it starts, Enola Holmes! With little girls like her, and you, and Sarah Chapman, asking questions, doubting those in charge, not seeing their protection for what it is, trying to tear it down! Well, it only takes one little flame to start a fire, and my job is to keep crushing those bloody flames out! |
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| ~ Grail explaining his motives to Enola. |
Superintendent Grail is the secondary antagonist of the 2022 mystery-crime Netflix film Enola Holmes 2, the second installment in the Enola Holmes film series.
He is a horrifically corrupt Police Superintendent who moonlights as an assassin for the Lyon Factory and Mira Troy, seperately, killing anyone who either Mira wants dead or exposes Lyon's conspiracy. After failing to kill Sarah Chapman once, Grail is bent on killing her no matter what, incriminating Enola for Mae's murder.
He was portrayed by David Thewlis, who also played King Einon in Dragonheart, Officer Ralf in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, V.M. Varga in Fargo, Ares in Wonder Woman, John Dee in The Sandman and the Rat King in The Amazing Maurice.
Appearance[]
He is a menacing looking man who often wears dark clothes, usually consisting of a three-piece suit. He also walks with a distinctive metal cane that also doubles as a rifle.
Personality[]
Grail is incredibly sadistic and greedy, moonlighting as an assassin to silence whistleblowers to the Lyon Factory conspiracy, being indifferent to the hundreds of worker deaths he is letting happen. He seems to take a certain delight in his work, as he enjoys hunting and pursuing victims, taunting Enola upon subduing her. Grail is also not above killing children, as he believes it starts with them, doubting their "protectors". He also seems to be tyrannical, given that another reason he moonlights as an assassin is to make sure that no one tries to start discord against the authority.
Biography[]
Little is known of his past other than he has had a history with Enola's legendary older brother, Sherlock Holmes. Grail first appears when Enola discovers that Mae is dead. Grail accuses Enola of the murder, which results in the latter escaping the flat. Later, Grail interrupts Enola, Tewkesbury, and Lyon, and arrests Enola. Later, Grail questions Enola, only for her to realize that Grail has been following her and Mae, on behalf of someone else. He demands to know where Sarah is, but Enola doesn't yet know. He threatens to find out from Bessie instead.
Sherlock is told about Enola's arrest, and goes to the station to have her freed. Grail refuses, despite Sherlock's deductions from the apartment crime scene suggesting it was in fact Grail and his personal officers that murdered Mae while looking for Sarah. Grail has a cutting edge piece of technology that proves Enola guilty; her fingerprints on the knife. This angers Sherlock, who leaves and destroys a trash can outside in rage.
The next day, Enola is at prison where she is liberated by Eudoria and Edith, who escort her away in a carriage, keeping the pursuing officers at bay using smoke bombs. However, Grail then arrives on horseback, using his cane as a rifle to shoot Enola and her liberators, before managing to derail their carriage and corner them with his men. However, the three women defend themselves handily before escaping under the cover of one final explosion, which sends Grail mad, shouting out in anger.
A while later when Enola, Tewkesbury, and Sherlock meet Sarah to talk about Lyon and his death, they interrupted as Grail and his men arrive with Bessie held hostage to demand the papers. Bessie fights back and gets away, and the group scatters. Grail pulls a gun and shoots Sherlock in the shoulder before pursuing Enola upstairs. She plays cat and mouse with Grail to make him waste his bullets, and succeeds in protecting Sarah and Bessie by luring Grail onto the suspended catwalks high above the stage.
Grail grabs a knife from the dressing rooms and follows Enola, who runs to a dead end before a long drop. Grail stabs Enola with the knife, which distracts Tewkesbury long enough for Beeston to disarm and subdue him. However, the knife was Mae's retractable prop knife, and Enola turns the tables on Grail. He uses an iron hook on a rope as an improvised weapon, which hits Enola causing a head injury, and he takes the papers from her. Once again using her knowledge on cause and effect, she jumps from the catwalk, grabbing a rope that pulls the hook Grail was using. The hook snags on Grail, first crushing him against the ceiling, then dropping him to the floor, killing him.
Trivia[]
- While Grail's employer, Mira Troy, is the hidden main antagonist of the film, Grail is undoubtedly more vicious than her, as while she rightly points out that there are very little advantages in their era for either a person of color or a woman and she happens to be both, positing criminal activity as her best choice, and even condemns Lord McIntyre's corrupt practices, Grail has no excuses, and does what he does for money and amusement.
