With all of the action surrounding Netflix's Enola Holmes, it's easy to become enwrapped in the premier mysteries as the title character (Millie Bobby Brown) sets out to investigate her mother's disappearance and help the young noble escapee Viscount Tewksbury (Louis Partridge) evade a hitman. But there's one detail you can't help but ponder while watching Enola embark on her journey: when exactly does the film take place? Judging by the clothes, the vernacular, and the very evident lack of respect for women, we know immediately that it's set sometime in the nineteenth or twentieth century. It heavily explores women's suffrage and gender equality, specifically within politics, so it might seem like it's placed in the early 1900s since that's when women received the right to vote in England.

However, Enola Holmes actually precedes that historical act and occurs in the year 1884. This is confirmed through several close-ups of the Pall Gall newspaper,...