S04.E02: The Lying Detective

[MissLucas]

8 minutes ago, Tardislass said:

Sherlock is aware of Eurus, in Season 3 he and Mycroft are talking at the Holmes cottage and they say something like "you remember what happened to the other one".

I thought so too for a while and then checked back - the exact line is: 'You know what happened to the other one.' It is indeed from 'His last Vow' but it was said to a government official not Sherlock.

[Peace 47]

7 minutes ago, Tardislass said:

Sherlock is aware of Eurus, in Season 3 he and Mycroft are talking at the Holmes cottage and they say something like "you remember what happened to the other one".

Mycroft said that he "wasn't prone to outbursts of brotherly compassion--you remember what happened to the other one" to a government person (I think Lady Smallwood herself) in a conversation where Sherlock was not present.  (That line implies that Mycroft took a very hard line with Eurus.)  We don't really know what Sherlock knows:  he keeps a whole lot of things (even his birthday) very close to his vest.

[TomServo]

5 hours ago, tanita said:

She either meet Moriarty, worked with him or is maybe the big boss behind him.

That's one of my alternate theories--she could be the actual big bad behind the guy they knew as Moriarty.  It would give Moriarty's "You're me" a double meaning.

[Tardislass]

I have a new theory about who the big baddie is. Eurus says "someone" introduced her and Smith and everyone assumes it's Moriarty. But what if it was Lady Smallwood? Out of left field yes, but she has been heavily featured since Season 3, expresses interest in Mycroft now and evidently knows about Sherringford and Moriarty. Don't ask me why she'd want to kill the Holmes brothers but it sounds like a Mofftiss plot twist to me.

Based on my track record with this show, there's a 99% certainty I'm way off base. 

[KaleyFirefly]

I'm guessing that Sherlock has not seen his sister since they were very young kids, otherwise he would have seen through her disguise, even when he was high. (On a shallow note  -- scruffy, strung-out Benedict Cumberbatch was looking especially sexy).

I liked this episode much better than the previous one because there was a mystery to solve and a bad guy to catch. Toby Jones played an excellent super-creepy murderer. 

I don't understand why Sherlock's sister followed John on the bus, though. And she posed as his therapist so she could kill him...why? And why does she want Sherlock dead? Does she also want Mycroft dead? Of course, the fact that there's an evil, unhinged sister explains why Mycroft is so keen to keep an eye on Sherlock at all times, and why he worries so much every time Sherlock is on drugs.

Loved Mrs. Hudson's "You're not my first smackhead!" and how she borrows the handcuffs from time to time.

[Netfoot]

On 1/8/2017 at 7:07 PM, Ceindreadh said:

Excuse my language but...

Yeah!  Me too!

Initially, I couldn't figure out what was going on!  But gradually, it began to come together.

On 1/8/2017 at 11:52 PM, MisterGlass said:

Toby Jones was fine, suitably weird and sinister.  I like him much better when he's being Lance on the Detectorists.

I was just coming here to say that!  But it speaks to his talent that the bumbling, lovable Lance could become the chilling, horrible Culverton Smith!

[Mari]

On 1/9/2017 at 3:39 PM, tennisgurl said:

Granted, I did see Johns bus texting buddy being shady coming. You see John, this is why you dont have texting affairs with random women when you routinely tangle with international criminals and terrorists known for manipulation and elaborate plans, and are also married to a retired assassin! Oy!

Well, this, and the being married to a super-spy-assassin type who is buddies with your nearly super-powered detective best friend.  Honestly, the most ridiculous and difficult to accept part of the "John's secret texting affair" is that apparently Mary and Sherlock didn't know.  

Um. . . how?

And in what reality would John think he could get away with it, with those two in his life?

[Turtle Wexler]

I've lost track of what rewatching I'm on, but, are we supposed to make anything of the couple of times that Smith asked someone how long they'd been working at the hospital?  (I think it was Nurse Cornish and Saheed?)  I kept wondering whether they were going to wind up dead, because they'd be around, according to Smith, for "a long time."  Also, when Smith kicks everyone out of the morgue, he tells Saheed, "This time knock," after 10 minutes when they come back...Does that just mean that in the past, Smith has been doing things in there and Saheed "caught him"?  Given that he's in jail, I don't know what, if anything, he'll have to do in the next episode, but they were things that got my attention on the first watch, and I wondered whether they were foreshadowing something.  

Edited January 11, 2017 by Turtle Wexler

[VisceralVarys]

My thought is that Lady Smallwood is purposefully sidetracking Mycroft. I thought the placement of her card over his note to call Sherrinford was a hint to the audience that she is there to distract him. Enough so that he forgets to make the call and thus Euros' plan goes unnoticed. He went back, grabbed the card but didn't see the reminder to himself.

Whether Lady Smallwood is the Big Bad or is a pawn of BB (perhaps the sister)...my guess is the later.

[Tardislass]

24 minutes ago, Turtle Wexler said:

I've lost track of what rewatching I'm on, but, are we supposed to make anything of the couple of times that Smith asked someone how long they'd been working at the hospital?  (I think it was Nurse Cornish and Saheed?)  I kept wondering whether they were going to wind up dead, because they'd be around, according to Smith, for "a long time."  Also, when Smith kicks everyone out of the morgue, he tells Saheed, "This time knock," after 10 minutes when they come back...Does that just mean that in the past, Smith has been doing things in there and Saheed "caught him"?  Given that he's in jail, I don't know what, if anything, he'll have to do in the next episode, but they were things that got my attention on the first watch, and I wondered whether they were foreshadowing something.  

I think it's more that Culverton had so much leeway that he could get a person fired from their job. Like don't mess with me or I will remember you. I'm sure Saheed and the Nurse had some inkling that Culverton was doing illegal things but since he was loved by all and had the keys that saying something would endanger their job.

[klowey]

I've lost track of what rewatching I'm on, but, are we supposed to make anything of the couple of times that Smith asked someone how long they'd been working at the hospital?  (I think it was Nurse Cornish and Saheed?)  I kept wondering whether they were going to wind up dead, because they'd be around, according to Smith, for "a long time."  Also, when Smith kicks everyone out of the morgue, he tells Saheed, "This time knock," after 10 minutes when they come back...Does that just mean that in the past, Smith has been doing things in there and Saheed "caught him"?  Given that he's in jail, I don't know what, if anything, he'll have to do in the next episode, but they were things that got my attention on the first watch, and I wondered whether they were foreshadowing something.  

I don't think there was a plot-specific reference there; however, the character seemed very much based on Jimmy Saville, a BBC children's/teen's host from the 70s to the 2000s who was revealed to be using his position to abuse children. If you don't know anything about him, a google search requires extra-strength brain bleach. I took the comments and the tortured looks of the staff to mean that all the staff, especially the long-term ones, know there's something really wrong, but they are implicated in that they haven't said anything and they continue to benefit from his largess. After Saville's death, many people at the BBC were implicated in turning a blind eye, so it was an interesting character for a BBC show to include to say the least. The comment to the pathologist is _especially_ creepy in the context of Jimmy Saville.

[Turtle Wexler]

Thanks, Tardislass and klowey.  OK.  I figured Smith was, in part, threatening them and reminding them of his clout, but wasn't sure if there was something more specific to it.  I've been reading people's comments on Jimmy Saville, but wasn't familiar with him otherwise, no, and yes...extra-strength brain bleach is definitely necessary, wow. 

[bettername2come]

3 hours ago, Tardislass said:

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by bettername2come
Never mind

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, klowey said:

If you don't know anything about him, a google search requires extra-strength brain bleach.

The tragedy being that he lived and died being upheld as a wonderful philanthropist, and his misdeeds didn't surface until a year or more later!  Strangely, despite being familiar with the Savile story, I didn't catch on to any similarity between him and Culverton Smith!  Go figure!

[TomServo]

2 hours ago, Turtle Wexler said:

I've lost track of what rewatching I'm on, but, are we supposed to make anything of the couple of times that Smith asked someone how long they'd been working at the hospital?

I took it to mean that either they were in on it in some way and/or they've had the memory juice used on them a few times because he made a comment that he used high turnover to keep people from catching on.  And then the nurse said, "Did that door lock itself AGAIN" so you know she was aware of odd things having happened in that room before.  The alternate theory at my house was that the question was some kind of hypnosis trigger.

There was definitely something weird up with Lady Smallwood.  She seemed overly interested in whether Mycroft had news from Sherrinford.  I'm not quite sure whether Mycroft's response to her shows that he suspects something or if he's actually let down his guard.  Particularly since he is the one who warned Sherlock against forming attachments in the first place.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, Turtle Wexler said:

I've lost track of what rewatching I'm on, but, are we supposed to make anything of the couple of times that Smith asked someone how long they'd been working at the hospital?

I took that as some sort of implied threat.  How long have you been working here, because it sounds like you don't want to work here any more, sort of thing.

[Turtle Wexler]

41 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

The tragedy being that he lived and died being upheld as a wonderful philanthropist, and his misdeeds didn't surface until a year or more later!  Strangely, despite being familiar with the Savile story, I didn't catch on to any similarity between him and Culverton Smith!  Go figure!

So awful.  If only he could have been prosecuted when he was alive and been convicted.  As an American, I couldn't help but notice some similarities between Smith and Donald Trump, though I've no idea whether they were supposed to be intentional, too, though at any rate, obviously the Saville parallels were stronger.

1 minute ago, TomServo said:

I took it to mean that either they were in on it in some way and/or they've had the memory juice used on them a few times because he made a comment that he used high turnover to keep people from catching on.  And then the nurse said, "Did that door lock itself AGAIN" so you know she was aware of odd things having happened in that room before.  The alternate theory at my house was that the question was some kind of hypnosis trigger.

*nod*  This all makes sense to me, too.  

4 minutes ago, TomServo said:

There was definitely something weird up with Lady Smallwood.  She seemed overly interested in whether Mycroft had news from Sherrinford.  I'm not quite sure whether Mycroft's response to her shows that he suspects something or if he's actually let down his guard.  Particularly since he is the one who warned Sherlock against forming attachments in the first place.

Right.  I'm curious as to what their relationship has been--how much does she know about Mycroft and Sherlock's personal life, and for how long has she known it?  Is it just a matter of her having information about Eurus (if Sherrinford is indeed the hospital where she's been) because it would be something Mycroft would have had to disclose given his sensitive position, or is there some other reason she knows it--he slipped and mentioned it, or something.  Do we know exactly what she does in the government/what their professional relationship is supposed to be?   

[spottedreptile]

9 hours ago, festivus said:

At that moment, no. But the sinking feeling that I have is that he will. I really, really, want to be wrong. 

This might lessen your fears: Sherlock preview Season 4 trailer. 

[Eneya]

After the 3rd rewatch.
Euros is handled EXACTLY the same way Moriarty was. (With all the fake cues and deductions, masquerading successfully as different people. She even talks the same.)
How droll.
I hope the next episode addresses that.

[rereader2]

15 hours ago, Tardislass said:

As for John, I think Gatiss/Moffat want him to be a player. While he was gentler with the ladies in the canon stories, I never got the impression that Watson was a "ladies man". But evidently the writers want us to believe it so I'll just try to go along with it. I think MF has done extraordinary work this season, hard when your acting against Cumberbatch's Holmes.

The John-as-ladies-man is another nod to canon. In "The Sign of the Four," Watson refers to “an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents," and given the time it was written, he wasn't talking about casual acquaintances.

Edited January 11, 2017 by rereader2

[MostlyC]

Small issue:  The name Euros is in the masculine form (at least, this is what my latin/small greek/grammar studies tell me).  I would think Sherlock's family would change it to the feminine ending- for example, masculine ending Hermes; feminine ending Hermia.  Thusly, I would think, that even though Euros is the god of the east wind, that they would change it to Eura or Europa.  

I am nit picking, but nevertheless, I expect more from the Holms' family, and the EP & showrunners, given their brilliance. (My classics professors would stand up and cheer for me if they were here).

Back to the episode:  I wonder how much of Sherlock's addiction was to rescue John, and how much of it was his own relapse due to Mary's death/John's furious rejection.  And what is up with Mycroft getting asked out on a date, if this is connected to the mystery or not.

[Pallas]

10 hours ago, Turtle Wexler said:

Do we know exactly what she does in the government/what their professional relationship is supposed to be?   

She chaired the Parliamentary investigation into Magnussen; I'm guessing she is the minister responsible for overseeing the intelligence services. We don't know why her given name changed from Elizabeth to Alicia. (Not twins: Smallwood is her married name. Unless twins Elizabeth and Alicia serially married the same man -- or twins? -- and also succeeded each other in Parliament, and in holding the Intelligence portfolio...) 

Oh. Actually, I wonder if the card with the wrong name is meant to be a signal from Elizabeth to Mycroft: pre-arranged or not.  

[Peace 47]

9 minutes ago, MostlyC said:

The name Euros is in the masculine form (at least, this is what my latin/small greek/grammar studies tell me).

I swear my captioning for the episode said "Eurus," for whatever that is worth.  That's probably still a masculine form?

Lady Smallwood I think has the backstory on Eurus, since Mycroft talked to her about "the other one" in "His Last Vow."  Someone posted a screencap on another site of Mycroft's notebook, which was under "Alicia" Smallwood's business card.  It seemed to list Sherlock's bolt holes from "His Last Vow," including the clock face and Elizabeth Tower.  I wonder if that will mean anything.  Nothing from Mycroft's notebook in "The Abominable Bride" has really paid off in-story yet.

[Pallas]

Also, as Mycroft stared hard at the "Alicia" card, the camera re-focused on the life-sized portrait of Queen Elizabeth in the background. That jogged my memory. (The Queen is wearing the crown jewels, last seen sported by Moriarty in the Tower.) And Lady Smallwood was insistent to Mycroft that this phone number was "private."

Edited January 11, 2017 by Pallas

[LAFR]

This in the recap summed it up for me: "You can't just throw in a non-canonical EVIL sister in Season 4! I didn't grow up reading Sherlock Holmes stories to suddenly be saddled with a sister! This is not okay!

Not okay but I will still watch. Blurgh.

[Peace 47]

19 minutes ago, LAFR said:

This in the recap summed it up for me: "You can't just throw in a non-canonical EVIL sister in Season 4! I didn't grow up reading Sherlock Holmes stories to suddenly be saddled with a sister! This is not okay!

Not okay but I will still watch. Blurgh.

Well, in fairness to the show, they have had the implication of a wayward sibling included in the show since S3 in 2014, and so it's not like they pulled the concept out of thin air for this season.  (And they even implied she was "bad" since Mycroft is "good" and apparently at odds with her in "His Last Vow.")  And the William Baring-Gould fan fiction Sherlock Holmes story from the 1960s had the third brother, so it's been part of some pastiches and is not entirely out of left field (same thing with Sherlock's first name being William--that came from Baring-Gould, too).  It's not so shocking that the brother in this story would turn out to be a sister:  I remember people speculating about that right after the "other one" reference in "His Last Vow." It is quite "soap opera" though.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Peace 47

[festivus]

I didn't think anything about it the first time I watched but I watched again last night and Lady Smallwood did seem plenty fishy that time. Like she was trying to distract Mycroft. 

I tell ya, I've been reading so many different theories that my head is spinning, lol. I think my current one is that Eurus is an older sister to Sherlock and Sherlock's twin. That she did something to the twin and that Sherlock has replaced him/her (twin)  with Redbeard in his mind. Now, I will probably be on a different theory by tonight. I am obsessed!

 

I'm still worried about John. I do not think he dies there in the office with Eurus. That's what we call a classic misdirect. I just can't shake this feeling that he's going to die. My husband is like, do you really think they would do that? Yes. Yes I do. I've always wondered why they brought a baby into the show. I didn't care that they did, but I don't think this is the kind of show that's going to have Sherlock/John and Rosie having adventures together. But I do think it's the kind of show that would bring on a baby so there will still be a Watson when John is gone. That one scene that Sherlock had with her he called her Watson. So now I can't wait for next week and you all can point and laugh at me and tell me how wrong I was!

[Pallas]

4 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

It's not so shocking that the brother in this story would turn out to be a sister:  I remember people speculating about that right after the "other one" reference in "His Last Vow." It is quite "soap opera" though.

True!  Think Tootsie, and on the soap-within-the-movie, "reckless brother Edmund"'s reveal that he has returned in disguise to the family fold to avenge the death of his sweet sister. The Bill Murray character's summation as he watches.  "That is one...crazy...hospital."  

[rereader2]

1 hour ago, MostlyC said:

Small issue:  The name Euros is in the masculine form (at least, this is what my latin/small greek/grammar studies tell me).

And "Sherlock is actually a girl's name"! :D

[DHDancer]

1 hour ago, festivus said:

Yes. Yes I do. I've always wondered why they brought a baby into the show. I didn't care that they did, but I don't think this is the kind of show that's going to have Sherlock/John and Rosie having adventures together. But I do think it's the kind of show that would bring on a baby so there will still be a Watson when John is gone. 

Ooh, now we would be moving into Mary Russell territory!  (Laurie R King's books about Holmes and his apprentice-then-wife Mary Russell). 

I'm taking everything at face value right now, not trying to strain my brain thinking about plot twists etc.  I just want to enjoy the program and what will transpire, will transpire.  I personally love Lindsay Duncan as Lady Smallwood as a foil for Mycroft but who knows where that will go.

Did I mention how Mrs Hudson had me screaming "You Go Girl" at the TV?  Ha!!

[festivus]

15 minutes ago, DHDancer said:

Ooh, now we would be moving into Mary Russell territory!  (Laurie R King's books about Holmes and his apprentice-then-wife Mary Russell). 

I'm taking everything at face value right now, not trying to strain my brain thinking about plot twists etc.  I just want to enjoy the program and what will transpire, will transpire.  I personally love Lindsay Duncan as Lady Smallwood as a foil for Mycroft but who knows where that will go.

Did I mention how Mrs Hudson had me screaming "You Go Girl" at the TV?  Ha!!

I've never heard of Mary Russell. Interesting.

 

I can't watch at face value but I'm okay with that. I like coming up with crazy theories, it's half the fun for me. My current one is that Eurus is going to make Sherlock choose between Mycroft and John like Mycroft chose Sherlock over her (I think). That would certainly burn the heart out of Sherlock. I also think Moriarty will play big in this. Makes me want to go back and analyze everything he ever said, lol. Whatever happens. I'm sure it will be something I never thought of.

[Pallas]

1 minute ago, festivus said:

I like coming up with crazy theories, it's half the fun for me. My current one is that Eurus is going to make Sherlock choose between Mycroft and John like Mycroft chose Sherlock over her (I think). That would certainly burn the heart out of Sherlock.

It feels to me as if that's the core of it.  "The Sign of Three." It was young Euros and not arguably-adult Sherlock, John, Mycroft or Mary who couldn't handle the instability built into any triad. Mycroft's warning to Sherlock about attachments and Redbeard came on the occasion of John and Mary's wedding, at the very moment that (in best man Sherlock's world) two became three. Euros became murderously jealous of or about Sherlock, Mycroft, or Redbeard. And I think whatever she did about it, young Sherlock let out a cry like stoned Sherlock at the bridge with the grown Euros. We'll hear that cry again, as she did. 

The show, I believe, is about the "cases" we all are. And the perilous attachments we must embrace, in order to "become a complete human being." How, despite the dangers and our farcical incompetence, we are required -- as John told John, with Mary's inward smile -- to "get on with it." Euros got stuck. The problem she will pose for Sherlock, Mycroft and John will require each to get on with life as a complete human being, to survive it. One may not. 

[KatWay]

When I saw episode 1 I thought for sure Mary had faked her death. It just seemed very over the top and Mycroft was there (always suspicious) and then the DVD and the fact that AJ said that this guy Gabriel had died but he only saw his shadow or something right. It seemed suspect. I was thinking that guy was possibly still alive and possibly a real traitor, and Mary was going undercover hence the faked death. But after episode 2 I'm not so sure. I just don't know if she would do to John the same thing Sherlock already did to him.

Sherlock's evil sister seems interesting, but I thought the therapist seemed super suspect from the start. The weird accent and the obvious wig. Wonder how this'll all go down in episode 3. How did relatively mild-mannered parents like the Holmes' end up with three borderline psychpathic/sociopathic children?

I always liked John, but I also always thought he was a very flawed character, just as much as Sherlock but where Sherlock thinks he's worse than he actually is John is worse than he thinks he is. He was very cold and very brutal in this episode.

And there better be some actual payoff with this drug addiction storyline, because right now I can't with the writers implying like you can just casually go on and off benders and hardcore drug use like you're in total control. Nobody is in control of that stuff, not even someone like Sherlock. So if he's magically off again next episode and everyone continues to have a cavalier attitude towards it, I'll throw something.

[festivus]

2 minutes ago, KatWay said:

And there better be some actual payoff with this drug addiction storyline, because right now I can't with the writers implying like you can just casually go on and off benders and hardcore drug use like you're in total control. Nobody is in control of that stuff, not even someone like Sherlock. So if he's magically off again next episode and everyone continues to have a cavalier attitude towards it, I'll throw something.

One of my many theories is that he's never been off the drugs since the plane in TAB.

4 minutes ago, KatWay said:

I always liked John, but I also always thought he was a very flawed character, just as much as Sherlock but where Sherlock thinks he's worse than he actually is John is worse than he thinks he is. He was very cold and very brutal in this episode.

I like that. I made my peace with John cheating in this episode, kind of like Sherlock did. I think we both came to the realization that John is human and to let him off the pedestal that we have him on.

27 minutes ago, Pallas said:

The show, I believe, is about the "cases" we all are. And the perilous attachments we must embrace, in order to "become a complete human being." How, despite the dangers and our farcical incompetence, we are required -- as John told John, with Mary's inward smile -- to "get on with it." Euros got stuck. The problem she will pose for Sherlock, Mycroft and John will require each to get on with life as a complete human being, to survive it. One may not. 

Yeah, I just have the feeling someone is going to die. After TAB many thought it would be Mycroft and I thought so too. Thinking that maybe that episode was foreshadowing him being sick and Sherlock's mind teasing out that thought. Now with Eurus saying that Sherlock was nicer than anyone, I'm wondering if anyone is Mycroft. Anyone being the person she wants to kill or have Sherlock kill. Gah, I can't really explain what I mean here, not finding the right words. Sorry.

[Amers]

After a rematch I have a new idea. The one off episdoe had a group of women as the real bad guy with Moriarty hidden among them. I think that's what's happening here too, the women being Lady Smallwood, Mary, and Euros. (And who knows who else.) 

 

And that stupid skull poster is driving me bon Kershaw now that I saw it. It started the spisode green. Then it went white. It got a bit darker. When Sherlock was about to die it was completely black, and then at the end back to white. I don't convinced it means something. I'm gonna be disappointed if it's nothing. I think it's telling us what is real and what isn't somehow. Like maybe we are seeing drugged out land and occasionally going into reality. Maybe Mary isn't the only dead person. Maybe someone else us dead too. Why else would Sherlock have spoken to the Mary in John's head directly when he put the hat on? How would he have known she was saying that?? 

[Pallas]

46 minutes ago, Amers said:

Why else would Sherlock have spoken to the Mary in John's head directly when he put the hat on? How would he have known she was saying that?? 

Sherlock knows that John has lately been carrying on a vivid internal dialogue, with an aspect of himself that he calls Mary: Sherlock just witnessed John confess to and be forgiven by his late wife, at Baker Street. And he also knows that John likes for him to wear the hat in public. The episode's a study in how deeply Sherlock understands the ways in which John thinks. That funny little flourish took the (birthday) cake. 

[Peace 47]

There are some really wild theories circulating about what is going on in this episode (and the last episode).  It's kind of exciting.

So the drug that was referenced in this episode that was later dropped as a plot point:  it was called TD-12.  Someone on Tumblr  figured out that this is probably a reference to "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot," an original canon story ("T" for The, "D" for Devil and "12" for 12 inches in a foot).  That story involves poisoning, and so maybe TD-12 is a clue that this drug actually is going to remain important.  TD-12 was mentioned by Culverton to compromise memories, not just replace them, so that leads us to the altered reality theories (the sister is just a plant and the memories of her are false ones; Mary is the real sister; Mary's not dead; the baby actually is or doesn't even exist ... weird, wild stuff).  And that either Sherlock or John or both are only intermittently experiencing reality (explaining the changing skull picture, why there was such a weird reaction to John's blog, etc.)

Tangentially related, I noticed upthread that it was weird how the pretty severe beating John gave Sherlock seemed a bit odd in terms of how it was intercut with a scene between Greg and John (where John seems a little out of it when looking at his bruised hand and relaying the story).  Other people noticed that he punched Sherlock with his right hand, even though John is left-handed (but Martin has definitely done some right-handed things on the show, so this doesn't entirely convince me).

There has been such a feeling of something being off these past couple of episodes that it would be great if it all comes together.

[Tardislass]

I'm hoping not all of S4 was a dream-awful idea and it just cheapens the show. But I think many scenes of the finale will take place in Sherlock's mind-palace-I'm hoping the cheesy movie explosion with John&Sherlock is one of them. I do believe Moriarty and Mary are dead and that the writers have solved the baby issue by putting her off-screen with nanny/friend/Molly. I do think that TS-12 serum will come back into play as either Sherlock was administered some long ago or something similar to inhibit his memories of Eurus.

Finally, I know many people hate the flourishes but I loved the chalk diagrams, kitchen poster board and other graphics this years. Quite a change from the texting onscreen that I thought was so contemporary in the first season. Nick Hurran did a great job directing.

[TomServo]

On 1/9/2017 at 1:42 PM, Kostgard said:

And I don't get why Smith's "I may send him to my favorite room" line didn't immediately send him into action. I get that he was trying to distance himself from Sherlock and was trying not to get involved. But Smith was all but saying "I'm going to kill Sherlock" and it isn't like John to just sit on his hands and let a murder happen. I don't get why that didn't send him to the hospital before Mary's message, or at least a phone call to Lestrade all, "Smith is actively trying to kill Sherlock. We need to have someone with Sherlock at all times and someone needs to keep tabs on Smith." I mean, unless he is the idiot Mrs. Hudson said he is, that part really made no sense.

I didn't understand it at first, especially since there was a reaction shot of Watson that showed he'd clearly noticed the meaning of "my favorite room."  But then during the bromance scene, John told Sherlock, "She was wrong about me.  She thought that if you put yourself in harm's way, I would rescue you, but I didn't.  Not until she told me to...She taught me to be the man she already thought I was..."  John knew Sherlock was in danger, but he was going to leave Sherlock to get himself out of it until he saw Mary on the DVD and realized what Mary expected of him.  I don't quite buy it, but there it is.

[dr pepper]

On 1/10/2017 at 3:02 PM, Tardislass said:

As for John, I think Gatiss/Moffat want him to be a player. While he was gentler with the ladies in the canon stories, I never got the impression that Watson was a "ladies man". But evidently the writers want us to believe it so I'll just try to go along with it.

Outside of canon, the novel "The Private Life of Dr. Watson", makes just that claim. Among other things, on a long voyage, Watson resolves to "collect continents".

[SharonH58]

Why did they waste time with the whole scene in the street with Sherlock telling Fake Faith how he deduced her place was small from the fading on the note?  As Sherlock would say - boring.   They are trying too hard this season to be 'clever' as the Brits like to say.  Someone in another subject board said that maybe Euros (and I still can't buy that is her real name) wanted to kill Sherlock as a child and experimented on poisoning Redbeard.  I think that is an interesting theory but who knows what the show will do.  This season is a disappointment to me, especially when there are only 3 of them.  

[Amers]

1 hour ago, SharonH58 said:

Why did they waste time with the whole scene in the street with Sherlock telling Fake Faith how he deduced her place was small from the fading on the note?  As Sherlock would say - boring.   They are trying too hard this season to be 'clever' as the Brits like to say.  Someone in another subject board said that maybe Euros (and I still can't buy that is her real name) wanted to kill Sherlock as a child and experimented on poisoning Redbeard.  I think that is an interesting theory but who knows what the show will do.  This season is a disappointment to me, especially when there are only 3 of them.  

To possibly establish she was living with Moriarty, who then died, which would explain the reference to going from living with someone to living alone? (His death.) Which would establish a good reason for revenge. I mean, she says shes a sister but we never know for sure. It could all be a big red herring. 

[Eneya]

Talking about Watson, I want to share this.
:)
 

[rejnel]

I liked it all, including the final twist--largely because Euros seems exciting and watchable, which is what I look for in a villain (Magnussen was a complete write-off for me in that regard). I found the therapist irritating but interesting, the redhaired woman interestingly vacant, and "Faith Smith" flat-out fascinating. The final reveal really grabbed me. I'm also really glad to have the Assassin Mary story put to rest (much as I love Amanda Abbington, and as great as she and Martin Freeman are together).
So it's only 24 hours after watching that it occurs to me to call Baloney on this: Sherlock Holmes spent an entire evening with his SISTER and didn't recognize her?

[TomServo]

I keep coming back to "Miss Me" and its significance.  On the surface, we've now seen that phrase connected to Moriarty, Mary, and Eurus (Euros?  I don't care!).  Random thoughts:

- The most obvious (and therefore I doubt where they'll actually take it) is that there is or was a professional connection between those individuals.  In other words, Sherlock's first impression of the DVD--that it indicated Moriarty's next move--was actually the correct assumption 
- It could just be a symbolic connection relating to people who are gone but won't stay gone.  Moriarty died but "came back" both in the video and in everyone's minds with whatever his final trap is for Sherlock.  Mary died but "came back" in Sherlock's DVD and as a figment of John's imagination.  Eurus was thought to be out of the picture or otherwise contained, but not so fast...
- Was there a use of "Miss Me" before His Last Vow?  If not, then Mary had to have made that DVD recently.  Even without writing "Miss Me" on it, it's still likely she made it after Sherlock returned from his "exile" (you know, the one they sent him on that was going to kill him in six months because "The world needs Sherlock Holmes" and therefore sending him off on a suicide mission was preferable to sending him to prison, or something).  Alternate theory: whoever the real big bad is might have known Mary had that DVD and appropriated what she wrote on it to set up the rest of the plan.
- Hurting John is a Moriarty calling card, which puts all the elaborate schemes from bus lady to the therapist in perspective.  From stuffing him in the Guy Fawkes bonfire, to putting a bomb vest on him, to the snipers...  Mary's message may have been more literal than we realized.

[spottedreptile]

16 hours ago, TomServo said:

John knew Sherlock was in danger, but he was going to leave Sherlock to get himself out of it until he saw Mary on the DVD and realized what Mary expected of him.  I don't quite buy it, but there it is.

Which is why I find John such a fascinating character, more so than Sherlock. I've often felt that the 'window' character, the one through which we all look in order to see the hero, is often flat and uninteresting because he's just a plot device, and the writers don't spend much time and effort on him. But John smashes all this all ways. He's so full of guilt, self-hatred, envy, insecurity and longing, underneath this rather conventional surface of respectability and domesticity. He's actually rather like Bilbo x 100. Wanting excitement and danger, yet feeling unable to cope with it, hating Sherlock for making him feel inadequate but loving him for who he is and wishing he was more like him, aware of his own intellectual shortcomings, knowing underneath it all he's a really decent man but he doesn't want to be because that's too dull for him. He writes the blog because that puts his name out there and he likes being the voice of Sherlock, but he knows that's all he will ever be.

The bit where Sherlock is talking to Mary in the fake house about "when did the doctor's wife start being boring" or some such thing made me smile because that's exactly where John is too. Two danger addicts wanting to be something more than what they are. I think the marriage was doomed anyway and maybe Mary's death, tragic as it was, gave John the permission to go back to being who he wanted to be, which maybe, maybe, explains why Mary threw herself in front of the gun rather than have Sherlock die.

[Tardislass]

5 hours ago, rejnel said:

I liked it all, including the final twist--largely because Euros seems exciting and watchable, which is what I look for in a villain (Magnussen was a complete write-off for me in that regard). I found the therapist irritating but interesting, the redhaired woman interestingly vacant, and "Faith Smith" flat-out fascinating. The final reveal really grabbed me. I'm also really glad to have the Assassin Mary story put to rest (much as I love Amanda Abbington, and as great as she and Martin Freeman are together).
So it's only 24 hours after watching that it occurs to me to call Baloney on this: Sherlock Holmes spent an entire evening with his SISTER and didn't recognize her?

But he did recognize her at least subconsciously in his altered state. One of the visions he had on the bridge was a child and Redbeard at the beach with someone singing. I'm guessing that she triggered his memory but being as far gone as he was, his conscious mind didn't process it.

I'm guessing Eurus didn't shoot at John-more like a warning shot. She seems the type to want to toy with the Holmes boys-not make them mad.

Can't believe this is the last episode for ??? Just when I was starting to enjoy it again.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Tardislass

[rejnel]

  5 hours ago, rejnel said:

I liked it all, including the final twist--largely because Euros seems exciting and watchable, which is what I look for in a villain (Magnussen was a complete write-off for me in that regard). I found the therapist irritating but interesting, the redhaired woman interestingly vacant, and "Faith Smith" flat-out fascinating. The final reveal really grabbed me. I'm also really glad to have the Assassin Mary story put to rest (much as I love Amanda Abbington, and as great as she and Martin Freeman are together).
So it's only 24 hours after watching that it occurs to me to call Baloney on this: Sherlock Holmes spent an entire evening with his SISTER and didn't recognize her?

But he did recognize her at least subconsciously in his altered state. One of the visions he had on the bridge was a child and Redbeard at the beach with someone singing. I'm guessing that she triggered his memory but being as far gone as he was, his conscious mind didn't process it.

I'm guessing Eurus didn't shoot at John-more like a warning shot. She seems the type to want to toy with the Holmes boys-not make them mad.

Can't believe this is the last episode for ??? Just when I was starting to enjoy it again.

I know--so fun to have new episodes, but over too soon!

Great point about the Redbeard moment; I didn't make that connection at all. Thanks!

[Pattycake2]

If they are all family, I wonder why they all turned out like they have.  Mycroft has to control all situations.  Sherlock solves crimes, catches the evil ones, stops them from committing further crimes and injustices.   And, quite often, he goes around the police and and decides to punish or not.  Euros appears to be a mastermind criminal and murders without remorse.  What happened when they were children?

I think, under normal i.e. non-drugged, close to death circumstances, Sherlock would have seen some family resemblance.  But that could serve him.  Euros thinks she has seen the full extent of his powers, but she hasn't.   And hey, maybe that narrow kitchen is actually a narrow cell.  Maybe.

ETA:  I hope they give poor Molly a happy moment in the next episode.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Pattycake2

[Netfoot]

4 hours ago, TomServo said:

I keep coming back to "Miss Me" and its significance.

Uhm.  "Miss me."  As opposed to "Mrs. me." or "Ms. me."    Perhaps it's a clue:  "I am an unmarried woman."  

Can't remember if the written note(s) include a hook.  "Miss me?"    In that case, perhaps "Am I an unmarried woman?"

(Boy, the medication is really kicking in!)