S04.E02: The Lying Detective

[Voice of Joy]

15 hours ago, spottedreptile said:

What I liked especially was that the episode was really all about John. I'm seeing him in a whole new way and it's fascinating. I find John a more interesting character than Sherlock because he's more accessible, I guess, but also because Martin Freeman is doing such fine work with him, and he is the one who breaks my heart, not Sherlock. When he was laying into Sherlock in the morgue I was crying because his pain and self-hatred was brutally exposed, and Sherlock was just letting him do it because he knew John's need to exorcise himself. Exhausting stuff. 

 

I coudln't agree more.  I enjoy Cumberbatch's Sherlock immensely, but it's Freeman's John Watson who moves me in this series.

[MostlyC]

I really enjoyed the episode once the editing stopped being so choppy and "look how cool and edgy we are."  I figured the woman from the bus would figure in at some point, but I did not expect it the way it happened.  When the therapist starting taking off her contacts, I had a wild hope that it would be Moriarty. The show did a great job with misdirection.

I love Molly, and Mrs. Hudson.  They are so much fun.  Also, Lestrange ('rowr!)

The bromance between Sherlock and Watson was great, and their interactions are the best part of the show.  I love their friendship (and in my opinion, it's an entirely platonic one).  

And as much as I enjoyed it episode, I truly wish we did not have a secret sister. I'm all for playing fast and loose with the source material, but to add on a mystery sibling? I had high expectations for the show runner/Exec Producer.  Should have been Moriarty, dammit. 

[Amers]

Ok, this skull. So I was trying to Google. There's a story called Sherlock Holmes and the skull of death. It's a case that leads sherlock to Dr. Moriarty. Has anyone read this? I have to go watch now, somehow I am the only person who hasn't noticed this skull glowing and disappearing. 

 

 

Funny the page I pulled up of it was titled "Another Red Herring".

[Tardislass]

Just a little side note and trivia that Sherringford was also one of the proposed names that AC Doyle thought about for  Sherlock Holmes. 

[spottedreptile]

37 minutes ago, MostlyC said:

I really enjoyed the episode once the editing stopped being so choppy and "look how cool and edgy we are."

I agree. Moffatt and Gatiss kept their egos in check with this one. It had a lot of heart. I can handwave many of the huh? moments, if the story moves me, and it did. 

[jaigurudeva]

It's safe to say that, like her brothers, Eurus is just as brilliant at deduction and in masterminding elaborate schemes.  After all, she did slip out from Mycroft's nose and pulled the wool over even Sherlock's - admittedly, drug-addled - eyes.  I think she was the first to deduce that Culverton was a serial killer, and approached him with a plan to lure in the great Sherlock Holmes.  This is why/how she played the part of Culverton's daughter - they weren't in league together, but rather she used him to her own ends to get close to Sherlock.  I wonder what end-game she had in mind with getting close to John not just physically, but emotionally.  It must have been vital, since she had to do it twice.  She incited the affair, but John must have ended it after Mary's death.  So, she devised a new plan to be his therapist, following the same deductive path as Sherlock did that he would want a female therapist within biking distance - but one step ahead of them all.  But why?  Whatever Sherlock did to her, it must have been worse than Mycroft locking her up.  I'm leaning towards a few other posters' idea that she may have committed some atrocity, (murdering Redbeard would certainly count) and it was Sherlock's investigative prowess that uncovered her unhinged streak and had her committed. (Knowing the writers of this show, though, that's probably too passe and predictable.) All this cunningly crafted plot, and with one careless slip of the tongue, she takes of her mask and monologues Scooby-Doo-style, then kills John?  I hope not, but that would be a sure-fire way to end the series now that the actors' schedules are so crammed.

[rose711]

Does this story/plot seem slightly ridiculous to anyone else?

[TomServo]

I went back to double-check, and in one of the scenes where Mycroft was tracking Sherlock's movements, it definitely showed Sherlock walking beside another person.  Because of that I didn't buy into the "Smith's daughter is a snuffleupagus/Charles Herman" possibility even though I was aware that the episode's direction was attempting to plant that nugget.  The CCTV footage showed *someone* with Sherlock even if it wasn't who he thought it was.

I'm curious to find out whether the fake therapist will turn out to be the actual Holmes sibling.  Neither high Sherlock nor Mycroft nor any of Mycroft's colleagues recognized the person who showed up at Sherlock's flat even though Sherlock was under heavy surveillance, Sherlock himself was within a foot of her face, and a fake accent doesn't disguise the sound of a person's voice.  Plus, when she removed her disguise, John recognized her as the same woman from the bus, but it's not as if there were other people in the room who gasped and said, "Oh, wow!  That's Euros Holmes!"  She could have been toying with John.  I could go several directions with what I think about her identity at this point.

[MisterGlass]

I think Sherlock doesn't consciously know that he has a sister.  Mycroft clearly does.  In the stories he is seven years older, but the gap may be a bit wider here, especially if Mycroft had something to do with locking up Euros.  I can't get a good fix on Euros's age relative to the brothers.  I initially though she would be the middle sister.  Given the way that the 'it's never twins' line has been tossed around, is she Sherlock's twin?

A rogue sibling retroactively explains a lot of Mycroft's nervous hovering over Sherlock, even back to the pilot episode when he was so interested in having John spy on Sherlock.  I'm split on whether she killed Redbeard as a first sign of anti-social personality disorder or whether Sherlock's mind replaces her with Redbeard.  I thought when Sherlock was talking to Redbeard in his mind that he said 'they're trying to put me down too,' which would imply that he had more distinct memories of his dog's fate.

33 minutes ago, rose711 said:

Does this story/plot seem slightly ridiculous to anyone else?

Compared to the last episode this feels positively grounded, but the series is looking at plausibility in the rearview mirror.  Most detective series get to that point, though. 

[Pallas]

8 hours ago, tankgirl73 said:

Obviously it's supposed to be Redbeard the dog. But WHY did he have that flashback just then? I speculated earlier that he might have been starting to recognize her, and the childhood flashback was his brain (which he hadn't caught up with yet) making the connection, this lady was reminding him of a person from his childhood.

Perhaps he's old enough to have subconscious memories of her, but nothing conscious. Some really deep, deep memory was being dragged out of his mind palace there.

But here's another thought -- how much do we know about Redbeard? I'd have to rewatch previous episodes, but how much have we learned, beyond that he had a dog when he was very young?

Yes. I've thought "Redbeard" is a red herring since Mycroft first alluded to "the other one" at the end of series three. I think Sherlock was very young when Euros vanished from his life. She may have been his twin -- the "other" Sherlock. Her disappearance was tremendously traumatic to him: he may have suffered a psychotic break, reacting in a violently emotional way he would later, as an adult, treat with a syringe.  

When the child Sherlock emerged from his psychotic episode, he was allowed or even encouraged by his family -- perhaps at Mycroft's urging -- to process the loss by converting Euros into Redbeard the Irish setter, who his parents told him had been "sent away to the country," as parents used to say about dogs that were actually euthanized. Recall how Sherlock, dying within his mind palace, comforted Redbeard the setter as if they both were being "put down" -- he believes he long ago came to understand what had actually happened to his childhood companion. (When Mycroft raised the spectre of Redbeard when advising Sherlock against forming attachments, Sherlock replied impatiently, "I'm not a child anymore," as we were reminded in the previously.) 

Sherlock remembers Euros only in his subconscious. While still a boy, Sherlock also invented the story of Redbeard the pirate, Redbeard who escaped Death in Samarra. He resents Mycroft for what he vaguely, entirely unconsciously, perceives was his brother's role in Euros's disappearance. Part of him knows and hates the mysterious, consequential, deadly world that Mycroft inhabits, among people with the power to make other people vanish. He hates the things that lordly Mycroft knows, and how Mycroft "handles" him. He retreated into isolation for the next 25 years or so, defining and losing himself in the quest to unravel mysteries. Until he met a loyal stray who needed a home.  

[rose711]

We recently watched an old movie called "Murder by Death" the Neil Simon comedy spoof of murder mysteries. As every overwrought twist is revealed on the show, it reminded me of that very entertaining movie which ends with twist after twist of "surprise endings that never made sense." Highly recommend.

[benteen]

I thought this episode was excellent.  Intense as hell and incredibly well-acted, with an adversary worthy of Sherlock. 

The Dying Detective was a story I read in high school and proved to be great material for this episode.  I thought I saw the influence of the non-canon Sherlock Holmes story The Seven Per Cent Solution as well.

[TomServo]

1 hour ago, rose711 said:

Does this story/plot seem slightly ridiculous to anyone else?

Of course it does.  All of them do.  As do the plots in most of the books the show is based on.

[festivus]

1 hour ago, Pallas said:

Sherlock remembers Euros only in his subconscious. While still a boy, Sherlock also invented the story of Redbeard the pirate, Redbeard who escaped Death in Samarra. He resents Mycroft for what he vaguely, entirely unconsciously, perceives was his brother's role in Euros's disappearance. Part of him knows and hates the mysterious, consequential, deadly world that Mycroft inhabits, among people with the power to make other people vanish. He hates the things that lordly Mycroft knows, and how Mycroft "handles" him. He retreated into isolation for the next 25 years or so, defining and losing himself in the quest to unravel mysteries. Until he met a loyal stray who needed a home.  

Wow. That is awesome.

[spottedreptile]

I'm loving the idea of finding out why not just Sherlock is the way he is, but Mycroft also. Neither of the brothers have the ability to interact socially with others, both are damaged in some way. What happened to them during their childhood - Mycroft went one way, Sherlock another. Is Euros similarly affected? Did she cause the trauma or was she a victim also? 

Those cheery, clever parents have a lot of explaining to do. 

[rose711]

1 hour ago, TomServo said:

Of course it does.  All of them do.  As do the plots in most of the books the show is based on.

Oh good. I thought I was missing something because this show is a mess. 

[Trick Question]

Quote

Heehee... I've started re-watching the episode already, in order to see how it all fits together after the 20/20 hindsight. Therapist scene... girl in 221B scene... it's now PAINFULLY obvious that it's the same actress, the same voice... and yet I'd totally honestly missed it the first time.  Well done, show. Disguising the same actress in THREE different parts and none of us (or at least very few) were any the wiser. I'd even noted how the girl-on-the-bus so strongly resembled Zooey Deschanel (and all the other Hollywood girls who look like her), and yet didn't see it at all with her in this episode... the shade of lipstick, the hair, it's amazing how much we really don't pay attention, especially when it's just a side character.

Given the text alert at the end, I was actually thinking "Culverton Smith's daughter" would be revealed as Irene, and I was looking forward to going back and seeing how they hid Lara Pulver so well under the wig and makeup.

Quote

I didn't know why Mrs. Hudson broke every speeding law to reach John, why Sherlock spent 10 minutes on how the letter reflected the sun, and why he was walking up walls.

The whole 'letter reflection' scene might've been the first hint that something was off about Miss Smith.  If her father is this wealthy philanthropist, she wouldn't be living in a place with a small kitchen.

[j5cochran]

Oh, you clever people!  You have so many wonderful thoughts about this episode, that I can't begin to reply to you all.

However, there is one thing I noticed that I have not seen mentioned here or elsewhere.  Steven Moffat slyly, quietly, proved that John Watson has a brain - a detective's brain (and he doesn't keep it in a jar in the refrigerator!).  

In the conversation with Mycroft at 221B, John puts together the clues that the Holmes brothers have another sibling.  Of course, John thinks it's a brother, and well, all of the rest of us figured that one out, too.

But near the end of the episode, when Irene Adler's moaning text alert goes off, it only takes John seconds to decide that it's Sherlock's birthday.  John, you clever, clever boy!

[sjankis630]

Quote

I really enjoyed the episode once the editing stopped being so choppy and "look how cool and edgy we are."

I have to agree with this. I read on here - the first 4 posts - and said to myself I have to see this first.

I almost turned it off after the first 30 minutes. All of that superfluous edgy graphics when Holmes was running around apartment. Also who was that "John replacement" who quit? Are we to assume that he is part of the plot too?

I finished well although the serial killer really turned into a real disappointment. All he did was threaten to fire people. it is hard to be afraid of someone if you don't even actually see him murder anyone. 

Oh and Mary is gone for good right? we are starting to run out of space onscreen for all of these characters who stick around. /grump ran off.

[Peace 47]

22 minutes ago, sjankis630 said:

Also who was that "John replacement" who quit? Are we to assume that he is part of the plot too?

That was Billy Wiggins.  He first appeared in "His Last Vow" as a junkie who hung with Sherlock when Sherlock was using.  (He called Sherlock by Sherlock's alias, "Shezza.")  He's just someone in Sherlock's orbit and a "friend" in some sense of the word.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Peace 47

[sjankis630]

Peace 47 thank you for the information. I will have to rewatch some of the earlier seasons after this one is over.

[Pallas]

Aw, thank you, festivus!  And kudos to rereader2 who introduced the idea that Sherlock didn't remember Euros, and tankgirl73, who laid out the Redbeard = Euros theory, a page ahead!

If this theory has foundation, it might also illuminate Sherlock's sober delight in having saved Irene (and his intrigued, devoted ambivalence about her), along with his feeling of kinship and fierce protectiveness toward Mary. They're two other "other one"s. Euros came to him in the rain without a coat; Irene introduced herself to him without a stitch. And Mary left her gun at home that first night. 

Meanwhile Mycroft, who Sherlock introduces to us as his greatest nemesis. Sherlock's bitterness toward Mycroft, his defensive stance that refuses to credit Mycroft's frequent assistance and instead, implies that Mycroft really does want him safely in harm's way; this mulishness which Mycroft simply absorbs and does not even parry...I think this too is Sherlock's unconscious reaction to choking on a piece of mutual history that Mycroft won't share: something Sherlock "sees but does not observe." 

1 hour ago, spottedreptile said:

I'm loving the idea of finding out why not just Sherlock is the way he is, but Mycroft also. Neither of the brothers have the ability to interact socially with others, both are damaged in some way. What happened to them during their childhood - Mycroft went one way, Sherlock another. Is Euros similarly affected? Did she cause the trauma or was she a victim also? 

Those cheery, clever parents have a lot of explaining to do.

Hee! Just not at the interval of Les Mis.  "And still I dream he'll come to me/That we will live the years together/But there are dreams that cannot be/And there are storms we cannot weather..."

[tanita]

I think whatever happened with Eurus emotionally scared/broke Sherlock for life, maybe even is responsible for his complete inability to connect with other people before John entered his life and opened the floodgates for himself and others.

Either she did something to harm him, he couldn't emotionally reconcile with that fact and in repressing it he started to view other people as unnecessary in his life or they were so close that when she was ripped from him (maybe by Mycroft) and probably for the right reasons he has been unable to forgive him and repressed it, while the distrust of Mycroft remained.

Edited January 10, 2017 by tanita

[MissLucas]

My theory about Sherlock not recognizing his sister was also that something really bad happened in those flashbacks scenes (Redbeard was involved too) and he has blocked that memory for good and with it all memories about his (twin?) sister. And that's part of his hypervigilance - he's such a keen observer because he knows he forgot something.

Upon rewatching this episode I noticed during the flashback on the beach that the kid running along with the dog wears pants in the same shade of red as Faith/Eurus' dress in the scene - it's also the same shade of red of the ghastly rug in the 'therapist's' office. Thanks Moffat/Gattis for having me micro-analizing every scene and checking for color-codes!

During my first viewing I've missed Mrs Hudson's mentioning that she borrowed Sherlock's hand-cuffs before and his face when she said that, he!

[darkestboy]

This was so much better than last week, even with some overly trippy moments.

The reveal of Sherlock/Mycroft's sister was brilliant. Granted not dissimilar to how Missy was revealed as the Master in Dark Water but it still delivered.

Eurus disguising herself as the woman on the bus, therapist and Faith and hiding in plain sight. She somewhat one upped Moriarty there to be honest.

Culverton was a ghastly guest baddie but excellently played by Toby Jones though. Loved Sherlock's battle of wits with him and Watson stepping up to the plate.

Not enough Lestrade/Molly but Mrs Hudson was sublime this week and I liked the use of Mary here along with the Irene reminder as well, 8/10

[cardigirl]

18 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

Sorry for so many posts by me, but there are people who believe that both last episode and this episode are taking place in some altered reality/ dream/ alibi story.  One weird thing last week was that the skull painting in the far right of this picture that I am linking was actually glowing at some points when it never had before.

Take a look (although there is some nsfw language at the top of the blog, so beware) at this cap from the episode last night:  the skull painting is now pitch black.  I wasn't so convinced that all the oddities were not just production errors/ loose writing, but this has to mean something, doesn't it?

 

14 hours ago, RedHackle said:

It seemed really obvious to me that John's new therapist and the woman Sherlock met with were the same woman - something about her accent or enunciation  that was quite unique. She also showed up somewhere else in the episode as one of Smith's employees. (I didn't put her together with John's sexting friend from the previous episode, though.) But here's what's tripping me up; I don't buy for a moment that someone as observant as Sherlock could spend an evening with his own sister and not recognize her - wig and contacts are about as effective a disguise as Clark Kent's glasses. So I'm wondering if we're going to find out in the next episode that she's not his sister after all. But damn, after that episode, I doubt EVERYTHING. I was ready for the entire episode to end up being some drug-induced dream of Sherlock's or grief-induced dream of John's.  I still feel like I don't know what hit me.

Fever dream or altered reality, those sound good to me, because anything else means the writers have lost control.  These last two episodes just do not feel like Sherlock to me.   As far as the therapist being revealed to be the woman on the bus and the woman who visited Sherlock, I thought very early on it was the same actress playing those parts, which added to the 'fever dream' aspect of what was happening, because surely John would recognize the woman he was texting so much with. The 'reveal' at the end of the episode was not a surprise, I think the big surprise is coming in episode 3.  

[Eneya]

9 hours ago, Trick Question said:

Given the text alert at the end, I was actually thinking "Culverton Smith's daughter" would be revealed as Irene, and I was looking forward to going back and seeing how they hid Lara Pulver so well under the wig and makeup.

The whole 'letter reflection' scene might've been the first hint that something was off about Miss Smith.  If her father is this wealthy philanthropist, she wouldn't be living in a place with a small kitchen.

Actually, not really. It is entirely plausible that she moved out and cut off ties completely, stopped working and lived into a tiny place, because she felt lost and adrift after that NIGHT in which her father told her he wanted to kill somebody. :) So that makes sense logically and in the story.
Of course, we know that that story was fake and the way the note has aged was either PERFECTLY intentional in order to create the impression it did or it was pinned in her place in Sherringford and the deductions are true. Euros may be really all of those, living in a small place, loving cooking, prone to self harm. Maybe she had a person who monitored her, which she disposed of (moving the note from a book to our in the open).

:)

[Chaos Theory]

I liked this more then I thought I would.  I am still pissed that Mary is dead but I liked the way the show dealt with it.  Yes it is giving John (and me) at least an episode to mourn her death.

Hey I liked her.

Mrs. Hudson was hilarious like always.  I think her scenes were probably my favorites.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[Matt K]

And here I was hoping for Sigerson Holmes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_Sherlock_Holmes'_Smarter_Brother

Otherwise this was a better episode than the last although the plot was just okay there was actually some mystery here which improved things.  That said the set up for next episode was great and I'm really looking forward to that.  Although Sherlock going after his sister who's every bit his equal does sound more like a series finale because where else are you going to go from there.

[festivus]

I love everyone's theories, that's half the fun of watching Sherlock for me. But this:

Quote

He retreated into isolation for the next 25 years or so, defining and losing himself in the quest to unravel mysteries. Until he met a loyal stray who needed a home.  

That just punched me in the gut. Don't know what's going to turn out to be true or not but that statement is. <3

[rereader2]

13 hours ago, rose711 said:

Does this story/plot seem slightly ridiculous to anyone else?

Interestingly, of the 9 episodes we've seen so far, this is the one in which they stuck the most closely, plotwise, to an original ACD story, "The Dying Detective." They added elements to it--the daughter/mystery woman/sister, the dealing with Mary's death--but the plot, with Holmes deliberately making himself believably sick in order to trap a killer into a boastful confession, is straight Doyle. (Of course it's a bit ridiculous, but most of the Sherlock Holmes plots are, and no one cares. Certainly I never did!)

Edited January 10, 2017 by rereader2

[ElleMo]

On 1/9/2017 at 11:21 AM, Arnella said:

I could buy all the weird plot twists and jumps but Sherlock spent a whole night talking to a woman and picked up all those clues about her (even clues he didn't know he was picking up until later) and never an inkling that that woman was his own sister??  Just... no.

 

 

 

 

 

He had to have been young when his sister was was sent away and hasn't seen here since.  He doesn't seem like a big genealogy buff; perhaps he doesn't even realize there was a sister. Otherwise,  it makes no sense that he can be so observant even when drugged out but not recognize is sister

--  I realize that I am late to the party.  I typed this response before realizing there were tons of post with the same conclusions and going further by mentioning Redbeard.  (which I find intriguing)

On 1/9/2017 at 6:42 AM, Peace 47 said:

Eurus mentioned to John that a mutual friend of Culverton's and hers put them in touch, that person being implied to have been "Moriarty," given the whole "miss me" scrawled across the letter at the end.  It's as though Moriarty manipulated Eurus and Sherlock coming together like this.

 

 

 

1

1

I think that Eurus manipulated Moriarty. It appears she is as brilliant as her brothers, but BS crazy and probably very jealous, which is why she set after Sherlock.  Moriarty enjoyed the game, so he probably knew what was going on, though I doubt she would tell she was Sherlock's sister.

Quote

Eurus is the secret sister and the third Holmes sibling, but I did wonder for a hot second if we were limited to just 3 Holmes siblings, after Sherlock said in this episode that people always stop looking after finding 3 of a thing.

 

 

 

 

1

I was wondering the same thing.  What if Sherringford is a 4th sibling and not a hospital?  But having TWO siblings that are never mentioned stretches credibility, especially when we met the Holmes parents at Christmas, so I don't think I would like this plot twist if it did happen.

Edited January 12, 2017 by ElleMo
typos and some clarification

[ElleMo]

15 hours ago, Amers said:

Ok, this skull. So I was trying to Google. There's a story called Sherlock Holmes and the skull of death. It's a case that leads sherlock to Dr. Moriarty. Has anyone read this? I have to go watch now, somehow I am the only person who hasn't noticed this skull glowing and disappearing. 

 

Hmm, that could mean Sherlock hasn't actually found Dr. Moriarty yet but in the next episode will find that Dr. Moriarty is actually Eurus.  The Moriarty we know is just a figurehead. (but and awesome, cool villain)  Fits with my theory of Eurus being behind everything.

[ElleMo]

I also think that by going after Sherlock, Eurus is going after Mycroft at the same time.  Both Holmes men are emotionally stunted but Mycroft is clearly very attached to Sherlock, much more than than Sherlock is to him (and lot of people gave some really good reasons why this could be).  By going after Sherlock (which means going after John Watson, naturally) she is punishing both brothers.  Not sure if this is a two-for-one kind of thing or that she feels the absolute worst thing she could do to punish Mycroft (and possibly the parents?) is to get to Sherlock.  I suspect that it may be the latter.  I believe the " you are a lot nicer" was coming from Eurus and she was not saying it as Smith's daughter.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Will Sherlock And Watson Survive A Sister Act?

And is anything actually what it is?

[ohjoy]

2 hours ago, Eneya said:

Actually, not really. It is entirely plausible that she moved out and cut off ties completely, stopped working and lived into a tiny place, because she felt lost and adrift after that NIGHT in which her father told her he wanted to kill somebody. :) So that makes sense logically and in the story.
Of course, we know that that story was fake and the way the note has aged was either PERFECTLY intentional in order to create the impression it did or it was pinned in her place in Sherringford and the deductions are true. Euros may be really all of those, living in a small place, loving cooking, prone to self harm. Maybe she had a person who monitored her, which she disposed of (moving the note from a book to our in the open).

:)

My headcanon for the note is: Real Faith started writing fragments, much like we saw at the beginning. There's a moment when her father comes in a she says that she can't remember who he wanted to kill. He puts his arm around her and takes the note. That was why her showing up at Sherlock's with the note seemed weird to me (before I got distracted by all the deductions and the nighttime stroll for chips), because we'd seen Culverton seemingly take the note. I wondered how she managed to hang on to it.

Apparently she didn't; Culverton did take it, had put it away, and eventually gave it to Euros, who put it on display in her tiny kitchen while she prepped her plan to use it on Sherlock.

8 hours ago, tanita said:

I think whatever happened with Eurus emotionally scared/broke Sherlock for life, maybe even is responsible for his complete inability to connect with other people before John entered his life and opened the floodgates for himself and others.

Either she did something to harm him, he couldn't emotionally reconcile with that fact and in repressing it he started to view other people as unnecessary in his life or they were so close that when she was ripped from him (maybe by Mycroft) and probably for the right reasons he has been unable to forgive him and repressed it, while the distrust of Mycroft remained.

 

32 minutes ago, ElleMo said:

I also think that by going after Sherlock, Eurus is going after Mycroft at the same time.  Both Holmes men are emotionally stunted but Mycroft is clearly very attached to Sherlock, much more than than Sherlock is to him (and lot of people gave some really good reasons why this could be).  By going after Sherlock (which means going after John Watson, naturally) she is punishing both brothers.  Not sure if this is a two-for-one kind of thing or that she feels the absolute worst thing she could do to punish Mycroft (and possibly the parents?) is to get to Sherlock.  I suspect that it may be the latter.  I believe the " you are a lot nicer" was coming from Eurus and she was not saying it as Smith's daughter.

I get the sense she wants to go after both brothers. If she's just trying to get to Mycroft and using Sherlock to do so, she could (and did) get directly to Sherlock without going through John at all (i.e. Fake Faith). But if she wanted to get to Sherlock, not just directly but emotionally, then it makes sense for her to get to John. Seems like she didn't make a move during all the time that Sherlock seemed dysfunctional and alone -- it wasn't until she twigged to how much Sherlock was connecting to John (and by extension, the people in general) that she got jealous enough to try to break (re-break?) Sherlock by breaking John -- with the two-for-one being that broken Sherlock = broken Mycroft.

[PaulaO]

My speculation without spoilers.  Sister is either Sherlock's twin or younger.  Redbeard is real, and sister tortured and killed him.  Parents sent sister to home for criminally insane and Sherlock blocked it all.  Sister is nuts and met Moriarty during her time in the nut house.  I don't have a theory for how she escaped.  Half of me wants Mary alive because I like her, but the other half says she has to be dead, what with a bullet in her chest.  I don't believe she is a bad guy or in cahoots with the sister.

[tanita]

IDK, it fits better if Eurus was a middle child then the youngest - when Sherlock is born she is no longer the favorite, the youngest, thus inciting jealousy or something of that type.

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

[Peace 47]

27 minutes ago, RandomMe said:

I get the sense she wants to go after both brothers. If she's just trying to get to Mycroft and using Sherlock to do so, she could (and did) get directly to Sherlock without going through John at all (i.e. Fake Faith). But if she wanted to get to Sherlock, not just directly but emotionally, then it makes sense for her to get to John. Seems like she didn't make a move during all the time that Sherlock seemed dysfunctional and alone -- it wasn't until she twigged to how much Sherlock was connecting to John (and by extension, the people in general) that she got jealous enough to try to break (re-break?) Sherlock by breaking John -- with the two-for-one being that broken Sherlock = broken Mycroft.

I think that this is good reasoning for Eurus's actions in this episode.  I think that she is connected to Moriarty in some way (whether she is the current incarnation of Moriarty (like Dread Pirate Roberts) in picking up his mantle after Original Flavor Moriarty died, or whether original Moriarty isn't dead and is pulling her strings, or what have you).  Moriarty previously said that he would "burn the heart out of" Sherlock.  Per "His Last Vow," Sherlock's "pressure point" is John, and Mrs. Hudson tearfully told John in this very episode that John is the one who matters most to Sherlock.  There's definitely some consideration in hurting Sherlock by targeting John like this.

When Eurus had the gun on John, she called John, "it" instead of "he" when she was referring to him in the third person. That reminded me of when Moriarty used to speak derisively of John:  calling him a "touchingly loyal pet" and such. By the way, it's funny that none of us are posting, "What happened to John!?!?" at the end.  I guess that we all assume that he didn't die.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Peace 47

[LadyArcadia]

This entire episode was a lesson that I cannot play games on my iPad and watch Sherlock at the same time.  I'm so very confused!

What is Culverton's profession?!  

He was running a meeting in the hospital and drugged up a bunch of people... so he works at the hospital. OK.
Wait, no. Now he's filming a commercial for cereal? In the hospital?.... so... he's an actor that works at the hospital? How? What?
OK, now he's back in the hospital and told Sherlock he helped build the hospital....  hold on... so now he's a hospital worker who acts in commercials on the side and also does architect work?  WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

Someone please help explain what I missed!

[festivus]

59 minutes ago, Peace 47 said:

 I guess that we all assume that he didn't die.

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

[Which Tyler]

1 hour ago, PaulaO said:

My speculation without spoilers.  Sister is either Sherlock's twin or younger.  Redbeard is real, and sister tortured and killed him.  Parents sent sister to home for criminally insane and Sherlock blocked it all.  Sister is nuts and met Moriarty during her time in the nut house.  I don't have a theory for how she escaped.  Half of me wants Mary alive because I like her, but the other half says she has to be dead, what with a bullet in her chest.  I don't believe she is a bad guy or in cahoots with the sister.

Might as well put my current theory down in writing.

Sister is broadly the same age as Sherlock; with Mycroft much the older. Euros "committed suicide" (probably accidentally) in childhood; possibly in a way that killed or injured Redbeard (so jump off a cliff, or swimming out to sea); which explains Sherlock's emotional response to a suicidal client. If as a fairly young child then it would explain why he's not seeing the face of a dead 6 year-old, in the 40 year old living person before him.

Mycroft was instrumental in packing her off to a mental hospital, and she bears a grudge against Mycroft; whilst Sherlock has uncharacteristically strong emotional response to Redbeard's death, and to suicide. Euros is using Watson to get at Sherlock, to in turn get at Mycroft.

I don't think there needs to be a connection to Moriarty; though with Moffatt's involvement there will be, but Euros will be super-er and special-er than any super-special thing that ever went before.

[Michichick]

29 minutes ago, LadyArcadia said:

This entire episode was a lesson that I cannot play games on my iPad and watch Sherlock at the same time.  I'm so very confused!

What is Culverton's profession?!  

He was running a meeting in the hospital and drugged up a bunch of people... so he works at the hospital. OK.
Wait, no. Now he's filming a commercial for cereal? In the hospital?.... so... he's an actor that works at the hospital? How? What?
OK, now he's back in the hospital and told Sherlock he helped build the hospital....  hold on... so now he's a hospital worker who acts in commercials on the side and also does architect work?  WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

Someone please help explain what I missed!

He was described as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. So rich dude who is a celebrity of sorts (hence his commercial endorsement) and donated a crap ton of money to have a hospital built.

[PaulaO]

I just read Gatiss' entry in Wikipedia.  He grew up across the street from the psychiatric hospital where his father worked.  So you just know a mental hospital is going to figure in the story somehow.

[dr pepper]

As others have said, this episode manages to keep the overall theme of the canon story it references in the title. But beyond that, i was definitely getting a Phillip K Dick vibe, (especially Ubik), and frankly was left a little uncertain that we'd actually returned to the ground level reality at the end.

[12catcrazy]

Wow. I thought the previous episode was an incoherent mess - this one tops that.  At the end we got a decent good guys catch bad guys detective story but the ride in getting there had my had spinning.   They show us Sherlock using drugs but I'm beginning to think that the show's writers are sitting in their rooms doing some serious peyote buttons and/or the viewer has got to be smoking something to figure out what the hell is going on here.

A big thanks for everyone posting which is making for interesting reading and maybe offering me some insight into what I've been watching for the last two episodes.  We'll see how much of the viewer chewing on "clues" and the resulting speculation on the story comes to pass.  Right now this is starting to remind me of "True Detective" #1 where viewers were citing obscure books and mythology and all sorts of mystical stuff and the ending turned out to be something akin to a crappy late 60s AIP or Hammer hippie exploitation horror film.

[LadyArcadia]

2 hours ago, Michichick said:

He was described as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. So rich dude who is a celebrity of sorts (hence his commercial endorsement) and donated a crap ton of money to have a hospital built.

Ah!!! That makes more sense. I seriously was so thrown off by that whole thing.  Like who is this guy?!

[truther]

42 minutes ago, LadyArcadia said:

Ah!!! That makes more sense. I seriously was so thrown off by that whole thing.  Like who is this guy?!

Lots of people have drawn a clear parallel to the real-life Jimmy Savile, who was a British TV personality and noted philanthropist who was also accused, mostly after his death, of being a serial child sexual predator.  

[KaleyFirefly]

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

It crossed my mind that somehow she was replaced in his memories by a dog, but I'm still not sure what happened there. 

Sherlock seemed to be really hit by the idea of suicide, and obviously not the first time he's thought about it (his whole speech about how your life is not yours, your death negatively impacts everyone around you, not actually you, etc). Was that just brought on by Mary effectively committing suicide when she took the bullet for Sherlock? Or was another memory triggered (which is why he started to have his Redbeard flashback)? 

My current pet theory is that Sherlock is aware that he has a sister, but that he is under the belief that she died when he was very young - possibly by suicide. The fact that he doesn't recognize her could mean that he never saw her face as an adult (meaning she was rather young when she "died"), but I wonder if there wasn't something about her that he was recognizing on a subconscious level, which is what lead to his flashback, and why she decided to choose that moment to take off (she realized that on some level he was starting to recognize her).

Maybe like Sherlock, she has a tendency to go off the rails and did so at some point in her youth, with her family thinking she died (which may explain why Mycroft keeps such a close eye on Sherlock). Then somewhere along the line Mycroft found her, but decided to tuck her away at some facility (Sherrinford?) rather than alert the family that he had found her alive (Why? Who knows). 

The part I don't get is that while I think Sherlock is aware that he had/has a sister, there does appear to be holes in his memory (the Redbeard memory they've been teasing all season indicates that since it is always incomplete). So, why are those holes there? Did something traumatic happen and he blocked it out? Did Mycroft somehow orchestrate it? (If so, when? He's not that much older than Sherlock - no more than a decade - and I can't see teenage Mycroft orchestrating that). I guess time will tell whether or not they can fill in these plot holes.

 

As for John's behavior this episode, it for the most part made sense to me, but there is still some things that were not fully fleshed out. John has always been a little rage-y. And he's had a lot of terrible crap in his life (estranged from his sister, PTSD from military service, watching his best friend "commit suicide" and spending two years thinking he was dead only to have him bounce back into his life like it was all just a fun game, and then his wife up and dies on him when he's in the middle of cheating on her, so he gets a nice layer of guilt to go with his grief). Him freaking out and beating the crap out of Sherlock didn't surprise me. Back in season two when Sherlock asked him to hit him just to put on a show for Irene, John was just a wee bit too into it. And that was a "fun" situation. This was a situation where he was boiling over with grief and guilt and anger at Sherlock for what he was doing to himself. It appeared that Sherlock was bent on destroying himself, and as Sherlock pointed out, that was causing more pain for those around him that it was for himself.

But I wish there was more of an explanation to why he cheated. It was basically just "Sorry, I'm weak. I'm not as good as Mary thought I was." I wish we got more, like how it's probably hard to feel special when you spend all your time around people like Sherlock and Mary, and bus chippie made him feel special. I don't know. I just wish there was more to it. 

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.

Agree with all this. I like your theory about Sherlock's sister, and really it was odd that John did not immediately alert Lestrade that Smith was going to kill Sherlock.

[Tardislass]

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". However given Eurus' reaction to Sherlock and his not recognizing her at once, I think she hasn't been in contact with anyone in years, with only Mycroft calling the facility to check on her-quite sad. I do wonder what happened because Sherlock and his sister seemed quite happy together, perhaps they are closer in age and were closer as children than Mycroft. Perhaps Sherlock's quest and zeal in deduction is based in trying to figure out why his sister left mysteriously all those years ago.

Or I could be wildly off-base and this season would be a drug-induced fog. 

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.