photo fox May 6, 2014 Share May 6, 2014 A mysterious cipher is being scrawled on the walls around London. The first person to see the cipher is dead within hours of reading it. Sherlock plunges into a world of codes and symbols, consulting with London's best graffiti artists. He soon learns that the city is in the grip a gang of international smugglers, a secret society called the Black Lotus. Link to comment
1TrackMind May 30, 2014 Share May 30, 2014 Doesn't seem to be a very well liked episode..am I the only one who liked it? Link to comment
rereader2 May 30, 2014 Share May 30, 2014 I'd say it was a bit uneven, with some parts being excellent and some rather silly. (But then, some of the original stories were rather silly, such as--notably!--The Creeping Man.) 1 Link to comment
BizBuzz May 30, 2014 Share May 30, 2014 Hmmmm, me thinks it's time for me to re-watch... Link to comment
Peace 47 June 23, 2014 Share June 23, 2014 This was on my local PBS station for some reason this evening, and so I watched part of it before I got interrupted and missed the end. The US version has a syndication cut on what I think is one of the cuter parts of the episode--the part where Sherlock for some bizarre reason decides to spin John around in circles while trying to get John to recall the graffiti on the wall. And of course John puts Sherlock in his place, having taken an actual picture of the graffiti (and so no need to try to recall). The whole episode is an interesting window into how Sherlock and John were negotiating working and living together. The part where Soo Lin was murdered is sad. (Her brother really sucked!) 2 Link to comment
Hanahope August 22, 2014 Share August 22, 2014 The first bit with the graffiti in the bank went a little too fast, but I figured it out. Were the books not on the shelf at that painted part when the second guy saw it? How would the cypher know the guy would be looking along that row? Definitely sad seeing Lin die. Again, seemed like Watson was way too bumbling, which makes me dislike the character (or maybe its just Martin Freeman, since I don't care for his role in Fargo and even in the Hobbit I'm not impressed). Leaving the girl alone when he knows she's subject to attack by a very clever assassin, and really how as he going to help Sherlock (and why did Sherlock run towards the assassin was, or where he thought he was?). The Chinese woman was not all that smart if she really thought Watson was Sherlock, Yeah, there were the instances she mentioned, but come on, if you keep watching its clearly the other guy. So the story had some holes for me, and not sure I like Watson, but I do like Sherlock. 1 Link to comment
2KllMckngBrd November 27, 2014 Share November 27, 2014 Don't really have much to say about this 1. Coming off Study in Pink it was a huge letdown. All the pieces didn't come together at all. The part at the "Circus" were stupid too me, and went on too long. I like that Watson gives it write back to Sherlock, but he is already being written to be too many steps behind Sherlock. I also don't want Lastarde to be such a moron, and incompetent. He should be more like Molly as professional and competent, just not Holmes level genius. It was sad when the brother killed her. But I will admit that by then I didn't care b/c the story was so weak. Link to comment
rereader2 November 27, 2014 Share November 27, 2014 It's Dimmock that's the Scotland Yarder in this episode, not Lestrade--so rest easy! 1 Link to comment
2KllMckngBrd November 29, 2014 Share November 29, 2014 It's Dimmock that's the Scotland Yarder in this episode, not Lestrade--so rest easy! You are so right. He was as confused to be dealing w/Sherlock, as I was in recalling that ep. Not jumping ahead but "Greg" is back for the rest, and highly entertaining, albeit also slightly "stupid". Lol. Still hated this ep. Parts of my fam hadn't discovered Sherlock, so introduced them to Study in Pink. They lurrved it. Then I started getting texts about the suckitude of ep 2. Told them to hang in, b/c it totally gets back on track in ep 3. Link to comment
betha July 17, 2016 Share July 17, 2016 (edited) So relieved to hear other people also disliked this episode but that it gets better. I was really hopeful after the first episode, but I just had a really hard time following this one/ that and it bored me so I might have missed some of it, making it more difficult to follow. So... Each person/target was only seeing one word worth of code and then was killed? That didn't make any sense? Who was the code sentence for then if not for the targets? And why did the brother kill the sister? He thought she stole the jade pin? That backstory didn't make a lot of sense to me- why wouldn't he try to protect his sister or at least talk to her? Is the Big Bad at the end (lady's boss) someone we need to care about? Also how do you shoot someone through their computer? If the secretary kept the hairpin at the end doesn't that make her the next target? Do they just give up because a couple members of the gang were killed?? Enjoying the relationship between Watson and Sherlock and also watsons new lady friend and the landlady. Edited July 17, 2016 by betha Link to comment
rereader2 July 22, 2016 Share July 22, 2016 (edited) On 7/16/2016 at 10:10 PM, betha said: So relieved to hear other people also disliked this episode but that it gets better. I was really hopeful after the first episode, but I just had a really hard time following this one/ that and it bored me so I might have missed some of it, making it more difficult to follow. So... Each person/target was only seeing one word worth of code and then was killed? That didn't make any sense? Who was the code sentence for then if not for the targets? And why did the brother kill the sister? He thought she stole the jade pin? That backstory didn't make a lot of sense to me- why wouldn't he try to protect his sister or at least talk to her? Is the Big Bad at the end (lady's boss) someone we need to care about? Also how do you shoot someone through their computer? If the secretary kept the hairpin at the end doesn't that make her the next target? Do they just give up because a couple members of the gang were killed?? Enjoying the relationship between Watson and Sherlock and also watsons new lady friend and the landlady. Each person was getting a warning to return that which was stolen, and they were killed because they didn't. (Of course, that's rather hard on the one who didn't steal it, but that's what happens when you get mixed up with Bad People!) By their terror, they clearly understood the message, even if it wasn't enough for an outsider to understand immediately. The brother killed the sister because she stopped helping the gang and ran away. They obviously have a no-out policy. The jade pin thing was to do with the same gang, but they were going after her because they were now in the same place that she was, nothing to do with the pin. And the brother had given his loyalty to the gang rather than the sister--that is something that actually has been known to happen in Western societies, that gang members will kill friends and relatives to show their devotion to the gang. Yes, you need to remember Big Bad at the end. He most definitely shows up again! And he didn't kill her through the computer, he had a minion kill her; possibly he was only talking to her so she could be located by where her signal was coming from (more likely he was talking to her for the satisfaction of letting her know what was about to happen. The secretary didn't keep the pin--she handed it over to the Chinese government for a reward, or so I gathered from the newspaper being read at the breakfast table in the last scene. No point in killing her at that point either for gain or retribution (she wasn't part of the gang). And it's pretty hard to kill a government! (I'm going by memory, so if I got something wrong I'm sure someone will correct me!) Edited July 22, 2016 by rereader2 1 Link to comment
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