The handbags of Series 4. (x)
wait i’m actually dying, the importance of being earnest is about a guy who was found as a baby in a handbag ???? specifically a “somewhat large black leather handbag with handles” ??????? asldkghasdfj i can’t believe this THE BABY IS A GUN
are you telling me that shelrock yeet a baby into the thames
she’s okay but she’s a gun
So Culverton Smith and David Wellsborogh have the same tie???
And both have rings on their pinky fingers?? What does this mean?? Do you guys have any theories?
Bonus:
Mycroft's tie in TFP looks similar ut is the not same
wow, those first two really are the same, even when i enlarge the image as much as i can here. (mycroft's looks like it might be a textured weave of a solid or nearly solid color, though.) i guess we are meant to notice and connect them. they also both have key business with their phones. both are fathers, but one is married and the other maybe isn't? (hmm, kind of like john...) i'm going to rely on people who have watched these more times or more recently to identify other points.
just what we need, a second Tie Hell.
hmm, smith is a dark john mirror, is wellsbrough one also? or less dark? i recall that the actor payed Doyle in something else, but that feels slightly outside the Giant Lego Set of Canon. just barely. cos they have also given cameos to a couple surviving classic holmes actors. and watson is doyle's self insert character.
also, ties, there was that bit in TSOT about using ties or socks as a pretext for getting out of baker st together, and what each garment symbolized. tie=attachment, socks= well, um, it's to do with sex, just the physical aspect. so these matching ties are drawing attention to the commitment angle of a relationship. like sherlock and john's matching ties in TSOT? i might just be free associating here rather than anything that could be called actual meta.
Oh, nice catch.This absolutely checks out.
According to @sagestreet 's theories, those are two father figures. I think they also point to John's father. Everything John doesn't want to become. In Curvelton's case, missing a wife, he is a serial killer. Murder = sex often in our metas. So I do a acrobatics, and I would say that John's father, bigoted and Tatcherian, far from his wife was a serial consumer of sexual relationships with anyone.
oh, yes, good! and charlie trying to set up a way to come out to his father, but not being able to quite do it... and faith/"faith" being one person to sherlock and a different person to smith!
I will admit that when the first images of Doyle’s Opticians appeared, I felt a certain amount of dread. The reason for this dread is that there is exactly one story in the Sherlock Holmes canon that focuses intensively on both the physical and functional aspects of eyewear—both of which are an optician’s business—but it is so odd and complex that I had been putting off dealing with it.
The Golden Pince-Nez (1904) is one of the 13 stories collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes, which documents Holmes’s apparent resurrection after his death at the falls of the Reichenbach. This story is a fine example of two generally unrecognized tropes in the Sherlock Holmes canon: a solution that does not entirely fit the crime (common) and double mirroring (less common). Double mirroring makes it harder to read a story’s subtext, because the meaning of a Sherlock Holmes story often depends on the answer to the question, “Is this character fundamentally a Holmes or a Watson?” When the answer is “Both”, that makes the subtext harder to parse. And sometimes, “both” is actually the answer. For this reason, The Golden Pince-Nez is like a canon hall of mirrors, which is a bit of an S4 mood.
This story has already been subtly referenced a few times in Sherlock, but the one that made me sit up and take notice is Not-Faith Smith’s portrayal in The Lying Detective.
Compared to to the other Eurus personas, and even to the “real” Faith Smith, Faux-Faith has a very… specific look. With her large glasses, difficulty walking, and particularly her thick nose, she bears a striking resemblance to “Anna” in The Golden Pince-Nez, described here as a suspect before we ever meet her:
“Wanted, a woman of good address, attired like a lady. She has a remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set close upon either side of it. She has a puckered forehead, a peering expression, and probably rounded shoulders. There are indications that she has had recourse to an optician at least twice during the last few months. As her glasses are of remarkable strength, and as opticians are not very numerous, there should be no difficulty in tracing her.” […] “Yes,” [Hopkins] said, “I can follow each of your arguments. I confess, however, that I am unable to understand how you arrive at the double visit to the optician.” (The Golden Pince-Nez)
So, perhaps fittingly, our escape room team of stellar meta writers (I played with @waitedforgarridebs, @jenna221b, and @green-violin-bow) visited Doyle’s Opticians twice: once to see and once to observe (and yes, we absolutely wore pencilled moustaches upon our return from the dead). Afterwards, I put Pince-Nez under the microscope. In this meta, I’ll talk about how and why this canon story and another, The Red-Headed League (1891), were interwoven in a single narrative as a preface for the Sherlock escape room, and how the combination of these stories is relevant to the The Lying Detective in particular and to Sherlock more generally.
Below the cut, there are minor spoilers for one segment of The Game is Now, which is a directed case study presented by a network operative, and not part of the timed game experience. Personally, I think that this background information will enhance this experience for new players, not detract from it; I’m interested in hearing whether others who have played the game agree.
Right! Got your reading glasses on? Good, because despite what you’ve been told, they’re the ones you’ll need under the cut.
i finally had time and brain cells to read this tonight, WOW. i am but an egg, when it comes to reading subtext. there is truly not a wasted word in ACD, nor in sherlock.
something about the double mirroring going on here, which has come up in the past, like how the cabbie in ASIP, and "mary" are both john and sherlock mirrors, is rubbing up against @sagestreet 's baby switch meta, especially as both "mary" and "eurus" are manifestations of, or in some way connected to and illuminating/hiding john and sherlock's relationship. hmm.
also, the Giant Lego Set of Canon, wow.
Therapist: What about his brother? John: Mycroft? He’s fine. I mean, obviously normal and fine are both relative terms when it comes to Sherlock and Mycroft. Therapist: [Chuckles.] Obviously. But, I didn’t mean Mycroft. I meant the other one. John: Which other one? Therapist: You know, the secret one. John: Oh, that was just something… I said. I’m sure there’s… [He pauses.] How did you know about that? I didn’t tell you that. Therapist: You must have done. John: I really didn’t.
Images 1–5 above: From The Lying Detective, starting at approximately 1:02:58 Image 6: Zoom in on reaction of female agent in background when John first says the word “brother”
First of all, I need to make it clear that this catch—and it’s a great one—1000% belongs to @discordantwords. Not me. The only reason I’m building out a new post instead of reblogging the original is because when I saw the stills I went “Eh, maybe?” but when I saw the video I went “Woah, YES.” So this felt like something that needed a gifset.
The commentary that follows is my fault, though.
wow. HMMM. now i have to wonder what the metaphorical reading of this is, because that's how my "both-and" brain works. Whatever "euros" represents, is attached to mycroft, as much as to john or sherlock.
Lestrade in the police interview room.
(Back in the mortuary, John’s view of Smith has been blocked by Sherlock, so he is slowly moving across the room to get clear sight of him.)
(In the cut-away scene, John seems to be in the same room where we just saw Greg. He shakes his head.)
SHERLOCK(in the mortuary): She came to see me because she was scared of her daddy.
source: arianedevere
So lestrade asked john if “did he know something?” and john said that he didn’t know.
Or john is answering that he didn’t went to baker street, like he were “faith”?
Tagged: @gosherlocked
Thank you for tagging me, @sherlocks-salty-blog. Now that you quoted the transcript, I realise how amazing this moment is. Of course we have been discussing how Faith is a John mirror with her cane and her instant understanding with Sherlock. But I never realised that here John is indeed acting as if he were Faith. And the fact that the scene is inserted at this very point, starting in the middle of the conversation between John and Lestrade, not giving us any context, makes it even more appear to be an organic part of what is going on in the morgue. They are clearly playing with our perception here. And it makes the whole of TLD even more dreamlike and surreal. Great observation!
P.S. It also reminds me of the technique they used in TEH. Sherlock and John ending each other’s sentences to show their closeness in spite of the estrangement.
About this conversation. I have the feeling that john is lying. he acts in the same way when someone asks him “if he is ok” and he says the famous" I’m fine" but we know that is not true.
Asip therapist ’s scene, for example.
I always get hooked with these kind of small bits of chats…small bits that we have to slow down the chapter’s speed to catch…the curiosity killed the cat…
I need to rewatch the other seasons but…it’s too painful…..
@sherlocks-salty-blog: I would go further and say that the John-Lestrade scene is not real. Because we do not have the slightest idea when it is happening and where. The sequence of events is like this: Sherlock attacks CS - John beats Sherlock - Sherlock is hospitalised - John is taken to 221b by Mycroft’s car - John watches the DVD - John saves Sherlock. When exactly is the interrogation to have taken place? And during the interrogation we get CS forgiving Sherlock via TV? And John is telling Lestrade about something secret that was not to be disclosed for the next 100 years? And why is Lestrade there anyway - does he handle all cases in Britain in which Sherlock might be involved in some way? For me the scene is completely mad - this is a clever but somehow impaired mind playing through scenarios, a sort of dreamscape in which logic and chronology have been suspended. And since HLV we have been getting those moments time and again. Just think of the bizarre “cafeteria” scene with Magnussen.
@gosherlocked thanks for tagging me ✨✨
As you’ve clearly pointed out there is no way this scene could have played out in reality (disappearing blood…I mean…c'mon…) and made any logical sense
Maybe it will make a lot more sense if we interpret this on a meta level
That’s upto you smart people out there
This is what I make of it
Sherlock saved faith he had such interesting conversation with her had chips with her and she thought he was nicer than anyone Sherlock thinks she might have even liked him
Then it turns out the Faith he thought he had this good time with wasn’t even real
I see this as Sherlock’s Fear manifesting in his emp that he might have read John all wrong and thought John might have liked him but maybe this wasn’t John maybe this wasn’t really what happened at all the way he interpreted his first meeting with John wasn’t how John saw it that was only his own projection and john had no opinion of such kind on Sherlock
That’s why at this revelation Sherlock loses it
The part of him that believes that love is human error and a chemical defect(Culvertson Smith) laughs mocking him as he’d warned him of this and look what Sherlock did anyways and for not being careful while his emotions (john) beat the shit out of him and blame him for everything and Sherlock is defeated and tries to evaluate all this while Lestrade stands for the part of his brain investigating and trying to come to solutions Inquiring his emotions on what went wrong
I don’t know if this makes any sense to anybody? I’m sorry if my grammar is all wrong
@someovermind: Yes, I think you idea of the parallels between John and Faith are spot on. It is like this:
This is basically the story of ASiP, right? And then, at the very moment Faith uses the word “anyone” Sherlock snaps out of the fantasy and suffers a breakdown. Why? Because in his mind he associates the word “anyone” with Molly sending him away in John’s name, telling him that he would rather have anyone but him at his side. In this very moment Sherlock is pulled back to a situation where John has left him, blames him for the death of his wife, and does even want him near his child. Btw, I think this works with fine with EMP because this is Sherlock playing through scenarios, surprising and shocking himself just the way he did in TAB. Maybe he has lost control over his mind palace.
@someovermind i think you are absolutely right. I think @sagestreet came to a similar reading of this situation also.
I'm trying to remember if the word "anyone" is part of the conversation with the cabbie in ASIP, it feels like it could be, since his victims were pretty random. I'm more inclined to think that mind stage scenario running and memory recycling is going to refer back to events in s1-2, rather than s3-4 which are more "unreal". The cabbie as a john mirror "murdering" (=falling in love with) more or less random people. I think there is, or was, meta comparing the 5 victims to various other sets of 5 including john's girlfriends, but that might have been @deducingbbcsherlock-deactivated sadly. Might be worth a search in @just-sort-of-happened 's archive and see if it's there. Anyway, yes, the disappearing blood is a big EMP tell, prodding us to look beneath the surface. I really like Lestrade as The Work/Brain, investigating and thinking it through. I have found myself thinking about Lestrade lately as the work, and especially the "drugs bust" in ASIP, since drugs=the chemistry of love.
*Disclaimer: Everything I am writing here is a mere conjecture. But I also write in confidence with the help of music. In this post, I’d like to retouch some older concerns (part 1-3) and share a new finding (jump to part 4) with you.
There are millions of things that don’t make sense, but this one is by far the most baffling one out of them all for me. Unless they made a terrible mistake, music isn’t supposed to be a “subtext.” It serves its purpose by playing the thing for which it’s designed at the right moment. Please let me know if you hear the musical motif of Eurus from the following soundtracks (Too Heavy, Window Deduction, Anyone). I don’t. Faith shares a LONG screen time with Sherlock, during which we definitely hear Sherlock’s theme. This makes no sense to me. Music doesn’t lie, and since E from the bus / Therapist / Eurus all share this theme, it just makes NO logical sense for Faith to not have it. Just trying to deal with cold, hard evidence.
I’d like to digress a bit from the music for a second, because Faith Smith (both women) are just really unreliably depicted.
Interesting factor to note is that John has never seen RedDress!Faith. However, he HAS seen E and the therapist, and he’s interacted with them on a personal level. We hear the Eurus theme both for John & E’s moment and John & therapist’s. This could further explain TFP being John’s TAB, as we hear a LOT of that Eurus theme in TFP in many variations. Right before the Therapist shoots him, he finds out at last that this woman is E as well as some random woman who’s apparently had chips with Sherlock and spent the entire evening together. John doesn’t realise, at the morgue, that it was Sherlock’s hallucination, and neither does Sherlock because he thinks that that was real.
But who else was there for that “we had chips together” confession? Culverton Smith. Someone’s commented on my post (sorry I lost the url - let me know if you’re that person) that Culverton must be involved with Eurus to have that theme in his “no pressing charge” moment. The way that this theme is used in this seemingly unrelated moment is not unlike what M theory suggests. This must be how the Therapist gathered her information that Sherlock thinks that they’ve had chips and spent the evening together - by utilising Culverton. Conclusion: Culverton and Eurus (whoever she is) work together.
This is a new one for me. Please excuse if this sounds like gibberish or if it has been pointed out by anyone else already. In the very beginning of HLV we see CAM for the first time, being questioned by Lady Smallwood et al. We hear “Magnussen” Theme in the background, which are in two parts; Part A, a pattern of descending lower bass strings, and Part B, two sets of half-step higher strings. From the episode itself it is hard to hear, but consult track “Magnussen” from the soundtrack list and forward to 0:29 for part A and 0:36 for part B. We hear Part B when CAM accesses “Appledore” aka his glasses his own mind palace.
I regret to inform you that this Part B comes back in TLD, when John and Mycroft are talking on the phone. This is the scene in which John is telling Mycroft off for calling him in the dead of night and Mycroft says “Sherlock gone rogue is a legit security concern…. The fact that I’m his brother changes absolutely nothing. It didn’t the last time, and I assure you it won’t with…”
>>>>>>>*cue Part B*<<<<<<<<< btw this bit is conveniently omitted from the official soundtrack**** (well, they’re recycling stuff, so perhaps that’s why.)
“…with Sherlock.” They hang up.
Lady Smallwood asks: “Do you still speak to Sherrinford?”
Mycroft: “I get regular updates.”
This conversation makes no sense. From TFP we learn that Sherrinford isn’t a person, it’s Shutter Island. We also suspect it to be a fake place for so many reasons. Also it’s just really confusing for Lady Smallwood and Mycroft to be having this conversation at all if it is indeed fake. (And, why is Sherrinford “secure?”) But we already know from TST that footages are easily doctored and TLD taught us that memories are easily altered.
But aside from all of this fake-or-real doubts, let’s just focus on the music for now. Why would CAM’s Appledore theme (and CAM’s not even alive atm) reappear? WHY? WHY????? FFS WHY????????????
We learn that CAM’s Appledore is actually just another name for CAM’s mind palace, and that the place does not exist. This can only mean imho that Sherrinford is also a nonexistent place; instead, it exists within one’s mind. (Well, we’ve seen the interior of this Muggle Azkaban, of course it can’t be real?!?) I believe this to be yet another clue for John going deaded somewhere sad and that the whole TFP is, indeed, John’s near-death moments.
What makes this argument 7% weaker (until we find out the reason) is that we don’t hear Part A nor Part B in the track actually named “Appledore.” This is when Sherlock and John see CAM sitting in his “vault,” looking at Mary’s file. I cannot come up with a justification for this phenomenon. Please feel free to speculate with me.
On that weak note…. Thank you for coming to my TED talk again.
