‘Something’s fucky’ observations, HLV version
[Reminder: if you like me, but not my tjlc-related posts, you can block tag ‘johnlockendgame’ to avoid them]
This was originally posted in response to another post, but I decided to post it separately for posterity.
- Sherlock’s suspicions about Mary and Mycroft - My current reading of HLV-TAB, based on M-Theory, is that both Mycroft and Mary are double agents and are aware of each other’s actions. They have an unspoken agreement to not expose each other’s status as such. Mary, who noticed that Magnussen began harming Mycroft’s colleagues, realized that if Sherlock ever exposes Mycroft he will discover the truth about her too and/or that Mycroft is sending Sherlock towards CAM so he finds the truth about her. Either way, she doesn’t trust Mycroft and goes rogue (planning to shoot CAM but ends up shooting Sherlock), determined to defend herself, Mycroft be damned.
- Sherlock getting John’s attention in HLV (waiting in the dosshouse next to Isaac Whitney) - we see in TLD that Sherlock knows where to find John two weeks in advance. If this is an EMP situation TLD happens in his head, but I suggest that this happens in TLD because Sherlock had done it HLV. I wouldn’t find it far fetched that Sherlock, expecting John to look for some excitement, knew Isaac Whitney is a neighbour and plants himself right next to him in a dosshouse - he knew John would be there.
- Others have pointed out before that CAM is the personification of an Appointment in Samarra when he visits Sherlock he visits him at Baker Street instead of meeting up in his office. That would make CAM the grim reaper who came to collect Sherlock’s soul, but I argue that Mary is the grim reaper.
- It’s interesting that Sherlock uses Molly, Anderson and Mycroft to survive the shooting, but not John. These are people he’s supposed to be ambivelant about - why not figure out how to survive using John, whom he fully trusts?
- Sherlock actually saw John, Mary and Janine at the hospital - he may not have spoken much, but he did hear and see them. Mary wears the butterfly scarf when she threatens him at the hospital, and I believe this is why she wears the scarf in the tarmac scene (the butterflies become omnious when you notice her wearing the black butterflies dress in T6T). It’s after Janine leaves the room that things get REALLY fucky - she may have played with his medicine, as LSiT suggested.
- I think certain situations after Mary’s shot, like the conversation with CAM in the restaurant, are happening when Sherlock is still in control of his MP; he’s running a controlled scenario at Appledore and on Christmas (the wall clock at his parents’ kitchen seems to be keeping perfect time considering), Mary’s pregnancy duration makes sense if she’s around 7-8is months pregnant on New Year’s (Sherlock would know when the baby is due). He doesn’t ‘lose his mind’ (like John wonders at his parents’ house), or if you will, a grasp on reality, until the plane takes off.
- Papa Holmes doesn’t seem to lose his glasses anymore, even when unconcious. Nice touch ;)
- AGRA is Sherlock’s invention, it’s an idea Sherlock creates and explores later in T6T when he can’t find answers in the Appledore and TAB scenarios.
- Appledore is the Garden of Eden, the place that houses the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Appledore means ‘Apple tree’, Sherlock describes what’s inside it as ‘forbidden knowledge’ earlier in the episode, it’s white and heavenly and angelic, there are some bird of paradise looking plants there, and Sherlock is determined to go there in order to learn about good and evil and ‘make a deal with the devil’, CAM - the snake/satan. Sherlock falls from from grace after learning about the truth of Appledore and CAM’s vaults.
I was surprised by the religious imagery here - Sherlock isn’t religious, but going further in these posts I’ll point out signs of religious imagery filtering through to Sherlock.
There’s some weird ass technology at Appledore, like a disappearing TV screen CAM vanishes with a hand gesture (seriously, there’s nothing there. Give it a rewatch, gif is mine).
By the way, who’s POV is it in this video CAM is showing them? Mary’s? It’s not Sherlock’s - we can see Sherlock’s back.
Update: I’ve received comments about that screen, claiming it’s a holographic screen, but look at this gif - John watches it (the screen is there), turns around (the screen disappears), asks ‘you put me in a fire for leverage?’, CAM speaks and moves towards the screen that is no longer there and supposedly removes it again.
There are two interesting items on CAM’s table: one lonely, tempting Apple (well, it is the Garden of Eden) and Sherlock’s mirror thingy. Yes, the same one that will be heavily featured on T6T.
- CAM mentions Mary’s wet jobs for the CIA - this isn’t the last time Sherlock explicitly considers Mary has an American connection/is an American. Think about Mary with American accent after running away in T6T .
- I wonder if Sherlock telling John that the mission to Eastern Europe is six months long, as Mycroft estimates (and Mycroft is never wrong), is bleeding from ‘real life’ in which Mycroft and John discuss Sherlock’s survival chances/expectancy. If it is, perhaps that’s why the airplane takes off - Sherlock decides to go up to a higher level and explore his situation (he takes drugs, supposedly, but perhaps he actually moves from Mind Palace to Dream Manor).
- I wonder if Sherlock comes up with Rosie in his mind and symbolized it with Mary wearing a Rose brooch.
- What if ‘Miss Me’ doesn’t actually mean what we think it does, in the context of “notice or feel the loss or absence of ”, but is actually supposed to be the opposite - did you miss me, did you fail to notice me, to connect the dots about me.
Think about who asks that question throughout S3 and S4 (arguably, all in Sherlock’s Mind Palace) - Moriarty, Mary (in her posthumous video messages) and even Mycroft in TAB (’so, did you?’).“Missing” is a contranym, after all, one word with two opposite meanings.
- “Who needs me now?” “England”, is Sherlock in his scenario exploration assuming Mycroft (=“England”) is behind bringing Sherlock back. This is being called back in TAB when Mycroft summons Mary, who tells Mrs. Hudson “England” needs her.
- The East Wind is Coming - 1) If the East Wind is indeed the end of the official ACD canon, in which Sherlock’s saying to Watson that the world is about to change, I sort of admire Moftiss for using this as the bookend, a tell, to tell us that this is where thing will stop making sense in ACD terms. From that point on, they break out of canon and arguably the story into their own ‘canon’ - the final problem of Sherlock becoming ‘human’ (I’m grossly oversimplifying it). We’re propelled immediately from the airport to Theatre of Absurd we’ll see in S4, because Sherlock is breaking the rules of the story (by shooting CAM, instead of Mary shooting CAM like in canon) - the East Wind is coming, and now we’re heading slowly into post-canon. 2) I love that I’m getting the sense that Sherlock’s brain makes John low-key threaten Mary by saying the East Wind is coming in an ominous tone. Translation: ‘Hey, wife, Sherlock is about to realize just how super gay he is for me and I for him so wrap up warm’.
Thoughts? I’m sure I’m not the first one to find some of these things, let me know if you deserve credits. Screengrabs are from here and CAM’s gifs at Appledore are mine.
some of these ideas i remember being discussed before, or variations on them, but it's always very interesting to have a fresh take on an episode. both for the "i noticed that too" bits, and the "ah, a different perspective" bits.
