Sherlock: "The Sign of Three"

[tj_teejay]

Episode 3x03 hasn’t even aired yet, and already I can tell that the theme of me not liking the middle episode in any Sherlock season continues.

Don’t get me wrong, “The Sign of Three” had a lot of cute, funny, intense and quirky moments, but I couldn’t help cringing all the way through at the overall depressing undertone. Sherlock in E minor.



But let’s take a closer look. (Massive spoilers ahead.)

In the Act!
The opening threw quite a punch, and an amusing one, at that. Lestrade kicking the tyre got a chuckle out of me. Poor Rupert, I hope he didn’t bruise his foot. However, when we get to the part where Sherlock texts him for help, that was as predictable as it could be.

As soon as I saw the texts from Sherlock, I knew Lestrade would rush over there and find Sherlock being stuck on something rather insignificant that had to do with John’s wedding. (I initially though writing vows, but it’s usually the groom and bride who do that, right? I mean, yeah, I know nothing about wedding traditions. Shoot me.)  Still funny, though.

Side note: How does a helicopter fit into Baker Street? Yeah, that’s right, it doesn’t.

Waltz for John and Mary
Sherlock dances. Likes to dance, in fact, as we later find out. Not sure what to make of that. Mrs Hudson bringing him his morning tea was really sweet.
“You bring me tea in the morning?”
“Where do you think it came from?”
“I don’t know. Just... thought it sort of happened.”
Hee! Sherlock can be so adorably clueless sometimes.

And right here, we get into the underlying “Wreck Sherlock’s life, why don’tcha?” theme. “It changes people—marriage. You wouldn’t understand because you always live alone.” Is it just me, or did that seem like a rather cruel thing to say for Mrs Hudson? And the, “I mean, who leaves a wedding early? So sad,” was predictably foreboding. Ugh. I agree with Sherlock: Shut up and buy biscuits, Mrs Hudson. Cause marriage doesn’t always have to be the end of a best friend era, you know?

Wedding Shenanigans
I’m actually glad that they decided to skip the wedding ceremony itself. That kind of thing has been done one too many times on TV, and I wasn’t keen on seeing another rendition of it—John Watson or not.

Kinda love the idea that Sherlock was pre-screening Mary’s friends. “High functioning sociopath. With your number.” You go, Sherlock! So creepy.

I loved Archie too.
“And you have to wear the outfit.”
“No.”
“You really do have to wear the outfit.”
“What for?”
“Grown-ups like that sort of thing.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I’ll ask one.”

Am I the only one to think that Molly’s boyfriend is creepy? He can’t hold a candle to Sherlock. What were you thinking, Molly?

I was a little disappointed that we don’t get to know John’s sister. Would love to know what Harry is like.

And here we go again with Sherlock’s perhaps irrational, perhaps justifiable jealousy. Jealous of Mary (because John talks to her about Major Sholto), jealous of Sholto because he’s more unsociable than Sherlock... Honestly, Holmes, it doesn’t become you.

Mark Gatiss in spandex. Not something I ever wanted to see, and not something I ever want to see again. Especially when he slaps his own naked belly. Excuse me while I go wash my eyes. And I must say, I fail to see what the point of that scene even was, other than maybe driving the point home that Sherlock is going to be all alone. Wreck Sherlock’s life, why don’tcha?

And then Mycroft says, “Do you remember Redbeard?” Can someone please explain the symbolism in that? I have no idea what he’s referring to. Frederick Barbarossa? A series of Belgian comic books? A nuclear weapon? Or something different entirely that will become clear in the next episode?

And then starts...

The Speech That Would Never End
But first of all, I also didn’t get the wedding telegram thing. Why is Mrs Hudson making tortured owl sounds at the fact that Sherlock would read out wedding telegrams? Or has she read them, and there’s hilariously funny jokes in them? Or is it just simply the fact that she’s imagining Sherlock reading wishes of love and soft squishy hugs out loud? I’m still frowning. Help!

I did, however, absolutely love the scene where John asks Sherlock to be his best man. Sherlock is his adorably clueless self again. And the floating eye just made it all perfect. So much love for this scene!

Side note: Who the hell is Billy Kincaid, the Garrotter? Google yields no hits that help. Other fans seem to have wondered too, but no one’s got a good explanation. There’s an evil character in the Spawn comic book series by that name, apparently.  Though I fail to see the connection here. Is there one? Few things are really random when they drop ostensibly random names on this show.

“The point I’m trying to make is that I am the most unpleasant, rude, ignorant and all-round obnoxious arsehole that anyone could possibly have the misfortune to meet. I am dismissive of the virtuous, unaware of the beautiful, and uncomprehending in the face of the happy. So if I didn’t understand I was asked to be Best Man, it is because I never expected to be anybody’s best friend.”
Hm. Hmmm. Is it just me, or is this unexpectedly self-reflective of Sherlock? I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was out-of-character, but it does seem to be terribly un-Sherlock. I’m frowning again. My forehead will probably be left with permanent wrinkles by the time this episode concludes.

Though I must admit that the first time I watched Sherlock being this incredibly sweet and touching, I was actually tearing up. “Did I do it wrong?” No, Sherlock, indeed you didn’t. You had me at “Best Man”.

And I do still love Mary. “I’m not John, I can tell when you’re fibbing.” I hope they don’t kill her off, like Conan Doyle did in the books. Or, you know, at least not before season seven, or something.

And, haha, I love that Mary and John have a code word! I love that both try to take his mind off the wedding. And I refuse to believe that Sherlock is going to lose his best friend the way that they try to hammer into the viewer’s subconscious all throughout the episode in ever increasing frequency.

But back to the cute. Sherlock surrounded by twenty Sydney opera serviettes. “That just... sort of... happened.” Um-hm. I chuckled. A lot.

“That’s the thing about Mary. She has completely turned my life around. Changed everything. But for the record, over the last few years, there are two people to have done that, and the other one is... a complete dickhead.”
Yep, that’s the Sherlock we know and love. :-)

The Bloody Guardsman
Upon the second and a half viewing (i.e. as I’m writing this), I have to say... *yawn* Not the most intriguing case. And doesn’t it just seem weird that Sherlock couldn’t solve that one upon his first attempt? I don’t know, it just seems... sloppy. Constructed. Not the best TV writing, if you ask me.

A meat dagger? Seriously, Tom? Molly, grow some common sense, would you?

The Mayfly Man, i.e. The Stag Night
I daresay this was the best and most hilarious part of the whole episode. Cause I think I could watch Drunk!John and Drunk!Sherlock all day.

Side Note: Sherlock is a graduate chemist.

I like the murder-themed pub crawl idea. I’d totally go on one with Sherlock! Why wouldn’t you, Molly?!

“How is.... T...om?”
“Not a sociopath.”
“Good.”
Yeah, I say!

I loved the club music variation on the title theme here! The music is such an integral part of the show, and I think they used it better in this episode than the previous.

“I have an inntnashenal reputation. Do you have an innshnl reputation?” I can’t believe they’re lying on the stairs in 221b. Still makes me grin, even on the second and a half viewing. :-D

I also can’t believe Sherlock called Mrs Hudson Hudders! I only realized this on the second viewing. So funny!

“Am I the current King of England?” Oh Sherlock. And I’m just picturing Martin and Benedict rehearsing this scene. That must have been a blast. I bet there was lots of giggling!

“Which one of you is Sherlock Holmes?” John’s little whistly finger-point here makes me laugh out loud again. Honestly, Drunk!SherJohnlock, I can’t get enough of ‘em! Let’s toast to inebriation, Sherlockians! (Not that I condone consumption of massive doses of alcohol, mind you. But, come on, it was stag night!)

“The game is... something.”
“On.”
“Yeah, that!”
Oh boy, the poor woman. Not awkward. At all.

Drunk!Sherlock’s clueing for looks is utter genius.















Yeah, Sherlock, brilliant. Really, really brilliant work there.

And, you know, Hungover!SherJohnlock are almost as hilarious. Why is John not wearing any shoes when he’s sitting in the cell? Did he honestly go out without shoes on? Wait, Sherlock isn’t wearing any shoes either. Is that a drunk tank thing?

And then Mrs Hudson is at it again. Why does she keep yammering on about how marriage will completely change the way John treats his old friends? But I love that we got more of an insight into her past. A cartel, eh?

“It was purely physical between me and Frank, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.” You should see John’s face here. Oooh, have I mentioned enough how much I love Martin Freeman?

Sherlock’s Imaginary Mind Court
This scene is almost more fun to watch on the second viewing, because it gets a whole different meaning when you know that Sherlock is talking to these people online or in his head.

Side Note: Either Benedict can touch type, or this was, well... acting (probably the latter).

Another Side Note: It’s kinda funny when you pause the picture on the obituary entries that the Mayfly Man is said to have  used. The name Augustus is mentioned. Curiously reminiscent of Sherlock’s new enemy to be fully introduced in the next episode. One of the obits says, “Sleep well our pocket rocket.” Uhm, excuse me? “Charlotte Doreen Knightman nee Lee. Aged 76 years. Beloved husband of Gillian, much loved father of David and Roger.” Haha, a case of transgender identity?

“Ideal man?”
“George Clooney.”
I can see 90% of the Sherlock fandom imagining themselves standing there, going, “Benedict Cumberbatch.” :-)

And in his own Sherlocky way, he’s actually being eloquently touching. “I will solve your murder, but it takes John Watson to save your life. Trust me on that, I should know, he saved mine so many times, and in so many ways.”

Aaaaaand... we’re back to “wreck Sherlock’s life, why don’tcha?”. Bla bla, from now on, bla bla, marriage, bla bla, new story, bla bla, bigger adventure. Oh shut up, Sherlock! It’s already a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point.

I love it that they brought Irene Adler back, if only for a mere five seconds. Though I’m still trying to figure out where Tessa would have seen the wedding invitation. Let’s assume the Mayfly Man had it because he was the official wedding photographer. But why would he show it to Tessa? She never went to his real home, they dated in the dead person’s flat with the deaded skull, hi tech thing and wotsit thingamebob, remember? The frowny wrinkles on my forehead increase.

I’m sure there’s some symbolism in the fact that when Mycroft appears in Sherlock’s mind court, he’s in the judge’s seat, isn’t there? Sherlock’s rational voice of reason?

Off-piste... a bit
And then Sherlock gets... all wonky and odd and oh-darn-impeding-murder-quick-help-me, and John immediately knows something is wrong.

“Sorry, did I say murder? I meant to say... marriage. But, you know, they're quite similar procedures when you think about it. The participants tend to know each other, and it's over when one of them's dead.”
Man, I sure hope this is not turning into another self-fulfilling prophecy. Not before season seven, please. Alright, Mofftiss?

Vatican cameos? That is their code word? Or is he saying something else, he’s kinda hard to understand there. It’s so easy to miss all the good parts, once Sherlock gets going at racing speed. This, I only noticed on the second and a half rewatch: “Now, John, I'd poison. Sloppy eater, dead easy. I've given him chemicals and compounds, that way he's never even noticed. He missed a whole Wednesday once, didn't have a clue.”

John knows Sherlock too well. “You are not a puzzle solver, you never have been. You’re a drama queen.” Haha, he kinda is, isn’t he?

Okay, and here comes the undetectable stabbing reveal. Which I actually don’t get. How can you be stabbed with a blade long enough to cause real internal damage, no matter how thin, and not feel it? It kinda makes sense that a tight belt might squeeze your innards together enough for you to not bleed out, but you can’t tell me that you’d at least feel some kind of prick when a long-ish metal stick is being rammed into your back. In Lestrade’s words: Bollocks!

His Last Vow
Here’s more foreboding for you, because Sherlock’s little concluding speech at the end there might just tie in with the next episode (His Last Vow—get it?). “I’ve never made a vow in my life, and after tonight I never will again. So, here in front of you all, my first and last vow: Mary and John, whatever it takes, whatever happens, from now on I swear I will always be there. Always. For all three of you.”

So... assuming they don’t kill Mary off just yet, I think we need to conclude some serious shit is going to go down in the season 3 finale. If I’d have to hazard an educated guess, judging from the bonfire abduction, I’d say that Magnussen has some kind of plan to hurt Sherlock through doing something to John and/or Mary, and Sherlock will have to keep his promise to rescue them. We shall find out on Sunday.

And of course the episode finished on our lovely, recurrent “wreck Sherlock’s life, why don’tcha?” theme. God, so depressing. “Well, you’re hardly gonna need me around, now that you’ve got a real baby on the way.” No, Sherlock, from now on you’re going to be playing gooseberry, John’s never going to want you around, no one’s going to need you, and you’ll be all alone.

I have to hand it to them, however. He’s standing in the middle of the dancing crowd, surrounded by people, yet you can feel the isolation seeping through.

“I mean, who leaves a wedding early? So sad.” It is. And I kinda hated that they ended it on such a downbeat note. I very much enjoy television that evokes emotions, and a bit of angst I don’t mind, but not dejected bloody depressing gloom, okay?

I have hopes for the next episode to be more enjoyable, because I have a feeling I’m not going to want to revisit “The Sign of Three” much after this review—and I can only rewatch “The Empty Hearse” so many times and still stay reasonably sane. Please don’t disappoint me, Sherlock.

Comments

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yes, of course. Thanks for catching that! I've fixed it now.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

A-ha! Wow, thanks for explaining the part about Sholto, looks like that went right past me. And all the other stuff, of course. Being a big Great Britain fan, I daresay I know quite a lot about certain UK-specific things, but I think you must have lived there for a longer period of time to really understand all the nuances.

And, yes, that explanation about I.O.U. is very disappointing. I bet sometimes the writers just like to mess with the fans. How mean! :-)

[prosen8966.livejournal.com]

Just to be annoying (well, actually that's not true, but I thought it would have more weight if I phrased it that way) I totally enjoyed The Sign of Three (the first time I, personally, said that about the middle episode of a Sherlock season. Not that THOB was bad or anything, but compared to ASIB and TRF, it didn't have the same heft.)

And I don't disagree about the underlying depressing note floating about in the episode, but that can mostly be thrown onto Mrs. Hudson whom I thought showed the most appalling lack of forethought in almost every single thing she said throughout the entire episode. Indeed, if SHE played a game called 'How Could I Depress Sherlock In the Worst Possible Way', I'm pretty sure she said everything she could possibly have thought of for the game -- and then pushed it one step further by trying to shove John away as well, just in case he had any silly notions of still hanging around Baker Street following his marriage.

But apart from that, there were so, so many hysterical moments; so much delving into character motivation; so many true feelings being realized and expressed; and (as part of the funny) Sherlock's constant back and forth of such inappropriate things being said thruout the 'Speech That Would Not End.' (Personally, if Sherlock spoke throughout an entire episode, I could be happy w' that, to tell the truth...)

I don't know diddly about English wedding traditions (as I've lived my entire life in the states) so the telegram reading, for ex., was a completely new and random thing to happen (in my experience). It was certainly worth it, to see Sherlock's facial expressions & deepening difficulty in reading such messages, tho, so I was all for it. I was much more concerned w' the reference to Redbeard which I still don't understand in context with the show. (I tried to look this up and all I learned was that Redbeard was a pirate who had a brother who passed away, but Redbeard continued on after his brother's death.) What did Mycroft's comment mean? How did Sherlock's involvement, either in John's life, John & Mary's lives, or in the wedding itself compare w' the death of fellow bro pirate of Redbeard? What did that MEAN?

Yes, I'm still at a loss.

Billy Kincaid, on the other hand, I thought Sherlock explained thoroughly on the show itself. (Altho if there was, indeed, a real person named Billy Kincaid, perhaps that adds additional substance to the whole scene.)

How Janine, tho, somehow decided NOT to go for Sherlock but ultimately for the sci-fi geek is beyond my comprehension. When she first brought up the concept of 'getting together', she threw it out there in such a manner that almost any guy might be thrown (except, perhaps, for random seriously horny men who just don't give a crap about that sort of thing). But after spending time w' Sherlock; after getting dancing lessons from him; there just wasn't anything that I, as an audience member, anyway, saw, that seemed to say: stay back; get away; don't touch me; anything along those lines. Indeed, other than w' Irene Adler, I don't recall ever seeing Sherlock so easy with someone, so why she was convinced that they didn't have a chance remains perplexing.

Molly, however, had a great opportunity to see her two men together and realize that no matter how much Tom might resemble Sherlock, he appears to be a moron (or, to be fair, a moron as compared to the detective.) Why SHE didn't follow Sherlock as he appeared to be leaving the wedding is another mystery.

I've actually re-watched The Sign of Three a bunch of times and enjoyed each and every re-watch. (Altho I can't tell you HOW MUCH I appreciate your pics of Sherlock's drunken deductions from the Mayfly Man's apartment!!) Sherlock KNOWS ash, ya know. Don't tell him he doesn't!!

Pt. 1 of 2

[prosen8966.livejournal.com]

Pt. 2 of 2


I am a bit concerned re the last episode, only b'c I saw a trailer for it, and it made me think that Sherlock could not keep up his better relations w' Mycroft & 'last vow' from TSOT by the end of that episode (possibly both; who can tell?) I mean, DON'T tell me if you DO know -- I don't want to know spoilers. I probably shouldn't have even watched those 30 seconds. But from the general underlying tone of TSOT, I could likely have figured that out no matter what. (I was really into that Frasier & Niles feel I thought we were now going to get from Sherlock & Mycroft... But we may still get that; like I mentioned; who can say?)

In any case, perhaps someone who reads your review (or someone who reads the transcript) will send me an explanation of that friggin' pirate reference so that I can sleep peacefully at night! (And, while I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure there isn't a limit on how many times you can re-watch TEH because of worries of going insane. Of course, they say that when it happens, you're always the last to know, so don't take MY word for this...)

[gaedhal.livejournal.com]

The telegraph thing has to be an English tradition -- who in the U.S. would
even know how to send one? The last one I got was literally in 1980.

I'm waiting impatiently for the new episodes, but it's making me uneasy
because for the first time I'm reading not at all positive reviews of not
just one (the middle) ep, but the first two. When there are only three
episodes every thousand years (so it feels), that's troubling.

I'll have to wait and see.

[piplover.livejournal.com]

I think Redbeard was a pet, one that Sherlock loved dearly and that died. It would explain a lot, and ties back into Mycroft's throwaway line that Sherlock wanted to be a pirate. It would also tie into the don't get attached warning he keeps giving him.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

because for the first time I'm reading not at all positive reviews of not just one (the middle) ep, but the first two. When there are only three episodes every thousand years (so it feels), that's troubling.

Just for the record, I loved The Empty Hearse a lot, so if you're referring to my review about it, I must have phrased it wrongly. But I'm guessing you're alluding more to the general tone of the fandom's take on it.

Yes, it is a little disconcerting to think that after the long wait, people aren't happy with what they're getting. But that, in itself, may be part of the "problem". The Reichenbach Fall was a very strong episode, with the cliffhanger of cliffhangers. People had two years to agonize over the continuation, throw different survival theories out there and just generally pine for Moffat and Gatiss to resolve the myth they created.

And then, when it actually happened, I think it might not have lived up to the perhaps larger-than-life continuation they would have expected.

I don't really follow the Sherlock fandom in a lot of detail, so I haven't read more than one or two metas about season 3. However, I think the general gist of what I've seen mostly has to do with the fact that a lot of people were angry at Sherlock to be so dismissive of John's feelings, and then play another cruel mind game on him on the train in 3x01.

I can see where they're coming from. I would have to lie if I said that didn't cross my own mind. But in the end it comes down to trying to stay true to Sherlock's character and motivation, and I think they managed to walk that fine line very well.

Personally, I don't think we need to be worried that some of the fandom didn't seem to have liked season 3 much so far. The franchise is way too successful for the BBC to abandon because some of the hardcore fans are a bit disgruntled.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

You know, that actually makes a lot of sense! I'm gonna go with that theory. Maybe we'll learn in the next episode.

So, what do you think it would have been? A cat? A hedgehog? A beaver? ;-)

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

You can be as annoying as you want to be, I love a healthy, controversial discussion every now and then. :-)

On second thought, maybe my review came across a little too negative. I'm not saying I hated the episode, or that I thought it was terrible. I suppose it's a case of high-level whining. Cause the eight episodes of Sherlock are still a hundred times better than, say, all 14 seasons of C.S.I. combined.

I think my "problem" with it is that I empathized with Sherlock a little too much. I don't want him to be alone and lose his best friend, so it hurt all the more that he increasingly led himself to believe that was what was going to happen.

You're right to say that this aspect only came from Mrs Hudson's side, almost as if she was deliberately trying to put a wedge between Sherlock and John. Perhaps it was unintentional, because I just can't think of a reason why she would want to do that. Was she projecting her own fear of "losing" John all over again. Was she just trying to prepare Sherlock for a possibility that could be lying ahead? We will never know.

Someone else commented further down that Redbeard may have been a pet that Sherlock got attached to and that then died. And I think that makes a lot of sense. What do you think?

On the matter of Janine, I had that thought as well. But, you know, I think that may be a case of "I don't want a weirdo for a boyfriend". Because you gotta admit, Sherlock isn't the most warm and genial guy. He's an eccentric, and can be awkward in the company of others. Janine saw a good bit of that at the wedding, and maybe she decided not to go there.

I'm still trying to decide whether there was even any real UST between the two of them, and I don't actually think there was. Sherlock may have been so easy around her because he never saw her as a romantic possibility (or a female challenge he had to conquer -- like The Woman).

I agree to your statement about Molly. Come to think of it, she's always been the one person to be able to tell his true sorrow and read his feelings through that thick armour of his. The glance she gave him just before he left suggested she was seeing that he was shrouded in melancholy. And yet she didn't act on it. Why is that?

I've seen the preview for His Last Vow as well. Not that I even know any spoilers, but I wouldn't be too worried, because sometimes they tend to cut these things together to create the most possible drama, but then when you see the actual scenes in the finished product, they get a whole different meaning or flavour.

I personally think Mycroft and Sherlock will always have a healthy dose of competition between them. Neither of them wear their feelings on their sleeves, and they live for the game. We've seen their relationship being both adversarial and something approaching brotherly love. I believe both elements will always be there, it's just that the scales can tip in each direction at one point or another.

I believe I may already have the pastures of sanity. I'm a high-functioning looney. There, I said it. :-)

[piplover.livejournal.com]

Lol! Knowing Sherlock, I'm thinking dog, or, perhaps non traditionally, a rat or guinea pig.

[prosen8966.livejournal.com]

One can never emphasize with Sherlock 'too much' -- that is an impossibility (IMO). And while I do basically throw most of the blame on Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft essentially echoed her statements and at the end of the wedding, after Sherlock's last deduction, he, himself, said something along the lines of John & Mary no longer needing him around w' the arrival of the 'real' infant (or some such thing - I don't feel like Googling the actual sentence and I just woke up less than 30 minutes ago...)

Ariane actually commented back to me that Redbeard will end up being Sherlock's pet bunny, which actually strengthens Sherlock's desire to find out why Bluebell had to die?! (Of course, this is complete fabrication, headcanon, but until someone comes up with a better or more positive explanation, I'm going with it b'c it explains the hole in the story and fixes an annoyance that was bothering me to no end...)

Janine might have thought that Sherlock was too complicated, too complex, or simply not nice enough to be her BF, but he's definitely MY type -- gorgeous, highly intellectual, humorous, eccentric, not religious (I mean, I'm Jewish but only in identifying with that community), 100% towards those he cares about, etc. etc. And his childish behavior can be compared with, say, MY childish behavior so I can't really say that's problematic. Most importantly, sharp, sarcastic, House-like statements make me melt (b'c, again, I do that) so I believe we're made for one another and Irene should, indeed, stay out of Sherlock's head &, if I have any say in the matter (I don't) out of his life.

Three days until the last episode!! And then the beginning of all types of new fanfic! Watching & re-watching Sherlock episodes (to me) is a constant joy - except, perhaps, for TBB - but I found that I was sick of reading all Glee fanfic and opening myself up Sherlock writing was a wondrous new adventure!! (You know, apart from Elizabeth George, Karin Slaughter, Jeffery Deaver, Jennifer Crusie, Shannon McKenna, etc.) Those cost (ehem...) money. How crass.

Again, apropos of nothing, Matt Bomer (Boner) has eaten my brain (well, something less family friendly) as well! (I just noticed that on the side of your journal... What good taste!

Very excited about the final episode, whatever may occur; and impressed with all the little details from ACD's stories included in all episodes in sly ways... Still can't get over the WOW factor of seeing the eps weeks in advance of their actual viewing times in the states (people on the Internet get bum raps for no reason a'tall!!

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Or a hamster or gerbil?

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

You're probably right that one can never empathize with Sherlock too much. Though, mostly, I must admit I empathize more with John, because he usually gets the short end of the stick. Maybe this had such a big impact on me because it's very unusual that you even realize Sherlock's being emotionally affected by anything. Sherlock's normal outward perception is that everything even remotely emotional rolls right off his back, but of course that doesn't mean he doesn't have any feelings.

And you're right, it wasn't just Mrs Hudson with the depressing comments. Mycroft was basically telling Sherlock the same thing: Don't get attached, he's gonna disappoint you by focusing all his attention on his wife from now on. Though, of course, what cred does Mycroft actually have to be giving this advice? He's no less of a sociopath than Sherlock.

I'm not even sure if Sherlock would be my type if I met him in real life. I'd probably get really annoyed and frustrated with him after a short period of time. I don't deal well with people who dwell on things and don't give you straight and/or quick answers. Probably the German in me. And on the visual side of things... while Benedict is surely as handsome as they come, there are men I find a lot more attractive. 'Nuff said. (Not to mention that I think Sherlock would have sub-zero interest in a not overly intellectual or attractive geek such as myself.) :-)

I occasionally rewatch the episodes as well, sometimes with friends that I'm trying to introduce to the show, but it's not a regular thing with me. I have enough other shows to tide me over, though few that mean as much to me.

Fanfic-wise, I'm probably a bit of an oddity in the fandom, as I don't enjoy any of the Johnlock stuff. I've never understood the desire to stick two people together in a relationship that is against everything that canon suggests. While Moffat and Gatiss have been very good at dropping slashy hints here and there, they've always made it clear that John is straight, and the Sherlock/Irene relationship suggested Sherlock was too. I can't see them in a gay relationship at all. And I have no interest to read about them being in a gay relationship, much less read about how they're having sex.

Which is not to say I'm anti-slash. To each their own, and the slash enthusiasts are certainly entitled to enjoy their side of things. Fan fiction-wise, that makes it very difficult for me. It's so hard to even *find* non-slash stories in the fandom, especially since I've found a lot of Sherlock stories labeled gen are actually slash. Maybe I'm too spoiled from the White Collar fandom.

I've written a few, very short Sherlock pieces, but mostly for landcomm challenges or prompt fics. Nothing I'm overly proud of, but it's always been fun to write!

Since you mentioned Glee, I will have to admit that Glee is a show/fandom that totally eludes me. I've seen the episode with Matt Bomer, and I immediately knew it would be a show I would not watch voluntarily unless there was an actor in it I really loved. I'm not judging, just saying it's not my thing.

While I still enjoy Matt's work, season 5 of White Collar has seriously under-impressed me, and I'm close to giving up on it altogether. You may find rants about it in my journal. I loved the show in it's first two or three seasons, and I've written lots and lots of fanfic for it, but I've pretty much departed from any active participation in the fandom now.

Yes, it's pretty astounding what the internet can do these days. I actually watched 3x02 via BBC live stream at the same time it aired in the UK, which was a first for me. I usually just wait until the next day and grab my shows off the 'net, but with Sherlock I just couldn't wait. I think Germany is set to air season 3 around Easter. I mean, I can't stand the German dubbing anyway. I'm tempted to take a look, just to see what voices they gave John and Sherlock, but I'm sure I'm going to hate them.

[prosen8966.livejournal.com]

I'm actually under a bit of a time-constraint and can easily see forgetting and/or thinking I'll respond at some point in the future which will become never so I'm going to try to type fast.

This will be easiest to start w' Glee. Because I was raised on show tunes (and classical music, but that has no bearing on this conversation so poof!) and Broadway shows since we lived quite close to the City and I never realized that this was actually a big deal (other than being excited about going to a show; you know: WOW! Lilith is starring in Chicago! This is so cool... Bebe Neuwirth... to be accurate) so I was sort of like Sherlock in how I looked at that (that is to say, Sherlock's response to how his tea miraculously appeared each morning). I appreciate the time and expense NOW, of course, but at the time, nope, not at all.

In any case, this might explain why I was so thrilled with the concept of Glee and then I saw the pilot and fell headfirst in love (but seriously) with Chris Colfer who, during the first season, looked like a baby or, a quote from an early episode: he looks like an eleven year old milkmaid... so it was more of an identification w' his character than anything else. He felt ostracized by the other kids, alone, and had developed a snarky, sarcastic, vigilant, arrogant, vain, immodest approach as a result. (He was/is shown to be quite intelligent from the very start, using vocabulary unusual in a teenager, possibly as a result of spending so much time alone and friendless.) His audition song for the Glee Club is Mr. Cellophane, so you get the gist. But, in any case, thru the club and the people he meets and just general changes in high school, one sees him grow (metaphorically and literally) as the show goes on and it just so happens that CC (who starts the show at age 18) has a somewhat late in life growth spurt so he goes from, like, 5'6" when the show starts to about (I think) 5'11" now (as I type this) which is a fairly huge change. And he goes from this teeny baby character whose cheeks you want to squeeze to, basically, sex on a stick (at least in my eyes, and millions of others - the whole thing is subjective; albeit, I don't think Matt Bomer's looks are truly subjective, but that's a different story).

So. I felt a bit lost in high school. I wasn't gay and going thru a problem with meathead jocks or coming out to my family, but I was seen as a 'brain' (just like you) - I followed two older sisters close in age as they zipped thru their classes; my mother was on the Board of Education, my father was a Village Trustee (like a ridiculous political position for our teeny-tiny town wherein all the teachers at school knew my parents) and I felt separated from the other kids as a result. And I felt like I approached things in a quite similar manner to Kurt - I identified really strongly with him from the get-go, so it would have taken a lot for this thread to be broken and, as it turned out, CC was/is a tremendous actor so that didn't go away. And since he WAS gay, his potential partners, ultimate BF, and when I eventually discovered this thing called 'fanfic' random whoever people who might BECOME his special-someones had to, of course, be gay. And since the only fanfic I read for the next two years was Glee, I got quite used to slash as a general rule.

[prosen8966.livejournal.com]

There came a point (I can't quite remember when) wherein it popped in my head that if Glee had all fanfic, OTHER shows must as well, and I looked up NCIS to see if any of this Tiva romance existed on paper (since there was shit-all happening on the show itself) but in point of fact, all the fanfics were about Tony & Gibbs and while Sherlock might be virginal, with a bent towards Irene & John has been shown repeatedly dating women, he does in fact, give up quite easily on all his women to help out Sherlock and there's no reason Sherlock couldn't ultimately be interested in John, just like Irene. (IMO.) If you've EVER seen NCIS, tho, the concept that Tony and/or Gibbs being gay is just ludicrous. And NOT b'c (as I've mentioned) I'm anti-slash. As I said, almost every single fanfic I've read has been slash. But they made sense. You don't just grap two heterosexual people and have them sleep together b'c it's 'fiction'. If you're going to start off using characters that exist from the get-go, you shouldn't rip apart everything the audience knows about them. (Or, at least, as a general rule, that's my feeling.) You should pretty much go with what you have and then use THAT to grow your story.

Anyway, going backwards, Glee has been going to shit for the past few years but I can't completely stop watching b'c Kurt/CC is still there. But it's almost complete crap now. I started off watching White Collar and LIKED it and now can't for life of me remember what stopped me from continuing, if only to stare at MB for an hour. But seriously. And he and Peter's bromance was actually quite interesting to see b'c, you might have seen this differently as you were probably paying more attention & I haven't watched in ages, but the way I remember it, Peter and Neil didn't have sexual chemistry; they had a friendship/working link (albeit, I guess that's pretty much the same as Sherlock & John so people can see however they want.)

I never, until 8 days ago, watched live streaming from overseas. And I was unaware of the website where I could actually GET downloads of Sherlock until New Year's Eve so while I've spent much of 2013 watching and reading Sherlock, I wasn't in contact with any other people who were interested in the show, which was weird only b'c when I discovered LJ and the Glee forums, people poured forth re their love of the program, and so I spent much of this past year sort of wondering: where ARE all those supposed Sherlock fans? Do they all hide in England?

This is the point where you think to yourself, what? She thought she was BRIGHT in high school?

But now I'm overtime and have to run and can not check for mis-spellings and such. Don't judge...

By the by, the concept of who people find attractive really is pretty subjective person to person. It generally comes down to who THEIR type is or who they respond to or even (like for me) whether elements like intellect come into things -- humor, kindness, sarcasm (that's just me, I know few people who go - wow! obnoxious & ironic, he's for me!!), etc. etc. But I liked Alex P. Keaton (Family Ties); Niles (Frasier); Chandler BING (Friends), House; Sherlock (both movie & BBC versions); Sheldon Cooper (Big Band Theory). There's truly no physical resemblance between all those characters, having written them out...

And the biggest joy is that, esp'ly in RL, it only HELPS if there are fewer girls in competition...

And again, I sprint!!

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Music was never a big part in my parents' life, and I'm pretty much the only person in our family who plays any instruments, so I don't have that background. And I'm not big into musicals, so I guess Glee just isn't for me. However, I can certainly see the appeal for people who love musical style music.

It's funny you should mention you were a bit of an outsider in school. I suppose I was too, because I just never hung with the "hip" crowd, and never did all the partying and the drinking, and whatever the hip crowd did. But the great thing about it was that I didn't feel negative about it, or was treated as a dork.

I had a group of like-minded friends that I had fun with. I guess we weren't the stereotypical uncool nerds, we were just... different.

I can certainly empathize more with the "outsiders" characters on TV, but it's not like I really need to identify with them. I suppose now, some twenty odd years after the German version of high school, I'm just a lot more comfortable with who I am, and I don't see myself as an outsider or weirdo. In the grand scheme of things, I'm probably still pretty normal, whatever that means. Except that I'm one of those "fandom" people that you rarely find in any regular conglomeration of people (e.g. in the workplace).

And if, on any given TV show, I can say I truly identify with a character, it's usually the science geek or the scientist, cause that's basically who I am. I have a Master's degree in molecular biology, so go figure. :-) And if I have a favourite character in any TV show, you can count on him or her being some kind of tragic hero who's a magnet for emotional angst. Not sure who this is on Sherlock, though. I think I actually like Sherlock and John in equal measure, for different reasons. I can also partly identify with Molly, cause, you know, scientist with a knack for unrequited love.

It makes a certain kind of sense if you say slash fiction is not so much about wanting to stay true to the characters, but taking them and shaping them into something that's different and, to a degree, your own.

To me fan fiction is like an extension of a show or movie I love. I don't want to stray from the universe that's been created, and that I've come to appreciate and love. And if suddenly the character does something that he or she would never do the show, it just seems wrong.

After Reichenbach Fall, I was sooooo craving angsty John/Sherlock reunion fics, but I have yet to find one I like that's not slash. Not that I've really undertaken any meticulous search, because I just got frustrated at the fact that what I was looking for probably didn't exist in this fandom. I haven't searched since.

In the White Collar fandom, I'd say probably more than 90% of fanfic is Neal/Peter slash or Neal/Peter/Elizabeth OT3. Some of my best WhiCo fandom friends are slash writers, and I will admit to having read some of the more relationshippy PG-13ish fics, because they were just so well written. But it's not my comfort zone.

The great thing about WhiCo is, however, that there's also a nice little gen community, and if you know where to look, it's easy to find all the good gen fic (that then really is gen). In the Sherlock fandom, either I haven't found the right place(s) yet, or a fanfic community interested in writing and reading gen fic just doesn't exist.

I'd say I know my way around getting TV shows on the internet fairly well, mainly out of necessity to avoid the German dubbing. Literally everything on regular German TV is dubbed, and you don't get the choice to switch to original language. I avoid German TV like the plague.

(to be continued)

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish there was more Sherlock interactivity on LJ. The comms seem to mostly host fanfic, and there's usually not a lot of response to any of the episode discussion posts.

I sometimes check Tumblr, but I don't specifically follow any Sherlock blogs, and just looking at the Sherlock tag can be too overwhelming because there's, like, at least 20 new posts every minute, and you just can't keep up and still have a life. Plus, Tumblr often is so shallow, and really shite if you want to hold any kind of meaningful discussion (not because of the fans, but because of the fact that you have to reblog something in order to reply).

But the few moments where I find something hilarious that just makes me laugh make it all worthwhile. :-D

[prosen8966.livejournal.com]

So, I'm still actually busy right now but have internet access & read your comments & had to just respond to two things mentioned here:

It makes a certain kind of sense if you say slash fiction is not so much about wanting to stay true to the characters, but taking them and shaping them into something that's different and, to a degree, your own.

I'm okay with wandering about with the characters in various ways (altho I prefer to stay in the general Sherlock world) but what I actually meant was that I wanted to, indeed, stay true to the characters, and THEN one could take the established characters and write a story, whatever that story might be, using the already conceived individuals from the show and/or movie (and/or books) altho ACDs style can be a bit dry for me, and some of his tales run for pages and pages and I feel like shouting 'just get to the friggin' point!!' (which is what an English major, as opposed to molecular biologist, is wont to do). I have a law degree as well, if that helps my credentials in any manner?? However, I'm not presently using the degree, so I'm just mentioning it so as not to seem slow in comparison...

So. While I enjoy fanfic being an extension of the show or movie, I don't mind if, for example, people have Sherlock return in what happened to be quite similar fashions to TEH, in fact, and then start off on various adventures depending on how whichever author decided that John was going to react to Sherlock's re-entrance into his life. [Mind you, what ALL fanfics included, and what was inexplicably NOT included in TEH, was a danger to John's life should Sherlock get in touch w' him during that time period. Why TPTB decided not to take that route I will never, but never, understand. I remain convinced that that was ludicrous and am unlikely to change my mind.] And one of the absolute BEST Sherlock fanfics ever written (except that you don't like the slash concept) is Saving Sherlock Holmes wherein the author went back in time to 1987 when she decided that Mycroft was 18 and Sherlock was 11 and their mother had just died. (Clearly not canon, albeit she couldn't have known that at the time it was written.) It shows how the brothers grew up, and includes almost every single canon reference to date (when published) in an astonishingly well-written and intricately detailed, character driven tale. It's wondrous. I would easily have spent money on that - without blinking an eye. It's better than many authors published today.

Seriously.

I'd say I know my way around getting TV shows on the internet fairly well, mainly out of necessity to avoid the German dubbing.

You're not familiar with Glee so you don't know CC (which is sad) but, in any case, he happens to have a really high voice, that he can do nothing about (obviously) and, after a while, probably was concerned that he might LOSE the high voice as it defined both his character and his amazing singing range (he can sing thru five octaves which, as you said you're not a music person, just take my word for it -- it's a big deal.) In any case, he was interviewed after visiting Paris for some reason, and he saw the French version of Glee while he was there and said that the person they had dubbing for him had this really low masculine voice which, if you've ever heard Kurt, is just totally ridiculous, and I'm pretty sure that they leave the regular songs in so that whatever the French are listening to when Kurt speaks suddenly goes, like, 4 octaves up when he sings. That must sound completely normal and right. (Sarcasm.) Chris was also complaining b'c he called down to the desk and called room service and they insisted on calling him mademoiselle and he didn't want to continuously make a fuss so this happened over a week's time and, he said, completely emasculated him prior to arriving back home.

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

The 'telegram ' is now a short hand way of saying card and messages sent from those who couldn't be at the wedding and it is traditional for the best-man to read them out - fortunately most make less of hash of it than Sherlock.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Haha, I wasn't trying to throw around credentials just for the heck of it. I just meant to illustrate why I usually identify with the science enthusiasts. And just like you, I'm not actually using my degree so much in my current line of work. It's still a science-related job, but it doesn't have anything to do with what I studied at university.

I might have to check out that fanfic you mentioned, it sounds quite good. And just to clarify, I didn't mean to say I can't enjoy a good AU story. I just don't really like it when they twist something around that is clearly against canon (or at least was that way at the time the story was written).

I don't even know if Glee is on German TV (it probably is), so I can't say anything towards CC's voice. But I get what you're saying. It happens quite often that the dubbing voices sound nothing like the original voice, although they often try to make an effort. Also, in Germany they try to always give one actor the same voice, at least those that are fairly well known.

And sometimes the same guy does the voice for two separate actors. Someone recently told me it would be a problem to have Arnold Schwarzenegger and Silvester Stalone in the same movie, because in Germany both have the same dubbing voice. Eep.

Now that we're talking about it, I'm actually tempted to find a German snipped from Sherlock. Normally I'd just pop in the DVD or Blu-ray, but my Sherlock Blu-rays are actually from the UK with a German audio track. Guess I need to hit up YouTube.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

My toenails are still curling at Lestrade's voice. Sherlock and John aren't great, but not nearly as terrible as Greg.

[prosen8966.livejournal.com]

You will now lose all good feeling (assuming it's still there) and certainly any and all intellectual respect, but having grown up YEARS and YEARS after the Holocaust, in a different country; brought up as a reformed Jew, and now an atheist, I still can not hear German voices without automatically thinking about WWII.

It's appalling, I know.

My dad's parents immigrated from Russia (well, actually fled the country b'c they weren't supposed to leave and my grandmother, while Jewish, was actually a doctor so, that was an issue...) but, in any case, you'd think that I'd either have gotten over it or have different issues but there you go.

And, of course, German, to my completely untrained ear (I'm terrible at languages as opposed to one of my friends at college who could speak about 9 fluently) sounds very guttural whereas French always sounds so pretty, even if they're asking where the toilets might be located or Irish or English (British) which sounds lovely to me.

Speaking of which, did you see that clip of BC saying the words to R. Kelly's song Genius?

Let me link you just in case...



See, THIS is why Sherlock could just do a monologue for an hour and I'd be happy...!!

[bootoye.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading your review. XD

I actually enjoyed watching TSo3 and I have seen it about 4 times now... once iPlayer works I will watch it again ^^

You have picked out my fave parts of this ep and I loved seeing those screencaps. Thanks

About Tessa and the Wedding invitation she and the other Mayfly 'victims' worked for Major Sholto and therefore I assume as a private nurse she works closely with him and would have had an opportunity to see and read the Wedding Invitation. Small hunted down Tessa and the others so he could pose as photographer and get his own 'invite' as substitute photographer so he could kill Sholto.

I heard that one of the cast dies and Moffat and Gatiss say that they want Sherlock to HATE Magnuessen so I am thinking either Mary (it's canon) or Mrs. Hudson.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Benedict is hilarious! I've been watching a few interviews with him online lately, and, yes, I can certainly see the appeal.

I love his deep voice as well, and I totally get where you're coming from. You know, when I was watching The Desolation of Smaug for the first time, I thought somehow that scene between Smaug and Bilbo in the mine really dragged on for too long. After about a minute or two, I stopped listening to the dialogue and just let myself be enthralled by Benedict's booming Smaug voice. I totally get it.

It's fine to be reminded of WW II when you hear German. I take no offense at all. It's part of our history, but hopefully a part that we've learned from.

For me it's always a bit ambiguous to watch TV shows or movies where the Germans are usually pictured as atrocious, cruel killers. Cause somehow you've got that inherent feeling of patriotism that makes you want to be proud of your country, but then there's also repressed vicarious shame, because your fellow countrymen did this terrible thing decades ago.

You're right, German isn't a very nice language to listen to. I learned French in school, and I agree that it sounds a lot lovelier. I personally like most of the Scandinavian languages (not that I can speak them), because they're so melodious.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm sure I will watch The Sign of Three again at some point. It wasn't terrible, and I think I've analyzed the whole depressing undertone enough now to be past it. There were so many good moments in the episode, and they'll be fun to go back to.

Oh, and normally I would shake you by the collar now until your brain bled fog for posting that super big spoiler. ;-) I'm the biggest spoilerphobe ever, although in this case you're lucky because I had picked that up somewhere on Tumblr before. Well, it could be worse, because we don't know who dies, but still... I normally prefer going totally blind into new episodes.

I really hope it's not Mary or Mrs Hudson. My bet is on Anderson, although perhaps he's a bit too "minor" to be announced by Moffat as one of the biggies of His Last Vow.

[prosen8966.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, I'm clearly proud to be an American wherein we came to America, stole all the land from the Indians (killing them first w' the heinous diseases we brought over & then, of course, with rifles & such) in order to leave the 'tyranny' of Great Britain.

We then proceeded to drag over the necessary slave labor from Africa in boats, tearing apart families & villages, with no thought to their well-being, and having now annihilated approximately 85-90% of the Indian tribes, we then set up a 'democracy' wherein people with land (and penises) voted (the male slaves voted how their masters wished, as three-fifths a person) and started our new government.

It was a proud, proud moment and even now brings a tear to my eye.

I could go on but I'm pretty sure you get the point... (Indeed, as I type this, Congress is voting on whether or not to continue to keep food stamps and welfare out of the hands of people who properly deserve it just because. Apparently, voting for a program, ANY program, put forth by a Democrat, is a sign of weakness and if poor, malnourished children die in the streets, that's preferable to being seem as a wuss.)

Ah, America. Land of the free.

[bootoye.livejournal.com]

So sorry about the spoiler. I am treating it as just hearsay until His Last Vow actually airs.... ^^

But well there is a lot of emphasis on canon in BBC Sherlock and Moffat and Gatiss and the rest of the Sherlock Holmes world all know that Mary did not last very long in ACD's stories.

You are too good !!! i'm amazed with your analysis :-)

[sherlocked01.livejournal.com]

i'm really really amazed to read your thoughts on " Sherlock" series…. because its so so similar to what i feel… i'm been " Sherlocked" ,(in that sense) rather late… but i got hooked on and waited with bated breath (after watching both season 1 & 2 back to back )...for season 3 to begin… and now that the season has already crossed mid-way i think a bigger tragedy is in store too :-(
also..i 'm a big fan of the original works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and think both Sherlock and John have actually been shown as straight in all the original works… but to each his own . Hence i don't enjoy reading fan fics too as they depict more of sex and less of any interesting themes as such.
And what a brilliant actor we have in Benedict Cumberbatch…he really breathes life into "Sherlock" !!! Have you seen Jeremy Brett in the earlier versions..i thought he was good too till we encountered the modern and younger version.
i am so glad to have met you and your reading makes me feel there are like minded people in all parts of this world.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Well, it could just have been a bit of a mean comment to stir up the fandom. As in making them all think a major character is going to die, and then it turns out to be Magnussen or Mike Stamford or, I don't know, Tom.

And I'm seriously going to hate TPTB if they kill off a major character and then leave us hanging with a super big cliffhanger related to that. I mean, we already know there's going to be a cliffhanger, but I hold out hope that it's not going to be as bad as I think the worst case scenario might be.

I can see how Mary will be an eventual target for a character to die, but I'm kinda clinging to the fact that Amanda tweeted the other day that she hopes to be on the show for a long time, unless she does something to piss off Moffat and Gatiss. Of course that could just have been deflection, but, well...

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

I liked this episode. For sure better than TEH, but I am not sure how much, because I have the feeling to really judge it, you have to see the whole season. I guess you will have to revisit it, because when all is said and done, I am ready to bet that a lot what happened in The Sign of Three will be seen in a totally different light.

Either way, your questions:
1. "Redbeard" is most likely one of the clues the writers left. My guess is that it is a codename for CAM.
2. Yeah, I guess Mrs. Hudson is laughing about the idea of Sherlock, the Grammar Nazi, is forced to use words like "Squishy cuddles", though I think the main reason for the scene is that they can explain Mike's absence and slip in another clue concerning CAM.
3. Billy Kincaid is made up, but the whole thing is a canon reference. Holmes mentions at one point that the best man he ever knew is someone nobody would expect to do so good, while a seemingly perfectly lovely women garrotted all her children or something like that...I have to look it up. Neither the name of the man nor the woman is mentioned, so the writers just made something up, I guess.
4. Yes, taking the shoes is a drunk tank thing.
5. I was first doubtful concerning the solution of the case myself, but then I remembered that I once read that there have been cases of woman being more hurt than they thought while wearing a corsage. They seemed to be fine, but the moment they removed it, a seemingly minor injury turned out to be life threatening. I guess a tight belt would work the same way. I was doubtful concerning those two men not noticing that they were stabbed, but then I remembered that those guard stood out there for hours. This in combination with the belt should deaden the nerves enough that even if he did feel something, he would most likely put it down to back pains. And Major Sholto has obviously nerve damage from burn wound at the whole left of his body. In addition, the murderer used an old pocket thief trick - he touched his victims at their shoulders, distracting their attention to this touch so that they wouldn't feel the other one. All in all, I think it can be done that way, and I love that we got all the facts and the time to figure it out (someone online told me that she did, because she had a similar experience with an injury under a belt which turned out to be really dangerous with her husband).

Re: You are too good !!! i'm amazed with your analysis :-)

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you so much! It's really great to hear that people actually read and like my reviews. I try to give my best, although sometimes it's just odd rambling that flow from my brain to my fingers. :-)

I only got sucked into the Sherlock fandom quite late, just like you. I watched both seasons when season 2 had already finished airing. Which was nice, because I could all watch it in one go. And then, well, there was a two-year wait. Blergh.

I had a short Sherlock Holmes phase in my late teens (about a million and a half lifetimes ago, it seems), and lately I've felt I should perhaps go back and read the originals again, because I don't retain that kind of information very well. I have actually listened to some of the unabridged audiobooks on LibriVox a few weeks ago, but I think it was only The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I got stuck with A Study in Scarlett, because one of the readers was so terrible that I couldn't stand listening. I have since found another free version, but I haven't gone back and continued. Just something else on the to-do list.

I must also admit that I haven't seen any other Sherlock Holmes renditions. The movie with Robert Downey Jr. didn't seem like my thing, and for some strange reason I find it hard to enjoy movies that were made before the 2000's (with the possible exception of Monty Python).

And I'm also really glad there are like-minded people in the Sherlock fandom, because sometimes I feel like I'm the only fan out there who doesn't ship Johnlock (or any non-canon slash pairing, for that matter). Let's form a club. We can exchange nicotine patches and drink tea with severed eyeballs in it. It'll be fun. :-D

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

I agree, usually the previous episodes in a season reveal new details and meanings when you go back after the season finale. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

1. The theory of Redbeard being a pet Sherlock got attached to as a kid (which someone else posted in a comment) sounded good, but I think yours makes sense as well. We shall see if it's picked up again in His Last Vow.

3. Ah, that's good to know. Just another small hint from the original lore thrown in there for the hardcore fans. :-)

5. You know, I also wondered if John's earlier comment about the afferent nervous system had anything to do with the victims not feeling the stab, but it just didn't seem to be related (at least not that I could see). I suppose it's possible that you wouldn't feel a small prick if you've been standing for several hours, but I still think it's somehow unlikely in this case, because the belts wouldn't have been worn as tight as a corsage.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know this theory, too, but I have the feeling that the writers deliberately threw in the "I am not a child" to mislead us. They are sneaky that way. Really sneaky. Did you notice during TEH the rolling news at the TV when Sherlock coming back was announced? It's another hint to CAM, but naturally you don't pay attention to it unless you are looking for clues...or this time around one of the news articles under the bank robbery? "Moderate Drinker have the last laugh" indeed.

I have been trying to put together a reference list for my blog (http://swanpride2.wordpress.com/) but I am glad that I waited with posting more than the second part...it will take some time to divide quotes of "The Sign of Four" fit better for TBB and which one belong to this episode.

I wondered about that comment too, but honestly, the part of dialogue makes no sense to me. Sherlock asks how they resists the urge to scratch themselves and John tells him something about bottom itch? I am currently asking around. The belts though look like they are worn very tight.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Oh, I nearly forgot: Yes, he says Vatican cameos, the same code word he already used in season 2 (and which is, btw, also a canon reference).

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

You know, I am at a really nice Sherlock Forum...a lot of German fans there. We'll even meet up tomorrow to watch the last episode together. And give each other our support.

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

What's the URL?

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Well, the afferent nervous system which John mentions carries impulses from the sensory organs (such as skin) to the brain. That's how you become aware of the fact that you've got a "bum itch". But I'm not sure how that answers Sherlock's question of how they resist the urge to scratch themselves.

Unless he said efferent and not afferent, because the efferent system carries impulses from your brain to your sensory organs, including muscles in your extremities. So if you get an afferent impulse that says your bum itches, you need to produce and efferent impulse to make your hand scratch it. Though I'm also not exactly sure how you could specifically suppress your efferent nervous pathways.

Anyway, I'm sure this is all just hypothetical. John's comment might not have meant anything in the first place other than showing Sherlock he's not completely stupid, and for once is more well-versed in something than Sherlock. ;-)

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

http://sherlock.boardhost.com/index.php

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Send it to you, but was marked as spam....

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

It's fine, I got it in the LJ e-mail comment notification. Thanks.

[gaedhal.livejournal.com]

I'm not talking about the fandom at all -- I'm talking about the professional
critics, both here and in the UK, mainly ones who have been very supportive
of the show in the past. That concerns me.

But I'm holding my judgment.