T.o.b.y

Yeah, you're right about the problem of being the narrator. That always makes it hard to characterize somebody. If you want to find out what Watson is (probably) like, you can focus on what Holmes says about him. He actually comments on him pretty often, points out his habits, his motivations, even goes so far as to read his mind on one occasion. Now, if we assume Holmes is always right (following the Holmesian rules of nature), we can be pretty confident that the picture he paints of Watson is accurate and so can characterize Watson indirectly.

Oh, prison! See, that comes from being too snooty to turn on the subtitles. But it still makes sense. It makes even more sense when we remember that we see the inside of a prison at the end of the episode and Moriarty inside it. Maybe he was out there, maybe an agent of his was. Anyway, I think Dr. Frankland ran from something other than our group of heroes...

I think Mycroft was led to believe that Irene died in Karachi. He wondered whether that was the right thing to tell his brother, though, so he made up the story about the witness protection program and got John to put that before Sherlock. Sherlock however knew via Irene that she was actually alive, either because he had really been to Karachi to rescue her or, my preferred version, because she had let him know in some way (text message, e-mail, some snippet of news he was able to interpret correctly). She also ended their "relationship" or whatever it was, because the last he heard from her was "good bye Mr Holmes". About Mycroft and Sherlock collaborating: I just don't want that. Sorry, I'm not open to reason or logic on this point, I resent the fact that my dear great genius detective is supposed to have a superior older brother whom he depends on. It belittles him and I just don't like it (although I love Mark Gatiss in this role and would really miss him if he left the show as an actor - if he left as a writer / creator I would, too). I'm hoping against hope that it will turn out the writers ignored the source on this one and let Sherlock stage and survive the fall without Mycrofts knowledge or assistance. I would be even happier if it turned out Mycroft didn't even know he was alive. But, Carol, I'm afraid you're right. At least I get to dream on until January.

I'm afraid so... But I'll survive the wait like I did with series 2 and I'm sure somebody will be kind enough to tell me in the meantime how the hell Sherlock survived and what Mary is like and whether John really punches Sherlock in the face (I hope he does) and everything else I'm dying to know.

"2) I like their relationship in BBC Sherlock better than in the original stories. In the books, Watson was there just for admiring Sherlock and writing about him. The modern version of Watson is a man of action. He tries to humanize Sherlock and certainly has some influence on him. On the other side, Watson is a soldier, he needs some action. And with Sherlock, he's had more than enough of it." I used to think that about the literary Watson as well. But as I re-read the stories, I realize there is more to him even in the original source. He is already a danger seeker there, very brave, very much a man of action. He saves Holmes' life several times and tries to persuade him to smoke less and stop taking drugs. And in the stories, he is very obviously the only real friend Holmes has and very, very important to him. We constantly "hear" Holmes say "my Watson" / "my dear Watson" / "my dear fellow" / "good old Watson" and it's not just a figure of speech in his case. Holmes is crushed when Watson marries and when he gets shot in "The 3 Garridebs", Holmes takes it very much to heart. So in the original, Watson serves to show Holmes' human side, to redeem him from being just a logic machine. Also, Holmes' attitude towards Watson shows how lonely and isolated the "great man" is in general. I still don't think there's supposed to be anything romantic in all this, it's just a really great friendship (and friendships tend to be more stable than romances). What I think is interesting is, that while on the show Sherlock seems to take John's loyalty and companionship pretty much for granted and never pauses to consider that John may need anything he himself can dispense with, the Holmes of the CD stories is pretty considerate where his friend is concerned and very much aware that Watson is not in the best state of health and might need rest or food or just an encouraging word or two. I like how Freeman's version of Watson is a lot less sentimental than the original and not quite so ready to put up with anything Sherlock says or does to him.

I live in the north. The far north. Oh wow, an Empty Hearse Streaming Party sounds wonderful. Am envious already. But chances are good that I will be working when it airs. Will just have to wait for the DVDs (from Britain, because German floats with English audio are intolerable!).

Germany. Which means that I will not be able to see season 3 before it is available on DVD and I can import it from the UK. If we get it at all on public television, it will be late and dubbed. Dubbed! Can you guys imagine having to watch Sherlock without hearing Benedict Cumberbatch's voice? You also can't watch anything on the BBC's website from here. Complain, complain.

Um... I actually think it is just as likely that John's life got a lot better after Sherlock was gone. He'd finally be able to settle down to a job and find a girlfriend who'll stay with him. The latter part at least seems to be true. I would be very much surprised (and a bit disappointed) if John met Mary after Sherlock came back.

Favorite case? Well, I haven't read all, but it's hard to choose even among those I know. Frankly, I think Doyle was a horrible writer who just somehow stumbled on this one remarkable character (or rather this remarkable duo). The passages in some of the longer stories that don't figure Holmes are pretty tedious and when I re-read them, I skip those. I like The Hound of the Baskervilles. I remember being really, really scared when I read it as a thirteen-year-old. That horrible mysterious person on the moor... When it turned out it had been Holmes all along, I was just as relieved to "see" him as Watson himself. I loved the feeling I got that as soon as Holmes showed up, everything was going to be okay, everybody I cared for was safe. The Sign of Four and The Valley of Fear are also great if you (well, I at least) skip the aforementioned chapters. The Devil's Foot has a great drug scene that I love. The Read-Headed League is very funny. The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton has a really good ending.

Do you think because John would never do anything that merits revenge? Not on purpose, probably, no... But if I had had a huge fright and a friend of mine told me I was just "wired" and dismissed the whole thing as a product of my weak nerves, I would probably have a kind of malicious pleasure in watching that person experience the same thing and going: "See what I mean? This is scary!" I probably read way too much subtext into characters' actions and words... It's just a story, I know. But it's a damn good story and there's no harm in a little interpretation, is there? I don't expect you to agree with me, of course. And maybe Sherlock did feel a little badly when he saw just how disturbing the experience had been for John. You never know with Sherlock, that's what makes this series so much fun to watch: You're constantly left wondering what might go on in that funny brain.

I'd love to see a version of Holmes' original reaction to the news that Watson was going to get married: "he gave a most dismal groan" and reached for the cocaine, after having admitted that Mary Morstan is really a "charming young lady" and even might have some "decided genius" for detective work. Also, wouldn't it be funny if the first time he met her, Sherlock launched into a brilliant but pretty insulting deduction about Mary, John felt so at home with this kind of scene that he finally realized Sherlock was back and punched him in the face (not avoiding nose or teeth, either)?

Exactly! We're dealing with Sherlock, so was he really concerned or was the way he acted after he "found" him in the lab just part of an act so John would not suspect what had really happened? When we later see him conducting the experiment, he has his feet on the table and shows no concern whatsoever. He might have thought his idea was pretty funny. And I'm sure he wanted to get back at John because his friend had been so dismissive about his own fear. Sherlock is not quite so dispassionate as he would have people believe...

Oh, of course, the code that refers to words in a book is also from "The Valley of Fear".

Sorry, this has probably been already talked about here, but I'll ask anyway: - What do you think the rubber ball was all about? If Sherlock used it to stop his pulse, why did one of the "nurses" (who are probably Sherlock's helpers, right?) pull John's hand away when he tried to feel for it? - Does anybody agree that the kidnapped girl screamed at Sherlock's voice more than his looks? Moriarty could have got a sound file of Sherlock saying "you repel me" in a very sinister voice from Kitty, after all. - The "bug" in Watsons's ear may just be there so the actor could hear what Sherlock / B.C. was saying on the roof. I don't think they were actually speaking on the phone and the dialogue must be easier to do if you're answered in real time. - Has anybody pointed out here yet that the gifts Sherlock receives at he beginning of the episode would have been perfect for Moriarty? He wears a tie pin and the diamond he uses to break the glass is about the shape and size of a cuff link.

The policy on Sherlock not being able to smoke or do drugs because "kids might be watching" / "you can't show that on TV" etc is one of the very few things I dislike about the show. Come on, Holmes used cocaine and morphine regularly and he smoked almost non-stop. Of course, back when the stories were written, cocaine and morphine were legal and smoking was socially accepted. So I understand that it wouldn't work quite like that in a modern setting. On the other hand, Holmes and Watson both know even over a hundred years ago that what the detective is doing is extremely unhealthy and Watson repeatedly tries to convince him to stop. Holmes just doesn't care about his body as long as his mind works and he gets seriously ill from the way he treats himself (not just by taking drugs but also by not eating or sleeping enough etc). So ill that he has to be sent on holiday in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot". I think in this age, Holmes would be abusing prescription meds and chain-smoking at the very least. Why can he beat people up and throw them out of a window on TV but not have an addiction problem? Well, to be fair, they do hint at that being part of his past, so I should probably shut up. And if I were an actor, I would refuse to smoke on camera if I didn't do so in private, so that's a valid argument, too.

In "The Valley of Fear", Holmes and Watson investigate a murder on a country estate. "All the inn can do for them" there is a double room and Watson stoically puts up with it. In The Hounds of Baskerville, the innkeeper apologizes for not being able to put them in one room, because, nowadays, you'd assume they are a couple. In "The Hound of the Baskervilles", there is an escaped criminal loose on the moor. His helpers who bring him food and so on signal to him with flashes of light. Now, in the pub in The Hounds of Baskerville, one of the innkeepers says something about "the ruddy prisoner". This is never further explained. I have always wondered why Dr. Frankland bolted in the end and preferred being blown up by a landmine to a regular court case. Maybe he was running from somebody else than Lestrade? Might Moriarty have been around in the flesh and not just in Sherlock's mind?

A poison inducing Tetanus as a murder weapon in "The Sign of Four" - The botox murder in The Great Game. Also, the butler in Mr. Sholto's household is called Lal Rao, the houseboy who killed the TV presenter is called Raoul. A body switch that enables somebody now supposed dead to escape his enemies, the body falsely identified because the face is so badly injured - originally in "The Valley of Fear", here seen in A Scandal in Belgravia ("the face is a little bashed up" on Irene's supposed corpse).

Just imagine your best friend did something like that to you - and told you the reason was he wanted to see how the drug would work on your "ordinary mind" as opposed to his brilliant one. If you still see no problem with this, you might have a lot in common with our favorite consulting detective... I don't think he had any qualms before, during or after.

Sorry, this is out of context now, but I have to rave about this episode and especially the pool scene. This is where I realized just how amazing those 3 actors are at their job. The situation is so over the top and classic crime show material, but the way it's played feels totally real. I love it when Sherlock's hand starts to shake, all the suppressed emotion that breaks through after Moriarty leaves and how Sherlock has real trouble expressing it because he's just not used to doing so. It is such a defining moment. In the first episode Mycroft told John it was "time to choose a side". That could be the theme of the whole first series and it doesn't really apply to John, who has a side and sticks to it firmly, but to Sherlock. We see him choosing his side right there at the pool when he points the gun or rather when he looks at John for consent before he risks both their lives. It marks the transition from the "highly functioning sociopath" to the heroic figure we (or at least I) usually think of when we hear the name Sherlock Holmes. Because he does become a hero, albeit a strange and reluctant one.

Brilliant! That's how John was drugged - I had wondered and wondered, too. Because he had to be actually drugged, otherwise the episode does not make sense. John putting on an act to make his friend feel better is a sweet idea, but I don't think he'd do it, he's not that clever / ahead of Sherlock's plans and besides, in the original Watson is supposed to be a terrible actor - which is why Holmes does not trust him with vital information like being alive after supposedly having plunged to his death or wanting to fake a deadly viral infection to force a confession out of someone. Btw., wouldn't an evil virologist be a good future villain? That has a pretty modern feeling. I felt so angry on John's behalf when I found out what Sherlock had done to him in the lab and at the same time I thought it was such a great illustration of Sherlock's character and how it differs from that of the literary Holmes. It is one of my favorite plot twists on the show so far.

Since he wrote the episode, I guess it wasn't a dream sequence. Doesn't make it any less weird, though. I'm glad Moffat said that was the intended effect, because I got that exact impression of how Irene and Sherlock ended and it's nice to have understood something correctly. Irene won. She made Sherlock fall in love with her, and, as Sherlock says, that means being "on the losing side". His whole bitter speech when he leaves the airplane could be just as much about his own feelings as Irene's. The quote from Moffat does not necessarily mean the rescue scene is supposed to have actually taken place (although it is just the kind of whacky plot that Conan Doyle would have come up with). It is the emotional truth that matters - Sherlock fantasizing about saving her is just as great a victory for Irene as him actually doing it. I'm not sure what the writers intended, but I much prefer a version where Irene got away on her own, let Mycroft believe she had been killed in Karachi and went on to live as happily as she can wherever she likes, while Sherlock is left dreaming about her and casting himself in the role of the knight in shining armor.

I also prefer the aired version - if for no better reason than that it is longer and any extra minute spent looking at Sherlock is good. No, seriously, there are a lot of improvements in the aired version. The scene at Angelo's is more delicately handled, for example, the plot is more complex, Mycroft is introduced... The most important addition, in my opinion, is the choice Sherlock makes when he decides not to call "the coppers" but get in the cab: "What kind of result do you care about?" The showdown with the cabbie is more balanced in the aired version, too. In the pilot, the villain seems a little too much on top and Sherlock is too much of a victim. Of course, it was terribly funny and endearing to see the detective drugged and largely helpless, but obviously the creators liked that scene as well as we do, because they reused it in "A Scandal in Belgravia". By that episode, Sherlock was already established as habitually master of the situation, so the effect was much better, there. Plus, if somebody has to drug Sherlock (and beat him with a riding crop, while we're at it), it had better be Irene than some old cabbie... I like to watch the pilot from time to time because Sherlock does look so young and, well, more believable in a way. I don't think he acts like a spoiled brat (not more than usual, anyway...), but he is very childlike. I might even go so far as to say cute. Well, "cute" is all wrong for the legendary Sherlock Holmes! So no wonder they redid the whole thing. By the way, I like the "annoying git" we see in the finished version of A Study in Pink really well. He is different from the Holmes in the original stories, who is too sure of himself to be that openly antagonistic towards his surroundings and delivers his insults in a more subtle and tolerant manner. But that is okay, in my opinion. It is fun to watch and the lines are really brilliant. And the more of a "sociopath" Sherlock is, the more meaningful the friendship between him and John and the more touching any rare glimpse of humanity.

Oh, sorry. I mean the scene where he breaks into the Tower of London and is found dressed up as king ("no rush..."). The music playing there is Rossini's "The Thieving Magpie"

- "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" is incorporated in the episode The Great Game. - Holmes' preferred method of communication is the telegram. Sherlock "prefers to text"