Episode 3.2, "The Sign of Three"

[Carol the Dabbler]

I am in love with the idea that Mary once worked for Moriarty. But I don't think that would necessarily mean she's evil. I doubt all of Moriarty's people worked for him because they liked him or agreed with his plans, my guess is that most were coerced, blackmailed or otherwise pressed into his service.

 

Or it may have been just a job for many of them -- the classic "gun for hire."  That doesn't necessarily mean that they were evil or even amoral, either, though.  Suppose they were hired to be Moriarty's body guards -- a perfectly legitimate position.  Then little by little, the job got weirder and weirder.  They could have been slowly sucked into doing some pretty nasty things, or they could have been fooled into doing something borderline, and then blackmailed into continuing with even worse assignments.

 

I mostly take that line to mean "No, you won't, because you love John and killing me would break him," with a little bit of "you know me and love me too much to kill me" thrown in. And if we accept his "surgery" explanation, he was right.

 

Added: And I still maintain that Sherlock is actually a pretty astute observer of human nature ... when he's not being a complete idiot, that is. So I think there's also an element of "No you won't kill me, because I recognize that you are one of the good guys; and a good guy would never shoot ME." I'll leave it to y'all to decide whether he was being astute or idiotic at that moment.... :D

 

So in the former case, do you take the "Mrs. Watson" part to be a reminder of her relationship with John?  What about the second case?  It's the only time we've ever heard him call her that, so it presumably means something.

 

[Arcadia]

 

I mostly take that line to mean "No, you won't, because you love John and killing me would break him," with a little bit of "you know me and love me too much to kill me" thrown in. And if we accept his "surgery" explanation, he was right.

 

Added: And I still maintain that Sherlock is actually a pretty astute observer of human nature ... when he's not being a complete idiot, that is. So I think there's also an element of "No you won't kill me, because I recognize that you are one of the good guys; and a good guy would never shoot ME." I'll leave it to y'all to decide whether he was being astute or idiotic at that moment.... :D

 

 

So in the former case, do you take the "Mrs. Watson" part to be a reminder of her relationship with John?  What about the second case?  It's the only time we've ever heard him call her that, so it presumably means something.

 

Yep, and, uh .... yep. I suppose you could say he thinks of her as family? The close, loving, protective kind, not the Mafia kind. :p

[Boton]

For those who like this sort of thing, think back to the famous scene in TSoT where Sherlock takes a look around the wedding reception and then looks a bit dejected and leaves, turning his coat collar up as he goes.

 

Then, go to this landing page for the upcoming #WhoClass, a MOOC (massive open online course) that focuses on Dr. Who:

 

http://www.whoclass.com/

 

About halfway down, you'll see a window on the right that plays a video called "The Companion, 1970-1974."  It's only 5 minutes, but the middle 3 minutes or so focuses on a companion named Jo.  Watch the snippet they play of Jo's departure and the Doctor leaving her behind.

 

Then, remember that Steven Moffat was about 11 when this episode first ran, and he probably sat glued to his TV for the whole thing.

[Arcadia]

Of course, me being me, I can't find it again ... BUT, I just read something that said that "we learned in STO3 that Sherlock liked pineapple and ham for breakfast." ??? Does anyone know what this person is talking about?
 
(Lord, am I ever getting desperate for new topics... )

[Van Buren Supernova]

*Cough*  I think you are hallucinating  *cough*

[Arcadia]

That ... is entirely possible.

 

Oh look! A unicorn!

[Van Buren Supernova]

Unicorn? Oh I see, you are not hallucinating enough then. :p

 

Unicorn is everywhere! It's Scotland national animal,

and psst.. I don't tell a lot of people, but you know rhino? Rhinoceros? Can see them in many zoos or go to Africa.

They are actually fat unicorns.

[J.P.]

What have you been smoking, huh?

[Arcadia]

Unicorn horns. :p

[J.P.]

I knew it must have been something illegal.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Illegal? What are you guys talking about?

 

Unicorn shed their horns every 5th of the month, twice as often on leap year.

They are sold in almost every mom and pop store here, slightly cheaper than dodo jerky and dragon mince pie.

Oh, you really should try the kraken chips.

[Arcadia]

Mmm, I don't know, the kraken chips are a bit fishy for my taste. I prefer the phoenix crackers. They're hot, though.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Phoenix crackers are too ashy, I heard those birds have annoying habit of turning into ash after they die or something.

 

Anyway, sign of three, sign of three..

I have always wondered in my mind, what are the odds that those women who work for Sholto are all single, looking, and computer/social media/website savy.

 

And I guess Sherlock learns dancing from YouTube too. With Billy the Skull.

I love Sherlock.

[J.P.]

Single because of the working hours somewhere at the end of the world.

Computer savy because they all found those jobs online.

[Boton]

Anyway, sign of three, sign of three..

I have always wondered in my mind, what are the odds that those women who work for Sholto are all single, looking, and computer/social media/website savy.

 

And I guess Sherlock learns dancing from YouTube too. With Billy the Skull.

I love Sherlock.

 

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that several people who are "in service" (that is, serving as domestic help) might all be single, and I think computer savvy is an assumption in Sherlock's world.  But, maybe it's just a conceit the writers allowed so they could tell the story they wanted.   :D

 

I've always thought that Sherlock did, in fact, systematically teach himself dancing from books and tutorials (because his childhood was pre-internet).  It's the fact that he did a pirouette.  That's such a random move for someone to execute as a demonstration of loving to dance, and it is, you notice, a solo move that he could have practiced alone to master.  

 

His waltz, I'm sorry to say, is not that good, and he is clearly trying to do a slow waltz to a Viennese-tempo waltz when he teaches Janine (The Blue Danube is a classic Viennese waltz), so we can see he doesn't have a lot of experience with partner dancing.  Although, I do give the man credit for composing the Waltz for John and Mary to work really well with someone (John) who only knows waltz boxes.

 

So there's my enduring question.  Although one can do boxes with no rotation in International Standard Waltz (which is, to my understanding, the primary form danced in the UK), they are more typical of the introductory level of American style waltz.  Did John learn just the basics of American style, or is there a social version of International Standard that I don't know about because I'm across the pond?

[Arcadia]

 

There's different styles of waltzes? I am so out of my depth here.....

[Boton]

 

There's different styles of waltzes? I am so out of my depth here.....

 

Indeed.  Just briefly:

 

There are two major styles of ballroom dance: American and International Standard.  Standard is danced in much of Europe as the primary style and is more formal and technique driven.  (There are other differences at the competitive levels, but that would be the first difference a beginner would notice.) American style is often taught on this (U.S.) side of the pond because it is less formal and more suited to lead-and-follow social dancing.  (Again, that's not the competitive difference, but that's probably not John's big worry!)

 

Within each style, there are two types of waltz: slow and Viennese.   The difference is the tempo, and therefore the faster VW requires different step patterns in part to handle the speed.  I honestly don't know what Sherlock was trying to teach Janine to The Blue Danube, but it really wasn't a VW (as it should have been) and no wonder the poor girl was having trouble following.   ;)

 

Yep, this is where we are, folks.  I have allowed myself to fall into a fandom for a show that has created 10 episodes over the course of 6 years, instead of sticking with something nice and sane like Star Trek or Dr. Who, with their 50 years worth of episodes.  So, now I'm reduced to critiquing the dancing in TSoT!

[Arcadia]

It's okay, at least you're not alone.

 

Oh, wait ... is that better or worse?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Of course, me being me, I can't find it again ... BUT, I just read something that said that "we learned in STO3 that Sherlock liked pineapple and ham for breakfast." ??? Does anyone know what this person is talking about?

 

Of course -- now all I have to do is remember where that scene fit into the episode.  Mrs. Hudson had brought Sherlock a breakfast tray, presumably consisting of foods that he's partial to, but we can tell what was in it because he's hardly touched it.  I'm thinking that may have been the scene where John finds him in a chat with half a dozen computers at once -- in which case it may or may not have been in his mind palace.

 

OK, here it is in Ariane DeVere's transcript:

 

SHERLOCK Four women in four nights. He must have something special.

GAIL: He was very charming.

CHARLOTTE: He listened.

ROBYN: He was sweet.

VICKY: He had a lovely ...

JOHN: You okay?

(John is suddenly standing beside Sherlock. Sherlock raises his hand towards Vicky and there’s a beep as she freezes and falls silent. He lowers his hand and turns his head to John, and the two of them are now standing in the living room of 221B. John looks down at the coffee table which has six laptops open on it. One of them is showing a typed message reading, “VICKY: He had a lovely ...” Also on the table is a plate containing a slice of gammon steak with a pineapple slice on top of it, a fried egg and some chips.)

JOHN: Let your food go cold. Mrs Hudson’ll play hell.

According to various websites, gammon is basically the same thing as ham, except that it's sold raw, and therefore needs to be cooked at home.  Since Mrs. Hudson has presumably not served it raw, however, I have no idea how Ms. DeVere knows it was gammon rather than ham -- though maybe that's just the common form in the UK.

 

[Arcadia]

Wow, good eye, Carol! I remember there being a plate in that scene but I couldn't begin to say what was on it.

 

I wonder if this is the clue we all missed? :p

[Carol the Dabbler]

I wonder if this is the clue we all missed? :P

 

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

You meant Arcadia didn't hallucinate? 

 

Yes, impressive dancing knowledges.

I have 0.01% knowledge and association with dancing. Nope. None.

The 0.01% is when I was forced to participate for high school performance. Not sure why I agreed to it, only remember collective nagging and I guess other options were worse (what could be worse?!?)

It's not real dancing anyway, if I could do it. Really. XD

 

I guess Sherlock learns about hair product from YouTube then? :p

[Arcadia]

Of course not, he learned it in connection with a case! :d

[Inge l-w]

To quote Brigadier General McAuliffe's answer to Von Mannstein at Bastogne: "Nuts!"

Dancing was probably introduced because they were running short on the required length of the episode, much as they had to cut the Magnussen scene in HLV. Fanboys who cannot even time their own scripts, oh joy!

[J.P.]

 

Yep, this is where we are, folks.  I have allowed myself to fall into a fandom for a show that has created 10 episodes over the course of 6 years, instead of sticking with something nice and sane like Star Trek or Dr. Who, with their 50 years worth of episodes.  So, now I'm reduced to critiquing the dancing in TSoT!

Well, at least we can be thorough.

 

And now I really need to go offline and take a shower... (no pun intended - I'm just trying to do this since two hours)