Episode 3.3, "His Last Vow"

[Slithytove]

To revert back to an earlier point, I don't think there is anything particularly unusual about spending a long time in hospital after a gunshot wound. A shot like that, to the body, would cause massive trauma - blood loss shock, organ damage.....And, if and when you recovered from that, you would be at considerable risk of infection. Apart from wound infection, such as developing a fistula, you might develop pneumonia, which can keep you in hospital for weeks. (Last year, I had two relatives develop pneumonia after being hospitalised after suffering accidents, and in both cases the pneumonia was more dangerous than the original injury.). Fractures caused by gunshot wounds can also be slow to heal, I believe, and it was surely possible that Mary's bullet fractured a rib.

 

Now, if you take all those factors and imagine a patient daft enough to get out of his hospital bed and chase around London only a few days after sustaining the original injury, and it wouldn't be difficult to imagine he had a long and difficult recovery with numerous complications. I can imagine that Sherlock is his own worst enemy when it comes to rest and recuperation.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I can imagine Sherlock being his own worst enemy on ssssooooo many levels.

[sfmpco]

Worst patient ever.

[sfmpco]

I should add that in HLV when he meets with Magnussen at the little eatery, he is high as a kite on morphine, which no doubt explains some of the "not thought this through clearly" problem.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Yes, being in a state where he would not be able to think clearly.....on the simplest of problems

[sfmpco]

Yes, being in a state where he would not be able to think clearly.....on the simplest of problems

 

He did tell Janine that it was "not good for working" but apparently he forgot about that!!!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

No...he just couldn't think clearly about it at the time since he wasn't in any shape to be working.....his mind not working properly.

[T.o.b.y]

To revert back to an earlier point, I don't think there is anything particularly unusual about spending a long time in hospital after a gunshot wound. A shot like that, to the body, would cause massive trauma - blood loss shock, organ damage.....And, if and when you recovered from that, you would be at considerable risk of infection. Apart from wound infection, such as developing a fistula, you might develop pneumonia, which can keep you in hospital for weeks. (Last year, I had two relatives develop pneumonia after being hospitalised after suffering accidents, and in both cases the pneumonia was more dangerous than the original injury.). Fractures caused by gunshot wounds can also be slow to heal, I believe, and it was surely possible that Mary's bullet fractured a rib.

 

Now, if you take all those factors and imagine a patient daft enough to get out of his hospital bed and chase around London only a few days after sustaining the original injury, and it wouldn't be difficult to imagine he had a long and difficult recovery with numerous complications. I can imagine that Sherlock is his own worst enemy when it comes to rest and recuperation.

 

Thanks - once again you say what I think so much more clearly than I could!

[Slithytove]

Thanks - but I think you express yourself very clearly.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Jesskayding -- I moved your "similarities" post to a thread of its own.  If that's not what you meant you'd been trying to do, just let me know!

 

[jesskayding]

It's been reported that something shocking is going to happen to Sherlock & John.

 

I hope they don't die & come back to life. Really abit soap opera like.

 

Sherlock has been brought back twice already. The woman was brought back from the dead. & now Moriarty. It's a little ridiculous. But for some reason I still love the show.

[Arcadia]

Shocking, hm? Maybe they'll be struck by lightning?

[sfmpco]

I'm going to go back to an idea I expressed earlier from HLV about Sherlock as a young boy in the episode.  Clearly in the mind palace sequence, Sherlock is seeing himself as the younger version when trying to make the deduction about the the gun used to shoot him and missing the mark.  His images of Mycroft correct his thinking. 

 

So whose vision of the young Sherlock at the end was it?  Was it how Mycroft was seeing Sherlock or how Sherlock was seeing himself.  I am now going for the latter.  I think it is Sherlock seeing himself, scared and vulnerable and in need of help from his big brother to rescue him.  This makes it especially heart-wrenching.

 

This deduction is based on the law of first instance.  The first instance of the young Sherlock was Sherlock seeing himself that way, so therefore the 2nd instance must follow the first.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I'm not so sure. He knew how dangerous CAM was. John only brings his gun because Sherlock requests that he does so.

 

 It is a conscious decision on Sherlock's part to shoot the man. He even waits until there are witnesses. I think he is scared, yes.....this is not how he works. Sherlock is not a violent man. He prides himself on using the strength of his intellect and in this one instance it has betrayed him....for what ever reason. He has had to resort to the unthinkable.

 

 I don't think he is expecting to be rescued. He knows there are going to be consequences and he accepts them. Manfully and fully.

 

 

[Arcadia]

I suspect Moftiss don't follow many laws, but it makes sense. I'm kind of thinking now it represented both brother's p.o.v. .... and not so much that Sherlock needs Mycroft's help, as that he knows he's disappointed Mycroft once again.

[sfmpco]

The law of first instance is a bit like the law of where a camera is angled when filming someone.  If they are running from left to right on the screen, for example, you don't have them then run from right to left.  They keep going in the same direction UNLESS you see them change direction or unless the camera actively moves while following them by arcing around them to show what appears to be them going in a different direction.  

 

The writers understand the law of first instance, and you don't change that instance because it sets up confusion.  I do agree that the young crying Sherlock could indeed be about him being a disappointment - not only to Mycroft but also to mummy and Daddy who were mentioned in the mind palace.  But it is the way Sherlock is seeing himself.  He goes to Mycroft in his mind palace, and he is now real time in front of Mycroft feeling like that little boy.

[sfmpco]

I'm not so sure. He knew how dangerous CAM was. John only brings his gun because Sherlock requests that he does so.

 

 It is a conscious decision on Sherlock's part to shoot the man. He even waits until there are witnesses. I think he is scared, yes.....this is not how he works. Sherlock is not a violent man. He prides himself on using the strength of his intellect and in this one instance it has betrayed him....for what ever reason. He has had to resort to the unthinkable.

 

 I don't think he is expecting to be rescued. He knows there are going to be consequences and he accepts them. Manfully and fully.

 

Yes, but you can still be scared of the consequences even if you own up manfully and fully.

[sfmpco]

What a far cry he is from the Sherlock we first met in ASIP to this dramatic end in HLV.  He was so emotionally closed off in ASIP, and now he is laid open and raw.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

True...and I guess I didn't make myself very clear when I said that he was scared....just not expecting Mycroft to rescue him. He knew what he had done. It was a deliberate choice on his part. So I'm just not sure if he is seeing himself as that little boy....or if it is just Mycroft. 

 

   Sherlock is far from being an innocent. He has been fighting on the battle field on the backstreets of London for years. Why would he feel like he needed rescuing now?

 

   He may be feeling a little lost....disappointed in himself....more then feeling like he has let Mycroft down. He has had to resort to a violent act that goes very much against his grain.

 

  Because really......do we really know if he has disappointed Mycroft all that much....and would Sherlock really care?

  

 

 

 

[sfmpco]

True...and I guess I didn't make myself very clear when I said that he was scared....just not expecting Mycroft to rescue him. He knew what he had done. It was a deliberate choice on his part. So I'm just not sure if he is seeing himself as that little boy....or if it is just Mycroft. 

 

   Sherlock is far from being an innocent. He has been fighting on the battle field on the backstreets of London for years. Why would he feel like he needed rescuing now?

 

   He may be feeling a little lost....disappointed in himself....more then feeling like he has let Mycroft down. He has had to resort to a violent act that goes very much against his grain.

 

  Because really......do we really know if he has disappointed Mycroft all that much....and would Sherlock really care?

 

Rescue might be too strong a word, but Mycroft did "rescue" him in the mind palace by helping him understand that it was not about the gun but about the mirror shattering.

 

No, he is not an innocent, but has he ever let his rage take over so fully that he killed in cold blood - in front of so many witnesses?  I almost feel like in ASIP he doesn't even allow himself to feel emotions deeply.  But in HLV, the hatred for Magnussen clouds everything he does.  It is a very deep emotion.  Does he kill CAM out of hate or out of a feeling of being beaten and trapped.  Does he sacrifice himself for Mary and all the others that CAM controls?  It's all of the above.  

[Arcadia]

The writers understand the law of first instance, and you don't change that instance because it sets up confusion.

Exactly, and Moftiss are masters of confusion! Otherwise we wouldn't be having all these discussions!

 

I do agree that the young crying Sherlock could indeed be about him being a disappointment - not only to Mycroft but also to mummy and Daddy who were mentioned in the mind palace.  But it is the way Sherlock is seeing himself.  He goes to Mycroft in his mind palace, and he is now real time in front of Mycroft feeling like that little boy.

And as Fox said ... disappointed in himself, as well. And perhaps believing he has disappointed John, again. Certainly John is not cheering for him at this point.

 

Hm, hadn't thought of this. Sherlock was already disappointed in himself, it seems, when he was out smoking with Mycroft. ("What utility do I have?") And then he fails at tricking CAM, and then he resorts to violence. So all around he may be feeling like a bit of a failure right now.

 

Also, for the first time Mycroft's "if you go against CAM, you go against me" remark goes full circle for me. I kept waiting for CAM to outreason Sherlock, and I just realized: he did. He'd been one step ahead the whole time, hadn't he? I mean, I knew that, but it just now sank in how that related to Mycroft's remark. OMG, now I understand why they included the hat deduction scene! Which ends with Sherlock resorting to an emotional counterpunch. It's foreshadowing! Oooh, very cool.

[Arcadia]

Because really......do we really know if he has disappointed Mycroft all that much....and would Sherlock really care?

Oh, I think he cares deeply -- about winning. About measuring up to Mycroft. I wasn't speculating on whether Mycroft is actually disappointed in Sherlock or not -- I was speculating that that's how Sherlock thinks Mycroft sees him ... disappointed in the little brother who never quite measures up.

 

I have no idea what Mycroft really thinks. Is he lovingly concerned, or just a bully? I can't read him at all, nor do I think I'm meant to. The relationship between them is one of the great strengths of the show, imo, there's fodder there for years of story lines.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sherlock is far from being an innocent. He has been fighting on the battle field on the backstreets of London for years. Why would he feel like he needed rescuing now?

Sherlock was fighting on his own terms before, but that didn't work with Magnussen. So Sherlock is effectively out of his depth for perhaps the first time in his life (well, maybe the second, counting Irene Adler, but that was different). "Rescue" may not be exactly the right word, but he's clearly at Mycroft's mercy now.

 

And as Fox said ... disappointed in himself, as well. And perhaps believing he has disappointed John, again. Certainly John is not cheering for him at this point.

I don't think he's disappointed John, though.  Stunned and bewildered him, yes.

 

[Arcadia]

No, I don't either, but he might think John's disappointed in him.

 

At Mycroft's mercy ... now there's an unnerving thought..... at his mercy and possibly in debt to him for calling him back? Urgh, I wouldn't want to be Sherlock right about now.....

[sfmpco]

Such excellent discussion!  I love it!  

 

Still wondering why Redbeard is such a hot button issue for SH, as he visibly startles when Magnussen throws out the word.  All we know so far is that Sherlock was attached to the dog and the dog was put down.  I hope we get to find out more abut Redbeard but maybe not.  He also startles when Mycroft brings it up in TSOT over the phone and he responds, "I'm not a child anymore, Mycroft."