Episode 3.3, "His Last Vow"

[sfmpco]

 

 

 

 

About getting John involved at all and taking him to Appledore. Funny, I have always thought of that as laudable. Because Sherlock does not keep John in the dark about everything and goes off to confront the villain by himself, like in The Reichenbach Fall. He has learned a few things, and this time, he not only lets John see, think and decide for himself when it comes to Mary's true identity, he also includes him in the final step of the Magnussen mission. For me, the end of His Last Vow sort of fixes the end of series 2: Again, Sherlock has to sacrifice himself to keep everybody else safe, again, he has to resort to extreme measures to gain the upper hand against a villain whom he has fatally misjudged, but this time, John is right there next to him and knows what is going on, instead of standing far away on a pavement somewhere and not knowing what really happened until years later (and even then, not really).

 

And I doubt anything happened to John. Sherlock purposely waited until the witnesses arrived before he killed Magnussen, so that it would be very clear that it was his murder alone.

 

 

Yes, very interesting analogy from the end of series 2 where John is left out of the confrontation with the villian while Sh sacrifices himself to save others to the end of series 3 where John is included in the confrontration with the villian and SH sacrifices himself.  Very interesting.

 

Well, I knew that everything with both John and Sherlock at Appledor was swept under the government rug, especially John, but SH had consequences to face.  Mycroft probably got a bit of a wrist slap for leaving his computer so vulnerable.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Interesting idea that he could have been faking it, but we did see him adjust the morphine pump although we don't see any graphics on the screen about it going up or down as in earlier shots of him doing it (although there is a close up of the drip).  I think we should assume, if he's still in hospital, however, that he's still on morphine.

Sherlock has apparently not yet been officially released from the hospital, but he is not physically in the hospital building in this scene. So who knows what he might have changed? The easiest fake would presumably be to fill a morphine vial with sterile saline solution.

[sfmpco]

 

Interesting idea that he could have been faking it, but we did see him adjust the morphine pump although we don't see any graphics on the screen about it going up or down as in earlier shots of him doing it (although there is a close up of the drip).  I think we should assume, if he's still in hospital, however, that he's still on morphine.

Sherlock has apparently not yet been officially released from the hospital, but he is not physically in the hospital building in this scene. So who knows what he might have changed? The easiest fake would presumably be to fill a morphine vial with sterile saline solution.

 

 

I just don't get the sense that this is more than a couple of months into his recovery.  But of course it's odd to be talking about a Christmas present when Christmas is so far away... unless the hospital had told him he was in for a very long recovery, which I still maintain was about six months.  Magnussen would have been monitoring his progress daily in his weird Magnussen obsession.  So although I think  the faking of the morphine at the meeting is an interesting idea, I don't know that I completely buy into it.

 

Sherlock would not have been in hospital too terribly long before he was shipped off to a rehab center so that the hospital could free up bed space.  It just is the way it is with hospitals.  But depending on how much damage he had done and how much had to be repaired, he could have been in for several weeks at least, and for him to meet up with Magnussen during that time, he would likely have still been on morphine.

[Boton]

 

 

Interesting idea that he could have been faking it, but we did see him adjust the morphine pump although we don't see any graphics on the screen about it going up or down as in earlier shots of him doing it (although there is a close up of the drip).  I think we should assume, if he's still in hospital, however, that he's still on morphine.

Sherlock has apparently not yet been officially released from the hospital, but he is not physically in the hospital building in this scene. So who knows what he might have changed? The easiest fake would presumably be to fill a morphine vial with sterile saline solution.

 

 

I just don't get the sense that this is more than a couple of months into his recovery.  But of course it's odd to be talking about a Christmas present when Christmas is so far away... unless the hospital had told him he was in for a very long recovery, which I still maintain was about six months.  Magnussen would have been monitoring his progress daily in his weird Magnussen obsession.  So although I think  the faking of the morphine at the meeting is an interesting idea, I don't know that I completely buy into it.

 

Sherlock would not have been in hospital too terribly long before he was shipped off to a rehab center so that the hospital could free up bed space.  It just is the way it is with hospitals.  But depending on how much damage he had done and how much had to be repaired, he could have been in for several weeks at least, and for him to meet up with Magnussen during that time, he would likely have still been on morphine.

 

 

I agree that accounting for the six months is kind of tricky, and the talking about a Christmas present is somewhat problematic, because I also think that the restaurant scene couldn't have taken place much later than August.  Sherlock is not even wearing a dressing gown in that restaurant (although there may be something hanging on the back of the chair -- I can never tell), so I think it's still summer.  And I don't think he'd still be on IV morphine for much longer than a couple of months (at most) for these injuries and still have been able to survive them.  (Although I am aware of cases that took much longer for recovery, the ones I'm thinking of also involved multiple body parts and broken bones as well as abdominal/thoracic injuries.)

 

So I think the encounter with CAM took place in summer.  

 

Although I will acknowledge that Sherlock could have faked the morphine, everything about that scene makes me think he didn't.  And this is one of those points that you can debate forever -- is it a bluff? or a double bluff?  or a triple bluff? -- but that I think you have to take at face value to keep yourself from going mad.  Everything points to morphine use.  They take pains to film Sherlock from an angle that really points out how thin he is, which tells me he's had a tough recovery.  He's slightly swaying, and he winces when he raises his arms.  And there's just something about his expression through the entire encounter that makes it look like he's fighting pain.  I've always thought that this scene takes place as soon as Sherlock was in any way ambulatory after the second surgery, which, depending on complications like infection, etc., could be anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

 

Sherlock made the big mistakes in this scene, but I think CAM made one too, but just didn't get caught in it.  CAM listed morphine as a pressure point, and I think he was wrong, or that the pressure point was temporary.  I don't think this was a case of addiction, where CAM could assume that he could interfere with Sherlock's supply of morphine at any time in the future and have him go into withdrawal; CAM admits as much at Appledore.  I don't think Sherlock is an addict here.  But I do think he's in tremendous pain, and I think morphine is a temporary pressure point such that removing the morphine drip at that moment would give CAM power over Sherlock.  Whether or not CAM gets the distinction is up for debate.

 

(One thing about addiction to opioids is that these kinds of drugs attach to different receptors depending on whether the body is experiencing pain or seeking pleasure.  It is my understanding that someone in true pain can use morphine for quite a while without becoming "addicted," because their body is using it for pain relief.  The tricky part becomes finding that line where the pain is controlled and the drug needs to be stopped before the body starts using it for pleasure.  And now we have officially exhausted my little knowledge of that bit of biochemistry.)

[sfmpco]

Well, as we know, John and Mary were married on May 18.  We know that the next time reference is at least a month later because John says at the beginning of HLV that he hasn't heard from SH in a month, so we are at least at June 18.  So, not to nail the shooting on that date, it still would have happened at approximately that time.  Then a week later, approx. June 25 he collapses at 221B.  The next time reference we get is Christmas when his mother says that he's JUST home from hospital, so that's 6 months.  

 

I agree that the meeting with Magnussen would have been late summer.

 

There are also issues with any kind of liver injury recovery where the liver must be able to metabolize any drugs that come through.  That's what the liver does.  So if Sherlock's liver was compromised, he may not have metabolized the drug as well.  Also with severe liver injuries is a condition called hepatic encephalopathy, which he probably would have been experiencing at 221B and even some in the hospital during his long recovery.  One of these issues is hallucinations because the blood can get so many toxins that the brain starts misfiring.  Patients often have to be tied down to keep them from pursuing their hallucinations.  Major liver surgery, which he likely would have had after the collapse, would have required a length hospital stay and is an extremely painful recovery.  He would have been kept immobile for a long time and been on a lot of pain killers.  Although this has nothing to do with Sherlock, there is apparently a pretty high suicide rate among transplant patients because the recovery is so long and painful.  

 

So if he meets with Magnussen in late August, he has probably been told he won't be going home still for a few more months.

 

Which makes me realize that having a family gathering at his parent's house was probably his idea, not his parents idea.  That way he knew that Mycroft would bring a laptop with him.  Plus he could get John and Mary there and even Wiggins.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Really good information there sfmpco. Looks like you've done your research (unlike everyone who thinks Sherlock is a psychopath instead of a high functioning sociopath).

[sfmpco]

There are some really good articles out there (Carol or Fox, can you point them out?) on the fact that Sherlock does NOT meet the criteria for being either a sociopath or a psychopath.  

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I know he doesn't he has too much of a moral standing to qualify as either a sociopath or psychopath. At worst he would be on the autism spectrum but I'm more likely to put him as a fairly high iq'd genius that might qualify for MENSA.

[sfmpco]

Haha...just had a bit of a laugh thinking of Mummy Holmes saying about Mycroft's computer, "Well, you shouldn't leave it laying around."  Oh, if only he'd listened!  He should know better than to leave such things anywhere near Sherlock!

[SherlockedCAMPer]

So true, so true. He realized that sometime later when he commandeered a helicopter to retrieve it.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Also he must not have been one to listen to his mother much (reminded of the line he tells Sherlock at the beginning of HLV in regards to Sherlock's bedroom door).

[Boton]

Haha...just had a bit of a laugh thinking of Mummy Holmes saying about Mycroft's computer, "Well, you shouldn't leave it laying around."  Oh, if only he'd listened!  He should know better than to leave such things anywhere near Sherlock!

 

I still am a little more than halfway convinced that Mycroft knew about Sherlock's plan to confront CAM on Christmas, and that he showed up with a dummy laptop with no state secrets but the world's most powerful GPS, then plunked it on the kitchen table in Mummy's way so she'd be sure to comment on it and Sherlock would know where it was.

 

(BTW, absolutely great info on the liver surgery recovery.  Definitely filing that knowledge away -- mind palace?  -- for future consideration.)

 

ETA: I just did a little reading on hepatic encephalopathy, and one of the first symptoms is anxiety and irritability.  Maybe a little tough to diagnose the latter in Sherlock, but it would be a neat explanation for him biting Mrs. Hudson's head off in 221B when she said she didn't have morphine in her kitchen.

[sfmpco]

Also he must not have been one to listen to his mother much (reminded of the line he tells Sherlock at the beginning of HLV in regards to Sherlock's bedroom door).

 

I don't think either of them listen to her very much.  After all, he does say in TSOT that she "understands very little."  I think both Holmes boys think they leave their parents in intellectual dust, but I think Mummy Holmes, at least, is far more onto either of them than they give credit for.  That's just a mother for you.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

 

Also he must not have been one to listen to his mother much (reminded of the line he tells Sherlock at the beginning of HLV in regards to Sherlock's bedroom door).

I don't think either of them listen to her very much. After all, he does say in TSOT that she "understands very little." I think both Holmes boys think they leave their parents in intellectual dust, but I think Mummy Holmes, at least, is far more onto either of them than they give credit for. That's just a mother for you.

Agreed she probably does know far more. Her area of intelligence maybe different than theirs causing them to think less of her than they should.

[sfmpco]

 

 

Also he must not have been one to listen to his mother much (reminded of the line he tells Sherlock at the beginning of HLV in regards to Sherlock's bedroom door).

I don't think either of them listen to her very much. After all, he does say in TSOT that she "understands very little." I think both Holmes boys think they leave their parents in intellectual dust, but I think Mummy Holmes, at least, is far more onto either of them than they give credit for. That's just a mother for you.

Agreed she probably does know far more. Her area of intelligence maybe different than theirs causing them to think less of her than they should.

 

 

Not to mention the fact that she was a mathematician. Regardless, a mother's instinct trumps a genius IQ any day.

[sfmpco]

And I should add that I suspect Mummy Holmes is very much like the actress who plays her - a very strong-willed woman.  Likely she had to rule with boys with a bit of an iron fist to keep them in line.  LOL.  Nothing got past her.

[Arcadia]

ETA: I just did a little reading on hepatic encephalopathy, and one of the first symptoms is anxiety and irritability.  Maybe a little tough to diagnose the latter in Sherlock, but it would be a neat explanation for him biting Mrs. Hudson's head off in 221B when she said she didn't have morphine in her kitchen.

Yes, although I attributed that to how much pain he was in. I've known people who are "absolutely monstrous" to those they love when they're in pain. Not very nice to be on the receiving end, imo, but somewhat understandable. (???)

[sfmpco]

yes, he would have been in tremendous pain still only one week in, plus he certainly added to his pain by over-exerting himself.  Pain not just from pulling stitches out, torn muscles, etc., but by internal bleeding into his abdomen which would have been causing bloating and pressure.  Yeah, he was in tons of pain.  Probably screaming "Control!  Control!  Control!" at himself the whole time.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I like how we are having a good medical/psychological discussion about Sherlock.

[sfmpco]

Oh there are some very, very interesting articles out there by medical professionals who have talked about Sherlock's injuries and his psychological profile.  Really good stuff.  Probably somewhere in the forum, but it's so complex I can never find stuff, so I'm hoping Carol can point them out.

[T.o.b.y]

Funny, I can hardly imagine Sherlock having a realistic recovery, with all the pain and discomfort and indignity attached. He seems to live in this alternate TV world, where everything can be fixed with a little injection and an oxygen tank, and I don't mind that at all, really, even though I usually value realism in fiction, and am far from squeamish or disinterested when it comes to diseases and injuries.

 

As for his psychological profile, I suspect that couldn't really exist in our world, but I love him anyway. He's a perfect fiction construct: Better than anything you could ever find in your own life, but written and acted well enough to be entirely believable all the same.

[sittything]

 

As for his psychological profile, I suspect that couldn't really exist in our world, but I love him anyway. He's a perfect fiction construct: Better than anything you could ever find in your own life, but written and acted well enough to be entirely believable all the same.

 

Hear hear! 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

There are some really good articles out there (Carol or Fox, can you point them out?) on the fact that Sherlock does NOT meet the criteria for being either a sociopath or a psychopath.  

 

Wellingtongoose (a British doctor) has a whole series of metas -- here.  Scroll down to the "Walking Nightmare Series" for a number of essays on diagnosing Sherlock.

[sfmpco]

Thank you, Carol!

[Boton]

 

ETA: I just did a little reading on hepatic encephalopathy, and one of the first symptoms is anxiety and irritability.  Maybe a little tough to diagnose the latter in Sherlock, but it would be a neat explanation for him biting Mrs. Hudson's head off in 221B when she said she didn't have morphine in her kitchen.

Yes, although I attributed that to how much pain he was in. I've known people who are "absolutely monstrous" to those they love when they're in pain. Not very nice to be on the receiving end, imo, but somewhat understandable. (???)

 

 

I tend to agree that his response was pain-related, but it's interesting how it can be taken multiple ways.  

 

I love exploring the medical part as well.  Part of the fun for me is trying to puzzle out how the injuries can be realistic enough to drive the timeline but still manageable enough that we can retain sympathy for the characters and allow them that little bit of "superhuman strength."

 

One thing I will give Sherlock (the show) is that, even though you have to suspend disbelief on some of these things (and I don't mind that), they do enough research that things more or less hang together.