Episode 3.3, "His Last Vow"

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One must always read the newspaper headlines in the series!  Always clues to be found.

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And it just raked in more awards...

 

https://twitter.com/CinemaAudioSoc/status/566814871392489472

 

https://twitter.com/Claire_cpj/status/566818514955018240

[J.P.]

Okay, thanks, Carol. I will look up. 

 

There should be a note on the DVDs - like "use at least once a week to get the whole picture". 

 

You would need a Sherlock to get everything by first view.

[sfmpco]

I always use subtitles for the first few viewings.  Helps to miss less.

[J.P.]

But it distracts from the details... wait a minute, you need subtitles?

[sfmpco]

Yes, I use subtitles until I know everything everyone has said.

[joanneta1]

Unfortunately not all DVDs come with subtitles, Acorn is especially bad at that, so Rumpole Series 1-7 and Father Brown Series 1-3 have none.

[Arcadia]

I use the captions too, occasionally, but only after I've seen the show a few times ... as I also find them distracting. But yeah, BC in particular sometimes talks so fast I have trouble picking up every word. And occasionally there's a little "British-ism" that I can't figure out until I see it in print. (Such as "oyster card" -- that one had me going for quite a while.)

[J.P.]

Oh, yes the speed of deductions... even the subtitles cannot keep up the pace  :P

[Carol the Dabbler]

Plus they're speaking British!

 

We bought the entire Rumpole series but haven't yet worked up the courage to watch it, due to the no-subtitles problem.  I love Leo McKern, but in that role he talks like he's got a mouthful of mashed potatoes!

 

[Boton]

I use the captions too, occasionally, but only after I've seen the show a few times ... as I also find them distracting. But yeah, BC in particular sometimes talks so fast I have trouble picking up every word. And occasionally there's a little "British-ism" that I can't figure out until I see it in print. (Such as "oyster card" -- that one had me going for quite a while.)

 

I reserved one entire viewing of the series to watch with my iPad alongside.  So, every time John's blog came up in TGG, I stopped the Netflix stream and went to that blog entry and read it, etc.

 

I also used that viewing to look up anything I don't know offhand as a "Merican."  The whole "Bow Street Runners" thing took some time for me to sort, as did just the idiom "not much cop this caring lark."  

[Arcadia]

 

I use the captions too, occasionally, but only after I've seen the show a few times ... as I also find them distracting. But yeah, BC in particular sometimes talks so fast I have trouble picking up every word. And occasionally there's a little "British-ism" that I can't figure out until I see it in print. (Such as "oyster card" -- that one had me going for quite a while.)

 

I reserved one entire viewing of the series to watch with my iPad alongside.  So, every time John's blog came up in TGG, I stopped the Netflix stream and went to that blog entry and read it, etc.

 

I also used that viewing to look up anything I don't know offhand as a "Merican."  The whole "Bow Street Runners" thing took some time for me to sort, as did just the idiom "not much cop this caring lark."  

 

Oh yeah, the "caring lark" had just about everyone stumped except the natives, I think. But what a great phrase! I hope I get to use it in a conversation someday.  :brit:

[J.P.]

 

 

I reserved one entire viewing of the series to watch with my iPad alongside.  So, every time John's blog came up in TGG, I stopped the Netflix stream and went to that blog entry and read it, etc.

 

This is a great idea for a fan meet-up!

[sfmpco]

It's not only the rapidity of the speech, but sometimes BC's voice drops into such a low baritone rumble that it's hard to understand.  That's when captions help.  I missed "After all, not all the men you fall for can be sociopaths" several times before I turned on the subtitles.  Then it was like a whole new discovery!  I felt like I'd found a diamond!

[Boton]

It's not only the rapidity of the speech, but sometimes BC's voice drops into such a low baritone rumble that it's hard to understand.  That's when captions help.  I missed "After all, not all the men you fall for can be sociopaths" several times before I turned on the subtitles.  Then it was like a whole new discovery!  I felt like I'd found a diamond!

 

Aaaaaaand suddenly I have this new mental image of "Sherlock attempts pillow talk."  Him with that sexy baritone rumbling sweet nothings.  His lady continually looking at him going, "What?  What?"

[sfmpco]

 

It's not only the rapidity of the speech, but sometimes BC's voice drops into such a low baritone rumble that it's hard to understand.  That's when captions help.  I missed "After all, not all the men you fall for can be sociopaths" several times before I turned on the subtitles.  Then it was like a whole new discovery!  I felt like I'd found a diamond!

 

Aaaaaaand suddenly I have this new mental image of "Sherlock attempts pillow talk."  Him with that sexy baritone rumbling sweet nothings.  His lady continually looking at him going, "What?  What?"

 

 

[joanneta1]

Except he most emphatically did NOT use it in his reading of original period Holmes stories, where he imitated Edward Hardwicke perfectly, and JB adequately. Why not speak as the Holmes he plays every two years or so? Could one return the product labelled "content unsatisfactory"? How could he not use his normal speaking voice, and do such an elaborate range of accents, and NOT be Holmes in the relevant parts!

And let's not get started on American and British English, the most famous being "gotten" and "got", but there is no English equivalent for a block (between two streets), the stress on "harassment", the pronunciation of "leisure" and "schedule"!  Oscar Wilde was right once more when he observed that the British and Americans are the same people divided by their language.

[sfmpco]

It's interesting to me that  Janine calls the flat "the scuzz dump" since in some ways Sherlock is quite fastidious and OCD  - let's not forget the "sock index" comment from ASIB.  

 

But he also says in TRF that "dust is eloquent" - he needs the dust for clues and never lets Mrs. Hudson touch his things (HOB).  His bedroom seems neat as  pin.  

 

He also has no problem walking all over his furniture, so his OCD for tidyness can't be that severe.

 

Any thoughts on this?

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Maybe his bedroom is his inner sanctum, not a place for work, so he keeps that rather orderly and the rest of the flat is where he does work so things are messy as he wants stuff within reach/eye sight.

[sfmpco]

There was actually a very brilliant breakdown - Carol might know the reference - of someone with Austism/Asberger's reacting to all of Janine's "scuzz dump"  dialogue and how everything Sherlock did in response was exactly on target, because nearly everything she said was a little dig - wouldn't have bothered most people, but it would have seriously bothered someone like Sherlock, although maybe on an unconscious level.  And I don't think she meant to be mean.  She was just joking around a little insensitively, obviously not really the one who knows who he really is.

[Arcadia]

Well, I have to admit to disbelieving any of the "diagnoses" of Sherlock ... I don't buy that he has OCD, Aspergers', sociopathy or any other disorder of the month... I think he's just a bundle of unique and probably impossible-in-the-real-world personality traits. I do think he's quite narcissistic, but not to the point of it being a disorder.

 

So ... to me scuzz-dump just meant he's not particularly neat. He has his chemistry experiments here and there, piles of books and papers; doubt if he ever dusts that hideous skull on the wall ... he's got bullet holes and thumb tacks in his walls, the furniture doesn't look like it's particularly new or well-kept .... scuzz-dump. Comfy. Probably not up to Janine's cleanliness standards.

 

The sock index thing doesn't yell OCD to me; heck, my Dad kept his socks in a particular order. Now that I think about it, he was pretty neat and tidy in the bedroom, bath, tool shed and kitchen ... but not in his office. His office was his sanctum and he had piles of stuff everywhere. Kind of like my art studio. Scuzz-dump!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Except he most emphatically did NOT use it in his reading of original period Holmes stories, where he imitated Edward Hardwicke perfectly, and JB adequately. Why not speak as the Holmes he plays every two years or so? Could one return the product labelled "content unsatisfactory"? How could he not use his normal speaking voice, and do such an elaborate range of accents, and NOT be Holmes in the relevant parts!

 

Do you happen to know what year BC recorded the Holmes stories?  If it was before he became famous as Sherlock, that might explain why he chose to emulate the earlier icons.

[sfmpco]

Yes, where are these original SH recordings done by BC?  If you have them, Joanetta, can you put up a picture of the covers or provide us with further information?

[T.o.b.y]

Well, I have to admit to disbelieving any of the "diagnoses" of Sherlock ... I don't buy that he has OCD, Aspergers', sociopathy or any other disorder of the month... I think he's just a bundle of unique and probably impossible-in-the-real-world personality traits. I do think he's quite narcissistic, but not to the point of it being a disorder.

 

John might disagree on that last bit! :P Anyway, I am of your opinion. Sherlock is just Sherlock, a rather fantastical creature actually. But a very wonderful one.

 

[sfmpco]

This is a Q&A after a screening of HLV on Oct. 5, 2014.  I had a ticket to be there but... well, it's a long story.  No picture.  Just audio.