Episode 3.3, "His Last Vow"

[Sherlock_luvr]

 

 

Hi quirkymomma, and welcome to the forum

 

I have been very upset with Mary and still am, but I must say - after a third viewing of the episode - I don't hate her. I do think she is incredibly selfish, though, and she did say that she would do anything to stop John from finding out the truth about her and leave her. That includes killing Sherlock. Now, a person who is willing to kill her husband's best friend if that is what it would take to keep her husband is seriously sociopathic. I admire Sherlock for forgiving her, and I think John's forgiveness was merciful, but also naive. If she doesn't realise how horrible it is to be willing to do absolutely anything to protect what she wants, she could be a danger to John and Sherlock in the future. And if John had been wiser in this situation, he would have realised that his wife is in serious need of help! She needs to see, as they say, the 'errors of her ways'.

 

 

John even heard Mary say she would do ANYTHING to keep him from finding out because she knew he would leave her. How that didn't set off warning bells, I don't understand.

 

Maybe he saw how Sherlock forgave her and followed that example.

 

Even if I could forget everything else she did, that conversation in the empty house really showed what kind of person she is. And that she would do anything (including kill Sherlock) to keep John from leaving her.

[Karie]

I wanted to address everyone's hatred of Mary. I was myself quite surprised at how much everyone dislikes Mary now. I don't think she's quite so horrible or conniving as everyone seems to think. I'll admit the "surgery" angle was a little hard for me to swallow but I figure is Sherlock said it I can take it. Recall the tunnel scene, Sherlock says 5 years back she became Mary but she couldn't of been involved with John for more than 2 years because she was there for him when Sherlock "died", Conclusion, she decided to leave that life at least 2 probably 3 years before she me John. Also she was former CIA (refer to the vault scene) so undoubtedly she started the path to assassin with at least a little persuasion. Yes she did free lance, not so good, but she did decide to leave it. Possibly she couldn't stomach it anymore. She does love John and that's why she was trying to kill Magnussen because she can't bare the thought of losing him. Her tracking Sherlock alone with a gun, meh, I personally don't see it as planning to kill him but I guess I'm alone on that. Also it took John 1 or 2 (can't remember) months to forgive her. Just because it was the next scene doesn't mean it was that quickly. Mary made a reference to not talking which I took to mean not talking at all not just on "the subject". 

 

Anyhow just my thoughts. There are other points I can agree with the majority on and there are somethings I wouldn't mind being different but although Mary has totally changed for me I don't totally loathe her like most people on here seem to now.

 

I would be more able to accept that if she had shown any remorse for her actions. I was disgusted with the way she was portrayed after John and Sherlock found out about her.  Her tears were all for herself, when she thought that she would lose John. "Don't watch it in front of me, because you won't love me anymore and I don't want to see that." 

 

If they had written in some genuine remorse on her part, if she had had one moment of real break down where she admits that she regretted the things she'd done, that she had left that life because she just couldn't do it anymore, that she started over and became a nurse because she wanted to try to do something good to make up for all the bad.  If she'd made any kind of comment about how she never forgot the names or faces of the people she had killed, how she carried them with her.  But we never got anything like that.  No, instead, once John started unleashing on her, she started to act like she was pissed about it.  And her attitude when he came to her after months of silence.  "Ohhhh, are we doing conversation today?" Like he was having a tantrum and she was fed up with it. If my husband and the man I supposedly loved found out I'd been an assassin for hire, nearly killed his best friend, and married him under false pretenses, and he didn't immediately turn me over to the police, and instead took a few months to be angry and avoid me... and then came to me one day and wanted to talk. Well, I'd be pretty damn grateful. And I'd be quiet and I'd listen to what he had to say, because he had taken his time to come up with the words, and he had the right to say them. But instead, she gives him attitude and only gets emotional when she realizes that he's actually forgiving her. 

 

As far as why she got out of her former life... maybe it was because she wanted to change, or maybe it was because she had one too many family members of her victims looking for her at that point, and it had become evident that it was time to go into hiding. We don't know, simply because they didn't take the time to flesh that out.  

 

All of this is a failure on the part of the writers. They could have easily made me more sympathetic to Mary (although, like a lot of you, shooting Sherlock was a hard limit for me, and something I will never forgive no matter what BS way they try to explain it).  Instead, they chose to portray her as a two-dimensional former assassin who doesn't mind shooting someone close to her if it serves her interest, and then they chose to have John forgive her. And because John forgave her, we're supposed to forgive her.  But there was no journey for us from point a to point b.  It was just "Mary is a killer, a liar, and she nearly murdered Sherlock" and then "now Mary is forgiven and we should like her again".  I'm sorry, but I just can't reconcile those two points. 

 

Something else that was bugging me today while I was mindlessly filling out paperwork at work... the way John words it when he tells her he's not holding her past against her.  "The problems of your past are your business." He says it like she's got some credit card debt or a few DUIs or a criminal record for getting high and robbing a liquor store when she was 22.  Her "problems" are actually a lot of blood on her hands and untold numbers of people who want her head on a pike in revenge for people she took from them. And how is it not John's business? Any of those people could find her one day, and they could choose to not only hurt her, but to hurt John or their child to get to her. And "the problems of your future are my privilege", like "Oh, it's my honor to help you cover up any murders you may commit from here on out."

 

All in all, so much of the disaster of this episode could have been avoided with a little better planning on behalf of the writers.  Instead, it was just like "Here's a plate of dirt. Close your eyes and pretend it's Oreos." They can't expect us to do all the work. 

 

 

 

As much as it was a plot twist to have Sherlock kill Magnussen, and as much as I cheered (and cried) when he did... I think it would have been better to follow more closely to the original plot, have Sherlock witness Mary (without her knowledge), as a woman CAM was blackmailing, kill him, and then have him and John confront her later. No shooting Sherlock, but Mary coming clean and admitting her past to them both, actually having some scenes to show us that she really has reformed, and is sorry, and is trying to be a good person now. And then I could see John eventually coming to terms with it and forgiving her, and he and Sherlock refusing to help solve CAM's murder.  But I guess that wasn't "dramatic" enough. 

 

What would have been even better than that would be to avoid the former-assassin crap all together, and have it closer to canon, with Mary having been blackmailed by CAM for some indiscretion that led to tragedy. I believe in the original, the woman couldn't pay up, and so he gave her info to her husband, who then died of a broken heart or something. Maybe Mary couldn't pay, and CAM told her secret to her elderly and beloved father, and he had a heart attack and died, and she wanted revenge. 

 

But, it seems pretty much impossible for Moffatt to write a female character and NOT have her end up being some kind of badass super woman who is just a little bit psycho. He has some very odd and specific fantasies about women. 

[Ally.C]

 

 

If they had written in some genuine remorse on her part, if she had had one moment of real break down where she admits that she regretted the things she'd done, that she had left that life because she just couldn't do it anymore, that she started over and became a nurse because she wanted to try to do something good to make up for all the bad.  If she'd made any kind of comment about how she never forgot the names or faces of the people she had killed, how she carried them with her.  But we never got anything like that.  No, instead, once John started unleashing on her, she started to act like she was pissed about it.  And her attitude when he came to her after months of silence.  "Ohhhh, are we doing conversation today?" Like he was having a tantrum and she was fed up with it. If my husband and the man I supposedly loved found out I'd been an assassin for hire, nearly killed his best friend, and married him under false pretenses, and he didn't immediately turn me over to the police, and instead took a few months to be angry and avoid me... and then came to me one day and wanted to talk. Well, I'd be pretty damn grateful. And I'd be quiet and I'd listen to what he had to say, because he had taken his time to come up with the words, and he had the right to say them. But instead, she gives him attitude and only gets emotional when she realizes that he's actually forgiving her. 

 

I agree with all of this so hard that it physically hurts. This is why I have so many problems with Mary right now. Because her remorse is all very egoistical. Not egotistical, but egoistical. It's all about her emotions and not John's, to me. It would break John, but she doesn't want to see that.

 

I don't know if I'm ready to chalk it all up to writing yet though, these irritations. I think there might be more to some of her forgiveness than we've seen yet... I just can't get my mind out of Sherlock and what he says when tehy take Mary back to Baker St and how something, something seems off about it.

[Karie]

I would have had more sympathy to her plight if she'd just said,"It would break John, and I won't allow him to suffer through that pain again." But it was,"It would break John, and I would lose him." It was all about how it would affect her.  She would lose the man she loved. She would be alone. 

 

I mean, she saw what losing Sherlock had done to John, and she was willing to risk killing him (and even if she didn't want him to die, she had to know there was a definite chance). She had to know that him dying again, for real and forever this time, so soon after John had gotten him back, would absolutely destroy John. But she was willing to risk putting him through that, if it meant that she would still have him, and he would never know her secret. She was willing to hurt him that much. Everything she did was completely selfish. 

[Ally.C]

Karie, I think I might love you.

[Sherlock_luvr]

 

There was no rational excuse for him really having taken drugs, was there. He could have done just what the original did in "The Man with the Twisted Lip" and only hung out at the drug den, pretending to get high. I think Sherlock wanted to take them.

 

 

It's all so subtle. I love it. In Molly's lab listen to Sherlock's responses. Clever double meaning dialogue that answers someone else's question but also pertains to Sherlock's reasoning. It's all so sad but I totally believe he eagerly went back to drugs because he felt 'bereft' of John's constant presence  - one he expected would just be the same when he got back and found his world entirely upended.

[Karie]

Karie, I think I might love you.

 

 

[sh_fan]

I mean, she saw what losing Sherlock had done to John, and she was willing to risk killing him (and even if she didn't want him to die, she had to know there was a definite chance). She had to know that him dying again, for real and forever this time, so soon after John had gotten him back, would absolutely destroy John. But she was willing to risk putting him through that, if it meant that she would still have him, and he would never know her secret. She was willing to hurt him that much. Everything she did was completely selfish. 

 

This, I couldn't agree with more! 

 

All of this discussion, and all of these extremely valid points make me wonder if Moffat and Gatiss should have a number of fans preview their scripts before they go forward with them, because they've made some serious, serious blunders in this series (and not simply with Mary and this episode).

 

Someone, pages ago, said, "Welcome to 'Sherlock Into Darkness.'"  I wholeheartedly agree.  I have enjoyed watching the previous two series over and over again (and SO eagerly anticipating this new series)!  Now?  Not so much.  I'm sure I'll watch these again (and look forward to the next season).  But not nearly as before.  It's changed for me.  The holes in the writing.  The let downs (as we've discussed).  The whole attitude of "yeah, Sherlock faked his suicide, but we're going to act cool and not tell you how just so you can think we know how he did it even though we don't" from TEH.  It's all quite a letdown for me.  I truly hope next season will be better - but I'll try my best not to get my hopes up.

[sh_fan]

But back to the opium thing for a minute:  The only thing that would persuade me to think he was actually high was Molly's reaction.  But didn't she say "he's clean" when John asked her?  That's what confused me.

 

His roughing Mycroft up and John actually thinking he was high didn't sway me in the least.  John always falls for Sherlock's acting, and, as we saw in the train scene from TEH, well, to quote John Watson, "The stage lost a fine actor..."  It was easily believable to me that Sherlock was using their belief that he was "high" to let loose a bit on Mycroft.

 

Emotionally, I don't want to believe it, even though I know the original Sherlock did cocaine.

 

I suppose that's the other reason I'm having a hard time believing it:  It wasn't that way in "The Man with the Twisted Lip," and Sherlock only did cocaine when he was bored.  I simply can't see him using drugs while ON a case.

[Karie]

John asked if he was clean, and Molly said,"Clean?" with disgust in her voice before she slapped Sherlock. His urine tested positive, and Molly was furious. 

 

I really need to hurry up and read this The Man with the Twisted Lip story. 

 

I was surprised, too, that he would actually take the drugs rather than just pretend to.  Maybe he didn't think CAM would be fooled by anything less than a genuine effort? 

 

Someone earlier mentioned that maybe a part of Sherlock wanted to take the drugs, after feeling alienated following John's wedding and baby news. I don't know if that was intended by the writers, but it's not a stretch for me to believe it.  

 

For what it's worth, I don't think Sherlock had spiraled hard back down into drug use. I think he wouldn't have bounced back so quickly if he had.  I think he probably had just taken a small hit of whatever he was on, not long before John found him.  Not enough to put him in a haze like those zoned out kids in that smack house, but enough to give him a high and lend some credibility to his pretend "relapse".  

[CluingForLooks]

At the end of "The Last Vow" when credits begin to roll you are told to wait until the end of the credits for a clue.  You then hear "Moriarty" say "Miss Me" over another show where an actor is nearly hit by an arrow.  I am thinking that this actor will play the 3rd brother and it is this 3rd brother using the Moriarty GIF "Did You Miss Me" as a taunt to reel Microft and Sherlock in.

[Ally.C]

At the end of "The Last Vow" when credits begin to roll you are told to wait until the end of the credits for a clue.  You then hear "Moriarty" say "Miss Me" over another show where an actor is nearly hit by an arrow.  I am thinking that this actor will play the 3rd brother and it is this 3rd brother using the Moriarty GIF "Did You Miss Me" as a taunt to reel Microft and Sherlock in.

 

Moriarty's 'Miss Me' was over a shot of Moriarty turning towards the camera?

[CluingForLooks]

 

At the end of "The Last Vow" when credits begin to roll you are told to wait until the end of the credits for a clue.  You then hear "Moriarty" say "Miss Me" over another show where an actor is nearly hit by an arrow.  I am thinking that this actor will play the 3rd brother and it is this 3rd brother using the Moriarty GIF "Did You Miss Me" as a taunt to reel Microft and Sherlock in.

 

Moriarty's 'Miss Me' was over a shot of Moriarty turning towards the camera?

 

 

Maybe it is because I stream the show online the day after on tube plus and something is jumping at the end.  I get another show with "Miss Me" stated over it.  I will run it again.

[CluingForLooks]

Oh well, streaming it I get another show after the Sherlock Credits, "Miss Me" is stated and a young man ducks before an arrow hits him. 

[wildwoodflower]

I would have had more sympathy to her plight if she'd just said,"It would break John, and I won't allow him to suffer through that pain again." But it was,"It would break John, and I would lose him." It was all about how it would affect her.  She would lose the man she loved. She would be alone. 

 

I mean, she saw what losing Sherlock had done to John, and she was willing to risk killing him (and even if she didn't want him to die, she had to know there was a definite chance). She had to know that him dying again, for real and forever this time, so soon after John had gotten him back, would absolutely destroy John. But she was willing to risk putting him through that, if it meant that she would still have him, and he would never know her secret. She was willing to hurt him that much. Everything she did was completely selfish. 

 

A friend of mine suggested the possibility that Mary was the shooter assigned to John on that fateful day. The timing works. Magnussen says she'd stopped doing work for CIA over two years ago and was working for someone else.  So she stopped aiming at John and started cultivating his "friendship" and then fell in lurve. 

 

Bam!

 

 

[T.o.b.y]

Sorry do drag the topic on, but I don't quite understand why Mary should be expected to be so terribly repentant about her past. Do we think Sherlock should suffer for shooting Magnussen? Do we think John should have gone to prison for killing the cabbie in A Study in Pink? No. At least I don't.

 

Doesn't Mary at Baker St say something like "people like Magnussen should be killed - that's why there's people like me?" This is pretty much the definition of "good" and "evil" in my eyes: Villains exist to make the people who kill them heroes instead of murderers. While in real life, killing is never justified, in fiction, you can just give a person the "evil" label and after that, anything goes. So by the rules of fiction, Mary is really not to be blamed for slaying dragons in her own little way... (Of course we don't know if that is all she did. We know almost nothing about her past, really. And considering how dumb I think the whole "assassin" angle is, I don't really want to know. I'm with John here: throw it into the fire and just focus on Mary Watson, whom I have come to like a lot. The less said about this silly business in future, the better.)

[sherlockandjohn]

 

Someone, pages ago, said, "Welcome to 'Sherlock Into Darkness.'"  I wholeheartedly agree.  I have enjoyed watching the previous two series over and over again (and SO eagerly anticipating this new series)!  Now?  Not so much.  I'm sure I'll watch these again (and look forward to the next season).  But not nearly as before.  It's changed for me.  The holes in the writing.  The let downs (as we've discussed).  The whole attitude of "yeah, Sherlock faked his suicide, but we're going to act cool and not tell you how just so you can think we know how he did it even though we don't" from TEH.  It's all quite a letdown for me.  I truly hope next season will be better - but I'll try my best not to get my hopes up.

 

 

I believe that was me. It was a very dark episode, in some ways incredibly well done - at least with regard to specific scenes, and I also liked the plot - but I generally prefer the more upbeat, funny, dialogue-sharp episodes of past series, and I wonder now if it's even possible to get back to that... Hopefully the hiatus will do the trick. In a year or two we will not feel the blow of this episode so hard anymore.

[sh_fan]

Someone earlier mentioned that maybe a part of Sherlock wanted to take the drugs, after feeling alienated following John's wedding and baby news. I don't know if that was intended by the writers, but it's not a stretch for me to believe it.  

 

For what it's worth, I don't think Sherlock had spiraled hard back down into drug use. I think he wouldn't have bounced back so quickly if he had.  I think he probably had just taken a small hit of whatever he was on, not long before John found him.  Not enough to put him in a haze like those zoned out kids in that smack house, but enough to give him a high and lend some credibility to his pretend "relapse".  

 

That wouldn't surprise me, but, if he were high, that wouldn't be the case here, I don't think (the alienation part, I mean).  John disliked, in the extreme, his cocaine use in the books, but Holmes only did it when he didn't have a case and was bored, so he was never an "addict."

 

What I find so puzzling about this whole thing in HLV (which is why I can't seem to let it go), is that I saw an interview with Moffat & Gatiss where they addressed the cocaine issue (or lack thereof in the series), and they said they felt is was unnecessary to add that in because they believed it was perfectly believable to have a workaholic genius detective whose drug was the cases.  So, to then turn around and have him get high on opium...  I simply can't see how it would benefit him in any case (unless, in his undercover work, he had to do it to make himself believable to those he was trying to fit in with?).  I don't see how it could be regarding CAM, because how would he possibly find out Sherlock got high to try to use it against him in that slum?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Thank to Ariane DeVere and all the hard work she puts in:  When Magnussen and his goons are getting into their car, Sherlock says:"So, clearly he believes I'm a drug addict and no serious threat."

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just saw this episode last night, finally have a chance to check out this thread tonight, and it's already 19 pages long!  I've read the first ten pages, and will comment on just a few things below.

 

 

But first I want to say a group welcome to all the wonderful new people -- great to have you here, and looking forward to your future posts!
 

It's actually taken from canon. Holmes once got engaged to a girl without even getting into too much physical proximity. He wooed her with his charming attitude *cough*. It's a bit unbelievable in modern times but I actually could accept it because it was a direct reference.

 
Not only is it from canon, but it's actually from the "Charles Augustus Milverton" story upon which this episode is based.
 
So far (i.e., in the first ten pages), I haven't seen anyone mention that the drug-den bit was lifted pretty well intact from the beginning of "The Man with the Twisted Lip," and Wiggins is also from canon, having been the chief Baker Street Irregular.
 

I wonder if Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat will take the fans' feelings about Mary (the majority are against her) and dispose of the character in the next series?

 
I agree that a number of people are expressing anti-Mary sentiment (and have been for a year or two), but there's really no way of knowing whether it's the majority without taking a vote.  I'm clearly not the only one who thinks she's an intriguing character and who is curious to see what Moftiss have in mind for her next.
 

... I totally loved every minute of this. I was truly surprised to like Mary as I'm an avid SH/JW shipper but I really really liked her. ... I was so shocked and surprised that she was in Magnusson's(?) office and just about had a heart attack when she shot Sherlock but the scenes around that were so entertaining that I'm happy to dismiss that giant plot hole.

Plot hole! Yes, that's what it is, a plot hole! Thank you, Chanel!

 

I assume that Moftiss had Mary shoot Sherlock merely because they needed a piece that shape to fill a gap in the plot.  (If she had shot Milverton instead, the episode would have ended awfully early.)  It certainly doesn't strike me as ideal (!), but we're stuck with it now.  And if Sherlock himself and John have made their peace with it, who are we to argue?

 

I'd rather focus on the parts that I do like, which is most of this episode.

 

[sherlockandjohn]

 

I assume that Moftiss had Mary shoot Sherlock merely because they needed a piece that shape to fill a gap in the plot.  (If she had shot Milverton instead, the episode would have ended awfully early.)  It certainly doesn't strike me as ideal (!), but we're stuck with it now.  And if Sherlock himself and John have made their peace with it, who are we to argue?

 

I'd rather focus on the parts that I do like, which is most of this episode.

 

Yeah, I think I'm getting there myself. There are just too many amazing scenes for me to continue dwelling on Mary shooting Sherlock - not that I justify it at all, but I can try to accept Sherlock and John's forgiveness.

 

Another thing about Mary is that she is kind of a 'typical' ex-agent or ex-villain from movies... someone who tries to put her old life behind her, finds happiness at last, and then stands to lose it, which is just too much for her to handle. So her old-life killer instincts kick in, and she does what needs done to protect her new-found happiness, because she would be completely wrecked without it.

 

It doesn't excuse her shooting Sherlock, but it does soften me towards her. A bit.

[Earendil]

 

As you stated, Mary has given up her life as an assassin years before she met John and it seems that she really wanted to change and leave that life behind her. She became a nurse, a job where she's helping people, we've seen her being very nice and caring to her neighbour and given all the positive things Sherlock deduced about her in TEH, I think her will to change and make up for her past is actually genuine. And so is her love for John. Sherlock trusts her on that and I'm kind of willing to do so as well. 

 

 

Sorry for disappointing you, but there are many psychopaths among the so-called 'helping professionals' (nurses, doctors, social workers, etc.). They've chosen their job to watch people suffer in order to satisfy their sadistic needs. In another thread Fox (Bakerstreet_Irregular) reported his experience with such a nurse (sorry I can't remember which thread).  Mary is a psychopath and we all know that personality disorders cannot be 'healed'. She cannot change the very core of her personality and we've seen this when she shot Sherlock in cold blood and all the events afterwards (she visited Sherlock in hospital and threatened him etc.). Her love for John is simply egoistic and selfish, as other forum members already stated.

 

 

 

 

Mary could have had another choice: kill Magnussen and ask Sherlock not to tell John. This 'surgical shot' is BS in my opinion, Sherlock almost died. I wouldn't forgive that.

 

 

The problem with killing Magnussen was that Janine wasn't dead and Mary wasn't willing to kill her, too. We don't even know if the security guard was dead, Sherlock just said "who cares" if he's alive or not. Janine had let Sherlock into the flat and would certainly tell the police that he was in the flat at the time the murder happened (while it was highly unlikely that Magnuessen would have contacted the police for the stolen letters - that didn't even exist, I suppose - they surely would have been contacted after he was murdered). And I have no doubt the security footage of the entrance of the building would have shown the police that John had been with Sherlock. So shooting CAM would have led to John becoming a murder suspect - along with Sherlock. Certainly not what Mary wanted to happen. 

 

I'm not defending Mary for shooting Sherlock, that was a bad choice. But shooting Magnussen wasn't an option any more in that situation. 

 

 

Following your logic: why Janine didn't tell the police that Sherlock was shot by Mary Morstan? Because Janine didn't see her. Either because of the mask or Mary knocked her off from behind. 

After killing Magnussen Mary could have fled and Sherlock could have phone the police and tell them he found Magnussen dead. There was no weapon, so I don't think Sherlock or John would have become a murder suspect.

[sherlockandjohn]

I feel like I've undergone a bit of a shift in my attitude towards Mary, so for those of you who have read my posts and may be wondering 'why the fairly quick change'; here's my explanation:

 

My initial reactions were that of shock and severe dislike, not for Mary's past, but for her attitude and the fact that she shot Sherlock. I could easily believe that she wanted to leave her past life behind her. That part always seemed sincere to me, and still does. But I was appalled by her coldness and extremely selfish behavior in risking Sherlock's life to protect her marriage. I always believed she didn't want Sherlock dead, but she was willilng to risk it anyway. She then claims that John likes that dangerous part of her, thereby making John seem like a darker person. And John forgives her for shooting Sherlock; in fact he barely brings that point up - it's all about forgiving her past. And the 'surgery' explanation to Mary's shot was and is still hard to swallow.

 

However, it is my belief that the writers mean to establish Mary as a 'good' character with a questionable past that's still haunting her. She wants to leave the past behind her and has found happiness; a happiness that she is very possesive of. She is a trained killer, so the instinct to kill could be what makes her so cold, even with Sherlock. She will do anything to protect her happiness. It is messed up, I know, because how can a person be happy if she had killed her husband's best friend? However, she did not want to kill him; she likes Sherlock, as we've seen in TEH and TSoT.

 

I don't personally like Mary, and if this was real life I'd not be able to just sweep everything under the rug, but there are things I can accept in fiction - like Sherlock and John forgiving Mary, because I actually find it admirable that they would do so. And when they do, perhaps in time I can too. Plus, the whole story just makes for some very emotional and compelling scenes. It has certainly put me through the emotional wringer, for several reasons, though mainly because of how difficult it is to come to terms with Mary's deceit.

 

In some ways, I find it an amazing episode because of the depth of emotional drama - but it is not something I wish to see more often on Sherlock. I want it to be a fun, charming detective show, not action, or large drama, or dark characters (except for Sherlock; he's allowed to be a bit dark ).

[Slithytove]

/>

Unless Sherlock doesn't know about him. An older sibling that was disgraced early on. Even Mycroft wouldn't mention his name, as you said Slithylove, "the other one". Maybe that's why it's so personal for Jim to bring Sherlock down. The favored one, the baby of the family? Just ideas, of course, no real substance. But there are Holmesian scholars who have wondered if Moriarty was a Holmes siblings. So you are not alone in that theory. And way was Jim chained and in a straight jacket in the dying Sherlock's mind palace? And why is he the last person Sherlock seeks out? And Sherlock asks him something like "How did you stand the pain?" or something along those lines.

 

Mycroft had Jim tortured, but Sherlock had under gone torture at the hands of the Serbs, so that doesn't quite cover it.

I like the idea that Jim is the brother Sherlock does not know about. Maybe Jim's obvious mental illness began at an early age and, in an outburst of sibling rivalry, he tried to harm little Sherlock. Then he could have been hospitalised, and Sherlock blanked the traumatic incident from his mind. That would be the beginning of his practice of deleting memories. Mycroft would know about "the other one" but Sherlock would not.

 

So Sherlock would think Mycroft had fed Moriarty information about his childhood but Jim was actually remembering it. It would also explain why Sherlock has a suffering, raging Jim in a strait jacket, deep within his subconscious.

 

On the other hand, Mummy & Daddy Holmes seem too nice to have a child who is never mentioned.

[Loekie]

I think Mary is crazy and Sherlock knows that, but he wants to protect John and search for a way out for their future with the child.