Episode 3.3, "His Last Vow"

[T.o.b.y]

I don't know if we've talked about this before or not, but something keeps running through my head.

 

In the "addicted to a certain lifestyle" scene, Sherlock turns to Mrs. Hudson and says "Get me some morphine from your kitchen; I've run out."

 

To me, that implies:

• Sherlock thinks Mrs. Hudson is a reasonable person to ask for morphine.
• He knows where she keeps it.
• He may not think she'd be shocked to hear him ask.

So I'm kinda starting to wonder if Mrs. Hudson has an opiate habit beyond her "herbal soothers" that she likes, and/or that she takes a fairly relaxed stance on Sherlock's habit.

 

Just pondering....what do y'all think?

 

While I fully believe that Mrs Hudson likes a little marijuana now and then, I somehow cannot picture her hoarding morphine. Of course there are several possibilities here. One is that Sherlock was at that point so beside himself with blood loss and stress and pain that he was talking nonsense, or getting his timelines confused - perhaps Mrs Hudson did have morphine in her kitchen when she was working for Mr Hudson and his drugs business. Another is that it was supposed to be Sherlock's idea of a joke, or that he just wished Mrs Hudson could supply him with morphine.

 

Then, there is such a thing as legal opiate use. Maybe at some point a doctor prescribed something very strong for her hip pain and Sherlock knows she kept it in her kitchen (lots of people keep their meds in the kitchen, don't ask me why). Who knows, maybe at some point Sherlock was even in the habit of "borrowing" Mrs Hudson's analgetics.

 

[Boton]

 

 

 

Then, there is such a thing as legal opiate use. Maybe at some point a doctor prescribed something very strong for her hip pain and Sherlock knows she kept it in her kitchen (lots of people keep their meds in the kitchen, don't ask me why). Who knows, maybe at some point Sherlock was even in the habit of "borrowing" Mrs Hudson's analgetics.

 

 

 

That seems fairly plausible to me.  I don't really think Hudders is dabbling in the hard illegal stuff, but just that the whole exchange is delivered in such an off-hand manner, it seems likely that Sherlock knows where she keeps the "good stuff."   I like the idea that maybe he's snuck down there once in a while to top up when he doesn't have his own stash, since clearly he also has no problem raiding the fridge.  ("I just wanted a mince pie and some oxy; no big deal.")

[Arcadia]

While I fully believe that Mrs Hudson likes a little marijuana now and then, I somehow cannot picture her hoarding morphine. Of course there are several possibilities here. One is that Sherlock was at that point so beside himself with blood loss and stress and pain that he was talking nonsense, or getting his timelines confused - perhaps Mrs Hudson did have morphine in her kitchen when she was working for Mr Hudson and his drugs business. Another is that it was supposed to be Sherlock's idea of a joke, or that he just wished Mrs Hudson could supply him with morphine.

I admit this is my take on it, because I'm such a sweet innocent little thing that I can't imagine it was meant seriously, but I'm happy to allow that there's a possibility it was meant seriously if that's what floats your boat. Howz that for taking a stand? :D

[Boton]

 

While I fully believe that Mrs Hudson likes a little marijuana now and then, I somehow cannot picture her hoarding morphine. Of course there are several possibilities here. One is that Sherlock was at that point so beside himself with blood loss and stress and pain that he was talking nonsense, or getting his timelines confused - perhaps Mrs Hudson did have morphine in her kitchen when she was working for Mr Hudson and his drugs business. Another is that it was supposed to be Sherlock's idea of a joke, or that he just wished Mrs Hudson could supply him with morphine.

I admit this is my take on it, because I'm such a sweet innocent little thing that I can't imagine it was meant seriously, but I'm happy to allow that there's a possibility it was meant seriously if that's what floats your boat. Howz that for taking a stand? :D

 

 

Way to hold that line and straddle it, Arcadia.   :D

[sittything]

Heh, see... I'm on team Mrs. Hudson probably has some drugs up in her house.  Between Sherlock's statement about the morphine and Mrs. Hudson's defensive "they're just herbal soothers" when the drugs bust is going down, I just feel like something is "off" with her.  But I'm down with that.  She has a somewhat seedy past.   I love that everyone in Sherlock's life is a bit not right.  

[Boton]

Heh, see... I'm on team Mrs. Hudson probably has some drugs up in her house.  Between Sherlock's statement about the morphine and Mrs. Hudson's defensive "they're just herbal soothers" when the drugs bust is going down, I just feel like something is "off" with her.  But I'm down with that.  She has a somewhat seedy past.   I love that everyone in Sherlock's life is a bit not right.  

 

I kind of am growing enamored of the idea that Mrs. Hudson's lack of "flinching" at things like drugs is part of why she's part of the team that keeps Sherlock from running off the rails.  Like, she's not shocked by occasionally coming upstairs and finding him high, but she can nag him a bit like a mom, just like she'd nag him to eat  or sleep properly.  And he loves her enough that it might make him put down the drugs more often than he picks them up.

 

I don't really like the idea that Sherlock has ever been just a completely strung-out, out-of-control addict with time in a rehab facility and all that.  But I do like the idea that maybe he'd gotten a bit too dependent, and it's people like Mrs. Hudson and John and Molly and even Mary who have seen a bit of life and aren't shocked who can exert an influence on his behavior.  There are people there he doesn't want to disappoint, even if he maybe doesn't always see the point in abstaining.

[sittything]

Really, outside of his parents maybe, the only person in his life who seems relatively normal is Molly. But her a bit off bit is that she's a bit hung up/in love with a mess like Sherlock. Not that anyone can blame her. Unless there is something else about her that they just haven't revealed yet.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I kind of like the idea that there is something about Molly that we haven't seen yet that makes more than the nice girl from next door who happens to be a pathologist.

[sittything]

Oh, I did forget about Lestrade. He's normal, as far as we can tell.

[Arcadia]

Oh, I did forget about Lestrade. He's normal, as far as we can tell.

 

Is he? I find him unusually patient and laid back when dealing with Sherlock, and surprisingly humble for a man in his position. I wish that were normal! Well, it could be a little more normal for older men, I suppose.

[J.P.]

Molly is cutting up corpses. How normal can you be to make such career choice?

[T.o.b.y]

Molly is cutting up corpses. How normal can you be to make such career choice?

 

I don't know, I think that pathologist is a fairly normal job... I considered it for a while, but soon found out that it would be way too academic for me. I'm no scientist.

 

*Sigh*... Molly must be terribly intelligent.

 

[sfmpco]

Molly is cutting up corpses. How normal can you be to make such career choice?

 

Well, someone has to do it.  

 

I knew a guy whose wife worked in a funeral parlour and she would be called to the scene of a fatal accident to collect the body.  She enjoyed her job... except when children were dead.  She had a much harder time dealing with that.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I remember watching an episode of Cake Boss (reality show in the US) where Buddy was making a cake for a female mortician at her husband's request & it had a hearse on there.

[Boton]

Molly is cutting up corpses. How normal can you be to make such career choice?

 

I think it's a "normal" job too, but I also think it points to a certain kind of steeliness in Molly that makes her a good contribution to our group.  There's a certain kind of internal logic here that most people in Sherlock's world have a sort of day-to-day "comfort" with death that maybe the rest of us don't.  Everyone that I can think of in that group either works with the aftermath of violent crime (Sherlock, Molly, Lestrade), works to prevent unnecessary deaths and manage the outcome of violent crime (John as a doctor-turned-detective; Mycroft as MI6), or has actively been involved in crime (Mary, Mrs. Hudson).  

 

This has got to be a hard group to freak out.

[Arcadia]

Hm, I've always thought it was the scientific aspect of pathology that engaged Molly's interest (and the scientist in Sherlock that sparked her interest in him). I have a student who wants to major in forensics ... the idea of working with dead bodies actually kind of freaks her out, she says, but the intellectual curiousity and need to stimulate it is stronger. She figures, like most things we are subjected to, that she'll get used to it soon enough. It's not steeliness so much as the ability to compartmentalize. And basic intelligence, I think.

[sfmpco]

I don't have that kind of steeliness, I don't think, but if you can compartmentalize that the human body when dead is like a seashell washed up on the beach... Of course, often in forensics, there might even be a body.  Just the crime scene.  Lots to learn, analyze and understand, plus having the tools of the trade.  The things that Sherlock had to learn and understand and file in his mind palace... well, that's what makes him so quick.  But also I think there's a desire in Sherlock to keep adding forensic knowledge to his mind palace.  That's part of why he has a microscope and why in S1 he is studying body parts.  He sees things other people don't see because he takes the time.  Sherlock has a lot of self-motivation to continue to learn.  

[Caya]

Dunno, dead bodies never freaked me out much - they're dead. Whatever you do, you can't possibly make it any worse, now can you. Live bodies, now that's a different kettle of fish.

[sfmpco]

Never been around one although I have seen an autopsy on Youtube.  However, I was absolutely terrified of skeletons when I was a child, and anything to do with dismemberments (like beheadings specifically) really freaked me out.  Which is why I didn't know that Irene survived for several weeks because when that moment came, I clicked off the episode.  

[Caya]

You get used to bodies fairly quickly in my experience. Around here at least, they start easy on you in anatomy classes first, too, and only gently escalate from there. You start working on parts only, and those come already prepared somewhat, as in, the skin and connective tissue have been removed, so the arm or leg in question looks more like something out of your books and less like the real, living thing. When you've worked on that for a while and got used to it, you get a skin-and-all body part, and only after working on that one, a full body - and even those have been lying in formalin for two years and look somewhat artificial. Only after you've graduated from anatomy course does your scalpel ever touch a newly-dead person in pathology, who do look very much like a sleeping person sometimes. But by that time you've had plenty of familiarization with the concept and it's okay, usually.

[T.o.b.y]

Dunno, dead bodies never freaked me out much - they're dead. Whatever you do, you can't possibly make it any worse, now can you. Live bodies, now that's a different kettle of fish.

 

I whole-heartedly agree. :lol:

 

[joanneta1]

Molly is a direct lift, or coup of legerdemain by the creative duo from the Morse series, where Dr Grayling Russell  shows up in one of Morse's crime scenes, and the ensuing confrontation is hilarious. She was later replaced by Dr Laura Hobson, who continued in the sequel, Lewis. In her case, she said that she wanted a better-paid job than that of a GP. Molly has said somewhere that

she decided to become a pathologist after her dad died of cancer.

I shall never forget the day my Dad brought home a skull, and we spent hours analysing and studying the anatomy. As Molly would have said, "male, late fifties", and you can imagine how proud I felt being able to carry the skull to my biology lesson at school. I had my own skull for a precious week, it was beyond Good, it was Brilliant! Oh, and the name was NOT Billie, it was Chas.

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Late input. Sorry in advance for possible repeats.

 

Two words to describe this episode.. : Oh Sherlock..

 

The beginning was fun, with John getting his kick in the drug den, spraining people, making Sherlock Holmes piss in a jar, whispering to Magnussen's bodyguard,"Doesn't mean I'm not happy to see you."

He stood up to Mycroft, and seriously telling him that he should shut up and go because Sherlock would snap him in two otherwise. Great stuffs.

 

Magnussen is despicable, and I think they do decent job in showing that. Peeing in the fireplace.. ugh.. Maybe the mentioning of Redbeard caught Sherlock off guard, but I always wonder why he didn't kick his ass right here right there. In fact, he was very polite. Sherlock in SIB would throw him out of window. However, I guess it's quite believable that he was on mission, trying to get Magnussen to underestimate him (hence the addict) and maybe he also doesn't have that much sense of belonging in things and place compared to people he cares about (except his coat)

 

Janine, I'm helpless about what this show had done to me, sigh! When Janine appeared in his flat, I was so dissapointed (almost all shows that I like moved to this cliche direction and was ruined. I thought Sherlock is safe. Now what? He is dating, having girlfriend, next he gets married and have babies?) I remember feeling really uneasy and strangely ....jealous. Ha! It's horrible. Lucky, the great detective is as heartless as ever in this.

 

John's expression are priceless. And I love the exchange here a lot, bit of good old times.

When John couldn't believe and fascinated with Sherlock, while Sherlock didn't even pay full attention and didn't understand the big deal.

 

I want to see Sherlock shopping for ring! How many insults he might throw around various ring designs, how many couple-to-be he would break in the shop with his deductions (affair, liar, run), and how many sellers who might fall to depression.

 

Papa Cumberbatch is a splitting image with his son. What a wonderful family.

Love the Christmas. Mycroft saying losing Sherlock will break his heart (and he is serious), Sherlock's reaction is how he should react.

[Van Buren Supernova]

 

Now to less fun part..

 

To me, I can almost convinced myself the answer to every 'problem' this episode except for Janine. Her arc has gaping plot hole that I couldn't get through.

She strikes me as a strong, smart, confident woman, why would she work with CAM and bears with it? Especially it was mentioned that he didn't treat her well. He flicked her eye ffs.

 

Why would she allow Sherlock to come in since Magnussen is still there? (He is supposed to go to dinner but not)

Why was she easily manipulated by Mary and Sherlock? (Sherlock is charming yes, but it doesn't take a genius to question his behavior after what he displayed in the wedding, she might fall (who doesn't) for Sherlocks awkward persona, but that is not the persona that he used for her).

And Mary? How long has she known Mary? I guess not for long, otherwise Mary must be a lousy slow assasin to wait until that long after the wedding before she decide to settle Magnussen. If she feels safe until the telegram, why she manipulated Janine before that. I would think it takes a lot of getting to know effort to make someone your maid oh honor. But that is me.

 

Can't help to think that Janine is a moro.... bimbo.

 

And how on earth she survives Magnussen? For a guy who knows everything, it‘s pretty unbelievable that he doesn't know what's going on.

His PA is the maid of honor of this particular assasin and girlfriend of a particular guy he keeps an eye on and he is aware about the wedding. She sells her stories freely after the shooting. Everything is well.

Magnussen is not a killer, he is no Moriarty, but for guy with pass time activities being peeing on other's fireplace, licking and flicking faces, it's not believable that there is no consequences.

 

Hmph..

 

For Mary, I was surprisingly okay with her on first viewing. But subsequently I'm jumping on the bandwagon of haters.

Paying closer attention, what changed my mind are little things I notice after multiple viewing:

 

- the cold bloodedness

Threatened Sherlock when he just escaped death, and again when he was in pain with not enough time for recovery in Leinster Garden, because of blatant selfishness, and worry about herself only when Sherlock collapsed again in Baker Street after confrontation.

 

- the expression, the responses

She didn't show remorse until she was sure. Like the way she retaliated after John finally spoke to her on Christmas, the way she was defensive for shooting Magnussen (but not Sherlock or people she killed, which should be the main problem for people like John).

Yes it might be an armour but there is no place for pride and defense in her case at those moments if she was sincere.

She is never sincere, she only get caught. Close the curtain,take a bow.

 

- Sherlock mind palace

Despite all Sherlock's effort to convince John (and us) that Mary is good, he only comes back from the death because of his conciousness, or in this matter, unconsiousness. He came back because of one thing only, that John is left with Mary and definately in danger because of that.

 

And the pain, the unbearable pain he experienced in his dying moment. When did we ever seen Sherlock in such physical pain? He is one tough cookie, he went through nearly choked to death multiple times, throw around like rag doll, tortured in Serbia, just to mention some that I know. Has he ever reacted to physical pain like that? Nope it's just another day for him.

The pain, here, is rooftop at Barts pain.

It is heartbreak, loss, like whispered by Moriarty, the pain he feels and fears. Of betrayal, dissapointment, distrustment because of Mary.

His effort is contradicted by his own mind.

 

I can defend his out of character here, therefore on the contrary of debates in early pages of the thread (haven't read through all those bcs I'm already late as it is) I would say this is good writing. It's realistic that character are not flawless or always right or believe on the right thing. Denial is realistic, and he is in denial. He likes Mary, and as selfish as Sherlock Holmes can be, he is as selfless. He learns that Mary makes John happy and wants to maintain and 'help' the best he could. It's argueable also that Mary might not be a direct danger to John, he wants to believe so and goes out on a limb to protect their relationship, even by sacrificing himself.

 

Oh Sherlock..

 

A lot of heartbreaks moment:

- Sherlock collapsing again in Baker Street. It's not supposed to be a heartbreaking scene I think, but it got me.

- Expressions when he finally started to fall backwards. Music, slow-mo, painful sadness of being betrayed.

- Redbeard. They are putting me down too. No fun is it? Lump in the throat.

- Sherlock watching John, moments before the shooting.

- Mycroft's: Oh Sherlock, what have you done.

- Maybe minority opinion, the goodbye scene is done well and done beautifully subtle.

Notice John having his speechless moment, expression when he is the most sad, and Sherlock watching him closely.

He couldn't bear watching him like that, and cracked a joke. Good old John always get it.

It's a split moment but that is the truth of how they feel. To me it says a lot.

[Arcadia]

Late input. Sorry in advance for possible repeats.

No problem! We love having our views validated! (No matter what your views are, you're bound to agree with someone! :D )

 

Magnussen is despicable, and I think they do decent job in showing that. Peeing in the fireplace.. ugh.. Maybe the mentioning of Redbeard caught Sherlock off guard, but I always wonder why he didn't kick his ass right here right there. In fact, he was very polite. Sherlock in SIB would throw him out of window. However, I guess it's quite believable that he was on mission, trying to get Magnussen to underestimate him (hence the addict) and maybe he also doesn't have that much sense of belonging in things and place compared to people he cares about (except his coat)

 

A lot of people have noted that Sherlock doesn't seem to respond to personal attacks nearly as strongly as he does to attacks on those he cares about. So maybe that's all it is? He knows Magnussen's despicable, so why get all worked up if the jerk insults him? Something like that. I also think it had something to do with remaining dignified when Magnussen was being gross. And finally, if Sherlock HAD tried to throw CAM out the window, CAM's bodyguards would have shot him! :o

 

Hm, I wonder if Sherlock would throw someone out a window if they did something not nice to his coat .... :D