Episode 3.3, "His Last Vow"

[Carol the Dabbler]

I don't think this room looks like a hospital canteen at all!!!

I don't think it was meant to look like one!

 

Remember the earlier scene where CAM showed up at Baker Street, and Sherlock said he thought they were supposed to meet at CAM's office, and CAM said "This is my office.  Well, it is now."?

 

I think that the restaurant scene is Sherlock's idea of "right back at ya!"

 

MAGNUSSEN: Shouldn’t you be in hospital?

SHERLOCK: I am in hospital. This is the canteen.

MAGNUSSEN: Is it?

SHERLOCK: In my opinion, yes.

Or did I miss your point?

[sfmpco]

Yes, exactly, Carol.  I think it was Sherlock attempting to make a power play back at CAM and to try to be in control, but I think he learned very quickly that he was not in control.  First with the wrong deduction about the spectacles and next with the way that CAM ruled him by eating off his plate and rinsing his fingers in Sherlock's drinking water, then flicking that water back onto Sherlock's plate.  CAM is in total control and is flaunting that fact.

[J.P.]

Plus - the room is empty, and that probably in a time people are eating lunch, or whatever you call it.

Might be the owner owes Sherlock a big favor - or someone has a power to arrange that.

Is Mycroft on board already?

[kornmuhme]

 

I don't think this room looks like a hospital canteen at all!!!

I don't think it was meant to look like one!

 

Remember the earlier scene where CAM showed up at Baker Street, and Sherlock said he thought they were supposed to meet at CAM's office, and CAM said "This is my office.  Well, it is now."?

 

I think that the restaurant scene is Sherlock's idea of "right back at ya!"

 

MAGNUSSEN: Shouldn’t you be in hospital?

SHERLOCK: I am in hospital. This is the canteen.

MAGNUSSEN: Is it?

SHERLOCK: In my opinion, yes.

Or did I miss your point?

 

 

Ah, that makes sense! Thank you for this possible explanation to the scene!

by the way, I think CAM is the most disgusting villaint throughout the whole show! I really dislike him - what an angel was Moriarty in contrast to that!

[Arcadia]

by the way, I think CAM is the most disgusting villaint throughout the whole show! I really dislike him - what an angel was Moriarty in contrast to that!

I agree, the more I see CAM the more I think Moriarty was a cuddly kitten by comparison. Although I guess Jim did more real harm to society (blowing up people; a Bit Not Good. )

 

Plus - the room is empty, and that probably in a time people are eating lunch, or whatever you call it.

Might be the owner owes Sherlock a big favor - or someone has a power to arrange that.

Is Mycroft on board already?

Are you referring to the possibility that Sherlock and Mycroft were working together to bring CAM down? In that case, almost surely Mycroft was on board already, imo, since Sherlock is offering the laptop as bait in this scene. And that could explain how Sherlock managed to be in the "canteen"; he had help! Although I'm inclined to think Sherlock was not quite as feeble as he was making himself out to be at that point.

 

Yes, exactly, Carol.  I think it was Sherlock attempting to make a power play back at CAM and to try to be in control, but I think he learned very quickly that he was not in control.  First with the wrong deduction about the spectacles and next with the way that CAM ruled him by eating off his plate and rinsing his fingers in Sherlock's drinking water, then flicking that water back onto Sherlock's plate.  CAM is in total control and is flaunting that fact.

I like this interpretation. My problem is, someone awhile back put the notion into my head that Sherlock has already figured out everything, and is faking again at this point in order to fool CAM ... and dang it, I can't quite shake the idea! I suppose since I've learned he was faking everything during TRF, I expect him to do it all the time now? That was certainly reinforced by the "bomb on the train" scene in TEH. Arghhgghgh! MOFTISSSSSSS!!!!!

[Van Buren Supernova]

Re. Mary and Magnussen T-shirt ideas.

I think John just has hidden talent to inspire people for T-shirt designs.

 

Can any Londoner here check if Mary, Magnussen and J.P are doing something T-Shirt related in 221C Baker Street? The source of inspiration is just upstair.

 

Re. Sherlock's hospital canteen.

Sheet covers much more, too much, in surface area. Hospital gown on the other hand, sometimes I suspect they purposely design it to destroy your dignity.

For me, I just imagine Sherlock doesn't care about his condition or hospital rules. If he wants to eat somewhere, he goes there. And  he is not the best person to care about proper attire too in any setting. If Buckingham Palace fails, all the King and Queen's horses can't make him.

[J.P.]

Magnussen is dead. But we have his portrait on the wall for inspiration. :P

[Boton]

I figured he was up and moving around on his own by then; kind of hard to wheel a wheelchair and pull around one of those things that the iv hangs on at the same time. Or maybe his new buddy Billy helped him? He doesn't strike me as the type that would care too much about whether it's good for Sherlock to move around or not....

 

I agree.  I don't think Sherlock was wheelchair-bound at that point.  And heck, it is a tv trope of some sort for the valiant hero to hobble his way to wherever he wants to go, using his IV stand for a crutch!  Arcadia's right: he climbed out the window less than a week after being shot; I'm sure that walking out to a next-door restaurant some weeks later was well within his capabilities.  

 

This particular encounter had to happen sufficiently into the autumn that talking about Christmas didn't seem completely random.  So, I tend to think it happened in late September or maybe October, with the shooting occurring in June (a month after the wedding).  Plenty of time for Sherlock to be out of a wheelchair for at least short trips.

 

Finally, for those saying something about him walking around in a hospital gown, I'm about 95% sure that there's a garment hanging on the back of his chair in that restaurant scene.  I've never been able to tell if it is a dressing gown or the Belstaff, but the Belstaff would take a lot of room in the chair, so I'm going with dressing gown.  That would make him somewhat more appropriately attired, especially in a restaurant right next door to a hospital, which may get some patient traffic as a rule anyway.

[Arcadia]

Oh, I love you people with the sharp eyes! I never notice stuff like that until it's pointed out to me. It's The Rug of course, look...

 

[J.P.]

The Carpet.

[Arcadia]

Ooops. Sorry Benedict!!!!!!! Didn't mean to imply you wore a toupee.... xd

[SherlockedCAMPer]

So I finally did the rewatch of this episode Wednesday last week.  My duh moment tonight...John drove the car.  I knew Martin got his driver's license at some point after filming of HOB, but it finally clicked that he had it.

 

(I saw but did not observe and just about any other Sherlock insult could possibly apply. )

[Arcadia]

Drove it when? Mary drove it to and from the drug den, and I can't remember when else it was driven.... what'd I miss?

[J.P.]

Stumbled upon THIS. An interesting observation in an unexpected place.

[sfmpco]

Stumbled upon THIS. An interesting observation in an unexpected place.

 

Very interesting idea.

[Boton]

 

Stumbled upon THIS. An interesting observation in an unexpected place.

 

Very interesting idea.

 

 

It IS an interesting idea, but I don't know that I'm totally on board.  At least, I don't think Sherlock was conscious of John as his pressure point.  I don't think he was thinking, "boy, I need to come up with something to distract CAM from attacking John."  Rather, I think that he thought that he had no pressure points, and that he had to invent one to get CAM interested at all.  

 

If I'm right (always a big if), then I don't really blame him.  He probably thought John could always protect himself: ex-army doctor, crack shot, danger junkie.  Who's going to mess with this particular John Watson?  But he discounted the fact that even if John could defend himself, he could still be used in such a way as to get to Sherlock.

 

Oh, and good job on the screen cap proving that Sherlock wore the Belstaff to the restaurant.  Now I'm tortured by the fact that that coat is puddled on the floor, because it is way too long to hang off the back of a chair and stay clean!  

[J.P.]

I just like to theorize. What else can we do?

 

IMO Sherlock knew that John is his pressure point since the Fall (Jim made it very clear to him)

And John who could take care of himself was kidnapped on the street in the middle of the day.

Sherlock must have been researching on who did this. The question is, if he found out who put John in fire, before he's got the job from Lady Smallwood. There is no word about the incident until the end of HLV. IF Sherlock knew, he didn't tell John. The question is - did he know? We probably never will. :(

[Carol the Dabbler]

So I finally did the rewatch of this episode Wednesday last week.  My duh moment tonight...John drove the car.  I knew Martin got his driver's license at some point after filming of HOB, but it finally clicked that he had it.

 

(I saw but did not observe and just about any other Sherlock insult could possibly apply. )

 

Drove it when? Mary drove it to and from the drug den, and I can't remember when else it was driven.... what'd I miss?

 

With all due respect, you're both wrong!  :D

 

John-the-character drove the car to the drug den -- but we never see Freeman-the-actor actually driving it, merely getting into the driver's seat (which is on the right in the UK, remember) and then getting out upon arrival.  On the DVD commentary, Moftiss describe that scene as "Martin pre-driving," and go on to mention that he did subsequently learn to drive for Fargo.

 

[J.P.]

What I don't understand is that they do as if driving and having a driving license were the same.

I was driving since I could reach the pedals (of course not on public roads).

Driving is easy, it's the traffic that makes problems. I really don't get why they didn't get Martin into a car and let him exercise on some empty parking lot. 

 

[end nitpicking mode]

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, I was wondering about that too -- or why they didn't put the car on a low-slung trailer to make it look like he was driving (several of Ricky Gervais's scenes in The Office Christmas Special were filmed that way) -- or use greenscreen for the "moving" background.

 

I suppose any of that would have meant extra expense, though, one way or another.  Teaching him how to drive would have taken time, especially since he needed to know how to drive well enough that he could act while doing it, and time is money (aside from it being hard enough to arrange time in his schedule for just the filming).  Those trailers can't come cheap, either, and greenscreen takes time during pre- and post-production.

 

So it was presumably a matter of what was readily doable.  But now that Mr. Freeman can actually drive, we'll presumably see John driving, sooner or later.

 

Just found this advice page, which warns "don’t shoot an actor who’s also driving (distracted driving is a killer!)."  They recommend the trailer method, which they call a "process trailer," and link to this site for an example of using one.

 

[Arcadia]

 

With all due respect, you're both wrong!  :D

 

John-the-character drove the car to the drug den -- but we never see Freeman-the-actor actually driving it, merely getting into the driver's seat (which is on the right in the UK, remember) and then getting out upon arrival.  On the DVD commentary, Moftiss describe that scene as "Martin pre-driving," and go on to mention that he did subsequently learn to drive for Fargo.

 

 

You know what's really embarrassing? I think I wrote almost the same thing some 50 pages ago.   I need a new memory....

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I think we need a new episode instead.  Our brains are going to mush from lack of new Sherlock material to discuss.

[J.P.]

Ooops. Sorry Benedict!!!!!!! Didn't mean to imply you wore a toupee.... XD

Not YET. But given the pace of the production it might be necessary for Season 5.

 

 

You know what's really embarrassing? I think I wrote almost the same thing some 50 pages ago.   I need a new memory....

 

You just need to delete something redundant. Like that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

[Van Buren Supernova]

You know what's really embarrassing? I think I wrote almost the same thing some 50 pages ago.   I need a new memory....

For all we know this 200 pages is actually you guys just do repeat every 50 pages to amuse newer member....

 

You just need to delete something redundant. Like that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

It does? I thought the sun is just earth's daytime stalker.

Who is the King of England again?

[Arcadia]

Elvis?