Episode 3.3, "His Last Vow"

[Arcadia]

I figured that's where he stashes the people he's "disappeared."

[Pseudonym]

They're there in case Mrs Hudson leaves Baker Street and causes England to begin to fall

[Boton]

Based on absolutely nothing, my head canon has always been completely the opposite: the house we see Mycroft in is one that he purchased himself to befit his status and income. The house we see mummy and daddy in is the house they've lived in since they got married.  

 

I've also never been 100% sold on the "Holmes ancestral properties/titles" idea. I understand the logic behind it and how it fits with the ACD fan theory that Sherrinford is the older brother who would have taken a title. But to me, the Holmes family has never looked particularly well off or noble, and certainly I don't think Sherlock has had a lot of disposable income until S2 when John's web site really takes off.  (And I also know the fan theory that his trust is being managed by Mycroft because of the drugs.)

 

It's just that none of them behave at all like any of the trust fund babies that I have known, although there may be an American/British culturaly difference there that I'm not picking up on.

 

OK, thus endeth the Monday morning edition of "Boton confesses her unpopular head canon."  

[Pseudonym]

Hm. I've never bought they have grand estates or titles, I think fandom normally takes that kind of thing way too far, but I do think they come from a wealthy family. Sherlock's clothes for example are ridiculously expensive, his coat alone costs over a 1000GBP. The way he speaks, the words he chooses (both he and Mycroft) are also very public school, which reinforces the idea he comes from a wealthy background. I think that's why it's always stumped me that he needed a flatmate. Perhaps his parents were wealthy, he had the clothes etc from when he was a bit younger and they were still helping him out, but now he was making his own way wasn't so well off? I don't think he has a trust fund or anything like that, I get the impression that their parents would expect their sons to be well educated, shrewd and smart enough to be successful in their own right rather than leaching off their parents. 

 

I agree I don't think Mycroft has the family home. I think he has some posh townhouse in London that costs an arm and a leg. I can see it that Mrs and Mr Holmes might have downsized their family home once their children were grown up, though I don't think they ever really lived in a mansion I think it would have been somewhat grander than where they live now. 

[Boton]

. I think that's why it's always stumped me that he needed a flatmate. Perhaps his parents were wealthy, he had the clothes etc from when he was a bit younger and they were still helping him out, but now he was making his own way wasn't so well off? 

 

Yes, this.  I think Sherlock basically has what we would call an "investment wardrobe."  He has, what, three suits and five shirts?  An expensive coat, some expensive dressing gowns, and then really cruddy looking PJs and a bunch of second-hand furniture (other than his bed).  To me, that looks an awful lot like how a lot of people start out:  their families give them gifts of really nice things for the position they hope to one day hold, and the individual adds to the collection as time and money permit, but that doesn't mean that their money extends to a regular expensive occurrence like monthly rent on a flat in central London.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

A few more ideas for the mix:

 

Sherlock didn't need a flatmate so much for monetary reasons as for an audience. Admittedly he said "together we should be able to afford it," but that's still true if he could afford it on his own. Also, in Blind Banker it doesn't sound like John's exactly been holding up his end, but Sherlock doesn't seem to care. 'Course, he could simply be one of those people who never paid much attention to money (consider his non-reaction to Sebastian's retainer) -- but aren't those people usually ones who don't *need* to worry about money?

 

Agreed that Mummy and Daddy seem far too down-to-earth to have chosen the mini-palace. But maybe it chose them -- i.e., one of them inherited it. If it was the old family estate, they could hardly sell it, so they raised the boys there, but as soon as they were grown, they transferred the house to Mycroft (or possibly Sherrinford) and moved to that country place (which suited them *far* better than it would have suited the boys).

[Boton]

A few more ideas for the mix:

 

Sherlock didn't need a flatmate so much for monetary reasons as for an audience. Admittedly he said "together we should be able to afford it," but that's still true if he could afford it on his own. Also, in Blind Banker it doesn't sound like John's exactly been holding up his end, but Sherlock doesn't seem to care. 'Course, he could simply be one of those people who never paid much attention to money (consider his non-reaction to Sebastian's retainer) -- but aren't those people usually ones who don't *need* to worry about money?

 

 

 

Possible, and I think those are very good ideas that have as much support (or non-support) as my head canon, but I just can't see it.  For one thing, Sherlock's attitude toward money is one of the reasons I say he doesn't behave anything like the trust fund babies I have known; in my limited (and American) experience, those folks always know exactly how much things cost and how much they are spending, even if they don't say anything overt about it.  

 

And why would Sherlock be hunting around for a flatmate enough to tell Mike Stamford (who we never again see hanging out with Sherlock) that he must be a hard man to find a flatmate for?  He seems to be living a fairly independent existence, judging just by the little bit of solo research he is doing in Bart's morgue and lab.  Why wouldn't he want an audience at work more than he does at home? 

 

I've always kind of liked the idea/trope that Mrs. Hudson thought he was becoming too isolated and told him she'd give him a break on the rent, but he needed to find a friend to share with because it would be good for him.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oooh, I like your Mrs. Hudson idea!

 

As for him not acting like a "trust-fund baby," maybe that's because he thinks money is only about as important as the solar system.

[Boton]

Oooh, I like your Mrs. Hudson idea!

 

 

I think I used that in one of my fan fics a while back, and I liked it.  I'm about to use the "limited trust fund" trope in one I'm working on now, mostly because I'm going to do enough else to annoy the fandom in it that I may as well go with a prevailing opinion on something.  :-)

 

But next, I'm totally running with the whole "Sherlock searches for a flatmate" idea....

[Pseudonym]

I think even if he was loaded he wouldn't really care about it. To him his intellect and work is everything, so who cares about money? As for him looking for a flatmate for someone to listen to him I don't see that being the case because what's the likelihood he'd stumble upon someone who actually would? He accepts that most people see him as a freak, he can't seem to believe it in the cab when John is actually impressed by his deductions rather than angry. The likelihood he'd get someone like John who will not only listen, but go on jobs with him, have useful expertise and that he doesn't find unbearably stupid are astronomical. I can't see him looking for a flatmate unless he had no other choice. 

If I had a landlady tell me I had to find a friend to share my flat with because it would 'be good for me' I'd be really peed off. It might be good for other people, it might be generally considered healthier, but that doesn't mean it is for me. Though, possibly, Sherlock is actually more sociable than I am, he does like having someone to show off to after all. It just seems a bit too manipulative to me, I know she probably can be manipulative when she chooses (what with her dubious past), but to give him a break on the rent if he shares when she probably knows he doesn't have any friends seems cruel. Especially when she also knows there aren't many people who could bear to live with him. 

[Boton]

I think Sherlock lets Mrs. Hudson in in ways that he doesn't anybody else, making her sort of a surrogate mom.  He hugs her, she gets his groceries (and he gives that precious little "I see the sales slip; put it on the counter and I'll pay you" nod), and he seems to tolerate personal conversations with her.  (The latter, like on the morning of John's wedding.)  That's why I think, if anyone could tell Sherlock Holmes he needs to have a flatmate, it woulbe her.

 

But I'd be annoyed too if someone told me to get a roommate.  :-)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Also, we've seen that she can become really fixated on her own interpretation of things, even when faced with copious evidence to the contrary. And as Boton says, she's motherly. So while I agree that she should know better, I doubt that'd be enough to stop her trying (if she liked the idea).

[bedelia1984]

Have been reading through the HLV script that J.P  posted .

 

I did know they had cut Molly's line about Sherlock using his wiles to get around her, but not about the one where she says her and Tom are on a break!! How very Ross and Rachel... And she makes it sounds like Tom was the one needing space, when in TSOT it appears quite different. Now I want to read all the scripts.

 

But thank God they took out the bit about Tom needing space, at least it makes her life seem just slightly less depressing. They seem to often write Molly as super-pathetic and then punch up her part afterwards. I remember her saying that in SiB she originally had no comeback for Sherlock's hurtful deductions at the party too. 

 

The script is such a great read- I like that you can hear the writer's own voice- talking about Mary and Mr. Holmes and her discomfort at his mistaken assumption of their common ground, or when he says Magnussen drops like a stone, dead. I really get a sense of how much Moffat enjoyed writing it.

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Having some of the actual shooting scripts is gonna be fun!
 

Aaaand here is HLV:
http://www.emmys.com/sites/default/files/Downloads/Sherlock_Ep3_Script.pdf

I was just skimming through the first little bit of the HLV script, looking for something specific, and noticed three points of interest (including the one I was looking for, whereupon I stopped looking for now):

 

1.  When Kate rings the Watsons' doorbell and wakens John out of a dream, the original reason for his befuddled stare is that (apparently while still dreaming) he "saw" Sherlock at the door.  So seeing Kate simply did not compute.  (Even without that explanation, I figure a guy is allowed to be a tad befuddled when suddenly wakened out of a dream.  Goodness knows I am!)

 

2.  Wiggins' nickname for Sherlock isn't "Shezza," as we've all been writing it -- it's "Shezzer" with a non-rhotic English accent.  Somehow that makes more sense to me.  Around here, lots of nicknames end in "er."

 

3.  The Holmes boys' uncle's name isn't "Rudi," it's the usual English "Rudy."  I suspect that "Rudi" came from the subtitles, since a lot of people seem to have picked up on that spelling.  Presumably the subtitle writers are from somewhere that uses the "Rudi" spelling.

[Pseudonym]

Shezza and Shezzer sound the same in my accent. Do they not in yours?

[Boton]

I always assumed it was "Shezzer," but pronounced "Shezza."

 

Pseud, in the Midwestern part of the US at least:

 

Shezzer = Shezz + er (with the r enunciated, like, um, lawn mower?  This is why I stink at linguistics.)

Shezza = Shezz + ah

[J.P.]

Geez, I don't have any energy to do anything requiring concentrating on something for longer. After work I'm totally done. :(

[Pseudonym]

Mower and mowa sound the same in my accent too. Hm. I think I get what you're saying though. 

[Boton]

Yeah, crud.  I was afraid of that.  In any case, the r is pronounced in "Shezzer."

 

(OK, not sure if this example will work, but I watched Doc Martin, which takes place in Cornwall.  The heroine, Louisa, is called what sounds to my ears like "Louis-er," with the r pronounced.  There is an American name or nickname, which I assume is pronounced almost the same way, with is spelled Ouiser -- whee-zer.  The Shezzer/Shezza thing is the opposite of that.)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Pseud, I think this is why the British equivalent of "umm" (as in "I'm thinking....") is spelt "erm."  When I first read the Potter books, I was pronouncing that with a full-fledged R, but now I'm thinking it's probably supposed to be more like our "umm."  Am I close?

 

Most Americans would pronounce "Shezzer" somewhat like you might pronounce "Shezza" in the phrase "Shezza and I."  (Or the way Martin Freeman pronunces "Amanda Abbington" as something like "Amander Rabbington.")

[Pseudonym]

Right, yea, I get it. I don't think I do it much, but I get what you mean now.  

 

I always think of um and erm as being slightly different sounds, though both meaning the same thing. I would pronounce them slightly differently too.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Someday you'll have to demonstrate the difference for me!

[Pseudonym]

I'm already like a nutter, sitting here on my own saying words out loud to try to figure out if I do it or not. I hope no one can hear me!

[Pseudonym]

Just thought, do gum and germ sound different when you say them? That would be a similar thing.

[Artemis]

Very.
 
 
On second thought, I should probably be more specific, lol.
 
This is basically how I pronounce the word "worm":
 

 
"Germ" rhymes with it.  And in my American brain, so does "erm" when I read it, even though I know how it's supposed to sound when said by a British person.

 

 

Someday you'll have to demonstrate the difference for me!

It's hard to describe.  Removing the "r" from the equation, I'd say it's sort of like the difference between "ehm" and "uhm" or "eh" and "uh" for us, though perhaps with slightly less pronounced of a difference.  "Um" is deeper, in a sense.
 
 
Here are a couple articles Google rendered on the subject, if anyone's interested.  I'd go more in-depth if I had time:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/67573/why-do-americans-say-uh-and-um-and-british-people-say-er-and-erm
http://dialectblog.com/2011/04/22/um-in-different-accents/