What would you like to see in series 4?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Really?  Do you happen to recall which story/stories the governesses are mentioned in?  Must be I haven't read those, or else that part just went in one eye and out the other.

 

Added:  Oh, wait a minute, you mean literally that there are some governesses in some of the stories, don't you -- not that the Watsons have governesses on their household staff? 

 

[T.o.b.y]

 

You mean there are never any Watson children mentioned, right? Because there are governesses and they do have charges.

 

 

Oh yes, of course, no Watson children that I know of. Plenty of others! Take "The Sussex Vampire", for example. And Mary Morstan herself was a governess (I don't remember reading anything about the children she took care of, though).

[sherlockandjohn]

I think another hero moment for John is due He's had several, but series 3 focused more on Sherlock (successfully, I might add).

 

Despite Lestrade's several wonderful scenes in TSoT, he did not feature enough in this series, probably because there weren't so many crime scenes. I want more of those, too. Anyway, I'd love for Lestrade to have a slightly more dramatic, heroic moment as Sherlock's friend. He is a bit underappreciated, if you ask me.

 

More case work.

 

Not sure how I want Mary to feature... I just know I don't want a crime solving trio. Nor do I want her to show off her agent skills, please no! Though I fear that could easily happen.

 

I do, however, want Sherlock to show off his brain skills And make everyone else feel like idiots.

 

Well, that's it for now

[T.o.b.y]

I'd like to see more of what goes on inside Sherlock's mind. I love the idea of the mind palace as such and it allows for all sorts of character (re-)appearances and scenes that would be nice to see but don't make sense in the context of the actual story. For example, I'd love to see more of Irene but I feel that the drama of A Scandal in Belgravia would be kind of spoiled if she returned for real. Perfect solution, to just have her as one of the voices inside his head. And while she's there, I'd love to see the two of them dance. We know now that Sherlock likes that and is good at it and they might as well do something while they're talking (I don't think I want to see what they get up to when he's not busy though...)

[sherlockandjohn]

I'd like to see more of what goes on inside Sherlock's mind. I love the idea of the mind palace as such and it allows for all sorts of character (re-)appearances and scenes that would be nice to see but don't make sense in the context of the actual story. For example, I'd love to see more of Irene but I feel that the drama of A Scandal in Belgravia would be kind of spoiled if she returned for real. Perfect solution, to just have her as one of the voices inside his head. And while she's there, I'd love to see the two of them dance. We know now that Sherlock likes that and is good at it and they might as well do something while they're talking (I don't think I want to see what they get up to when he's not busy though...)

 

 

Hmm, yeah, the mind palace is great, and getting more of an insight into Sherlock's thinking would be exciting... but I wouldn't like to overdo it, either, and ruin the mystery.

 

Irene, well, if it makes sense for her to have a voice in his mind, that might be fun/interesting. Could be her input on the solving of a case which might require some of her, uh, expertise.

[sherlockandjohn]

Oh, I completely forgot Sherlock's "protégé", Bill Wiggins. He's bound to be part of series 4, isn't he? What will that be like, I wonder... Any thoughts? Will he merely pop up once in a while, or will he follow Sherlock around?

[T.o.b.y]

I hope we'll see as little of him as possible. I don't really need another "deductive scientist" around.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Depends on how his character develops and what use Sherlock might make of him.  I doubt that they'll feel obliged to have him in every episode just because he's been introduced -- they don't do that with any of the other supporting characters.

 

[Janie]

I think he could be some kind of a leader of Sherlock's homeless network and he shows up when Sherlock needs him for a case. So it doesn't have to be in every episode. I wouldn't want that either.

[sherlockandjohn]

No, I'd have to agree with you all, I hope he won't feature too much. But Sherlock did invite him to his parents' house for Christmas, and that's what got my brain wheels turning. It could be, though, that he just needed him to drug everyone but then again... couldn't he have done that perfectly well himself? Don't know. We'll see.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Darn I was hoping to see little Archie developed more as Sherlock's protege, very fertile ground there. Of course as for Wiggins, he was the head of the canon "Baker Street Irregulars" so it would make some sense that Gatiss and Moffat draw him out of the shadows in some fashion, and they did.

[Slithytove]

Wiggins is in the ACD stories, of course, but this incarnation seems an unlikely protege for Sherlock, considering the latter's very low tolerance of most people who aren't John. However.....

 

On archiveofourown.org, there is an interesting meta on the story arc in S3 - I 'm afraid I can't remember the author - which explores lots of ideas, including the suggestion that Sherlock was high throughout HLV and maybe through the whole series. (And that it is his addiction, rather than CAM, which might be the real villain.). I'm not wholly convinced he is addicted from the beginning, but it makes sense that he is high from the beginning of HLV to the point of his second cardiac arrest, at 221B. After all, he hardly has time to get clean. First the crack is in his system, then he is on morphine for the pain. It would explain the mistake over the "google glasses" - he is actually on a morphine drip when talking to CAM - and oddities such as demanding that Mrs. Hudson must give him morphine. Why would he think she has any? When in his right mind, he knows she did not run a drugs cartel. It would also explain his irrational decision to trust Mary although she tried to kill him.

 

And it would explain why he keeps Wiggins - "an excellent chemist" and keeper of a crack den - close to him. Wiggins would be his dealer.

 

It's just an idea, but it does seem possible...

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Everyone has their head canon and there has been more then fan who wanted to see Sherlock "high" as some point. But I don't think Moffat, Gatiss, and Co would be so lazy. Cumberbatch himself said he was not happy about some of the scene during Sherlock's drugging by the cabbie in the Unaired Pilot. Yes, they revisited it in "ASiB" but I think as a seious plot device.....I, for my self, don't give much credence to a perpetually "high" Sherlock Holmes. John may be a little naive at times, but he's not that blind, as neither was Watson in the original canon.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Wiggins is in the ACD stories, of course, but this incarnation seems an unlikely protege for Sherlock, considering the latter's very low tolerance of most people who aren't John.

 

I agree that he and Wiggins aren't likely to become bosom buddies.  And Wiggins is the one who uses the word "protege," not Sherlock.  But Sherlock does tolerate non-John people if he sees them as useful to him (e.g., Molly).  And he hates dealing with the Homeless Network ("...and then I disinfect myself"), so delegating that to Wiggins (as Holmes does in canon) might really appeal to him.

[Slithytove]

/>

Everyone has their head canon and there has been more then fan who wanted to see Sherlock "high" as some point. But I don't think Moffat, Gatiss, and Co would be so lazy. Cumberbatch himself said he was not happy about some of the scene during Sherlock's drugging by the cabbie in the Unaired Pilot. Yes, they revisited it in "ASiB" but I think as a seious plot device.....I, for my self, don't give much credence to a perpetually "high" Sherlock Holmes. John may be a little naive at times, but he's not that blind, as neither was Watson in the original canon.

I don't imagine that Moftiss created a drug addict central character, particularly as they were aiming for a broad, family-based audience. However, much of what we are debating here, and in the meta fictions on other sites, is probably not compatible with authorial intent. As long as it doesn't violate the script, interpretation of subtext is a legitimate way of approaching fiction.

 

The writer of the meta to which I referred argued that Sherlock returns from a prolonged period of isolation, stress and episodes of physical, and possibly mental, torture and finds that his previous support system has altered during his absence. Mycroft and Lestrade seem unchanged but Molly is in an apparently serious relationship. More importantly, from Sherlock's perspective, John is in a relationship which has precedence over his friendship with Sherlock, he has moved out and he is angry and unforgiving. Sherlock finds himself alone again. With all this pressure, it would not be surprising if he relapsed, just as the original Holmes turned to cocaine for solace when Watson married Mary Morstan. It would explain his capricious behaviour in TEH, and the reason he was so wired during the latter part of TSoT's wedding speech, when Tom thought he was drunk.

 

I think that all this behaviour can be explained away as stress and emotional turmoil. However, in HLV he is high at the beginning and the drugs hardly have time to leave his bloodstream before he breaks into CAM's office. Soon after, he is on a morphine drip, which runs out at some point after he runs away from hospital. He even demands morphine from Mrs Hudson and requests it when he calls an ambulance, prior to his second cardiac arrest. Granted, he would be in a huge amount of pain but his actions speak of desperation, which could well be due to a recurrence of his addiction.

 

In fact, if he wanted to manufacture a weakness to make himself less threatening to CAM, why choose drugs? He has clearly had problems in the past, so why reawaken the habit simply for a case? Couldn't he think of any other way to discredit himself in CAM's eyes? And if it had to be drugs, Sherlock considers himself to be an excellent actor, so surely he could have pretended drug use without actually taking it.

 

As for the original Watson, the Victorians seem to have regarded opium addiction as shameful and degrading ( partly due to racism, through its association with the Chinese) but not cocaine. In fact, Freud as a young man took cocaine and heartily recommended it to his fiancé, though he changed his mind later when the dangers become more clear. Watson disapproved of Holmes's drug use but he was not appalled, as John was when he discovered that Sherlock was using again.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

  I think in TEH it would have been more a matter of emotional stress. He wasn't prepared for John's reaction. He thought it was going to be the status quo. I doubt Mycroft would supply him with anything....and he was so busy trying to get into John's good graces would he have time...or chance it?

 

  In "SoT" he was just emotionally wired, in my humble opinion.

 

  As for in "HLV" Sherlock knew CAM pretty well. Knew how intelligent the man was, and to try to bluff him? Probably not. He needed CAM convinced that he was a drug addict and so Sherlock would be willing to go the extra mile, being Sherlock and he "sobered" up pretty quickly when CAM and his goons left.

 

  Yes, this is all just head canon, and people will believe what they want to. Yes, Sherlock was in pain and was using morphine, but I don't believe Sherlock would be so incredibly stupid as to mix drugs up like that. There would be way to much at stake and one of them would not be death.

[Slithytove]

/>

 

 

Wiggins is in the ACD stories, of course, but this incarnation seems an unlikely protege for Sherlock, considering the latter's very low tolerance of most people who aren't John.

I agree that he and Wiggins aren't likely to become bosom buddies. And Wiggins is the one who uses the word "protege," not Sherlock. But Sherlock does tolerate non-John people if he sees them as useful to him (e.g., Molly). And he hates dealing with the Homeless Network ("...and then I disinfect myself"), so delegating that to Wiggins (as Holmes does in canon) might really appeal to him.

Certainly Wiggins could be useful in many ways but Sherlock does not choose, in general, to hang out with people if he can avoid it. Wiggins even comes to Mummy & Daddy's for Xmas. As a graduate chemist himself, Sherlock is more than capable of drugging Mary and his own family, so Wiggins is presumably there to look after everyone when they come round. However, the state of the people in the crack den does not suggest that after-care would rank very highly on Billy's CV.

 

Presumably that is supposed to be the reason intended by Moftiss for Wiggins's presence, but it is very tempting to read him as Sherlock's dealer, hence the reason for keeping him close.

 

I am not saying that Sherlock is supposed to be an addict, but certainly he is a recovering addict and it's possible to interpret quite a bit of his behaviour this way. Just a thought....

[Slithytove]

/>

I think in TEH it would have been more a matter of emotional stress. He wasn't prepared for John's reaction. He thought it was going to be the status quo. I doubt Mycroft would supply anything him with anything....and he was so busy trying to get into John's good graces would he have time...or chance it?

 

In "SoT" he was just emotionally wired, in my humble opinion.

 

As for in "HLV" Sherlock knew CAM pretty well. Knew how intelligent the man was, and to try to bluff him? Probably not. He needed CAM convinced that he was a drug addict and so Sherlock would be willing to go the extra mile, being Sherlock and he "sobered" up pretty quickly when CAM and his goons left.

 

Yes, this is all just head canon, and people will believe what they want to. Yes, Sherlock was in pain and was using morphine, but I don't believe Sherlock would be so incredibly stupid as to mix drugs up like that. There would way to much at stake and one of them would not be death.

But why choose drugs in the first place? For instance, if you have been through the AA programme, you wouldn't decide that the best way to fool someone would be to get yourself blind drunk. You would be an idiot to undo all that work and awaken old demons. Sherlock is not an idiot, so why do it?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

He is a chemist, he would know how much would effect him for a very limited time and that's all he needed. He was hardly blind drugged.  Yes, he is recovering, but he seemed to feel that in this situation, a fake drug addiction would not work on CAM, he had to have some of the symptoms of being on drugs. I doubt Sherlock would care about AA and anything for the case. Plus he only used drugs when his mind had nothing else to occupy it. In the last three episodes he had more then enough to keep his mind busy.

[Slithytove]

But why drugs? Why not something else, something that would not risk awakening a previous addiction?

 

To be honest, I don't think that even the most brilliant chemist could avoid awakening what is, fundamentally, a chemical dependency. You really can't have a bit of what you fancy, so to speak, when your body has developed an addiction. That's why a recovering addict won't take even one drink. We don't even know that the time John finds him is the first time. After all, Janine knows about his drug use when she visits him in hospital, so maybe he has come home high whilst they were "dating". (Of course, someone could have told her, but who and why? Surely it would be enough for her to have to learn he had faked their relationship and lied when proposing.)

 

I don't think Moftiss mean Sherlock to be seen as an addict but I don't think they mean him to be wholly innocent or they wouldn't have introduced this element into the story, or had lines like "Back on the sauce, Sherlock?" ot "Never appall me when I'm high.". He is a man who had a problem and a man, I think, who is still struggling but presumably winning, most of the time.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

I don't think Moftiss mean Sherlock to be seen as an addict but I don't think they mean him to be wholly innocent or they wouldn't have introduced this element into the story, or had lines like "Back on the sauce, Sherlock?" ot "Never appall me when I'm high.". He is a man who had a problem and a man, I think, who is still struggling but presumably winning, most of the time.

 

   Exactly. But this is Sherlock Holmes and drugs is what he knows.  Like you have said, he's not stupid and the drugs never won over him, ever. This is also fiction so maybe we shouldn't read to much into it.

[Slithytove]

But reading too much into it is fun!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Yes it is, I agree! So to continue this conversation on just how high Sherlock was or was not. Watch carefully his moves when he and John are exiting the crack house. Sherlock jumps, quite gracefully I might add, over a staircase and several feet down keeping his balance while navigating a graduated path to the ground not once loosing his balance nor staggering.

 

  In the lab, he is quite lucid and alert to who is speaking and to Wiggins' deductions....eeemmm very high?  I wouldn't think so. He also notices a little thing like Molly not wearing a ring while she is hitting him.

 

  In the hospital after he's been shot and talking to Janine. She says that he must be very happy, they have hooked him up to drugs.....his response?  "Not good for working".

 

 At the flat when Sherlock is forcing John to face Mary, it's not an over dose of drugs, or the lack there of that is affecting his heart, it's the lack of blood. He says so when the paramedics show up..."but I believe I am bleeding internally and my pulse is very erratic. You may need to re-start my heart on the way."

 

  So no. He is to very aware what the drugs would be doing to him if he was continually using. He is not. He's way to sober through out. It was a ruse, he needed it to get into the papers, he needs Magnussen to see it and to believe it.

[Sherlock_luvr]

I hope we'll see as little of him as possible. I don't really need another "deductive scientist" around.

 

Agreed. I'm hoping we don't see too much of him.

[Sherlock_luvr]

Wiggins is in the ACD stories, of course, but this incarnation seems an unlikely protege for Sherlock, considering the latter's very low tolerance of most people who aren't John. However.....

 

On archiveofourown.org, there is an interesting meta on the story arc in S3 - I 'm afraid I can't remember the author - which explores lots of ideas, including the suggestion that Sherlock was high throughout HLV and maybe through the whole series. (And that it is his addiction, rather than CAM, which might be the real villain.). I'm not wholly convinced he is addicted from the beginning, but it makes sense that he is high from the beginning of HLV to the point of his second cardiac arrest, at 221B. After all, he hardly has time to get clean. First the crack is in his system, then he is on morphine for the pain. It would explain the mistake over the "google glasses" - he is actually on a morphine drip when talking to CAM - and oddities such as demanding that Mrs. Hudson must give him morphine. Why would he think she has any? When in his right mind, he knows she did not run a drugs cartel. It would also explain his irrational decision to trust Mary although she tried to kill him.

 

And it would explain why he keeps Wiggins - "an excellent chemist" and keeper of a crack den - close to him. Wiggins would be his dealer.

 

It's just an idea, but it does seem possible...

 

Well said!

 

I've thought the same thing! That he's been back on the drugs for a while as a coping mechanism for the substantial changes in his formerly orderly life. Which was why he's acting so so differently. I absolutely thought he was high during the wedding.

 

I'd love to see this play out in Series 4. A personal issue with addiction would screw with Sherlock's perception and reading of people. I'd like to see him fighting this inner demon as well as the outer more tangible enemy-of-the-season + whatever he's hiding about what he knows about Mary.