What would you like to see in series 4?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Since his being in that crack house was "part of a case" his needing to get his name in the papers to ferret CAM out and to have the Master Blackmailer believe that he was a drug addict, I doubt we will see Sherlock as a full blown drug addict, he wasn't in Season 3.

 

 At the wedding he was just overwhelmed by all the sensory overload. He needed to solve this and he needed to do it in a hurry, and there were just to many people. To many suspects and victims. But once he was able to focus on John and make it a game and once he got that all vital clue from Archie....he was just on the hunt.

[T.o.b.y]

My interpretation of Sherlock and drugs in His Last Vow is more or less the following: He is telling the truth when he says he did it for a case, to get Magnussen to believe he had found Sherlock's "pressure point" and so would be willing to negotiate with him. This is what Sherlock himself believes. But he is a master rationalizer and while it all makes sense when he explains it to John, on turning off the TV, I went hey - wait a minute. First of all, it doesn't work. Magnussen points out Sherlock wouldn't care if his drug abuse was made public (it's an open secret, anyway) and Sherlock himself, clever as he is, should have seen that flaw in his plan. More importantly, just to get the story into the papers, he wouldn't have had to actually take anything, he'd only have to pretend he did. But the scene at Bart's with Molly doesn't really allow for any other interpretation than that his urine sample was positive - and why would he fake that? Because he has always secretly wanted Molly to slap his face? (Btw, did you notice that when she does it again in his mind when he is dying later, that is very reminiscent of Irene Adler ordering him to drop the phone in A Study in Pink?).

 

I don't think Sherlock is a regular junkie. But he does occasionally take refuge in drugs. He does not necessarily need high doses for that (see the original 7% solution, which is fairly mild), it is enough that he is experimenting with something dangerous (the danger of developing an addiction, of ruining his precious mind). He was probably feeling a bit sad and lonely after the wedding and welcomed the excuse the Magnussen case gave him to go indulge in an old habit.

 

What also struck me was that even though Sherlock got mad as hell at John for ruining his "under cover", John would never have noticed him if Sherlock hadn't said hello. He wanted to be found: "Have you come for me too?" Obviously not, but I think Sherlock wishes it were the truth. I have always suspected the original Mr Holmes of going to extremes to get Watson's attention and assurance of continued loyalty after the good doctor married (look at "The Dying Detective", for example - and in "The Man with the Twisted Lip", it is also Holmes who draws Watson's attention to himself in the opium den and later laughs his head off that his old friend really thought he'd started taking opium) and of course, it was always "necessary for a case". But also always, the demands of the case could have been met just as well by different means.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

There is that line he throws out when he, John, and Mary return to the flat from the empty house:

 

"Your best friend is a sociopath that solves crimes as an alternative to getting high"

 

 And in canon he did use when there was no cases to keep his mind from "rattling itself to pieces".  So the possibility is always going to be there, but we will never see him in a deep drugged out state, he's to smart for that, and the viewer already knows that this is a "demon that only sleeps but can never be fully conquered.'

[T.o.b.y]

 And in canon he did use when there was no cases to keep his mind from "rattling itself to pieces".  So the possibility is always going to be there, but we will never see him in a deep drugged out state, he's to smart for that, and the viewer already knows that this is a "demon that only sleeps but can never be fully conquered.'

 

Exactly. If they keep it like that, I'll be very pleased. I've had my "drugs moment" in His Last Vow and am satisfied now (thank you, Mr Moffat, it really was more than I had expected).

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

... just to get the story into the papers, he wouldn't have had to actually take anything, he'd only have to pretend he did. But the scene at Bart's with Molly doesn't really allow for any other interpretation than that his urine sample was positive - and why would he fake that?

Hmm, scene at Bart's involving Sherlock and Molly -- seems to me there's a precedent for that, wherein things were definitely not as they seemed.  In that case, the point was to fool John, who in this case is simply taking Molly at her word that Sherlock tested positive.  So who knows?

 

[Slithytove]

I doubt that we'll see much of Sherlock in full-blown addict mode, if only because the BBC is aiming for (and getting) a massive audience, many of whom would not be keen on following the trials and tribulations of a junkie even if he did solve crimes. I think, actually, that it would be interesting to see that brilliant mind and extremely strong will fighting against an internal enemy as well as external villains. However, I know that this is very much a minority viewpoint.

 

What will happen, I think, is that there will continue to be the odd drug reference, just as the show flirts with the idea that John and Sherlock are in love without ever making it more than a way to tease the viewers. They just give us enough hints to make us speculate.

 

However, in HLV, drug use was a real part of the story, rather than just a nod of acknowledgement towards the original Holmes and his seven percent solution. It is true that, upon merging from the crack den, Sherlock is remarkably clear thinking and self-possessed, but Molly's test proves positive. He is high and he scarcely has time to recover before meeting CAM and then going to the office. Soon after that, he is on morphine and, although he says drugs are not good when working and also that he solves cases to avoid getting high, he actually confronts CAM whilst using the morphine drip. As the meta on archiveofourown.org suggests, it is a measure of Sherlock's impaired intellect that he thinks he can go head to head against such a dangerous man whilst wired up to a powerful drug.

 

At 221B, he does not seem his normal self - of course, he is in pain and about to go into cardiac arrest due to his injury - but he is desperate to get morphine, first from Mrs Hudson and then from the ambulance crew. (He would have undoubtedly have deduced what was happening to his body when he called for help, and no doubt knew a collapse was imminent, but his immediate demand is for more drugs.)

 

The writer of the meta believes Sherlock is perhaps high all the way through, right up to the murder of CAM. I am not sure about this, but it would explain some apparently reckless behaviour....not only the murder, but also the theft of Mycroft's laptop (surely Sherlock would normally have realised that CAM would immediately suspect a set-up), and his decision to drug his family and Mary. Getting the owner of a crack den, even if he is an "excellent chemist", to drug old people and a pregnant woman seems very risky even by Sherlock's standards.

 

I think it would be very likely that Sherlock would rationalise any drug usage, such as convincing himself that he needed to do it for a case. That is not unique - many people with addictions kid themselves about the reasons why they need one more drink, one more bet, one more fix... And Sherlock's logical, puzzle-solving mind would be excellent at coming up with good reasons why he had to start using again. However, it would also be able to come up with alternative plans which did not involve drugs. The fact that he chose this particular plan surely suggests that, temporarily at least, he felt the need to go back to an old source of comfort.

 

Now, the idea that he wanted Molly to slap him opens up a whole new can of worms....!

[wildwoodflower]

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.

 

Well, I have been around drug addicts who are surprisngly graceful and terrifyingly aggressive. (That strong-arming Mycroft was an example I believe).Also BC did a good job with the slowed and dulled reaction to being slapped hard. That is, a slowed reaction is also a symptom (more of heroin or opiates though). I don't argue that SH may have known exactly how much to use to get the reaction he was hoping for from CAM, but I think BC was playing it as a person who is high. I am a bit confused about the crack cocaine assumption though. Was that ever said? Most of those people looked like they'd been doing heroin. Crack is so  very very bad for the brain (and the whole body) I don't think he would risk it. But he might do something else to sell the lie he wants to sell. Sherlock strikes me as a man with a laissez-faire attitude about such things. He can do it because he knows what he's doing and he'll be better at it than anyone else and nevermind that he has already been in rehab, that wasn't his idea anyway, etc.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I find it hard to believe that a man who went to such great lengths not to get drunk would  be willing to lose that kind of self awareness even while on drugs. Sherlock is such a control freak, even up to being a micromanaging Wedding Planner.

 

  But then we wouldn't want to steal Molly Hooper's big moment of being able to slap Sherlock Holmes around and yell at him a few lines from the original canon, although Watson never shouted "Now apologize!!" 

 

  But like Carol the Dabbler said above, who knows, that might have been part of the act too, but even if it wasn't, just because he tested positive doesn't mean that it was anything addictive. She didn't say what it was only that it wasn't clean. it didn't necessarily have to be an opiate of any sort. If anyone could act high, it would be Sherlock Holmes.

 

  I don't believe Sherlock planned to kill CAM, he had John bring his gun, but I don't believe that he had any plans on using it to kill anyone. It wasn't until he understood that CAM had no physical evidence to exchange, and obviously CAM had lied about that at some point, that Sherlock realized what kind of danger CAM was to everyone, not only Mary. But John, Lady Littlewood....everyone. His reaction after he actually pulled that trigger bears that out.

 

 The strong arming of Mycroft was to accomplish one thing, to get the man out of 221b. In no wise could Mycroft find Janine in Sherlock's bedroom. Mycroft was playing footsie with CAM and Janine knew who "Myc" was, so surely he would know who CAM's PA was. If Mycroft was to find Janine in that flat he would know that Sherlock was up to something, and Mycroft had already threatened Sherlock. "Go against Magnussen, and you go against me."

 

  Yes, Sherlock said he was high, but John was not upset, was not yelling at Sherlock, and he didn't hesitate to help Mycroft out the door.

 

  As for asking Mrs. Hudson for morphine, that was an attempt to get her to leave. He wasn't about to have her eaves drop on this particular client heart to heart.  He would know that no one keeps that stuff around. Her herbal soothies....marihuana evidently....but morphine? That would be a stretch. Paramedics, yes. Landlady's, no.

[Slithytove]

I'm not convinced he shouted at Mrs Hudson to get him drugs as a way of getting her to leave. He bosses her around all the time, so all he needed to do was yell, "Get out!" and she would have gone. Demanding drugs would just have made her frightened for him - after all, she has helped to search his flat for drugs on at least one "danger night." Her relationship with Sherlock is very maternal. If one of my kids had had a drug problem (God forbid!) and came home shouting at me to give them morphine, my first instinct wouldn't be to leave but to find out what the hell was happening and what I could do about it. I suspect Mrs Hudson would be the same.

 

Mycroft evidently fears Sherlock will relapse - hence "danger nights" - and isn't at all surprised when it happens again, so it is fair to assume he has seen him when he is high. If there is anyone who can see through Sherlock, it is his brother, so I doubt that the "strong-arming" was faked. Sherlock has had an addiction in the past, so why shouldn't he have relapsed now? He was alone again after a prolonged and isolating ordeal, his usual support system wasn't around in the way he had hoped, and he had an opportunity to start using again but be able to justify it to himself. It is very possible he took it.

 

We are evidently supposed to see a parallel between Sherlock's drug addiction and John's addiction to danger. John doesn't last more than a month before looking for another adrenalin rush. Maybe Sherlock felt the same, but his answer is different.

 

I just don't think a recovering addict would come up with a plan that involved taking drugs unless he wanted to, or unless he was an idiot. And we know Sherlock isn't an idiot.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

If there is anyone who can see through Sherlock, it is his brother, so I doubt that the "strong-arming" was faked. Sherlock has had an addiction in the past, so why shouldn't he have relapsed now?

 

  But Sherlock has fooled him before. In "ASiB" Mycroft admits "it would take a Sherlock Holmes to fool me". So it must have happened a time or two. And Sherlock is no longer a child, as Sherlock keeps reminding him, but we see in "HLV" that Mycroft stills sees him as a child, and not a very bright one.

 

  Yes, he needs his support system, and not all of them deserted him as he may have felt deserted by John. He always had Molly and Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson.

 

   I didn't say that the strong arming was faked, he has to be very "appalled", Sherlock's own word, by Mycroft. Sherlock knows who and what CAM is, the Napoleon of Blackmailers. Sherlock hates the man as ever he has hated anyone in his life and here is his brother protecting him, threatening ordinary citizens like Anderson and his girl friend with a serious frame up if they even mention CAM's name.

 

  Is it any wonder that Sherlock has never really trusted Mycroft and here is a very real reason why. So no, the strong arming was not a fake, he is really really pissed and he could and would have done it drugs or no. But as stated above, Sherlock could not take the chance of having Mycroft find that particular woman anywhere near Baker Street.

 

 

 

I just don't think a recovering addict would come up with a plan that involved taking drugs unless he wanted to, or unless he was an idiot. And we know Sherlock isn't an idiot.

 

  This to is very true, he's not. And he is working on a case for Lady Littlewood, which would be more incentive not to be taking a hard drug. He never uses when he is working. He says so, over and over. Could there still be something in his system to test positive?  Yes, I know simple over the counter medicines that can make one feel pretty darn good if taken in the right dose. That is why he tells Janine that being hooked up to the stuff is "not good for working". There may have been something in his blood stream but not as potent as we think.

 

  Yelling at Mrs. Hudson did seem a stretch but in this case he is coming down from a maximum hit of morphine he took before leaving the hospital..He knew he was going to have to do something about Mary and he hadn't even started to heal when he took the runner. It's been years since she had any connection with the drug trade.

 

  Maybe the pain and knowing he was bleeding internally and that he may be going into cardiac arrest soon was what made him irrational at the moment, more then a little scared  He did die once, he surely didn't want to go through it again, though apparently he knew it was a real possibility because he alerted the paramedics that they may have to "re-start" his heart during transit.

 

 

[wildwoodflower]

I find it hard to believe that a man who went to such great lengths not to get drunk would  be willing to lose that kind of self awareness even while on drugs. Sherlock is such a control freak, even up to being a micromanaging Wedding Planner.

 

  But then we wouldn't want to steal Molly Hooper's big moment of being able to slap Sherlock Holmes around and yell at him a few lines from the original canon, although Watson never shouted "Now apologize!!" 

 

  But like Carol the Dabbler said above, who knows, that might have been part of the act too, but even if it wasn't, just because he tested positive doesn't mean that it was anything addictive. She didn't say what it was only that it wasn't clean. it didn't necessarily have to be an opiate of any sort. If anyone could act high, it would be Sherlock Holmes.

 

  I don't believe Sherlock planned to kill CAM, he had John bring his gun, but I don't believe that he had any plans on using it to kill anyone. It wasn't until he understood that CAM had no physical evidence to exchange, and obviously CAM had lied about that at some point, that Sherlock realized what kind of danger CAM was to everyone, not only Mary. But John, Lady Littlewood....everyone. His reaction after he actually pulled that trigger bears that out.

 

 The strong arming of Mycroft was to accomplish one thing, to get the man out of 221b. In no wise could Mycroft find Janine in Sherlock's bedroom. Mycroft was playing footsie with CAM and Janine knew who "Myc" was, so surely he would know who CAM's PA was. If Mycroft was to find Janine in that flat he would know that Sherlock was up to something, and Mycroft had already threatened Sherlock. "Go against Magnussen, and you go against me."

 

  Yes, Sherlock said he was high, but John was not upset, was not yelling at Sherlock, and he didn't hesitate to help Mycroft out the door.

 

  As for asking Mrs. Hudson for morphine, that was an attempt to get her to leave. He wasn't about to have her eaves drop on this particular client heart to heart.  He would know that no one keeps that stuff around. Her herbal soothies....marihuana evidently....but morphine? That would be a stretch. Paramedics, yes. Landlady's, no.

 

Well you've neatly justified it to yourself anyway.

 

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

Well you've neatly justified it to yourself anyway.

 

  I hope I'm not just justifying it to myself, but then....I suppose,...that why all of us here post, to try to work it out in our own heads no matter what view or tack we take.

[Caya]

 

Well you've neatly justified it to yourself anyway.

 

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

The strong arming of Mycroft was to accomplish one thing, to get the man out of 221b. In no wise could Mycroft find Janine in Sherlock's bedroom.

 

Oh, good point.  I hadn't made that connection, but that was surely on Sherlock's mind.  (Nor had I suspected that Mrs. Hudson's "herbal soothers" might be marijuana.  Kinda doubt that one, though -- doesn't the UK have one of those law things?)

 

We are evidently supposed to see a parallel between Sherlock's drug addiction and John's addiction to danger. John doesn't last more than a month before looking for another adrenalin rush.

*sigh*  I suspect you're right about what we're "supposed" to see there.  In Moftiss's eyes, John just can't win, can he?  The neighbor comes over in tears because her son is off doing drugs, so John goes to rescue him -- and this shows that he's an adrenaline junkie?  He's a doctor, so he cares about people's health, and he's an ex-soldier, so he knows how to face danger.  I agree that this makes him unusual -- but abnormal?

 

[Sherlock_luvr]

The conversation Sherlock has with John after Molly slaps him was a double entendre for a lot of things, I think. "Just an addict needing a fix' or something John says. Sherlock says something like 'Yes, I think it was.' Though they were talking about something else, I think Sherlock was answering for himself as well.

 

I think Sherlock used the 'case' as a reason to justify going back to drugs (if for just a little while) because he was missing the adventures with John.

[Slithytove]

Given Molly's profession, and the education which it involved, wouldn't she be able to tell if it was crack, heroin or whatever in his sample, or something less addictive? Surely she wouln't start smacking his face if he had tested positive for Lemsip...... (Apologies to USA members - it is a type of over-the-counter flu medication.)

[Mr. Holmes]

- No Moriarty.  I hope it's a ruse masterminded by a new villain who is equally worthy. 

 

Besides that,  I just hope they keep up the quality and subvert expectations.  Ideally I would like to not wait another 2 years, but quality is more important than that.  

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

I think Sherlock used the 'case' as a reason to justify going back to drugs (if for just a little while) because he was missing the adventures with John.

 

  Possible, but all of the  adventures were cases, and Sherlock always said, and iterated it that night of Mary's exposure, that case work was what kept him off drugs. Did he use his thinly diluted seven percent? Possible.

 

  My mentioning an over the counter drug was a lame attempt at humor, sorry. Of course she would. But there are other drugs out there that are banned yet not as addictive as opiates.

 

  CAM's mental files said she was a user of marijuana and about 2 million people in the UK smoke it, so I suppose if she knew a friend of a friend of a friend?

[Carol the Dabbler]

CAM's mental files said she was a user of marijuana and about 2 million people in the UK smoke it, so I suppose if she knew a friend of a friend of a friend?

 

I assume you're referring to Mrs. Hudson's "herbal soothers"?  She may still use MJ occasionally (thus the "pressure point"), but I very much doubt if she keeps a stash at home, or Greg's "drugs bust" in "Study in Pink" would have alarmed her.

 

Though on second thought, I'll need to rewatch that scene, see if she goes back downstairs as soon as John tells her it's a drugs bust, followed immediately by the sound of flushing!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

Though on second thought, I'll need to rewatch that scene, see if she goes back downstairs as soon as John tells her it's a drugs bust, followed immediately by the sound of flushing!

 

  She did seem a little alarmed and did ask about something.....I forget what.....but that would be funny.

[T.o.b.y]

 Ideally I would like to not wait another 2 years, but quality is more important than that.  

 

Amen to that! But luckily, I think the quality of this show rests mainly on the strength of the acting and that is bound to be good as long as the actors like what they are doing.

 

Of course, I want a lot of adaptation and to do that cleverly, one would probably need a good bit of time; I'm sure it's damn hard. But maybe the writers already have a collection of ideas they haven't been able to use yet.

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

Though on second thought, I'll need to rewatch that scene, see if she goes back downstairs as soon as John tells her it's a drugs bust, followed immediately by the sound of flushing!

 

  She did seem a little alarmed and did ask about something.....I forget what.....but that would be funny.

 

I checked the transcript, and although she does look anxious, she doesn't leave till a little while later when Sherlock yells at her.  Darn.  So I think we can safely assume chamomile.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Oh well....can't have everything.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just found a two-page interview with Moffat, Cumberbatch, and Freeman.

 

When asked if Moriarty's return was really necessary, Freeman replied:

 

I don't know if it was necessary, but I'm happy. [Laughs] Also, I know roughly how it works. I know roughly what will come as a result of it. I don't think people can get enough of a good villain, you know? These are reasonably heightened stories, albeit in a naturalistic arena I guess, but they're heightened stories where there's sort of goodies and baddies.

 

Regarding Sherlock and Janine, Moffat said:

 

He'll see her again. They'll be pals. I loved Yasmine's performance as Janine -- she still likes him in the end. At some point, you know, if Sherlock Holmes has to go to a function and he needs a date, he'll phone her up. Now, he'll not expect her to say no. She'll be very cross with him, but she'll show up, and they'll have a good time. They will, because he likes her.

 

And as for when we'll see Series 4, Moffat stated:

 

... we'll do what we can, but with no sacrifice in quality -- that's the thing. If people have to wait two years, they'll have to wait two years. When's the next James Bond film? You know, it's not that kind of show that turns up all the time. It's just not. But the good news is, that probably means it will turn up sporadically for a very, very long while.

 

You can read the entire interview here (page 1) and here (page 2).  And there also seems to be a video (which I have not watched) on page 2.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Thank you, Carol. The video is really revealing, still vague, of course...but some good hints. And the interview is really nice too. I really like the idea that Janine will be there for Sherlock if and when he might need a date for something.