Moffat's "we've missed it" statement...

[sfmpco]

Well he appeared in S3 as either in flashbacks, mind palace, or Anderson's version of the fall.  If he's back, I agree it's only like a ghost that will haunt Sherlock's mind.

[Inge l-w]

Having had a talk with some electronic engineer friends, after having made them watch the entire series (not sure if we shall remain friends, but as A.J ( Raffles) said, it lies in the knees of the gods,) I think I have pinpointed what we have missed; In SiP, my planned rewatch for tomorrow, Sherlock intervenes in the conference with his famous "wrong" message; apparently, it takes the same protocols to override cellular telephony and TV channel frequencies! Is one allowed to asphyxiate the double-dealing Mr Moffat? ^_^

[Carol the Dabbler]

Ooh, good point!  If that's NOT it, then the aforementioned Mr. Moffat should be ashamed of himself for not thinking of it!

 

[Arcadia]

And here I always thought Sherlock just dialed all their numbers at once. :D

[Inge l-w]

Dear Arcadia, if that were the case, then Sally would not fretfully be asking Lestrade to "stop him" because he makes them look like fools, and Lestrade responding "if you tell me how he does it, I shall put a stop to it", but further details after the planned rewatch.

[Pseudonym]

I think it's something to do with Mary, because she's clearly on the run from someone after doing something bad (killing someone important).

As it stands I don't see the point of them making her into an assassin, she shoots Sherlock but since he and John forgive her there isn't really any long-standing point to it. If Sherlock needed to be shot for the plot it could just as easily have been Janine, who could have said she was going after John next hence giving Sherlock the impetus to fight to survive. I think there has to be more of an arc to Mary's story otherwise it just seems like a pointless aside. Even factoring in the idea Sherlock killed CAM to protect Mary's secret it's a bit over the top if her history is never revealed or mentioned again. It's also pretty clear she never intended to become pregnant and as such she's now found herself in a pretty vulnerable position if she's still being hunted.

 

I also think her initials on the flash drive might be important, I know someone earlier (can't remember who sorry!) mentioned it related to The Sign of Four, but just wondering if it'll be significant in the show.

 

Something else I found odd, and I'm wondering if it stuck out to anyone else, was that in TAB Sherlock reiterates multiple times to John that 'it's never twins' which immediately made me think there was a twin storyline coming up. He's so adamant it just seemed like something that was going to be disproved. 

[Arcadia]

I agree there's not much point to making Mary an assassin ... in my opinion, even if they DO make it part of a story arc. :p (It's just too over the top for my taste, but hey.) Moffat said it was something that no one was "talking about yet" though, and everyone's been talking about Mary ... so I just don't know.

 

I still wonder if it has to do with that bit where John said Sholto got even more death threats than Sherlock. Death threats? How come we haven't heard of those before or since?

 

Isn't there a rather famous Holmes story where someone attempts to assassinate him? And he sets up a silhouette of himself for them to shoot at. Maybe it's not as famous as I think, but the imagery sure stuck in my head for some reason.

 

Yeah, several people noticed the "it's never twins" thing. Almost too obvious if it does turn out to be twins, after that! But of course, now that we're thinking that, maybe it's not so obvious ... Is it a bluff? Or a double-bluff? Or a triple bluff? :d

 

 

[sfmpco]

 

 

Yeah, several people noticed the "it's never twins" thing. Almost too obvious if it does turn out to be twins, after that! But of course, now that we're thinking that, maybe it's not so obvious ... Is it a bluff? Or a double-bluff? Or a triple bluff? :D

 

Well, I don't think it's the twins thing because Moffat was referring to something that had already occurred in an episode, and that was well before TAB.

 

11 monrhs to go and we will have the answer but a whole lot more questions since we will undoubtedly be left with another cliffhanger.

[Arcadia]

Good point. Although I'm confused as to whether the "something we missed" was something that happened in S3, or something that happened even earlier than that. I always thought the former, but now I'm not sure.

[Arcadia]

Thanks to Pseudonym, I've been looking over this thread again and wondering if anyone's had any new ideas.

The original premise: Moffat said this in an interview:
 

There are answers coming to questions which nobody has asked. There’s one thing that no one has really brought up… We’ve actually set up something, I think—[co-creator Mark Gatiss] and me, we’re very exultant about a little thing we’ve set up that no one is talking about.

And when she started this thread, sfmpco said:
 

Let's list some ideas of things he thinks we've missed. This is not analyze those things. Just to list them.

 

Then Sitty compiled a list of our suggestions; here it is. (I left out ones that were sheer speculation, rather than observation of something in the show.)
 

• What was CAM's relationship with Mary?
• Why doesn't Sherlock have his own gun?
• What did Mycroft upset Mummy over that caused a rift between the Holmes boys?
• CAM's reference (in his telegram) to Mary's family, whoever or whatever they may be.
• Mrs. Hudson's past.
• What was Sherlock doing those 2 years he was "dead"?
• Mycroft's ring and Sherlock being surprised Mycroft hadn't found a "goldfish" while he, Sherlock, was gone.
• Reflections from (or lack thereof) or positions of TVs when Moriarty's GIF came on the screens in 221B & Bart's.
• What did Mary really mean when she said she was late for "Cath?"
• Can Bill Wiggins be trusted?
• All those death threats Sherlock gets ... who's sending them, why, and are they planning to act on them?

 

I'm still interested in this, so I thought I'd add any subsequent guesses to Sitty's list. I may have missed some, and I eliminated ones that were already ruled out somewhere else in the thread. I also left out the speculative ones again. And I edited some for space/clarity. Here's what I ended up with:

• ...the consequence of Sherlock allowing Irene to live and allowing Mycroft to believe she's really dead.
• Irene sent Sherlock a rose while he was in hospital.
• perhaps the fact that Moriarty's book from canon was introduced as the work of Mummy Holmes?
• That Mary took the name and date of birth from a woman who actually existed and has a grave somewhere?
• That Magnussen unfortunately died before he could divulge the names and phone numbers of those people who allegedly deeply care who Mary "hurt and killed"?
• A little thing that just occurred to me is Mary's secret tattoo.
• it doesn't really make sense for know-it-all Mycroft to not know about Mary. Is that a little thing they think we would overlook?
• why would MI6 want to send Sherlock on a fatal mission?

Anyone have anything to add?

 

I just want to point out that Moffat didn't exactly say it's something we missed ... he's said it's something no one's really talking about yet.

 

 

[Inge l-w]

Dear Arcadia, apart from the Abominable episode, Mr Moffat has kept all of the serious Sherlock fans agog with that statement:

What we have downplayed or paid scant attention to, is the Sherlock/Lady Smallwood connection.

In HLV, which everyone and their aunts twice removed want to "fix", according to this forum, she orders her driver around to go to Baker Str. She is not just another client, she is an acquaintance, perforce.

Later on, Sherlock thinks he recognises her from her perfume, which "coincidentally" Mary wears. Sitting comfortably in a large armchair that Mummy Holmes probably had Mycroft and Daddy Holmes drag to her younger son's favourite spot in the kitchen, he peruses the news about Lord Smallwood's suicide. If that was a planted story, by Sherlock and Lady Smallwood together, then all the rest of the story is already fixed between them: he is to terminate Magnussen as a threat, she is to see that he doesn't go to prison for it. And Lady Smallwood seems the kind of person able to manipulate even Mycroft!

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Interesting theory Inge.  It is quite plausible.

[Inge l-w]

Dear Jenn, many thanks, I plan to use it on the Baby thread, stay tuned

[sfmpco]

Oh I think by the exchanges at the end of TAB between Mycroft and Mary that her past has been divulged to him, although I don't think he knows that she shot Sherlock.  However, he seems perfectly comfortable - no, he doesn't even flinch when she breaks into MI5 archives via her cell phone.

[Inge l-w]

Dear sfmpco, even that inflatable balloon in Sherlock's drugged mind, much less the actual Mycroft, would NOT have left the freelance assassin alone to get on with her life if he knew that she had almost killed his younger brother. He seemed a bit surprised by how she manipulated her mobile to access top secret files, even bemused. From his track record in all three series, he's extremely protective of the wayward genius, as witnessed by all the half-barbed, half-affectionate appellations he uses for Sherlock, ( 'brother mine' having originated in the Granada episode of The Greek Interpreter aside), "dear brother", "baby brother" etc.

If he knew that she had shot Sherlock, dire straits would lie in her path.

[Arcadia]

OK, I've thought of another one: David, Donald, whatever his name is .... Mary's former boyfriend. Does it seem likely that in five years she completely changed her identity, found a new profession, a new place to live, and had time to not only find a boyfriend, but break up with him, remain on good enough terms to cry on his shoulder occasionally, AND find a new boyfriend (John)? Busy girl. This is probably a really long shot, but maybe Mr. D is more than he seems to be? Some clue to Mary's prior activities?

 

[Inge l-w]

Dear Arcadia, we have already discussed David as being a possible parent to Mary's child in the Mary Morstan thread and in the Who you could bear to lose thread. He is a suspect for being 'Cath' when she tells Dr Watson she's late for Cath in TEH. In fact, you may find something similar posted on this very thread by me early on.

[Pseudonym]

Feeling a bit slow here but where was David mentioned? Don't remember him...?

[Arcadia]

Feeling a bit slow here but where was David mentioned? Don't remember him...?

We first meet him at the wedding reception line, then they flashback to Sherlock interrogating him about his relationship with Mary. You know, the guy that Sherlock smiled this smile at:

 

[Pseudonym]

Lol! Ah yes, of course :D

[sfmpco]

I still wonder about Mary's nursing credentials.  Sort of odd to think of someone who went through nursing school/training to end up as an assassin.  Somehow I have a feeling she has faked her way into that profession. Whether that's significant or not, I don't know, but she had to create an entirely new life for herself, and that would be profession included.  As indicated in TAB, however, Mycroft seems aware and nonchalant about her other abilities, so we may see more of Mary's other skills in S4.  

[Arcadia]

I find that odd, too. All I can think is she's been not-an-assassin long enough to get the training to become a nurse. I think you can get to be an LPN in a year or two in the States -- they have comparatively limited duties compared to a registered nurse, and I didn't see Mary do anything that would require more than that. So maybe it's something like that?

 

Another idea that occurs to me is she might have been an Army nurse before becoming an assassin. I mean, if an Army doctor is more soldier than doctor (which he's not, but we'll let that go for now ) then an Army nurse might be too.

[sittything]

Well, when you're smarter than Sherlock... and maybe even Mycroft.   ;)

[Inge l-w]

And when your character is written in such a way to make up for the original's clearly misogynistic tendencies and pronouncements throughout the novels and stories...

What I didn't like one tiny bit, is that in their interview, everybody around the table replied with a resounding "yes" to the question whether or not Moriarty is really dead, except Mr Moffat, who went on to declare that there is an element which the public has still not seized! Playing the Sphinx, or toying with his mouse (namely the fans) like a tomcat, as per his usual M.O.

[sittything]

I'm really glad that Moriarty is deady-mcdeaderson.  We may see him again, but enough is enough.  I thought that was clear from TAB, but I know some people took it to mean he was still alive.  

 

I generally tune out anymore when Moffat goes on and on about the thing everyone has missed... sure.fine.whatever.