Episode 1.2, "The Blind Banker"

[Carol the Dabbler]

5 hours ago, Inspector Baynes said:

In Soo Lin's 'demonstration' she talks about the tea pots being cured by pouring tea over them for countless years.
Immediately after which she pours hot water over the one she's holding from the same hot water pot she just filled it from. 
What's that about? 

(Of course, my eyes may have deceived me....

I have no idea!  Either your eyes deceived you or mine did me, because I saw the scene just as I was presumably expected to see it.  No time to rewatch right now, but let's see what Ariane DeVere's transcript says -- well, shucks, it's not worded very specifically (whereas usually she's quite specific).

Of course we could think that since Soo Lin is merely demonstrating the method, it doesn't really matter whether she uses water or tea.  Or, to be more contentious, how do you know that the pot held plain water?

 

[Inspector Baynes]

8 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

to be more contentious,

Contention is a good thing sometimes.
I'm going for a 3rd watch, never fear. 

My 'knowledge' comes from two observations and an assumption.  The second observation was somewhat specifically looked for, because the incident caught my attention in the first viewing.  However, I was still looking at larger detail and employed no stop-action intervention into the matter.

The observations are that the liquid in the big pot with the spout she is pouring over the little tea steeper pot from is both hot, and clear.  (Note the little one is a tea steeper pot, not a drinking cup...unless it doubles as both...certainly a possibility.)
Also, it is the same bigger pot she uses to pour the same clear, hot liquid inside the little tea steeper pot from.

Now...the little tea steeper pot is where tea leaves are put, then hot water poured over them...the lid keeping the heat in while it steeps until it's time to drink the results.   Again, she both pours into, and over, the little steeper from the same bigger pot with the spout, as nearly as my eyes have processed the scene to this point.

THAT SAID - I cannot confirm I see her put lea leaves into the little steeping pot in advance of pouring in the liquid from the bigger pot, which I perceived and assumed to be clear (hot) water. 

SO... a 3rd viewing with some stop-action intervention is called for to clarify the scene, and will be conducted soon as I'm only half-way through my 2nd viewing of 1.2 anyway.  Backing up to review is enjoyable. 

It may show my assumptions about the little tea steeper pot are entirely wrong, which would be a happy event.  I'd hate to think the scene is just not thought through as filmed.

(I will have more to say about this episode afterward of course.) 

[J.P.]

I just assume it could be an old good continuity goof. There are plenty of them, in every movie ever made. You might search for "Sherlock goofs" and look if yours is there.

[Inspector Baynes]

2 minutes ago, J.P. said:

old good continuity goof.

Indeed. Some of the most fascinating are found in the 1939 classic Wizard of Oz to say nothing of those in The Ten Commandments.

I do hope to get my 3rd watching done this weekend, and I'll snatch your suggestion of a search on 'Sherlock Goofs' into the bargain as well.  Thanks for the idea. 

[Inspector Baynes]

On 12/29/2022 at 11:39 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Either your eyes deceived you or mine did me

So.  My eyes deceived me.
The tea leaves are put into an old China tea pot.
Hot water from a new metal stove top type tea kettle is poured over the tea leaves in the old China tea pot. 
A 3rd vessel - one of the old China tea cups - already filled with liquid - is used to pour a slightly discolored liquid  (presumably an oolong type tea of light characteristic) over the same old China tea pot just filled with hot water.

So the tea cup has been filled in advance for the purposes of the demonstration being given.
All is well in tea-ville.

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 12/30/2022 at 7:46 PM, Inspector Baynes said:

Hot water from a new metal stove top type tea kettle is poured over the tea leaves in the old China tea pot. 
A 3rd vessel - one of the old China tea cups - already filled with liquid - is used to pour a slightly discolored liquid  (presumably an oolong type tea of light characteristic) over the same old China tea pot just filled with hot water.

That is very odd, in that (in her transcript) Ariane DeVere -- usually the very soul of observation -- very explicitly reports those two poured-from vessels as the same one.  So I find myself in the the awkward position of simultaneously believing both A and not-A.  I'll see if I can schedule a viewing of my own in the near future!

 

[Inspector Baynes]

52 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I'll see if I can schedule a viewing of my own in the near future!

And I'll schedule a 4th.  It's at the very beginning of the episode, so does not take long to encounter and evaluate.

[Carol the Dabbler]

6 hours ago, Inspector Baynes said:

It's at the very beginning of the episode, so does not take long to encounter and evaluate.

Yes, I know -- but then there's the matter of turning it off -- if one can!

 

[Ioanna]

As far as I understand, in this episode we see the film as it was originally conceived by the screenwriters. We would have had 6 such episodes in each season if it hadn't been decided to expand the format. I really like the series in this form too.

There was a lot of debate about why John left Soo Lin to help Sherlock. It seems reasonable to me, because the shooting came from there and there seemed to be the only danger.

But why did Sherlock run away and leave John to deal with the police when they caught Raz painting on the wall? He should have at least hinted that John should run away too. It's like a torturing of the dying cabbie in ASiP.

[Carol the Dabbler]

4 hours ago, Ioanna said:

As far as I understand, in this episode we see the film as it was originally conceived by the screenwriters. We would have had 6 such episodes in each season if it hadn't been decided to expand the format.

I believe you're correct, that Sherlock was originally to be released as six 60-minute episodes per series.  But the only original-format episode ever filmed was the Unaired Pilot (the 60-minute version of "Study in Pink").

Along with switching to three 90-minute episodes per series, the producers also bought a much better camera, hired a new director, changed the 221B set completely, made some cast changes, shaved off Anderson's beard, redesigned both Sherlock's wardrobe and his behavior, and probably made a host of other changes as well.

"The Blind Banker" was filmed after this switch, so it's a new-format episode.  It does have some idiosyncrasies, however.  (Most Sherlock episodes have some idiosyncrasies.)

4 hours ago, Ioanna said:

There was a lot of debate about why John left Soo Lin to help Sherlock. It seems reasonable to me, because the shooting came from there and there seemed to be the only danger.

John was in an awkward spot, having to choose between protecting Sherlock or protecting Soo Lin.  As you say, he made what seemed a logical decision (though perhaps not the only possible logical decision).  He did tell Soo Lin to stay where she was and to bolt the door after he left.  I'm not sure whether she failed to do so, or whether her brother was already hiding there.

4 hours ago, Ioanna said:

But why did Sherlock run away and leave John to deal with the police when they caught Raz painting on the wall?

Perhaps because Raz (who was used to running from the cops) also ran, and/or because Sherlock has very little sense of camaraderie.  It's clearly the sort of thing that, had their positions been switched, John would NOT have done to Sherlock -- which explains him being furious afterward.

 

[besleybean]

I think it was just for comedic effect!

[Carol the Dabbler]

31 minutes ago, besleybean said:

I think it was just for comedic effect!

No argument whatsoever, from a real-world perspective.

We were just playing around with in-universe explanations.

 

[Ioanna]

On 6/20/2023 at 2:05 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Perhaps because Raz (who was used to running from the cops) also ran, and/or because Sherlock has very little sense of camaraderie.  It's clearly the sort of thing that, had their positions been switched, John would NOT have done to Sherlock -- which explains him being furious afterward.

 

Yes, and do you remember the scene in "The Reichenbach Fall" when Sherlock jumps over the bars, and John, handcuffed to his hand, reproaches him?

[besleybean]

Also, very funny!

[Carol the Dabbler]

5 hours ago, Ioanna said:

Yes, and do you remember the scene in "The Reichenbach Fall" when Sherlock jumps over the bars, and John, handcuffed to his hand, reproaches him?

You're right, that's a similar situation -- but worse.  Sherlock had not only failed once more to take John's fate into account -- he had apparently not stopped to remember that they were chained together.

3 hours ago, besleybean said:

Also, very funny!

With the humor being primarily due to John's slow, patient explanation of the problem:  "We’re going -- to need -- to coordinate."

He's been around Sherlock long enough to deal with this sort of thing calmly, rather than lose his temper.

 

[besleybean]

He is just assertive!

[Carol the Dabbler]

That too.