Episode 1.2, "The Blind Banker"

[Carol the Dabbler]

I don't believe that's what Van Coon was supposed to have done. Sebastian just said that he "Lost five mill in a single morning; made it all back a week later," which I take to mean that he made some really good trades over that next week, so that he averaged out on the plus side at the bank.

 

Maybe I musunderstood, but Sherlock seems to say something like that while they are observing the Lucky Cat. (have we counted this scene into our list of food/eating in the series?)

 

... I took the comment about "lost five mil in a single morning; made it all back a week later" to indicate that somehow Van Coon falsified a trade and funneled in some of his smuggling money to cover a bad trade he'd made on the market.  I don't know quite why, because I can't think of any dialog that supports my opinion, but I always assumed that's what drove him to some panicked smuggling is knowing that he was carrying significant losses in his portfolio he managed, and that could have serious implications for whether he kept his job.

Well, now that you both put it that way -- hmmm, must say it's quite plausible. And it wouldn't be the only time they've glossed over a crucial plot point -- in "Hounds" Sherlock never pointed out that when they first saw Bob Frankland, he was coming out of the leaky-pipes room wearing a gas mask.

 

J.P., if you can find the dialog you're referring to in Ariane DeVere's transcript, could you quote it here?

 

I thought about this while falling asleep last night, and have changed my mind.  If Van Coon were smuggling in order to cover his trading losses, then:

 

A] Why didn't he sell the jade hairpin?

 

B] How did he transfer the money to a legitimate account at the bank?

 

C] How much did the tong pay him for smuggling?  Certainly not the full value of the item, so how could it cover a five-million-dollar trading loss?

 

So I'm back to thinking that Van Coon really was good at the trading game, presumably because he was willing to take risks and average out ahead on a "win some, lose some" basis.  And if he actually enjoys taking those risks, maybe that's why he agreed to do the smuggling.  (And it's a bit of a shame he never met Jeff the cabbie.)

 

I am still perfectly willing to examine J.P.'s evidence, however.

[Boton]

 

 

 

 

 

I thought about this while falling asleep last night, and have changed my mind.  If Van Coon were smuggling in order to cover his trading losses, then:

 

A] Why didn't he sell the jade hairpin?

 

B] How did he transfer the money to a legitimate account at the bank?

 

C] How much did the tong pay him for smuggling?  Certainly not the full value of the item, so how could it cover a five-million-dollar trading loss?

 

So I'm back to thinking that Van Coon really was good at the trading game, presumably because he was willing to take risks and average out ahead on a "win some, lose some" basis.  And if he actually enjoys taking those risks, maybe that's why he agreed to do the smuggling.  (And it's a bit of a shame he never met Jeff the cabbie.)

 

I am still perfectly willing to examine J.P.'s evidence, however.

 

 

I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here, Carol, because the points you raise are very legit and the solutions I have are not particularly able to withstand an audit.  But....

 

A) If a single jade hairpin could fetch 9 mil, then theoretically he could carry back at least 100 mil in his back pack.  It would be contingent upon the items being things that looked fairly touristy and that he could fake any customs documentation for, so the hair pin and maybe some sort of tea service like the ones Soo Lin curated and cared for.  Things that could have modern knock offs.  Falsifying a sales receipt for something like 25 pounds should be child's play.

 

B ) Perhaps the same way you create a shell corporation or similar?  He creates a phony investor and makes sure that he creates records of trades that would throw off 5 mil of paper profits.  Depending on whether he does corporate, individual, or fund-level investing, this could be more or less complex.  And we're out of my depth now on my experience in banking, except to say that if the bank is on the up-and-up, he would probably have gotten caught eventually by the auditors and maybe convicted of white collar fraud, but a minimum security jail is still a better gig than what actually happened to him, and he must have felt there was the chance that he wouldn't get caught, maybe by making sure whatever he falsified very exactly matched his trading patterns.

 

(Back in the day, I knew of a case in which a bank teller supposedly absconded with a fortune by getting into the then-new computer system and taking advantage of the rounding feature when math was done.  So, a transaction that came out was $0.994 rounded down to $0.99 for the customer, and the bank "made" $0.006.  She had that transferred to her own account.  It adds up.)

 

C) They didn't have to be paying him in this case -- he already knew the connections to smuggle, so he went on his own lark and got a bunch of stuff he could sell and keep the entire profits on.  The Tong caught him because they were keeping special lookout for that jade hair pin.  

 

Anyway, if that's not right, that's at least my attempt to fan wank it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... why do you say the color is incorrect? Please correct me, but I thought you could get tattoos in just about any color you want. (And of course the Black Lotus would want to use black ink).

From what I observe ( :lol: this is the part when you have to stop believing whatever I say) black tattoo almost always appear greyish or bluish overtime. It can be caused by the ink (not true black or triple black or anything like that) or age of the tattoo. Discoloration always happens, it's possible to touch-up but skin is not an everlasting canvas....

Oh, OK, you're saying that black tattoos, in particular, are difficult to do well. I can see that. For one thing, any color seen through layers of skin (especially thick skin such as on someone's heel) won't show up full-strength, even when the tattoo is new.  With most colors, you could just use an extra-dark shade to make up for that, but there's no such thing as extra-dark black!

 

Also, some of the ink will probably be absorbed by the blood or lymph system over time, and carried off. That could take decades, though. When I was about ten, I was lying on my bunk at summer camp, writing a letter home, and accidentally rolled onto a spare (very sharp!) pencil, which punctured the skin on my knee. The lead didn't break off, but it did leave traces behind, and although the mark isn't nearly as dark or as distinct as it used to be, I can still see it. But of course it never was black.

[jadpdr]

On the whole, the lotus tattoo had a feeling of irreality about it, as did the whole spray paint subplot, and as for what got filmed first, there is the commentary of TGG where Mr Gatiss explains how it was filmed first because he tends to write faster than Mr Moffat ( who is definitely a playful eight-year old, not a maturing teenager of twelve, as was suggested above!

[J.P.]

 

C) They didn't have to be paying him in this case -- he already knew the connections to smuggle, so he went on his own lark and got a bunch of stuff he could sell and keep the entire profits on.  The Tong caught him because they were keeping special lookout for that jade hair pin.

 

Well, apparently they didn't know who of the two has the pin. Which seems a bit strange. If the pin was a part of a "package", they should have known which courier was carrying it. If VanCoon stole the pin on his own, would The Tong know it? Next - killing both couriers made no sense - you cannot ask dead people where the pin is. Instead they relied on a detective...

The part with the Library makes absolutely no sense. First they would have to know which books Lukis was looking for, second if you pull one book out of a row, you don't see anything on the back of the shelf. Plus the thing with taking a book home after Lukis got the message, as mentioned before.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Somebody (somewhere) pointed out that libraries don't stamp books with the date that you take them out, they stamp the due date.  So Lukis was apparently returning that book when he got scared off and ran home with the book still in his hand.  Meaning that he hadn't even been past the front desk.  So how'd he see the code?  Or if he didn't see it, then what scared him?

 

Someday I'll learn to stop trying to analyze this episode.  It just keeps getting worse. 

 

[Arcadia]

Actually I think Sherlock has a very good point. John is trained, while Van Coon might not have strong military background even though he possesses gun.

From what I know (again, run! ), it's more of a case of cross-dominant shooter.

As John is left-handed, but the dominant eye is on the right side. (which is probably the rarest case).

Myself is right-handed but has dominant left eye, left eye shooter. I found out from photography where I need to use left eye for the viewfinder. The rest of the world are normal mode. :P

There is a simple test if you want to find out which one you are.

Where/what is this test? I love tests. (Yes, I know, weird.... :D )

 

I thought about this while falling asleep last night, and have changed my mind.  If Van Coon were smuggling in order to cover his trading losses, then:

 

A] Why didn't he sell the jade hairpin?

 

B] How did he transfer the money to a legitimate account at the bank?

 

C] How much did the tong pay him for smuggling?  Certainly not the full value of the item, so how could it cover a five-million-dollar trading loss?

A. Because he didn't think it had any value? That's why he didn't know he'd get into trouble for stealing it?

 

B & C. What I don't know about these subjects would fill volumes.

 

Oh, OK, you're saying that black tattoos, in particular, are difficult to do well. I can see that. For one thing, any color seen through layers of skin (especially thick skin such as on someone's heel) won't show up full-strength, even when the tattoo is new.  With most colors, you could just use an extra-dark shade to make up for that, but there's no such thing as extra-dark black!

Yay, something I do know a little about! There actually are different shades and hues of black, believe it or not. Speedball ink, e.g., is "blacker" than, say, Higgins. And some black inks are bluer than others, and some are more opaque. Little things like that are what make color matching sooooo much fun ....

 

I agree with Nova; the tattoos look to me like they are simply drawn on with a black ink marker, or stamped on; not sunk into the skin like I would expect a tattoo to be. I hope so; there's only so much suffering actors should do for their art! :D

 

The part with the Library makes absolutely no sense. First they would have to know which books Lukis was looking for, second if you pull one book out of a row, you don't see anything on the back of the shelf. Plus the thing with taking a book home after Lukis got the message, as mentioned before.

 Here's my thinking: the Spider followed Lukis to the library, left the message on an empty shelf ... then after Lukis left, put books on the shelf to hide his vandalism, the same way he repainted the wall where John saw the other message. (No, I don't have any idea how he knew to paint that shelf.... :D )

 

Someday I'll learn to stop trying to analyze this episode.  It just keeps getting worse. 

But we have to fill the void somehow!

[Van Buren Supernova]

:D 

A) If a single jade hairpin could fetch 9 mil, then theoretically he could carry back at least 100 mil in his back pack.  It would be contingent upon the items being things that looked fairly touristy and that he could fake any customs documentation for, so the hair pin and maybe some sort of tea service like the ones Soo Lin curated and cared for.  Things that could have modern knock offs.  Falsifying a sales receipt for something like 25 pounds should be child's play.

To worth that much, I think the jade had to be very rare or unique, one and only in the world or close.

 

That makes me think that Van Coon was a clot. He should have known that it should worth something significant from his smuggling experiences, he should have known how dangerous it was and easy to be traced by Tong and possible buyers (at least it should draw their unwanted attentions).

Yet, from all stuffs he could buy from China for his girlfriend (China FFS!), or heck, even a bigger better looking (common) jade, he chose to give her that. And we didn't even see any special appreciation from her, just another exotic looking hairpin.

 

(Back in the day, I knew of a case in which a bank teller supposedly absconded with a fortune by getting into the then-new computer system and taking advantage of the rounding feature when math was done.  So, a transaction that came out was $0.994 rounded down to $0.99 for the customer, and the bank "made" $0.006.  She had that transferred to her own account.  It adds up.)

I know almost nothing about banking and trading, it's set on auto-ignore in my brain but it's cool to read your explanations. For this point, I do remember reading about this case or similar, and he/she actually made millions from that.

Well, if you ask me, I think they deserved it for their intelligence. Why should banks take all?

 

 

I totally get cross-dominance. The moment it was explained to me, I knew I was; left eye, right hand. My son is the same way. Unfortunately it doesn't help me with golf or baseball as it could.

I think there are many theories flying around that might not completely proven. I am a lousy shooter but my archery was okay compared to friends without cross-dominance. But the activity sample was not enough to conclude anything. I'd be glad to blame the lousy shooting to this but generally I am just a clumsy inaccurate person.

Quite good with baseball, basketball and billiard. Have read about the advantage of cross dominance for them (very questionable article though), for baseball it makes sense to me. Dominant hand (right) controlling the power of the swing and dominant eye (left) at good focus on the target. (Never play golf, so I guess it's same theory?)

 

I believe cross dominance was once suspected to affect learning abilities, not limited to eye and hand, but ear as well. Something like receiving information from one side and processed in another side of brain, causing unorganized and scattered information.

Well, I don't know or care about how to determine dominant ear, but I'm okay with any reason to explain why I can remember certain events to every single details, at the same time totally forget other things.

It might also explain that everytime I do right-left brain quiz, it's (almost) eerily ends up with exact 50-50%.

 

 

Where/what is this test? I love tests. (Yes, I know, weird.... :D )

No... not at all, or I'll join you as weirdo as well. I also love tests. My fun stuffs consist of doing math equations or IQ tests. :lol: Sometimes I have to secretly buy those because to others...it's weird I guess.

 

I do my best to explain this, unofficial test.

1. Make a square with your fingers (left index touches right index, same thing with left and right thumbs). The square would look like a kite.

2. Stretch your hand out and frame a far object inside that square.

3. Close left eye. Then change, close right eye.

Your dominant eye will see the object inside that square. For the other eye, the object would be out.

Hope that makes sense..

 

 

Oh, OK, you're saying that black tattoos, in particular, are difficult to do well. I can see that. For one thing, any color seen through layers of skin (especially thick skin such as on someone's heel) won't show up full-strength, even when the tattoo is new.  With most colors, you could just use an extra-dark shade to make up for that, but there's no such thing as extra-dark black!

Yay, something I do know a little about! There actually are different shades and hues of black, believe it or not. Speedball ink, e.g., is "blacker" than, say, Higgins. And some black inks are bluer than others, and some are more opaque. Little things like that are what make color matching sooooo much fun ....

 

Yes I'm quite sure you are right. There are different shade of blacks. There are blue tint, purple tint, true black, triple black for.. For all I know, a tattoo artist would probably know 237 shades of black.   

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm becoming fond of the idea that Van Coon was basically a gambler.  He got his kicks from taking risks in trading for the bank, and also from taking risks by smuggling.  So he didn't much care about possible consequences, as long as the potential up-side was bigger than the potential down-side.

 

Regarding the fifty shades of black -- I'm sure the Black Lotus would want black black.  And as you've already pointed out, that's close to impossible to achieve in a tattoo.

 

[Arcadia]

 

 

Where/what is this test? I love tests. (Yes, I know, weird.... :D )

No... not at all, or I'll join you as weirdo as well. I also love tests. My fun stuffs consist of doing math equations or IQ tests. :lol: Sometimes I have to secretly buy those because to others...it's weird I guess.

 

I do my best to explain this, unofficial test.

1. Make a square with your fingers (left index touches right index, same thing with left and right thumbs). The square would look like a kite.

2. Stretch your hand out and frame a far object inside that square.

3. Close left eye. Then change, close right eye.

Your dominant eye will see the object inside that square. For the other eye, the object would be out.

Hope that makes sense..

 

 

 

 

Yes, that makes perfect sense, and I tried it ... that is cool! I've noticed that phenomenon before, but never knew the reason for it. Thanks!

 

Oh, and right eye dominant.

 

[sittything]

I still haven't had a chance to watch this episode yet.  Eep!  

 

But as Arcadia said, I thought Van Coon didn't realize how much the jade pin was worth?  

 

From Ariane Devere:

SHERLOCK: Oh, I don’t think that’s true. I think he pinched it. 

AMANDA (chuckling ruefully): Yeah, that’s Eddie. 

SHERLOCK: Didn’t know its value; just thought it would suit you.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Regarding the fifty shades of black -- I'm sure the Black Lotus would want black black.  And as you've already pointed out, that's close to impossible to achieve in a tattoo.

 

Can I drive you crazy by saying it's possible? :lol:

Just not for those Tongs in TBB.

 

When I was about ten, I was lying on my bunk at summer camp, writing a letter home, and accidentally rolled onto a spare (very sharp!) pencil, which punctured the skin on my knee. The lead didn't break off, but it did leave traces behind, and although the mark isn't nearly as dark or as distinct as it used to be, I can still see it. But of course it never was black.

Wanted but forgot to respond. Ouch..!

 

Yes, that makes perfect sense, and I tried it ... that is cool! I've noticed that phenomenon before, but never knew the reason for it. Thanks!

 

Oh, and right eye dominant.

Are you cross dominant, Or you are right handed too?

[Shadow Dweller]

Interesting. I am cross-dominant sans glasses and no dominant with. Which one is really me?

[sittything]

Guys, I just did that dominance test... I'm broken.  When I center an object, it's within the box for both eyes, albeit the left eye is to the left side of the box and the right eye is to the right side of the box.  What does this mean?

 

I just saw SD's post... can corrective lenses alter this?  B/c I'm wearing contacts.

[Shadow Dweller]

Sorry, wrong assumption in my part. I read in a website that you have to put the square at arm length. With left eyes the object is in the centre, right eye the object shifted to the right a few centimetres. The glasses only affect focus but not the target's placement within the square. I am right-handed.

 

Edit: https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/the-cross-dominant-shooter/ according to this, first test I am no-dominant, third test a right-right person ^^

[SherlockedCAMPer]

The test I had my son johnspec do was take a piece of paper and put a hole in it about quarter size or so. I used the round piece that made the hole and put that on the floor. You hold the paper just close enough to your face so that only 1 eye can look through the hole at the round piece on the floor. Which ever eye sees the piece is your dominant eye. I did this with glasses on if I recall correctly.

 

I know that even with glasses I'm still left dominant.

[sittything]

I definitely did the test at arms length.  The right eye may be ever so slightly more centered than the left, but not by much.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Sitty, there are small population without eye dominance, means both eye have equal dominance. Not sure what is the effect, I guess balance is normally good?

 

Seems like myself, CAMPer and SD are cross dominance (right handed, left eye dominant). 

 

There are not many known impacts for all types yet I guess, except that it's important in shooting.

 

It's best for 'normal' as in right-right or left-left, otherwise there would be a disadvantage for the body posture.

Imagine shooting with you right hand while you have to focus with left eye. However, there are professional shooter who maintain cross dominance (cross dominance can be 'fixed'/train but it's not comfortable process), normally they have to shoot with both hand holding the gun, which might not always be feasible in battle zone.

 

That is why John must have been required to train shooting with the hand on the side of his dominant eye. 

With those probability, Van Coon should shoot with left hand.

 

(Imagine if John wasn't specially trained, and shoot with left hand on occasion where his right hand is used to do something else, he would end up like me when playing shooting game. Miss. Every. Single. Target. Or kill own troops). :lol:

[Shadow Dweller]

.... Am I really cross-dominant, considering that the third test's result points to the right eye

 

Edit: funny thing, the third test's result depends on which hand I pointed to the target. I spy with my eye... the tip of a dog's ear from across the room, lol

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Johnspec is also cross dominant left eye, right hand. So there's another for our little group.

[sittything]

I do have good balance.  

 

I may have weak right eye dominance.  My right eye is always more centered than my left eye, but the left eye is never actually outside the box of my fingers.

[Arcadia]

Which eye dominance do we think the blind banker had?

[sittything]

Well, given that most of the population is right-eye dominant, I'll go with that.  ;)

[Van Buren Supernova]

So we are flock of quite special people :lol:

 

Is the blind banker actually refers to Van Coon?

I keep wondering.., all the while I thought it was the guy whose potrait was vandalized.. sounds silly I know.. never quite convinced as well :lol:

 

Hey, I forget to rate the ep. Will do.

[sittything]

I still need to watch this at some point today... so unmotivated to do so, though.