Episode 1.2, "The Blind Banker"

[jesskayding]

Oh. Well nevermind then.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I suspect you're right, Jana -- in which case her primary purpose in the story was apparently to die a pointless and tragic death.  Oh, and (as Alex just pointed out) to tell us how the Tong sucked her brother in.

 

[jesskayding]

[Arcadia]

I suspect you're right, Jana -- in which case her primary purpose in the story was apparently to die a pointless and tragic death.  Oh, and (as Alex just pointed out) to tell us how the Tong sucked her brother in.

I can't find it in me to care how the Tong sucked her brother in.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm still trying to figure out how Soo Lin got the museum job.  Before she came to London, she was a drug smuggler for the Tong -- not exactly relevant experience -- and five years later, she's one of the museum's top experts.

 

All I can figure is that she must have had a cover story while she was smuggling -- maybe she supposedly worked for a Chinese museum, and actually picked up quite a bit of knowledge that way.  (Plus when the London museum first hired her, she was probably working at a more junior level.)

 

[jesskayding]

Maybe, or they stereotyped her per where she was from. 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Or maybe she was just a very gentle, sensitive person who, even though she was in a hard situation in her country, and many women are in China. (The suicide rate among Chinese women is astronomical.) She had a love of art and her culture and the Tea Ceremony is very stylized, delicate and beautiful.

[jesskayding]

Yeah maybe she did that demonstration as part of her interview. Soo Lin Yao speaking/demonstrating the history of tea & the tea pots... Has to be in like my top 5 of Sherlock cinematography & favorite scenes. LOVE it! LOVE!

[Carol the Dabbler]

For a minute there I thought y'all meant they gave her the job simply because she's Chinese -- talk about racist!

 

But yeah, if she demonstrated a deep understanding of and love for her culture in the interview, that could have counted for a lot.  Though I'm still puzzled that a street urchin could have developed that understanding or love, when every day is a struggle just to get enough food.  But maybe she had a much more settled childhood until a certain point.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Or..... there are some people who the more difficult their lives the sweeter gentler they are. Caring for the pots was her zen.

[jesskayding]

For a minute there I thought y'all meant they gave her the job simply because she's Chinese -- talk about racist!

 

But yeah, if she demonstrated a deep understanding of and love for her culture in the interview, that could have counted for a lot. Though I'm still puzzled that a street urchin could have developed that understanding or love, when every day is a struggle just to get enough food. But maybe she had a much more settled childhood until a certain point.

 

 

Well she was apart of a gang that obviously dealt with antiquities, not just drugs apparently. So I'm sure she learned a lot. I wonder how many murders she witnessed as a result of someone trying to pass off fake antiques to General Shan.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Shan really does seem to be into "kill first, ask questions later," yeah.

 

[Sacker]

Started a Sherlock marathon this week to get me through needing a fix. ;-)

 

Watched A Study In Pink two nights in a row. Blind Banker is up for tonight. One of my least favorite episodes. Not because it's bad (it isn't), but it just doesn't draw me in. Not sure why. I've skipped it a few times this past year, so tonight I'll watch it with fresh eyes. Maybe I'll feel more interested now that it's been over a year since I've seen it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Sacker]

Just lost my posts twice (storms/ power), so I'll make this quick. ;-)

 

Liked it

First hour very engaging

Light moments well done

Sarah *swoon*

Back in line-up

 

More tomorrow. ;-)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Radio Times has (re)posted a "Blind Banker" quiz (11 multiple-guess questions, illustrated by some nice screencaps).  Test your knowledge of this episode here.

 

 

(I will modestly mention that I got 11 out of 11.  )

 

You can access all six of their S1 and S2 quizzes here.

[Schlauer Fuchs]

I only got 10/11    Didn't know the bank's name

[Janie]

I got 10/11 too. I thought the only thing in Van Coon's fridge was

milk

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Those were a couple of the toughest questions -- all the answers to the bank-name question were very similar, and there was only one brief glimpse inside the fridge -- so I think you both still qualify as properly obsessive.     Besides, I don't think this is the first time I've taken this particular quiz, and heaven knows how many times I've watched the episode (dozens, certainly).

 

Aha!  Yes, I found our discussion of these quizzes back in March, and oddly enough there were 15 "Blind Banker" questions then.  We voiced complaints about a few of them, though, and perhaps other people did also -- which may explain why four have been dropped.  (Unfortunately, the old link now leads to the current version of the quiz, so we can't actually compare the two.)

 

[sittything]

I got 9 out of 11.  Strangely, I remembered the

champagne

in the fridge but couldn't remember what store the lady's apartment was over or how much the hair pin thing was worth.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I remembered the hair pin and hunted down the answer for the store.  I remembered the name of the item they sold and went from there.

[Arcadia]

Missed the hairpin.

[sittything]

So one question about TBB that I've never understood, in the tunnel why doesn't homegirl just fall over in her chair... like John did trying to reach her.  'Cause then she won't be in the path of the arrow/spear/whatever.

[Arcadia]

Well, I can't answer for Sarah, but if it'd been me in that chair, I would have been so petrified I couldn't think. I'd make a lousy action hero.

[Carol the Dabbler]

So one question about TBB that I've never understood, in the tunnel why doesn't homegirl just fall over in her chair... like John did trying to reach her.  'Cause then she won't be in the path of the arrow/spear/whatever.

 

I've wondered that myself.  In all the other scenes, Sarah appears to be intelligent, confident, daring and resourceful.  She even clobbers the bad guy who's going after Sherlock.  But here she goes all whimpery-damsel-in-distress.  Maybe being tied up with a big honkin' arrow aimed at her was simply the last straw?

 

One other part of that scene that makes no sense to me is when Sherlock warns Shan not to shoot because the bullet might ricochet and bounce back to hit her, due to the radius of the tunnel and blah-blah-blah.  That might be true if she were aiming across the width of the tunnel -- but she's aiming at Sherlock, who's standing some distance away down the length of the tunnel.  While the curvature would still affect the ricochet somewhat, the path would still be primarily down the length of the tunnel, away from Shan.  But maybe Sherlock was well aware of that, and merely wanted to fluster her.  And apparently she had never studied math, physics, etc.