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Episode 4.0: The Abominable Bride (alias The Special)


Undead Medic

What did you think of "The Abominable Bride"?  

122 members have voted

  1. 1. Add Your Vote Here:

    • 10/10 Excellent.
      47
    • 9/10 Not quite the best, but not far off.
      26
    • 8/10 Certainly worth watching again.
      32
    • 7/10 Slightly above the norm.
      12
    • 6/10 Average.
      2
    • 5/10 Slightly sub-par.
      1
    • 4/10 Decidedly below average.
      1
    • 3/10 Pretty Poor.
      0
    • 2/10 Bad.
      0
    • 1/10 Abominable.
      1


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A thread for the discussion of the Holiday Special 2015/2016 "The Abominable Bride"

 

Please rate the episode using the poll, and discuss the episode below.

 

 

 

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this holiday special.

 

This thread will automatically unlock on Jan 1st 2016.

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Thanks for setting this up, Tim.

 

Moderator Comment:

Everyone please note that spoilers will be allowed ONLY in designated areas, such as this thread.  We are defining "spoiler" as anything that reveals (or claims to reveal) information about what actually happens in The Special.  Please note that any spoilers posted outside of the designated area(s) will be removed by the staff.
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Should we put certain comments in spoiler boxes, or will that be unnecessary in this thread?

 

 

 

Comment from Carol the Dabbler:  Assuming that your spoiler pertains to "The Abominable Bride," then no, there is no need to use a spoiler box in this thread.  (Tim has reversed his initial decision.

 

Just please remember, until further notice, not to post any TAB spoilers in non-spoiler threads, regardless of whether you use a spoiler box or not.  Any such posts will be removed by the staff.

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So... I won't say how, but I have seen it (and not broken any laws I know of in the process). Very envious of everyone who got to go to the cinema... I bet it was lovely on the big screen. But for information's sake, a teeny weeny laptop, mediocre speakers and a wonky internet connection were sufficient. I am looking forward to the DVD so very, very much. Then I can see it comfortably in bed on a large TV, make myself some popcorn and pretend I am at the theater.

 

Anyway, what did everyone think?

 

 

I loved it. It was right up my alley, so crazy and psycho and hallucinatory, so drug-addled and Sherlock-centered, so viciously unclear about the "truth", so meta in so many ways and such a wickedly clever, funny, fandom in-joke fest. I am happy - I hope you are too.

 

 

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Happy NewYear to everyone! In brief,

if their best bet was to turn the Tarmac scene into another high for Sherlock to relieve Mrs Ricoletti's revenge of her husband's behaviour and transmute the Five Orange Pips into a suffragette story, with Moriarty and him re-enacting the Final Problem and the fight at the Falls only for Dr Watson to save the day with his trusty gun and a "Thank you, John" said with an enigmatic smile, then one is reminded of Pythia when the emperor Julian visited Delphi, and she replied that the waters have stilled and the song has ceased; a masterful rehash of good old episodes, when the creators still had the sacred flame lit. All fandom must have prayed yesterday not to feel let down: prayer fell on deaf ears, unfortunately!

 

But I love it that the playful villain and he exchange the phrases I picked as my signature! And there's not enough time to cancel my pre-order, drat it!

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I loved it!

Just when I had settled in to a what looked like a standalone Victorian episode, we get the reveal...


Gosh I missed Sherlock so much! I think a rewatch is in order...

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In the beginning I was worried I wouldn't like it, I thought it was too "meta". But after some time when the story got going I loved it!

 

 

And I'm glad to say that it still didn't convince me of Moriarty's death. After all, the two cases don't run as parallel als they'd like make us belief. Or do they? I'll definitely need to re-watch it several times as soon as it's available on DVD! It wasn't until Moriarty showed up that I realised how much I have really missed him and how worried I was that they'd eventually prove him dead!

 

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I loved it!

 

Just when I had settled in to a what looked like a standalone Victorian episode, we get the reveal...

 

Gosh I missed Sherlock so much! I think a rewatch is in order...

 

:D Yeah, but what exactly was the reveal?

 

 

Have the boys lived in Victorian London all the time and "reality" is what happened in the Doyle stories (or rather, "reality" is the basis on which Dr Watson wrote his stories for the strand), while the series set in modern times that we love is just one long and possibly drug-addled speculation on Holmes' part about what the future will be like and how he and the people he knows could live in it? Or does the "real" action take place in our century and the Victorian bits were just Sherlock's mind palace on cocaine (with mind palaces and hallucinations inside the mind palace and hallucinations)? Is Moriarty alive? Was he ever alive? Is he just a figment of Sherlock Holmes' imagination, a part of his own psyche and thus immortal as long as the hero lives? Will we ever find out?

 

I think for the sake of my sanity (and further speculation / pathetic attempts at deduction), I will decide that the modern world is the "real" one and the Victorian world is the dream / mind palace setting. But I would be the first person to concede that's totally up for debate.

 

 

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It's a matter of personal taste, but to parody their alleged fanboy heroes to such an extent is beyond the pale! Not to mention that the

Reichenbach fight is taken from the Guy Ritchie films, which they have copiously commented on previously

 

If I had spent money travelling all over the place (Denmark and Britain come to mind) to watch this

lame attempt at putting TRF right

, I would now be lamenting both the expense and the trouble!

 

Most definitely mind palace or junkie-induced Moriarty! Dead is the new sexy! Hasn't all this happened before? There's nothing new under the sun! (Moriarty's lines), and he has visited the flat six times and finds Sherlock's bed very comfortable! Yep! Anything else to fix from TRF?

 

In fact, the best things about it were the direct ACD quotations! Loved every one of them, even out of context!

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I loved this! I feel very confused, which I'm sure I'm supposed to. Can't wait to see it again :) I have one question... maybe you guys noticed something I didn't:

 

Why did Sherlock get high prior to boarding the plane? Mycroft said as much, but it makes no sense, since Sherlock at that point didn't know that Moriarty was back? It would make more sense if he had cocaine with him on the plane, then took it the moment Mycroft phoned him about Moriarty.

 

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I loved this! I feel very confused, which I'm sure I'm supposed to. Can't wait to see it again :) I have one question... maybe you guys noticed something I didn't:

 

Why did Sherlock get high prior to boarding the plane? Mycroft said as much, but it makes no sense, since Sherlock at that point didn't know that Moriarty was back? It would make more sense if he had cocaine with him on the plane, then took it the moment Mycroft phoned him about Moriarty.

 

 

 

 

I think I remember Mycroft saying something about prison or some other form of solitary confinement during the time before Sherlock got on the plane. Apparently, he somehow managed to get his hands on some drugs and took them to prevent himself going mad from boredom.

 

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I saw it in Dublin tonight in the cinema. I also loved it!
 
Only for people who've seen it below: (spoilers)

I couldn't believe I had correctly guessed that Molly could be dressed as a man- though in fairness I probably made about a hundred other inaccurate guesses about the special. I loved the scene between Watson and Holmes, where they were talking in the carriage. I adored Mycroft, though for some reason I was thinking 'League of Gentlemen' while watching him. I thought Andrew was just amazing, and the waterfall scene was perfect. The only bit I wasn't crazy on was the Moftiss idea of a feminist gang, kind of had me cringing. I'm really not sure at all what Sherlock's conclusion at the end was, which I am guessing was kind of the point. So, a lot of fun, but I do not feel too much the wiser.

 

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I loved this! I feel very confused, which I'm sure I'm supposed to. Can't wait to see it again :) I have one question... maybe you guys noticed something I didn't:

 

Why did Sherlock get high prior to boarding the plane? Mycroft said as much, but it makes no sense, since Sherlock at that point didn't know that Moriarty was back? It would make more sense if he had cocaine with him on the plane, then took it the moment Mycroft phoned him about Moriarty.

 

 

This is a good question...I second this curiosity...when and why did he get high then? Did he already know?

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 The only bit I wasn't crazy on was the Moftiss idea of a feminist gang, kind of had me cringing.

 

 

 

Oh, but if you believe (as I have decided to do) that the Victorian bits are all Sherlock's mind palace, then the "feminist gang" is a figment of Sherlock's imagination. Sherlock is afraid of women... his attitude towards them is ambivalent and this image is very fitting for the inside of his mind and soul.

 

 

 

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My head just exploded! What was that??? Am so excited right now!

 

If it was yesterday I would say the fireworks were exploding brains of Shelrock viewers. But maybe they were. Now when Sherlock can travel in time.

 

Dang, what a ride! It happened before that I laughed aloud in front of the laptop while there was noone in the room beside me. This time tho, I was cursing, yelling OMG, and moaning holding my head, which never happened before. Good thing I wasn't in a cinema, because I tend to hit my companion when excited too much!

 

I think I really have an adrenaline flash right now. I'm sweaty, my feet are cold and I have this stupid grin on my face - it starts to hurt!

 

It's too soon for anything about the storyline, my skull buzz like a beehive - but I was really moved by Mycroft's behaviour. I mean the recent Mycroft. 

 

And hell I was right about Andrew! yess.gif

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I loved this! I feel very confused, which I'm sure I'm supposed to. Can't wait to see it again :) I have one question... maybe you guys noticed something I didn't:

 

Why did Sherlock get high prior to boarding the plane? Mycroft said as much, but it makes no sense, since Sherlock at that point didn't know that Moriarty was back? It would make more sense if he had cocaine with him on the plane, then took it the moment Mycroft phoned him about Moriarty.

 

 

 

 

I think I remember Mycroft saying something about prison or some other form of solitary confinement during the time before Sherlock got on the plane. Apparently, he somehow managed to get his hands on some drugs and took them to prevent himself going mad from boredom.

 

 

 

That kind of makes sense, except

 

Sherlock said he took the drugs in order to help him solve the mystery... At least that's how I remember it. But it went so quickly that I'm not sure I got it right.

 

 

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Then who

sends Mary the card with the embossed M and the word Immediately on the other side? Mycroft or Moriarty? And why does Sherlock refuse to consider the possibility of twins at first, which fits Moriarty as well, only to use it as an explanation of how a real, live Mrs Ricoletti could kill her husband, while her double lay in the morgue?

Also, why does Victorian Mycroft ask for the list, exactly like modern Mycroft on the plane?

 

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T.o.b.y., I think your version is the most likely intention of the writers but for me,

 

 

The fact that all these oppressed women come to the 'clever' realisation that they can only become empowered through secret acts of murder, is to me so exactly more of that misguided BAMF- female character that they already have a tendency to go towards, i can't quite let them away with it. I did like the implication that he felt guilty about Janine and the use of the word 'brute' in that context.

 

 

 Bedelia, how were the reactions of the viewers?

 

 

People loved it, and were laughing a lot.

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Good that we have a whole year now to think about how this story changes the perspective of what we have seen in S1-3 and how it solves the Moriarty problem - or did I miss something?

 

Then: Victorian Watson was sooo much harder and more aggresive. I had almost the impression he is the one in charge. What does it tell about the inner world of Sherlock. Even though I'm not entirely sure which world was the real one. :blink:

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My one big question mark is this, maybe you can help me to wrap my head around it:

 

Why is Sherlock convinced that the overdose and resulting "investigations" helped him prove Moriarty's death? After all, there is (unlike in Emilia's case) still no corpse as final proof. And while somenone could spill blood on the curtains to help Emilia fake her suicide, that couldn't have worked the same way for Moriarty - since he was outside with a person as observant as Sherlock around... Of course there are some parallels, but the fact that Emilia really is dead doesn't mean Moriarty has to be, too, does it?

 

 

Think I'll try to sleep now, maybe things will get clearer once I had a good night's sleep.

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I think what I love the most about this film/episode right now is how it had me at the edge of my seat all the way through. Especially when

we were taken "back" to the present. I think it's amazing how Moffat and Gatiss brought the whole series together - once again! - in one episode. There were references to ASiP, TGG, ASiB, and TRF. Loved the talk in the cab between Sherlock and John that referenced Irene Adler, btw.

 

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