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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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My Favorite Blogger's Blog - from one of the comments about reactions in Poland:

People coming out of the cinema were speculating (in rather positive sense) about what the writers have been taking. And they wanted to go home ASAP to watch it again.
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Personally, I think Redbeard means something else besides the dog, and my wild, unfounded guess is that it has something to do with "the other one."

 

 

 

Or they've finally gotten their popular culture references confused, and we find out that Redbeard is really a sled....   :P

 

"Which is it today?  Morphine or cocaine?"

"It is cocaine.  A seven-percent solution.  Would you care to try it?" 

 

These are direct sequential quotes from the beginning of "The Sign of Four" where Watson recounts that Holmes had been doing cocaine 3X per day for many months.

 

I caught a lot of the direct ACD references, but this was the one that had me inappropriately giggling during my first watching, because it suddenly dawned on me that the entire episode was, in fact, Sherlock Holmes imagining what it would be like if he were Sherlock Holmes!

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Yes, because this is not really Sherlock Holmes, just Sherlock, fanboy recreation, with no depth in storytelling, no serious respect for the intelligence of the viewer, relying on a handsome lead and some puerile in-jokes. Amazon reviews continue to drub the Abominable episode, but the worst hit came from IMDb, where I gave it a seven, like here, but the reviews are single to three-star maximum, and those are people who paid good money to watch it in the theatre! As for the hacking, Sherlock himself used the same protocol for mobiles, slightly different from the one on TV, in SiP when he hacked into all the journalists and the police's mobiles with "wrong", no Moriarty genius needed, just the ways modern electronics systems interconnect and can be infiltrated!

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I really am not very interested in what critics and the masses think of the stuff I enjoy, but in case anyone else is curious:

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3845232/externalreviews?ref_=ttexrv_ql_5

 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/sherlock/15886/#all-critics-numbers

 

http://www.metacritic.com/tv/sherlock-the-abominable-bride

 

 

There really don't seem to be enough reviews out yet to get any kind of a representative score, but currently, the episode holds "generally favorable reviews" on metacritic, 64% "fresh" on rotten tomatoes and an average of 8,4/10 on IMDB.

Amazon.com: 4/5 stars, amazon.co.uk 3,5/5 stars, amazon.de 5/5.

 

 

Personally, I couldn't care less.

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Yes, because this is not really Sherlock Holmes, just Sherlock, fanboy recreation, with no depth in storytelling, no serious respect for the intelligence of the viewer, relying on a handsome lead and some puerile in-jokes. Amazon reviews continue to drub the Abominable episode, but the worst hit came from IMDb, where I gave it a seven, like here, but the reviews are single to three-star maximum, and those are people who paid good money to watch it in the theatre! As for the hacking, Sherlock himself used the same protocol for mobiles, slightly different from the one on TV, in SiP when he hacked into all the journalists and the police's mobiles with "wrong", no Moriarty genius needed, just the ways modern electronics systems interconnect and can be infiltrated!

Wow, you really didn't like it!  But the whole point, surely, is that it isn't supposed to be ACD's Holmes - that has already been done, and done well (and, it has to be said, done badly in some instances.)  And, much as I love the original stories, maybe we should remember they were pot-boilers in their author's eyes.  He didn't think of them as deathless prose and, more or less, said that he didn't give a toss about the ways other people played with the character.  The fast and furious pace of Sherlock, the plot holes and the jokes, will inevitably disconcert some people but there are many of us who enjoy it all in spite - or because of - its occasional silliness.  As for the jokes, I'm afraid that I like them.

 

I don't tend to pay too much attention to reviews on Amazon or elsewhere, as so many of them fall into one of two categories - basically, the show-offs and the idiots.  I certainly would not take them as a reliable indicator of artistic worth.  For example, just look on amazon.co.uk to see how many reviewers gave 1 star and a stinging review to The Brothers Karamazov, James Joyce's Ulysses, Madame Bovary and so on...If the classics don't escape a thrashing at the hands of the internet's self-appointed critics, poor old Sherlock doesn't stand a chance!

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Yes, conviction is necessary for getting pardons from the queen/president. A person must confess his crime before asking for a royal pardon. But isn't Sherlock is already convicted (though through a secret trial maybe) and was sentenced to be exiled? I don't know. I am just guessing. It'd be shame if Motfiss just ignore the topic at all in the next season and only focus on Moriarty things.

 

BTW...I am watching all the Sherlock episodes in a row for the last two days. I love how cute BC looks in the unaired piilot.

 

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Yes!!! Finally! Someone else who loves how BC looks in the pilot! High-five, Janine!

 

And good point ... in some way or another, Sherlock must have been convicted of something, or else why the exile?

 

"Which is it today?  Morphine or cocaine?"

"It is cocaine.  A seven-percent solution.  Would you care to try it?" 

 

These are direct sequential quotes from the beginning of "The Sign of Four" where Watson recounts that Holmes had been doing cocaine 3X per day for many months.

Oy. I hope that's not what our Sherlock ends up doing, that's just too sad. I know back then it wasn't considered to be the failing it is now, but still.....

 

Wow, now that's a fan ... willing to risk jail for a TV show!

 

Yes, because this is not really Sherlock Holmes, just Sherlock, fanboy recreation, with no depth in storytelling, no serious respect for the intelligence of the viewer....

Good heavens, what have we been discussing for the last dozen pages then, Benedict's looks? :rolleyes: Oh, wait .... :blush:

 

Finally voted.

 

Could someone please fix the misspelled word in "4/10 Decidedly blow average" ?

Not sure if that's a typo or an intentional joke! :D  Either way, good catch, see what I can do.

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I'd pay multiple times to watch it in the cinema if I could, and I feel like I don't want to read the books now.

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The first time I watched it, through the first hour I just had the feeling there was something wrong, like there must be more of a reason for all this.  Then around the one hour mark when we were back on the plane, I felt like I "woke up" and "aha!" and it was a whole new ballgame!

 

The second viewing was much, much better, because of course it all made more sense. My DVD is on the way and I can't wait to watch it with subtitles to make sure I get every word.

 

Did anyone catch the V.R. on the wall? I haven't seen it.

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Did anyone catch the V.R. on the wall? I haven't seen it.

 

 

If I hadn't seen it in the theater with the extra bit in which Moffat walked through the set and explained a lot of Easter eggs, I  would never have noticed it.  Honestly, it was hardly noticeable when he pointed it out.

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The first time I watched it, through the first hour I just had the feeling there was something wrong, like there must be more of a reason for all this. Then around the one hour mark when we were back on the plane, I felt like I "woke up" and "aha!" and it was a whole new ballgame!

 

The second viewing was much, much better, because of course it all made more sense. My DVD is on the way and I can't wait to watch it with subtitles to make sure I get every word.

 

Did anyone catch the V.R. on the wall? I haven't seen it.

Yep, same here! And no, I haven't spotted the VR either, even when Moffat stood right there and pointed it out to me. :smile:

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Amen to that one :D. Generally and, to come back on topic, wouldn't it have been nice if, when Sherlock and John went to visit Mycroft, they had kept talking about case-relevant stuff like they usually do instead of mostly repeating, "My, are you fat, you gonna die soon!" Nobody commented on Lestrade's sideburns either after all and personally I found those a lot more noteworthy ;).

 

 

I think you guys are missing that that part is Incredibly relevant, which is why they were so focused on him dying within 2 1/2-5 years. They've been alluding to the idea that Mycroft has a disease that is slowly / quickly killing him. I think that maybe Sherlock's heroine addiction for increasing his thinking power is a sham... He's often sad because just like Redbead the death of his brother is imminent. 

 

 

I'm just not sure how much of that mind palace scene we can take as gospel.  In the mind palace, Mycroft is basically dying of gluttony.  Now, has Sherlock just made up this dying bet as some sort of rivalry?  Sherlock and Mycroft are certainly known to be competitive.  Is he imagining all of this because he's aware of a disease Mycroft has?  I dunno.  I think it could be foreshadowing, and I'm certainly concerned that it might be, but I'm not 100% sold on this meaning Mycroft is ill and dying.  I'm actually more concerned that Mycroft will be killed off in season 4, not from some illness, but by sacrificing himself for Sherlock.  Because I 100% believe he would do that for his little brother.  That means that everything in the special could still be foreshadowing Mycroft's death, including Mycroft asking John to look after Sherlock and his (erroneously) telling Sherlock he'll always be there, without it being exactly the same as the mind palace (illness).

 

 

I disagree 100%. Outside of his mind palace Mycroft was acting as if his time was short. He was literally begging John to look after his brother. I'm not completely convinced that he would die for Sherlock seeing that he was exiling him to a mission that would most certainly lead to his death... Sooooo

post-1460-0-59610900-1452911941_thumb.jpg

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The first time I watched it, through the first hour I just had the feeling there was something wrong, like there must be more of a reason for all this. Then around the one hour mark when we were back on the plane, I felt like I "woke up" and "aha!" and it was a whole new ballgame!

 

The second viewing was much, much better, because of course it all made more sense. My DVD is on the way and I can't wait to watch it with subtitles to make sure I get every word.

 

Did anyone catch the V.R. on the wall? I haven't seen it.

Yep, same here! And no, I haven't spotted the VR either, even when Moffat stood right there and pointed it out to me. :smile:

 

 

Yeah I had to watch it a second time as well. That's almost how it is with all of these episodes which is what makes it so AWESOME!

post-1460-0-91679700-1452912170_thumb.gif

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I'm up to 7X on viewing although I haven't viewed it for 10 days.  Will watch again  this weekend.

 

Okay well you trumped me on level of fandom. You go girl! Oh the word trumped. That man could actually become the next President of the United States of America. 

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No spoilers from me until it's aired everywhere.

 

Loved it!!! Man it's great to have Sherlock back. The end of a very long dry spell and a nice Christmas present. I really dug the handling of the Victorian time frame. Wasn't sure how or if it was going to be addressed (nor did I need it to be), but even that was a nice surprise. Top notch from everyone involved. Much to expand on in a day or so.

 

Even after this long break, I was right at home immediately. Just like a long-time friend. Instantly comfortable. I put a log in the fireplace, opened a nice Tempranillo, got comfy on the couch, and raised a glass. Welcome back 221B.

 

I love Tempranillo. 

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For my part, I can't bear watching it past the Victorian spoof, which was good for a laugh and a game of spotting all the ACD direct quotes! Dear Caya's favourite writer has done a masterful analysis of the whole Abominable episode, with which I agree almost 99%, because I would never classify any Sherlock episode as "half pukeworthy", but that's just me: they are not worthy of being ACD followers, laughing all the way to the bank notwithstanding!

@Slithylove, of the three examples you mentioned, I hated both Ulysses (pompous, convoluted and recondite), and Mme Bovary (upwardly mobile frustrated housewife with a predilection for luxury; good thing she committed suicide, or she could very well have turned into Hugo's Fantine or Zola's Nana, take your pick!)

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It just occurred to me after watching  the first scene where Mycroft asks Sherlock if he made a list "we will need a list" that Sherlock is mentally reminding himself to make that list because he has gone deep, but he withholds the list because he must go deeper.  Nevertheless, when he wakes up the first time on the plane, he has that list made out.  

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For my part, I can't bear watching it past the Victorian spoof, which was good for a laugh and a game of spotting all the ACD direct quotes! Dear Caya's favourite writer has done a masterful analysis of the whole Abominable episode, with which I agree almost 99%, because I would never classify any Sherlock episode as "half pukeworthy"

 

I assume you mean Plaidder? She has a lot more to say about it than that... and I thought I was the amateur psychologist...

 

In case anyone is interested:

 

http://plaidadder.tumblr.com/post/136870676069/90-minutes-of-palimpsest-moments-or-first

 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5728672/chapters/13200244

 

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Somehow I'm not interested in the naysayers and wet blankets about the episode.  I prefer to enjoy it and look at the skill and artistry involved.  If others can't see it, that's their issue, not mine.

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Somehow I'm not interested in the naysayers and wet blankets about the episode.  I prefer to enjoy it and look at the skill and artistry involved.  If others can't see it, that's their issue, not mine.

 

I've never been much bothered by that sort of thing either. I like plenty of things that aren't widely popular, and I dislike plenty others that earned widespread acclaim (Harry Potter, for example - I'll never be a fan of that, no matter what anybody says).

 

I often find it interesting though, to read / hear how someone else reacted to a show / film / book / play and what their thoughts were.

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Even if I didn't like someone else's work, I wouldn't be a wet blanket about it.  This was actually a brilliantly done episode from the acting to the writing, to the production design, cinematography... and even the marketing.  Wow.  They hit it that home run out of the park.

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While I like the concept of a new, modern Sherlock, I definitely dislike shoddy plots (they had almost two years to mull over possible solutions, and they came up with a vague MindPalace thing including the Five Orange Pips and a drug overdose, definitely of heroine, he's much too calm for the seven percent solution), and cheap laughs at the expense of the fandom, with the implausible suffragette murdering females as a counter-threat to a plainly sub-par Moriarty (all, right, he  w a s a figment,) but nevertheless!  They had better pull themselves together and deliver an absolutely stellar, decidedly not maudling, S4, or there may never be a fifth one! There's just so much suspension of disbelief an intelligent fan can take, and everybody is growing older, including Sherlock, Dr Watson, Mrs Hudson and Mark Gatiss, so youthful shenanigans and fooloing around will have to stop before the series become pastiches of their own episodes! As for the Abominable episode, which has somehow acquired the designation S4.0, the least said about it the better!

 

 

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