Episode 1.3, "The Great Game"

[T.o.b.y]

From http://arianedevere.livejournal.com/46716.html:

 

SHERLOCK (looking closely at the writing): She used a fountain pen. A Parker Duofold – iridium nib.
JOHN: “She”?
SHERLOCK: Obviously.

 

 

Did we ever find out who "she" was? Miss Wenc... whatever from the museum? But why should she have been employed by Moriarty to send the phone to Sherlock?

[Janie]

I always thought it was Miss Wenceslas. Can't think of anyone else...

[T.o.b.y]

This episode is truly amazing. I think I've watched it more often than any of the others, and I still discover new things in it that delight me. For example, when Sherlock is being choked by the Golem, note that he has his eyes open. He's not panicking. He's not wasting energy on a pointless struggle. He's looking straight at John who is holding the gun, and probably calculating ten different ways of getting them both out of the situation alive.

 

Or another detail: At Lestrade's office, right after they learn that the old woman has been killed, Sherlock looks shocked. And John steps a teensy bit closer and puts his hand on the back of the chair Sherlock is sitting in. This makes the "you are disappointed" scene directly after that even clearer: John thought he'd finally seen proof that Sherlock is human and feels for the murder victims, and he had given him a bit of compassion, in his minimalistic John way, and then it turns out Sherlock doesn't care after all (or so John thinks), and he feels betrayed, I think, kind of like the way I do after having cried over Sherlock on the rooftop in The Reichenbach Fall, only to find out he and Mycroft had it all under control, anyway. It's a nasty feeling if you think your sympathy has been wasted.

 

Oh, John is so, well, sorry, but I think the word is "cute", when he thinks he's solved the Connie Prince murder. In this episode, he's really getting into the detective game himself.

 

They're such a good team in The Great Game. I think we never see them working so well together for so much of an episode anywhere else.

 

I want series 4 to be like The Great Game. Over and over again...

[Arcadia]

From http://arianedevere.livejournal.com/46716.html:

 

SHERLOCK (looking closely at the writing): She used a fountain pen. A Parker Duofold – iridium nib.

JOHN: “She”?

SHERLOCK: Obviously.

 

Did we ever find out who "she" was? Miss Wenc... whatever from the museum? But why should she have been employed by Moriarty to send the phone to Sherlock?

 

I know, that never quite jelled for me either, in fact I think I asked the same question awhile back. The concensus seems to be be that it's Miss W. I can only assume that by having her send the phone, it's another clue Moriarty left for Sherlock???? (But a clue to what, exactly?)

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Hhhmm didn't both Sherlock and John recognize the phone as being like the one the cabbie had planted on him by the woman in pink? That was to be when Sherlock was to first learn of Moriarty. The pink phone may have been Moriarty's way of telling Sherlock who he was dealing with?

[Carol the Dabbler]

From http://arianedevere.livejournal.com/46716.html:

 

SHERLOCK (looking closely at the writing): She used a fountain pen. A Parker Duofold – iridium nib.

JOHN: “She”?

SHERLOCK: Obviously.

 

 

Did we ever find out who "she" was? Miss Wenc... whatever from the museum? But why should she have been employed by Moriarty to send the phone to Sherlock?

 

 

I believe someone also suggested that it might have been Irene.  Too bad we never saw a handwriting sample from either of them!

 

In any case, I doubt that "she" actually sent the phone.  Moriarty probably just had her address the envelope so nobody would have a sample of his handwriting.

[Arcadia]

Hhhmm didn't both Sherlock and John recognize the phone as being like the one the cabbie had planted on him by the woman in pink? That was to be when Sherlock was to first learn of Moriarty. The pink phone may have been Moriarty's way of telling Sherlock who he was dealing with?

Good point ... why a pink phone? I remember the first time I saw it I kept waiting for it to tie in with ASiP; but it never really did. That's a good observation, Fox, maybe it was JM's way of announcing himself?

[jesskayding]

He may have been younger but he was already working in ssome capacity for or with the British Government and I don't mean Mycroft. Someone in the Home Office already owes him a favor. He is given access to Buckingham Palace wrapped only in a sheet and Mycroft jumps to when his little brother says his will need equipment.

 

Sherlock may not know who Moriarty is but one thing he does know. Whoever Moriarty is he is deadly. He murdered a helpless old blind woman and several innocent people along with her. Sherlock's one goal is to bring him out of the shadows and stop him from killing again. Sherlock isn't playing Moriarty's game any more. That's why I believe the stick is a fake. He wouldn't risk state secrets.

I think he would, the other way is dull.

[jesskayding]

Right because although the cabbie was brought down, largely by the Cabbie's own over-confidence,.TBB didn't really have Moriarty "falling" in any way. And Moriarty was playing a game all the way through TGG - and was winning, quite frankly, so that didn't have a fall attached to it. So it has to go back earlier, something never quite exposed.

 

Clearly, though, when Sherlock goes to Molly for help in TRF, he is afraid for his life because he doesn't know what's going down anymore, and because he had an idea it would be from a literal fall, he and Molly and Mycroft worked out a plan in case he had to go off the roof of Barts - and SH inviting Moriarty to the roof of Barts meant that SH was in potential control of that fall. By why a fall... what had SH done in the past to make Moriarty fall?

 

We may never get that answer. Or it might get really dark in S4.

 

Don't know that Moriarty had a fall. But I guess I can see the weight in the word "owe" like payback.

[jesskayding]

I always thought it was Miss Wenceslas. Can't think of anyone else...

 

Yeah I thought the same, per the kind of paper, female wrote it, ect...

[T.o.b.y]

This episode is truly amazing. I think I've watched it more often than any of the others, and I still discover new things in it that delight me. For example, when Sherlock is being choked by the Golem, note that he has his eyes open. He's not panicking. He's not wasting energy on a pointless struggle. He's looking straight at John who is holding the gun, and probably calculating ten different ways of getting them both out of the situation alive.

 

... and I even found a picture:

 

 

God, he looks so calm, doesn't he? Well, maybe even I would refrain from freaking out in that situation if this was what I was looking at:

 

 

I want more "John the hero" moments... And come on, lets just let him keep his gun. I detest guns and the people who wield them in real life, but if they lead to images like this, their place in fiction is well earned...

[jesskayding]

Hoorah to that!

[sfmpco]

Okay, British word thingy... what is a (phonetic pronunciation) LYE-LOW?  

[Arcadia]

Okay, British word thingy... what is a (phonetic pronunciation) LYE-LOW?

Ooh, ooh, I know this one! It's an inflatable mattress!

 

There's a whole thread for this kind of stuff, started by none other than moi (she says smugly.)

http://www.sherlockforum.com/forum/topic/2213-the-geek-interpreters/?hl=%2Bgeek+%2Binterpreters

[Carol the Dabbler]

Or more specifically, here.

 

[Arcadia]

I couldn't figure out how to do that.

[Carol the Dabbler]

It's not particularly difficult.  Go to the post you want to link to and click on the post number.  That brings the same page up again, but centered on that post.  Then you just copy the URL.

 

Go to your new post, highlight the text you want the link attached to, click on the "link" symbol (the chain, get it?) in the edit toolbar, paste the URL into the little box that comes up, and click OK.

 

It's easier than I probably made it sound.

 

 

[Arcadia]

Thanks, I get it. I think I may actually have known that at one point. Probably will forget again.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Use it or lose it! 

[jesskayding]

 

This episode is truly amazing. I think I've watched it more often than any of the others, and I still discover new things in it that delight me. For example, when Sherlock is being choked by the Golem, note that he has his eyes open. He's not panicking. He's not wasting energy on a pointless struggle. He's looking straight at John who is holding the gun, and probably calculating ten different ways of getting them both out of the situation alive.

 

... and I even found a picture:

 

 

God, he looks so calm, doesn't he? Well, maybe even I would refrain from freaking out in that situation if this was what I was looking at:

 

 

I want more "John the hero" moments... And come on, lets just let him keep his gun. I detest guns and the people who wield them in real life, but if they lead to images like this, their place in fiction is well earned...

 

 

 

 

You're right Toby. He was so focused, was able to remember what was being said about a super nova in the background, enabling him to save a child in 10 seconds. So yeah he was calm.

 

Also if it wasn't for John's blog advertising to the public that Sherlock had no knowledge of the solar system, Moriarty wouldn't have had the upper hand. Maybe Sherlock remembered that, so that's why he didn't let him in on "his fall". Hmmmmmm 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Oh now there's a point.

[jesskayding]

I know right. So proud of myself. I'm being soooooo insightful.

[sittything]

And just watched TGG.  I'm on a roll tonight!  

 

Sherlock is so full of it with all of his non-caring mumbo jumbo.  The look on his face when the old lady dies kills me:

 

"Hospitals are full of hundreds of dying people. Why don't you cry by their bedside DOCTOR and see what good it does them."

"Will caring about them help save them?"

"I have been reliably informed that I don't have one (heart)."

 

That is not the face of a man who doesn't care. 

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

He does care but definitely suppresses it as quickly as possible to get the task done.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yes, that makes sense to me.  ("I am a Vulcan.  There is no pain.")

 

I also love the way John reaches out toward Sherlock, but then apparently compromises by resting his hand on the back of Sherlock's chair.  That's a beautiful shot of all three characters.