Episode 1.3, "The Great Game"

[sfmpco]

 

 

The first time I watched this it didn't really sink in, I thought it was good but kind of all over the place but when watching it again I got it. Its a sublime piece of television. 

 

Yes, it's great, and BTW, welcome to the forum!

 

 

Thank you. happy to find somewhere I can talk about Sherlock

 

 

Yep!  I agree on that one.  Otherwise I'd go crazy because I had all this fandom for SHERLOCK locked up inside me.  No one else I knew had seen it.  I just wanted to shake them and say, "Are you crazy???"  Then I found the forum and my fandom had a place to express itself.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

 

 

 

The first time I watched this it didn't really sink in, I thought it was good but kind of all over the place but when watching it again I got it. Its a sublime piece of television. 

 

Yes, it's great, and BTW, welcome to the forum!

 

 

Thank you. happy to find somewhere I can talk about Sherlock

 

 

Yep!  I agree on that one.  Otherwise I'd go crazy because I had all this fandom for SHERLOCK locked up inside me.  No one else I knew had seen it.  I just wanted to shake them and say, "Are you crazy???"  Then I found the forum and my fandom had a place to express itself.

 

 

I think most of us here are like that Jenny.  Our inner-fandom is very happy for this forum

 

And to the forum stick.

[Arcadia]

Hi Stick! Welcome to the funhouse!

 

Okay, so I just finished watching this episide again, and I've noticed this before but was never quite sure .... have I got this right?

 

The Connie Prince murder ... Sherlock realized early on, possibly at the morgue where he first sees the body, that she was murdered via Botox injection. A little later he confirms Raul purchased the Botox, and somewhere in there he caught up on the gossip about Connie and her brother feuding. At any rate, roughly four hours after Moriarty contacts him, he's not looking for Connie's killer; he's looking at a map, trying to figure out what the connection between all the bombing victims is. (He even admits this to John later, with the explanation "Now we're one up on him [the bomber].") Have I got it right so far?

 

So if that's right ... then why the heck did he send John off on his own investigation? As near as I can tell, John unearthed nothing of significance, and anyway Sherlock already knew the answer long before John contacted him. So what the heck? Is there a plausible explanation?

 

Also, in what way was Sherlock "one up" on Moriarty after that? What did he learn in those extra hours that helped him?

 

Okay, hop to it, gang. Enquiring minds want to know. ;)

[sfmpco]

Okay, now I'm going to have to go back and watch it again... lol

 

How many cases does he solve in this episode?  Like five????

[SherlockedCAMPer]

yes, he solves 5 including Mycroft's little case.  Now I want to watch it again too, but it's too close to the Golden Globes for that to happen tonight.

[sfmpco]

Yes, GG starts in 6 minutes (at least red carpet), but no sign yet of BC... not even airport pap pictures.

[Arcadia]

Slackers!

[sfmpco]

Got the airport pap pics, but no Sophie in them so perhaps she arrived earlier or they avoided each in the airport to throw the paps off.

[Carol the Dabbler]

So if that's right ... then why the heck did he send John off on his own investigation? As near as I can tell, John unearthed nothing of significance, and anyway Sherlock already knew the answer long before John contacted him. So what the heck? Is there a plausible explanation?

 

Actually, Sherlock sent John off on two investigations, didn't he? I think you're talking about him pretending to interview Kenny Prince, but he also looked into the Andrew West case.  And as you say, Sherlock later admits that he already had both of those figured out.  *sigh*  I'm tempted to say, it's always about keeping John in the dark, isn't it -- but that would be awfully cynical.  So I'll reach a bit and say that Sherlock wanted Moriarty to think that he was still trying to figure things out.  How's that?

 

[Arcadia]

 

So if that's right ... then why the heck did he send John off on his own investigation? As near as I can tell, John unearthed nothing of significance, and anyway Sherlock already knew the answer long before John contacted him. So what the heck? Is there a plausible explanation?

 

Actually, Sherlock sent John off on two investigations, didn't he? I think you're talking about him pretending to interview Kenny Prince, but he also looked into the Andrew West case.  And as you say, Sherlock later admits that he already had both of those figured out.

 

Dang, you're right ... Sherlock had already figured out the Westie case too. Drat, and here I was being all proud of John for being useful. But in that case, Sherlock only sent John to talk to Mycroft ... it was John himself that decided to interview Westie's fiance and investigate the train yard. Right? So you can't really blame Sherlock for wasting John's time in that instance....

 

*sigh*  I'm tempted to say, it's always about keeping John in the dark, isn't it -- but that would be awfully cynical.  So I'll reach a bit and say that Sherlock wanted Moriarty to think that he was still trying to figure things out.  How's that?

Actually, you're explanation makes sense to me, so sure, why not? It had the added bonus of fooling the audience into thinking the same thing.  But I still want to know in what way Sherlock was "one up" on Moriarty!

[sfmpco]

I always thought the "one up" had to do with the time.  Sherlock had things figured out so he had TIME to think about what Moriarty's next movie was and how to counter it.  Of course the painting deduction was great.

 

Wondering if we'll ever see the Gollum again since he got away.

[sfmpco]

Sherlock's phone bill must be absolutely ginormous - even with a friends and family plan because not only would his own smart phone be maxed out with every possible bit of speed, wireless and unlimited text/talk etc., but he's got all those phones to pay for with his homeless network.  Granted, they aren't smart phones, but still...

[Shadow Dweller]

The episode where we first begin to notice that Moriarty has been priming Sherlock until he's ripe to be taken... :p

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sherlock's phone bill must be absolutely ginormous - even with a friends and family plan because not only would his own smart phone be maxed out with every possible bit of speed, wireless and unlimited text/talk etc., but he's got all those phones to pay for with his homeless network.  Granted, they aren't smart phones, but still...

 

I may not have the terminology down pat (since my cell phone is capable of -- making and receiving phone calls!), but aren't smart phones the ones that include cameras and can send the pictures to other smart phones?  I assume the people sending him photos in "Great Game" (leading to the old candy factory) and "Empty Hearse" (leading to "the rat") were members of the homeless network.  So yeah, quite a phone bill!

[Arcadia]

I wouldn't assume that because they're homeless they couldn't afford to have smart phones. At least in the States, there's organizations that provide such to the homeless, there's relatively cheap pay as you go plans, there's special programs for the poor, etc. Then again, since Sherlock seems to have an inexhaustible supply of funds ......

[Carol the Dabbler]

I seem to recall hearing / reading somewhere that Sherlock supplies his Homeless Network with phones, so they can let him know things -- apparently those little scraps of paper (e.g., "Vauxhall Arches") weren't working out all that well.

 

Jenny, sounds like you got the same idea somewhere -- any idea where?

 

 

[sfmpco]

Well, they definitely all had phones (his major HN contacts) in TEH, and of course Bill Wiggins had them in HLV and even gave one to Mary.  I seem to recall a drawer full of phones in one of the episodes, though I'm not sure which.  Something tells me it might be TBB since I almost never watch that one.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Seems like I recall an interview with someone -- presumably Moftiss and/or Cumberbatch -- where they mentioned Sherlock giving phones to his network.  Google isn't bringing up anything, so if I'm not just imagining this, it must have been a video interview -- or perhaps one of the audio commentaries (though a Google site search of Ariane DeVere's partial transcripts doesn't find it).  But Google is acting inconsistent right now, so who knows?

 

[Tunguska]

Something I wondered about today during a rewatch. Why did professor Cairns hang up so abruptly? She's all "you're bloody right! Give us a call when-" and then hangs up mid-sentence. Telephonephobia? Fat thumbs that keep pushing the wrong button? Excitement to a degree she can't even bother to leave a coherent message? Just seems so odd to me!

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I just though the machine cut her off. Technology sometimes does that too soon.

[Boton]

Something I wondered about today during a rewatch. Why did professor Cairns hang up so abruptly? She's all "you're bloody right! Give us a call when-" and then hangs up mid-sentence. Telephonephobia? Fat thumbs that keep pushing the wrong button? Excitement to a degree she can't even bother to leave a coherent message? Just seems so odd to me!

 

I thought the machine ran out of time for the recording, so she only got to leave a partial message.

[sfmpco]

Yes, I always thought the machine ran out of time as well.

[Tunguska]

He probably should have started deleting some messages ages ago then - hers was about 4 seconds long! Then again, he wasn't much for hoovering so he probably also wasn't much for cleaning out answering machines ;)

[J.P.]

Just wondering about something from the pool scene. This picture

when Jim says "you could cherish the look of surprise on my face..."

 

Doesn't it look like the face Jim made shooting himself on the roof?

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Just wondering about something from the pool scene. This picture

when Jim says "you could cherish the look of surprise on my face..."

 

Doesn't it look like the face Jim made shooting himself on the roof?

 

Having just re-watched TRF, I'd agree that it is very similar.  I never caught that before.  Good job JP.