Episode 2.1, "A Scandal In Belgravia"

[T.o.b.y]

I'm not sure that I like the episode any better after reading it, and I personally still think they went too far --

 

Wasn't trying to convince you (just rationalizing my own taste for "burger TV" )

 

Unfortunately, not everybody has your level of appreciation for subtlety, so I guess they thought they had to lay it on a little thicker than would have been absolutely necessary.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

... which may also explain The Desolation of Smaug -- and my reaction thereunto! 

 

[Pamela]

My vote is 9 out of 10, and only because of the ending.  I hate, absolutely hate, even the suggestion that Sherlock might have interfered and saved her.  And I tend to take things at face value.  He most probably in actuality did save her.  Phooey.

[T.o.b.y]

I hate, absolutely hate, even the suggestion that Sherlock might have interfered and saved her.  And I tend to take things at face value.  He most probably in actuality did save her.  Phooey.

 

I sympathize with you there. I can only tolerate that part of the episode because of my willful (mis)interpretation of it as a fantasy of Sherlock's which proves her emotional hold over him, but I am pretty sure that's not exactly how the writers meant it.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

fantasy of Sherlock's which proves her emotional hold over him, but I am pretty sure that's not exactly how the writers meant it.

 

  I take the view that it was a real rescue, I just cannot cast Sherlock as such a dreamer. In one interview that question was asked and Cumberbatch answered it by saying that only one man knows the true answer, but it was romantic.

[T.o.b.y]

I like that answer... Romantic is certainly true of what we saw.

 

If it's really supposed to have taken place, I wouldn't put it past Irene to have planned it. We've seen Sherlock risk his life to prove he was smarter than a cabbie, why wouldn't she risk hers to prove she could make a man save it?

 

I've been thinking whether Sherlock's cruel behavior to her on the plane wasn't at least in part due to Mycroft's presence. Sherlock had been humiliated by his older brother and was eager to get the better of him by showing that he at least could beat that woman who had brought the nation to it's knees. Who knows what would have happened if Sherlock and Irene had met alone? Maybe the whole Karachi business would never have been necessary.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

She did tell Sherlock that 'she was just playing the game" and she had been working with Moriarty. She had the blackmail list all ready drawn up against the British government. I don't think Sherlock would have been any happier with her if it had been just him and her alone together. She had used him in such a way that he had become a security risk to his own government.

 

  While he might not be the patriot as in Canon, I can't see him being happy at the end of "TSiB" for having been played such a fool.

[T.o.b.y]

You're probably right. No, not probably, of course.

 

I do hope they never make this Sherlock patriotic, though. It never felt right for Mr Holmes, more like Doyle trying to make a statement in the face of the impeding war. Why would Holmes care for "queen and country"? I liked it when Sherlock called that attitude "quaint" in The Great Game.

 

This has nothing to do with A Scandal in Belgravia, but I quite like the idea of turning Milverton into Magnussen. The later Doyle stories feature a lot of evil Germans: von Herder, von Bork... I know Magnussen is supposed to be Danish, but that's close enough to bring a feeling of a foreign threat from "that corner of the world" into "Sherlock".

[Pamela]

Nothing to do with the story of Scandal in Belgravia, but rather with the floor plan of 221B.  I have this annoying habit of needing to have logic surrounding these things, and something doesn't make sense to me.  I've hesitated to bring it up, but, oh well, here it is ...

 

In Sherlock's bedroom, between the door to the bedroom and the bed there is a glass door.  Why?  This door would have to lead to the stairwell, and yet the view to the stairwell reveals an angled landing at that point, no door.

 

Does anyone have a solution?  Am I missing something?

[The Rani]

Maybe it's another door to the bathroom? 

 

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/2fe7ac3393be7672a6955315f04e9af8/tumblr_mil26f6yNZ1rx7w9ho4_r1_250.png

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/6437ec16d4cbb05e434787e3bfcc1759/tumblr_mil26f6yNZ1rx7w9ho1_r1_500.png

 

 

[Pamela]

But spatially,  wouldn't it lead to the landing?

[The Rani]

 Not unless it was like these plans:

 

http://sherlockology.tumblr.com/post/33292071531/221b-3d-floor-plan

[Pamela]

Okay, that must be it.  I hadn't figured on space between the kitchen and his bedroom.  It looked like the door to the left of the refrigerator went right into his bedroom.  I miss out on these things, not being a twitterer ...

 

Thanks!

[The Rani]

Your welcome   Well I'll be off now. I've had a certain book come through the post...
 

[Carol the Dabbler]

 Not unless it was like these plans:

 

http://sherlockology.tumblr.com/post/33292071531/221b-3d-floor-plan

 

Thanks, Rani!!!  Now I don't need to try drawing up any 221B floor plans myself (in my copious spare time).

 

Enjoy that book! 

[The Rani]

Your welcome    

 

The book was a 2 in 1, A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. Once I've read them I'll be able to finally vote in that poll :-) 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

The Wordsworth paperback with Watson and Holmes consulting a newspaper on the cover?  I've got that one, but haven't read it because I'd already read both stories in my big unwieldy hardback compendium.  Next time, though.... 

 

[The Rani]

That's the one!   It's a shame it doesn't include the illustrations though :-/ I love those original pictures. 

[T12345]

This is my all-time favorite episode. However, one thing has been bothering me for quite some time about this episode. How did Irene fool Molly, a highly competent medical professional who specializes in post-mortems, into believing Irene was dead in front of her at the morgue? Whatever Irene did, she couldn't stop her heart from beating and she she couldn't hold her breath forever. Even if she had taken the knock out drug she used on Sherlock, there is no way around the fact that her heart was still beating as she lay in the morgue. How would Molly Hooper miss that?

[Earendil]

It wasn't Irene's body, but someone's else corpse. Molly said that the face was 'bashed up', so Sherlock asked her to reveal the rest of the body. I'm not sure about the identification procedure, but Sherlock recognizes her as Irene, so maybe it is legally enough to identificate her. Not sure about the DNS, but Moriarty could have arranged that.

[Janie]

Well, I've always thought that it wasn't Irene at the morgue, just someone very similar to her. 

[T.o.b.y]

I never even considered Irene herself! No, I'm sure it was the corpse of a woman who had a very similar body and the face was "bashed in" on purpose because that was the part that didn't resemble Irene. Sherlock recognized the measurements and maybe some other details that fit.

 

Doyle's stories are full of corpse exchanges, so no wonder the "Sherlock" writers brought (at least) one in...

[T12345]

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I never even considered Irene herself! No, I'm sure it was the corpse of a woman who had a very similar body and the face was "bashed in" on purpose because that was the part that didn't resemble Irene. Sherlock recognized the measurements and maybe some other details that fit.

 

Doyle's stories are full of corpse exchanges, so no wonder the "Sherlock" writers brought (at least) one in...

Ohhhh thank you so much, as well as everyone else who responded! So all she needed was her client the coroner switch the blood records to confirm that was her. I wished I asked this a long time ago. My mind can be àt peace now lol

[Carol the Dabbler]

Right -- here's that part from Ariane DeVere's transcript:

 

JOHN: You were dead on a slab. It was definitely you.
IRENE: DNA tests are only as good as the records you keep.
JOHN: And I bet you know the record-keeper.
IRENE: I know what he likes, and I needed to disappear.
 

So Irene's "friend" in the records department apparently substituted the dead woman's DNA profile into Irene's records.

 

I don't like to think how that woman came to be dead, however -- it does seem awfully convenient that there would just happen to be a corpse matching Irene's physical characteristics.  And next question -- how would Irene know precisely which of her characteristics Sherlock might have noticed, in addition to her measurements?

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

There have been movies in which a person in a high risk occupation do have body doubles to use when they find themselves in a very tight spot. Cold, heartless and calculating...but then that fits Irene pretty well.