Long story short, the fake death was because BBC Sherlock’s Mary is an adapted version of the character Birdy Edwards from The Valley of Fear. (Who, even longer story even shorter, also faked his own death.)
(Rings were a whole thing with Birdy Edwards, who also had three of them. And a secret tattoo.)
Mary left a DVD telling Sherlock to help John by picking a fight with a bad guy. Then Sherlock picked a fight with Culverton, and Mary turned up in disguise.
The makeup lady we see in closeup is probably the same random extra we see from a distance later.
Ha ha ha, I’m just being silly for April Fool’s. Silly, silly—
You know what? NO.
It may be silly, but I actually believe this one. I don’t even care if I can’t totally explain why they did it, a not-insignificant part of me believes they really did.
Not only that, but Redbeard was in fact the ONLY real character in the entire show.
Every other character in Sherlock existed purely in a dog’s imagination. After his owner spent yet another evening sitting inside reading detective stories, Redbeard dreamed of having a different life where his owner was much more adventurous.
Yes, it all seemed to take a tragic turn at the end, but that was because it was the kind of dream where you wake up and learn a lesson about feeling grateful for what you have. Instead of ceasing to exist in a sudden collision of angst and plot twists, Redbeard actually woke up, got a treat, and then was taken to the dog park where he could play with his friend Eurus the Greek Shepherd while their owners sat on a bench reading. (Eurus’ owner only reads about airplanes. You should see that dog’s dreams.)
This theory, of course, explains why the only other dog we saw Sherlock interact with was pretty pathetic at his job. Sorry, Toby, but Redbeard wasn’t going to invent a true rival in his own dream.
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty okay with the revelation that we’ve all spent half a decade obsessing about the imaginings of a very creative pup. Good dog, Redbeard.
Reichencrack day is today and unfortunately I won’t be participating with new stuff this year 😢I was super behind with irl work this week because of my longer than expected vacation AND I started another job as well. But I do have some pretty completely true posts from years past that I will be sharing.
Bring the silliest Sherlock theories and parody metas you can think of. Theories about any episode or topic are welcome, as long as they don’t make sense.
It’s a fandom tradition in its 7th(!) year, and everyone’s invited to take part.
It is currently April 1st in some parts of the world. You have been invited, and warned. 😘
Sherlock Fandom Archive 