2) vanité and trompe l’oeil for an entire episode focused on the illusions created by sherlock’s mind
3) the new version of the skull, close to the original one until you realise what you see is not the real skull we have been used to see in the show until the end of s3…. it is an altered skull just like the reality of s4 has been altered to fit one narrative.
If you want the non penis-filled version of Blue Skull of Baker Street, it is here on my DeviantArt page.
TAB: we changed the iconic skull painting as a fun reference to the fact that we are in Sherlock’s gay Victorian fever dream, look at how mindful we are of small set details
S4: we changed the iconic skull painting for absolutely no purpose whatsoever and absolutely not because it’s how john would picture it in his mind bungalow, okay sweaty :))))))
THE FUCKY SKULL!!
At close range it’s easy to see why the skull is so fucky. It’s actually 2-3 layers wide enough apart to let light in the side and front. Hopefully you can see here that the front layer is partially “burned away” and only covers about a third of it. It wasn’t displayed on the original light box here, but it’s very translucent. Would quite easily look much different with changes in room lighting, spot lights etc.
So, I made a compilation of all the times the skull changes colour over the course of Season Four to see if there was any correlation between the different uses.
I couldn’t come up with anything other than the usual speculations related to Sherlock’s health/mental state, using information from the past/future/”forwards or backwards” etc., so it’d be really interesting to hear other people’s thoughts!
BRIGHT WHITE/BLUE
TST:
Lestrade talking to John and Sherlock about the death of that kid who dressed up as a car seat. (Never thought I’d be typing that sentence.)
Sherlock making up the story about Mr Kingsley’s wife being an undercover spy, working for Moriarty and planning to drug the president in order to start WWIII.
Lestrade is back at 221b with another smashed Thatcher bust.
In 221b after the pool scene with Ajay. Lestrade arrives and tells Sherlock that Scotland Yard couldn’t find him. Sherlock says he can’t have gotten far.
TLD:
First scene with Faith as a client in 221b.
Wiggins saying “They brought you here. You’ve had too much and that’s me saying that.”
Second shot of Sherlock walking up the walls in 221b. While monologuing about serial killers. “They’re always poor and lonely and strange. But those are only the ones we catch.” – “Who do we catch?” – “Serial killers.”
Third shot of Sherlock walking up the walls in 221b. After Culverton Smith says “Anyone.” + “What if you had the compulsion to kill and money. What then?”
Sherlock surrounded by pictures of Culverton Smith and yelling Shakespeare.
John confessing that he cheated on Mary.
TFP:
Second half of Mycroft as a client in 221b. After Mycroft tells Sherlock that he told their parents that Eurus was dead after she supposedly died in a second fire she started at some sort of mental institution. Then onwards to talk about Sherrinford.
The drone scene.
The final 360 montage, with Mary’s voiceover.
MAGENTA/MAROON
TST:
Scene with the client with the “Cardiac Arrest” case as part of the case-solving montage at the beginning of the episode. A man kills strangles his own brother to death but doesn’t remember it because his heart medication causes bouts of amnesia.
TLD:
First shot of Sherlock walking up the walls in 221b. After John says Sherlock’s name. Ominous music playing.
Final shot of Sherlock walking up the walls in 221b. Sherlock falling back to the couch unconscious.
TFP:
First scene in 221b with Mycroft as a client, going to sit in the client’s chair. Telling the story of Eurus.
BLACK
TLD:
John, Mycroft, and Mrs Hudson are at 221b while Sherlock is about to be murdered in Culverton’s hospital.
Holy shit. So I’m rewatching TLD for the one billionth time focusing on the set and background significance, as you do, and I’m freaking out????
Basically in the scene where Sherlock has his meltdown on the bridge and then finds himself in the middle of the street, only to have Wiggins tell him he’s actually in 221b, we get the spinning around on the ceiling scene and the skull is just going nuts. So much happens at once that I didn’t think about it take by take, but now that I’m really going over it … I have some thoughts.
Here’s a basic breakdown:
When we first see Sherlock slam into the wall, the skull painting glows white.
Then we get a shot of Culverton Smith who I see as being the physical manifestation of Sherlock’s self-loathing and suicidal thoughts + a dark!John mirror, saying “kill” and slamming a big red button. And another one of him making a “w” with his hands, winning some sort of charity race.
Then, in the background you can literally hear hospital alarms start clanging and John voice saying Sherlock’s name.
And we get another shot of Culverton again shutting down a store on his show Business Killer with a “Sorry! We’re CLOSED” sign.
Then the soundtrack abruptly kicks with these really ominous, feverish strings of like, impending doom, and the skull has changed to a dark magenta/maroon-ish colour.
Then we get a shot of Culverton laughing and saying “anyone” and Molly’s voice echoing the “anyone” from the “he’d have anyone but you” scene.
So … Sherlock’s on the brink of death — and his self-loathing and suicidal thoughts are goading him into just letting go because John would literally have anyone but him. (Yikes™.)
It’s also quite interesting because Culverton doing this is similar to what Moriarty does to Sherlock in HLV, telling him that he just needs one more push because no one will bother him when he’s dead. “Off you pop.” (Which also happens to be what Culverton says while strangling Sherlock in hospital.) But the thing is, Moriarty also ends up being the one to say “John Watson is definitely in danger,” waking Sherlock up. Whereas Culverton really just wants Sherlock dead.
So … Maybe in the end Sherlock’s more of a threat to himself than Moriarty is. Just something to think about. I feel like TLD in general is Sherlock overcoming his suicidal thoughts that lead to his overdose in the first place — because even though Mycroft says that he estimates Sherlock would be dead in six months in Eastern Europe, obviously Sherlock knows Mycroft wouldn’t actually let him die. (”Your loss would break my heart” etc.,) Sherlock just doesn’t want to live anymore.
Back to the scene: Next shot we see, Sherlock’s standing on the ceiling again, but this time the skull is glowing bright white again.
While this is happening Sherlock begins to monologue about serial killers: “They’re always poor, and lonely, and strange — but those are only the ones we catch.” – “Who do we catch?” – “Serial killers. But if you were rich and powerful and necessary … What if you had the compulsion to kill and money? What then?”
A shot of Culverton in 221b:
And then the skull has changed literally within two shots back to being magenta/maroon as Sherlock collapses onto the couch, unconscious. End scene.
The way the skull is changing so rapidly in this scene … Surely there’s some sort of correlation between the darker skull painting and the lighter one. But I have no idea what it is. Possibly it represents how deep Sherlock is into his dream? Or whether information is drawing upon the past or completely fabricated?
We know from Billy the skull that the skulls in 221b act as Sherlock mirrors, so it’s likely that the painting is linked to his state somehow. This along with the fact that when Sherlock goes to commit suicide in Culverton’s hospital the skull painting is pitch black, which is probably the biggest tell represents him being in danger.
Lord Moran was arrested at the end of TEH. If he’s walking about London streets getting on buses paying no mind to John Watson at all – who, in ACD canon, was supposedly his arch enemy – then this is another point of evidence to Sherlock imagining ALL OF S4 ever since T6T. We are still stuck in S3.
I swear to fucking God if we spent all that time in Tarmac hell only to find out the tarmac never existed…
We’re still in S3. Definitely.
wanna say it here, too. bc it may be a hint to mind palace/sherlock’s imagination: when john’s at the crib..the plastic flower is first large, then it’s small…and the fish eye is glowing turquoise.
there are other things that glow in this episode too. @whatiwassuggesting has a list of everything that glows, including the skull picture
and I have a list of all the times the skull does its glow-y thing in TLD too (as well as what colours it changes into)
this is so great 🙂 yeah, there’s plenty of stuff glowing and blue/turquoise lighting effects. would love to see a list. i’ll try to find it on your blogs…thanks! 🙂
I can give you the list of TLD skull glowings, I don’t have the list from @whatiwassuggesting
I haven’t posted them onto my blog yet as we were working on a meta but I will throw them down here, one sec
Hopefully it’s eligible whoops
oh, wow..thanks 🙂 yeah, skull hell and the lighting effects kill me since day one. i am so glad for any post. can’t wait to read your meta, then! cute doodle on the left ^^
This is arwell Wyn Jones’s new Twitter profile. The skull from 221b, could it prove that we’ve been looking in the right place for MP stuff. Also the background is freaking me out because it looks like one of the backgrounds from thelostspecial.com’s gif. In anyway, the game still doesn’t seem to be over.
Ho HO. Arwel is covering up the skull’s left eye. Know why? John’s in there. I found him when the Google map interior came live.
augh! There’s an eye in the right socket, when did *that* happen?
*waves fist in the air* Arrrrweeeeeel!
That looks like John in the entire skull.
I see them both standing. And the mouth is a sign. He’s made his own (like the TAB one that was other images that looked like a skull from far away)?
Yes!!! I can see them both now!!! Looking to the right. Wow.
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