John. John Watson. Sherlock Holmes is lost without his blogger. So are we. What’s happening to John? Well, Eurus did tell us, but did we listen?
Three Garridebs. Six Months. Who’s Evans?
The surname Evans is a patronymic surname created from the Welsh personal name Lefan, or Evan, which is a cognate of the personal name John. {x}
John. A dead man walking? When did this supposedly happen?
As I mentioned in a separate post, series 4 consists of events of the past, “5 minutes since Mycroft called” and 10 minutes after Sherlock landed. I may be changing my mind about how close to the present time we got by the end of TFP, but there’s really not much to go on. I think what we saw in series 4 included the missing months between Mary shot Sherlock and Christmas at the Holmes, which all connected back to Moriarty, TRF, and the cause and effect of Redbeard. All of which likely had something to do with Carl Powers,1989, kidnapped siblings (cough Jim and Mary cough), their wicked father, and Hansel and Gretel. Series 4 was not a dream, but we were mostly in Sherlock’s head. As Sherlock sorts through his memory of everything he observed and stored away, pieces from wildly different occurrences were inevitably melted together to represent various aspects of one single story: save John Watson. Not only his life but of his heart and his love – all of which tied to Sherlock’s own.
But how? Well, Sherlock was doing exactly what Sherlock Holmes does best: solve the murder. Let’s take a look at our timeline.
Six months before the tarmac scene. We know Sherlock spent a week in solitary confinement after the Magnussen incident; since his birthday was mentioned in TLD, it was likely Sherlock spent the day on the tarmac saying goodbye to his love and his life – no wonder Sherlock wanted to leave his name with John. Hahaha, but it’s not a girl’s name. FUUUUUUUUUCK. No, there is no baby, but still. Sherlock didn’t know. I don’t think he did. FUCK either way.
Anyway.
Six months – that put us before John and Mary’s wedding according to John’s blog. End of June, beginning of July. When John posted The Bloody Guardsman and The Hollow Client. I’ve covered the parallels between these cases and series 2 in part 1 but didn’t really think much about it in term of John. I rambled on a paragraph or two about The Poison Giant right after TST because of the six pearls and the Thatcher busts and the black pearl of Borgias; the jellyfish in connection to The Adventure of Lion’s Mane and how Mary’s possible posthumous revenge could work – but I didn’t pursue the idea further. However, after reading Doyle’s The Parasite and s4by @may-shepard I realized perhaps we’ve been given clues about what’s been happening to John, alongside Sherlock and Mycroft’s more distant past.
The sign of three referred not only to Mary (666) and Sherlock’s love (3rd death), it applied to John as well – John is the 3rd Bloody Guardsman. The case of The Poison Giant was likely the “planned and rehearsed”. But by whom?
Six pearls; six Thatcher busts. Swandale’s laptop; Ajay’s memory stick. A trap for Sherlock and John; a noose for Sherlock to put his neck into. A pair of jewel thieves; a pair of assassins. That’s… quite a few coincidences, wouldn’t you agree? Sherlock and John were able to escape The Poison Giant—Sherlock’s good with a sword and John had bought a gun—one of the thieves fell off the roof, and the other ended up in prison. In TST, Ajay ended up dead and then… nothing. Was what we saw on screen really what happened?
There are two not-good scenarios running side by side here, both lead to John being, um, undermined: a) delayed action poisoning (how little Carl died); and b) gun shot. I’m uncertain if they are both life-threatening or one is more symbolic of ACD’s The Three Garridebs:
This is fantastic @221bloodnun – thanks so much for writing this and pulling all the meta along! (and for the tags 😘)
You know, your theory of post TRF is entirely plausible – we had three repeats of ACD’s The Final Problem in Sherlock to date: TRF, the tarmac scene (as Holmes’ goodbye letter to Watson), and TFP. The wheel kept turning and the path has locked around everyone’s feet. The Reichenbach Falls scene in TAB being the exception, a happier ending if you will – my hope is that it’ll end up being a foreshadowing of what likely happened after TRF or some kind of combination with HLV…… TAB being a literal sign of “the four” in modern time to solve the final problem? Who knows, but I have a nagging feeling that the “miss you” dvd at the TFP was actually from Sherlock during his time away 🤞
Moriarty loves stories, fairytales. He planned everything like one. If we need to understand everything that happened since TRF, we just need to understand Appointment in Samarra. This is the key behind everything.
Sherlock is the merchant trying to outrun/outwit Death. If we consider Moriarty to represent Death (and Mary ultimately taking his title and his place in the narrative), Sherlock must find the one path to survive the Fall.
It begins with Sherlock/the merchant meeting Moriarty/Death and understanding, no, knowing that this person will take his life. So, he runs, he runs from his life in an attempt to escape his fate.
So, in the Reichenbach Falls, Sherlock fakes his death, thinking he’s done it. There was just a little problem with that plan:
The tale of Sir Boast-a-Lot, TRF never was the Final Problem, the same way the first meeting between the merchant and Death wasn’t supposed to end with the merchant’s death. Yes, Sherlock managed to escape Moriary’s plan but that was pointless. His appointment wasn’t in St Barthelemy Hospital.
Nor here.
Or even that, whatever that was.
We need to focus on this.
Because, ultimately Sherlock has been warned times and times again. Moriarty said it many times “I owe you a fall.” Not this little magic trick, no, don’t be silly. I’ll burn you, I’ll burn, the heart out of you. Survive this little game and you’ll have the privilege of seeing my real work.
Now, that’s more like it. You’ve got to admit, that’s sexier.
We both know you don’t care about your reputation, about the press slandering you. We both know that’s not your pressure point. But look how you care about John Watson. Well, your little pet, I’m going to take it from you. Let’s see how far you’re willing to go for him. That wife. Such a poor soul, so tragic. I’m sure she didn’t actually want to kill you, you were clearly a threat to her, if only you’ve told her you wanted to help her. Oh you did? Oopsie.
Well, the woman you call Mary? She’s going to take you everything, she will even break your little toy and there is nothing you can do about it. Enjoy the show.
Because John has always been and will always be his heart. He is the reason he decides to restart his, he is the reason he hasn’t killed himself like Jim. Separate them and death will be a kinder fate.
Somewhere, John or Sherlock is in terrible danger, dying and unable to escape his end. The electrocardiogram is still beating in TAB, like a phantom pain the wound still hurts Sherlock, John may or may have not escaped the bullet (no, a fuming gun don’t throw sleeping darts, it just can’t) “Eurus” shot.
Who cares how Sherlock survive the Reichenbah Falls? This wasn’t the point, this never was the Final Problem. Season 3 and Season 4 are the real thing.
Like a throwback to Jim in TRF, ‘Mary’ has become the author, the one calling the shots and stripped John of any narrative power. That is absolutely devastating, how can they survive if the two vilains have taken over the story so completely?
“Sherlock Holmes will now wear the silly hat because Mary liked it. It just felt right.She changed and illuminated the path of the show.”
Now that she is the one calling the shots, both men’s hearts are effectively reduced to ashes. Their identities have been stripped and they have become actors in their own lives.
Who you really are, it doesn’t matter. It’s all about the legend, the stories, the adventures.
This is Appointment in Samarra, you can’t avoid Death, not when the vilains are the one reading the story since TRF. This is predeterminism, all roads were leading to this ending. No matter how much Sherlock’s struggled, the author aka Jim/Mary has always planned this ending. Resistance has always been futile.
And yet… there is one fic that managed to save the merchant. Appointment in Sumatra may be a mere fanfic, Sherlock has succeeded in changing the ending. Mary, the new author, may have stripped John of everything that was him, he remains the first narrator.
The game isn’t over. This is a struggle between the two authors that have decided to destroy the story and the fans who need to find the one path that will save the merchant. Jim/Mary vs Sherlock and John, or if we are very daring between Mofftiss and the fans.
Samarra can be avoided but dear God, that’s going to a hell of a ride to save Sherlock Holmes. We just need to completely rewrite the ending, to let John take back his narrative power and let him lead Sherlock to Sumatra and avoid Samarra.
who here remembers watching tfp in full russian on saturday. that was the most fun i’ve ever had in my life… i don’t think i ever laughed harder at anything than i did at umbrella sword. then i straight dissociated and i’m not 100% sure whether i’ve stopped
The first bomb is actually attached to John. Sherlock and John are present at all three incidents. Mycroft is personally at 221b and metaphorically at Westminster. Is he perhaps somehow at the pool as well? If AGRA was employed by the government, and Mary was a sniper at the pool? Who did call Moriarty off? We are to believe it was Irene, but is that true? Three people, again and again… Whom will Sherlock choose? Mycroft or John? Saint or sinner? Family by blood or by choice?
Look who’s awfully comfy handling Mycroft’s umbrella. I don’t think she even touches anything else in this episode, except to lean or sit.
Oh. Wow- Scary Mary controlling Mycroft as well…? That would line up. Someday I’ll be able to rewatch without having a panic attack, thanks for finding this!
But if she’s not real how can she hold things… 👀👀👀 nice spot!
This image doesn’t make any sense if Mary’ dead. We’re expected to think that Mycroft’s umbrella was standing without anyone keeping it still? And what about the other people in the room? Mycroft’s agents?
It’s almost as if something is entirely in someone’s head…
mary wat u doin you ded
Very interesting… does anyone know of other instances in which Mary seems more corporeal than she should be?
I can’t believe yet that an army doctor, better known as John Watson, couldn’t recognize between dog bones and human bones.
Maybe John was actually a vet for the dog army, but he was so traumatized when he was wounded that he reimagined them all as people.
Sticking my head in here where I probably shouldn’t…to say that, as a doctor with general practitioner training and experience in orthopedics, including popping joints back into place, realigning fractures, and reviewing lots of x-rays, I have never been expected to identify a dismembered human skeleton and have definitely not been expected to differentiate between human and other remains. That is solidly in the domain of anthropologists, or the people who have PhDs in comparative anatomy, the people medical schools bring in to teach future doctors in our anatomy courses.
Not to mention that John was in a well, near-to-drowning, and recently sedated. Plus he had the psychological anchor to recognize any remains as canines because of the story both he and Sherlock believed at that moment.
Also, it depends on which bones he happened to grab. Some dog bones really aren’t that different from human ones in shape or in size – a large breed dog might have some larger bones than a human child. (Bull mastiffs, man, my parents love those things. You weigh 130 lbs, you are not a lap dog. YOU tell them that.)
Thank you, last 2 people on this tread! Plus lump on the head after being hit in the head, badly lit well, stressful situation and general disorientation. The same with the “plothole” I saw some people complain about. Why John hadn’t recognized grenade on the drone if he was in army. As if ordinary army people saw such fancy weapons. John probably guessed that it is grenade and asked Mycroft to confirm or add information. And that’s exactly what happened.
Whilst there were plot holes in S4, and show me something that Mofftiss writes that doesn’t have plot holes, John not recognising the bones is not one of them, for all the reasons above.
That’s why when random bones are discovered somewhere they’re taken off for testing. You can’t tell the difference by sight alone, and certainly not while stressed, exhausted, possibly suffering from hypothermia, drugged, with a head injury, down a well, in the dark. Sometimes I think people are trying to find something wrong with the series just so they can shout at Mofftiss.
Not to mention the fact that he was in complete darkness so he couldn’t even see the bones he was trying to identify
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