Quick Reaction: Sherlock 3x02 The Sign of Three
SUCH A GOOD EPISODE!
I still watched it late because I was late getting home and then had to wait for it to go up on the iPlayer - but MAN! I want to watch it again. There was SO MUCH IN IT.
So, I suppose I should talk about it! I made notes this time, so although I do want to watch it again, I'm going to try to write this up from my notes in the hopes that it takes me less time.
The opening with the Waters Gang and Lestrade seemed to set up that this would be about the gang - which makes me wonder if they'll ever make a reappearance or if the WHOLE OPENING was just the set up for the joke of Sherlock putting out an SOS because he had to give a bestman speech.
Even if it was just a gag, it really did set up the theme for this episode which was "these people really care about each other". Seriously, this was like reading pack-fic in Teen Wolf, or curtain-fic, or whatever.. the whole episode is just about Sherlock's family-of-choice and how much they all love each other.
But I'm getting ahead of myself...
We start the episode after the credits with Mrs. Hudson bringing Sherlock tea - and smiling at the violin playing... and oh man, my heart, because she thought she would never hear it again... but it's not actually Sherlock playing, it's a recording of Sherlock playing, because Sherlock is dancing to make sure it's a good dancing piece..., and AWWW it's for John and Mary, so great.
I love the fact that Sherlock just thought tea appeared in the mornings - and Mrs. Hudson commenting about having words with his mother. And then Mrs. Hudson sits in John's chair and goes on about how people change when they get married and old friendships die off - and SERIOUSLY!? And people think that SHERLOCK is the one that can't read social cues. Don't say this to Sherlock! John's his FAVOURITE!
Then it's off to the wedding, and Sherlock is deducing men for the maid of honour - and I really like her! I like how Mary surrounds herself in awesome people - it just goes to show how awesome she is.
This episode is so full of flashbacks, you'll have to forgive me if I talk about them a bit out of order, but as people interact with Sherlock, we get to see flashbacks of why they're having particular reactions... and we get to see Sherlock scaring away potential rivals for John (awww, friendship) and bonding with a kid who likes murders as much as Sherlock does (and MY GOD THAT WAS THE CUTEST THING! Someone give me all the Sherlock & Archie brotp fic!)
We learn that Harry didn't come to the wedding...awww... John's sister remains a mystery.
But John's old army supervisor guy, who John adores, DID come... and he's got burns and whatnot, and apparently lives as a recluse... and Sherlock gets all jealous, and I love the fact that Mary just leans over and says, "neither of us were the first" - and MAN, John/Mary/Sherlock make such an awesome threesome that I'm dreading DREADING the next episode because I'm sure it's all going to go to shit. Ugh.
Sherlock calls Mycroft, who is exercising! And my goodness, Mark Gatiss has skinny legs. Mycroft doesn't help with the whole "John is going to leave you now" thing... poor Sherlock.
The best man speech begins! (and takes up nearly all of the episode and it is awesome). I love the montage of Molly worrying about Sherlock giving the speech and everyone telling her "it's fine!" and... I just love the fact that after all these years, Molly KNOWS Sherlock.
And we get to see John actually asking Sherlock, and Sherlock totally not understanding that he's being asked and suggesting "Gavin" Lestrade... I have to say, I love this new running gag of Sherlock not knowing Lestrade's name.
John ACTUALLY says that Sherlock is one of the two people he LOVES most in the world... oh man, the amount of love being tossed around in this episode starts so early. Sherlock just freezes, and it's BRILLIANT, we get Sherlock at the wedding narrating his verbose reaction to John asking and then saying "I later learned that I failed to say any of this outloud." And I love the flashback to John at the kitchen table just saying "okay, it's getting creepy now" and Sherlock so flabbergasted that he drinks the eyeball tea!!
Oh man, the eyeball tea.. sorry, backing up for a second, but I love when Sherlock drops the eyeball in the tea and then shrugs and offers it to John, and John laughs, and Sherlock laughs... and they ARE MAKING JOKES AND BEING FRIENDS AND I LOVE THEM.
Sherlock then insults the entire room on purpose so that he can illustrate how much of a complete bastard he is - so that everyone understands just how much John's friendship means to him. And guys, it's like THE MOST TOUCHING SPEECH.... and I love John whispering to Mary "stop me if I try to hug him" and Mary's just like "nope." And then Sherlock doesn't understand why people are crying and John DOES HUG HIM! And I AM BURSTING WITH LOVE.
Sherlock's speech continues to the "funny bits" by referencing John's blog and the cases they work together - and I LOVE the little glimpses of their adventures and how completely ludicrous they are. And I love the fact that one of them is called "The Elephant in the Room" and Sherlock never explains that it's a case name, and it's just HILARIOUS.
Then we get a flashback to the "The Bloody Guard" case, which John and Sherlock had since Sherlock's gotten back... I'm thinking that perhaps all of the cases were since Sherlock got back? Because John and Mary needed enough time to plan a whole wedding...
Anyway, we flashback to them all hanging out in Baker St. And Sherlock and Mary working out seating plans... and seriously, Mary and Sherlock can be BFFs forever, just like Sherlock and John, and I will happily tune into the adventures of Sherlock, John, and Mary... if only, if only...
Anyway, Mary is so great. I love how SHE can tell when Sherlock is lying and John can't... and I love how Sherlock just lets her call him out on it and admits that he watched youtube videos to learn how to fold napkins for the wedding, and SHERLOCK IS TOO ADORABLE.
Mary fakes a phone call from "Beth" so that John will meet her in the kitchen - and I highly doubt that Sherlock is buying that story really. But Mary tells him that Sherlock is obviously terrified about losing him and that John and he should go on a case together. So, John pretends he needs a break from the wedding planning (probably not a lie) and asks Sherlock to find them a case... and Sherlock does. Then we get a hint that maybe Sherlock and Mary ALSO secretly conspired to take John out on a case?! I'm CURIOUS! Also, I couldn't help but be suspicious - does Mary have ulterior motives for getting them out for a few hours... is Mary TOO awesome?!?!
Regardless, the double thumbs up is hilariously adorkable and I love it!
The case they choose is the case of one of the Queen's guard being stalked! And he's cute! So it's off to investigate...
While they wait for him to get off duty, they sit on a bench and "chat" and John tries to give Sherlock reassurances and kind words, and tells him that there have been two people who completely turned his life around for him, one of them is Mary and the other is... but Sherlock is no longer on the bench, so "the other one is a complete dickhead." Heheheh
Then we get BAMFJohn! Seriously, the guard is killed!! NOOO he was CUTE!! And they think Sherlock and John somehow did it - and John pulls out all his credentials to get them to let him examine the body... and we learn that he was in Afghanistan for three years and served in Kandahar and possibly another place I didn't catch, and he's trained at St. Bart's... and when John is done with his BAMFy yelling, they let him examine the body only for John to discover the guard is STILL ALIVE!! YAY! CUTE PEOPLE LIVE!
John goes into doctor mode and Sherlock becomes his nurse...and Sherlock is telling the wedding reception all this to illustrate how awesome John is, and how Sherlock can solve a murder but John can save lives...as he's saved Sherlock's life countless times. And FEELINGS EVERYWHERE!
Lestrade wants to know how the murderer did it...but Sherlock tells them it was unsolved.
Then we move onto the "embarrass John" part of the speech and Sherlock talks about the stag night. GUYS, John's stag night was JUST JOHN AND SHERLOCK. Seriously?! Does John not have any other friends... but, you know what, I don't even care, because it is the most ADORABLE GODDAMN THING.
Sherlock goes to Molly to figure out exactly how much they should drink on their pubcrawl in order to get drunk but not too drunk. And the pub crawl is MURDER THEMED! Oh man....it's like a fanfic come to life. Except at some point, John starts adding extra shots to their beers behind Sherlock's back, and soon they are completely wasted - and Sherlock's getting into bar fights, and it's HILARIOUS... and then they are sleeping on the stairs of Baker St. being TOO ADORABLE... and Mrs. Hudson finds them and declares that they've actually only been at it for 2 hours! HAHA! It reminds me of my eldest sister's stag night - she was so nervous and busy preparing for it during the day that she didn't eat anything. By 11:30, I was standing on the street holding her upright with my legs carefully placed to keep her knees locked while we waited for a cab. :P
Sherlock and John decide to keep the party going upstairs with a game of "who am I" - Sherlock's pasted "Madonna" on John's forehead and John's pasted "Sherlock Holmes" on Sherlock's forehead and they're trying to figure out who they are.... and it's BRILLIANT. Sherlock learns that he's a man, who people think is tall, who's nice-ish, and people don't like him because he rubs people the wrong way. And Sherlock guesses that he's JOHN! SEE! I was just saying this to missyjack the other day - she was saying that the problem with horrible characters is that you don't understand why the "good" characters are friends with them, and you can't buy into the show... and I was saying that the reason Sherlock being horrible never bothered me was because John is also horrible. This pretty much confirms it. And we get more confirmation later on - the reason that Sherlock and John get on so well is that they're basically the same person, only Sherlock is cleverer and asexual and John is a womanizer.
Meanwhile, John is asking Sherlock if he's a "pretty lady" and my god... there's going to be so much fic spawned form this episode, it's ridiculous!
Then they get a drunk case!! And they nearly fall asleep listening to it... but this woman thinks that she dated a ghost. I love Sherlock standing up and declaring that he'll find her dog in ten minutes, then snapping John awake and saying "The game is...something!" Hehehe, seriously, Sherlock drunk is ridiculous... I also love when they were nodding off while listening to her, and Sherlock starts calling John rude.
Then it's off the ghost's flat to figure out what's going on, only John's falling asleep standing up and Sherlock can't deduce... and I love the fact that when he looks at the chair one of his deductions is "Sleeeeeeeeeeep" ... that's what I start writing in the margins of my notebook when I start nodding off during work meetings (or when I was falling asleep in school.)
Then Sherlock vomits on the carpet and they are arrested. Great! I do love how the whole time John's finishing Sherlock's sentences, and telling people that Sherlock's "clueing for looks." Hehehehe... their drunkeness is so over the top, but I don't even care.
We get the morning after with John having breakfast with Mrs. Hudson and being too hungover to eat. And we get Mrs. Hudson backstory!! YAY! It's what I always wanted!! We find out that her romance with her husband was a whirlwind and then they moved to Florida, and then he started running a drug cartel! And he cheated on her multiple times! And then he blew someone's head-off and she was thankful that it was over... I wonder how she found Sherlock's name and got him to ensure the death penalty?! I had a whole other backstory worked out in my head that I was thinking about writing one day, but I'm glad that I needn't bother now.
Now sober, Sherlock realizes that the case of the Ghost-Dater is very interesting! He calls him the Mayfly, because he "only lives for a day" in his assumed identities.... and we get to see inside Sherlock's mind palace and it looks like ...a house of parliament? A trial chamber? I think you need to be British to understand what that room is.
Anyway, all this is just one giant flashback as Sherlock is still talking at the wedding, and then, as he raising his glass for the toast and the photographer takes his picture, he realizes a clue that he had missed and his mind starts working on the case double-time as he realizes that it's someone connected with THEM, with John... because the woman used John's middle name, and John doesn't advertise his middle name.
And I loved the flashback with Sherlock explaining that it took 'months" for John to tell him his middle name, and we find out that Sherlock just found his birthcertificate....after John had shut-down all his guesses. And I love the brief return of Irene...was she naked in Sherlock's mind? She may have been... I can't remember now. Anyway, that was a nice cameo.
Of course, as Sherlock works on the case in his head, he still has to hold the rooms attention so that whoever is planning a murder doesn't act before Sherlock knows what they're planning. So, his speech starts derailing into nonsense quickly as he attempts to extend it. There are some great lines... but I like how John just knows immediately that something is wrong. I also love how Sherlock texts Lestrade to put the place on lockdown and Lestrade does immediately (again, a fact set up by the beginning)... and then Sherlock uses the code word "Vatican Cameos" and I love how John immediately straightens up and tells Mary, "someone is going to die." And MAN.... I love the fact that they have that code word.
Sherlock figures out that it's John's wounded army friend who is the target - because people blame him for getting all his men killed and surviving (poor guy! Seriously, I felt SO BAD for him the whole episode... I almost wanted him to be secretly evil so that he wouldn't be such a tragic character.)... and Archie supplies the murderer - the same one who attacked Bainbridge the Queen's Guard.
Sherlock warns John's army friend who takes off to his room. Then Sherlock and John follow... I love how Mary stays there for a moment, realizes that there's no way she's staying behind. Again, Mary is great... and it's a good thing that she did that, because she remembers the room number when Sherlock doesn't. Then she and John both demand that Sherlock solve the case.
Sherlock figured out that it's the military belts that provide the delay in murder. Apparently they can be stabbed with something very thin and sharp and not feel it?! Crazy! Remind me not to get stabbed when I'm wearing my corset. :P
Even with it solved, the Army guy won't open the door though - though John desperately wants to get in there and help him. He thinks that maybe he should just die, and tells Sherlock that... that he and Sherlock are a lot alike, and Sherlock must agree that sometimes death is the answer...or something like that. And Sherlock gives his second (third? forth?) touching speech because he tells them that they ARE alike, and because they're alike he knows that Army guy would never do this at John's wedding, he knows that John is as important to him as he is to Sherlock... and AWWWW.... so the guy unlocks the door and John goes in to save him, and we'll suppose that it all worked out alright in the end.
Then we fast-forward to later on, as everyone gets ready for the party portion of the night. Sherlock is practicing dancing with Janine the maid of honour, and he lets us in on the secret that he loves dancing! AWWWW, seriously, TOO ADORABLE... and he keeps waiting for it to come up in a case but it never does.
Lestrade brings in the photographer and Sherlock does his unmasking of the murderer thing... I knew it was the photographer as soon as he took the picture of Sherlock as he raised his glass at the end of his real speech - but I didn't know the method of murder yet, so that was still a surprise. I thought it WAS interesting that the photographer said "I'm not the one you should be arresting" just as Mary came into the room... INTERESTING DIRECTORIAL CHOICE THERE... does this MEAN something?! I repeat: Is Mary TOO awesome?!?!
Then we get the first dance, and it's to Sherlock playing the piece he wrote to them live... and it's great. Then he gives one final toast, and vows that he will always be there for "the three of you - I mean the TWO of you-" and sure enough, Sherlock gets off the stage and informs John and Mary that Mary is pregnant. They start freaking out, but Sherlock assures them that they're already great parents, and that now they won't need him because they'll have a REAL child... and AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW... and then they all get lovey again, but "we can't all three of us dance! There ARE limits!" No! No THERE ARE NO LIMITS! GODDAMN IT!
Because sure enough, Sherlock is the only one left on the dance floor without a partner... and he loves dancing! So, he puts on his coat and he quietly walks off into the night... my little heart is breaking.
[worries about next episode based on ACD canon]Additional thoughts: It's all too good to be true! In canon, Mary dies...and I just... is she really pregnant or is it something else? Will the pregnancy kill her? I almost want her to be evil, because then she'd be less tragic... but, as far as I know, in canon, John doesn't have any children... so... what happens? Does she get murdered? Does it all go wrong? Oh god... I'M GOING TO CRY! The next episode is going to be horribly tragic no matter how you slice it. But, the next episode is called "His Last Vow" and Sherlock's "first and last vow" is that he will ALWAYS be there for them! So, what does that mean? I can only assume that the next episode is all about whatever tragedy befalls John and Mary that ends their marriage. I AM NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO TAKE IT.
(End of LJ cut)
SUCH A FANTASTIC EPISODE THOUGH!!! Man, I loved every minute of it and I would VERY MUCH like to watch it again and again and see it all in gif form on tumblr.
If you follow me on tumblr please use tumblr savior and blacklist "Sherlock" if you don't want to be spoiled or simply don't want to see my Sherlock spam. Also, if you follow me on tumblr, I apologize for being bad at tumblr.
So, COMMENTS! Tell me what you loved, tell me what I missed talking about because I didn't take very good notes! TELL ME HOW ADORABLE EVERYONE IS!
I still watched it late because I was late getting home and then had to wait for it to go up on the iPlayer - but MAN! I want to watch it again. There was SO MUCH IN IT.
So, I suppose I should talk about it! I made notes this time, so although I do want to watch it again, I'm going to try to write this up from my notes in the hopes that it takes me less time.
The opening with the Waters Gang and Lestrade seemed to set up that this would be about the gang - which makes me wonder if they'll ever make a reappearance or if the WHOLE OPENING was just the set up for the joke of Sherlock putting out an SOS because he had to give a bestman speech.
Even if it was just a gag, it really did set up the theme for this episode which was "these people really care about each other". Seriously, this was like reading pack-fic in Teen Wolf, or curtain-fic, or whatever.. the whole episode is just about Sherlock's family-of-choice and how much they all love each other.
But I'm getting ahead of myself...
We start the episode after the credits with Mrs. Hudson bringing Sherlock tea - and smiling at the violin playing... and oh man, my heart, because she thought she would never hear it again... but it's not actually Sherlock playing, it's a recording of Sherlock playing, because Sherlock is dancing to make sure it's a good dancing piece..., and AWWW it's for John and Mary, so great.
I love the fact that Sherlock just thought tea appeared in the mornings - and Mrs. Hudson commenting about having words with his mother. And then Mrs. Hudson sits in John's chair and goes on about how people change when they get married and old friendships die off - and SERIOUSLY!? And people think that SHERLOCK is the one that can't read social cues. Don't say this to Sherlock! John's his FAVOURITE!
Then it's off to the wedding, and Sherlock is deducing men for the maid of honour - and I really like her! I like how Mary surrounds herself in awesome people - it just goes to show how awesome she is.
This episode is so full of flashbacks, you'll have to forgive me if I talk about them a bit out of order, but as people interact with Sherlock, we get to see flashbacks of why they're having particular reactions... and we get to see Sherlock scaring away potential rivals for John (awww, friendship) and bonding with a kid who likes murders as much as Sherlock does (and MY GOD THAT WAS THE CUTEST THING! Someone give me all the Sherlock & Archie brotp fic!)
We learn that Harry didn't come to the wedding...awww... John's sister remains a mystery.
But John's old army supervisor guy, who John adores, DID come... and he's got burns and whatnot, and apparently lives as a recluse... and Sherlock gets all jealous, and I love the fact that Mary just leans over and says, "neither of us were the first" - and MAN, John/Mary/Sherlock make such an awesome threesome that I'm dreading DREADING the next episode because I'm sure it's all going to go to shit. Ugh.
Sherlock calls Mycroft, who is exercising! And my goodness, Mark Gatiss has skinny legs. Mycroft doesn't help with the whole "John is going to leave you now" thing... poor Sherlock.
The best man speech begins! (and takes up nearly all of the episode and it is awesome). I love the montage of Molly worrying about Sherlock giving the speech and everyone telling her "it's fine!" and... I just love the fact that after all these years, Molly KNOWS Sherlock.
And we get to see John actually asking Sherlock, and Sherlock totally not understanding that he's being asked and suggesting "Gavin" Lestrade... I have to say, I love this new running gag of Sherlock not knowing Lestrade's name.
John ACTUALLY says that Sherlock is one of the two people he LOVES most in the world... oh man, the amount of love being tossed around in this episode starts so early. Sherlock just freezes, and it's BRILLIANT, we get Sherlock at the wedding narrating his verbose reaction to John asking and then saying "I later learned that I failed to say any of this outloud." And I love the flashback to John at the kitchen table just saying "okay, it's getting creepy now" and Sherlock so flabbergasted that he drinks the eyeball tea!!
Oh man, the eyeball tea.. sorry, backing up for a second, but I love when Sherlock drops the eyeball in the tea and then shrugs and offers it to John, and John laughs, and Sherlock laughs... and they ARE MAKING JOKES AND BEING FRIENDS AND I LOVE THEM.
Sherlock then insults the entire room on purpose so that he can illustrate how much of a complete bastard he is - so that everyone understands just how much John's friendship means to him. And guys, it's like THE MOST TOUCHING SPEECH.... and I love John whispering to Mary "stop me if I try to hug him" and Mary's just like "nope." And then Sherlock doesn't understand why people are crying and John DOES HUG HIM! And I AM BURSTING WITH LOVE.
Sherlock's speech continues to the "funny bits" by referencing John's blog and the cases they work together - and I LOVE the little glimpses of their adventures and how completely ludicrous they are. And I love the fact that one of them is called "The Elephant in the Room" and Sherlock never explains that it's a case name, and it's just HILARIOUS.
Then we get a flashback to the "The Bloody Guard" case, which John and Sherlock had since Sherlock's gotten back... I'm thinking that perhaps all of the cases were since Sherlock got back? Because John and Mary needed enough time to plan a whole wedding...
Anyway, we flashback to them all hanging out in Baker St. And Sherlock and Mary working out seating plans... and seriously, Mary and Sherlock can be BFFs forever, just like Sherlock and John, and I will happily tune into the adventures of Sherlock, John, and Mary... if only, if only...
Anyway, Mary is so great. I love how SHE can tell when Sherlock is lying and John can't... and I love how Sherlock just lets her call him out on it and admits that he watched youtube videos to learn how to fold napkins for the wedding, and SHERLOCK IS TOO ADORABLE.
Mary fakes a phone call from "Beth" so that John will meet her in the kitchen - and I highly doubt that Sherlock is buying that story really. But Mary tells him that Sherlock is obviously terrified about losing him and that John and he should go on a case together. So, John pretends he needs a break from the wedding planning (probably not a lie) and asks Sherlock to find them a case... and Sherlock does. Then we get a hint that maybe Sherlock and Mary ALSO secretly conspired to take John out on a case?! I'm CURIOUS! Also, I couldn't help but be suspicious - does Mary have ulterior motives for getting them out for a few hours... is Mary TOO awesome?!?!
Regardless, the double thumbs up is hilariously adorkable and I love it!
The case they choose is the case of one of the Queen's guard being stalked! And he's cute! So it's off to investigate...
While they wait for him to get off duty, they sit on a bench and "chat" and John tries to give Sherlock reassurances and kind words, and tells him that there have been two people who completely turned his life around for him, one of them is Mary and the other is... but Sherlock is no longer on the bench, so "the other one is a complete dickhead." Heheheh
Then we get BAMFJohn! Seriously, the guard is killed!! NOOO he was CUTE!! And they think Sherlock and John somehow did it - and John pulls out all his credentials to get them to let him examine the body... and we learn that he was in Afghanistan for three years and served in Kandahar and possibly another place I didn't catch, and he's trained at St. Bart's... and when John is done with his BAMFy yelling, they let him examine the body only for John to discover the guard is STILL ALIVE!! YAY! CUTE PEOPLE LIVE!
John goes into doctor mode and Sherlock becomes his nurse...and Sherlock is telling the wedding reception all this to illustrate how awesome John is, and how Sherlock can solve a murder but John can save lives...as he's saved Sherlock's life countless times. And FEELINGS EVERYWHERE!
Lestrade wants to know how the murderer did it...but Sherlock tells them it was unsolved.
Then we move onto the "embarrass John" part of the speech and Sherlock talks about the stag night. GUYS, John's stag night was JUST JOHN AND SHERLOCK. Seriously?! Does John not have any other friends... but, you know what, I don't even care, because it is the most ADORABLE GODDAMN THING.
Sherlock goes to Molly to figure out exactly how much they should drink on their pubcrawl in order to get drunk but not too drunk. And the pub crawl is MURDER THEMED! Oh man....it's like a fanfic come to life. Except at some point, John starts adding extra shots to their beers behind Sherlock's back, and soon they are completely wasted - and Sherlock's getting into bar fights, and it's HILARIOUS... and then they are sleeping on the stairs of Baker St. being TOO ADORABLE... and Mrs. Hudson finds them and declares that they've actually only been at it for 2 hours! HAHA! It reminds me of my eldest sister's stag night - she was so nervous and busy preparing for it during the day that she didn't eat anything. By 11:30, I was standing on the street holding her upright with my legs carefully placed to keep her knees locked while we waited for a cab. :P
Sherlock and John decide to keep the party going upstairs with a game of "who am I" - Sherlock's pasted "Madonna" on John's forehead and John's pasted "Sherlock Holmes" on Sherlock's forehead and they're trying to figure out who they are.... and it's BRILLIANT. Sherlock learns that he's a man, who people think is tall, who's nice-ish, and people don't like him because he rubs people the wrong way. And Sherlock guesses that he's JOHN! SEE! I was just saying this to missyjack the other day - she was saying that the problem with horrible characters is that you don't understand why the "good" characters are friends with them, and you can't buy into the show... and I was saying that the reason Sherlock being horrible never bothered me was because John is also horrible. This pretty much confirms it. And we get more confirmation later on - the reason that Sherlock and John get on so well is that they're basically the same person, only Sherlock is cleverer and asexual and John is a womanizer.
Meanwhile, John is asking Sherlock if he's a "pretty lady" and my god... there's going to be so much fic spawned form this episode, it's ridiculous!
Then they get a drunk case!! And they nearly fall asleep listening to it... but this woman thinks that she dated a ghost. I love Sherlock standing up and declaring that he'll find her dog in ten minutes, then snapping John awake and saying "The game is...something!" Hehehe, seriously, Sherlock drunk is ridiculous... I also love when they were nodding off while listening to her, and Sherlock starts calling John rude.
Then it's off the ghost's flat to figure out what's going on, only John's falling asleep standing up and Sherlock can't deduce... and I love the fact that when he looks at the chair one of his deductions is "Sleeeeeeeeeeep" ... that's what I start writing in the margins of my notebook when I start nodding off during work meetings (or when I was falling asleep in school.)
Then Sherlock vomits on the carpet and they are arrested. Great! I do love how the whole time John's finishing Sherlock's sentences, and telling people that Sherlock's "clueing for looks." Hehehehe... their drunkeness is so over the top, but I don't even care.
We get the morning after with John having breakfast with Mrs. Hudson and being too hungover to eat. And we get Mrs. Hudson backstory!! YAY! It's what I always wanted!! We find out that her romance with her husband was a whirlwind and then they moved to Florida, and then he started running a drug cartel! And he cheated on her multiple times! And then he blew someone's head-off and she was thankful that it was over... I wonder how she found Sherlock's name and got him to ensure the death penalty?! I had a whole other backstory worked out in my head that I was thinking about writing one day, but I'm glad that I needn't bother now.
Now sober, Sherlock realizes that the case of the Ghost-Dater is very interesting! He calls him the Mayfly, because he "only lives for a day" in his assumed identities.... and we get to see inside Sherlock's mind palace and it looks like ...a house of parliament? A trial chamber? I think you need to be British to understand what that room is.
Anyway, all this is just one giant flashback as Sherlock is still talking at the wedding, and then, as he raising his glass for the toast and the photographer takes his picture, he realizes a clue that he had missed and his mind starts working on the case double-time as he realizes that it's someone connected with THEM, with John... because the woman used John's middle name, and John doesn't advertise his middle name.
And I loved the flashback with Sherlock explaining that it took 'months" for John to tell him his middle name, and we find out that Sherlock just found his birthcertificate....after John had shut-down all his guesses. And I love the brief return of Irene...was she naked in Sherlock's mind? She may have been... I can't remember now. Anyway, that was a nice cameo.
Of course, as Sherlock works on the case in his head, he still has to hold the rooms attention so that whoever is planning a murder doesn't act before Sherlock knows what they're planning. So, his speech starts derailing into nonsense quickly as he attempts to extend it. There are some great lines... but I like how John just knows immediately that something is wrong. I also love how Sherlock texts Lestrade to put the place on lockdown and Lestrade does immediately (again, a fact set up by the beginning)... and then Sherlock uses the code word "Vatican Cameos" and I love how John immediately straightens up and tells Mary, "someone is going to die." And MAN.... I love the fact that they have that code word.
Sherlock figures out that it's John's wounded army friend who is the target - because people blame him for getting all his men killed and surviving (poor guy! Seriously, I felt SO BAD for him the whole episode... I almost wanted him to be secretly evil so that he wouldn't be such a tragic character.)... and Archie supplies the murderer - the same one who attacked Bainbridge the Queen's Guard.
Sherlock warns John's army friend who takes off to his room. Then Sherlock and John follow... I love how Mary stays there for a moment, realizes that there's no way she's staying behind. Again, Mary is great... and it's a good thing that she did that, because she remembers the room number when Sherlock doesn't. Then she and John both demand that Sherlock solve the case.
Sherlock figured out that it's the military belts that provide the delay in murder. Apparently they can be stabbed with something very thin and sharp and not feel it?! Crazy! Remind me not to get stabbed when I'm wearing my corset. :P
Even with it solved, the Army guy won't open the door though - though John desperately wants to get in there and help him. He thinks that maybe he should just die, and tells Sherlock that... that he and Sherlock are a lot alike, and Sherlock must agree that sometimes death is the answer...or something like that. And Sherlock gives his second (third? forth?) touching speech because he tells them that they ARE alike, and because they're alike he knows that Army guy would never do this at John's wedding, he knows that John is as important to him as he is to Sherlock... and AWWWW.... so the guy unlocks the door and John goes in to save him, and we'll suppose that it all worked out alright in the end.
Then we fast-forward to later on, as everyone gets ready for the party portion of the night. Sherlock is practicing dancing with Janine the maid of honour, and he lets us in on the secret that he loves dancing! AWWWW, seriously, TOO ADORABLE... and he keeps waiting for it to come up in a case but it never does.
Lestrade brings in the photographer and Sherlock does his unmasking of the murderer thing... I knew it was the photographer as soon as he took the picture of Sherlock as he raised his glass at the end of his real speech - but I didn't know the method of murder yet, so that was still a surprise. I thought it WAS interesting that the photographer said "I'm not the one you should be arresting" just as Mary came into the room... INTERESTING DIRECTORIAL CHOICE THERE... does this MEAN something?! I repeat: Is Mary TOO awesome?!?!
Then we get the first dance, and it's to Sherlock playing the piece he wrote to them live... and it's great. Then he gives one final toast, and vows that he will always be there for "the three of you - I mean the TWO of you-" and sure enough, Sherlock gets off the stage and informs John and Mary that Mary is pregnant. They start freaking out, but Sherlock assures them that they're already great parents, and that now they won't need him because they'll have a REAL child... and AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW... and then they all get lovey again, but "we can't all three of us dance! There ARE limits!" No! No THERE ARE NO LIMITS! GODDAMN IT!
Because sure enough, Sherlock is the only one left on the dance floor without a partner... and he loves dancing! So, he puts on his coat and he quietly walks off into the night... my little heart is breaking.
[worries about next episode based on ACD canon]Additional thoughts: It's all too good to be true! In canon, Mary dies...and I just... is she really pregnant or is it something else? Will the pregnancy kill her? I almost want her to be evil, because then she'd be less tragic... but, as far as I know, in canon, John doesn't have any children... so... what happens? Does she get murdered? Does it all go wrong? Oh god... I'M GOING TO CRY! The next episode is going to be horribly tragic no matter how you slice it. But, the next episode is called "His Last Vow" and Sherlock's "first and last vow" is that he will ALWAYS be there for them! So, what does that mean? I can only assume that the next episode is all about whatever tragedy befalls John and Mary that ends their marriage. I AM NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO TAKE IT.
(End of LJ cut)
SUCH A FANTASTIC EPISODE THOUGH!!! Man, I loved every minute of it and I would VERY MUCH like to watch it again and again and see it all in gif form on tumblr.
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So, COMMENTS! Tell me what you loved, tell me what I missed talking about because I didn't take very good notes! TELL ME HOW ADORABLE EVERYONE IS!