Reaction Picspam: Sherlock 2015 Christmas Special (Part 2 of 4)
Live-Bloggish Picspam Reaction/Recap for Sherlock 2015 Christmas Special
PART ONE
PART TWO - "The Abominable Bride"
-Months later, Lestrade is back, looking furry and sheepish. Of course this all being in Sherlock's mind palace, the mutton chops could mean something super significant. Let us ponder the significance of Lestrade's mutton chops! *ponders* ...Or not. But they could still be significant!!
-Oh well, they're itchy too, that makes all the difference! They're obviously signifying the restrictions placed on Lestrade's investigative capabilities, such as they are, by the constraints of the modern Metropolitan police force. Of course. *handwaves*
-And while I'm distracted by sideburns, I'm just going to take a moment to bask in the set design.
-And since Sherlock is actively ignoring weird murders in favour of looking things up in his mind palace archives, let's google. The "obliquity of the ecliptic" is basically (besides being a canon shout out to "The Greek Interpreter" (*belated canon reference fist-pump*) the Earth's axial tilt, that among other things, causes the Earth's seasons. Heh. Maybe my crack theory involving it seeming to be snowing when Sherlock jumped off the roof could be something he's poking around at in his mind palace in reference to Moriarty's death, maybe, maybe, maybe. Hm. It did only start looking like it was snowing after Moriarty was shot. Before that it was a bright sunny day. I don't doubt that it's actually nothing at all (especially considering so many people insisting it looks like rain to them in the comments on that post), but at this point, I'd be thrilled if weird weather was even mentioned. But we all have our little fixations.
-[Between the crazy work hours, various bouts of illness and RL interference, it is now April for me. Oi. On the up side it's been really easy to avoid further spoilers :-P]
-Sherlock says the new murders are all copy-cat crimes and he's solved it. Well, obviously he hasn't or he wouldn't still be in the Victorian England wing of his Mind Palace working on the issue of how Moriarty is back from the dead, now would he? So, something about Moriarty's return is not letting him settle for "It's someone else mimicking Moriarty" without cross-referencing and trying to understand something about the axial tilt of the Earth. How interesting...
-"Didn't Dr. Watson move out a few months ago?" Oh ow. And Sherlock's still processing all that too.
-"Worked surprisingly well though. I actually thought he was improving." Hahahah, suuuuure.
-Meanwhile, Mary's out adventuring for England, leaving John and his fabulous moustache alone at the breakfast table, rather than John being out running around after Sherlock and leaving Mary out of the fun. Turnabout is fair play, John.
-I sincerely hope that bell is for a servant of some sort and not Mary, or Victorian era or not I will feel very irked towards John. Or rather Sherlock, since this is his Mind Palace interpretation of "Victorian Era John"
-Oh good. Slight reprieve.
-"She's always out these days."/"*laugh* Not unlike yourself." Oh my. That's not an attitude that would be welcomed from a Victorian household employee. True as it is.
-"Just meant you're hardly ever home together sir." Ooohoo, yeah, that's really not going to go down well. As evidenced by Watson's blinky 'Oh no you didn't' face.
-"I shall have a word with my wife to have a word with you." Heeeeee. I see John's role in this Mind Palace construct of Sherlock is to be the very 'bound by and upholding of social/gender roles' middle class Victorian man. Is Sherlock casting John in a role like those of the victims, perhaps, so as to provide himself more urgent motivation to solve the puzzle of Moriarty's survival? Hm...
-"And when will you be seeing her?" Okay, yeah, she's deliberately winding him up. Hee! I'm thinking Mary's out doing some civil disobedience with the suffragette movement now. So far all the women in this have been very forthright for the era. Including the dead one who's going around shooting people.
-"Why do you never mention me, sir?"/"Go away." Ha! Actually, I wonder now if she's intent on being the worst serving girl in London just so he'll write her into a story as such.
-Ahahahahah. Back to the original.
-"I deduce we're on our way to see someone cleverer than you."/"Shut up." Heeee!
-Same place, same building, same rules yep (though that's not at all an anagram of Diogenes Club no matter what the transition graphic might like to imply, though 'belched noise cut' with a g left over is feasible). Victorian Mycroft, here we come. Now, from our prior Mind Palacing with Sherlock, Mycroft tends to be the facet of the mnemonic loci that berates Sherlock when he's missed something, so this could be a productive visit, since if his copy-cat conclusion isn't enough to let him dismiss the problem of Moriarty, Sherlock has indeed missed something.
-SIGN LANGUAGE! I have to say I love Wilder's snarling/clawing name-sign.
-Meanwhile, John is adorably clueless.
-Awwww!
-And now I'll just sit here and giggle for a while. When conversing in any unfamiliar language it's best to keep discourse limited and simple.
-"Sorry, what?" John Watson, same in any era. Especially in Sherlock's Mind Palace.
-Heh. Yeah, Sherlock's more in charge of the way his Mind Palace presents his brother in this scenario. *headshake*
-Bantering about Holmesian hearts and the lack thereof, quite sweet and brotherly, actually.
-"Three years flat if you eat that plum pudding."/"Done. *omnomnom*" Yeah, Sherlock's getting off task and taking a break to taunt his brother in his own head. Focus, Sherlock.
-Aw, darn, he was reading the paper about axial tilt because of a motive for one of the victims. Except this is all in the Mind Palace, so the motive is whatever his pondering directs him to as a potential resource to solve the external primary problem of Moriarty, so I still call some kind of background analysis about seasonal weather patterns being included in the diagnostic process, and am pleased. Tra la. Moving on.
-"Did you summon me here just to humiliate me?"/"Yeeesss. *smirk*" Ahahah, do you even know your brother, Sherlock?
-"Socialists? Anarchists? The French? Suffragists?" HEEEEEEE! Watson listing the invisible elbow-lurking threats to the Victorian English male status quo.
-"Is there any large body of people you're not concerned about?" *snerk* Also, perhaps another look at John's possible role in the Mind Palace construct as threat detection and awareness?
-"Doctor Watson is endlessly vigilant." Yep! There we are then. John's the watchdog of Sherlock's Mind Palace. Also, demonstrator/exposer of social/societal constructs and minor comic relief.
-"The Scots."/"The Scots?" John also occasionally pulls double-duty on several roles at once.
-"Are you aware of recent theories concerning what is known as paranoia?"/"Ooh, sounds Serbian." *facepalm*
-"We don't defeat them, we must certainly lose to them."/"Why?"/"Because they are right and we are wrong." OOOOOOO. There's the old Mind Palace Mycroft, telling Sherlock to step it up and figure out what he's missed or be beaten by Moriarty. Excellent.
-"Why not just tell us your solution?"/"Where would be the sport in that." Indeed. Big brother isn't going to solve the problem for you, Sherlock, but he has no problem kicking your arse in the right direction.
-"Also a Mr.-" Did he say Mister Malice? Sherlock's Mind Palace is losing its subtlety. o.O
-Mycroft: *ogles plum puddings* Definitely lost its subtlety. :-P
-"Those are my specialisms." As is spurious word transmogrification, but what the hell, eh? *googles* Aaaaaactually, that's a reference to ACD as the word was used a few times in the original stories, so *canon reference fistpump* *facepalm of obliviousness*
-"I think it may be a matter for a priest." Ah, the undead bride rides again, accompanied by a fine round of dubious glancing from Holmes and Watson.
-OH HI THERE CAPTAIN DARLING! I mean, ah, Tim McInnerny! Hello! *waves like an idiot at the screen*
-Now that's a damn fine letter opener. Love a letter opener that can double as a stiletto. The one I've got is useless and would bend in a stiff breeze, but it was government-issued at the turn of the millennium, so it's about as good as can be expected, really.
-"What is it? Eustace?" Well, despite his expression and stunned silence the envelope is too small for it to be a severed body part, so that's some relief considering he's opening it at the table. Maybe it's a packet of cash. No one would expect that.
-Oh my god. Five orange pips! Well damn. But we already did this! But this is Sherlock's mind palace examining his knowledge about Moriarty and revisiting the whole business with the pink phone and the pips and the bomb jackets etcetera to glean information about how Moriarty operates to determine how he's still causing trouble from 'beyond the grave' *waggles fingers and makes spooky woowoo noises* so it makes perfect sense. OOO! And if they don't go Doyle's route with the villain, a secretive cult of personality carrying out their dead leader(the bride/Moriarty)'s posthumous bidding could be something to throw in the Mind Palace analysis engine to see if it kicks Sherlock out of this diagnostic fugue.
-"Death." Looks like Eustace knows a few things about oranges he wishes he didn't.
-"Uh, nothing, it's uh-" You sir, lie badly.
-"Tell me, has Eustace spent time in America?" Well, maybe we are getting the Doyle adversary. Hadn't thought of Moriarty as equating to the KKK, but okay then!? O.o
-"Not to my knowledge." Or not.
-It's a foggy night and you have a hedge maze. Of course you've got ghosts!
-"It was the Bride!" Watson's poker face could use a little work. The moustache is providing a damn fine assist though. Unlike a certain prior moustache which shall not be named again.
-You know, if you're going outside before dawn to face the hypothetical undead, perhaps change out of your nightclothes first, hm? Something durable, with pants. (I'd also recommend packing a shotgun full of rocksalt, but that's another thing entirely.)
-Running around in hedge mazes when the undead are possibly about, also inadvisable. At least she seemed to have stopped to put on boots. Or some very tall slippers.
-Gaaaaah! I mean it's a very old trope, having the ghosty thing moving around and not being noticed, but it still got me. Gaaaah!
-Oh, and now creepy singing. Greeeeaaat.
-Well, standing and staring is better than on the ground bleeding or dead, but really, there are many more practical things you could be doing right now. Like throwing a pebble at her to test that she's physically present. Or shooting her with rocksalt which works whether she's actually a ghost or just a person being creepy, but Mr I-Can-Confront-Ghosts-in-My-Pyjamas here didn't think that far ahead, now did he?
-"She's Amelia Ricoletti." Or someone of similar body type in a similar wedding dress, here to freak you out or kill you for some reason. I mean really, why would a ghost or zombie be sending you orange pips? Logic, man!
-Also, running is an option. It's your hedge maze, guys! You can lose her, easy!
-"This night, Eustace Carmichael, you will die." Aaaand he faints. Or has a heart attack. She didn't even have to shoot this one!
-Interesting transition, hedge maze to fingers.
-Really though, neither of them saw her face, it could be literally anyone of similar shape in a wedding dress. The dress doesn't even have to be the same for the trick to work, it's not like there's likely to be HD photos of the original Amelia Ricoletti's dress published in the Strand. Although this is Sherlock's Mind Palace version of the Victorian era, so maybe there are.
-"He has an enthusiasm for stating the obvious that borders on mania." Sherlock may be dismissive of Mind Palace Victorian John's input, but at least he has John roll his eyes at him for it.
-"No, no, he must stay exactly where he is." All the better to be bait! \o/
-"You can't set a trap without bait." Hee! Told ya.
-"My husband is not bait Mr Holmes!"/"No but he could be if we play our cards right." John's face is a marvel.
-"Sir Eustace is to die tonight."/"Holmes."/"And we should... probably avoid that."/"Definitely."/"Definitely avoid that." Bwahahahah. Good to see Sherlock's Mind Palace Watson is still his moral compass. Poor Lady Carmichael though. *pats her consolingly*
-"Little brother has taken the case, of course." Oh hello again Mycroft. Has Sherlock got you involved in some sort of conspiracy in all this? (Which, given my tail-end theorizations about Mycroft's potential involvement in the 'return' of Moriarty to save Sherlock from exile and a suicide mission, I find very intriguing...)
-"He must never suspect you are working for me. Are you clear on that, Watson?" WHAT?? OH! IT'S MARY!! Right? Because Sherlock still has a few things to work through about her too, so of course she's involved in some way. \o/
-Yep! Hi Mary! I'm sorry some element of Sherlock's Mind Palace/Subconscious still doesn't fully trust you, but really, you did shoot him. Even though you did it as nicely as you could under the circumstances.
-I like this shot so much, because it's like a Paget illustration, as I am certain was intentional. If there's one subtle thing missing from modern-era Sherlock, it's Holmes and Watson discussing a case face-to-face across a train compartment. Side by side in a cab is fine, but there's just something about reviewing a case while on a train.
-"You were about to suggest there may be some supernatural agency involved in this matter and I was about to laugh in your face." *snerk*
-"Since when have you had any kind of imagination." Ooo. Well, this is Sherlock's head Watson, filling the aforementioned role of stating the obvious. I'm pretty sure actual!John might give Sherlock more than a stern glare for that. Or not. *pats John*
-"Perhaps since I convinced the reading public that an unprincipled drug addict is some kind of gentleman hero." Yeah, like that. It does warm me a bit that Sherlock doesn't just have Victorian Mind Palace Watson being a period-approximate misogynistic dunderhead who primarily exists as a combination stater-of-the-obvious and comic relief. He still sasses back appropriately.
-"There are no ghosts in this world... Save those we make for ourselves." And lighting shift. Nice.
-I want to say I'll take the house, and the hedge maze and all, but my brain's gone all practical on me and all I can think of is how much upkeep and cleaning there'd be. Even with an army of Roombas. Someone else can have the house. I'll just have a cottage with a view of it.
-I'll also have drawing room visitation rights, if no one minds.
-"The whole thing was a... bad dream." Sure, Scrooge. 'An undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato.' How'd your dream send you orange pips, hmm? And your wife saw the bride in the hedge maze, so kindly drop the bullshit and talk to the people trying to help you. Honestly, idiots these days.
-"She's a hysteric, prone to fancies." Dude. She's not the one running around a hedge-maze in night clothes after a ghost. (However, she is the one running around the hedge-maze in her night clothes trying to chase you down. She probably had to drag your butt back out after you fainted. Show some appreciation.)
-"She's a highly intelligent woman of rare perception." O.O Coming from Victorian Holmes, that's practically deification.
-"My wife sees terror in an orange pip." Only because you did. Jackass. I can see why the Bride wants to kill you, I think.
-"Your wife can see worlds (or worth? Sound went muddy.) where no one else can see anything of value whatsoever."/"Can she really? And how do you deduce that, Mr Holmes."/"She married you." HA. Nice burn. XD
-"Never heard of her." So far this guy had exuded 100% pure bullshit the entire time they've been here. You'd think he didn't want to escape his doom or whatever.
-"I didn't mention she was a woman." Ha ha. Yeah. I'd just figured he'd seen it in the papers, but any slip this guy makes is worth pouncing on at this point.
-"Then sadly I shall be solving your murder. Good day." Yep, if you can't be bothered to work with the people trying to help you, then really, you've only got yourself to blame when you get shot in the face by a zombie bride.
-"Well he won't follow her, surely." You just met the man. He's an idiot. Of course he'll follow her. Probably in his pyjamas again.
-"The orange pips were a reminder." *nods* Not the same one as the original though. Something in Spain maybe, or somewhere else oranges are grown? And why didn't the others get them? Though admittedly, there wasn't much lead time for them. And how does all this circle back to the real reason for this Victorian jaunt in Sherlock's Mind Palace; determining how Moriarty came back? Blackmail of former clients to provide some part of the elaborate ruse in 'bringing Moriarty back'? Hm. *ponders*
-"Orange pips are a traditional warning of avenging death originating in America. Sir Eustace knows this only too well, just as he knows why he is to be punished." Okay, that part's the same, but Eustace hasn't been to America, so... or at least his wife doesn't think he's been to America, which given this guy's propensity for bullshit doesn't rule out a damn thing. Hm. Is it going to be back to the original ACD story then? Doesn't seem to fit in with the larger purposes of the episode.
-*screeches to a stumbling halt* Holmes is wearing a plaid suit. Plaid. That's... uh... noticeable. I'm going to presume that given Sherlock's rep as a bit of a laissez-faire clothes horse with the suits and whatnot, that plaid suits which look strikingly like modern-day pyjamas are the height of Victorian men's fashion, at least in Sherlock's head. Particularly when the jacket is half-unbuttoned. It's very eye-catching, I must say. Along with the little reverse-priest-collar-non-tie. o.O
-"He believes he is to be dragged to Hell by the risen corpse of the late Mrs Ricoletti." Even more reason why he shouldn't be chasing after her in his pyjamas.
-"That's a load of nonsense, isn't it?"/"God, yes." *cackles*
-"The game is afoot!" Ahahaha. *golf clap* (Gotta say too they are exceedingly colour-coordinated.)
-"The house sleeps." I don't know what it is about John's little concerned face here as they hang out in the greenhouse in the dark waiting for the undead, but it's making me go 'Awwww'
-"Two old friends just talking, chewing the fat. Man to man." Now, considering this is all Sherlock's mind palace, and this is Sherlock's Victorian head!John, this is rather sweet. Some part of Sherlock's mind expressing how he misses hanging out with John, just doing nothing and chatting. John moved out with Mary while Sherlock was dead, so the mundane everyday little flatmate discussions about whatever is going on haven't been a part of Sherlock's life since he jumped off the roof. Mundane, boring, repetitive little exchanges about the weather, or what's in the paper, or who needs to get milk, none of that for years. And in the quiet moments, some part of Sherlock misses that. Of course he's going to be a prat in a second here and tell John to shut up or just blank him out, but that doesn't change that Sherlock misses that social ubiquity of living with John. At least that's how it struck me. Anyway.
-"The fairer sex is your department, Watson." *canon reference fistpump* Another quote from ACD. Lot of them running around in here, given the era.
-"She's far too good for him."/"You think so?"/"No, you think so. I could tell." Ahahahahaah, because Victorian!Watson's a part of Sherlock's Mind Palace architecture. Of course he can tell. They're slipping in all sorts of clues about what's going on here, aren't they?
-Oh, hello there Irene. Entirely reasonable for her to be showing up in some way (in a literal 'cameo' appearance, nearly, ha ha ha) in this Mind Palace data analysis about Moriarty's return. Sherlock knows she's not dead and faked her own death once too, and Sherlock knows she's worked with Moriarty. Her having a part in Moriarty's return is a thing that must be considered, though it seems from the way Watson is directing Sherlock to think about her and the way her photo is hidden in his pocket-watch that Sherlock doesn't really want to consider that Irene could have anything at all to do with this. *steeples fingers ponderingly*
-"Why are you so determined to be alone?" Ooo, and that's definitely some part of Sherlock talking to himself. Though if they talk any louder, their skulking in the greenhouse is going to be gravely compromised.
-"Holmes. Against absolutely no opposition whatsoever, I am your closest friend." Awwww.
-"You're quoting yourself, from the Strand Magazine." Ahahahah.
-"That is the version of you that I present to the public. The brain without a heart. The calculating machine. I write all of that and the readers lap it up, but I do not believe it." Now that on its own as Watson speaking to Holmes is already fascinating and a little poignant, but given this is all in Sherlock's Mind Palace, and is one facet of Sherlock speaking to another facet, that exchange is practically devastating in ways I can't quite explain.
-(It does occur to me that' I've gone all-in on this all being in Sherlock's Mind Palace now and everything I'm saying may have a totally different frame of reference by the end, but I'm reasonably certain that's what's going on, and if it turns out to be some other thing in the end, I'll be the first to point and laugh at myself before turning around to do some fast handwavey retconning.)
-"Well you must have had..."/"Had what?"/"You know." Suddenly Somehow, I think Sherlock's getting a little side tracked in his analysis. Though it is a little bogglesome that Sherlock's sexual history may be considered relevant to Moriarty's return.
-"Experiences."/"Pass me your revolver. I have a sudden need to use it." HAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA XD.
-Oh hello little flashy light in the background on the right while John is grilling Sherlock about his sexuality. What or who are you then?
-"Dear god, I have never been so impatient to be attacked by a murderous ghost." HEEEEEE!
-"Oh Watson. Nothing 'made me'. I made me." *smiles softly* Aw.
-Pattering sounds and Sherlock says something I didn't catch. Rolling back: "Redbeard." UHHH. WHAT? Okay, so. WHAT? O.O
-Right, so. Redbeard is his dog from when he was a kid. Personally I think the dog was falsely accused of attacking someone, was supposed to be put down by the authorities and Wee Sherlock hid him away and tried to find proof to clear him, but the dog was found and put down (possibly with the authorities being tipped off by Mycroft?) before he found that proof. That's just my headcanon though, based on the 'they're going to put me down now too' line in "His Last Vow", so it could be entirely crap. Regardless, Redbeard. From Sherlock's previous Mind Palace escapade while dying, Redbeard is the 'something that can calm him down' wasn't he? And where he went before going to the Moriarty oubliette. So. Hm. Something in that mention there, needs more brain.
-And cue the apparition. "What are we to do?" Well, really, you ought to have thought about that before sitting in the dark in a greenhouse grilling your friend about his relationship history. Shotguns full of rocksalt aren't likely to be available, and there's a decent chance it's not actually a ghost. Something to confirm that might help. How about a good splashing with a bucket of wet mud? If it's not a ghost, you have someone covered in mud and likely thrown off their ghostly schtick, and if it goes right through, then, well... Run!
-"Why don't we have a chat?" Or talking to her, that's always good. Except when it gets you killed, but you two aren't her target so should be fine. (In my gaming brain I can just hear the GM of this scenario going, "You want to do WHAT?")
-Chances that it's Mary under the veil are running at... hm. 50/50? Not quite sure why Mycroft might want a continuation of ghostly appearances, but this is Sherlock working through the hows and whys of Moriarty being back from the dead, and if I can think it's Mycroft faking it to get Sherlock out of being banished from the UK, then Sherlock certainly would be running the possibility through his own processes.
-"It cannot be true, Holmes! It cannot!" Hee, poor Watson, blowing his boggle check.
-Screaming and crashing. Great, so while you two were in the greenhouse discussing relationships and confronting the 'ghost', someone's gone ahead and killed ...whats-his-face. Sorry, between work and health issues, the rate I'm going at this means two weeks have passed since I last heard or typed his name. Eustace, right. Ghost acting as distraction, or ghost leaving after killing the guy. Either is possible, but distraction fits better with Sherlock's Mind Palace analysis, since he has to also be thinking that this big splashy reappearance of Moriarty's is a distraction from something else.
-"Stay here!" While the sense of having the only known unlocked exit watched is arguable (except for the other broken window and all the doors and so forth they didn't check before entering), Watson's not the sort to 'stay here'. However, being Sherlock's Moriarty subroutine-Mind-Palace Watson, maybe he'll actually stay put.
-"You promised to keep him safe, you promised!" Did he though? Also, her nightgown is looking a bit bridal-dress-like to me, or at least close enough in the dark. If she's in on it (though she is sounding genuinely distressed here, her husband seemed like a bit of an ass), she wouldn't have to do anything but put on a veil and loom menacingly, and Sir Eustace would probably throw himself out the window, which would match the sound of the breaking glass from earlier. Not so much the indistinct blackish patch of maybe blood on the floor though. Hm. Shot himself and broke a window behind him? We shall see.
-Oh, it's a blood trail. So stabbed (or the whole house would have heard the shot and already been up and looking into it) then ran away from the 'ghostly spectre' who probably did the looming/stalking thing down the hall after him, then in desperation out a window. *nods*
-Hello, trailer-shot of Watson in the dark with his moustache and revolver!
-The side of Watson's face is also rather picturesque in the dark as he confronts a creaking floorboard. Just saying.
-Ah, sensible Watson, puts down the gun and lights a candle. Jump scare imminent? I think maybe so.
-"After all, this is the 19th century." *snerk*
-Oh hello! *points at the angle of that hallway* That hallway looks really familiar. Is it the hallway from the kids' school in Reichenbach Fall? I've gone back, but the angle isn't the same so it's hard to tell. This being the Moriarty Mind Palace analysis, it would make SO much sense for part of that set/location to be used, since that's where Moriarty set the trap for Sherlock that sent him on the journey to the roof, and revisiting those events through background architecture would just be so cool and meta. It's hard to tell though if it's that hallway because the caps aren't providing the same camera angles. It looks really familiar though. *ponders*
-And hello dead Eustace. So what broke the window?
-Knife, fire-poker, po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Still, he made it a hell of a long way after being stabbed in the chest, and didn't drip nearly as much blood as one might expect, on the carpet or on his shirt. Hm...
-Hahahahah, sorry, just. Tim McInnerny's "shocked" face is always a little silly to me, thanks to four series' of Blackadder.
-It seems to be universal. Whether it's a flickering flashlight or a blown out candle, sudden unexpected variances in illumination = ghosts or demons or something. Or someone pretending to be one.
-I find Watson's shocked face much more compelling.
-Such a perfect triangle of candle, gun and moustache curl, I had to cap it.
-OH CRAP SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!! JUST LIKE THE OPEN FRIGGING WINDOW YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GUARDING!!! ARG! *headdesk* Sherlock's Victorian head-Watson has far too little tactical sense.
-"do not forget me" GAAAAH! OKAY THAT KIND OF FREAKED ME OUT WITH THE GLIDING UP FROM BEHIND even though that's totally Mary's voice. Maybe.
-GAH! And at the same time AHAHAHAHAH, because that 'oogaboogaboo!' kind of hand stance is hilarious and I still think that's totally Mary, particularly, aha! PARTICULARLY since she's saying 'do not forget me' and Watson forgot her perfume at the start of the episode and didn't recognize her in 221B. AH. HAH.
-"I saw her!" Yep, and then you ran away and she jumped back out the window she came in. Sherlock's Victorian head-Watson is a bit of a Jam!Watson, isn't he?
-"THERE ARE NO GHOSTS!!" Heeeee! I think he's getting frustrated that he's running low on 'impossible' things to eliminate that the answer is something other than 'ghost'.
-"Watson is equally culpable." HA. I suppose it's better to be a jerk to Watson in the privacy of his own Mind Palace, but still. Look at that face. From 'you ass' to 'well, actually...' to 'yeah, it's definitely my fault too'. Aw. *pats Watson*
-"He's been stabbed with considerable force." Hm. Leaving aside the issues of gender strength assumption, this is true. Particularly considering that's not a dagger. It's not even the nicely stabby letter-opener he had before. From that handle it's almost certainly a fireplace poker, and I'll be surprised if it's not. ...Actually, no, if it was a poker, about a foot of it would be sticking out the other side of him (or pinned through the floorboards which would be REALLY bizarre and seemingly counterproductive of the Mind Palace architecture to throw into the mix) so it's not a poker. Odd handle for a knife or dagger. Hm. Regardless, perhaps Eustace, on being frightened out of his mind by his wife or Mary in a wedding dress pretending to be a ghost, had picked up a weapon to brandish at it and fell on it, then got up and staggered away? It would fit the blood pattern better, but still, there ought to be more blood, oughtn't there? Or is this another 'cork in the wound' effect, since this is Sherlock's head and his surviving being shot by Mary is also going to throw into the calculations of how Moriarty could have survived shooting himself. Though with a self-inflicted shot to the head bleeding out isn't usually the primary factor in death. (I still think it was a blank and a blood-bag and squib arrangement for Moriarty faking his death, though that would have still hurt like fury and laying completely still afterwards with his eyes open would have been difficult, though Sherlock managed it, so he has to think Moriarty could have managed it too... hm) Anyway. Hm. *ponders*
-"A very keen blade." Keen blade? With that handle? Really? And how can Lestrade tell, when the blade is buried in Eustace's chest? Did I miss that dagger being seen before somewhere? That handle seems atypical for a dagger and much more like the handle of something that would be exposed to high heat, like a fireplace poker (but it's too short) or an old wood-burning stove burner lid handle (could hypothetically stab someone with one of those but it would need either a lot of sharpening or a lot of force.)
-"You saw what you were supposed to see." Yes, you did, didn't you Sherlock. And you're stuck on the dichotomy between Moriarty being dead on the rooftop and being 'alive' and back. At least one of those isn't true, and you have a great deal of difficulty doubting the evidence of your own senses without a mind-altering substance at work (as in Hound (seriously, Hound gas!) so you're stuck on "I saw Moriarty kill himself" as solid fact. I wonder if Sherlock's even seen the stuff showing "Moriarty's Return" yet, because really, as I've said earlier, what we saw at the end of His Last Vow was hardly proof of anything and would be far easier to discount as false. I think, anyway. That gif could have been knocked together in a few minutes with Photoshop, and then it's just down to "people who can take over broadcast signals at will and would benefit from Moriarty being perceived as 'not dead'", which wouldn't necessitate an extended visit to a Mind Palace subroutine set in the Victorian Era (why the Victorian Era?) at all, or in fact the return of Sherlock from exile, probably. Hm.
-Oh no, the boys are fighting about the possibility of ghosts. Of course, this being all in Sherlock's head, Sherlock is starting to consider actually maybe Moriarty did rise from the dead, and is trying to shout himself down. All of which is distracting him from considering Moriarty was never dead in the first place, because Sherlock's Mind Palace setup had Amanda Ricoletti definitely dead in the Morgue, making 'Moriarty is dead' the baseline 'fact' for this thought experiment, because Sherlock will not disbelieve what he assumes he saw. Did Moriarty even get picked up from the roof and taken to the morgue by hospital staff? Who would have even told them he was up there? I suppose the body could have been found when the authorities went over the scene after Sherlock jumped, but Mycroft had to have been in pretty firm control of who had access to what when, so.... aaaand now I'm side-eyeing Mycroft again.
-"A solution so blindingly obvious even Lestrade could work it out!"/"Thank you." Aw, poor Lestrade.
-"They did leave a note." Wait, what? What note?
-"And then there's the matter of the other broken window." Ehn. Could be an interior window, or a mirror, something. What note?
-"Yet prior to that we distinctly heard the sound of what did you just say?" Ah, despite being on a deductive tear, Sherlock still can hear the ringing of the clue phone.
-"There was no message when I found the body." *scrolls back through caps* Not sure if it was there when Watson was having a gander either. Someone's subconscious is trying to get him to expand Sherlock's definition of 'possible' I think.
-Ooo, that's as close as he's looked to fainting without being gravely injured in a long while. What's it say? 'IOU' or 'Did you miss me' maybe?
-Heh. Yep. (What does the second tag say though?)
-Wheeee, it's the 'my basis of reality is being challenged' camera! ALSO! Sherlock is going downstairs in his Mind Palace! There's something on a deeper level he needs to review!
Continued in...
PART THREE
PART FOUR
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR RUMOURS OR REFERENCES TO ANY INFORMATION FOR SERIES 4 OF SHERLOCK IN COMMENTS)
PART ONE
PART TWO - "The Abominable Bride"
-Months later, Lestrade is back, looking furry and sheepish. Of course this all being in Sherlock's mind palace, the mutton chops could mean something super significant. Let us ponder the significance of Lestrade's mutton chops! *ponders* ...Or not. But they could still be significant!!
-Oh well, they're itchy too, that makes all the difference! They're obviously signifying the restrictions placed on Lestrade's investigative capabilities, such as they are, by the constraints of the modern Metropolitan police force. Of course. *handwaves*
-And while I'm distracted by sideburns, I'm just going to take a moment to bask in the set design.
-And since Sherlock is actively ignoring weird murders in favour of looking things up in his mind palace archives, let's google. The "obliquity of the ecliptic" is basically (besides being a canon shout out to "The Greek Interpreter" (*belated canon reference fist-pump*) the Earth's axial tilt, that among other things, causes the Earth's seasons. Heh. Maybe my crack theory involving it seeming to be snowing when Sherlock jumped off the roof could be something he's poking around at in his mind palace in reference to Moriarty's death, maybe, maybe, maybe. Hm. It did only start looking like it was snowing after Moriarty was shot. Before that it was a bright sunny day. I don't doubt that it's actually nothing at all (especially considering so many people insisting it looks like rain to them in the comments on that post), but at this point, I'd be thrilled if weird weather was even mentioned. But we all have our little fixations.
-[Between the crazy work hours, various bouts of illness and RL interference, it is now April for me. Oi. On the up side it's been really easy to avoid further spoilers :-P]
-Sherlock says the new murders are all copy-cat crimes and he's solved it. Well, obviously he hasn't or he wouldn't still be in the Victorian England wing of his Mind Palace working on the issue of how Moriarty is back from the dead, now would he? So, something about Moriarty's return is not letting him settle for "It's someone else mimicking Moriarty" without cross-referencing and trying to understand something about the axial tilt of the Earth. How interesting...
-"Didn't Dr. Watson move out a few months ago?" Oh ow. And Sherlock's still processing all that too.
-"Worked surprisingly well though. I actually thought he was improving." Hahahah, suuuuure.
-Meanwhile, Mary's out adventuring for England, leaving John and his fabulous moustache alone at the breakfast table, rather than John being out running around after Sherlock and leaving Mary out of the fun. Turnabout is fair play, John.
-I sincerely hope that bell is for a servant of some sort and not Mary, or Victorian era or not I will feel very irked towards John. Or rather Sherlock, since this is his Mind Palace interpretation of "Victorian Era John"
-Oh good. Slight reprieve.
-"She's always out these days."/"*laugh* Not unlike yourself." Oh my. That's not an attitude that would be welcomed from a Victorian household employee. True as it is.
-"Just meant you're hardly ever home together sir." Ooohoo, yeah, that's really not going to go down well. As evidenced by Watson's blinky 'Oh no you didn't' face.
-"I shall have a word with my wife to have a word with you." Heeeeee. I see John's role in this Mind Palace construct of Sherlock is to be the very 'bound by and upholding of social/gender roles' middle class Victorian man. Is Sherlock casting John in a role like those of the victims, perhaps, so as to provide himself more urgent motivation to solve the puzzle of Moriarty's survival? Hm...
-"And when will you be seeing her?" Okay, yeah, she's deliberately winding him up. Hee! I'm thinking Mary's out doing some civil disobedience with the suffragette movement now. So far all the women in this have been very forthright for the era. Including the dead one who's going around shooting people.
-"Why do you never mention me, sir?"/"Go away." Ha! Actually, I wonder now if she's intent on being the worst serving girl in London just so he'll write her into a story as such.
-Ahahahahah. Back to the original.
-"I deduce we're on our way to see someone cleverer than you."/"Shut up." Heeee!
-Same place, same building, same rules yep (though that's not at all an anagram of Diogenes Club no matter what the transition graphic might like to imply, though 'belched noise cut' with a g left over is feasible). Victorian Mycroft, here we come. Now, from our prior Mind Palacing with Sherlock, Mycroft tends to be the facet of the mnemonic loci that berates Sherlock when he's missed something, so this could be a productive visit, since if his copy-cat conclusion isn't enough to let him dismiss the problem of Moriarty, Sherlock has indeed missed something.
-SIGN LANGUAGE! I have to say I love Wilder's snarling/clawing name-sign.
-Meanwhile, John is adorably clueless.
-Awwww!
-And now I'll just sit here and giggle for a while. When conversing in any unfamiliar language it's best to keep discourse limited and simple.
-"Sorry, what?" John Watson, same in any era. Especially in Sherlock's Mind Palace.
-Heh. Yeah, Sherlock's more in charge of the way his Mind Palace presents his brother in this scenario. *headshake*
-Bantering about Holmesian hearts and the lack thereof, quite sweet and brotherly, actually.
-"Three years flat if you eat that plum pudding."/"Done. *omnomnom*" Yeah, Sherlock's getting off task and taking a break to taunt his brother in his own head. Focus, Sherlock.
-Aw, darn, he was reading the paper about axial tilt because of a motive for one of the victims. Except this is all in the Mind Palace, so the motive is whatever his pondering directs him to as a potential resource to solve the external primary problem of Moriarty, so I still call some kind of background analysis about seasonal weather patterns being included in the diagnostic process, and am pleased. Tra la. Moving on.
-"Did you summon me here just to humiliate me?"/"Yeeesss. *smirk*" Ahahah, do you even know your brother, Sherlock?
-"Socialists? Anarchists? The French? Suffragists?" HEEEEEEE! Watson listing the invisible elbow-lurking threats to the Victorian English male status quo.
-"Is there any large body of people you're not concerned about?" *snerk* Also, perhaps another look at John's possible role in the Mind Palace construct as threat detection and awareness?
-"Doctor Watson is endlessly vigilant." Yep! There we are then. John's the watchdog of Sherlock's Mind Palace. Also, demonstrator/exposer of social/societal constructs and minor comic relief.
-"The Scots."/"The Scots?" John also occasionally pulls double-duty on several roles at once.
-"Are you aware of recent theories concerning what is known as paranoia?"/"Ooh, sounds Serbian." *facepalm*
-"We don't defeat them, we must certainly lose to them."/"Why?"/"Because they are right and we are wrong." OOOOOOO. There's the old Mind Palace Mycroft, telling Sherlock to step it up and figure out what he's missed or be beaten by Moriarty. Excellent.
-"Why not just tell us your solution?"/"Where would be the sport in that." Indeed. Big brother isn't going to solve the problem for you, Sherlock, but he has no problem kicking your arse in the right direction.
-"Also a Mr.-" Did he say Mister Malice? Sherlock's Mind Palace is losing its subtlety. o.O
-Mycroft: *ogles plum puddings* Definitely lost its subtlety. :-P
-"Those are my specialisms." As is spurious word transmogrification, but what the hell, eh? *googles* Aaaaaactually, that's a reference to ACD as the word was used a few times in the original stories, so *canon reference fistpump* *facepalm of obliviousness*
-"I think it may be a matter for a priest." Ah, the undead bride rides again, accompanied by a fine round of dubious glancing from Holmes and Watson.
-OH HI THERE CAPTAIN DARLING! I mean, ah, Tim McInnerny! Hello! *waves like an idiot at the screen*
-Now that's a damn fine letter opener. Love a letter opener that can double as a stiletto. The one I've got is useless and would bend in a stiff breeze, but it was government-issued at the turn of the millennium, so it's about as good as can be expected, really.
-"What is it? Eustace?" Well, despite his expression and stunned silence the envelope is too small for it to be a severed body part, so that's some relief considering he's opening it at the table. Maybe it's a packet of cash. No one would expect that.
-Oh my god. Five orange pips! Well damn. But we already did this! But this is Sherlock's mind palace examining his knowledge about Moriarty and revisiting the whole business with the pink phone and the pips and the bomb jackets etcetera to glean information about how Moriarty operates to determine how he's still causing trouble from 'beyond the grave' *waggles fingers and makes spooky woowoo noises* so it makes perfect sense. OOO! And if they don't go Doyle's route with the villain, a secretive cult of personality carrying out their dead leader(the bride/Moriarty)'s posthumous bidding could be something to throw in the Mind Palace analysis engine to see if it kicks Sherlock out of this diagnostic fugue.
-"Death." Looks like Eustace knows a few things about oranges he wishes he didn't.
-"Uh, nothing, it's uh-" You sir, lie badly.
-"Tell me, has Eustace spent time in America?" Well, maybe we are getting the Doyle adversary. Hadn't thought of Moriarty as equating to the KKK, but okay then!? O.o
-"Not to my knowledge." Or not.
-It's a foggy night and you have a hedge maze. Of course you've got ghosts!
-"It was the Bride!" Watson's poker face could use a little work. The moustache is providing a damn fine assist though. Unlike a certain prior moustache which shall not be named again.
-You know, if you're going outside before dawn to face the hypothetical undead, perhaps change out of your nightclothes first, hm? Something durable, with pants. (I'd also recommend packing a shotgun full of rocksalt, but that's another thing entirely.)
-Running around in hedge mazes when the undead are possibly about, also inadvisable. At least she seemed to have stopped to put on boots. Or some very tall slippers.
-Gaaaaah! I mean it's a very old trope, having the ghosty thing moving around and not being noticed, but it still got me. Gaaaah!
-Oh, and now creepy singing. Greeeeaaat.
-Well, standing and staring is better than on the ground bleeding or dead, but really, there are many more practical things you could be doing right now. Like throwing a pebble at her to test that she's physically present. Or shooting her with rocksalt which works whether she's actually a ghost or just a person being creepy, but Mr I-Can-Confront-Ghosts-in-My-Pyjamas here didn't think that far ahead, now did he?
-"She's Amelia Ricoletti." Or someone of similar body type in a similar wedding dress, here to freak you out or kill you for some reason. I mean really, why would a ghost or zombie be sending you orange pips? Logic, man!
-Also, running is an option. It's your hedge maze, guys! You can lose her, easy!
-"This night, Eustace Carmichael, you will die." Aaaand he faints. Or has a heart attack. She didn't even have to shoot this one!
-Interesting transition, hedge maze to fingers.
-Really though, neither of them saw her face, it could be literally anyone of similar shape in a wedding dress. The dress doesn't even have to be the same for the trick to work, it's not like there's likely to be HD photos of the original Amelia Ricoletti's dress published in the Strand. Although this is Sherlock's Mind Palace version of the Victorian era, so maybe there are.
-"He has an enthusiasm for stating the obvious that borders on mania." Sherlock may be dismissive of Mind Palace Victorian John's input, but at least he has John roll his eyes at him for it.
-"No, no, he must stay exactly where he is." All the better to be bait! \o/
-"You can't set a trap without bait." Hee! Told ya.
-"My husband is not bait Mr Holmes!"/"No but he could be if we play our cards right." John's face is a marvel.
-"Sir Eustace is to die tonight."/"Holmes."/"And we should... probably avoid that."/"Definitely."/"Definitely avoid that." Bwahahahah. Good to see Sherlock's Mind Palace Watson is still his moral compass. Poor Lady Carmichael though. *pats her consolingly*
-"Little brother has taken the case, of course." Oh hello again Mycroft. Has Sherlock got you involved in some sort of conspiracy in all this? (Which, given my tail-end theorizations about Mycroft's potential involvement in the 'return' of Moriarty to save Sherlock from exile and a suicide mission, I find very intriguing...)
-"He must never suspect you are working for me. Are you clear on that, Watson?" WHAT?? OH! IT'S MARY!! Right? Because Sherlock still has a few things to work through about her too, so of course she's involved in some way. \o/
-Yep! Hi Mary! I'm sorry some element of Sherlock's Mind Palace/Subconscious still doesn't fully trust you, but really, you did shoot him. Even though you did it as nicely as you could under the circumstances.
-I like this shot so much, because it's like a Paget illustration, as I am certain was intentional. If there's one subtle thing missing from modern-era Sherlock, it's Holmes and Watson discussing a case face-to-face across a train compartment. Side by side in a cab is fine, but there's just something about reviewing a case while on a train.
-"You were about to suggest there may be some supernatural agency involved in this matter and I was about to laugh in your face." *snerk*
-"Since when have you had any kind of imagination." Ooo. Well, this is Sherlock's head Watson, filling the aforementioned role of stating the obvious. I'm pretty sure actual!John might give Sherlock more than a stern glare for that. Or not. *pats John*
-"Perhaps since I convinced the reading public that an unprincipled drug addict is some kind of gentleman hero." Yeah, like that. It does warm me a bit that Sherlock doesn't just have Victorian Mind Palace Watson being a period-approximate misogynistic dunderhead who primarily exists as a combination stater-of-the-obvious and comic relief. He still sasses back appropriately.
-"There are no ghosts in this world... Save those we make for ourselves." And lighting shift. Nice.
-I want to say I'll take the house, and the hedge maze and all, but my brain's gone all practical on me and all I can think of is how much upkeep and cleaning there'd be. Even with an army of Roombas. Someone else can have the house. I'll just have a cottage with a view of it.
-I'll also have drawing room visitation rights, if no one minds.
-"The whole thing was a... bad dream." Sure, Scrooge. 'An undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato.' How'd your dream send you orange pips, hmm? And your wife saw the bride in the hedge maze, so kindly drop the bullshit and talk to the people trying to help you. Honestly, idiots these days.
-"She's a hysteric, prone to fancies." Dude. She's not the one running around a hedge-maze in night clothes after a ghost. (However, she is the one running around the hedge-maze in her night clothes trying to chase you down. She probably had to drag your butt back out after you fainted. Show some appreciation.)
-"She's a highly intelligent woman of rare perception." O.O Coming from Victorian Holmes, that's practically deification.
-"My wife sees terror in an orange pip." Only because you did. Jackass. I can see why the Bride wants to kill you, I think.
-"Your wife can see worlds (or worth? Sound went muddy.) where no one else can see anything of value whatsoever."/"Can she really? And how do you deduce that, Mr Holmes."/"She married you." HA. Nice burn. XD
-"Never heard of her." So far this guy had exuded 100% pure bullshit the entire time they've been here. You'd think he didn't want to escape his doom or whatever.
-"I didn't mention she was a woman." Ha ha. Yeah. I'd just figured he'd seen it in the papers, but any slip this guy makes is worth pouncing on at this point.
-"Then sadly I shall be solving your murder. Good day." Yep, if you can't be bothered to work with the people trying to help you, then really, you've only got yourself to blame when you get shot in the face by a zombie bride.
-"Well he won't follow her, surely." You just met the man. He's an idiot. Of course he'll follow her. Probably in his pyjamas again.
-"The orange pips were a reminder." *nods* Not the same one as the original though. Something in Spain maybe, or somewhere else oranges are grown? And why didn't the others get them? Though admittedly, there wasn't much lead time for them. And how does all this circle back to the real reason for this Victorian jaunt in Sherlock's Mind Palace; determining how Moriarty came back? Blackmail of former clients to provide some part of the elaborate ruse in 'bringing Moriarty back'? Hm. *ponders*
-"Orange pips are a traditional warning of avenging death originating in America. Sir Eustace knows this only too well, just as he knows why he is to be punished." Okay, that part's the same, but Eustace hasn't been to America, so... or at least his wife doesn't think he's been to America, which given this guy's propensity for bullshit doesn't rule out a damn thing. Hm. Is it going to be back to the original ACD story then? Doesn't seem to fit in with the larger purposes of the episode.
-*screeches to a stumbling halt* Holmes is wearing a plaid suit. Plaid. That's... uh... noticeable. I'm going to presume that given Sherlock's rep as a bit of a laissez-faire clothes horse with the suits and whatnot, that plaid suits which look strikingly like modern-day pyjamas are the height of Victorian men's fashion, at least in Sherlock's head. Particularly when the jacket is half-unbuttoned. It's very eye-catching, I must say. Along with the little reverse-priest-collar-non-tie. o.O
-"He believes he is to be dragged to Hell by the risen corpse of the late Mrs Ricoletti." Even more reason why he shouldn't be chasing after her in his pyjamas.
-"That's a load of nonsense, isn't it?"/"God, yes." *cackles*
-"The game is afoot!" Ahahaha. *golf clap* (Gotta say too they are exceedingly colour-coordinated.)
-"The house sleeps." I don't know what it is about John's little concerned face here as they hang out in the greenhouse in the dark waiting for the undead, but it's making me go 'Awwww'
-"Two old friends just talking, chewing the fat. Man to man." Now, considering this is all Sherlock's mind palace, and this is Sherlock's Victorian head!John, this is rather sweet. Some part of Sherlock's mind expressing how he misses hanging out with John, just doing nothing and chatting. John moved out with Mary while Sherlock was dead, so the mundane everyday little flatmate discussions about whatever is going on haven't been a part of Sherlock's life since he jumped off the roof. Mundane, boring, repetitive little exchanges about the weather, or what's in the paper, or who needs to get milk, none of that for years. And in the quiet moments, some part of Sherlock misses that. Of course he's going to be a prat in a second here and tell John to shut up or just blank him out, but that doesn't change that Sherlock misses that social ubiquity of living with John. At least that's how it struck me. Anyway.
-"The fairer sex is your department, Watson." *canon reference fistpump* Another quote from ACD. Lot of them running around in here, given the era.
-"She's far too good for him."/"You think so?"/"No, you think so. I could tell." Ahahahahaah, because Victorian!Watson's a part of Sherlock's Mind Palace architecture. Of course he can tell. They're slipping in all sorts of clues about what's going on here, aren't they?
-Oh, hello there Irene. Entirely reasonable for her to be showing up in some way (in a literal 'cameo' appearance, nearly, ha ha ha) in this Mind Palace data analysis about Moriarty's return. Sherlock knows she's not dead and faked her own death once too, and Sherlock knows she's worked with Moriarty. Her having a part in Moriarty's return is a thing that must be considered, though it seems from the way Watson is directing Sherlock to think about her and the way her photo is hidden in his pocket-watch that Sherlock doesn't really want to consider that Irene could have anything at all to do with this. *steeples fingers ponderingly*
-"Why are you so determined to be alone?" Ooo, and that's definitely some part of Sherlock talking to himself. Though if they talk any louder, their skulking in the greenhouse is going to be gravely compromised.
-"Holmes. Against absolutely no opposition whatsoever, I am your closest friend." Awwww.
-"You're quoting yourself, from the Strand Magazine." Ahahahah.
-"That is the version of you that I present to the public. The brain without a heart. The calculating machine. I write all of that and the readers lap it up, but I do not believe it." Now that on its own as Watson speaking to Holmes is already fascinating and a little poignant, but given this is all in Sherlock's Mind Palace, and is one facet of Sherlock speaking to another facet, that exchange is practically devastating in ways I can't quite explain.
-(It does occur to me that' I've gone all-in on this all being in Sherlock's Mind Palace now and everything I'm saying may have a totally different frame of reference by the end, but I'm reasonably certain that's what's going on, and if it turns out to be some other thing in the end, I'll be the first to point and laugh at myself before turning around to do some fast handwavey retconning.)
-"Well you must have had..."/"Had what?"/"You know." Suddenly Somehow, I think Sherlock's getting a little side tracked in his analysis. Though it is a little bogglesome that Sherlock's sexual history may be considered relevant to Moriarty's return.
-"Experiences."/"Pass me your revolver. I have a sudden need to use it." HAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA XD.
-Oh hello little flashy light in the background on the right while John is grilling Sherlock about his sexuality. What or who are you then?
-"Dear god, I have never been so impatient to be attacked by a murderous ghost." HEEEEEE!
-"Oh Watson. Nothing 'made me'. I made me." *smiles softly* Aw.
-Pattering sounds and Sherlock says something I didn't catch. Rolling back: "Redbeard." UHHH. WHAT? Okay, so. WHAT? O.O
-Right, so. Redbeard is his dog from when he was a kid. Personally I think the dog was falsely accused of attacking someone, was supposed to be put down by the authorities and Wee Sherlock hid him away and tried to find proof to clear him, but the dog was found and put down (possibly with the authorities being tipped off by Mycroft?) before he found that proof. That's just my headcanon though, based on the 'they're going to put me down now too' line in "His Last Vow", so it could be entirely crap. Regardless, Redbeard. From Sherlock's previous Mind Palace escapade while dying, Redbeard is the 'something that can calm him down' wasn't he? And where he went before going to the Moriarty oubliette. So. Hm. Something in that mention there, needs more brain.
-And cue the apparition. "What are we to do?" Well, really, you ought to have thought about that before sitting in the dark in a greenhouse grilling your friend about his relationship history. Shotguns full of rocksalt aren't likely to be available, and there's a decent chance it's not actually a ghost. Something to confirm that might help. How about a good splashing with a bucket of wet mud? If it's not a ghost, you have someone covered in mud and likely thrown off their ghostly schtick, and if it goes right through, then, well... Run!
-"Why don't we have a chat?" Or talking to her, that's always good. Except when it gets you killed, but you two aren't her target so should be fine. (In my gaming brain I can just hear the GM of this scenario going, "You want to do WHAT?")
-Chances that it's Mary under the veil are running at... hm. 50/50? Not quite sure why Mycroft might want a continuation of ghostly appearances, but this is Sherlock working through the hows and whys of Moriarty being back from the dead, and if I can think it's Mycroft faking it to get Sherlock out of being banished from the UK, then Sherlock certainly would be running the possibility through his own processes.
-"It cannot be true, Holmes! It cannot!" Hee, poor Watson, blowing his boggle check.
-Screaming and crashing. Great, so while you two were in the greenhouse discussing relationships and confronting the 'ghost', someone's gone ahead and killed ...whats-his-face. Sorry, between work and health issues, the rate I'm going at this means two weeks have passed since I last heard or typed his name. Eustace, right. Ghost acting as distraction, or ghost leaving after killing the guy. Either is possible, but distraction fits better with Sherlock's Mind Palace analysis, since he has to also be thinking that this big splashy reappearance of Moriarty's is a distraction from something else.
-"Stay here!" While the sense of having the only known unlocked exit watched is arguable (except for the other broken window and all the doors and so forth they didn't check before entering), Watson's not the sort to 'stay here'. However, being Sherlock's Moriarty subroutine-Mind-Palace Watson, maybe he'll actually stay put.
-"You promised to keep him safe, you promised!" Did he though? Also, her nightgown is looking a bit bridal-dress-like to me, or at least close enough in the dark. If she's in on it (though she is sounding genuinely distressed here, her husband seemed like a bit of an ass), she wouldn't have to do anything but put on a veil and loom menacingly, and Sir Eustace would probably throw himself out the window, which would match the sound of the breaking glass from earlier. Not so much the indistinct blackish patch of maybe blood on the floor though. Hm. Shot himself and broke a window behind him? We shall see.
-Oh, it's a blood trail. So stabbed (or the whole house would have heard the shot and already been up and looking into it) then ran away from the 'ghostly spectre' who probably did the looming/stalking thing down the hall after him, then in desperation out a window. *nods*
-Hello, trailer-shot of Watson in the dark with his moustache and revolver!
-The side of Watson's face is also rather picturesque in the dark as he confronts a creaking floorboard. Just saying.
-Ah, sensible Watson, puts down the gun and lights a candle. Jump scare imminent? I think maybe so.
-"After all, this is the 19th century." *snerk*
-Oh hello! *points at the angle of that hallway* That hallway looks really familiar. Is it the hallway from the kids' school in Reichenbach Fall? I've gone back, but the angle isn't the same so it's hard to tell. This being the Moriarty Mind Palace analysis, it would make SO much sense for part of that set/location to be used, since that's where Moriarty set the trap for Sherlock that sent him on the journey to the roof, and revisiting those events through background architecture would just be so cool and meta. It's hard to tell though if it's that hallway because the caps aren't providing the same camera angles. It looks really familiar though. *ponders*
-And hello dead Eustace. So what broke the window?
-Knife, fire-poker, po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Still, he made it a hell of a long way after being stabbed in the chest, and didn't drip nearly as much blood as one might expect, on the carpet or on his shirt. Hm...
-Hahahahah, sorry, just. Tim McInnerny's "shocked" face is always a little silly to me, thanks to four series' of Blackadder.
-It seems to be universal. Whether it's a flickering flashlight or a blown out candle, sudden unexpected variances in illumination = ghosts or demons or something. Or someone pretending to be one.
-I find Watson's shocked face much more compelling.
-Such a perfect triangle of candle, gun and moustache curl, I had to cap it.
-OH CRAP SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!! JUST LIKE THE OPEN FRIGGING WINDOW YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GUARDING!!! ARG! *headdesk* Sherlock's Victorian head-Watson has far too little tactical sense.
-"do not forget me" GAAAAH! OKAY THAT KIND OF FREAKED ME OUT WITH THE GLIDING UP FROM BEHIND even though that's totally Mary's voice. Maybe.
-GAH! And at the same time AHAHAHAHAH, because that 'oogaboogaboo!' kind of hand stance is hilarious and I still think that's totally Mary, particularly, aha! PARTICULARLY since she's saying 'do not forget me' and Watson forgot her perfume at the start of the episode and didn't recognize her in 221B. AH. HAH.
-"I saw her!" Yep, and then you ran away and she jumped back out the window she came in. Sherlock's Victorian head-Watson is a bit of a Jam!Watson, isn't he?
-"THERE ARE NO GHOSTS!!" Heeeee! I think he's getting frustrated that he's running low on 'impossible' things to eliminate that the answer is something other than 'ghost'.
-"Watson is equally culpable." HA. I suppose it's better to be a jerk to Watson in the privacy of his own Mind Palace, but still. Look at that face. From 'you ass' to 'well, actually...' to 'yeah, it's definitely my fault too'. Aw. *pats Watson*
-"He's been stabbed with considerable force." Hm. Leaving aside the issues of gender strength assumption, this is true. Particularly considering that's not a dagger. It's not even the nicely stabby letter-opener he had before. From that handle it's almost certainly a fireplace poker, and I'll be surprised if it's not. ...Actually, no, if it was a poker, about a foot of it would be sticking out the other side of him (or pinned through the floorboards which would be REALLY bizarre and seemingly counterproductive of the Mind Palace architecture to throw into the mix) so it's not a poker. Odd handle for a knife or dagger. Hm. Regardless, perhaps Eustace, on being frightened out of his mind by his wife or Mary in a wedding dress pretending to be a ghost, had picked up a weapon to brandish at it and fell on it, then got up and staggered away? It would fit the blood pattern better, but still, there ought to be more blood, oughtn't there? Or is this another 'cork in the wound' effect, since this is Sherlock's head and his surviving being shot by Mary is also going to throw into the calculations of how Moriarty could have survived shooting himself. Though with a self-inflicted shot to the head bleeding out isn't usually the primary factor in death. (I still think it was a blank and a blood-bag and squib arrangement for Moriarty faking his death, though that would have still hurt like fury and laying completely still afterwards with his eyes open would have been difficult, though Sherlock managed it, so he has to think Moriarty could have managed it too... hm) Anyway. Hm. *ponders*
-"A very keen blade." Keen blade? With that handle? Really? And how can Lestrade tell, when the blade is buried in Eustace's chest? Did I miss that dagger being seen before somewhere? That handle seems atypical for a dagger and much more like the handle of something that would be exposed to high heat, like a fireplace poker (but it's too short) or an old wood-burning stove burner lid handle (could hypothetically stab someone with one of those but it would need either a lot of sharpening or a lot of force.)
-"You saw what you were supposed to see." Yes, you did, didn't you Sherlock. And you're stuck on the dichotomy between Moriarty being dead on the rooftop and being 'alive' and back. At least one of those isn't true, and you have a great deal of difficulty doubting the evidence of your own senses without a mind-altering substance at work (as in Hound (seriously, Hound gas!) so you're stuck on "I saw Moriarty kill himself" as solid fact. I wonder if Sherlock's even seen the stuff showing "Moriarty's Return" yet, because really, as I've said earlier, what we saw at the end of His Last Vow was hardly proof of anything and would be far easier to discount as false. I think, anyway. That gif could have been knocked together in a few minutes with Photoshop, and then it's just down to "people who can take over broadcast signals at will and would benefit from Moriarty being perceived as 'not dead'", which wouldn't necessitate an extended visit to a Mind Palace subroutine set in the Victorian Era (why the Victorian Era?) at all, or in fact the return of Sherlock from exile, probably. Hm.
-Oh no, the boys are fighting about the possibility of ghosts. Of course, this being all in Sherlock's head, Sherlock is starting to consider actually maybe Moriarty did rise from the dead, and is trying to shout himself down. All of which is distracting him from considering Moriarty was never dead in the first place, because Sherlock's Mind Palace setup had Amanda Ricoletti definitely dead in the Morgue, making 'Moriarty is dead' the baseline 'fact' for this thought experiment, because Sherlock will not disbelieve what he assumes he saw. Did Moriarty even get picked up from the roof and taken to the morgue by hospital staff? Who would have even told them he was up there? I suppose the body could have been found when the authorities went over the scene after Sherlock jumped, but Mycroft had to have been in pretty firm control of who had access to what when, so.... aaaand now I'm side-eyeing Mycroft again.
-"A solution so blindingly obvious even Lestrade could work it out!"/"Thank you." Aw, poor Lestrade.
-"They did leave a note." Wait, what? What note?
-"And then there's the matter of the other broken window." Ehn. Could be an interior window, or a mirror, something. What note?
-"Yet prior to that we distinctly heard the sound of what did you just say?" Ah, despite being on a deductive tear, Sherlock still can hear the ringing of the clue phone.
-"There was no message when I found the body." *scrolls back through caps* Not sure if it was there when Watson was having a gander either. Someone's subconscious is trying to get him to expand Sherlock's definition of 'possible' I think.
-Ooo, that's as close as he's looked to fainting without being gravely injured in a long while. What's it say? 'IOU' or 'Did you miss me' maybe?
-Heh. Yep. (What does the second tag say though?)
-Wheeee, it's the 'my basis of reality is being challenged' camera! ALSO! Sherlock is going downstairs in his Mind Palace! There's something on a deeper level he needs to review!
Continued in...
PART THREE
PART FOUR
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR RUMOURS OR REFERENCES TO ANY INFORMATION FOR SERIES 4 OF SHERLOCK IN COMMENTS)