Sherlock - His Last Vow
Jan. 20th, 2015 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcAnd that's me caught up!
Well, it wasn't "His Last Bow" at all, obviously, it was "Charles Augustus Milverton". The line about the East wind was the only "Last Bow" allusion I noticed.
But it was a very good take on "Charles Augustus Milverton". Magnusson manages to be creepier and more unpleasant than the original, which takes some doing, and the fact he accumulates power rather than conventional blackmail is a neat touch. (In fact, his "web" struck me as rather more like the Canon Moriarty than Jim was.)
We finally get a direct reference to Holmes having a drug problem after multiple implications; I susspect that the makers of Sherlock don't want to play that note too heavily at this point, since it's one of the things that distinguishes Elementary. But the riff on the opening of "The Man With the Twisted Lip" was obviously too perfect to pass up. And the idea that he's trying to create a scandal that will attract Magnusson's attention is neat. As was the intervention, with the return of The Empty Hearse.
Sometimes I'm very slow, even though I know these stories. I was as taken aback by Watson that Sherlock was having a relationship with Janine, but it wasn't until she actually answered the door that I thought "Oh, she's the counterpart of the housemaid!" As ever, Moffat seems to be more aware than Doyle that Sherlock's behaviour here is a bit gittish.
I had it thoroughly spoilered that Mary Wasn't What She Seemed, but it was still interesting to see it play out. And the scene where she shoots Sherlock and his memory palace gives him advice on what to do next was neat. Although I still don't get why Redbeard the dog was leverage. Something being set up for next series[1]?
We finally get the actual plot of "The Empty House", but with a couple of extra twists. I loved the Christmas scene, once I stopped being confused that we were jumping back and forth in time. Sherlock's parents continue to be brilliant. Although it does mean I need to make some revisions to my nearly completed fanfic...
When Sherlock pulled of Magnusson's glasses in the cafe I burst out laughing at the thought that all the time we saw names and details scrolling across his view it really was scrolling across his view. The fact Moffat was confident enough to throw that trick away as a fakeout was excellent, as was the later reveal that he'd done the opposite; all the time we saw Magnusson in his vault, it was a memory palace, just like Sherlock's!
Which means that there's nothing to torch; the destruction of the files and the death of Magnusson are the same thing. And once that's in place it becomes apparent that Mary isn't going to be the counterpart of the woman from the end of "Milverton" after all; Sherlock is. The fact I'd worked this out (I wasn't spoilered on this, somehow) meant it came as a surprise; I was expecting Sherlock to think of something I hadn't, possibly revealing he'd planned it all along.
But unlike in "Milverton" you don't get away with murder just because the guy deserved it. You get away with murder because Moriarty is (apparently) back and Sherlock is needed.
Some more blink-and-miss-it Canon references:
Mary's real initials acronymise the treasure from "The Sign of the Four".
Sherlock deduces the security guard is a white supremacist because he has a tattoo of a dice showing five pips.
Janine is retiring to a cottage on the South Downs, and getting rid of the beehives.
[1]I note that near the end, Mycroft says something that sort of suggests he has or had another brother...
Well, it wasn't "His Last Bow" at all, obviously, it was "Charles Augustus Milverton". The line about the East wind was the only "Last Bow" allusion I noticed.
But it was a very good take on "Charles Augustus Milverton". Magnusson manages to be creepier and more unpleasant than the original, which takes some doing, and the fact he accumulates power rather than conventional blackmail is a neat touch. (In fact, his "web" struck me as rather more like the Canon Moriarty than Jim was.)
We finally get a direct reference to Holmes having a drug problem after multiple implications; I susspect that the makers of Sherlock don't want to play that note too heavily at this point, since it's one of the things that distinguishes Elementary. But the riff on the opening of "The Man With the Twisted Lip" was obviously too perfect to pass up. And the idea that he's trying to create a scandal that will attract Magnusson's attention is neat. As was the intervention, with the return of The Empty Hearse.
Sometimes I'm very slow, even though I know these stories. I was as taken aback by Watson that Sherlock was having a relationship with Janine, but it wasn't until she actually answered the door that I thought "Oh, she's the counterpart of the housemaid!" As ever, Moffat seems to be more aware than Doyle that Sherlock's behaviour here is a bit gittish.
I had it thoroughly spoilered that Mary Wasn't What She Seemed, but it was still interesting to see it play out. And the scene where she shoots Sherlock and his memory palace gives him advice on what to do next was neat. Although I still don't get why Redbeard the dog was leverage. Something being set up for next series[1]?
We finally get the actual plot of "The Empty House", but with a couple of extra twists. I loved the Christmas scene, once I stopped being confused that we were jumping back and forth in time. Sherlock's parents continue to be brilliant. Although it does mean I need to make some revisions to my nearly completed fanfic...
When Sherlock pulled of Magnusson's glasses in the cafe I burst out laughing at the thought that all the time we saw names and details scrolling across his view it really was scrolling across his view. The fact Moffat was confident enough to throw that trick away as a fakeout was excellent, as was the later reveal that he'd done the opposite; all the time we saw Magnusson in his vault, it was a memory palace, just like Sherlock's!
Which means that there's nothing to torch; the destruction of the files and the death of Magnusson are the same thing. And once that's in place it becomes apparent that Mary isn't going to be the counterpart of the woman from the end of "Milverton" after all; Sherlock is. The fact I'd worked this out (I wasn't spoilered on this, somehow) meant it came as a surprise; I was expecting Sherlock to think of something I hadn't, possibly revealing he'd planned it all along.
But unlike in "Milverton" you don't get away with murder just because the guy deserved it. You get away with murder because Moriarty is (apparently) back and Sherlock is needed.
Some more blink-and-miss-it Canon references:
Mary's real initials acronymise the treasure from "The Sign of the Four".
Sherlock deduces the security guard is a white supremacist because he has a tattoo of a dice showing five pips.
Janine is retiring to a cottage on the South Downs, and getting rid of the beehives.
[1]I note that near the end, Mycroft says something that sort of suggests he has or had another brother...
