Lis wrote:

 He also shows his skills in TLD when "Mary" explains how Sherlock figured out which therapist John would choose as that's John's subconscious making the deduction. 

Good catch there. One tends to forget that Mary really is only a figment. John is actually running both sides of the conversation.

Naavy wrote:

Yes, obviously not only Sherlock was changed by this friendship. In TEH we can see John, trying to look more like Sherlock (coat, scarf), and to behave like him (less emphatic ). Perhaps these external details were just symptoms of more significant change, and deduction can be taught?

I believe, this is another exception from ACD canon, but highly interesting!

I am not sure that it is so very exceptional from the stories. Can't quote one at the moment, but I seem  to recall at least once when the good Doctor had a deductive moment.  Must research. Yes, Holmes did poke fun at his abilities in at least one story where he got everything wrong -- The Blue Carbuncle, I think.  But, there were others. And Watson in the Jeremy Brett series, (both actors) had a moment I am recalling. (Again, I can't point to a specific. More research.) In the canon and in the Brett series (and others) they complement each other with talents. But the circles many times overlap.

I love the way Martin Freeman plays his character, of course.. He is not cowed by Sherlock in the least.  But in this episode he rises to every occasion.  He does so naturally, not because he has "made up his mind" to do it.  He states unequivocally to Mycroft "We are soldiers." and he says it almost dismissively, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. (He says it to a Mycroft that may be close having a meltdown.) That not only means bravery, it means doing what must be done -- in this case, solving the problem.  Dr. John Watson M.D., retired Captain of the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers, has never stopped being a soldier.  And in this episode that fact shines out.  Sherlock even latches onto it and says it back to him a few moments later. Watson is willing to give up his life and have his best friend shoot him a few moments after that. He sees the logic of what Mycroft says about who should be shot.  
 

Sherlock to an awakening Watson: How are you?

Watson: Bit of a lump.

Sherlock: True that. But you have your uses.

Well, I suppose I could go on endlessly quoting these delicious bits of comedic dialogue.  All of the episodes are filled with them.  Filled to the point where I am sometimes surprised the program is not classified as a comedy.

But I will try to only quote the very favorites.

I'll put one in here and show my age.

In 1988 there was a mini-series from the UK called Game, Set, and Match starring Ian Holm.  13 episodes. Based on the books by mystery writer (among other types of things) Len Deighton. It concerned MI6 in cold war Berlin, London, and a few international locales. It was broadcast just a few months before the Berlin wall came down

It had been broadcast in the UK one time.  It ended up being shown in the U.S. on the PBS Mystery! program one time as well.  And then it went into the vault never to be broadcast again.  I claim no foresight, but only good luck that I taped it all for my viewing when it aired on PBS. I ended up wearing out the tape. (VHS - told you I would show my age.) When the internet reared its ugly head I looked for a copy. Certain that there had to be a commercial tape available to the public somewhere, made sometime.  No such luck.

I later heard that the author of the books, Len Deighton, hated the production and evidently had some right to shelve it if he disapproved.  Frankly, I don't see the objections and put it down to finicky authors.  It is filmed story-telling at its finest.

Probably don't need to tell this forum, but the lead actor Ian Holm is old Bilbo in LOTR and The Hobbit. Too many other productions in a long career to mention. Brilliant actor. Won BAFTA for this production. 

Well, you can find bootleg copies and over the years I have collected a few of those -- at outrageous prices. When digitization was available I put the remainders of my home copy in digital format -- and it is still my best copy, the bootlegs lacking some quality.

I watch it about once a year and drink some German beer while watching it.

I know this is not a recent production, but I did not see any rules requiring an entry to be a current TV production.  I have favorites being broadcast, but I share this with a lot of people.

Oh, and last time I checked you can now watch the whole thing on Youtube, though I don

nakahara wrote:

rlogcabin83 wrote:

Before I saw this post I posted a new topic on a horror film that I thought had a bearing on the episode.  1960s Roger Corman - The Masque of the Red Death w/Vincent Price. 

They are moving from room-to-room with different colors as in the Poe story and film. All leading to death.

http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=7300

Very good observation!
The Masque of the Red Death is a classic and I would not be surprised if the horror buff like Mark Gatiss used it here deliberately.
Also, Edgar Allan Poe, the father of both the modern horror genre and the detective genre, would be wonderfully fitting for Sherlock show!
 

To continue attacking the deceased equine: I have watched the episode again. Still, I am struck how the puzzles laid out by Eurus require all of them to move from room-to-room, and I am convinced that this is a Poe story reference as well as the Roger Corman film The Masque of the Red Death. More detail:  In the Poe story the rooms are laid out East to West.  Analysis of the Poe story by others suggests that the reasoning for this is an allegory of life.  I.E. East is the direction of the rising sun and West, the setting sun, and all of the progression of life can be paralleled with that progression of the day - birth to death. East, of course, has everything to do with Eurus and the meaning of her name.  The East wind comes from that direction, but blows West, the direction of the rooms in the story. 

The first room they enter is painted Red.  Mycroft comments on the new paint job.  He realizes that something has been prepared for them, even though Sherlock dismisses his comment. But the room is not solidly painted red.  It is a hurried spray paint job that only partially covers the walls.  In the Poe story, I do not believe that there is a red room. (So, perhaps the room is a threat of death? One they might escape rather than a promise of death?) Poe uses red symbolically as repre

But you see, this is why I joined the forum.  To seek, to learn, to become a better decorator.

Please, continue.  Continue as to why I know nothing in this and many other areas.  I grovel in pleading.

OK, this won't fit anywhere else that I can see. And it is a bit of fluff on my part.  But has anyone else just loathed as much as I have the wallpaper in their flat?

And, this also seems to be continued in John/Mary's place, and a few others.  

Is this popular in England?  Is it truly a personal taste or is it a current trend?  I am American and I know (and have been told) I have some odd tastes and preferences in fashion (actually, I've been told I have no fashion sense.) And this may be just different country fashion vs. where I live. But that pattern and color seems too odd.  Not black and white, not purple or mauve. Just strange to my eyes. And I can't see the texture, but is it velveteen in the pattern?

1970s disco remembrance?  And they put it up again when they had a clean slate after the bomb went off.

Small pet peeve.  But then again, what would the boys be without their quirks?....and that goes for Mrs. Hudson, too.

I went back and watched that few seconds where Mycroft is watching his film several times. Strange. Mycroft's reaction is one of great enjoyment. Obviously this film is a favorite. He knows the dialog by memory and is grinning to himself as he recites it. And I consider that to be strange because Mycroft....well....does Mycroft enjoy anything?  He is much more cold emotionally than even Sherlock.  

But the detail of the film is also off.  Very off.  It is easy enough to say that it is a construct for this episode to simulate a period film noir film -- or maybe we should call it a potboiler detective film such as were shown in serial format in the theaters of the times.  

Look carefully at it, and it seems off.  It really does not fool anyone into believing it is from that period.  The hairstyle of the man is completely and utterly all wrong.  Way too long.  Way too long for hairstyles today, frankly.  Why would they not pay attention to that detail as they made this clip?.  The woman's dress is anachronistic as well.  It just feels wrong.  Their dialogue ventures way into double entendre.  Way too much, in fact, for 30s films, even though a few things like that did get past censors of the times.  Was this some viewing of a lewd film ...dare we say ....illicit film in the privacy of his home for his own enjoyment?  Does he have this human side that no one sees?

What is more...well, perhaps this is his private theater in his home.  But who the heck plays movies on a reel-to-reel projector?!?  This should be on disc at the very least, even if it is projected.

Strange.

Maybe I am projecting something here that is not there.  But the puzzles that Eurus laid out for them required them to move from room-to-room, and each was painted a different color.  Mycroft comments on the recent paint job of red when they come into that one.

Poe: The Masque of the Red Death.  He describes these rooms. 1960s Roger Corman film with Vincent Price. Low-budget, but scared the living bejesus out of me when I was a kid. Still can't watch it, really. Moving along into rooms with different colors all with different meanings, but leading always and ultimately to the finality of death. No happy ending here.

Given that Mycroft was watching an old film (still unidentified?..  Faux Noir of the 30s/40s made for this episode?) I wondered if these rooms were also a reference to an old film and story about death.  It would not be out of character for these writers.

Have not found the "answer".  The more I think about it, there may not be an exact answer - just more questions.
But I started a conversation about it.

http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=7252