sherlocked wrote:

....Christie never repeated this. It's something which can be pulled off successfully only once.

 
I just read the wiki entry on "unreliable narrator". Interestingly "The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd" is listed as a famous and controversial example of an unreliable narrator. It's well worth looking it up, because Christie has done a lot things we suspect Mofftiss have done with TST.
And I have to correct myself. She has done it again decades later in "Endless Night", a novel where a husband kills his newly wedded wife because he has a lover, although deep down he loves his wife. It's also brilliantly done. It's done so differently from Roger Ackroyd that again the reader doesn't suspect a thing.

There were a few allusions to good old Agatha Christie in that episode. That was one of the things I liked about the episode. I'm a big  fan of the Queen of Crime. "By The Pricking Of My Thumbs" which is quoted by Sherlock,  is not only a line from Shakespeare but also the title of an Agatha Christie novel about elderly people caught up by their criminal past and their former spy activities. The murderer turns out to be an old and slightly gaga lady with an astonishingly long criminal record. Virtually nobody suspected her. Then there's this other Agatha Christie title "Appointment With Death" which could also have been a fitting title for TST. I wonder if we will be treated to a murder mystery a la Agatha Christie in connection with Mary's death.  All the setlock talk about alibis and guns thrown into the Thames might hint at a more old fashioned murder mystery. Would be nice.
Btw, in connection with the narrator's perspective which we have discussed lately:  Agatha Christie also wrote the groundbreaking novel "The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd" where the whole plot is narrated by the murderer himself,  culminating in a posthumous confession of the narrator in his diary - but unlike in Columbo episodes where we know right away who has done it,  the reader isn't in on it all. It's done extremely wittily and skillfully by Christie. The end catches you completely by surprise. First reaction is always that this is unfair towards the reader. But it's done so skillfully that you cannot even call it a case of an unreliable narrator. Nothing of importance is withheld from the reader. You have a fair chance of solving the mystery. But of course the narrator manages to give everything a spin which throws you totally off the scent. Christie never repeated this. It's something which can be pulled off successfully only once.

In canon Sherlock Holmes retires to a nice country cottage in order to grow roses. So, maybe Sherlock eventually retires to a nice country cottage in order to raise Rosie
Honestly, I have no idea what will happen to her. While I can also understand as a mother the strains of early parenthood, I couldn't spot many moments of pure joy emanating from the new parents and was puzzled by this apparent continuous lack of enthusiasm displayed by John and Mary. Something feels very off to me. To me they seem to be absolutely dutiful but not really doting parents. They seem to be so stiff - like when the first fotos are taken by Molly and Mrs. Hudson. You see a lot of the stress and none of the joy. Even the colors are drab when the fotos are taken.  When John plays with her he seems to look almost sadly at her. For me the nicest interaction with Rosie was Sherlock berating her about constantly throwing the rattle. That was pure undiluted Sherlock.  Maybe, the makers wanted to avoid mawkishness and artificial sweetness. Fair enough. Or we see it all through Sherlock's  less than enthusiastic eyes. But Sherlock seems to have a knack with children. He is certainly unorthodox in his methods but he's good with them -as has been shown in TSOT with little Archie before the wedding. He even berates Mycroft because all he can come up with about Rosie, is, that she seems to be functional.
I sure don't know what's up with Rosie and where it will all end. But I don't want her to die.

Mothonthemantel, Hell in Norway is probably a beautiful place. I would love to live in Norway - and have a boat, even one which has the strange name Speckled Band. Maybe it belongs to Jim, who hides behind the identity of a simple fisherman 

Yes, mothonthemantel, that was my point. Mrs. Hudson had it for a while. We don't know when the dvd arrived and how long it was with Mrs. Hudson. That's why we think that Mary could well have sent it before she went on the run or while she was on the run. She apparently didn't leave instructions that the dvd should only be sent after her death, because in this case she would've said on the recording: " When you hear this I WILL be dead".

Ok, yes, you are right. They are not just grieving over Mary running away. Norbury dates it securely.
In this case it's indeed puzzling that Mary doesn't try to retrieve or at least locate or speak about  it. Sherlock clearly doesn't know about it since he thinks it's from Moriarty.

Liberty, Sherlock might indeed have watched the dvd while Mary was still on the run. That might be the reason why Mary - as far as we know - never tries to intercept or talk about it. When she got caught up with Sherlock might've simply told her: " Got your dvd btw - although a bit delayed because it was sitting in Mrs. Hudson's stack".

Since Mary says, she will  probably be dead when the dvd is watched, we can safely conclude that she did NOT leave instructions that the dvd should be sent after her death. In that case she would've said: " When you watch this I WILL be dead". Therefore she probably recorded and sent the dvd before she went on the run.

gently69 wrote:

Tbh I was disappointed. Any fear I had were fulfilled. But I still try working on it. To get more references.

I really disliked it, too, at first. I'm still not very fond of it. I found it muddled, too busy with all the onscreen overlays and messages and I didn't like the overall action saturated story arc. But I decided to postpone final judgement until I've seen all episodes. I said elsewhere that the script might turn out to be a lot cleverer and more multi-layered than we thought at first viewing. I do hope I'm right about this. Otherwise the many continuity errors would add up to a staggering number.
While I don't enjoy analysing the episode very much I sure got very interested in  how it all will play out in the following episodes.
 

I certainly hope so! There are too many faked or possibly faked deaths already. It seems to be a thing of the show that many deaths are questionable. Even if people stay dead the circumstances of their demise are altered - as in CAM's case.