I don't believe at all that there's something evil about little Rosie herself! But I find the conversation a little unsettling - especially in connection with the meta allusion to "Rosemary's Baby". But I do believe that there might be a hidden clue there. Mothonthemantel pointed out the many other hints at hell and the devil.
But while some factions of the Sherlock scene already speculate that Rosie might really be Moriarty's child, I don't see any indications for that at all.
For all we know Mary (who of course knows that her real name is Rosamund Mary) might teasingly refer to her daughter as Rosemary's baby. That might've triggered this late night conversation. It could be a private joke. I just wonder (again) about the time line. At this point John is not supposed to know that Mary's real name is Rosamund Mary. But he treats this "devillish" talk as if they have frequently joked about it.

Why would a cremation indicate that Mary can't have faked her death? If anything a cremation would hide this, since the substitute body is burned and can't be checked up upon anymore.
I certainly don't want another faked death. There are too many iffy deaths in the show already. So far we can't even be completely sure about Jim Moriarty. If anything,  TAB gave us a nifty recipe of how to fake one's seemingly fatal shooting. Maybe, it never was about Moriarty but about Mary? The show has a history of faked deaths. And then there is Doyle's novel The Valley Of Fear. It features an American former agent  on the run who retreats to England, marries and settles down. Then shadows from the past catch up with him and he fakes his own murder in order to mislead his pursuers.  Unfortunately he decides to keep his wedding ring because he loves his English wife very much (all other rings are found on the substitute body). That was a mistake of course and Holmes reveals that Birdy Edwards is very much alive. The story of Birdy Edwards has many unsettling parallels with Mary's backstory.
Again, I wouldn't like this at all. Hopefully this death was final. Just wanted to point out: a cremation doesn't necessarily indicate that Mary's body was in the coffin. But it would certainly obscure forever if someone else's body was in the box.

I just realized something re: Mary's final message: was it  even meant to be watched after her death?? She doesn't talk with certainty about being dead. She  talks about the fact that she might be gone. And she was gone for a while. She went onto an extended trip (almost) around the world. Couldn't she have sent the dvd to Sherlock before she left her husband and baby? We know that the dvd somehow got stuck in Mrs. Hudson's stack of post. However, we have no idea how long it has been sitting there. Why even including this little detail, anyway? How exactly does it advance the story telling if the DVD didn't reach Sherlock in  time? The delay might at least indicate that Sherlock is a bit late on the case of saving John Watson.
I don't know if it will play out like this. But considering how deceptive everything is in this episode it probably can't be excluded, that the makers are playing fast and loose with our perception and assumptions. And a little twist like this would give Mary's trip a dramatic purpose. So far it seemed to be just a curious filler we could've done without because it killed precious time which could've been used for advancing the overall story. Or is there a specific dramatic reason for Ajay to catch up with Mary and be killed in North Africa?
I still don't enjoy the episode very much as a standalone watching experience because atmosphere and pacing are so noticeably off and there are too many extended action scenes for my taste. I actually have to force myself to re-watch certain scenes again - something which in the past was only the case with The Blind Banker. And while I disliked the overall story arc of S3, I always enjoy to re-watch the episodes of S3. TEH is one of the funniest Sherlock episodes ever IMO and I got drawn into it right  from the beginning. Unfortunately, so far I didn't enjoy TST at all as a viewing experience. But I will now postpone overall judgement until I've seen all episodes of S4. TST might well turn out to be a t

Ewige,  that's what I first thought, too. But it's sure layered very thickly, and the thought connection to Rosemary's baby is a bit unsettling. I'm not reading anything specific into this right now. Was just asking if someone else noticed.

Q

nakahara wrote:

sherlocked wrote:

I checked out this tumbl "vitruvianwatson". The creator is heavily invested in explicit Johnlock, and he wants Mary to be evil and gone. If John shot her in order to save the love of his life Sherlock - all the better. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with this wish - except that tv shows rarely conform to our private needs and desires. We set ourselves up for bitter disappointment if we go down this road. There are a few observations re: the shooting which are interesting. But I'm not sure if they really lead to the conclusion that John must've shot Mary and Sherlock is covering for him. While it's unlikely it's not impossible, but how it is presented in this tumbr it seems to be steeped in wishful thinking.

Uhm, the above mentioned headscratcher makes the point that Mary seemed hesitant to kill AJ who was after her with the intent to massacre her (and actually slit the throat of an innocent bust-owner just few days earlier), but she didn´t hesitate to pull a trigger on Sherlock, who actually offered help to her.... which is an interesting point, IMHO.

Yes, the author of the observation may have opinions you don´t agree with, but this does not invalidate the actual observation, I believe.

 
I wasn't really responding to a specific point, and I wouldn't even say that I don't agree with the general opinions of the author. I was just cautioning that the content of the tumblr in general might be a bit colored  by wishful thinking.
I should've been more clear about that. The point made about Ajay is indeed interesting.
I was reading a  bit of the other content of the tumblr and was astonished about the vicious language sometimes used in connection with Mary.

I checked out this tumbl "vitruvianwatson". The creator is heavily invested in explicit Johnlock, and he wants Mary to be evil and gone.  If John shot her in order to save the love of his life Sherlock - all the better. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with this wish - except that tv shows rarely conform to our private needs and desires. We set ourselves up for bitter disappointment if we go down this road. There are a few observations re: the shooting which are interesting. But I'm not sure if they really lead to the conclusion that John must've shot Mary and Sherlock is covering for him. While it's unlikely it's not impossible, but how it is presented in this tumbr it seems to be steeped in wishful thinking.

besleybeans, I just don't think John necessarily texted the bus lady all the time we see him texting. At night in bed it's much more likely that he addressed someone else, whom he hasn't had contact with for a while - unless the chronology is mixed up somewhat. Which is of course quite possible in this episode. In this case - I guess it's possible that he had already learned to know the bus lady well enough to miss her, and the scene at the bus stop, when he meant to end the budding relationship, was a flashback of sorts.
Who knows? I'm not sure of anything anymore in this darn episode ;)

Mothonthemantel, do I unterstand you correctly: you think that the whole episode might be Sherlock's narrative to Ella, but his words morph into the tv movie we watch?
If so, that's a very clever thought. It would account for a lot of oddities. It would be an unreliable-narrator case par excellence.
But if this is true we can't be completely sure of anything which happens before the last scene with Ella. Sherlock might distort things, he might not want that Ella learns certain things, he might want to look better in certain situations, he might want to protect people... and so on. The big question is of course: why did he seek out Ella in the first place?
And is it really possible to interpret the whole episode in this way? I was under the impression that he doesn't really tell Ella anything. That's why she remarks she can only help him if he opens up. Maybe, we are just privy to Sherlock's thoughts?

Oh ok besleybean, does she say Go to hell Sherlock, or just Go to hell? I forgot. If she addressed Sherlock with his name, then of course my last remarks were faulty.

besleybean, please read my last edited comment. If GoToHell wasn't part of the dvd recording we can't know at all whether she meant Sherlock or someone else should go to hell. She might have done the recording for Sherlock - and then we are privy how she wishes  whoever threatens John would go to hell.