May I be just silly for a moment?
Wedding: non-cannonical possibilities--
Anderson has divorced his wife and is marrying Sally
Lestrade's wife has divorced him and is marrying the PE teacher
John has received an invitation to Anthea's wedding
John and Molly have become quite close, bonding over their loss, and are about to marry

--any of which are, of course, ruined by Sherlock's reappearance:

Anderson is actually happy to see Sherlock (his work has suffered without him) and Sally leaves him because he now believes in Sherlock
the PE teacher is revealed as a paedophile by Sherlock, allowing Lestrade to arrest him
Sherlock and Mycroft have a row and the boys get crossed off Anthea's guest list
John and Molly are busily helping Sherlock again and neither shows up for their wedding

Thanks for letting me dump all that mental tat from the old hard-drive

NW16XE wrote:

May I be just silly for a moment?
Wedding: non-cannonical possibilities--
Anderson has divorced his wife and is marrying Sally
Lestrade's wife has divorced him and is marrying the PE teacher
John has received an invitation to Anthea's wedding
John and Molly have become quite close, bonding over their loss, and are about to marry

--any of which are, of course, ruined by Sherlock's reappearance:

Anderson is actually happy to see Sherlock (his work has suffered without him) and Sally leaves him because he now believes in Sherlock
the PE teacher is revealed as a paedophile by Sherlock, allowing Lestrade to arrest him
Sherlock and Mycroft have a row and the boys get crossed off Anthea's guest list
John and Molly are busily helping Sherlock again and neither shows up for their wedding

Thanks for letting me dump all that mental tat from the old hard-drive

Loving this!
You are so right, there are so many possibilities, we haven't even scratched the surface 
Whichever it turns out to be, we can be quite sure that it won't go without some sort of interference from Sherlock, be it deliberate or just his usual social ignorance 

Davina wrote:

The second Hobbit movie is already filmed and I doubt the third will intervene unduly as there would be about an 18 month gap between Sherlock series anyway. Just remember that Moftiss are really good at winding an audience up. 

Forget the Hobbit thing. As far as Ben is concerned. I believe the big star to which he will hitch his international fame wagon will be the upcoming Star Trek movie. When people get a load of that, they will know his name and see his talent and look into his past works and BOOM!  I wonder if the dear boy is prepared for what's going to happen, especially in the US.

Davina wrote:

If he, and his agent, have any sense, which clearly he has and most likely they do too, they will be very selective about which scripts and offers to choose. Currency as an actor is hard won and easily lost. He has expressed an interest in musical theatre as well, so who knows? Sherlock the musical in the West End or on Broadway?   

Ben is a virtual unknown here in the States, except for the (relatively small) Sherlock fandom. Once ST comes out, people will remember him. He has an unusual name, to say the least, and we all know how talented and charismatic he is. I'm hoping for him to make a big splash here.  I've been led to believe that the US is where the acting money is, for what that's worth. If he wants stardom and financial security, leading to him having his pick of roles of all kinds, and not having to worry about his monetary future, the US would be a good place to make big inroads into those things.

.

There's lots of Moftiss ideas in there and a vast amount of cherry-picking of nods to the canon as well. Eg Scandal in Belgravia there is a mention by the equerry of the client being 'Illustrious' and Sherlock goes to Buckingham palace wearing a white sheet - In the canon story The Illustrious Client it begins with Holmes and Watson in a Turkish Baths sitting side by side both wearing white sheets

Good Eye!  I would've never caught that.

Quick Question, when the 3 words were announced for Series 2 was their any speculation at all or were people immediately able to guess the 3(As I would guess)?

Last edited by Sherlock84 (October 9, 2012 12:22 am)

If I may...

It seems to me that, given the writers' great affection for the canon, their hints are likely to be intended to give clues for those who share their love for Doyle's stories. If we make that assumption, then the hints would probably be meant to conjure up immediate images for devoted readers, much as the hints for Season 2 did.

Thus, "rat" must surely be a reference either to "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" or "Boscombe Valley". Currently, I tend towards the former, since the reference to a rat in the latter hasn't quite the familiarity to students of the canon, I wouldn't think.

"Wedding" can only be intended to reference John Watson and Mary Morstan, and is a great choice by Moftiss, as it is sure to stir up all sorts of speculations and theories among fans (as evidenced by this thread and others).

The same goes for "bow", with even more angst-creating power. Whether this will truly be "Sherlock's" last bow has yet to be seen (and likely won't be known until well after the third season ends, if notions of a cliffhanger are to be believed).

Having gotten our interest with the hints, though, I don't think the writers are boxed into any particular canonical stories, and I expect they will create their own new spins, borrowing heavily from numerous ACD stories, as before. Here's one possible story arc that could run through the entire third series:

Episode 3.1 : "The Empty Rat Trap" (okay, I don't like that title, but that's all I could come up with off the cuff) This episode begins while Sherlock is "dead". John meets beautiful Mary Moran at a bar on Boscombe Street, she condoles with him, they fall in love and look to the future. Sherlock, having dispatched with all but one of Moriarty's assasins, finds himself in need of an "alive" ally (dear Molly just won't do), and reveals himself to John. Together, they follow the on-again/off-again trail of the final unknown assasin, finally tracking him down outside the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority in Tanzania, only to have the episode end unresolved.

Episode 2: "Moran and Moran" John's wedding date approaches, but a fresh lead develops in the final assasin case: Sherlock discovers the identity of the assasin, and that he has a daughter whom he abandoned in infancy, and who was given the name "Mary" by her adoptive parents. A conflicted John/Mary postpone the wedding, and decide to help Sherlock track down Mary's father/the final assasin. The episode ends with John & Mary's wedding, and the death of Colonel Moran.

Episode 3: "Take a Bow, Sherlock" The sudden death of Mary Watson (nee Moran) through a mysterious, fast-acting illness, send John & Sherlock in search of the mysterious Dr. Grimesly Roylott, an obscure dabbler in exotic poisons with an unsure past. The sleuthing of Sherlock/John reveals an international terror cell bent on the chemical destruction of the western world, and the uncovering of devastating details of the teenage years of Sherlock Holmes which lead to his decision to fold down his coat collars for good---or not. Will there be a Season Four?

Okay, I'm not reading back through all that for typos, so I'll ask forgiveness in advance.

Have fun!

Interesting.
My immediate response:
Firstly, I'm really liking the thought of the Reunion being soon enough for John to help with the 3rd sniper...Mrs Husdon's?
I think maybe a few of us had realised that canonically even if John did marry, it wouldn't have to last long.
But it's news to me that maybe an episode would be around a whole wedding, but it either doesn't come about or(possibly) something happens on the day or soon after.  Liking these thoughts.
Tho I personally still think the series could still work with John being married.
Incidentally, I have already discussed with somebody:  I was trying to remember what happened last time.  Did they not give us the themes 1st:  Love, Fear, Death and then the actual title, or at least which stories they were going to cover?
I also seem to think we got told pretty quickly that series 2 was going to happen...
EDIT:  I still think ' rat' may refer to a person.

Last edited by besleybean (October 17, 2012 6:38 pm)

I probably have said it before: I like the idea of "rat" referring to a person.

Nice one, Tantalus 
What still bothers me with John marrying is not that he would have to leave Bakerstreet (which I don't want at all, but maybe it would be a nice change) but that it doesn't really seem like a John-thing to do. If he marries - at least that is what I think - it would be after living together with his partner for quite some time.
Meeting a nice girl and then marrying her immediately doesn't really fit John and certainly doesn't feel very 21st century.
He has all this trust issues, I'm sure it would take a lot time for him to build up a serious relationship... look at all his short "affairs" during the seasons.
Yeah, okay, rant over. I just don't think it's going to be John's wedding.
Unless, well, the time that passed since Sherlock's "suicide" was really that long.

Lestrade is described as a rat-faced man in the canon. Just putting this out there.

Will they bring back Irene Adler or is she confirmed to have only existed in the Series 2 universe & staying away for the foreseeable future?