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1 of 1- Magingus
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Offline - Registered: September 18, 2015
- Posts: 139
Sherlock and the AGRA Drive
My apologies if this has already been discussed here before - I imagine it has already been brought up, but some searching did not yield any results.
The USB drive Mary gives to John - did Sherlock get his hands on it? I think this is quite possible, though I haven't yet worked out all the kinks.
Let's start with the drive itself. Some speculate that the drive itself is empty, a call-back to AGRA from the canon. While this is possible, it is also possible that Mary was telling the truth and it actually contains the information she claimed. While the writers pull from the canon, they do change up a lot of the details as well. This is necessary to create twists, mysteries, and cliff-hangers, so that anyone who knows the original stories will not be able to predict what will actual happen in the show.
How would Sherlock get his hands on it? Easy. We know his methods. Shortly after Mary gives the drive to John, Sherlock stumbles as the paramedics arrive. In this scene, we see John catching Sherlock and helping to lower him to the floor. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that Sherlock was able to, despite being in severe pain, pick the drive from John's pocket (though whether or not he did is the focus of this discussion).
The only issue with this theory is how Sherlock was able to replace the drive (or one just like it) before John realized it was missing. This was, after all, something very important to John - even if he had no interest in reading it (which I suspect he did not; John seems to have a "head in the sand" approach to things like this), it still potentially contained sensitive information about his wife.
I am curious if anyone has any opinions on these thoughts, and/or anything to contribute about how Sherlock might have replaced the drive without John even realizing it was missing.
The only thing I can come up with, that I do not even believe is remotely the case, is that Sherlock swapped the original drive for a copy at the same time. While I believe it is possible the drive that John threw into the fire was a copy (there are pictures on the net of the drive in 221B and at Sherlock's parents house, and they do not seem exactly the same), I do not see how Sherlock could have (1) knew that the drive existed, (2) seen the drive, (3) obtained a duplicate himself, and (4) perfectly matched the writing, all before swapping it with the real one.
Thoughts?
- Magingus
- Cipher Expert
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- Registered: September 18, 2015
- Posts: 139
Re: Sherlock and the AGRA Drive
Link to pictures of the AGRA drive (at 221B, and at the cottage):
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Thread Starter- tea&ash
- Not A Hero
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- Registered: September 12, 2015
- Posts: 49
Re: Sherlock and the AGRA Drive
Thanks for that link to the AGRA drive close ups. I didn't even notice that the lettering looked different!
Okay, starting with the drive. I do think it actually has what Mary said it contains, an account of her history. There's no real reason for her to lie to John at this point, and without even looking at it John probably knows that Mary's past is a dark one. So she has nothing left to hide (unless there is a connection between her and Moran, which I honestly doubt. Moftiss change up some stuff, but I don't think they'd merge two central characters from canon).
Did Sherlock get to the drive? It's a real possibiity.
John may not feel the need to view Mary's past, but Sherlock might, if only to know what other potential enemies she may have. I'm not convinced Sherlock completely forgave Mary for shooting him (I mean, come on, sure she didn't kill him, but getting shot is not fun) and more importantly, endangering/hurting John, so I can't say that he trusts her. Still he'd want to protect her (for John) and that means he'd need to know everything. I find it hard to believe he would give up an opportunity to view AGRA's contents.
How could Sherlock have gotten the drive?
Well, if I recall correctly, some time passed between Mary giving John the drive and the Christmas scene. John isn't exactly as careful as Sherlock. Imagine John thinking about the drive, considering whether to look or not. He would have looked tense, pensive, thoughtful, and at some point Sherlock would have definitely noticed something was up. Probably wouldn't have been hard for him to locate it.
So he may have not needed to switch the drives at all. He could have inserted it into his computer at home, viewed the contents, then put it back.
But then there is the issue of the two different handwritings. Not really sure how to explain that....
Definitely a thought-inspiring topic, that's for sure. 
Last edited by tea&ash (September 26, 2015 3:31 pm)
- Magingus
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- Posts: 139
Re: Sherlock and the AGRA Drive
tea&ash wrote:
Thanks for that link to the AGRA drive close ups. I didn't even notice that the lettering looked different!
Yes, the difference in writing piqued my interest. It's possible that this simply was a prop inconsistency - it's so hard to tell with these writers. I guess we'll have to wait and see if there is any significance to this.
Okay, starting with the drive. I do think it actually has what Mary said it contains, an account of her history. There's no real reason for her to lie to John at this point, and without even looking at it John probably knows that Mary's past is a dark one. So she has nothing left to hide (unless there is a connection between her and Moran, which I honestly doubt. Moftiss change up some stuff, but I don't think they'd merge two central characters from canon).
I agree with your reasoning on why the drive might contain the information Mary claims. I do this this is the case, personally.
I find it hard to believe he would give up an opportunity to view AGRA's contents.
Most definitely.
How could Sherlock have gotten the drive?
Well, if I recall correctly, some time passed between Mary giving John the drive and the Christmas scene. John isn't exactly as careful as Sherlock. Imagine John thinking about the drive, considering whether to look or not. He would have looked tense, pensive, thoughtful, and at some point Sherlock would have definitely noticed something was up. Probably wouldn't have been hard for him to locate it.
So he may have not needed to switch the drives at all. He could have inserted it into his computer at home, viewed the contents, then put it back.
I personally like the idea I proposed above, where Sherlock picked John's pocket as the medics arrived. It fits in with his character, and it occurred "on screen" - so if this is ever explained in a future series, they could do a flash-back to that scene and the viewers will realize they actually saw it happening.
But, as I said in the original post, this would be hard to swallow since Sherlock (stuck in the hospital and in very bad shape) would not be able to return the drive for some time.
I like your suggestion, that it happened sometime later. And if John indeed moved back in to 221B during his separation (as some people speculate), Sherlock would have many opportunities to quickly snag the drive, get the contents, and return it.
(It's also a possibility that Sherlock simply asked John for it, but I don't see John as the kind of person who would hand over something like that voluntarily.)
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Thread Starter