What impresses me about it that it could be Ockham's Razor again. It is the answer to most if not all of the topic we discussed here.

I wonder for how long they could remain inside the Mind Palace without making the audience feel cheated. (I personally wonder about it because I am planning to write a fic based on the emp. So how long can I pretend that we see reality while we are actually inside Sherlock's mind?)

SusiGo wrote:

As proposed in the Mary thread I am starting this thread in order to collect ideas about a theory that came up shortly after TAB aired. The fact that we get a whole episode that takes place in Sherlock's head, some people looked at HLV again, especially the second half, and had some thoughts about how bizarre and implausible much of this episode seems to be. 

Warning: there is not ONE theory saying that Sherlock's MP/dream starts at a certain point in HLV, there are several theories. But what they have in common is this:

In TSoT we got the laptop scene and I remember very well how here - in this forum - we kept racking our brains about why Sherlock keeps a dozen laptops in his room. There is even a thread for this, if I remember correctly. And then, weeks or months later, a clever person realised that this scene is not real. The laptops are symbols for the opened tabs in his computer and, what is more, John is not really there in the scene which is evidenced by the fact that he is magically changes his outfit between leaving Mrs Hudson's kitchen and entering the 221B living room.

This means that there is precedence of scenes that are not announced as taking place in Sherlock's mind. Whereas in ASiB we have a bed in a meadow signalling Not Real, here we are confronted with a sudden jump into Sherlock's mind that is never announced.

Which leads us the to question: There has been talk about the creators doing something that has never been done before and making TV history. Could it be this as well? Here are some links. You will find more on tumblr if searching for "emp", "emp/edt" or "reality vs fantasy". 

Where it all started:
http://gosherlocked.tumblr.com/post/137622767856/emp-theory-or-the-extended-mind-palace-theory

Some other metas by me:
http://gosherlocked.tumblr.com/post/139053535531/somethings-off-or-the-pasta-conundrum
http://gosherlocked.tumblr.com/post/143165439481/hlv-and-tab-the-hospital-clue
http://stillgosherlocked.tumblr.com/post/148684672293/hlv-the-restaurant-scene-revisited

and by others:
http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/146800639982/johns-choice
http://xistentialangst.tumblr.com/post/148271216077/emp-just-might-be
http://keyscodesandmotifs.tumblr.com/post/148989181490/is-sherlock-running-scenarios-empedt-in-hlv-and

There are more but for the beginning this should be enough. 

A last note: this is not the prevalent opinion out there but one of many. But I find it interesting, especially since we have progressively moved from observing Sherlock from the outside to getting into his mind. 

P.S. I think it will not make sense to discuss this subject without having read at least part of the linked posts. So if you do not have the time, please wait until you join the discussion. Thank you. 

Wow! Off to read!

Sorry, I know I'm supposed to read an article first...but you know me,  I couldn't resist!
I thought we'd all been dead smart and together had identified every scene that was still MP, in TAB?

EDIT: okay, managed to look at them at least!

Last edited by besleybean (August 23, 2016 6:39 am)

Well, I agree, it would have to be dine very cleverly. In this context I remembered Amanda's words from SDCC about the thing that would be making TV history if they could pull it off. Pulling of an EMP without losing the faith of their viewers is quite a task. 

I do not think that it starts right at the drug den because then we would lose a decisive event - Sherlock being shot by Mary. The only way for this would be Sherlock being already suspicious of her and then, while being drugged, imagining this scenario. 

Personally I would set the start of EMP either at Sherlock never waking up in the hospital or after the 221B scene. I slightly tend to version 1 because from this moment on to me everything seems off. You have read my list, added Mycroft's behaviour , and there is more. The sudden appearance of boltholes that have never been mentioned. The whole gun-in-Appledore scenario. And so on. To me, the whole second half of HLV seems off in a way we did not have before in any episode. 

I'm sorry, I've got to the meta that says that custard = vagina and fish fingers = penis, so the Doctor is bisexual.  I'm sure it must be tongue in cheek! (And the Doctor seems to be omnisexual, anyway - no simple binaries for him!).

I agree that there are some similarities. 

Reading this one now:

WHAT IF the point of all this dreaming is to exercise reverse psychology? What if part of getting the general audience to accept johnlock is showing how HORRIBLE it would all be if John in fact stayed with Mary?  So Sherlock dreams that John goes back to Mary and basically they are both ruined by it and it’s awful and the audience is all pissed off, and then ‘surprise’, no, that was all a dream. And then when johnlock happens, everyone can be relieved instead of upset at the gay.

No, this goes completely against how Moftiss claim they would show gay characters.  And there is the Doctor Who parallel with Jenny and Vastra.  I don't think Moftiss would cater to the minority who would be "upset at the gay", and I'd very disappointed if they did.  (Plus they've been pretty emphatic about Johnlock not happening).   But seriously, all those terrible things happening, just so people can say "at least being gay isn't as bad as being a murderer", etc. 

I'm not talking about your meta, Susi.  I do think there are oddities and inconsistencies, and we do have precedent for things turning out to be mind palace.  And reading that meta above, reminded me of the drugs on the plane.  Nakahara did a really good post about this after TAB, which I know I will never be able to find again, showing that the most likely explanation was that Sherlock didn't take drugs at all.    But however, you look at it, it's odd and raises questions (where did he get them?  What did he take?  Why/when did he make the list?  How could he think for over an hour when he was only out for a few minutes? How did he bounce back so quickly? Etc.).  I know that's just TAB, but still. 

And Christmas is odd.  Why is Mycroft there if he doesn't do Christmas?  Why are Mary and John there together if they're not speaking?  (I suppose John wouldn't want to leave her alone at Christmas, but still). 

Liberty wrote:

And Christmas is odd.  Why is Mycroft there if he doesn't do Christmas?  Why are Mary and John there together if they're not speaking?  (I suppose John wouldn't want to leave her alone at Christmas, but still). 

Just two examples of things that go against what has been said on the show before.

Yes, but then why go to such efforts to try and keep Sherlock away from CAM?

I just don't see that.
Why would he use John that way?
Isn't he more likely to use Mary?
And maybe he did...but little brother blew it!