BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Why didn't Sherlock recognise his own sister? Discuss!

Harobed · January 9, 2017 3:44 pm

I must confess that I am a bit mixed up here, remembering several references to Smith's daughter. Cane & all. How can she be Smith's daughter AND a Holmes sibling?!
Please enlighten & forgive if I'm being thick & missing something obvious.
Thank you!

Schmiezi · January 9, 2017 3:56 pm

Harobed wrote:
I must confess that I am a bit mixed up here, remembering several references to Smith's daughter. Cane & all. How can she be Smith's daughter AND a Holmes sibling?!
Please enlighten & forgive if I'm being thick & missing something obvious.
Thank you!

It was another woman. The sister pretended to be Smith's daughter when she came to Sherlock with her case.

Liberty · January 9, 2017 4:02 pm

Yes. It seems Eurus is a master of disguise.

Now, I really want to know what her agenda is. She seems extremely sinister (and has possibly killed the therapist). But she almost did Sherlock a favour putting him on the track of Culverton - he was looking for that sort of case anyway. She gave him some extra motivation and evidence.

She has approached John as two different people now, and again, it's not clear why. It's almost as if she acted as bus stop lady, just to be able to do a dramatic reveal. Is she a drama queen too? Or was it a way of spying on John? And again, until she shoots him in the face (perhaps - I'm waiting to tune in next week to see that a flag saying "bang!" popped out of the gun), she doesn't actually do anything particularly evil to him. (A different story for the therapist).

Lola Red · January 9, 2017 4:21 pm

None of the Holmes siblings could ever refuse a touch of the dramatic...

Lola Red · January 9, 2017 4:25 pm

we did see her shooting the gun before he can tell her anything,..

but then again the trailer for next week leads me to suspect that John will not actually end up with a hole in his face

Liberty · January 9, 2017 4:28 pm

I'm a little bit nervous about her being the "mad sister". I don't want the reason she does things just to be because she's mentally ill. I have faith in Moftiss, though - I'm sure there is very much more to be revealed in TFP.

besleybean · January 9, 2017 4:52 pm

I assumed Sherlock hadn't seen her since he was about 6.

Harobed · January 9, 2017 5:08 pm

Thank you for your informative replies!
Brings in a bit of clairity. There is still much to sort out!

Well, folks, we have jumped into this rabbit hole!
Now let us hang on & share any bits of light that we may stumble upon! 🙋

Oakwood375 · January 9, 2017 5:41 pm

When is the East Wind mentioned in previous episodes? Any quotes? I wonder how much Mycroft knows...

I honestly want Sherrinford to be a code name for somebody, not another sibling. (2 secret siblings in 2 episodes? Seems a bit much to me.) I don't think that Sherrinford is Eurus. Why would Mycroft be in contact with his evil sister? (Unless for government purposes?)

I'm just curious what her agenda is. She's working (with/for) CS, why else would she have shown up as Faith or gotten the note? (Were all Sherlock's deductions about the note/real Faith true then?) But then there was that "Miss me?" line too, right? I wonder how she connects to Moriarty...

Liberty · January 9, 2017 5:50 pm

I don't think Sherlock's deductions applied to the real Faith, because she seems so different and confident. I'm assuming the walking stick/high heels combo is artistic licence, rather than a clue. But it could be possible. It's implied (I thought) that Culverton does things to Faith that are wiped out with the drug. But I don't know if the deductions can be about Eurus either, as she's in disguise. (Tugging her sleeve, etc., is part of the disguise). I wonder if she thought Sherlock would be drawn to a lonely, suicidal woman and feel a stronger urge to help?

And the East wind is mainly mentioned in HLV. From Ariane de Vere;
SHERLOCK (firmly, meeting his eyes): The game is never over, John ... (his tone becomes quieter) ... but there may be some new players now. It’s okay. The East Wind takes us all in the end.
JOHN: What’s that?
SHERLOCK: It’s a story my brother told me when we were kids. The East Wind – this terrifying force that lays waste to all in its path.
(He sniffs, looking into the distance.)
SHERLOCK: It seeks out the unworthy ... (he meets John’s eyes) ... and plucks them from the Earth. That was generally me.
JOHN: Nice(!)
SHERLOCK: He was a rubbish big brother.
(They both smile, then John looks down, clearing his throat.)

I believe it's a quote from His Last Bow (which I haven't read) (and also one of Rathbone/Bruce films):

"There's an east wind coming, Watson."

"I think not, Holmes. It is very warm."

"Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared."

Last edited by Liberty (January 9, 2017 5:55 pm)

Ichneumon · January 9, 2017 5:53 pm

Oakwood375 wrote:
When is the East Wind mentioned in previous episodes? Any quotes? I wonder how much Mycroft knows...

I honestly want Sherrinford to be a code name for somebody, not another sibling. (2 secret siblings in 2 episodes? Seems a bit much to me.) I don't think that Sherrinford is Eurus. Why would Mycroft be in contact with his evil sister? (Unless for government purposes?)

I'm just curious what her agenda is. She's working (with/for) CS, why else would she have shown up as Faith or gotten the note? (Were all Sherlock's deductions about the note/real Faith true then?) But then there was that "Miss me?" line too, right? I wonder how she connects to Moriarty...

I also wouldn't like another sibling... I honestly expected the secret sibling to be someone we already know or have heard of (or at least somebody we have seen in Sherlocks Mind Palace). Introducing a completely new crucial character that late is difficult... introducing two completely new crucial characters that late is even worse. We only have one episode left .
Maybe Sherrinford is the institution where Euros (still not a girl's name...) was kept all that time or some person associated with it. But in that case I wonder why Mycroft never heard she was on the loose... maybe she managed to trick him into believing she was still there the same way she changed the security footage of her as the "Lady in red" and Sherlock?

By now I also think her name is not actually Euros but Elizabeth and Lady Smallwoods first name was changed from Elizabeth to Alicia to avoid confusion... Euros could be a nickname/alias/codeword or whatever...

Lola Red · January 9, 2017 5:55 pm

Sherlock in his mind palace after Mary shot him sees Mycroft, he tells him that the east wind is coming to get him

At the end of HLV: When Sherlock was little Mycroft used to tell him the story of the east wind coming to pluck the unworthy from the earth (that apparently included Sherlock... Mycroft was a rubbish big brother)

Also John refers to Sherlock as an east wind coming after the plane has turned around and is about to land again

I think that are all the references we have until now, or have I missed anything?

Preceja · January 9, 2017 6:19 pm

Sherlock is actually William Sherlock, she might be Margaret Euros or something like that. It seems that parents use to call children by the second name. I wonder what is Mycroft's first name , Charles?

Ichneumon · January 9, 2017 6:25 pm

Preceja wrote:
Sherlock is actually William Sherlock, she might be Margaret Euros or something like that. It seems that parents use to call children by the second name. I wonder what is Mycroft's first name , Charles?

Euros is still not a girl's name . Since I'm not British I don't know if it might be common to give a girl a male middle name in the UK?
In German it is at least possible for men, usually with a religious connotation... I know of several men with the middle name Maria.

besleybean · January 9, 2017 6:54 pm

Possibly the team wanted to get away from such sexual stereotyping and thank goodness for that!

Liberty · January 9, 2017 6:56 pm

It's not unheard of here - in some areas, I think it was traditional for women to take their mother's maiden surname as a middle name. (And I think Baring-Gould had Sherrinford as Mrs Holmes' maiden name!). Some people use surnames as first names for girls (Taylor, etc.). And some names have changed from being more male names to more female names (Hilary, Beverley, Morgan, Lauren, Vivian, etc.).

besleybean · January 9, 2017 7:02 pm

Yay for me!(Beverley)

Ichneumon · January 9, 2017 7:15 pm

Liberty wrote:
It's not unheard of here - in some areas, I think it was traditional for women to take their mother's maiden surname as a middle name. (And I think Baring-Gould had Sherrinford as Mrs Holmes' maiden name!). Some people use surnames as first names for girls (Taylor, etc.). And some names have changed from being more male names to more female names (Hilary, Beverley, Morgan, Lauren, Vivian, etc.).

Mhhhh... maybe.
But the name of a male Greek personification of the east wind with a male grammatical ending? It just really confused me while watching the episode because I work in a related field and it didn't seem logical. They could have made Euros a brother and it would have been no problem, but a woman with that name and the mythological figure even being referenced by her just threw me off.

besleybean · January 9, 2017 7:16 pm

Well maybe it's artistic choice and maybe we will discover more next week.

Preceja · January 9, 2017 8:49 pm

I understand that Sherlock did not recognized his sister but why John did not recognized his terapist as the bus lady when people from the audience did?