John or James Watson? 

And when Sherlock only reads every third word of the text Mary got. I think it's from tje Adventure of the Gloria Scott.

Swanpride wrote:

And the scene in which John thinks his patient is Sherlock in disguise...there is a similiar one in one of the Basil Rathbone movies. Complete with trying to remove the beard.

Yes,  that was great.   Saw it also as a nod to the 'Empty House' -  where Sherlock returns as
a disguised 'bookseller'.    This 'bookseller'   turned out to be real, to John's embarrassment.   ha.

The London quote "A great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Islands are irresistibly drained" actually was made by Watson in ASIS.

 

the train station stop is given as "Sumatra Road". BTW I grew up round the corner from Sumatra Road, as it happens (I think there is only one in London) and there is no train stop there, though the line it would presumably be on is the Jubilee Line which runs to Baker Street. It lies between West Hampstead station and Kilburn, both on the Jubilee line.

Last edited by beekeeper (January 2, 2014 10:47 pm)

I love those references to the books. I grabbed the books again while watching the show.
Loved the stepfather thing.

There also were quite some references to other adaptations, especially 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'

With regard to the torture scene Mycroft mentions Sherlock taking down Baron Maupertuis. This is an allusion to "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire" where the case of Baron Maupertuis is described as exhausting and detrimental to Holmes' health. So this is quite fitting. 

Last edited by SusiGo (January 5, 2014 12:18 pm)

I didn't find these two myself, but I saw them on Wikipedia and thought they shouldn't go unmentioned :

At one point, John asks the bearded man selling DVDs if his usual GP is named "Dr. Verner", who, in "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", is a cousin of Sherlock Holmes who buys Watson's practice so he can move back into his old rooms on Baker Street upon Holmes's return.

Mary is seen reading John's blog, and the passage she reads aloud is an almost verbatim excerpt from chapter six of The Sign of Four ("[s]o swift, silent, and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent...").

The Adventure of the Reigate Squire: Baron Maupertuis' schemes described as 'Colossal' by Sherlock
Reference to Tibet in the Buddhit monastery scene from The Final Problem  (and to Benedict teaching English in Tibet? and his leaning towards Bhuddism)