There are so many scenes in season that seem funny at first glance until you actually think about them in the context of the hints we got about Sherlock's two years away. The drunk tank scene in TSOT is one of the most horrible and I'm not even convinced that the writers were trying to do anything more than give the viewers a laugh.

I'm talking of course about Sherlock waking up in the cell, in complete shock, looking around and flailing his arms. So not funny when you think about the fact that the first time we see him in this season he's being chased, captured, and then tortured, which included sleep deprivation.

I just imagine how many times in Serbia he was awoken that rudely to pain and harsh stimulus. His hangover induced headache and the bright white tiling of the drunk tank could have easily confused him for a second into thinking he was back in Serbia.

(There's also a continuity error in this scene. When we first see Sherlock, he has an arm hanging over the side of the bench. Cut to John, cut back to Sherlock, and the arm is tucked across Sherlock's stomach.)

Mary