Good question! I always saw her 'thought I was having a cry' as meaning that yes she was having a cry, but she was also smuggling the phone on herself and they didn't notice. As in, they thought she was JUST having a cry. If that makes sense?

 

I think Mrs. Hudson has very good antenna for all the "not good" stuff going on, and for realising who is the "wrong sort of people". Her background would strongly suggest she has been in some tight spots. I think she keeps a close eye on all the doings of Sherlock and John,and knows a good deal about their cases and about what's going on. We never see it on screen, but I can well imagine her having talks with Sherlock about his work, maybe not all the details, but I'm sure Sherlock would trust her with more information than, say, Mycroft or Lestrade. Like,while bringing the tea...
Mrs H: "Sherlock, all these nasty people interested in you, I wonder what you're up to..."
Sherlock: "Oh, the woman gave me this interesting phone. Some people seem interested."
Mrs H: "I hope we'll not have unpleasant visitors..."
Sherlock: "I hope so, too. But should they pay us a visit, I can't let them have this. - Oh, btw, have you seen my other dressing gown?"
I can perfectly see Mrs. Hudson make the necessary connection and snatch the phone so no one can get it. She would do nearly anything for Sherlock I suppose - we only talk about Sherlock's friends but never about Mrs Hudsons. She only has the occasional lover, and maybe she has some lady friends,but I guess those would be more for tea and not for exotic dancing and the likes. We have been assured she is a close friend of Sherlock, and I think she considers him something like that for herself.
I'm sure she can be scared by men with weapon, but I don't think for a second she is as much the frightened, helpless old lady she pretends to be.
 

Last edited by Whisky (July 27, 2015 9:11 am)

Now I'm thinking of Benedict in that costume and can't stop laughing :D omg

I'm not really sure how far Mrs Hudson would go out of her way to please the boys. Even if she really loves Sherlock, I don't see her in a mother role. I think of her saying "He's Sherlock. How will we ever know what goes on in that funny old head." This sounds affectionate to me, but also there is a distance - she doesn't know him that well. Also she can put a foot down if he annoys her.
I guess that she takes the phone for Sherlock and keeps it safe is mainly to protect Sherlock, and not to make him happy or help him. I think she realises he has once again miscalculated (why didn't he put the phone in a safer spot?) and she intervenes. She's keeping an eye out, but I'm not even sure she is giving presents to him except making tea...
I really wonder what Mrs. Hudson would give Sherlock as a birthday present :D :D

 

Good points as well :-)
True, Sherlock is more the teenager... except when he is dealing with the most dangerous criminals (and sometimes even then...)

I have to think about Mrs Hudson saying no. To me it feels like she would say no, if something happens she doesn't approve of. Maybe Sherlock is just really good in keeping just in line...

As much as Mrs H claims not to be their housekeeper, she very much is, so she obviously wanders in and out of 221B of her own free well, and most probably tidies up occasionally, or at least picks things up and puts them where they're supposed to be. She mentions later that Sherlock left the phone in the pocket of his "second best dressing gown". I've always imagined that Sherlock just left this dressing gown lying around on the sofa or the back of the armchair, and Mrs Hudson comes swooping in as she does, sees it lying there and tuts to herself, picks it up to throw it in the laundry basket, then realises there's something in the pocket. It's a phone. She takes it out and is probably planning to put it somewhere more appropriate where it's not going to get lost or thrown in the wash - like on the table or the desk - when the doorbell rings and it's the thugs come to attack and question her. They question her about a phone, she realises that must be the phone she just found, and sneaks it into her bra.

I don't think that's because of Mrs Hudson's choice. She says in TEH that Sherlock didn't like her dusting, which implies she certainly would have if he'd let her!  I don't think we can say she just 'tidies up a bit': she tidies up, cleans, does the food shopping (see TGG when she comes in after John and Sherlock's domestic with the shopping and leaves the receipt on the table), cooks whole meals for them (see Asib, when she takes away the plate Sherlock has left untouched, TsoT when she makes Sherlock and John both breakfast, etc)

Definitely way beyond the remit of a landlady...more like a mum. If we go back to her behaviour towards Sherlock, just think of her scolding him in HLV: "Sherlock Holmes, if you've been youtubing..." (or something like that). That's a sentence that could easily end with "no TV for a week young man!"

Last edited by Dorothy83 (July 27, 2015 12:43 pm)