In response to your spoiler

Spoiler » I don't know.  Even though it's in a secret place I feel like someone might find it and either he will have to explain it to somebody else or it will never be explained because it will be lost forever.  But I don't know.  I'm wondering myself what it is, whether it's from his adolescence or something.

Yes, I noticed that! 

Spoiler » I'm not sure about the diary - I've been meaning to go back and freeze frame it to see what we can read.  I suppose I'm interested in the fact that Danny does have that secret hiding place, that he knows to take the mystery object (something to do with code-breaking?) and hide it, even before he knew Alex as a spy and that he lied to Scottie about it.  It makes me wonder if he knows more that he's not telling us.  I wonder if he's had that hiding place for a few years?  Or just since he met Alex?  Danny has mentioned a dark past but we don't know much about it apart from the incidents surrounding the start of his friendship with Scottie.

The second mystery object looks like a pill - but what?  The American seemed to be hinting about suicide, so cyanide springs to mind but why?   Why leave him the card?  And if it was cyanide and there was a chance Danny would need to use it, he'd keep it on him, but he doesn't - but doesn't throw it away either.   Maybe it's not a pill at all, but some sort of data in swallowable form, in case it needs to be hidden? 

I've seen a couple of bad reviews too, but I think it's just a matter of personal taste. 

What about Mark Gatiss in Episode 3?  Wasn't he great?  Funnily enough, I kind of trust the character just because he was so sleazy - I somehow don't see him being much worse than we already see.  I think if somebody is going to be a surprise villain,  it's going to be somebody we don't suspect

Spoiler » and I'm really hoping it's not Scottie!   Or Alex, who we don't definitely know is dead.  Or Danny - it couldn't be Danny, could it?  This whole thing isn't a double bluff and he's been masterminding it all along?  I hope not. 

.   The bathtub scene was very poetic.  I hope we see more of Rich.

Spoiler » It seems that Alex did kind of instruct Danny to take the mystery object and hide it, and to crack the code, so that does explain Danny's actions at the flat now.   I did wonder if Danny was wise to tell Scottie about it - isn't there always the possibility that Scottie's not quite what he seems either?   But then Danny does seem to be exceptionally intuitive.  And ... this may be a spoiler ... I remember reading something in article about Tim Rob Smith saying that Scottie was the kind of mentor figure that he wished he'd had himself ... now, he wouldn't make him into a bad guy, would he? 

I didn't guess what the pill was until Danny's flatmate found it.   I'm assuming it was a post-exposure prophylaxis pill rather than a treatment pill, and the American gave it to Danny because he knew he'd been infected.   I do think it seems strange that Danny, who was very well aware of HIV as an issue, didn't recognise the pill but his flatmate did.  So when was Danny infected?   It wasn't when they took the blood recently (too soon).  The obvious answer is that Alex infected him, but it doesn't really make sense - Danny did say that their sex had been safe(ish).    And that wouldn't tie with the American coming in 8 months after Danny had been exposed - it makes more sense if it was recent. 

Also interesting that the American (CIA?) seems to want to help Danny if he's trying to "save his life", and that all the agencies involve "agree".  So do they all want Danny alive and well?  Why?  So that he can crack the code?  If this is such a big international deal why isn't Danny being constantly monitored - how does he manage to have a safe hiding place?  Maybe he IS being monitored?  By Scottie?  (No!).

And who is on the phone?  I still think there's a chance Alex is alive, but I don't think he'd reappear at that point - I think it will be a suprise in the last episode if he's going to.   But it could be him. 

Was anyone else reminded of the Diogenes club?  I loved that whole scene and the coded messages! 

I don't know if I will ever bee able to see Mycroft in the same way as before. I'm traumatized!
I rarely have seen a character who I despised that much from literally the first moment on the screen, just at the split second I recognized Mark. Bleh.

Mark is a genius. He can do everyone convincingly, from darling to disgusting.

Yes, I just watched the episode and fully agree. His body language is amazing. And last week I watched "Coriolanus" again, what an incredible difference. He is a wonderful actor. 

Btw, who else loved Danny's reindeer socks? 

Yes, Mark did an excellent job.  He was so greasy and creepy. *shivers*

Not only did I think of the Diogenes Club in the men's club scene, but I also thought of Mycroft in the car scene.

Interesting questions you bring up, Liberty.  Most of what you brought up I hadn't though of, myself.

Ben's acting was great in this episode, each episode is better than the last.  He was really good at breaking down without being over the top and unbelievable.  That scene in the doctor's office and the subsequent scene at Scottie's place were great.

I also continue to love the way this show is filmed: the closeups, the long takes with the slightly shaky handheld camera.  It's great.  Again, the doctor's office scene was a great example of those long takes.  It also amazes me how they can film right in front of a mirror and not have the camera reflected in the mirror.
I also thought the pool scene was beautiful.

I'm looking forward to the next one.

Last edited by Yitzock (November 28, 2015 3:06 am)

Sherlock would say that you see but do not observe.  There was a closeup of Danny pulling up his sock with the reindeer on it.

The pace of the whole thing is incredibly slow. But it is also somehow hypnotizing. To be honest, I watched it only because I've read Mark was in it, but despite not being very fond of Ben W., I want to know what happens next.

Yitzock wrote:

Yes, Mark did an excellent job.  He was so greasy and creepy. *shivers*
Not only did I think of the Diogenes Club in the men's club scene, but I also thought of Mycroft in the car scene.

And I have this unwanted but persistent, perverse thought about what Mycroft is doing when he's not being the British government. Imagine, this flashback from LS could be a crossover scene with Sherlock. *Shudder even more*. I must be crazy hoping for more Rich in LS, because at the same time I'm scared to re-watch Sherlock now, don't know if I can get rid of those images looking at Mycroft again.

No, it's not that I mix the shows.
But there are thoughts that cannot be un-thought. :-)
It's like a parallel reality running somewhere at the back of your brain.