I confess that I was 10-15 mins in, before I remembered I was meant to be taking notes!
Having not seen it for years, I was just enjoying re-watching!
I know it's not everyone's fave episode, except apparently for some Johnlockers...bizarre. Anyhow...
I didn't think there was going to be anything relevant in this, but turns out it had quite a lot!
As I watched, I also remember all of the criticism at the time: racism, stereotypes, unbelievable...nothing much changes!
This episode is full of iconic shots of Sherlock: silhouettes, in his classic coat/scarf/glove combo(does he still wear the gloves?  I'm gonna watch out for this.).
Again Benedict looks stunning and his make up is immaculate...I only mention that last part, because of the comments of them looking orange in S 4!
The episode is also full of classic lines and scenes.
When Sherlock introduces John to Sebastian: some of you may recall I have always seen this scene differently to virtually everyone in the fandom. I thought Sebastian was hinting that John was more than a friend(I suspected he has always thought Sherlock gay) and that's why John says 'colleague'.
Everybody else seems to think John was denying the friendship and clarifying they are colleagues...
I have to say that on this re-watch I could kind of see where people were coming from.  But I still think: really, why would John even do that?!
I did see a connection between Soo-Lin and Mary...both of them with dodgy backgrounds catching up on them.
But possibly more pertinent might be that it's Soo-Lin's brother brings about her downfall. 
Maybe this is almost reversed in TFP where the sister almost brings about her brother's(or brothers') downfall.
Anyway both Soo-Lin and Mary are kind of in-hiding, then on the run, trying to get away and start a new life etc.
I thought it was interesting in this episode that Sherlock twice deliberately locks John out, he doesn't need him.
This is completely reversed by S 4.
I also noticed how Sherlock is trying to train John up, getting him to notice how a heavy object had been in Van Coon's suitcase.
It's telling that Sherlock wants Lestrade and not Dimmock.  The relationship between him and Greg grows over the years.
The episode is also full of Sherlock as the cleverest man in the room, with his fantastic deductions. 
I only really noticed this time the signature tunes for individuals.  Soo-Lin has her own music s Irene and Eurus have etc.
I smiled at the thought of Soo-Lin having 'family problems' a bit like Holmes family! But of course in this version, the brother actually kills the sister.
But Sherlock does need John as his assistant, when he's following up 2 different murders.
I thought it funny in this episode that just as Sarah assumes John has a girlfriend, the Chinese shop keeper assumes he has a wife.  Things have changed since last episode and of course he does eventually gain and then loses a wife!
John is wanting to be included in Sherlock's work...as he still does, 3 series later.
Their walking across the Millennium bridge reminded me of Sherlock's night/chip stroll by the river with Eurus.
John shouts at Sherlock for not answering his phone, of course he criticises Sherlock for this in TFP!
Then there is the famous scene where Sherlock tries to get John to use his mind palace.
Sherlock seems quite impressed that John thought to take a photo of the symbols.
I was quite struck by Sherlock's expression when Soo Lin announces the spider is 'her brother'...he has a troublesome brother, too!
Soo Lin also refers to her brother as  puppet of the gang and I wonder if Sherlock sees Mycroft a s a puppet of the government.
Noticeably John abandons Soo Lin to go to Sherlock.
I was struck by how much running about there is in this episode...do the guys slow down as they get older in later episodes?
I also thought of how the drum signifies Soo Lin's approaching death, whereas the violin actually gives Eurus new life.
Very striking was John running to find Soo Lin shot and how despairing he is...little did he know how much worse a scenario he was to face in the future.
I laughed at the scene of Sherlock flirting with Molly...reminding me of him jokingly flirting with her during the awful TFP phone call.
Most infamously of course is the discussion of a 'date' scene.  Quite firmly establishing that John is not interested in Sherlock romantically.
Sherlock: we're going out tonight.
John: actually I have a date.
Sherlock: a what?
John: where 2 people who like each other and go out to have fun.
Sherlock: that's what I was suggesting.
John: no you weren't, at least I hope not.
And then; I don't come to you for dating advice.

Then on the theatre staircase we hear John state he is trying to get off with Sarah and Sherlock appears clueless about relationships.
I guess other people were quicker than me on the next one: But there is the theme of yellow paint all the way through BBC Sherlock: from the smiley face in S 1, through the Chinese code here, culminating in the re-painting of the smiley face in TFP.
Sarah is the first action female we see in the show: bashing the Chinese guy...Mary takes it further both in marrying John and in her all out action self. 
Dimmock notes how Lestrade thinks Sherlock's advice is worth something...this increases to Sherlock being a good man in TFP!
Again it had all been lost on me before: but the whole thing with the characters actually representing numbers which in turn led to words to solve the code...a bit like Eurus and the gravestones.
John is knocked out, as in TFP and this is the fist time he awakes to find himself held captive by a powerful woman.
He didn't expect Shan to be a woman! Both in terms of her power, but possibly also ref to a brother becoming a sister.
THE most telling words of all are those from Shan: we tried to kill you 3 times.  What does it tell you if an assassin is a bad shot?  They don't mean to kill you.  We could have killed you if we wanted to, but we just wanted to make you inquisitive...TOTAL parallel with Mary shooting Sherlock. This time of course John only has to watch Sarah about to be killed, again it gets worse in TFP when he is required to do the killing.
I think the fact the team used Benedict's girlfriend in this episode, should have helped people realise they would use Martin's wife in future.
I did notice Sherlock and John sitting opposite each other at breakfast, by next season they are sitting next to each other.




 

Last edited by besleybean (July 5, 2017 5:03 pm)