Liberty wrote:

"It's got me thinking, though, that if it was real life, beating a corpse is perhaps quite an awful thing to do, depending on your personal morality around those things.   We do have a certain amount of respect for the departed, usually, and it could be very distressing for relatives to know that their loved one's body was treated that way.  Of course, Sherlock was doing it for the cause of good, even though there's an uncomfortable parallel with Culverton!

Given that Moftiss splattered corpses all over the German countryside and planned on throwing them into the Irish Sea or Atlantic (hopefully not having them land on land) - which was another impossibility in another episode -, I don't think beating one is worth getting upset about. (I'm still upset about the "freshness" dialogue, though...)

I suppose somebody sometime must have done experiments on postmortem bruising, and I don't find them any more problematic than having medical students doing autopsies in anatomy classes. I see absolutely no parallel with Culverton who killed people for his amusement.

But of course the whole "respect for the dead" thing is why Sherlock having human body parts in his refrigerator is another constant impossibility...

(I'm beginning to feel like I'm in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe...)

Last edited by Kittyhawk (March 27, 2018 12:35 pm)

Oh, it doesn't upset me!  And maybe it wasn't any more acceptable when ACD wrote it.  I think it's a really fun introduction to the character, and obviously so did Moftiss, as they used it again in TAB.   It was only that it occurred to me that it's one of the many, many things that would be different if it was real life.  (Although the really disturbing thing is that Culverton's real life counterpart went even further in real life!  Well, apart from murder, as far as we know). 

Anyway, the point it's written as a kind of fantasy, and I think we happily accept that, until something pushes just a little bit too far for some people.  I do admit there are bits that annoy me a little.  I don't really like the ambulance taking x minutes to arrive, but I accept that it makes for a good deduction and a good story.   Funnily enough, I think that because TFP goes further than the other episodes I actually accept it more easily, because it's so obviously fantasy.  I can just sit back and enjoy the ride!

Yeah, that's what I do too. I sit back and enjoy the ride, wherever they may take me. Makes it much more enjoyable, for me at least.

Glad to hear it!

True!  Eurus features in all the episodes and I think that draws TFP back into the "real world", such as it is. And the ending seems to be real, but needs TFP to happen (Eurus and Sherlock's family are involved, clearing up the flat, etc.).

Liberty wrote:

True!  Eurus features in all the episodes and I think that draws TFP back into the "real world", such as it is. And the ending seems to be real, but needs TFP to happen (Eurus and Sherlock's family are involved, clearing up the flat, etc.).

Well, if an explosion earlier in TFP was a hallucination, clearing up the flat at the end of the episode would be a part of hallucination too, of course....
 

Liberty wrote:

But if you remove the ending, there's no resolution and the whole thing seems a bit pointless! 

Well, the explosion at Baker Street and the drone was pointless (it didn´t even singe the carpet, lol), Mycroft´s pirate disguise was pointless (he could come to the island officially and nothing in the episode´s action would change because of it), Moriarty´s appearance was pointless (train sounds, really?) etc. etc. Would it be such a surprise that episode with so many pointless things in it would be pointless in its entirety? Does "insane wish-fulfillment" need to have a point anyway?
 

Yes, I would like to know more about this as well!

It's a while since I've watched, so I don't remember exactly, but isn't Mycroft starting to plan to get rid of Moriarty?  He is secretly working in collaboration with Sherlock?  I can't remember exactly when this kicks in, but I do think it's possible he was trying to mislead John at this point - he's trying to get John to take care of Sherlock, but also maybe already trying to deceive him.

However, I do think there are resentments evident all the way through, regardless of Eurus.   There's clearly something going on TAB, when Sherlock imagines himself desparately trying to impress Mycroft.   I think it's probably something to do with Mycroft being older and more clever (or at least, Sherlock perceiving him as such).   (We don't see the resentment on Mycroft's side so much, but if it's there, I bet it's about Sherlock being the favoured son).

Liberty wrote:

(We don't see the resentment on Mycroft's side so much, but if it's there, I bet it's about Sherlock being the favoured son).

Would Mycroft be so petty? Sherlock has nothing to do with the fact he´s being favoured after all - it´s his parents fault.