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June 3, 2012 2:07 pm  #1


Cigarettes in Scandal

Since most of the tv I watch is scrubbed squeaky clean of cigarettes these days, I was struck to see it in this episode.  I don't remember seeing cigarettes smoked in the first season, am I remembering rightly?  And there's the great opening bit in Hound where Sherlock is breaking the habit.  A nice transition.  How about the Fall?  I remember apples, and chewing gum and tea cups.... No cigarettes?

I will do more homework, and see if this observation holds water.  In the meantime i'll make a short note here, let me know what you think.

Mycroft offers Sherlock a cigarette after Sherlock identifies Irene's body from not-her-face.  She's not dead but none of us know that yet.  Sherlock smokes, low tar, "Well, you barely knew her", great stuff.

Mycroft smokes a cigarette waiting for John in front of Speedy's, waiting to tell him to tell Sherlock that Irene is in witness protection, no actually she's dead, beheaded, gone.

Hm.  When does one have a cigarette?  After a good meal.  Mid-afternoon break from work.  Oh.  And after a good ...shagging, is that the right term?  But this is Sherlock and Mycroft, no sex for you!  There is however lots of tension and intellectual stimulation, uncertainy, excitement and release... well, I thought so, anyway.   . And isn't it just like the Holmes boys?  The game with Irene is better than sex, no wonder they reach for a post-coital cigarette.

(This doesn't match my previous hypothesis that Mycroft knows Irene is alive at the end.  But I can hold multiple parallel universes in my mind to support a theory.   )

 

June 3, 2012 5:15 pm  #2


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

Strangely enough the only times people actually smoke are times of Irene's 'death', although in both cases she is not actually dead. Mycroft is the smoker, or giver of cigarette, in both cases. The only other time Sherlock really, really, could do with a fag is when he needs to think or is very bored. More linked to stressful/emotional events than any thing else; even though both the Holmes boys deny they feel emotion like other people. 'Sentiment is not an advantage'.


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Don't make people into heroes John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them.
 

June 3, 2012 5:56 pm  #3


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

Ooh.  I just looked up "la petite mort" in Wikipedia.  Multiple meanings, all relevant.

     Thread Starter
 

June 3, 2012 6:19 pm  #4


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

Sherlock's cigarette habit is first mentioned in Study in Pink where John comes home and finds him with his three patches, then again when he compares patches to Lestrade in the drugs bust scene.

In don't think it's mentioned in the Blind Banker, but it's definitely in the Great Game during the Janus Cars scene, Sherlock asks the guy for money for the cigarette machine just so he can look in his wallet, then when John asks him if he'd like to borrow some off him he says "nicotine patches...I'm doing well remember..."

And yes, then the times that you've mentioned, in Scandal and Hounds. Don't think there's any references in Reichenbach.


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June 3, 2012 6:33 pm  #5


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

More smoking references in Scandal:
Mycroft's "very old friend" and "employer" at Buckingham Palace is a smoker. Obviously.
John fights the impulse to steal an ashtray - of all things. He isn't even a smoker.
Sherlock steals an ashtray.


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John: "Have you spoken to Mycroft, Molly, uh, anyone?"
Mrs Hudson: "They don’t matter. You do."


I BELIEVE IN SERIES 5!




                                                                                                                  
 

June 3, 2012 6:37 pm  #6


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

tobe, just being nosey but is that you in your avatar/photo?


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I was wondering if you'd like to have coffee...
Hmm. I really don't know. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say 'know'? I meant 'care'. I don't really care. 
Douglas Richardson, Cremona
 

June 3, 2012 6:41 pm  #7


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

No, it's an actress I hired to be me...


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John: "Have you spoken to Mycroft, Molly, uh, anyone?"
Mrs Hudson: "They don’t matter. You do."


I BELIEVE IN SERIES 5!




                                                                                                                  
 

June 3, 2012 6:45 pm  #8


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

Agh! Feeling very dumb and not getting it! 


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I was wondering if you'd like to have coffee...
Hmm. I really don't know. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say 'know'? I meant 'care'. I don't really care. 
Douglas Richardson, Cremona
 

June 3, 2012 6:58 pm  #9


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

Richard Brook was hired to be Moriarty. True or not?
I'll leave you to your deductions...


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John: "Have you spoken to Mycroft, Molly, uh, anyone?"
Mrs Hudson: "They don’t matter. You do."


I BELIEVE IN SERIES 5!




                                                                                                                  
 

June 3, 2012 6:59 pm  #10


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

You are mean!! 


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I was wondering if you'd like to have coffee...
Hmm. I really don't know. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say 'know'? I meant 'care'. I don't really care. 
Douglas Richardson, Cremona
 

June 5, 2012 6:28 pm  #11


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

I'm trying to figure out how Sherlock was enticed into smoking in the first place. He undoubtedly was a child prodigy in all things intellectual including medical science so surely he was aware of the dangers. He is impervious to peer pressure so that was not the cause. The only thing I can conclude is that he started smoking just to be intentionally difficult and rebellious or because he wanted to prove that he could start and quit and not be a slave to evils of the flesh like those of us who are ordinary. He found out differently


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Disguise is always a self portrait
 

June 5, 2012 6:46 pm  #12


Re: Cigarettes in Scandal

Yeah SP, difficult and rebellious sound about right. 


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