BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / CAM's wedding message to Mary

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** January 5, 2014 10:37 pm

She didn't seem best pleased to hear from him. She obviously knows who he is and possibly what he is capable of. So...what's their history together? Anyone care to debate? We've got a week to make our deductions...

**Posted by Clueing_for _looks** January 5, 2014 11:28 pm

CAM = Charles Augustus Magnussen.
I am really worried!!!

**Posted by Davina** January 5, 2014 11:29 pm

Instant recognition of the name/initials. She looked anxious, upset and thrown off kilter for a while. A hidden secret/weakness/past indiscretion?

**Posted by bohemian_rhapsody** January 5, 2014 11:59 pm

Most people have got secrets, it's what makes us vulnerable.

I don't like the way Sherlock looked at Mary in the end. There is something evil coming.

Last edited by bohemian_rhapsody (January 6, 2014 12:00 am)

**Posted by dartmoordoggers** January 6, 2014 12:09 am

The telegram made reference to her absent parents who she clearly lost as a child, and referred to her as Poppet. As an orphan I wonder if CAM had some guardianship or other control over her.

Last edited by dartmoordoggers (January 6, 2014 12:10 am)

**Posted by kittykat** January 6, 2014 12:23 am

dartmoordoggers wrote:
The telegram made reference to her absent parents who she clearly lost as a child, and referred to her as Poppet. As an orphan I wonder if CAM had some guardianship or other control over her.

Tying in to Sherlock's "Guardian" deduction in Empty Hearse?

**Posted by Commonwealth** January 6, 2014 1:28 am

dartmoordoggers wrote:
The telegram made reference to her absent parents who she clearly lost as a child, and referred to her as Poppet. As an orphan I wonder if CAM had some guardianship or other control over her.

I don't remember the show ever telling us that Mary's parent's were dead.

I thought maybe the absent parents message indicates that CAM is holding her parents hostage or maybe CAM knows she is the illegitimate child of someone powerful who wants to keep her existence secret.

**Posted by tonnaree** January 6, 2014 1:29 am

In one of the flashbacks Mary refers to herself as an orphan. She says she has friends instead of family.

**Posted by sj4iy** January 6, 2014 4:15 am

Or perhaps he manipulated her as a orphaned child, got her out of a bad situation by using her to run something illegal in her youth.

**Posted by Criosdan** January 6, 2014 8:54 am

From the books we know CAM is a blackmailer. And I believe to remember that Mary is an orphan there.
I already hate him.

**Posted by Wholocked** January 6, 2014 10:31 am

I thought they were two separate telegrams. The one where she is refered to as "poppet" she seemed to be happy about, but then the CAM one she was upset over. I don't think those are both the same telegram.

/random aside

**Posted by the_dancing_woman** January 6, 2014 10:50 am

I am really intrigued as to how this will all come together next Sunday, and I am also a bit terrified.

**Posted by SherlockianDE** January 6, 2014 10:58 am

Wholocked wrote:
I thought they were two separate telegrams. The one where she is refered to as "poppet" she seemed to be happy about, but then the CAM one she was upset over. I don't think those are both the same telegram.

/random aside

I rewatched that scene a couple of times now, and it's hard to tell whether these two are different telegrams or not. First I thought you were right, but if the poppet one was separate, wouldn't there have been the name of who sent it at the end?

It's also interesting that Sherlock doesn't seem to recognize the abbreviation "CAM", but in the trailer for HLV he speaks about him with such hatred, like he's known about CAM's doing for ages... Guess there must be some time between episodes 2 and 3.

**Posted by SherlockianDE** January 6, 2014 11:29 am

Of course, he might have been acting - you can't really be sure with Sherlock... But it's also very Sherlockian that he got bored very quickly by all those messages saying the same stuff and therefore abandoning the whole thing

**Posted by SusiGo** January 6, 2014 11:51 am

I watched the subtitles and these seem to be two different messages. IMO Poppet is not adressed to Mary, it is the signatory of the message. Then follows CAM's one-sentence message (in the subtitles they write Cam, not CAM).
This is also supported by Mary's face. She laughs at hearing "Poppet" and turns very serious the moment the name CAM/Cam is mentioned.

**Posted by Hanka** January 6, 2014 12:47 pm

Considering that Mary apparently does know CAM - the person who kidnapped John and tried to kill him - it almost seems like she could've known who sent her those text messages about John being in danger...? I mean, since they seem to know each other quite well, him knowing about her family and all. I like Mary but maybe she's, idk, in on the whole thing (for whatever reason)? And maybe she isn't actually pregnant but tried to make Sherlock believe she was by obviously behaving like it to make it a) seem like she's completely on their side and b) make it harder for Sherlock to go after her/maybe even kill her when he realises she's on the baddy's side, I mean, when he thinks she's carrying John's child he wouldn't just shoot her, would he? Just a theory.

**Posted by The_Gun_Flip** January 6, 2014 1:30 pm

Just a thought but I think, in the book, Mary's Father was Captain Arthur Morstan? Another CAM. So it may have been a nod to that and just coincidence that they're the same initials as the new baddie.

**Posted by Hanka** January 6, 2014 1:44 pm

The_Gun_Flip wrote:
Just a thought but I think, in the book, Mary's Father was Captain Arthur Morstan? Another CAM. So it may have been a nod to that and just coincidence that they're the same initials as the new baddie.

But she's an orphan, isn't she? Wouldn't she have grown up in a children's home or something???

**Posted by The_Gun_Flip** January 6, 2014 1:48 pm

Hanka wrote:
The_Gun_Flip wrote:
Just a thought but I think, in the book, Mary's Father was Captain Arthur Morstan? Another CAM. So it may have been a nod to that and just coincidence that they're the same initials as the new baddie.
But she's an orphan, isn't she? Wouldn't she have grown up in a children's home or something???

That would depend on when her parents died. But when I say a nod to it I don't mean that it's actually a telegram from her Father but that it's a reference that ACD fans might appreciate. The Sign of Four was about him.

**Posted by besleybean** January 6, 2014 5:22 pm

Interesting.