BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / "You see but you do not observe" - Early Clues That It Wasn't Real

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** January 4, 2016 4:24 pm

There's actually quite a few:

- Holmes playing the wedding waltz that he played at John & Mary's wedding whilst Victorian Watson & Mary are arguing in the living room
- The fact that he talked about having a case before he'd even been given one in the narrative "A very old one"
- The misuse of pronouns in the morgue
- Redbeard
- "After all, this is the 19th Century" - very self aware!
- The dagger having the "miss me" note
- Mycroft suddenly acquiring the "miss me" note
- Mycroft getting fatter overnight
- "Where do you pick up these extraordinary expressions?" ie. not Victorian
- "You're in deep, Sherlock, deeper than you ever intended to be....have you made a list?"
"I haven't finished yet."
- S: "You chose to come here"
M: "That's not true, you know that's not true."

Any others?

**Posted by REReader** January 4, 2016 5:02 pm

Using a flashlight to go after the ghost, while John is trying to keep a candle lit.

**Posted by Vhanja** January 4, 2016 5:02 pm

- The use of the word "crime scene" and Mycroft commenting on it
- Mycroft saying "virus in the hard drive"

**Posted by KeepersPrice** January 4, 2016 7:35 pm

"Virus in the hard drive" was the big tip-off for me. Knew that there was something afoot/askew from that point on. :-)

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** January 4, 2016 7:58 pm

I had the theory that it was a mind palace thing from the start... my first definite clue was when Mycroft pointed out Sherlock's use of 'Crime scene'.

**Posted by tonnaree** January 4, 2016 8:13 pm

If you pay really close attention there are many times you can catch the sound of being inside an airplane during scenes in the MP. Sometimes it's almost subliminal.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** January 4, 2016 8:17 pm

I wish my hearing was better... but I'll try to do my best noticing that the next time I get a chance to watch it...

**Posted by tonnaree** January 4, 2016 8:25 pm

This Is The Phantom Lady wrote:
I wish my hearing was better... but I'll try to do my best noticing that the next time I get a chance to watch it...

Try turning it way up and closing your eyes when you think you hear it.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** January 4, 2016 8:26 pm

That was my plan. I am going to wear down my DVD when it arrives... I wan to test the episode in every possible way!

**Posted by SolarSystem** January 5, 2016 8:08 am

I guess some things could be called clues, others could just be references to the modern version. Redbeard for example was just a reference to me first. But the very first scene with Mary where Sherlock is deducing her and mentions the perfume and says to John "...which brings insight to me and desaster to you" - that immediately made me go "Wait a minute!".

**Posted by Mattlocked** January 5, 2016 8:33 am

tonnaree wrote:
If you pay really close attention there are many times you can catch the sound of being inside an airplane during scenes in the MP. Sometimes it's almost subliminal.

Really? I didn't notice that. Hm......
There is a moment when victorian Sherlock talks to Mycroft (the scene without John) and he inhales (or exhales) quite sharp. Until now I couldn't hear if it really was him or a soundeffect.

**Posted by Liberty** January 5, 2016 10:43 am

The first thing was the kind of corny introduction with the recap of previous episodes. That was unexpected - why would we need that, especially if the new Victorian story seemed to be starting from the beginning? I was puzzled about why they did that when I saw it, but looking back, it was the first big clue.

**Posted by silverblaze** January 5, 2016 8:02 pm

I love this thread. I think the biggest clue was that Holmes talks about the case before Lestrade walks in, so he couldn't really have done that.

I think most clues I saw, you already covered but I've got one more:

When Mycroft talks about paranoia, Watson says: 'sounds Serbian.' Serbia didn't exist at that time.

And did you guys get: 'the virus in the data?'

**Posted by SusiGo** January 5, 2016 8:47 pm

Serbia had existed as an independent kingdom since 1882. Nevertheless I took it as a clue since there was the Serbian connection from TEH.

Another one:
The walls shaking in the Moriarty scene. Reminded me strongly of "Inception".

**Posted by tonnaree** January 5, 2016 8:56 pm

Attention: Now that you've seen TAB, any of you who haven't seen Inception, DO IT!!!!!

**Posted by Harriet** January 5, 2016 8:57 pm

John's clothing in the train changing to chequered shirt and jacket for a moment.

**Posted by Lilythiell** January 8, 2016 2:15 pm

And the earliest clue was in the titles, with switch from black&white to colour.

**Posted by Mothonthemantel** January 8, 2016 2:18 pm

I guess Sherlock in the prison cell as John and Mike walk into the morgue was the first big clue.?

**Posted by miriel68** January 8, 2016 4:31 pm

Yes, opening titles were a bit of a mix, I was wondering what was the meaning of it.
Was it Sherlock in the prison cell or Sherlock in the modern morgue? I noticed there was a person in modern garb, but it was so fast and I couldn't see it clearly.

**Posted by silverblaze** January 9, 2016 10:19 am

I missed any prison connection. Have to watch again.

Thanks Susi, I didn't know about Serbia, I thought it only formed after the fall of Yugoslavia. But indeed still an odd reference for Watson to make. 'Sounds French' would have made more sense.

The shaking: yeah, that's when I knew we weren't in reality. Also really neat how the sound changes into the sound of the plane.

I've got another one, not related to the mind palace twist but to the case: Sir Eustache's fainting when he sees the bride. Fainting under stress was a bit of a trope in ACD's stories but IRL people don't faint when they are under stress (unless you suffer from nacolepsy or something). In fact, we get a shot of adrenaline and quite the opposite of fainting happens. So him fainting is a clue that Lady Carmichael isn't a reliable narrator!