BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Reusing dialogue

**Posted by NiTeLight** January 2, 2014 11:41 pm

Did anyone else notice they reused quite a few lines from TRF, and repeated several lines within the episode? How do you feel about it? Like it? Hate it? Depends on the line?

Personally, I like some of the things they included, but for the most part I think they relied on it too heavily (such as the conversation about needing Molly) and it just came off as.... cheesy. On this count, I'm disappointed in them.

**Posted by SusiGo** January 3, 2014 8:21 am

I really like the "How would you know" in the Sherlock/Mycroft deduction scene. And there is one moment I cannot recall exactly when John says "not really my area" which reminded me of Sherlock in ASiP.

**Posted by Mattlocked** January 3, 2014 8:31 am

SusiGo wrote:
I really like the "How would you know" in the Sherlock/Mycroft deduction scene. And there is one moment I cannot recall exactly when John says "not really my area" which reminded me of Sherlock in ASiP.

"How would you know." - to me it seemed a bit like tit for tat. I love it!

**Posted by SusiGo** January 3, 2014 8:38 am

And we can wonder if both of them were right.

**Posted by kete** January 3, 2014 8:44 am

I have seen them reusing lines I know from Sherlock (which I saw first) in "Coupling", "Jekyll" and "Doctor Who" so far. Same words, same intonation, even if spoken by another actor. It is a bit annoying, but probably human to quote yourself.

**Posted by tobeornot221b** January 3, 2014 8:57 am

kete wrote:
It is a bit annoying, but probably human to quote yourself.

Annoying? Maybe for someone so well-versed in the authors' entire work canon. I like it when I can tell the author just by the language style. It's like meeting old aquaintances.

**Posted by silverblaze** January 3, 2014 3:27 pm

Quoting oneself can be quite unconscious, I do it a lot when I write texts, repeating words etcetera. But those seem deliberate.

**Posted by SolarSystem** January 3, 2014 4:20 pm

SusiGo wrote:
I really like the "How would you know" in the Sherlock/Mycroft deduction scene. And there is one moment I cannot recall exactly when John says "not really my area" which reminded me of Sherlock in ASiP.

There also was John saying "it wasn't working for me" after he had shaved off The Moustache, and we all know that that's what Molly said about her lipstick in ASiP. I actually loved those little quotations.

**Posted by NiTeLight** January 4, 2014 1:12 am

I agree there were definitely good moments-- good lines included to honor or acknowledge highlights of previous episodes (you all have provided prime examples). But, for example, there was also at least one scene where he said effectively "Moriarty was wrong. There was another person who mattered. The person he thought mattered the least was actually the one that mattered the most. That person was you, Molly Hooper." That's practically the same thing as what he said in TRF, and there were other scenes (I need to rewatch) where it's just basically the same conversation or set of lines all over again. One liners are awesome, but I wasn't so happy with entire conversations or monologues being used almost verbatim.

**Posted by butterfly grl** January 7, 2014 10:08 pm

Can quote episode or anything, but I recall Gatiss using a line from Dr. Who in Sherlock.
(No, it wasn't dinosaurs on a space ship lol).

**Posted by Sherli Bakerst** January 8, 2014 1:11 am

SusiGo wrote:
And there is one moment I cannot recall exactly when John says "not really my area" which reminded me of Sherlock in ASiP.

That reminded me of Graham...Gavin...Greg Lestrade in TRF saying, "Not my division." (Or was it "our"? Must rewatch!) Not a direct quote, more like an echo.