BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / This wedding is an extremely strange one!

**Posted by Kittyhawk** July 25, 2015 11:01 am

SusiGo wrote:
.... It still does not change my opinion that we do not get any hint when the photos were taken. .....

True, but there's so many things wrong with the Sholto story that I can't get upset about a missing 5 minutes
Starting with why raw recruits would go into combat and not into basic training, then wondering why the soldiers (probably just out of basic training) would be led into combat by a Major (pretty high up in the hierarchy), and why a Major who leads troops into combat would be a doctor's commanding officer - and that's just the backstory!
The "murder" doesn't make sense either: A person would feel being stabbed (and with Major Sholto's "lifetime of unfortunate reflexes" I'd expect the photographer to find himself in big trouble), Wellingtongoose informs me that a wound big enough to lead to bleeding out would not be blocked by the belt, I have been in a lot of group photos but never has the photographer manhandled people into position (they've always stayed in front, saying things like "move a bit closer together"), and last but not least, why would a murderer use the exact same method for his target after the "rehearsal murder" had gone wrong?

**Posted by kornmuhme** July 25, 2015 7:59 pm

Kittyhawk wrote:
SusiGo wrote:
.... It still does not change my opinion that we do not get any hint when the photos were taken. .....
True, but there's so many things wrong with the Sholto story that I can't get upset about a missing 5 minutes
Starting with why raw recruits would go into combat and not into basic training, then wondering why the soldiers (probably just out of basic training) would be led into combat by a Major (pretty high up in the hierarchy), and why a Major who leads troops into combat would be a doctor's commanding officer - and that's just the backstory!
The "murder" doesn't make sense either: A person would feel being stabbed (and with Major Sholto's "lifetime of unfortunate reflexes" I'd expect the photographer to find himself in big trouble), Wellingtongoose informs me that a wound big enough to lead to bleeding out would not be blocked by the belt, I have been in a lot of group photos but never has the photographer manhandled people into position (they've always stayed in front, saying things like "move a bit closer together"), and last but not least, why would a murderer use the exact same method for his target after the "rehearsal murder" had gone wrong?

Pretty good questions! I've always wondered, too how it it possible for anyone not to FEEL that he was stabbed - at least the slightest hint of ... anything!

**Posted by Kittyhawk** August 2, 2015 2:11 pm

Actually, what bothered me most about the stabbed guardsman, and immediately when watching the show for the first time (the other questions came later), was why the sergeant ran into the major's office upon finding Bainbridge bleeding in the shower without first checking his vital signs. I would have expected British soldiers to know some basic first aid...

(OT, real-life question to British forum members: Do you have to do a first-aid course before getting a driving licence?)

**Posted by Vhanja** August 2, 2015 2:22 pm

I think the delayed stabbing is probably the most unrealistic of all plots in the show so far.

**Posted by Yitzock** August 2, 2015 3:05 pm

I haven't done any research whether it's actually possible, but the way it is explained seems plausible to me, and I found this a fascinating concept at the very least, but I can understand why you might find it unrealistic since it's unusual and something none of us had probably ever thought of. It did make for a surprise, though.

**Posted by Vhanja** August 2, 2015 4:12 pm

Last year I read this good meta from Wellington Goose (a UK doctor) about why delayed stabbing as portrayed in the show doesn't work:

http://wellingtongoose.tumblr.com/post/72482314087/sign-of-three-why-the-murder-doesnt-work

**Posted by REReader** August 2, 2015 9:42 pm

The problem with the "it's impossible" theory is that it's based on a real-life assassination: The Assassination of Empress Eugenie of Austria.

**Posted by Vhanja** August 3, 2015 7:48 am

But here, the empress reacted to the stabbing almost immediately, so it's not quite the same.

**Posted by nakahara** August 3, 2015 8:06 am

Sholto´s face and probably a body too are badly burned - it is therefore possible he is under some powerful meds all the time and doesn´t feel pain so keenly because of it.

**Posted by Vhanja** August 3, 2015 8:08 am

But according to the meta, he would still bleed, even while wearing a belt. And the guardsman was young and healthy, he would surely have felt it (and bled too).

Last edited by Vhanja (August 3, 2015 8:08 am)

**Posted by nakahara** August 3, 2015 8:11 am

Hmm, you are right - the guardsman doesn´t have Sholto´s condition, so no such thing applies to him....

**Posted by Davina** August 3, 2015 11:48 am

No, we don't have to do a basic first aid course prior to learning to drive etc. but I think we should do!!

**Posted by SusiGo** August 3, 2015 6:55 pm

(Sorry in advance in case we had this already): You do not have to read the whole meta which is very long and interesting but I was intrigued by the information about the yellow wallpaper. So everything in connection with the wallpaper - colour, pattern, etc. - may be freely interpreted as it was Arwel's artistic choice and not the usual design of this room:

http://tykobrian.tumblr.com/post/125774501179/the-yellow-wallpaper-or-really-subtle-ways

**Posted by mrshouse** August 4, 2015 12:16 pm

Slowly, slowly....
Thank you for posting this, Susi, I don't think we had that already. I must admit it took me a while to fully understand the language of the novel, but it's indeed like I would expect Mary to think in her inner deepest in ....let's say...next season?
About the colour I had to check twice, if it's not just bright sunlight in the first and a bit dimlit in the second but it isn't.

**Posted by SusiGo** April 10, 2016 5:31 pm

Here is another interesting post about the flowers and colour schemes of the wedding.

http://sherlock-addict.tumblr.com/post/142579285886/whose-wedding-was-it-again

**Posted by Schmiezi** April 10, 2016 5:41 pm

SusiGo wrote:
Here is another interesting post about the flowers and colour schemes of the wedding.

http://sherlock-addict.tumblr.com/post/142579285886/whose-wedding-was-it-again

This is brilliant.

**Posted by Harriet** April 10, 2016 6:06 pm

This is great. Esp. the conclusion.

**Posted by SusiGo** April 10, 2016 6:07 pm

And I never noticed the complete lack of lilac in Mary.

Last edited by SusiGo (April 10, 2016 6:09 pm)

**Posted by Harriet** April 10, 2016 6:50 pm

Excellent find, Susi

**Posted by Harriet** April 11, 2016 3:31 pm

From that article:

Another interesting thing is that there isn’t any colour purple or lilac in Mary’s bouquet. At all. Which as mum said (without my prompting) is really weird. The colour scheme for this wedding is purple/lilac, silver, and white. Every florist would get that purple in there somewhere; flowers, ribbons, pearls, the possibilities are nearly endless. The bride apparently didn’t want any purple in her bouquet. *snort* Or Sherlock, the wedding planner, didn’t. Either way, no purple. And the missing colour isn’t the only odd thing about this bouquet. The bouquet is a very classic, traditional one, a cascade bouquet (mum said, “an English drop”, which I’m guessing is a Czech term, but an interesting one, I’d thought), it has a very 1930s feel. Mary’s whole appearance does give this vibe. (Just like in the restaurant scene in TEH.) It certainly suits her.

Too bad it doesn’t match the rest of the wedding.

Because the most important thing, the most important person at a wedding is the bride. The wedding theme, wedding flowers, groom, bridesmaids, everything matches the bride. Basically, what we have here is a nice gay, modern but traditional, wedding with a bride from the 1930s shoved in the middle.

So either were the florists truly terrible at their job, or they were truly brilliant at their job. “Gay or trash” once again.