BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Season 4 trailer (spoilers!)

**Posted by SusiGo** July 25, 2016 7:05 am

Sorry for commenting only now but I had to sleep a night over this. Wow! So many amazing things, darkness. John in his chair!!!, Sherlock and John in a car, only dark-haird Mary, possibly flashback, no domestic Watson bliss with baby and dog. This is right up my street.

The pool moment intrigued me. It looked different from the TGG pool but still. All these head shots from behind, accompanied by the word "back", will surely mean we are going back in time. Way back.

In short, I am still overwhelmed. I did not expect this and I am surprised in very positive way. Yeah!

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** July 25, 2016 7:05 am

Is the bed empty? We can only see the outline of the bed in front of John

**Posted by Liberty** July 25, 2016 7:19 am

It looks empty to me, and I think the lighting somehow suggests that but of course you can't tell because John's in the way (move a little, so we can see?). Perhaps the mystery is who's in the bed?

Yes, I'm sure the pool is different, but still, a pool has to be a reminder of TGG, I think? Also all the blue, and the water, made me think of the "shark" clues.

**Posted by nakahara** July 25, 2016 7:23 am

Agree, Carl Powers was the first thing on my mind when I saw the pool.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** July 25, 2016 7:53 am

The pool did make me think of TGG, but it's clearly not that pool... but maybe the pool does have strings running back to things

**Posted by Liberty** July 25, 2016 8:44 am

Do you think "they" in the trailer just means Sherlock and John, or does it refer to a wider group of people? (My guess is just Sherlock and John, but it's not clear).

Everything they know will be tested.
Everyone they know is under threat.

Everyone they know is under threat, reminds me a little of TRF, where people were in danger because they were close to Sherlock. This is both Sherlock and John (at least) which implies that they're in it together (yay!). I'm curious about why people would be at risk for knowing Sherlock and John (Mike? Harry?). At the end of that line we see Mrs Hudson telling off Mycroft - are they both under threat?

Everything they know will be tested, implies that everything we know is going to be tested too. It also implies (I think) that Sherlock hasn't been keeping information from us (which was a possibility) - this is going to be new information for him too, whatever it is.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** July 25, 2016 8:49 am

I have a feeling that someone, or something will make them unable to trust anyone, those they love the most the least....

Also... about the creepy nurses, I've been thinking, what if they are working for one of the villains? like minions

**Posted by Liberty** July 25, 2016 9:05 am

They could be. There's something I'm going to put in spoilers here, because it's from when somebody posted a tiny snippet of script.

Culverton Smith was a doctor in canon, and there have been lots of medical hints in Setlock. However, the script seem to confirm that he was a TV presenter rather than a doctor, so I assume that they are not actually doing that particular evil doctor story from canon, just using the name and changing it about.

I seem to be failing at trying to link to tumblr posts, but somebody on there noticed a rose in the hospital bed scene with John, reminiscent of the rose in the deleted scene in HLV (from Irene).   It could be that she is returning, or perhaps more likely a nod to that, and a clue that the bed is Sherlock's.

So I had another look at that scene. I can't see the rose clearly (although I can see something that could be a rose, I'm not sure).   However, there are a couple of conflicting things - the monitor seems to be showing a heart trace, suggesting that the bed is occupied and it's linked up to a live person.   However, the drip is quite a distance from the bed, and I don't think it's connected, suggesting that the bed does not have a live person in it.   So three options, empty bed, live person in it, dead person in it.   None quite fit exactly, but the way they've filmed it so that John (it is, John, isn't it?) hides it is interesting.

Also John standing looking at the bed like that ... made sense when I assumed it was an empty bed.   But if it was Sherlock (or anybody John cared about), you'd expect him to be beside the bed, at the head, not standing over the end like that. It's a strange thing.   Maybe he's very ambivalent about the person in the bed (if indeed there is a person there), either somebody he doesn't care about, or somebody he does care about who has done something awful.

Last edited by Liberty (July 25, 2016 9:15 am)

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** July 25, 2016 9:25 am

Or maybe John is too traumatized?

**Posted by Liberty** July 25, 2016 9:28 am

I don't know. I have a feeling that if it was, say, Sherlock in the bed, and John was too traumatised to sit with him, he'd turn away, not hover at the end of the bed like that. But of course it could be that it was a just a good filming angle, or that he only stands like that for a second, and I'm reading too much into it. And if it was a body or an empty bed, it would make more sense.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** July 25, 2016 9:41 am

The pool just looks more like a private indoor pool than a public pool to me.

**Posted by KeepersPrice** July 25, 2016 11:07 am

John is a doctor so it could be one of his own patients in the bed. But the intensity of the lighting and the back view definitely indicates that whoever or whatever it is in the bed (or not in the bed), it's not good.
I will admit that when I first saw it, I thought 'uh oh, that's John' but when I watched again I thought 'hmmm, maybe that's the back of Culverton'.

Ok, they have succeeded in drawing me back in, hook, line and sinker. I like the Sherrinford twin idea.
Mycroft's, "You know what happened with the other one" line is so ominous now. Thinking Mrs. Hudson's anger might be something to do with Mycroft had to do concerning that situation.

Lot's of back stories on everyone and Mary's chickens coming home to roost would be awesome.

Last edited by KeepersPrice (July 25, 2016 11:15 am)

**Posted by Liberty** July 25, 2016 11:11 am

He's a GP though, so the hospital isn't his usual area. It's possible he could visit a patient there, but not so likely. Yes, there's a very ominous feel to it.

**Posted by mrshouse** July 25, 2016 12:14 pm

This Is The Phantom Lady wrote:
The pool just looks more like a private indoor pool than a public pool to me.

I felt a bit like Susi said before, overwhelmed but positively surprised. So just commenting now.
On the pool thing: couldn't it be the aquarium stuff they made? Shark tank or something?

**Posted by kgreen20** July 25, 2016 3:00 pm

nakahara wrote:
Liberty wrote:
Yes, the shot with John and the hospital bed is odd - we only see him from the back, and then again from the back in 221B (plus Moriarty from the back). It reminds me of all those back of the head shots that Mark tweeted.

Could this be a cinematic technique to show us John´s "sad bereavement". Somebody close to him died and he looks at the empty bed from which the body was already removed forlornly?

Or did Sherlock escaped from hospital once more and John is just resignated, thinking "Oh, not again!"

Well, if it's to show John's "sad bereavement," it's not hard to guess who has died. We know from canon that Mary did; if she dies in the TV show, as a number of us surmise, then the baby will have to do the same. So the hospital scene is either to show John's tragic loss or Sherlock's escape from the hospital (assuming that he was admitted again--personally, I'd rather that it be John needing the hospitalization this time!). And with that said, time will tell, of course, what the scenario actually is! =)

**Posted by kgreen20** July 25, 2016 3:05 pm

KeepersPrice wrote:
John is a doctor so it could be one of his own patients in the bed. But the intensity of the lighting and the back view definitely indicates that whoever or whatever it is in the bed (or not in the bed), it's not good.
I will admit that when I first saw it, I thought 'uh oh, that's John' but when I watched again I thought 'hmmm, maybe that's the back of Culverton'.

Ok, they have succeeded in drawing me back in, hook, line and sinker. I like the Sherrinford twin idea.
Mycroft's, "You know what happened with the other one" line is so ominous now. Thinking Mrs. Hudson's anger might be something to do with Mycroft had to do concerning that situation.

Lot's of back stories on everyone and Mary's chickens coming home to roost would be awesome.

Yeah, really! Not to mention that there's a very good chance that Mary and her daughter will die (which could easily be a result of her chickens coming home to roost), which will eventually--if not right away--result in John leaving the flat that his family lives in and moving back to Baker Street.

**Posted by Vhanja** July 25, 2016 3:15 pm

I was sure there was someone in the bed, and John standing there to block the camera so that we can't see who it is - it would have to be either Mary or Sherlock. My first thought was Sherlock, seeing as he seems ill in several shots. If it was Mary, then something would've gone wrong with the baby, becaue there is something very sinister and sad with that entire scene.

Also, I get the impression John is looking at whoever is in the bed. Why would he stand like that if the bed was empty? And why shield us from view if it was empty?

Also, did you guys notice that Toby and his creepy laughter seems to be in the same scene as Sherlock freaking out with the nurses? It's the same pale/blue colour palette. (For instance, the scene with Molly just before that has a very different light, so it's clear that it's not the same scene even though they are cut together in the trailer).

Does that mean that Toby is in the hospital/rehab/asylum with Sherlock? Is he the one who put him there, or who is making Sherlock freak out?

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** July 25, 2016 3:25 pm

In a way, if the bed was empty, it could even have been extra dramatic to show that, as well as John standing there...

**Posted by mrshouse** July 25, 2016 3:43 pm

Somehow I don't think that the hospital bed is about Mary. It doesn't really fit with the chasing scene with the dog and the very much alive baby. I'm still not 100% sure that she will leave in this series but I would rather go for something like the exploding car.
Someone on tumblr had a little meta that in this shot with John in the hospital in the right corner very very blurry there was the black rose to be seen, that was part of the deleted hospital scenen in HLV and obviously sent by Irene. So it could be that we get the "John staying with Sherlock at his sick bed after the shooting" scene after all.

**Posted by Vhanja** July 25, 2016 3:47 pm

I agree, I am almost willing to bet that it's Sherlock in that bed (or supposed to be, if it's empty).