Hi, All! I'm late to Sherlock, late to the Forum, and super sad that there are only 3 episodes for us to chew up! Being in the Mountain Time zone of the U.S., I stayed away, not wanting spoilers, and by the time I got here this thread was pages long! So, I haven't read through all the comments. I'm sure that at this point I won't come up with anything that hasn't been mentioned, but I'm going CRAZY HERE with nobody to talk to about this episode!!! In no special order:
My thought is that the "Mutual Friend" of Euros and C.S. was obviously Moriarty. A supreme victory for him, albeit posthumously, would be for Sherlock to be murdered by the most horrible person imaginable. We know that Moriarty was a broker of criminal deals. This was his supreme deal: putting C.S. in touch with the insane Holmes sister who has been hidden away for these many years. Luring C.S. with the promise of the best kill ever. Laying out a blueprint, and providing the perfect partner. Moriarty was willing to put a gun in his mouth because he knew what was in store for Sherlock.
C.S. literally owned that hospital and everyone in it, patients and staff alike. He clearly could do whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted to do it, and he had no fear of discovery or betrayal. People feared for their jobs. We're supposed to know that he's a brilliant man; he knew the names of his employees at a glance. If we discover in the next episode that he also owned a mental health facility, or that there was a mental health wing of his hospital, we wouldn't be surprised. It would have been easy to instruct his employees to mislead Mycroft when he called the facility to ascertain that Sherrinford was "secure".
Euros' comment at the end of TLD "It has a funny look on it's face. I think I'll put a hole in it." is clearly to inform us that she is crazy/nuts/psychotic. She added Moriarty's "Miss Me?" to the note, and gloated that Sherlock missed it.
Moftiss are not ones for throwing in empty bits. Every image, every spoken word is precious to their story, whether it's the episode only, or a longer arc. The pretty lady on the bus wasn't a throwaway character just to tempt Watson, and heighten his anguish with guilt in that episode alone when Mary died. She was much more important, although we weren't informed yet. Similarly, Sherlock's childhood memory of children running by the sea (I think I hear more than one child's voice?) with Redbeard isn't a meaningless moment. Something awful must have happened. That's why he flashed back to it more than once.
I'm going to guess that Euros Sherrinford (...needs another middle name here...) Holmes was, like the girl in the play "The Bad Seed", well, a bad seed. With no sympathy or empathy. A true Psychopath. Curious about "What will little Sherley (Ha, John! See! "Sherlock" IS a girl's name!) do if he sees his dog drown???" she could have done something heartless to cause the death of Redbeard. He wasn't mercifully "put down" as we were led to believe; he was killed. Sherlock witnessed it. Nearly died trying to prevent it. Probably this wasn't her only twisted act. I imagine that Mycroft was the oldest, Euros was the middle, and Sherlock the baby. Mycroft was old enough to be instrumental in having his dangerous sister locked away, hence the statement that he isn't swayed by family ties. Even with her locked away somewhere, Mycroft sadistically tormented his younger brother with the threat of her, the "East Wind", which "Is coming to get you".
So this memory of an awful event has been locked away by Sherlock. He is, in truth, the only normal Holmes child. He thinks of himself as a "high functioning sociopath" because he's been made to supress all emotion, all vulnerability, by the abuse of his sister and brother. He was actually a brilliant, sensitive child, who suffered at the hands of his siblings, with parents blissfully unaware. The real story of the TV show is Sherlock Holmes discovering his lost humanity.
And he'll figure it all out in the next episode. Confront his brother. Maybe kill him? Or hit him really really hard? And run off with John to the Bahamas.
Through the entire episode my greatest discomfort was the prescient demonstration that a wealthy person in a position of power, with no conscience or sense or honor or morality is an almost unstoppable danger. As an American, it made me sad and fearful.
Last edited by Tilly11 (January 11, 2017 5:04 am)