BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Echoes from the past - parallels between S4 and earlier episodes

**Posted by SusiGo** January 22, 2017 9:49 pm

I opened the thread here since it does not belong to one episode but refers to the whole of S4. I feel that we got lots of references to and parallels with other episodes. It might be interesting to collect them in one thread. I will start with a striking parallel between ASiB and TFP. I would love to read your thoughts (which may be very different from mine):

http://gosherlocked.tumblr.com/post/156223320341/the-flight-of-the-dead-20

**Posted by ewige** January 22, 2017 10:23 pm

I think it's what Sherlock imagines based on what he hears "on the phone". It's not his scenario so I wouldn't connect him to this "lonely higher plane of existance" (which is true for Eurus, however).

**Posted by tobeornot221b** January 23, 2017 4:52 am

Thank you, Susi.
In lack of an overriding series 4 thread this one is a beginning!

I'm in awe of the writers' skills to re-use phrases and scenes from years ago in the latest series. They must have planned S4 all along. Most striking to me is the use of pieces from ASiP leading to Lestrade's final recognition that "Sherlock Holmes is a GOOD man" - something he had hoped for from the beginning.

Last edited by tobeornot221b (January 23, 2017 5:04 am)

**Posted by SusiGo** January 23, 2017 7:44 am

Tobe: My pleasure.

Ewige: But we get the scene with little girl at the beginning of the episode. At this point, Sherlock has no idea that Eurus exists and imagines herself to be a helpless little girl on a plane. If we assume that the "prologue" we see before the opening credits happens is set before the events of the episode, Eurus would have the little girl in her heard before Sherlock even knows his sister exists.

**Posted by ewige** January 23, 2017 7:55 am

Non-linear narrative to set the mood. Like John visiting Ella in the prologue of TRF.

**Posted by Liberty** January 23, 2017 7:57 am

Great idea for a thread!

I think Eurus is the girl on the plane, in her mind - she says so. So even at the beginning, the girl isn't her imagination. She would see herself - perhaps herself as a child.

Sherlock isn't lost and alone in the way Eurus is. Even in Eurus's puzzle, he's with other people who love him, and they're working as a team. Sherlock has a best friend, and other friends (including one who says she's in love with him), and brother who refuses to lock him up in prison when he kills somebody. Eurus is the lost little girl with none of that.

But yes, I think the young actress was chosen because Sherlock would associate her with the flight of the dead. They couldn't have used a different actress (or young Eurus) to start, because it would be a giveaway!

**Posted by Meretricious** January 23, 2017 10:04 am

The very first shot of The Final Problem is the little girl's eye opening, like the first shot in The Abominable Bride of John's eye. This could in fact indicate that it is Sherlock's imagining of the scenario, and he is seeing it as through another person's eyes.

I think this episode calls all the way back to A Study in Pink in more ways than one. Remember the cabbie, a "proper genius" killer who could talk people into killing themselves?

**Posted by SusiGo** January 23, 2017 10:49 am

Indeed. And there is also this:

http://gosherlocked.tumblr.com/post/156210218226/just-in-case-anyone-should-think-he-was-texting

**Posted by kgreen20** January 23, 2017 3:02 pm

Meretricious wrote:
The very first shot of The Final Problem is the little girl's eye opening, like the first shot in The Abominable Bride of John's eye. This could in fact indicate that it is Sherlock's imagining of the scenario, and he is seeing it as through another person's eyes.

I think this episode calls all the way back to A Study in Pink in more ways than one. Remember the cabbie, a "proper genius" killer who could talk people into killing themselves?

Except in Jefferson Hope's case, he had the help of a gun to persuade his victims. It wasn't a real gun, of course, but they didn't know that. He threatened to shoot them unless they took one of the pills.

**Posted by Liberty** January 23, 2017 5:04 pm

Yes, that was very disappointing! I'd been thinking and thinking about what very clever and individual things he could say to them to make them so despairing that they would kill themselves rather than carry on. And then it turned out he gave them a choice between what they thought might be a 100% chance of death, and a 50% chance of death.

I hoped with Eurus that we'd actually see her enslaving, mind controlling and manipulating people into doing her bidding. We got a touch of it, but some of it was actually very simple and Jeff Hope like. Don't do what I ask and a planeful of people (and possibly some of a city) will die. Do what I ask and you have a chance to save them. Kill person A or I'll kill person B. Get person C to say X or I'll kill her. It was really more threats than manipulation.

**Posted by besleybean** January 23, 2017 7:44 pm

It is an excellent idea for a thread.
But I think in the Summer when I do my re-watch and comment on the whole show, I wll put my own posts in the relevant episode sections.

**Posted by Meretricious** January 25, 2017 7:24 am

Echoes of The Abominable Bride in The Six Thatchers?

LADY CARMICHAEL: You promised to keep him safe. You promised!
(Thanks to Ariane DeVere)

Last edited by Meretricious (January 25, 2017 7:25 am)

**Posted by besleybean** January 25, 2017 7:25 am

Indeed.

**Posted by Liberty** January 25, 2017 7:31 am

I know it's obvious, but there's the "deep waters" line from TAB as well.