BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Still unexplained secrets?

**Posted by Vhanja** May 27, 2017 9:06 pm

Same here. But TFP made me want to see Shutter Island.

Last edited by Vhanja (May 27, 2017 9:06 pm)

**Posted by besleybean** May 27, 2017 9:10 pm

Is that a Saw film?
Nah, Sherlock does it for me.

**Posted by Vhanja** May 27, 2017 9:18 pm

No, it's not. But people watching TFP seem to say that it's a mix of James Bond, Saw and Shutter Island. The latter is the one I'm the least familiar with, and so it peaked my interest.

**Posted by besleybean** May 27, 2017 9:21 pm

Defo JB...Mark is a massive fan.

**Posted by Liberty** May 27, 2017 9:27 pm

Shutter Island is great! I will say no more as it's probably best to watch it the first time without knowing much about it. (Then watch it again!).

**Posted by SusiGo** May 28, 2017 3:42 pm

Vhanja wrote:
No, it's not. But people watching TFP seem to say that it's a mix of James Bond, Saw and Shutter Island. The latter is the one I'm the least familiar with, and so it peaked my interest.

Not to forget "The Ring", "The Silence of the Lambs", "Batman Begins", and some others.

**Posted by besleybean** May 28, 2017 3:45 pm

Not seen any of those, either.

**Posted by Schmiezi** May 28, 2017 7:24 pm

I've gone through the whole thread again and made a list with secrets that are still unexplained. (I wanted to know what still needs to be explained for my new fic and thought I could as well post the list here.)

I left out those things that seemed to be explained throughly but that is a bit in the eye od the beholde. Anyway, quite a list. I strongly think we need S5 to give us some answers. ;-)

Did I miss something important?

1. What was in John's letter, the one Molly gave to Sherlock?

2. What is Sherlock's recurring dream that Ella mentioned?

3. Who did upset Mummy, as referred to as the end of SIP?

4. How and why did Sherlock get started on drugs when he was younger?

5. Why did he say he had never known happy families?

6. Who was Vernet?

7. Why does Sherlock use his second name?

8. Why didn't Eurus' childhood room contain anything a genius child would own?

9. What was the terrible thing Mary did in the past that would make John stop loving her if he knew?

**Posted by SusiGo** May 28, 2017 8:04 pm

Very good questions.

As for 1. - at the con Steven or Mark said the letter just said "feck off". (Just to prove you cannot believe a word they say).

As for the others - please give us S5.

**Posted by Liberty** May 28, 2017 8:12 pm

2. Wasn't the recurring dream the dream about water and drowning? (I'm probably due for a rewatch, but I was sure we were told about the dream).

3. It seems to have been the brothers' bickering which upset her, so both are responsible, but going by TFP, it looks as if Mummy saw Sherlock as the "adult", and probably blamed Mycroft.

7. Possibly Sherlock's parents chose to use his second name - Eurus implies that they prefer unusual names, and it seems as if he's called Sherlock from a young age (i.e. he didn't choose it himself). Perhaps William was a relative and they didn't particularly like the name!

8. I presume Mr and Mrs Holmes were trying to keep her room "normal".

9. It turns out to be what we see in TST, and he does almost stop loving her (but doesn't, thankfully!).

**Posted by Schmiezi** May 29, 2017 3:57 am

Good thoughts, Liberty, as always, but still speculations. I hope those are the questions not clearly answered on the show.

As for the dream, I need to rewatch soon, too. I cannot remember. But should his dream be about drowning, why is he having it? Suppressed memories of Victor? Well, he did not know the boy drowned, do rather not.

And Susi, I fully agree with your post!

**Posted by Liberty** May 29, 2017 9:11 am

Well, I definitely need to rewatch because I remembered that we saw the dream but not what it was: what sprung to mind was the water theme throughout, aquarium, swimming pool, etc., Carl Powers, "deep water all your life". But it's come back to me that we actually see the dream: it's young Sherlock on the beach as a pirate with "Redbeard" and Eurus's song. We see it before TFP.

Personally, I would prefer not to have the questions answered, as I don't think they really change the story! For instance, do we have to have a scene where Sherlock's parents talk about how they tried to keep Eurus's room a certain way? Or have Sherlock go back and see Ella and tell her that the recurring dream was the one about the dog? A whole young Sherlock story (question 4) with a younger actor might actually be interesting, but I don't think necessary.

I'm just speculating about 7 (Sherlock's name). It's not too unusual to use a preferred second name. But as for the reason "William" is in the story, I looked it up and it has been used before in other adaptations (particularly this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wold_Newton_family). So it's just a little touch for Moftiss and the fans, I suppose.

Last edited by Liberty (May 29, 2017 9:23 am)

**Posted by Vhanja** May 29, 2017 9:27 am

As for 3, didn't they originally intend for young Sherlock to have found out about his father having an affair? It could be this they were alluding to seeing as it was only later they decided not to include it in the show.

So Mycroft thought Sherlock was the one upsetting Mummy because he told her about the affair. Which will explain Sherlock's affronted: "I upset her?", as it would clearly have been their father's fault for having that affair in the first place.

**Posted by Liberty** May 29, 2017 10:43 am

Oh, good point, Vhanja. I'd forgotten about them mentioning that story line. Probably a good thing if it doesn't get brought up again, then!

6. "Vernet" might just be there as yet another canon reference for fans, and serve no other purpose.

**Posted by besleybean** May 29, 2017 12:49 pm

Or one of the famous red herrings that Mark mentioned.

**Posted by nakahara** May 29, 2017 12:52 pm

Schmiezi wrote:
Because she is crazy. And because Mofftiss desperately wanted to show us their version of Saw. ;-)

I think you nailed it perfectly....

**Posted by SusiGo** June 28, 2017 5:36 pm

I just realised that Sherlock and Eurus are the only ones who ever talk about Victor Trevor. Neither Mycroft, nor their parents or John or the police or anyone else. A little boy died and no one thinks it necessary to even mention this. Always provided, of course, that anything of all this is real. Which I do not think it is. I would really like to hear an explanation in case the whole Victor scenario was real. Why is the end so hurried? Why is a dead little boy never mentioned by anyone save Sherlock and Eurus?

**Posted by besleybean** June 28, 2017 5:41 pm

I definitely think they squashed two episodes into one...
I certainly think the Victor Trevor scenario is real, otherwise none of TFP makes any sense at all...and it does make perfect sense to me.

**Posted by Schmiezi** June 29, 2017 4:30 am

SusiGo wrote:
I just realised that Sherlock and Eurus are the only ones who ever talk about Victor Trevor. Neither Mycroft, nor their parents or John or the police or anyone else. A little boy died and no one thinks it necessary to even mention this. Always provided, of course, that anything of all this is real. Which I do not think it is. I would really like to hear an explanation in case the whole Victor scenario was real. Why is the end so hurried? Why is a dead little boy never mentioned by anyone save Sherlock and Eurus?

I never realised that. I thought Mycroft was talking about him too, but he only hinted at Redbeard being important.

If it is all real, an explanation could be a sub-perfect composition of the episode. Meaning that the writers jammed too much in it and did not use enough screen time to solve it properly. But then, one or two sentences would habe done the job, taking not more than two minutes.

**Posted by besleybean** June 29, 2017 5:27 am

Harsh though it may sound: I just take it that at the end of the day, poor little Victor was just a plot device.
For the Sherlock fan: the effect upon Sherlock was the only pertinent part of the story, which is what we are shown.
The devastation upon Victor's family is not shown to us, but that really isn't our problem, as it were.