The wait is almost over! Sherlock Series 4!

[CaveMum]

So excited! I couldn't wait for tomorrow to start a thread

Ethel, do you mean Katy Wix? If so, I think she just looks like one of the cat from Sign of Three.

But I'm another one who thought the therapist and the daughter were the same person...so....I don't know!

I officially preferred this show when it was less busy. Things like the intensity of Phil Davies as the cabbie for example....all this jumping about doesn't allow for that kind of thing.

Cat? I mean cast!!

I thought MISS ME was an acrostic

Yes, loreli!

Glad I'm not the only one.

Huge improvement on last week!
Though I'm usually entertainingly terrible at recognising people, but instantly clicked that therapist and Faith the fake were both Bus Girl, and real Faith wasn't. And DP who usually has to explain which people are the same person, didn't notice therapist until she took her lenses out, and wasn't sure the Faiths were different.

Obviously I had to tell him, "you see, but you do not observe", which is a catchphrase in our house anyway.

And I really loved John explaining that loving someone means working to be the person that someone who loves you thinks you are. Awwwww.....

I knew something wasn't right with Faith when Mycroft was following Sherlock and at first said he was on his own.

I think someone else said it but it's gotten very convoluted and considering there's only a few episodes in a series so much time is spent on the ins and outs his personal life and inner circle. I prefer it when he's being super clever in catching the criminals.

So is Euros Sherringforth then? Or are there four siblings. It's turning a bit Eastenders with all these other relatives turning up.

Saying that I loved Lara Pulver as Irene Adler, she was my style icon for a phase and I wouldn't mind if she returned.

Sherlock was looking hot though wasn't he! Martin Freeman seems to have gotten really doughy faced. DH says he has a drinkers nose and now I can't unsee it.

I don't think it's meant to be the last series, just that they have trouble getting everyone together for it, which it's only every other year or so.

• Which is why it's only on every other year or so.

Oh yes, mrs H was awesome.

Ulysses- does your admiration of Irene Adler mean you walked round in (and I probably misquote) 'full battle dress'?

I've made the mistake of looking at tumblr, which I hadn't done before. There are some very dedicated souls out there....

And if there's a queue for Dishevelled Batch then count me in. Ta.

DD3 (14) looks at Tumblr so I don't have to . Latest theories include Lestrade being Mycroft's wife , and the Holmes siblings being the four winds (so there's another one, who may or may not be Sherrinford).

More sensibly, Euros most likely was involved in whatever happened to Redbeard, and because of showing psychopathic tendancies (possibly also towards a baby Sherlock) was removed from the family to some kind of institution (possibly called Sherrinford), so Sherlock doesn't remember much about her, and therefore didn't recognise her.

But, yes, Tumblr is a scary place, the Johnlockers have gone wild after The Hug .

Latest theories include Lestrade being Mycroft's wife

That's not a theory, just a longstanding ship! Some fans think Lestrade and Mycroft are made for each other. Its pretty tongue in cheek, I mean, I don't think they genuinely believe Mystrade will become canon, unlike Johnlock (which might, imho )

I thought this was so tiresome. Way too 'clever' and contrived for its own good. They can't just let John have an emotional affair, it has to turn out to be with Sherlock's disguised sister...

The serial/cereal killer stuff was boring, went on too long, and was so fucking pleased with itself, and not justifiably so.

Mary-as-John's-conscience is a tired old TV/film trope.

Too long spent on Sherlock mansplaining how he knew about thingy's kitchen, and drawing silly diagrams in the air. Too much silly effects generally, actually, with all the floating texts, the speeding up/slowing down, etc. This show has a huge budget now and the producers just LOVE it – special effects, a helicopter and swanky locations in every episode...

And why so much shooting all of a sudden? Was it Raymond Chandler who said (I paraphrase wildly) 'If you're stuck, have someone run into the room with a gun'? That's all they bloody do these days.

I didn't like Sherlock being explicitly 'off his tits' and didn't really buy that it was to get John to be his friend again. I liked the earlier series when it turned out to be nicotine patches . Thought the overtness and the track marks etc was all rather sensationalist and grubby.

At some point someone said something like 'Sherlock tweeting? I can't believe it,' as if it was new, but they made a big thing in the last episode about him tweeting, didn't they?

On the up side, Benedict is HAWT when he hasn't had a shave.

No, no to the battledress Mavis! It was more her white shift dress and red lipstick I was going for (and not quite pulling off, sadly).

I thought when I was watching it that the Johnlocker's would be having kittens over some of these scenes. I'm sure there's a number of fanfictions fixing the ending of that hug into something more steamier!

Actually while hooked on smack Sherlock was hot, lets not forget about Lestrade. I've had a massive crush on Rupert Graves since Maurice and he doesn't disappoint in this. Benny C needs to be in a certain lighting to make the most of his features. His voice is something else though.

The dead-spouse-as-conscience may be a cliche but I thought they did it really well, and the scenes when John confesses to his emotional affair were really moving - OK it was probably instigated by whoever-the-hell-Bus-Girl-really-is, but he still replied and sent loads of texts and most importantly felt guilty over it.

And John needing Sherlock to need him is perfectly plausible. Whether that means that Mycroft then asked Sherrinford to produce a really interesting case and get Sherlock to both get into it and also risk death, is another question. I could see Mycroft doing that and not expecting actual-therapist's death, or even seeing the death of actual-therapist as justifiable collateral damage.

I hope we see more Mycroft/Love interaction (what's her actual name?), ditto Sherlock/Irene, but also hope it doesn't turn out to be All Irene Adler's master plan...

I love Mrs H. love all the hints at her past life!

Most of your criticisms, Sapphire, have been a part of the show since the very start. The words on the screen, Sherlock's breathless deductions, the drug use (the original Holmes used to inject cocaine).

As for the "cereal killer" scene - that wasn't just a smug piece of wordplay, it was Jimmy Savile reimagined, hiding in plain sight. Reminded me of the Louis Theroux interview where Savile himself brought up the subject of paedophile rumours. This was a man so sure that his disgusting secrets would never get out, he didn't mind talking about it. Also a bit of reverse psychology too I suppose - if I had something to hide, I wouldn't want to talk about it, would I?

I loved this episode. Imo it felt like the first series of Sherlock: the clever deductions; the relationship with John, etc. Mrs Hudson is fab. and I agree with PP about Lestrade- he always looks good

Please!!!!!

I have enough silly teen geek talk of shipping & canons & goodness knows what else at home. Please don't let it infiltrate mumsnet.

I swear if I hear Johnlock or Olicity (Arrow) or whatever I'll scream.

Ah Ulysses was just wondering if "channelling Irene Adler" was a sufficient explanation-to-a-police-officer for swanning around in the buff.

And YY to Rupert Graves.

Never got Cumberbatch until this episode. Always thought he was a bit otter-y. Always thought his voice was wonderful but his face was just a bit put together wrong. But oh, high and sans shave? Yes please.

Sorry, realised I've joined this earnest plot explanation thread and simply enthused about how hot the cast are.

As you were 😂

Hey, the words on the screen weren't used so heavily in earlier series; neither were the breathless deductions. Or it might be more accurate to say the 'show-off value' or production values were different in earlier series – it looked more low-tech and, IMO, more whimsical and charming and original as a result.

The drawing big diagrams of windows in this ep is an example of what I think is too heavy and heavy-handed use of the writing/drawing in the air idea. It used to be done with a much lighter touch. IMO this aspect of the show became intrusive and over-the-top when they introduced the mind palace stuff.

The drug use – yes, I know the original Holmes used to inject cocaine. I stand by what I said: I preferred the allusions in earlier series to his possible drug use. Again, I think making him be ACTUALLY using heroin is rather heavy-handed. It also smacks (pun not intended but inevitable!) of Moffat and crew going 'Oooh, look how edgy and daring we are, having everyone's favourite detective overtly using class As. And saying the phrase 'off my tits".'

It just comes off like rather schoolyard-style swaggering, to me.

I know the killer thing was referring to/modelled on Jimmy Savile. I meant that I found the specific scene where he was filming the advert too long, boring and pleased with itself.

I found it a bit irritating TBH, too much like in Dr Who where the Master is suddenly a woman for no real reason. And why has Lady Smallwood's first name changed?

Yep, I'm all over the unshaven and high Cumberbatch as well!

I changed my mind after a rewatch. Episode 1 still feels 'off' to me, but 2 was back to form. Except for the Mary Ghost. I'm not on board with that. Mind palaces are one thing, letting us in on John's grief hallucinations was too much for me and I didn't feel it was necessary. He tells the Mary Ghost - the former cold-blooded assassin - that he was cheating on her emotionally and she just smiled, which was him making her react the way he'd want her to.

I never fully understood their relationship anyway. They never seemed 'in love', I'm not sure they even even kissed on screen, and we were shown that he was dissatisfied with the marriage very quickly. ("You keep your shirts packed.") For a real life married couple they had no chemistry between them on screen, they just came across as mates.

And I think they push things too far sometimes. Mrs Hudson was great, but I think Moffat should bear in mind the old accessorizing tip 'take off the last thing you put on, don't overdo it'. The 'get your handcuffs, the ones I borrow sometimes' line was the line that needed to be taken off the script. Mrs Hudson was funny because she was always protesting her innocence and modesty. To see her just go 'Fuck it, balls out' was a bit jarring!

i like the writing in the air stuff

Yorkie's

Re: John and Mary: they've just split in real life. Sad.

verytiredmummy1 I can mention it here now as it's 99% unlikely to be real. But I am on heavy cold medication so may not be very articulate!

The big theory on reddit and tumblr was that The Six Thatchers episode was primarily being told from Sherlock's viewpoint, as John's alibi, because John killed Mary. There's so much to it actually but there were factors like the episode looking odd - the skull picture randomly glowing, the parked car exploding when another car hit it, the whole Mary throws herself in front of an already fired bullet thing - and also the reasoning that if Mary really was all they said she was, she'd be an extremely dangerous person. They may have found out she was working for Moriarty, she might have found out about the affair and decided to kill John. And people thought this would all unfold over the next two episodes then we'd refer back to the first and understand it. And when the new episode opened with Mary standing in the kitchen I thought for a moment it was true!