PICSPAM REACTION/RECAP: Sherlock Series 3 Episode 3 (Part 3 of 8)
WARNING: CONTAINS IMAGES AND DETAILS OF THE SHERLOCK SERIES 3 FINAL EPISODE. If you have not watched Sherlock Series 3's finale yet, this post is CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Live-Bloggish Picspam Reaction/Recap for Sherlock Series 3 Episode 3
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE - "His Last Vow"
-Sherlock: *runs down why Magnuson is such a nasty guy*/John: *pacing around with a contemplative face* Is there any chance at all that John's paying attention now and not just waiting for Sherlock to stop for breath so he can ask more about Janine?
-Ooo, that's Magnuson's house on satellite. If Mycroft isn't assisting with the satellite access, or perhaps turning a blind eye or running a distraction so the satellite access isn't noticed, I will be quite surprised. Although admittedly Sherlock may have picked up a few new tricks during his two years being 'dead'.
-"He is the Napoleon of blackmail." *...slightly hand-wavy canon-reference fistpump* Ooo, schematics!
-"It's name is Appledore." Which explains the name being on the screen so much on Sherlock's computer, but not why Magnuson would name his big blackmail archive thing after a small Society for Creative Anachronism Shire in the south Okanagan (Yes, I know, they named themselves after a British location and are probably stoked about the number of hits their site (which has an autoplaying wav file of monks singing so I won't be linking it) has gotten spiking since the episode aired). Still, is the British Appledore town/region noted for memory or blackmail? Hmm. Appledore. Apple d'Or (a guesthouse in BC near vineyards)? Golden Apple? No, that'd be Pomme d'Or. Maybe Appel d'or? Heh. Call/name of gold. Wealth, be it money, power or knowledge and it's siren song. Well, nothing like transparency of motive/modus operandi in lair-naming. Again, Magnuson is as subtle as a brick. (Also... perhaps product placement, since Sherlock is looking all this up on an Apple MacBook Pro? XD)
-"Dinner." Yep. John's still boggling about Janine. *pats John*
-"Me and Mary, coming for... dinner. With... wine and... sitting." Oh that is some serious boggle-fail indeed. First degree boggle-fail. Someone get John a paper bag to breathe into, or, I dunno, actually answer some questions about Janine with something other than bullshit, so he can get on with the yelling at you for being a dick and leading Janine on for the sake of a case and John's default world-view of 'girlfriends aren't Sherlock's area' and 'Sherlock is married to his work' can re-assert itself. Or, alternately, sit down and have a long genuine discussion about your sincere relationship with Janine to reset John's world-view to include 'Sherlock Holmes has a girlfriend' (which is a valid option too, but doubtful given canon, and also doubtful given this is Sherlock, not Coronation Street and long conversations about romantic entanglements aren't likely to happen unless there's a murder or some other major crime involved) and relieve John's bogglement so he can pay attention to the absolutely monumental amount of ass-kicking that needs to be done.
-"...Seriously?!" Bwahahaha!
-"Fine, talk about the house." Not that it'll do much good because John is still boggled. Though I must admit, this is a definite change up in the usual exposition delivery format. XD
-"None of it is on a computer, computers can be hacked." *nods* Even a standalone system would have vulnerabilities. Though a database in code might be handy, just to find where stuff is, and the codes would be useless for gleaning info without the hard-copy. Just saying. Card catalogues are a pain in the butt. *itches to organize a database* Also, he definitely has a research staff. And they receive video of people/things Magnuson is looking at, look up info on the fly and transmit to the glasses. There's got to be some kind of signal someone could attempt to hack going on there. *ponders*
-"That was the doorbell, didn't you hear it?"/"It's in the fridge. It kept ringing." HEEE!!! Yep. I've done similar myself, so I can empathize. Also, Mrs. Hudson really likes that dress. Still looks new two years later.
-"Who is it?"/"*gasp and hesitation*"/Soundtrack: *BASE HEARTBEATS OF IMMINENT DOOM* OOOO SHIT. It's Milverton. Masterton. Magnuson. *handwave* Whatever. He's heeeeeere. Hide your plotting, boys. Probably a good thing Sherlock hasn't told John the truth about Janine yet. Actually, this is probably the meeting he was talking about earlier. For some reason I thought he'd be going to Magnuson's. Ha. No. Silly.
-Oh, and he's brought some goons in suits along. Well then. Not feeling threatened now is he?
-DETAILS ABOUT MRS HUDSON! OFFICIAL CANON FIRST NAME OF MARTHA, (which if I recall was one of the names most speculated on as her first name in the ACD books)! Semi-reformed alcoholic, former exotic dancer (that could cast an interesting tint to her comments to Sherlock about dancing), a damned fine debt service ratio for this day and age... 'STATUS: UNIMPORTANT' MY ASS! Although, that's part of her defense/offense package isn't it? The rogue CIA guys thought she wasn't anything much and she kept Irene's phone away from them, even under interrogation. She has a cultivated 'unimportance' which she uses as a weapon when she chooses, in aid of her adopted family of adrenaline junkies. *nods* MRS HUDSON IS A BAMF.
-PFFFFT! THEY'RE HERBAL SOOTHERS FOR HER HIP, YOU ASS. Unless she's turned 221C into a marijuana grow-op during the hiatus to generate some cash, which could also explain her low debt ratio despite 221B being vacant for two years. XD
-There's always something not-right about 221B getting invaded. This feels extra not-right, because... *points* visual framing on Sherlock. Walled in by door and goons, and alone in the little visual pen, no supporting John seen at his side. Trapped and alone. That's deliberate. Also the face and defensive arm-crossing is deliberate.
-"Go ahead." Remember boys, the last person Sherlock invited to frisk him fell out the window several dozen times, although in this case they haven't done Mrs Hudson harm before the frisking so they're less likely to need to be assaulted to restore balance to Sherlock's universe. Yet.
-"Sir?" Oh this should be fun. He didn't bring the gun, but unless John has sensibly removed the tire iron from his trousers in the intervening getting in and out of cars and hanging around in labs and getting boggled by Janine (it's been a very busy day for John so far), they'll find that. Heh. But he probably removed it. Lot of bending and walking and sitting and so forth since.
-"Can I have a moment?" HAHAHA. No, he hasn't removed it. Ahahaha. That can't be comfortable.
-"I should probably tell you-" Or this could be like the typical BAMF character frisking and turn up an array of potentially damaging hardware that should by all logical sense make John clank when he walks but wouldn't dare make a sound, because badasses don't clank unless they intend to clank. (See also Dean Winchester, Aeryn Sun, Sarah Walker, John Casey, Elizabeth Swann, and Fili from the Hobbit, among many others) Heh heh heh. Of course.
-Sherlock's face!
-And this guy. Like, "...really?" XD
-"Doesn't mean I'm not pleased to see you." Can't breathe. Oh god. And there he goes, stomping all over that line between badass and smartass. HEE!
-"I can vouch for this man, he is a doctor." And that explains the tire iron how exactly? XD
-"If you know who I am then you know who he is." Awwww. And John's little 'yeah, deal with it' nod. Because moving a chair will never hide how important John is to Sherlock, and vice versa. *flail*
-"Don't you Mr Magnuson?" Gaaaaaah. I knew he was there obviously but seeing him in 221B is just, gaaaaaaaaaaah. Wrong, wrong wrong. Although. Hm. Mirrors and framing. Kinda sorta looking a little hemmed in, since of course Sherlock's figuring he's got Magnuson exactly where he wants him, playing along with whatever Sherlock's doing to bait him. Not too sure though, the edging on that mirror is also giving Magnuson more than one edge to the cage he's supposed to be in, as well as chopping John to bits and including him in Magnuson's hypothetically 'trapped' area, or from the other perspective, Magnuson's 'zone of control'. *shudders* So it would seem this is REALLY NOT GOING TO GO WELL oh god. D-:
-"I understood we were meeting at your office." And why would he let you on his turf when he can show up in person and ooze all over yours? Less exposure for himself, more chance to set his prospective target on the back foot. Strategically sensible. Still slimy.
-"This is my office." GAAAAAAAAAH!!! *full body cringe* MAKE HIM GO AWAY!!! And in the mirror of former trapping/control, there are now three of him, out-numbering Sherlock and John. They really do know what they are doing with mirrors on this show.
-Oh, here we go.
-[Status: Unimportant.] BWAHAHAAHAHAHAAA, no. Whoever's feeding the glasses today is a bit of a dumbass. Also they are missing a rather large curly-haired pressure point for John Watson, but if they think John's unimportant there's a lot of things they could be missing. Hm. Though I suppose context is a factor in whether someone is 'important' or not. Important on the global political stage, not so much, otherwise, very. Also, both Harry and Mary listed as pressure points. Magnuson doesn't so far appear to do direct physical threats, so this kind of supports him knowing something about Mary she (and John if he knew) would not want made public. Harry as well. But still, no Sherlock in the list. Hm. Very odd. *ponders* Gotta say though, John has a damned impressively low debt load for having been flat broke except for an army pension at the start of the series. Well done, John.
(Porn preference normal again. What even is that? I guess maybe nothing that would raise enough eyebrows to bother trying to use as a pressure point?)
-"Well, it is now." And then Magnuson messes with stuff on Sherlock's desk/breakfast table. *twitches violently* Make him stopppp.
-And now he's sitting on the couch, gah gah gahhh. I don't know why he's so creepy (OH WAIT THE WHOLE OWNING PEOPLE AND NON-CONSENSUAL FACE-LICKING THING) just feels like there's a diseased giant cockroach crawling around 221B leaving a trail of ooze and no one is SQUASHING IT.
-From the looks of it, Sherlock feels much the same way.
-"She would like those letters back." Yeah, he knows just asking isn't going to do a damned thing, which is why the whole drug problem song and dance to get drawn in further and take him down from within. *nods*
-*hits pause just as the text comes up* Because now's when we see if the person/people feeding the glasses are going to be fooled by Sherlock's ruse or see what his real pressure point is. Which really, Magnuson already knows. In the meantime though, there's data! Finances unknown, pffft, no shock there, Sherlock doesn't seem to care much and if he's got any family assets, Mycroft would be keeping them under wraps. Mycroft, officially as far as Magnuson's database is concerned works with MI6, WOO HOO! \o/ (Hehe, wonder if he's going to try to use Sherlock to put pressure on Mycroft. That could be entertaining as hell). Love the "Officially Deceased 2011-2013" part, especially since it adds concrete years to the whole 'dating events in Sherlock' schmozzle, which is something I'll have to try to get to match up later when I have more time and an urge to be masochistic to my sense of cause and effect. And... Sherlock has a porn preference? Who knew? Right, hitting go. Did they fall for it or not? (Not that it will make a speck of difference as Magnuson the Fire-Watcher has Sherlock's pressure point already and it's standing right next to him looking rather irked under the text. Also, must say, the font... Courier? Eh. I suppose it's a classic font that evokes a fixed-width typewriter and hard-copy files but, just... Courier. Ew.)
-AAAAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH. XD Well then! Sherlock's potential pressure points are: Irene (Oooo, someone maybe knows she's not dead?), Moriarty (who is going to be implied to be not dead by the end of the episode apparently so that could get interesting), Redbeard (!!!! NOT A CHILDHOOD PET OR TEDDY THEN!?!?! OKAY. SO WHAT OR WHO THE HELL IS REDBEARD? SHERLOCK WANTED TO BE A PIRATE AS A KID... Okay. That was unexpected, though really, it should have been, since it was mentioned and not elaborated on (as it would probably have been if it was a throwaway joke), putting it 'on the wall', (possibly as something that might be a pressure point for Mycroft as well? Someone Sherlock got emotionally attached to who he lost?) but NOW I NEED TO KNOW. O.o), Hounds of the Baskerville (Oh reeeeally? Hmmmmm...*ponders*), Opium (canonically it was cocaine I believe, but whatever. Unless it's not about his drug use but something he got mixed up in while off being 'dead' but that's doubtful. I think...), and John Watson (NO, REALLY???? XD). Then it repeats and keeps scrolling like a slot machine. HEE! Hm. Depending what they want him to do, and who else they want to put pressure on, I guess I can see ways that would all pressure Sherlock. Irene - not just that she's alive, but that he helped her figure out that code and disrupt the death plane business. Moriarty - Well, really, he's spent two years breaking up and neutralizing his organization, that's going to involve a lot of deeds done that aren't very legal that if reported on in the press could present enough of a problem to MI6 or whoever's suppressing news of Sherlock's actions taken in the field that they might decide to use him as a scapegoat rather than fight to keep the cover intact, Mycroft or no. Redbeard.... no idea, but I really want to know. Hounds of the Baskerville - Well, I suppose keeping the Hound Gas experiment secret from the public, but if Magnuson knows about that he's an even more scary bastard than I'd already thought and REALLY NEEDS THWARTING NOW PLEASE. Opium - If it's Sherlock's own use, I don't think he'd really care enough about his drug use being made public to be influenced by threats to expose it, though he has been working on making that a tempting target so I can see why it's there, though I still wonder if there's more to it. John Watson - Sherlock Holmes' all-purpose pressure point. Threaten John credibly and Sherlock will do anything. Now, which is it going to be? ... I would have called John if they're smart, drugs if they're fooled, but now that Redbeard's shown up in the list, I'm calling Redbeard, at least at first. In the end, it's all going to come back to John. Because Watson. *nods*
-Magnuson: *snorts*/"Something I said?" Heh. No. Something that's scrolling over your fireplace. It's fine. You're making Magnuson's researchers argue among themselves.
-"No, no, I was reading." Hee!
-"There's rather a lot." And Sherlock's eyes narrow a bit. Ooo. When Magnuson has on his, heheheh, reading glasses, (*facepalm*) does he look like he's oddly focussed on one area of vision? Do his eyes do lateral saccades, moving along the lines as for normal reading when he reads the info from the glasses? That might be something Sherlock could spot and figure out the relation between Magnuson's sudden intel and the glasses, since Sherlock's got a considering frown now. Hm.
-"Redbeard." YEP. Oh god, it's going to be something horribly painful, isn't it?
-I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE DISTURBED BY A SUDDEN BLINK. Because Sherlock's been caught by surprise when he thought he was in control of the scenario and now his face suddenly looks about eight years old and OH GOD this is going to hurt.
-"Sorry, you were probably talking?"/"I..." And all Sherlock's carefully machined plans for this conversation and where he expected Magnuson to apply pressure to based on the easy target he was waving under his nose come shattering down, and he flounders around in his own mind trying to get free of the sudden avalanche of manky old emotional towels that's come down on his head from hearing someone other than Mycroft say 'Redbeard' in a vague and threatening way, while simultaneously trying to rebuild some semblance of control over the situation out of the shards of his initial plan. Which, if he was planning Magnuson to come in and put pressure on him via the drugs thing, but now has Magnuson putting pressure on him via Redbeard, the basic frame of the plan still applies, only one of Sherlock's actual pressure points are being used rather than the fake one he probably doesn't really give a crap about.
-And he clears his throat. And John looks at him. That's like Mycroft second-guessing his words at the Diogenes club at the end of TRF. Except that was faked. Somehow I don't think this is faked.
(Oh, this show and that damned mirror. The reflection of Sherlock's back in the mirror, visually cutting off his escape from facing Magnuson; the image of his back like a metaphor of the past. Oh very nicely done, show.)
-"Bathroom?" Seeing that the improbable name of Redbeard is causing a definite reaction, maybe Magnuson needs to find out what he's threatening Sherlock with now, so he needs to commune with his glasses. Heh. In a mirror, yeah? *smiling headshake* Mirrors. God damn.
-"Along from the kitchen, sir." Oh, and the goon answers rather than Sherlock or John, keeping them out of control of the situation and letting them know that either the goons have been in 221B before, or someone has fed them intel about the floorplan, because without leaving his position by John there, there's no way buddy can see anything but a hallway with a door or two. It could be a guess, but it's not being presented like that, and I have no option but to admire it from a strategic standpoint. Magnuson has all the conversational balls in his court right now.
-"I've been hired to negotiate the return of those letters." And Sherlock keeps to his script, and Magnuson totally ignores him. Probably as Sherlock expected him to, but his stakes in the conversation are far higher now than he'd initially planned on.
-"Is it like the rest of the flat?"/"Sir?"/"The bathroom?"/"Yes, sir."/"Maybe not then." There is nothing wrong with the rest of the flat. Just because you live in a *handwave* big empty parking garage furnished by high-end Ikea knock-offs doesn't mean that your sanitized architectural pile of loosely associated rooms is in anyway better than any other living place, particularly 221B. It and the Coat are the Impala of this show. You do not get to insult 221B.
(I JUST REALIZED. OH GOD. THE HAND STROKING THE WALLPAPER IN THE OPENING CREDITS IS MAGNUSON'S ISN'T IT? *cringes in advance* DDDDD-:)
-"Lady Elizabeth Smallwood. I like her. *weird mouth popping*" GYAHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAH. *shudders everywhere* WHAT IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO IMPLY? NEVER MIND, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW.
-"She's English with a spine. *shoves coffee table with foot*" GET YOUR FOOT AWAY FROM THE COFFEE TABLE AND LEAVE THE FURNITURE WHERE IT IS. Gah gah gaaaaaah!! *flaps hands with distress*
-"Best thing about the English-"/"Goon2: *reaches behind Sherlock and grabs something from the fireplace*" I realize that Magnuson isn't the 'beat the crap out of people with a poker' type of villain and will likely insist his goons behave in a similar manner, but seriously, I don't know what the guy's even grabbing but every muscle in my body locked up with tension.
-Oh, it's just the uncappable fireplace cover grate thing. Which means Sherlock's got something hidden there, or something's going to get burned in there. ...eeep.
-"You're so domesticated." Ooooooo, there's a burn. Didn't even need the fireplace for that one. Though John's little head twitch and small grunt would imply a whole lot of 'give me an excuse and I'll show you who's domesticated'.
-HE'S PEEING IN THE FIREPLACE??? OH MY GOD, HOW IS THAT WORSE THAN ANYTHING I THOUGHT COULD HAPPEN. I suppose it's a way of him 'marking his territory' and as an intimidation/control tactic it's admittedly a form of physical/mental/cultural violation that would not have been expected or prepared for and therefore suited to his aims *handwave*, but, but good god this guy is fucking revolting. AND IN 221B. JUST, NO FOREVER. DDDDDDDD-:
-"You can do what you like here, no one's ever gonna stop you. A nation of herbivores." While he's peeing in the fireplace. I am now officially reduced to gibbering incomprehensibly. This is so much worse than if he'd just had his goons trash the place or rough up Sherlock and John. And he knows it and they know it and just, fucking hell. DDDDDD-:
-I WANT TO SCRUB 221B WITH HOT SOAPY WATER ALL OVER. AND THEN WRAP IT IN A BLANKET AND FEED IT SOUP. I DON'T CARE IF IT'S A FLAT AND AS SUCH DOESN'T EAT SOUP AND CAN'T BE WRAPPED IN BLANKETS. I WANT TO DO THAT FOR IT ANYWAY.
-"If it works here, I'll try it in a real country." ADFK; AFDSKH JAFDKH JADFKJH FADSJKH!!! I WANT TO SEE HIM STOPPED, NOW PLEASE. Well, I did before too, but now I just want him off the screen and in a 10 by 10 by 10 windowless cement box somewhere with no one to be disgusting to but himself. But I get the feeling he's not even going to be stopped by the end of the episode. Dammit!
-His goons carry wet-wipes. It's somehow even worse that they aren't for wiping off blood. EUGCH this guy. I mean, Moriarty was a cheerful evil charming psychopath. I liked Moriarty as an adversary. This Magnuson guy's just... *headshake* completely abhorrent. But in a way, that makes him more real, and more of a real threat. Real world criminal threats and the like are not obligated to have a charming side or a sympathetic side for audience identification. They are only interested in themselves and their own survival and do not need to give a crap if anyone viewing their actions finds them sympathetic. Especially not when this guy's level of power is reached. I don't like him, but I appreciate the major increase in challenge rating he's providing Sherlock and John et al, and I look forward to seeing Magnuson decimated. A thousand times over, all at once. (I know, getting decimated three hundred and eighty times would take him down to 0.000000000000001% of his current power, but I'd like to be absolutely certain he's never ever going to return.)
-Tossing his trash on the floor seems a little mild in comparison to peeing in the fireplace, but just ugh. Vile creature.
-"Anyway, they're funny." And he brought her letters with him. Just to rub Sherlock's nose in his impunity. Much as it would be cathartic to have this break out in a brawl right now, it really wouldn't help the overall situation of Magnuson needing stopped completely. John and Sherlock could tackle the goons, bash some heads, dog-pile on Magnuson and get the letters and burn them in the fireplace he just peed in (the swine), but all that would do is stop Lady Smallwood's problem. It wouldn't uproot this guy and his far too wide-spread power base, and it would get them arrested for assault on someone who is to the majority of the world just a super-rich guy who owns a whole lot of newspapers. I admire their restraint, it's serving the greater case well to have Magnuson thinking he has Sherlock entirely cowed, whether he actually does right now or not. Me, I want to punch Magnuson in the nose and throw him out a window, and I don't give a flying fig whether Lady Smallwood's letters are destroyed or not. I think John might be thinking along the same lines as me. Somehow, I am not surprised.
-Random observation; between the drug test and Magnuson there is a lot of pee in this episode so far. Eugch.
-Oh right, there was an uncappable third goon lurking in the kitchen. The brawl would have been even more fruitless then. Doesn't speak too well for Magnuson though, needing to have them outnumbered two to one, or actually four to one, considering he was originally only going to meet Sherlock. Bit of a coward, maybe? Suits a blackmailer.
-"Jesus!" I agree completely, John.
-OH! And Sherlock's smiling, and has come away with some kind of advantage out of that whole hellish experience after all. THANK GOD, I HOPE YOU BREAK HIM WITH IT.
-"Did you notice the one extraordinary thing he did?" And John's face does a thing and I have to pause and laugh for a second because I'm sure I agree with whatever John is about to say here.
-"There was a moment that kind of stuck in the mind, yeah." Doubt it's the same moment Sherlock's thinking of, but that's alright, totally understandable.
-"When he showed us the letters." Yep, there's that too. Sherlock's face is doing a thing as well. He looks far too happy for the situation, so there's obviously something else I've missed. Though Magnuson traveling with the letters in the open like that does sort of rationalize the slight goon squad overkill.
-"*hard blink, headshake* ...okay." Far be it from John to insist Sherlock be more upset over the horrible things just done to his flat. *pats John and 221B* On the up side though, John's definitely gotten past his Janine bogglement.
-"So he's brought the letters to London, so no matter what he says, he's ready to make a deal." Or that's what he want's you to think, so you'll stay on the hook and not give up. I'm thinking Sherlock with his Mycroft/MI6 connection is a bigger fish in some ways than Lady Smallwood, who I think he was primarily blackmailing to end the tribunal. Or... using her as bait, because he figured she'd be too outraged not to go somewhere for help, though how he'd know she'd go to Sherlock is something else again. Hmm...
-"Now Magnuson only makes a deal once he's established a person's weaknesses, their pressure point he calls it. So, clearly he believes I'm a drug addict, I'm no serious threat." Buuuuuuuulllllshiiiiiiiiit. Redbeard. He said it, John heard it, and saw your reaction to it. You're in deeper trouble than you're admitting to John, as usual, and that never ever works out well. Own up, tell him what Redbeard means (or at least cut the 'he thinks I'm a drug addict, lol' story) so John knows which way the shit that's about to hit the fan will be flying from. Ah, and that's changed now, hasn't it? Magnuson may have come with the idea of making a deal based on the premise that Sherlock's pressure point was the drugs, but now he's got 'Redbeard' which he's going to go back and do some research on and use against him. Oh Sherlock, whatever or whoever Redbeard is, you are absolutely more screwed than you are letting on.
-Not sure what kind of car Magnuson's got here, but it's roomy. Fits three goons and the world's most evil blackmailer in comfort, as I'm sure Magnuson is not going to ride squished up with his flunkies in the back. Possibly also a driver, not sure. A goon might drive.
-"And of course because he's in town tonight, the letters will be in his safe in his London office while he's out to dinner with the marketing group of Great Britain from seven to ten."/"How do you know his schedule?"/"Because I do." *koffJANINEkoff* Just saying. Also... Hm. Magnuson shows Sherlock he has the letters, puts them in a known or otherwise logical location that anyone keen to have them would look... Is this sounding like, ooo, I dunno, a MASSIVE TRAP to anyone but me? 'Drug-Addicted Hat Detective Found Breaking into Office of Innocent Newspaper Magnate' would make a heck of a headline for Magnuson's papers after all. Just me on the thinking it's a trap then? Righty-oh. Chalk it up to paranoia.
-"What's tonight?"/"I'll text instructions!" Oh my, that was a rather hurried flight from the flat with a notably reduced amount of eye-contact. You'd almost think Sherlock was a little freaked out about something, or, I dunno, lying. Badly.
-"I'll text you, if I'm available."/"You are, I checked!" Hee. Of course he did. Aw. Busy day for them though, isn't it? This morning, John woke up from that dream, went and found Sherlock in a drug den, lab tests, Anderson and Mycroft at 221B, Janine, now Magnuson.
-"Don't bring a gun." Or a tire iron, in case of additional frisking? *eyes plant pots* Empty. And mostly clean. That rectangular one doesn't look like it's ever even had dirt in it. What the hell are the plant pots for then?
-"Or knife, or tire lever..." Hee. Bamfs do often come with accessories, just as a matter of habit.
-Oh. Oh *flappy hands*. Hee! John pulls the door shut by the knocker, setting it askew in the opposite direction that Sherlock did. That's so damned cute. Little bit of door knocker meta going on there? Although that would make Mycroft the middle ground between them, which, no. Still, hee!
-"Probably best not to do any arm-spreading but we'll see how the night goes." Heh. This cap, the windows opposite, just above Sherlock's raised hand, there are people watching. Now, whether that's people watching Sherlock and John or people watching the filming who didn't get clear of the shot (cardinal rule of set-watching, I believe; not making noise or being in shot when filming is going on) remains to be seen. If it's not some part of what's going on in the episode, and is never noted or mentioned, I'm going to handwave it as some random protective assassin-types who were really late getting the memo about protecting Sherlock and the fake computer key during Reichenbach Fall, and are now living in Baker Street not even sure why they're watching Sherlock and John anymore. Sure. *handwave*
-"You're just assuming I'm coming along?" PFT! BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Of course you are, silly. You're a danger junkie and a Watson. If you don't go, you'll gnaw your own foot off with boredom and worry.
-"Time you got out of the house, John. You've put on 7 pounds since you've got married and the cycling isn't doing it." *facepalm* Sherlock. Well, at least it isn't just Molly he's rude to? *headshake*
(*eyes those windows opposite* They're gone now... the plan is in motion... Whether that's at all related to the plot, or whether it's a kind of vague protective-assassin mission of some sort, who knows.)
-"It's actually four pounds." Awww. *pats John*
(why did I never notice until now that there is a sort of stained glass bat-wing motif in the 221B transom window?)
-"Mary and I think seven." O.O Sherlock's been missing for a month and has had a very busy day without being alone in the same place as Mary at all.... when exactly has he had a chance to conspire with Mary about getting John out on an adventure? Hmmmm... *ponders*
-And now everyone else's plant pots are gone... *eyes suspiciously* Interesting visual parallel, sort of, John in front of Baker Street here, and John in front of his row house earlier.
-Poor Mrs Hudson though. They've both left, so she's going to be stuck cleaning that fireplace. DDDD-:
Continued in...
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
PART EIGHT
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR RUMOURS OR REFERENCES TO ANY INFORMATION FOR OR ABOUT FUTURE EPISODES OR SERIES' OF SHERLOCK)
Live-Bloggish Picspam Reaction/Recap for Sherlock Series 3 Episode 3
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE - "His Last Vow"
-Sherlock: *runs down why Magnuson is such a nasty guy*/John: *pacing around with a contemplative face* Is there any chance at all that John's paying attention now and not just waiting for Sherlock to stop for breath so he can ask more about Janine?
-Ooo, that's Magnuson's house on satellite. If Mycroft isn't assisting with the satellite access, or perhaps turning a blind eye or running a distraction so the satellite access isn't noticed, I will be quite surprised. Although admittedly Sherlock may have picked up a few new tricks during his two years being 'dead'.
-"He is the Napoleon of blackmail." *...slightly hand-wavy canon-reference fistpump* Ooo, schematics!
-"It's name is Appledore." Which explains the name being on the screen so much on Sherlock's computer, but not why Magnuson would name his big blackmail archive thing after a small Society for Creative Anachronism Shire in the south Okanagan (Yes, I know, they named themselves after a British location and are probably stoked about the number of hits their site (which has an autoplaying wav file of monks singing so I won't be linking it) has gotten spiking since the episode aired). Still, is the British Appledore town/region noted for memory or blackmail? Hmm. Appledore. Apple d'Or (a guesthouse in BC near vineyards)? Golden Apple? No, that'd be Pomme d'Or. Maybe Appel d'or? Heh. Call/name of gold. Wealth, be it money, power or knowledge and it's siren song. Well, nothing like transparency of motive/modus operandi in lair-naming. Again, Magnuson is as subtle as a brick. (Also... perhaps product placement, since Sherlock is looking all this up on an Apple MacBook Pro? XD)
-"Dinner." Yep. John's still boggling about Janine. *pats John*
-"Me and Mary, coming for... dinner. With... wine and... sitting." Oh that is some serious boggle-fail indeed. First degree boggle-fail. Someone get John a paper bag to breathe into, or, I dunno, actually answer some questions about Janine with something other than bullshit, so he can get on with the yelling at you for being a dick and leading Janine on for the sake of a case and John's default world-view of 'girlfriends aren't Sherlock's area' and 'Sherlock is married to his work' can re-assert itself. Or, alternately, sit down and have a long genuine discussion about your sincere relationship with Janine to reset John's world-view to include 'Sherlock Holmes has a girlfriend' (which is a valid option too, but doubtful given canon, and also doubtful given this is Sherlock, not Coronation Street and long conversations about romantic entanglements aren't likely to happen unless there's a murder or some other major crime involved) and relieve John's bogglement so he can pay attention to the absolutely monumental amount of ass-kicking that needs to be done.
-"...Seriously?!" Bwahahaha!
-"Fine, talk about the house." Not that it'll do much good because John is still boggled. Though I must admit, this is a definite change up in the usual exposition delivery format. XD
-"None of it is on a computer, computers can be hacked." *nods* Even a standalone system would have vulnerabilities. Though a database in code might be handy, just to find where stuff is, and the codes would be useless for gleaning info without the hard-copy. Just saying. Card catalogues are a pain in the butt. *itches to organize a database* Also, he definitely has a research staff. And they receive video of people/things Magnuson is looking at, look up info on the fly and transmit to the glasses. There's got to be some kind of signal someone could attempt to hack going on there. *ponders*
-"That was the doorbell, didn't you hear it?"/"It's in the fridge. It kept ringing." HEEE!!! Yep. I've done similar myself, so I can empathize. Also, Mrs. Hudson really likes that dress. Still looks new two years later.
-"Who is it?"/"*gasp and hesitation*"/Soundtrack: *BASE HEARTBEATS OF IMMINENT DOOM* OOOO SHIT. It's Milverton. Masterton. Magnuson. *handwave* Whatever. He's heeeeeere. Hide your plotting, boys. Probably a good thing Sherlock hasn't told John the truth about Janine yet. Actually, this is probably the meeting he was talking about earlier. For some reason I thought he'd be going to Magnuson's. Ha. No. Silly.
-Oh, and he's brought some goons in suits along. Well then. Not feeling threatened now is he?
-DETAILS ABOUT MRS HUDSON! OFFICIAL CANON FIRST NAME OF MARTHA, (which if I recall was one of the names most speculated on as her first name in the ACD books)! Semi-reformed alcoholic, former exotic dancer (that could cast an interesting tint to her comments to Sherlock about dancing), a damned fine debt service ratio for this day and age... 'STATUS: UNIMPORTANT' MY ASS! Although, that's part of her defense/offense package isn't it? The rogue CIA guys thought she wasn't anything much and she kept Irene's phone away from them, even under interrogation. She has a cultivated 'unimportance' which she uses as a weapon when she chooses, in aid of her adopted family of adrenaline junkies. *nods* MRS HUDSON IS A BAMF.
-PFFFFT! THEY'RE HERBAL SOOTHERS FOR HER HIP, YOU ASS. Unless she's turned 221C into a marijuana grow-op during the hiatus to generate some cash, which could also explain her low debt ratio despite 221B being vacant for two years. XD
-There's always something not-right about 221B getting invaded. This feels extra not-right, because... *points* visual framing on Sherlock. Walled in by door and goons, and alone in the little visual pen, no supporting John seen at his side. Trapped and alone. That's deliberate. Also the face and defensive arm-crossing is deliberate.
-"Go ahead." Remember boys, the last person Sherlock invited to frisk him fell out the window several dozen times, although in this case they haven't done Mrs Hudson harm before the frisking so they're less likely to need to be assaulted to restore balance to Sherlock's universe. Yet.
-"Sir?" Oh this should be fun. He didn't bring the gun, but unless John has sensibly removed the tire iron from his trousers in the intervening getting in and out of cars and hanging around in labs and getting boggled by Janine (it's been a very busy day for John so far), they'll find that. Heh. But he probably removed it. Lot of bending and walking and sitting and so forth since.
-"Can I have a moment?" HAHAHA. No, he hasn't removed it. Ahahaha. That can't be comfortable.
-"I should probably tell you-" Or this could be like the typical BAMF character frisking and turn up an array of potentially damaging hardware that should by all logical sense make John clank when he walks but wouldn't dare make a sound, because badasses don't clank unless they intend to clank. (See also Dean Winchester, Aeryn Sun, Sarah Walker, John Casey, Elizabeth Swann, and Fili from the Hobbit, among many others) Heh heh heh. Of course.
-Sherlock's face!
-And this guy. Like, "...really?" XD
-"Doesn't mean I'm not pleased to see you." Can't breathe. Oh god. And there he goes, stomping all over that line between badass and smartass. HEE!
-"I can vouch for this man, he is a doctor." And that explains the tire iron how exactly? XD
-"If you know who I am then you know who he is." Awwww. And John's little 'yeah, deal with it' nod. Because moving a chair will never hide how important John is to Sherlock, and vice versa. *flail*
-"Don't you Mr Magnuson?" Gaaaaaah. I knew he was there obviously but seeing him in 221B is just, gaaaaaaaaaaah. Wrong, wrong wrong. Although. Hm. Mirrors and framing. Kinda sorta looking a little hemmed in, since of course Sherlock's figuring he's got Magnuson exactly where he wants him, playing along with whatever Sherlock's doing to bait him. Not too sure though, the edging on that mirror is also giving Magnuson more than one edge to the cage he's supposed to be in, as well as chopping John to bits and including him in Magnuson's hypothetically 'trapped' area, or from the other perspective, Magnuson's 'zone of control'. *shudders* So it would seem this is REALLY NOT GOING TO GO WELL oh god. D-:
-"I understood we were meeting at your office." And why would he let you on his turf when he can show up in person and ooze all over yours? Less exposure for himself, more chance to set his prospective target on the back foot. Strategically sensible. Still slimy.
-"This is my office." GAAAAAAAAAH!!! *full body cringe* MAKE HIM GO AWAY!!! And in the mirror of former trapping/control, there are now three of him, out-numbering Sherlock and John. They really do know what they are doing with mirrors on this show.
-Oh, here we go.
-[Status: Unimportant.] BWAHAHAAHAHAHAAA, no. Whoever's feeding the glasses today is a bit of a dumbass. Also they are missing a rather large curly-haired pressure point for John Watson, but if they think John's unimportant there's a lot of things they could be missing. Hm. Though I suppose context is a factor in whether someone is 'important' or not. Important on the global political stage, not so much, otherwise, very. Also, both Harry and Mary listed as pressure points. Magnuson doesn't so far appear to do direct physical threats, so this kind of supports him knowing something about Mary she (and John if he knew) would not want made public. Harry as well. But still, no Sherlock in the list. Hm. Very odd. *ponders* Gotta say though, John has a damned impressively low debt load for having been flat broke except for an army pension at the start of the series. Well done, John.
(Porn preference normal again. What even is that? I guess maybe nothing that would raise enough eyebrows to bother trying to use as a pressure point?)
-"Well, it is now." And then Magnuson messes with stuff on Sherlock's desk/breakfast table. *twitches violently* Make him stopppp.
-And now he's sitting on the couch, gah gah gahhh. I don't know why he's so creepy (OH WAIT THE WHOLE OWNING PEOPLE AND NON-CONSENSUAL FACE-LICKING THING) just feels like there's a diseased giant cockroach crawling around 221B leaving a trail of ooze and no one is SQUASHING IT.
-From the looks of it, Sherlock feels much the same way.
-"She would like those letters back." Yeah, he knows just asking isn't going to do a damned thing, which is why the whole drug problem song and dance to get drawn in further and take him down from within. *nods*
-*hits pause just as the text comes up* Because now's when we see if the person/people feeding the glasses are going to be fooled by Sherlock's ruse or see what his real pressure point is. Which really, Magnuson already knows. In the meantime though, there's data! Finances unknown, pffft, no shock there, Sherlock doesn't seem to care much and if he's got any family assets, Mycroft would be keeping them under wraps. Mycroft, officially as far as Magnuson's database is concerned works with MI6, WOO HOO! \o/ (Hehe, wonder if he's going to try to use Sherlock to put pressure on Mycroft. That could be entertaining as hell). Love the "Officially Deceased 2011-2013" part, especially since it adds concrete years to the whole 'dating events in Sherlock' schmozzle, which is something I'll have to try to get to match up later when I have more time and an urge to be masochistic to my sense of cause and effect. And... Sherlock has a porn preference? Who knew? Right, hitting go. Did they fall for it or not? (Not that it will make a speck of difference as Magnuson the Fire-Watcher has Sherlock's pressure point already and it's standing right next to him looking rather irked under the text. Also, must say, the font... Courier? Eh. I suppose it's a classic font that evokes a fixed-width typewriter and hard-copy files but, just... Courier. Ew.)
-AAAAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH. XD Well then! Sherlock's potential pressure points are: Irene (Oooo, someone maybe knows she's not dead?), Moriarty (who is going to be implied to be not dead by the end of the episode apparently so that could get interesting), Redbeard (!!!! NOT A CHILDHOOD PET OR TEDDY THEN!?!?! OKAY. SO WHAT OR WHO THE HELL IS REDBEARD? SHERLOCK WANTED TO BE A PIRATE AS A KID... Okay. That was unexpected, though really, it should have been, since it was mentioned and not elaborated on (as it would probably have been if it was a throwaway joke), putting it 'on the wall', (possibly as something that might be a pressure point for Mycroft as well? Someone Sherlock got emotionally attached to who he lost?) but NOW I NEED TO KNOW. O.o), Hounds of the Baskerville (Oh reeeeally? Hmmmmm...*ponders*), Opium (canonically it was cocaine I believe, but whatever. Unless it's not about his drug use but something he got mixed up in while off being 'dead' but that's doubtful. I think...), and John Watson (NO, REALLY???? XD). Then it repeats and keeps scrolling like a slot machine. HEE! Hm. Depending what they want him to do, and who else they want to put pressure on, I guess I can see ways that would all pressure Sherlock. Irene - not just that she's alive, but that he helped her figure out that code and disrupt the death plane business. Moriarty - Well, really, he's spent two years breaking up and neutralizing his organization, that's going to involve a lot of deeds done that aren't very legal that if reported on in the press could present enough of a problem to MI6 or whoever's suppressing news of Sherlock's actions taken in the field that they might decide to use him as a scapegoat rather than fight to keep the cover intact, Mycroft or no. Redbeard.... no idea, but I really want to know. Hounds of the Baskerville - Well, I suppose keeping the Hound Gas experiment secret from the public, but if Magnuson knows about that he's an even more scary bastard than I'd already thought and REALLY NEEDS THWARTING NOW PLEASE. Opium - If it's Sherlock's own use, I don't think he'd really care enough about his drug use being made public to be influenced by threats to expose it, though he has been working on making that a tempting target so I can see why it's there, though I still wonder if there's more to it. John Watson - Sherlock Holmes' all-purpose pressure point. Threaten John credibly and Sherlock will do anything. Now, which is it going to be? ... I would have called John if they're smart, drugs if they're fooled, but now that Redbeard's shown up in the list, I'm calling Redbeard, at least at first. In the end, it's all going to come back to John. Because Watson. *nods*
-Magnuson: *snorts*/"Something I said?" Heh. No. Something that's scrolling over your fireplace. It's fine. You're making Magnuson's researchers argue among themselves.
-"No, no, I was reading." Hee!
-"There's rather a lot." And Sherlock's eyes narrow a bit. Ooo. When Magnuson has on his, heheheh, reading glasses, (*facepalm*) does he look like he's oddly focussed on one area of vision? Do his eyes do lateral saccades, moving along the lines as for normal reading when he reads the info from the glasses? That might be something Sherlock could spot and figure out the relation between Magnuson's sudden intel and the glasses, since Sherlock's got a considering frown now. Hm.
-"Redbeard." YEP. Oh god, it's going to be something horribly painful, isn't it?
-I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE DISTURBED BY A SUDDEN BLINK. Because Sherlock's been caught by surprise when he thought he was in control of the scenario and now his face suddenly looks about eight years old and OH GOD this is going to hurt.
-"Sorry, you were probably talking?"/"I..." And all Sherlock's carefully machined plans for this conversation and where he expected Magnuson to apply pressure to based on the easy target he was waving under his nose come shattering down, and he flounders around in his own mind trying to get free of the sudden avalanche of manky old emotional towels that's come down on his head from hearing someone other than Mycroft say 'Redbeard' in a vague and threatening way, while simultaneously trying to rebuild some semblance of control over the situation out of the shards of his initial plan. Which, if he was planning Magnuson to come in and put pressure on him via the drugs thing, but now has Magnuson putting pressure on him via Redbeard, the basic frame of the plan still applies, only one of Sherlock's actual pressure points are being used rather than the fake one he probably doesn't really give a crap about.
-And he clears his throat. And John looks at him. That's like Mycroft second-guessing his words at the Diogenes club at the end of TRF. Except that was faked. Somehow I don't think this is faked.
(Oh, this show and that damned mirror. The reflection of Sherlock's back in the mirror, visually cutting off his escape from facing Magnuson; the image of his back like a metaphor of the past. Oh very nicely done, show.)
-"Bathroom?" Seeing that the improbable name of Redbeard is causing a definite reaction, maybe Magnuson needs to find out what he's threatening Sherlock with now, so he needs to commune with his glasses. Heh. In a mirror, yeah? *smiling headshake* Mirrors. God damn.
-"Along from the kitchen, sir." Oh, and the goon answers rather than Sherlock or John, keeping them out of control of the situation and letting them know that either the goons have been in 221B before, or someone has fed them intel about the floorplan, because without leaving his position by John there, there's no way buddy can see anything but a hallway with a door or two. It could be a guess, but it's not being presented like that, and I have no option but to admire it from a strategic standpoint. Magnuson has all the conversational balls in his court right now.
-"I've been hired to negotiate the return of those letters." And Sherlock keeps to his script, and Magnuson totally ignores him. Probably as Sherlock expected him to, but his stakes in the conversation are far higher now than he'd initially planned on.
-"Is it like the rest of the flat?"/"Sir?"/"The bathroom?"/"Yes, sir."/"Maybe not then." There is nothing wrong with the rest of the flat. Just because you live in a *handwave* big empty parking garage furnished by high-end Ikea knock-offs doesn't mean that your sanitized architectural pile of loosely associated rooms is in anyway better than any other living place, particularly 221B. It and the Coat are the Impala of this show. You do not get to insult 221B.
(I JUST REALIZED. OH GOD. THE HAND STROKING THE WALLPAPER IN THE OPENING CREDITS IS MAGNUSON'S ISN'T IT? *cringes in advance* DDDDD-:)
-"Lady Elizabeth Smallwood. I like her. *weird mouth popping*" GYAHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAH. *shudders everywhere* WHAT IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO IMPLY? NEVER MIND, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW.
-"She's English with a spine. *shoves coffee table with foot*" GET YOUR FOOT AWAY FROM THE COFFEE TABLE AND LEAVE THE FURNITURE WHERE IT IS. Gah gah gaaaaaah!! *flaps hands with distress*
-"Best thing about the English-"/"Goon2: *reaches behind Sherlock and grabs something from the fireplace*" I realize that Magnuson isn't the 'beat the crap out of people with a poker' type of villain and will likely insist his goons behave in a similar manner, but seriously, I don't know what the guy's even grabbing but every muscle in my body locked up with tension.
-Oh, it's just the uncappable fireplace cover grate thing. Which means Sherlock's got something hidden there, or something's going to get burned in there. ...eeep.
-"You're so domesticated." Ooooooo, there's a burn. Didn't even need the fireplace for that one. Though John's little head twitch and small grunt would imply a whole lot of 'give me an excuse and I'll show you who's domesticated'.
-HE'S PEEING IN THE FIREPLACE??? OH MY GOD, HOW IS THAT WORSE THAN ANYTHING I THOUGHT COULD HAPPEN. I suppose it's a way of him 'marking his territory' and as an intimidation/control tactic it's admittedly a form of physical/mental/cultural violation that would not have been expected or prepared for and therefore suited to his aims *handwave*, but, but good god this guy is fucking revolting. AND IN 221B. JUST, NO FOREVER. DDDDDDDD-:
-"You can do what you like here, no one's ever gonna stop you. A nation of herbivores." While he's peeing in the fireplace. I am now officially reduced to gibbering incomprehensibly. This is so much worse than if he'd just had his goons trash the place or rough up Sherlock and John. And he knows it and they know it and just, fucking hell. DDDDDD-:
-I WANT TO SCRUB 221B WITH HOT SOAPY WATER ALL OVER. AND THEN WRAP IT IN A BLANKET AND FEED IT SOUP. I DON'T CARE IF IT'S A FLAT AND AS SUCH DOESN'T EAT SOUP AND CAN'T BE WRAPPED IN BLANKETS. I WANT TO DO THAT FOR IT ANYWAY.
-"If it works here, I'll try it in a real country." ADFK; AFDSKH JAFDKH JADFKJH FADSJKH!!! I WANT TO SEE HIM STOPPED, NOW PLEASE. Well, I did before too, but now I just want him off the screen and in a 10 by 10 by 10 windowless cement box somewhere with no one to be disgusting to but himself. But I get the feeling he's not even going to be stopped by the end of the episode. Dammit!
-His goons carry wet-wipes. It's somehow even worse that they aren't for wiping off blood. EUGCH this guy. I mean, Moriarty was a cheerful evil charming psychopath. I liked Moriarty as an adversary. This Magnuson guy's just... *headshake* completely abhorrent. But in a way, that makes him more real, and more of a real threat. Real world criminal threats and the like are not obligated to have a charming side or a sympathetic side for audience identification. They are only interested in themselves and their own survival and do not need to give a crap if anyone viewing their actions finds them sympathetic. Especially not when this guy's level of power is reached. I don't like him, but I appreciate the major increase in challenge rating he's providing Sherlock and John et al, and I look forward to seeing Magnuson decimated. A thousand times over, all at once. (I know, getting decimated three hundred and eighty times would take him down to 0.000000000000001% of his current power, but I'd like to be absolutely certain he's never ever going to return.)
-Tossing his trash on the floor seems a little mild in comparison to peeing in the fireplace, but just ugh. Vile creature.
-"Anyway, they're funny." And he brought her letters with him. Just to rub Sherlock's nose in his impunity. Much as it would be cathartic to have this break out in a brawl right now, it really wouldn't help the overall situation of Magnuson needing stopped completely. John and Sherlock could tackle the goons, bash some heads, dog-pile on Magnuson and get the letters and burn them in the fireplace he just peed in (the swine), but all that would do is stop Lady Smallwood's problem. It wouldn't uproot this guy and his far too wide-spread power base, and it would get them arrested for assault on someone who is to the majority of the world just a super-rich guy who owns a whole lot of newspapers. I admire their restraint, it's serving the greater case well to have Magnuson thinking he has Sherlock entirely cowed, whether he actually does right now or not. Me, I want to punch Magnuson in the nose and throw him out a window, and I don't give a flying fig whether Lady Smallwood's letters are destroyed or not. I think John might be thinking along the same lines as me. Somehow, I am not surprised.
-Random observation; between the drug test and Magnuson there is a lot of pee in this episode so far. Eugch.
-Oh right, there was an uncappable third goon lurking in the kitchen. The brawl would have been even more fruitless then. Doesn't speak too well for Magnuson though, needing to have them outnumbered two to one, or actually four to one, considering he was originally only going to meet Sherlock. Bit of a coward, maybe? Suits a blackmailer.
-"Jesus!" I agree completely, John.
-OH! And Sherlock's smiling, and has come away with some kind of advantage out of that whole hellish experience after all. THANK GOD, I HOPE YOU BREAK HIM WITH IT.
-"Did you notice the one extraordinary thing he did?" And John's face does a thing and I have to pause and laugh for a second because I'm sure I agree with whatever John is about to say here.
-"There was a moment that kind of stuck in the mind, yeah." Doubt it's the same moment Sherlock's thinking of, but that's alright, totally understandable.
-"When he showed us the letters." Yep, there's that too. Sherlock's face is doing a thing as well. He looks far too happy for the situation, so there's obviously something else I've missed. Though Magnuson traveling with the letters in the open like that does sort of rationalize the slight goon squad overkill.
-"*hard blink, headshake* ...okay." Far be it from John to insist Sherlock be more upset over the horrible things just done to his flat. *pats John and 221B* On the up side though, John's definitely gotten past his Janine bogglement.
-"So he's brought the letters to London, so no matter what he says, he's ready to make a deal." Or that's what he want's you to think, so you'll stay on the hook and not give up. I'm thinking Sherlock with his Mycroft/MI6 connection is a bigger fish in some ways than Lady Smallwood, who I think he was primarily blackmailing to end the tribunal. Or... using her as bait, because he figured she'd be too outraged not to go somewhere for help, though how he'd know she'd go to Sherlock is something else again. Hmm...
-"Now Magnuson only makes a deal once he's established a person's weaknesses, their pressure point he calls it. So, clearly he believes I'm a drug addict, I'm no serious threat." Buuuuuuuulllllshiiiiiiiiit. Redbeard. He said it, John heard it, and saw your reaction to it. You're in deeper trouble than you're admitting to John, as usual, and that never ever works out well. Own up, tell him what Redbeard means (or at least cut the 'he thinks I'm a drug addict, lol' story) so John knows which way the shit that's about to hit the fan will be flying from. Ah, and that's changed now, hasn't it? Magnuson may have come with the idea of making a deal based on the premise that Sherlock's pressure point was the drugs, but now he's got 'Redbeard' which he's going to go back and do some research on and use against him. Oh Sherlock, whatever or whoever Redbeard is, you are absolutely more screwed than you are letting on.
-Not sure what kind of car Magnuson's got here, but it's roomy. Fits three goons and the world's most evil blackmailer in comfort, as I'm sure Magnuson is not going to ride squished up with his flunkies in the back. Possibly also a driver, not sure. A goon might drive.
-"And of course because he's in town tonight, the letters will be in his safe in his London office while he's out to dinner with the marketing group of Great Britain from seven to ten."/"How do you know his schedule?"/"Because I do." *koffJANINEkoff* Just saying. Also... Hm. Magnuson shows Sherlock he has the letters, puts them in a known or otherwise logical location that anyone keen to have them would look... Is this sounding like, ooo, I dunno, a MASSIVE TRAP to anyone but me? 'Drug-Addicted Hat Detective Found Breaking into Office of Innocent Newspaper Magnate' would make a heck of a headline for Magnuson's papers after all. Just me on the thinking it's a trap then? Righty-oh. Chalk it up to paranoia.
-"What's tonight?"/"I'll text instructions!" Oh my, that was a rather hurried flight from the flat with a notably reduced amount of eye-contact. You'd almost think Sherlock was a little freaked out about something, or, I dunno, lying. Badly.
-"I'll text you, if I'm available."/"You are, I checked!" Hee. Of course he did. Aw. Busy day for them though, isn't it? This morning, John woke up from that dream, went and found Sherlock in a drug den, lab tests, Anderson and Mycroft at 221B, Janine, now Magnuson.
-"Don't bring a gun." Or a tire iron, in case of additional frisking? *eyes plant pots* Empty. And mostly clean. That rectangular one doesn't look like it's ever even had dirt in it. What the hell are the plant pots for then?
-"Or knife, or tire lever..." Hee. Bamfs do often come with accessories, just as a matter of habit.
-Oh. Oh *flappy hands*. Hee! John pulls the door shut by the knocker, setting it askew in the opposite direction that Sherlock did. That's so damned cute. Little bit of door knocker meta going on there? Although that would make Mycroft the middle ground between them, which, no. Still, hee!
-"Probably best not to do any arm-spreading but we'll see how the night goes." Heh. This cap, the windows opposite, just above Sherlock's raised hand, there are people watching. Now, whether that's people watching Sherlock and John or people watching the filming who didn't get clear of the shot (cardinal rule of set-watching, I believe; not making noise or being in shot when filming is going on) remains to be seen. If it's not some part of what's going on in the episode, and is never noted or mentioned, I'm going to handwave it as some random protective assassin-types who were really late getting the memo about protecting Sherlock and the fake computer key during Reichenbach Fall, and are now living in Baker Street not even sure why they're watching Sherlock and John anymore. Sure. *handwave*
-"You're just assuming I'm coming along?" PFT! BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Of course you are, silly. You're a danger junkie and a Watson. If you don't go, you'll gnaw your own foot off with boredom and worry.
-"Time you got out of the house, John. You've put on 7 pounds since you've got married and the cycling isn't doing it." *facepalm* Sherlock. Well, at least it isn't just Molly he's rude to? *headshake*
(*eyes those windows opposite* They're gone now... the plan is in motion... Whether that's at all related to the plot, or whether it's a kind of vague protective-assassin mission of some sort, who knows.)
-"It's actually four pounds." Awww. *pats John*
(why did I never notice until now that there is a sort of stained glass bat-wing motif in the 221B transom window?)
-"Mary and I think seven." O.O Sherlock's been missing for a month and has had a very busy day without being alone in the same place as Mary at all.... when exactly has he had a chance to conspire with Mary about getting John out on an adventure? Hmmmm... *ponders*
-And now everyone else's plant pots are gone... *eyes suspiciously* Interesting visual parallel, sort of, John in front of Baker Street here, and John in front of his row house earlier.
-Poor Mrs Hudson though. They've both left, so she's going to be stuck cleaning that fireplace. DDDD-:
Continued in...
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
PART EIGHT
(PLEASE, NO SPOILERS OR RUMOURS OR REFERENCES TO ANY INFORMATION FOR OR ABOUT FUTURE EPISODES OR SERIES' OF SHERLOCK)