Quick and Dirty Top 10 Reactions to the Empty Hearse
I have only seen the full episode once and am partway through my second viewing. We began recording the latest episode of the Three Patch Podcast about half an hour after the episode aired and the past two days have been taken up with editing, posting, grading and getting sick. This is the first chance I've had to put down initial thoughts, but I wanted to do them now before I've had even more time to think things through and analyze.
1. Mummy and Daddy Holmes made me scream in happiness. I was spoiled about them being in the show and that they were being played by Benedict's actual parents, but I did not know in what capacity they would be introduced (nor which episode) so it took me until the camera focused on their faces before I realized it was them and not clients. And that they were introduced in episode one makes me hope that we'll see them again a little later. I am so glad this spoiler was not widely disseminated because this was one of the things that I thought would be a real treat for a good part of the fandom and so it was something I chose not to reblog or comment on when I encountered it.
2. I adore crossover and have no problem with nods to fandom, especially from this writing team who I perceive of as fans as well. Therefore, I thoroughly, utterly enjoyed all the winks at fandom tropes and saw this as a giant affectionately teasing love-letter to fandom.
4. I am convinced the emotional arc of Reichenbach is not resolved and that we will see more. I have confidence in the writers doing this and there were hints of this to come. Sherlock was very humorous and jokey in parts of this episode, but there were true moments of tenderness and understanding that peeked through, but which he masked with humor around certain characters (especially John). He was lovely with Molly, giving her that day to thank her and asking her to just be herself. And then that kiss on the check, echoing the kiss he gave her two Christmases before when he begged her forgiveness. That was very tender. And his rapport with his brother over the game of operation. The hat deduction was a clever way for Sherlock to express his understanding and concern for his brother, albeit with some degree of rivalry and teasing. But this seems to be their relationship. Sherlock's 'how would you know' echoing Mycrofts from 2 years earlier in response to Sherlock's 'Sex doesn't alarm me' suggests a level of understanding going on here. And concern.
5. I want to hear/read/know all about Mycroft's goldfish. I hope this is a setup for something that gets revealed in the next two episodes. This could also be a reason to bring back Mummy and Daddy Holmes.
6. Sherlock's interactions with John puzzled me. I read in Sherlock's face and frustration in the restaurant his clear concern and bewilderment that John was so angry, and the manipulative crying on the train read initially as very genuine to me. Turning it into a moment of manipulation made me feel a little cheated at first, but I think something else is going on there. Sherlock did A LOT of joking and winking in this episode. The winking was referenced in the Minisode when he said winking and smiling were things he did that people seemed to like because it humanized him. Why does he need to be humanized here? It's also kind of odd that a guy who was on the run for some time and being tortured and had to be rescued by his brother would rely so much on humor to break the news to his friend. Or maybe it's not that odd. Maybe Sherlock needed some levity. This I think will be explored later, but I also believe he is using the humor and joking as a mask and that some of what we saw on the train was genuine, some of it was indeed manipulation, and the humor was used to mask the one from the other. Sherlock is hiding something still. He may be an asshole (and I love that about him), but even assholes have vulnerabilities.
7. John's voice in Sherlock's head nearly killed me. I wondered if this inner John voice had been with Sherlock the entire time he had been away or if it had only returned and taken a negative spin because John was angry with him. I commented on this on the reaction roundtable for Three Patch, but one of my favorite moments was actually experiencing just how less brilliant Sherlock is without John there. Sherlock had called John a conductor of light, but I really felt that seeing Sherlock at a crime scene without John showed us just what sort of inspiration and guidance John brought to Sherlock.
9. This show was all about relationship building and rebuilding and not much about the cases, and I liked it. I'm here for the relationships and only got into Sherlock after series 2 which I perceived to explore so much more about the relationship between John and Sherlock than did series 1 (which didn't hook me when I first saw it). If anything this series is even more relationshippy, particularly with the need to overcome past wrongs, catch up on lost time, and get to know new characters. I for one and ecstatic about this.
10. I knew I was going to like Mary and I enjoyed that she seems to have a jokey rapport with both John and Sherlock. John teases Sherlock (and Mycroft) so it's nice to see someone else who is neither intimidated by Sherlock's or completely put off by Sherlock's assiness. But the thing that got me really excited was seeing among all the little things that Sherlock deduced about Mary was that she was a linguist! This will probably not be relevant and knowing Mark Gatiss, this probably just means she's picky about grammar, but it still made my applied linguist's heart pitter patter.
Oh hell…that wasn't quick and dirty after all.
1. Mummy and Daddy Holmes made me scream in happiness. I was spoiled about them being in the show and that they were being played by Benedict's actual parents, but I did not know in what capacity they would be introduced (nor which episode) so it took me until the camera focused on their faces before I realized it was them and not clients. And that they were introduced in episode one makes me hope that we'll see them again a little later. I am so glad this spoiler was not widely disseminated because this was one of the things that I thought would be a real treat for a good part of the fandom and so it was something I chose not to reblog or comment on when I encountered it.
2. I adore crossover and have no problem with nods to fandom, especially from this writing team who I perceive of as fans as well. Therefore, I thoroughly, utterly enjoyed all the winks at fandom tropes and saw this as a giant affectionately teasing love-letter to fandom.
- Sherlock being tortured while on the run.
- Mycroft being a masterful secret agent.
- All the kissing and almost kissing. I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING but thank you for the GIFS! So damn hot!
- That the fans who waited and obsessed over Sherlock were The Empty Hearse (direct shoutout to us and our two year obsession)!
- The multiple scenarios, letting us guess and see our theories realized and brushed off
- Martin Freeman/John Watson's subtle middle finger.
- Testicle fondling and prostate stroking.
- Sherlock getting shaved.
- Echoes of my favorite moment from my favorite episode of Cabin Pressure in the restaurant scene.
- ALL the different reactions to Sherlock's return (hugging, punching, smiling, screaming, head-butting)
- There are probably a million other things that I will remember and notice once I watch this again.
4. I am convinced the emotional arc of Reichenbach is not resolved and that we will see more. I have confidence in the writers doing this and there were hints of this to come. Sherlock was very humorous and jokey in parts of this episode, but there were true moments of tenderness and understanding that peeked through, but which he masked with humor around certain characters (especially John). He was lovely with Molly, giving her that day to thank her and asking her to just be herself. And then that kiss on the check, echoing the kiss he gave her two Christmases before when he begged her forgiveness. That was very tender. And his rapport with his brother over the game of operation. The hat deduction was a clever way for Sherlock to express his understanding and concern for his brother, albeit with some degree of rivalry and teasing. But this seems to be their relationship. Sherlock's 'how would you know' echoing Mycrofts from 2 years earlier in response to Sherlock's 'Sex doesn't alarm me' suggests a level of understanding going on here. And concern.
5. I want to hear/read/know all about Mycroft's goldfish. I hope this is a setup for something that gets revealed in the next two episodes. This could also be a reason to bring back Mummy and Daddy Holmes.
6. Sherlock's interactions with John puzzled me. I read in Sherlock's face and frustration in the restaurant his clear concern and bewilderment that John was so angry, and the manipulative crying on the train read initially as very genuine to me. Turning it into a moment of manipulation made me feel a little cheated at first, but I think something else is going on there. Sherlock did A LOT of joking and winking in this episode. The winking was referenced in the Minisode when he said winking and smiling were things he did that people seemed to like because it humanized him. Why does he need to be humanized here? It's also kind of odd that a guy who was on the run for some time and being tortured and had to be rescued by his brother would rely so much on humor to break the news to his friend. Or maybe it's not that odd. Maybe Sherlock needed some levity. This I think will be explored later, but I also believe he is using the humor and joking as a mask and that some of what we saw on the train was genuine, some of it was indeed manipulation, and the humor was used to mask the one from the other. Sherlock is hiding something still. He may be an asshole (and I love that about him), but even assholes have vulnerabilities.
7. John's voice in Sherlock's head nearly killed me. I wondered if this inner John voice had been with Sherlock the entire time he had been away or if it had only returned and taken a negative spin because John was angry with him. I commented on this on the reaction roundtable for Three Patch, but one of my favorite moments was actually experiencing just how less brilliant Sherlock is without John there. Sherlock had called John a conductor of light, but I really felt that seeing Sherlock at a crime scene without John showed us just what sort of inspiration and guidance John brought to Sherlock.
9. This show was all about relationship building and rebuilding and not much about the cases, and I liked it. I'm here for the relationships and only got into Sherlock after series 2 which I perceived to explore so much more about the relationship between John and Sherlock than did series 1 (which didn't hook me when I first saw it). If anything this series is even more relationshippy, particularly with the need to overcome past wrongs, catch up on lost time, and get to know new characters. I for one and ecstatic about this.
10. I knew I was going to like Mary and I enjoyed that she seems to have a jokey rapport with both John and Sherlock. John teases Sherlock (and Mycroft) so it's nice to see someone else who is neither intimidated by Sherlock's or completely put off by Sherlock's assiness. But the thing that got me really excited was seeing among all the little things that Sherlock deduced about Mary was that she was a linguist! This will probably not be relevant and knowing Mark Gatiss, this probably just means she's picky about grammar, but it still made my applied linguist's heart pitter patter.
Oh hell…that wasn't quick and dirty after all.