Lady Elizabeth Smallwood

As always....***SPOILER ALERT*** 

I don't trust Lady Elizabeth Smallwood any farther than I can throw her. "I haven't done any of the things you're accusing me of," she tells Mycroft when he interrogates her in "The Six Thatchers." I did not like her word choice when I watched it the first time, chalking it up to shoddy writing, but then she flirts with him in "The Lying Detective."

Here is my theory. Lady Smallwood has been a double agent for years, but when she is finally confronted, Mycroft accuses her of a betrayal she did not commit. She is then able to say with complete honesty that she is innocent. However, she now knows that Mycroft is not above suspecting her of committing treason, and she, therefore, needs to keep Mycroft on her good side. What better way for her to do that than by using her feminine wiles? Smallwood will not succeed in seducing Mycroft, but it will succeed in distracting him. This will, no doubt, confuse Mycroft, and he will focus on her flirtatious behavior rather than her work with either Moriarty or Euros.

The Women

As always.....***SPOILER ALERT***

One of the prevailing themes of "The Abominable Bride" is women, specifically those whom Sherlock has wronged or in some way disappointed. It bears repeating that this episode takes place almost exclusively in Sherlock's mind. Therefore, we can reasonably believe that Sherlock has had encounters with women with which Sherlock has felt shame or guilt. Perhaps, one woman even hurt him in his past, inspiring him to avoid attachments to other humans, especially with women. In some of the Sherlock Holmes plays, Sherlock does indeed have romantic relationships, including the first Sherlock Holmes play written partially by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and mostly by William Gillette. Using the Woman as a model, Gillette, with Doyle's permission, created a love interest named Alice Faulkner. Because Moffat and Gatiss are such Sherlock Holmes fanboys and undoubtedly know about Alice Faulkner, love interests are not out of the realm of possibility for Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock. Trailers for Series 4 have stated that Sherlock's past will come back to haunt him in the next slate of episodes.

I believe that women will play an influential role. Maybe Molly Hooper snaps and finally repays Sherlock for all the grief he has given her. Due to the conniving behavior of Mary in the Christmas special, I believe Sherlock does not 100% trust her. I think the Woman will almost certainly play a role in the Series 4.

She makes a cameo in "The Sign of Three" and is mentioned while Sherlock is dying in "His Last Vow." There is an allusion to her in "The Abominable Bride." Moriarty says, "Dead is the new sexy." This is similar to the Woman's declaration that "Brainy is the new sexy." Moreover, the Woman, Sherlock, and (maybe, but probably not) Moriarty have all faked being dead. I think it is clear Moffat and Gatiss do not want us to forget about The Woman. What role she will play in Series 4 is unclear, but if she does not make an appearance, I will be greatly disappointed.

Interference from the Woman

As always ***SPOILER ALERT***

The Woman first comes to the attention of Sherlock in the episode "Scandal in Bulgravia." Or does she?

In "The Great Game," Sherlock receives a letter which he notes was written on Bohemian paper. The fact Sherlock initially says Bohemia and not Czech Republic could be more than just an nod to "A Scandal in Bohemia." I believe it is a clue pointing us in the direction of The Woman. After all, Sherlock also points out that the letter was obviously addressed by a woman.

The Bohemian paper could just be a playful red herring by Gatiss and Moffat, and some other woman could have addressed the letter under the direction of Moriarty. However, there are other allusions to "A Scandal in Bohemia" in this episode. Sherlock is able to guess Molly's weight gain (just as he does with John in "His Final Vow"), and the line "I'd be lost without my blogger" is an updated version of the line "I am lost without my Boswell" in the aforementioned short story. Lastly, the first time Sherlock receives a call from the bomber, the villain makes the person doing the talking call Sherlock "sexy." In the very next episode, The Woman states that "Brainy is the new sexy."

Could it be that The Woman becomes involved in The Game much earlier than we have been led to believe?

Why Would He Answer the Phone?

As always ***SPOILER ALERT***

Imagine you are about to kill someone, or they are about to kill both of you. Then, your phone rings. Why would you take the call? It seems rather important to focus on all the guns and potential death.

Yet, this is this situation in which Jim Moriarty finds himself, and he chooses to answer the phone. Why does he answer the phone? What could be more important than taking out his nemesis, Sherlock Holmes? To answer that, let's back up a moment.

"Ciao, Sherlock Holmes," Moriarty says as he backs out of the swimming pool. Seconds later, he burst back in and loudly declaring, "Sorry, boys! I'm sooooo changeable! It is a weakness of mine, but to be fair it is my only weakness."

Why is he so changeable? Why does he change his mind so quickly? Rather, who changes his mind?

To me, that is the question here. A rational man does not say, "I will not kill you," and then immediately say, "Actually, I am going to kill you." Either Moriarty has a split personality, or there are two people involved here.

My guess is Jim Moriarty has a boss. It could be a partnership with Jim Moriarty being the submissive member of the partnership, but I do not think he has a submissive personality. Therefore, a boss is the more likely scenario.

Think about it, for most of Series 1, everyone with whom Sherlock speaks about Moriarty says that no one sees him. Why, then, does Moriarty allow himself to be seen by Sherlock, Watson, and however many snipers were in the pool.  One could reasonably say, then, that Jim Moriarty, the person that appears on screen, is not the real Moriarty. The real Moriarty (or whatever you want to call him/her) has not been seen on screen and could be the person who is responsible for the "Did You Miss Me?" message.

The Shoes

As always ***SPOILER ALERT*** 

I recently read an article which quotes Mark Gatiss stating that fans have missed "blindingly obvious" clues about where the show is headed. This of course got me thinking about what we all could have missed that was so obvious. Then, as I was cleaning my shoes just now, I was reminded of Carl Powers, and something struck me.

Carl Powers was the owner of the shoes Moriarty gave to Sherlock in "The Great Game." In 1989, Carl Powers drowned while in London for a swimming competition. Sherlock, after remembering the case from his boyhood, is able to determine that his death was not an accident, but rather murder.

How did Sherlock know the shoes were important back in 1989? He states that no one, except him, cared about the shoes. How did he know the shoes were missing? When telling Watson about Carl Powers, he tells him he read about it in the papers. However, he did not say that is the only place he got his information. If the no one cared about the shoes, the papers would not have bothered to report that bit of information. Sherlock, therefore, had to have gotten his information elsewhere. In order to figure out where young Sherlock got his information, let's explore where Sherlock was when Carl Powers was killed.

Carl Powers was killed in London, but that is not necessarily where Sherlock was when this event took place. Besides the London newspapers, what other newspapers would report on the child's death? The newspapers in Carl Powers' hometown would report on the story. In "The Great Game," it is revealed that Carl Powers lived in Sussex, Brighton to be specific. So, we can assume newspapers in Brighton would have reported on the death of Carl Powers.

Sherlock, therefore, grew up in the same area Carl Powers did. The only direct reference in the Sherlock Holmes Canon to where he grew up is in "The Greek Interpreter" where he states, "My ancestors were country squires." There really is no logical way to determine based on that statement where he spent his boyhood. However, this article published in 1999, more than a decade before the BBC show debuted sets forth a convincing argument that Sherlock Holmes is from Sussex. It is incredibly likely that two Sherlock Holmes nerds like Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss would have read The Homes and Watson Report where this article was originally published. 

Sherlock knew about the shoes because he knew Carl Powers and knew how much he loved those shoes. When those shoes were not brought back to Sussex after Carl's death, Sherlock became suspicious.

Moriarty confesses to the murder of Carl Powers to Sherlock, claiming Carl Powers made fun of him. Therefore, Moriarty knew Carl Powers.

Sherlock knew Carl Powers, and Moriarty knew Carl Powers. Is it possible that Sherlock and Moriarty have known each other for longer than we have all been lead to believe? In the RadioTimes article I linked to above, Gatiss also states that Season 4 deals with things they have been setting up for years. Is it the boyhood connection between Holmes and Moriarty?