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?

Ms. Moriarty

By now, I have come to the conclusion that Jim Moriarty is dead. As Steven Moffat has said more than once, you cannot fake shooting yourself in the face. So, the question remains: Who plastered Jim Moriarty face all over Britain's televisions?

At the end of "The Great Game", the museum curator says, "No one sees [Moriarty's] face." Sherlock has seen Jim Moriarty's face, and the entire world saw his face during the trial. Why put himself out there? He does not get his hands dirty. This is a break from his pattern. But what if he did not actually break his pattern?

 I have previously discussed the canonical brother of Professor James Moriarty, Colonel James Moriarty. I am not the only person who has proposed a Moriarty twin theory, but I would like to explore a potential twist on that theory. 

When Moriarty plays with Sherlock in the great game, the first writing on the envelope containing the pink phone was written by a woman.

Changing a character's gender is nothing new to Sherlock. In the very first episode, John Watson's brother is switched to a woman. 

So, what if Colonel James Moriarty is being portrayed as a Ms. Moriarty? 

Season 4 Hints From @Markgatiss

Sherlock writer Mark Gatiss, who also plays as Mycroft Holmes, has been tweeting here and there about the Christmas special that just wrapped filming. In addition to confirming the special will be 90 minutes long, Gatiss has also tweeted some pictures that hint at potential plot details.

This cryptic picture is accompanied by a quote from "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle."  The use of this story is not surprising considering it takes place on Christmas.

It is hard to tell what the picture is, but there appears to be a silhouette of man. Based on the promotional pictures we have seen of Sherlock and Watson, it is possible the silhouette could be Sherlock or John Watson. 

For those who are familiar with the Sherlock Holmes canon, this is an obvious reference to "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League." 

This picture is not as straight forward as the previous one. This may be a nod to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's place of burial, the Church Yard at Minstead in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. The "Millionaire Philanthropist" part is a bit more confusing. It could be a reference to the non-canonical pastiche novel Sherlock Holmes and the Man from Hell by Barrie Roberts, wherein a philanthropist is murdered. There is also a quote in A Sign of Four where Holmes tells Watson the most repellant man of his acquaintance is a philanthropist. One other possibilty might be a reference to "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches." In this story, Watson describes the mystery as being a question of whether their client's employers was "a philanthropist or a villain."

The barrel is blocking a word.  It is a short word, and the tiny bit of the first letter could potentiall be a D, leading one to believe the word is "dead." If the word is indeed "dead", then it is increasingly likely this is a reference to the novel by Roberts.

One other interesting thing about this picture is there are copies of The Strand Magazine in it.  This magazine was known for publishing fiction and puzzles and was the magazine that published Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short stories and a serialization of The Hound of the Baskerville. There are also red bands around the magazines with what appears to be advertisements for Sherlock Holmes on them. So, perhaps it is not a plot reference at all.

Add to your reading list: 

• "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" 
• "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League" 

The Blog is On: Who is W?

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

I just discovered that there is a deleted scene from the final episode of Season 3. An interesting detail from this scene is that after Sherlock was shot, a single rose was sent to his hospital. The note had a weird picture of an eye and the letter W on it.

That begs the question: Who is W? C.A.M. denies being the sender in the deleted scene. Dr. and/or Mrs. John Watson would have signed their full name(s). Who then is the mystery person?

The first possibility is that Gatiss/Moffat threw it in to hint at what is to come next season, It would not be out of character for them to throw in a sly foreshadow to future events.

The second possibility is that the flower is from Bill Wiggins. It appears the young homeless man is now on team Sherlock for a permanent basis, so this could be his way of saying "Get well, boss" or "Please, hire me."

The third possibility is that the W stands for The Woman. This is intriguing for those who would love to see that character return to the show. It is hard to believe she would allow Sherlock to be shot without some note of affection and concern, but would she risk the exposure? The other hard part to swallow about this theory is the idea of The Woman calling herself "The Woman." It seems unlikely she would use that nickname for herself. However, it is possible her new identity has W for an initial.

W could be anyone, and when you consider the possibility that the W might just be an upside down M, the possibilities increase.

Now the other image becomes a little more understandable. It is an eye on a weird shape. Is Mary, Magnussen, or Mycroft trying to say, "I've got my eye on you."? The eye does seem remarkably similar to the "All-Seeing eye." 

The shape looks a lot like a chess piece. A pawn, perhaps? Could this be a reference to the ever present chess game between Moriarty? This may be the best theory, especially considering the fact that this is from a deleted scene. Gatiss/Moffat may have deleted it to make the reveal about Moriarty more shocking.

With this show, wondering is always more entertaining than actually finding out.