Thoughts on “The Abominable Bride”

I’m a little hesitant to post my latest thoughts on “Sherlock”—partly because they’re not fully formed yet, partly because I don’t want to ruin anyone’s life with spoilers, and partly because most of my 10 regular blog readers don’t care.

But I can’t help it. “Sherlock” is meant to be rewatched and studied for clues, and that’s what I did this afternoon.

A few things jumped out at me on this viewing:

• Everything that happens in the Mind Palace is symbolic (and true to the best of Sherlock’s deductive abilities).
• “Moriarity” is definitely an organization made up of women; no doubts at all now. Sure looks like Molly and Janine are part of it (of course they featured in the scene in the church, but also Molly disguises herself as a man right under Sherlock’s nose, and Moriarty tells Sherlock that his “bed is surprisingly comfortable,” which Janine would know). I was disappointed not to find Kitty Riley in that scene, so maybe she was just a pawn after all. Also not sure about Mary now, but she’s super deep into something.
• To push that a little further, the abominable bride is symbolic of Moriarty—in other words, it seems like she’s one freaky person (who should be dead), but really she’s a bunch of “villains” who have a cause and some sort of justification for what they’re doing. She’s a match for Sherlock but may also have been wronged by him in some way. In fact, I wonder if all the emphasis on the word “YOU” (written on a wall in blood, for crying out loud) is implying that the whole Moriarty organization was put in place in direct response to the person of Sherlock himself—perhaps to keep him busy and off the drugs? Something Mycroft started that got out of his control?
• Speaking of which, Mycroft is sooo doomed. It seemed to me the fat was a metaphor for power, and he was getting noticeably fatter by the day—and Watson calls out that they are literally “gambling with his life.” Plus all the especially human and touching concern about Sherlock felt like foreshadowing.
• There were a couple of references to “The Seven Per Cent Solution,” which seems really relevant, and I’m going to need to read it ASAP.

I guess we get another entire year to think about this stuff before the next episode arrives…