#revelation sequence

The sequence starts when Sherlock remembers Ajay’s reply - at Sandeford’s pool - to his question about the man’s presumed connection to Jim Moriarty. 

While the sequence is unfolding, Sherlock stands on Vauxhall Bridge, his face is turned to the river. He looks into the distance ... into himself ... and concentrats on the memories that turn up in his mind. When the camera focuses on the back of his head, a Thatcher bust appears first on the left and then on the right side of the screen in a rather ‘explosive’ way. The next moment they get smashed and ‘explode’ into a myriad of shards and plaster dust. 

Sherlock’s profile materializes on the right side of his head and replaces the bust there.

In the episode, the left image of the Thatcher bust is used as transition from the scene where Toby the bloodhound loses track of the blood drop, found on Dr Barnicot’s bust, amidst a pool of blood on a street market. It leads to the scene that shows the destruction of Miss Orrie’s two busts, which are completely identical ... bust four and five of the case.

SHERLOCK: Clever. MARY: Well, if you were wounded and you knew you were leaving a trail, where would you go? JOHN: Like hiding a tree in a forest. SHERLOCK: Or blood in a butchers’. SHERLOCK: Never mind, Toby. Better luck next time, hm? SHERLOCK: This is it, though. This is the one. I can feel it. JOHN: Not Moriarty? SHERLOCK: It has to be him. It’s too bizarre; it’s too baroque. It’s designed to beguile me, tease me, lure me in. At last – a noose for me to put my neck into.

The right image shows the first of Miss Orrie’s twin busts that gets smashed with a hammer.  (The smashing of the twin busts)

Both of Miss Orrie’s busts are completely identical. The only thing that differs is the way they get destroyed. 

Bust A is hit by a hammer multiple times

Bust B is grabbed by a gloved hand and forcefully flung on the table amidst the shards of bust A

The way the transition is created - from the street market with the Watson couple to Miss Orrie’s twin busts implies that both images used for the revelation sequence are of bust A. If this is the case, then Sherlock is placed between one and the same bust (A), during that scene. It’s the broken bust nr 4 of owner nr 4. The twin-bust (B) is still untouched at that moment.

Then another bust makes its appearance. Sherlock sees the broken pieces of Dr Barnicot’s bust scattered on the floor. It’s the second bust of the case, the one on which Sherlock discovered the drop of blood after DI Lestrade brought it to Baker Street in a plasic bag.

Suddenly the scene that plays out inside Sherlock’s mind starts running backwards and the  pieces of the doctor’s broken bust reassamble themselves again. 

The background for this part changes from Vauxhall Bridge and the Thames to the livingroom in the Welsborough house. It’s taken from the very moment when Sherlock notices the ‘gap’ on the small round table where the first Thatcher bust had been placed and is now missing. 

Then the sequence runs backwards again and returns once more to the smashing of Miss Orrie’s first bust (A), while the second bust (B) can be seen, still intact, behind the bust-smasher’s gloved hand. The background is now a blend of the Welsborouh living room and Miss Orrie’s place.

From the moment when Dr Barnicot’s bust starts to reasamble itself again, to the destruction of Miss Orrie’s first bust, Sherlock remembers Mycroft’s words, spoken during the Cabinet Office meeting at the beginning of the episode:

Then, for the fraction of a second, the screen goes almost completely black before a new image appears in the left upper corner of the screen, while Sherlock’s profile on the right side slowly starts fading. The new image turns out to be Mary holdig little Rosie on her arm. The clip seems to be taken from John’s phone during the conversation between Mary, John and Sherlock before they enter the Welsborough living room.

Comparing the scenes from episode and revelation sequence shows that the images of Mary and Rosie are not completely identical. The position of their heads as well as Mary’s facial expression doesn’t really match. An absolut identical screenshot for those images doesn’t exist in the episode. This little difference between Sherlock’s view and that of the audience gives the impression that Sherlock processes his very own memory of the event in the revelation sequence. (Something similar happens during the baby shower scene when Mrs Hudson takes pics of the new Watson family. Sadly I couldn’t find that post anymore, nor do I remember the author. If anyone has a link, it would be highly appreciated.)

The image of Mary and Rosie is from John’s phone. Sherlock has just returned the phone, which he had taken to question Mary about her unexpected knowledge of the new case. The three men are already inside the Welsborough house and on their way to the living room. The image on the phone corresponds with Mary’s questions, directed at John: “What, an empty car that suddenly has a week-old corpse in it? And what are you gonna call this one?” 

The dialogue assigned to the Mary/Rosie clip for the revelation sequence is taken from a scene prior - before Sherlock and John follow DI Lestrade into the Welsborough house. Sherlock has just taken John’s phone to question Mary about her unexpected knowledge of the new case.

The background for the revelation sequence has changed once more. Miss Orrie’s place as well as the Welsborough house are gone. The surrounding landscape at Vauxhall Bridge starts coming back and while the image of Sherlock’s profile slowly fades, the view of the back of his head grows more and more visible again.

This last part of the revelation sequence is dominated by images of Jack Sandeford’s shattered bust - the sixth and last bust of owner nr 5, destroyed by Sherlock himself, near the swimming pool. Mary and Rosie as well as Sherlock’s fading profile appear to be covered - seperately - by the remnants of that bust. Meaning - the same ‘explosion’ is displayed twice at the same time  - one to the left (on a smaller scale) and one to the right side of Sherlock’s head (on a bigger scale). 

Then new images come into focus left and right of Sherlock’s head. It looks like Mary and Rosie are overshadowed by another falling Thatcher bust. That’s a bit of an illusion though. The bust appears to be still the one of Jack Sandeford and the image seems to be taken from a screenshot prior to it’s destruction, when Sherlock rises the bust high up in the air before he smashes it on the floor. 

The image of Mary and Rosie vanishes then in something that looks like a fiery explosion of plaster bust pieces and is replaced by a single dark eye. Simultaneously with the ‘explosion’, Ajay’s AGRA memory stick, lying among the shards of the broken bust, appears on the right side of Sherlock’s head.

The single dark eye seems to be that of Ajay and is taken from the very first moment the man appears on screen. This happens after Sherlock’s first visit at his brother’s bunker office. The following transition deals with two busts - the second and the third - at the same time. First the destruction of Mohandes Hassan’s bust is shown, followed by Dr Barnicot’s bust. The two scenes are seperated by images of the single eye - opening and closing - and the small, dark flat of the bust-smasher, whose identity is still unknown at that moment. 

The dialogue assigned to Ajay’s eye for the revelation sequence is taken from the confrontation scene in Morocco, just before Ajay gets shot by an unexpectedly (conveniently?) appearing single policeman. His sudden death prevents the clarifying talk between the two former AGRA agents (mirrors for Jim and Sherlock in my metaphorical reading), which could lead to new insights and mutual understanding between them. 

AJAY: Ammo. Every day as they tore into me. Ammo. Ammo. Ammo. Ammo.  We were betrayed! SHERLOCK: And they said it was her? AJAY (to Mary): You betrayed us! SHERLOCK: They said her name? AJAY: Yeah, they said it was the English woman.

Then, while on the one side of Sherlock’s head the image of Ajay’s dark eye slowly fades out, Mycroft appears on the other side and starts to replace the AGRA memory stick before he too vanishes in an ‘explosion’ of plaster bust pieces. 

Again it’s Jack Sandeford’s bust but the degree of destruction shows that the image for this transition has been taken some shots earlier than the ones used before. The bust pieces are clearly bigger here. 

It was relatively easy to find fitting matches for all the broken busts, the different places for the background, Ajay’s eye and the AGRA memory stick, that got included in Sherlock’s final revelation sequence. Only the image of Mary and Rosie, taken from John’s phone, proved to be a bit of a challenge because there is no 100% identical match in the episode. 

Mycroft though turned out to be a really tough nut to crack. Stricktly speaking, I wasn’t able to crack it completely. I couldn’t find matching images of him, although I searched the whole episode three times. Then I started to comb through all the other episodes. Nothing. ‘Not knowing’ and ‘loose ends’ ... I can so understand Sherlock and Mycroft that they dislike this. :)

‘Don’t minute any of this’ ... these are the words Sherlock hears the moment when his big brother appears next to the right side of his head. Though partly overlaid by pieces and dust of the broken Sandeford bust, the expression on Mycroft’s face is quite distinctive. It should be easy to find matching pics. In the scene from which those words are taken though, big brother is filmed from behind. 

The only image that comes closest to the one from the revelation sequence - although filmed in a slightly different angle - appears some seconds later. It shows the very moment when Mycroft utters the code names for the people present:  “Antarctica, Langdale, Porlock and Love.” The same four names that Sherlock associats with the smashing of the busts.

Basically, it’s the same as with the Mary/Rosy clip ... there simply is no image in the episode that matches with Mycroft face in the revelation sequence - not even roughly.

That sequence ends the way it began, with Sherlock’s eyes looking into the distance, looking ‘inside’ himself .... before he ‘returns’ to himself again and has the solution to the case. Mary’s wispered words that ‘they’ (secretaries) know everything, accompaniy Sherlock’s return. He starts running across Vauxhall Bridge. On his way he summons John, Mary, Mycroft and DI Lestrade to meet with them at the London Aquarium for the unveiling of the culprit.

Busts (masks) and characters involved:

Only five of the six Thatcher busts make an appearance in the revelation sequence, when Sherlock solves the case (Batches of Six).

4&5 - the first two busts shown, the twin-busts, belong to Miss Orrie Harker

3 - the next one, which reassembles itself in a backwards running scene, belongs to Dr Barnicot

4&5 - then Miss Orrie’s twin-busts reappear a second time

6 - they are followed by at least three different clips of Jack Sandeford’s bust, or rather its many shards and plaster dust

1 - the background used for most of the bust smashing - Welsborough’s livingroom - refers to the first bust of the case of which no smashing images exist

One bust is missing entirely though and that's number 2. It belongs to Mr Mohandes Hassan, the character whose names refer to the East as well as the West, to a winged god of sexual desire, equipped with 5 arrows, to rainbow colours, Ireland and the Irish word for ‘fawn’ (little deer, stag). Exactly this bust - and just this one alone - makes its appearance in the intro to all three episodes of Series 4 ..... side by side with the Houses of Parliament and the famous Clock Tower of Westminster Palace, also called Elizabeth Tower. 

Only three people are visually involved in the process of putting together the relevant puzzle pieces to solve the case, that takes place in Sherlock’s mind palace ..... Ajay, Mycroft and Mary. Each character has been given two seperated lines of dialogue in alternating order:

AJAY:  You think you understand. You understand nothing.

MYCROFT:  Code names Antarctica, Langdale, Porlock and Love.

MARY:  You’d be amazed what a receptionist picks up. They know everything.

AJAY:  They said it was the English woman.

MYCROFT:  Don’t minute any of this.

MARY:  They know everything.

That’s all the information Sherlock needs, to work out not only who the ‘culprit’ is, he also knows exactly the time and place where to find that person. Interestingly, that ‘culprit’ never appears visually in Sherlock’s revelation. Not once. 

Vivian Norbury turns out to be the ‘English woman’. Ajay tells, that’s how his torturers called the person responsible for the failed hostage rescue in Tiblisi, for his inprisonment and for the death of his fellow agents, his ‘family’. Ajay wrongly assumed that person to be Rosamund (Mary) ... now Mary (Elizabeth). Mary on the other hand tells about a phone call, the voice of a anonymous person called ‘Am(m)o’, who gave the order at the time. 

In my post about Vivian Norbury, I pointed out that this character shares a lot of similarities with Mycroft Holmes who is associated repeatedly with the Queen. 

The Queen .... wouldn’t she be the most well known ‘English woman’ worldwide? And hadn’t it been Mycroft who gave Jim Moriarty the perfect ‘ammunition’ to destroy Sherlock? Jim Moriarty sent the Holmes boys his ‘love’ via Irene Adler, the ‘Woman’ who considers herself to be ‘explosive’ and gay. Sherlock is convinced that the chemistry of love is simple and destructive ... explosive even. Well, ammo=ammonition and amo=I love. Both words make sense in this story about a war between intellect and emotions. After all, when you walk the streets of London with Sherlock Holmes, you see the battlefield ... warns Mycroft at the very beginning of the story. It’s John Watson whom he warns, his brother’s new flatmate ..... between whose first and last name Mr Sex (Hamish=James=Jim) is hiding in plain sight. :)

Thanks for reading. I leave you to your own deductions. :)  Scripts by @callie-ariane​