#shmeta

I adore that Good Omens has so many people from Sherlock working on it!

David Arnold - One of the musical composers for Sherlock and Good Omens.

Douglas Mackinnon - director of  The Abominable Bride, and the entirety of Good Omens.

Mark Gatiss - actor/writer/creator of Sherlock, actor for Good Omens

Jonathan Aris - as Anderson in Sherlock, Quartermaster Angel in Good Omens.

Sian  Brooke - Eurus in Sherlock, Deirdre Young (Adam’s mom) in Good Omens

Benedict Cumberbatch - as Sherlock in Sherlock. Satan in Good Omens.

It’s almost like they’re trying to say something, but I won’t look too hard into it. Probably coincidence or a case of convenience.

…Maybe.

What reason was there for this tidbit? Did I miss something?

Mark Gatiss casually asked to pepper in some Sherlock Escape Room advertisement? 

Alright. Sherlock wanted to be a pirate and lived that dream a bit in the books at some point, but alright. 

“My name is Sherlock Holmes”

“The Detective?”

“No, the Pirate.”

Several other people been noticing this one, too!

Rose? Are you serious? Secret agent Rosamund, last name M?

Mark? On top of all these coincidental parallels.

still no explanation for the events of tst, what happened with mary’s death etc

skull still glowy in several scenes

very explicit drink code stuff (don’t you want coffee, no I want tea, tea spill etc)

fucking irene what? i can’t handle that he apparently texts her back?

sherlock was absolutely suicidal

he was talking about himself in his deduction of “faith” - 

mrs hudson (real mvp tho) and her deduction of ‘sherlock is emotional af you idiot’

‘man we both love’

Not sure if anyone else has said it before, (someone probably has) but:

With the play between war and love.. as well as the cupid statue in A Study in Pink, as others have made detailed posts about.

Isn't Eurus's name just a subversion, or inversion, of Eros? The cupid/god of love (Eros), versus Eurus, the feared east wind Sherlock has been trying to escape.

John was almost burned alive in an episode called ‘The Empty Hearse’

John matched the descriptions of the empty ‘I love you’ hearse in ‘The Final Problem’, which Sherlock emotionally destroyed, after falsely telling Molly he loved her.

Honestly, all I can think about when I see this is The Reichenbach Fall. 

Snipers having their eyes on John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade. The reticle of the sniper rifle, the human eye.

And while it makes me think of the Reichenbach Fall, it leads to me to suspect the transmission to be from around that time as well.

“The Game Is Now” also reminds me of the fact that there have been (and still are) things happening in the show that we can’t see, because either Sherlock’s been in extended mind palace since HLV or at some point John changed the narrative.

And if we’re to follow the nature of the Sherlock hashtags they’ve given us in the past, perhaps we can understand what this one’s about:

#SherlockLive (The live game they played on Twitter, in which Sherlock took over a BBC account and gave the public a mystery to solve.)

#Sherlocklives = #JohnWatsonlives (taken from John’s blog)

#TheGameIsNow

The first few relate to the word “live”, one as a play on words. #TheGameIsNow doesn’t seem to fit the pattern. Maybe it doesn’t at all, but if it does, it would imply that we might finally be shown what’s going on under the surface, and Sherlock’s real health state. If Sherlock is in his mind palace for season four, and the last half of season three (starting at His Last Vow), then just as the characters (Charles Magnussen [especially in deleted hospital scene on youtube], Janine)  have told us, he’s been unable to solve cases for awhile. He’s been in the hospital for most, if not all of this time. 

#Sherlocklive, #Sherlocklives = #JohnWatsonlives can apply to this, because right now, if EMP (extended mind palace theory) is right, John and Sherlock are still in danger of Mary, Sherlock being physically unwell. And while season four seems to forgive Mary, I believe the narrative is very much played around with, as a way to imply to John (or someone) that Mary didn’t have ill intentions.

Sherlock lives, survives the fall(s) (Reichenbach, being shot by Mary,) John Watson lives (revived from grief, saved from Mary.) #TheGameIsNow

They told us to look elsewhere other than John’s blog now that it’s done, and we have. Now they’ve given us this. It seems likely that this is truly a legitimate game that they’re making, since the company they’ve made five-six months ago (The Game Is Now Ltd) is a gaming company..

But I have a hard time believing it’s that simple when they’ve given us the hashtags, and are expecting us to play the game. Unless perhaps, it’s going to be a long ongoing game. An AR game like people have said, where they’ll find clues.

This is a portion taken out of an old post I made, wanted to get rid of any other clutter in the original post and refresh it!

This is an observation of the different Shakespeare sonnet references that appear in Sherlock, along with some painting and quote analyzation. “The wheel turns, nothing is new under the sun”

“Being your slave, what should I do but tend Upon the hours and times of your desire? I have no precious time at all to spend, Nor services to do, till you require. Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you, Nor think the bitterness of absence sour When you have bid your servant once adieu; Nor dare I question with my jealous thought Where you may be, or your affairs suppose, But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought Save, where you are how happy you make those.    So true a fool is love that in your will,    Though you do any thing, he thinks no ill.” 

Modernized verison: 

“Since I’m your slave, what else should I do but wait on the hours, and for the times when you’ll want me? I don’t have any valuable time to spend, or any services to do, until you need me. Nor do I dare complain about how agonizingly long the hours are while I watch the clock for you, my king, or how bitter your absence is after you’ve said goodbye to your servant. Nor do I dare ask jealous questions about where you might be, or speculate about your affairs, but like a sad slave I sit still and think about nothing except how happy you’re making whomever you’re with. Love makes a person such a faithful fool that no matter what you do to satisfy your desires, he doesn’t think you’ve done anything wrong.”

Sonnet 58:

“That god forbid, that made me first your slave, I should in thought control your times of pleasure, Or at your hand th’ account of hours to crave, Being your vassal bound to stay your leisure.

O let me suffer, being at your beck, Th’ imprisoned absence of your liberty; And patience tame to sufferance bide each check, Without accusing you of injury.

 Be where you list, your charter is so strong That you yourself may privilege your time To what you will; to you it doth belong Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime.

 I am to wait, though waiting so be hell, Not blame your pleasure, be it ill or well.”

“Sonnet 57 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man. Sonnet 57 is connected with Sonnet 58 which pursues the theme of the poet as a slave of the beloved.” - Wikipedia

Modernized version: 

”Whatever god decided to make me your slave, may he never allow me to so much as think about having any control over when you see me, or asking you to account for how you’ve been passing the hours. I’m your slave, after all, and forced to wait until you have time for me. Oh, while I wait for your summons, let me suffer patiently the prison of this lengthy absence from you as you do whatever you want. And let me control my impatience and quietly endure each disappointment without accusing you of hurting me. Go wherever you want—you’re so privileged that you may decide to do whatever you like. You have the right to pardon yourself for any crime you commit. And I have to wait, even if it feels like hell, and not blame you for following your desire, whether it’s for good or bad.“

Sonnet 59:

Mary has called John 59 times in The Six Thatchers because she’s going into labor.

John says this number, ‘59.‘

If there be nothing new, but that which is Hath been before, how are our brains beguil’d, Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss The second burthen of a former child! O, that record could with a backward look, Even of five hundred courses of the sun, Show me your image in some antique book, Since mind at first in character was done! That I might see what the old world could say To this composed wonder of your frame; Whether we are mended, or whe'r better they, Or whether revolution be the same. O! sure I am, the wits of former days To subjects worse have given admiring praise.

Modernized version: “If it’s true that there’s nothing new and everything that now exists existed in the past, 

then we are really fooling ourselves when we struggle to write something new, winding up, after much exhausting, painful labor, with a tired imitation of an imitation! 

If only I could look back into the records, even as far as five hundred years ago, and find a description of you in some old book, 

written when people were just beginning to put their thoughts in writing, so I could see what the old world would say about your amazingly beautiful body. 

Then I could see whether we’ve gotten better at writing or worse, or whether things have stayed the same as the world revolves. 

Oh, I’m sure the witty writers of the past have devoted praise and admiration to worse subjects than you.“

Sherlock in The Six Thatchers, explains to Mary that he knows 58 possible ways of diminishing variables and calculating the steps she would take. (despite the fact that he did not truly use this tactic to find her location after she fled to lure Ajay away. Used a tracking device.) This mention of 58 comes after the mention of 59, which is  mentioned in The Six Thatchers episode. Mary calls 59 times when going into labor, John doesn’t notice until later.

Sonnet 59 is also connected to a picture seen in The Abominable Bride. The skull painting, of the modern Sherlock world, is blue.

In Sherlock’s mind palace, the painting is more warm in color. It also becomes a Victorian painting called All is Vanity. (The fabulous @cyntrix-gm helped me find this painting’s name)

Both the painting, and sonnet 59 refer to verses in the bible from the same book of Ecclesiastes. 

The painting also resembles this official Sherlock Holmes illustration:

(The chemical bottles/science being Sherlock’s version of vanity. Retreating into his mind, rather than the mirror. This parallels with the [presumed] perfume bottles and mirror, which in turn creates a skull of death. Sherlock’s skull is a continuously looming symbol.)

(Sonnet 59) If there be nothing new: Ecclesiastes 1.9: “The thing that hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.”

In Scandal in Belgravia, Sherlock says, “The wheel turns, nothing is ever new.“ and Mycroft in The Sign of Three in Sherlock’s mind palace reminds, “What do we say about coincidence?” Sherlock responds “The universe is rarely so lazy.”

All is Vanity: Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.“

John’s Chinese fortune cookie, as stated on his blog  says “There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.” (credited post for noticing fortune cookie, by @teaandforeshadowing)

“How are you going to wake up?” 

“I should think like this,” a jump and fall.

The concept that a violent awakening will wake Sherlock up is put in place. But it doesn’t work. 

He falls into the Abominable Bride water, he dives deeper into his subconscious, he’s attacked by a skeleton. He’s shot at but never hit, yet slammed against desks in a fight with Ajay with seemingly no repercussion to his health. John Watson slaps him, he slaps him, “Wake up! Do you think this is a game?!” He punches Sherlock, kicks, Sherlock’s visibly damaged for the first time since His Last Vow. He’s bleeding. But yet the blood beneath him disappears in the next shot.

His person has suffered the repercussions of being hit by John Watson, perhaps the emotional repercussion. John is the only factor in his dream world that could wake him, but it’s not violence that will wake him.

“Every superhero needs a good old fashioned villain,” “All the King’s men and all the king’s horses couldn’t make me do a thing I didn’t want to do,” an Apple, “I O U” (A common thread in the stories of Cinderella, Ariel, etc., Snow White is that they make a promise, there is figuratively an apple they’ve accepted from the villain in their naivety. This apple curses them. Sherlock has accepted an apple), Moriarty is the villain who wishes to burn John Watson out of Sherlock, “ I will burn the heart out of you.”

Knowing how old-fashioned Moriarty is, it’s safe to assume this means Sherlock is a story princess of some sort. He naively and excitedly chases after Moriarty’s antics, until he’s suddenly faced with a bomb-strapped John. 

If this is the pattern we’re going to have, Moriarty being almost completely a classic villain in this way, and if we have a Sherlock Sleeping Beauty or Snow White with an apple, then it means that traditionally, only affection could wake him. Violence will not wake him.

Sherlock and John hug, at a point in series 4 where those who analyzed the format of the story, and the traditional way a writer would go about progressing a relationship, pinpointed there would be a kiss. 

“I am lost. Help me, brother. (proper contextual lyric for Sherlock/John’s mirror, Eurus) Save my life before my doom. I am lost without your love. Save my soul. Seek my room.”

Sherlock’s made amends with Eurus, and while John and Sherlock are both raising Rosie together at the end of this series, there still hasn’t been a kiss.