Category Archives: Moriarty
Sherlock Pop! Vinyl Figures For PreOrder
COOL ITEM ALERT, they listened! Forbidden Planet has these cuties up for preorder on their site! And with 10% off today. Yes, your shelf needs them.
Sherlock Season 4 Premier Date, News, and Rumors: Did Benedict Cumberbatch Just Hinted of Moriarty’s Return to ‘Sherlock Season 4’?
‘Sherlock Season 4’ won’t happen until 2017 since Steven Moffat confirmed that they won’t start filming until mid-2016; however we’ll be seeing the Holiday Special set in Victorian England 1895–to be exact. The question that fans have now is; “Is Moriarty actually coming back this coming ‘Sherlock Season 4’?
Here’s the latest on Sherlock Season 4 premier date, news, and updates.
It seems like we’re going to have to wait longer before we can see the 3-episodes of Sherlock Season 4. Since the Christmas Special is already done we were expecting for the show to premier by December this year or at least early next year.
But since Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch are so busy, the premier date for ‘Sherlock Season 4’ might be moved further.
An interview with Steven Moffat with Digital Spy UK, gave us a look at what will happen in the next season of Sherlock. And sadly he also mentioned that the filming for the next season won’t happen this year.
So, it’s highly likely we’ll be seeing ‘Sherlock Season 4’ by 2017-oh the torture.
Steven Moffat added, “[Series four] is going to be… I suppose you’d say… consequences. It’s consequences. Chickens come to roost,” Moffat told Entertainment Weekly (via DS). “It’s dark in some ways – obviously it’s great fun and a Sherlock Holmes romp and all that – but there’s a sense of things coming back to bite you. It’s going to be more of an emotional upheaval. Hopefully enjoyable and fun, all the things Sherlock must always be. It will be tough at times.”
Recently writers and creator of the show has been very generous as to give us some glimpse of ‘Sherlock Season 4’. They said that the upcoming ‘Sherlock Season 4’ is going to be better and darker than the previous seasons of BBC’s Sherlock.
It’s been more than a year since we last saw Sherlock and we were left with a cliffhanger, we saw Sherlock being taken off by an airplane as punishment for ‘murder’ and then he was called back when ‘Moriarty’s’ face flashed all over England. So now the question is; ‘is Moriarty’ still alive? There are tons of speculations about this end, but Steven Moffat said that Moriarty is truly dead.
Benedict Cumberbatch was asked about Moriarty–whether he is coming back or not– back in his interview with RadioTimes, he answered, “Yes. I think so. I casually choose to forget in order to rediscover it again a little bit.”
Steven Moffat also said that the upcoming season is going to be darker and will be more intense. However, Steven Moffat didn’t mention any details. In theory there’s a possibility that Moriarty is actually still alive, there’s a possibility that the one who killed himself is just a twin of Moriarty or his puppet.
However these are some outlandish speculations, but we know the show to have some outlandish turns, like Mary being an assassin or the fake death of Sherlock. Whatever it is we are in for a surprise for the upcoming season according to Steven Moffat.
There are rumors saying that Mary Watson will die in the upcoming season, if the series will stick to the original version of the book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this is a possibility, however Mark Gatiss (Mycroft Holmes and writer for BBC’s Sherlock) say this is not the case.
Sherlock Season 4 will premier later this year with their Season 4 Holiday Special Episode.
‘Sherlock’ Christmas Special To Get Theatrical Release – Comic Con Trailer
The Victorian version of Sherlock is coming to the big screen, executive producer Steven Moffat announced to Comic-Con today. When it comes out in “the next year, we hope,” the EP said, the Christmas special of the series co-produced by BBC and PBS and starring Benedict Cumberbatch will be released in “select theaters” around the world. A sneak peek shown before the panel started showed the Great Detective in his original 19th century garb and setting. The brief glimpse seemed to strongly and amusingly suggest that Sherlock and housekeeper Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs) are not fans of Dr. John Watson’s (Martin Freeman) writings of Holmes’ adventures, with both critiquing his flourishes and tone.
When it comes to other writing, Moffat told the crowd that he actually hasn’t started writing Season 4 of the show yet.
Fellow EP Sue Vertue and actor Rupert Graves joined Moffat onstage in a full Ballroom 20. As in past years when Cumberbatch wasn’t in attendance, the actor appeared in a video to say hello to fans. The video kicked off as a message from Andy Scott, who plays Holmes’ archrival Moriarty on the show. Scott is working on the upcoming James Bond pic Spectre. Then Cumberbatch appeared along with EP Mark Gatiss, who also plays Holmes’ brother in the series. The two of them are appearing in Hamlet in the UK. Scott ended the video with a paraphrase of Moriatry’s trademark line, “Hello, Comic-Con. Miss me?”
WIN the chance for you and a friend to have afternoon tea with Benedict Cumberbatch and Andrew Scott!
To enter make a donation of £20 between 2 – 16 September 2014
Terms and conditions apply (Entrants have to be Great Britain residents (excluding N.I., Channel Islands and Isle of Man) and over the age of 16)
ENTER HERE
By entering this raffle you are helping the National Theatre (registered charity no. 224223) support young directors, writers, actors and designers that make the exciting theatre we enjoy today. This raffle is being arranged by the Young Patrons of the National Theatre, whose support enables us to continue to produce eclectic and engaging theatre.
Learn more about Young Patrons
Benedict Cumberbatch has performed at the National Theatre in Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein (2011) and After the Dance (2010).
Andrew Scott‘s performances at the National Theatre include Simon Stephens’ Sea Wall (2013), Emperor and Galilean (2011) and Aristocrats(2005).
They appear together in BBC Television’s award-winning series Sherlock.
The Royal National Theatre has registered this raffle as a small society lottery with the London Borough of Lambeth under the Gambling Act 2005
Sherlock star Andrew Scott loves ‘fruity’ fan fiction with co-star Benedict Cumberbatch
Andrew Scott, the villain everybody loves to hate, has expressed his gratitude for the imaginative Sherlock fan fiction.
Lots of Sherlock fanatics create their own saucy stories featuring the show’s characters.
And in an interview with Attitude magazine, the Dublin-born actor says he finds it amusing.
He said: “Oh my God. It’s the drawings and the photos! It’s mostly women doing it…
“You’re put with quite an array of different people… [laughs] I think it’s done by librarians.”
The 37-year-old also spoke about the complicated relationship between Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and his handsomely evil alter-ego.
He said: “The relationship between Sherlock and Moriarty is very interesting.
“Well they are absolutely obsessed with each other. There has to be a line… In the words of Erasure, I love to hate you.”
With filming for the next series of Sherlock put on hold until 2015 due to the Hollywood demand of Benedict and Martin Freeman there has been plenty of fan speculation about what to expect when the show finally airs.
From a gay romance between Sherlock and Watson, Mary Watson’s inevitable death to whether Moriarty is truly alive.
Full interview can be read in the latest issue of Attitude magazine available to download at www.pocketmags/attitude. In shops from Wednesday 20th August.
Sherlock series four: which stories would you like to see adapted?
Which Conan Doyle tales should Steven Moffat tap for inspiration next – and who should guest star?
It’s official: Sherlock, will be back for a fourth series, as well as a one-off special. Unsurprisingly, Sherlockians (and BBC1) have been expressing their considerable excitement on Twitter already, not least because it looks as if somehow, in some fashion or other, Moriarty will be back.
Filming doesn’t begin until 2015, which means it’s unlikely to return to the air for at least a year, but that gives us plenty of time to consider which original stories the writers could turn to for inspiration this time. They’ve already done the big ones – series two alone picked off A Scandal in Bohemia, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Final Problem – but there are plenty left to plunder.
The Boscombe Valley Mystery, in which a son appears to have murdered his father, is “one of those simple cases which are extremely difficult”, and we could see Rupert Grint or Eddie Redmayne as the hapless son, James McCarthy. The Adventure of the Speckled Band has a creepy stepfather and spooky twins Miss Stoner and Julia (Romola Garai or Clemence Poesy would be fantastic here), and could lend itself to a flashback episode nicely. Or how about The Man with the Twisted Lip, set in London’s slums, concerning the mysterious murder and absent body of Neville St Clair – Peaky Blinders’ Cillian Murphy has just the right about of pinched menace to suit that role.
But what should Sherlock do next? And who would you like to see as a guest star in the forthcoming new episodes?
New Sherlock Screencaps
**Okay, I made a TON of new screencaps for the Season three episode “The Empty Hearse”. I hope you like them. I am planning to redo my Gallery section to have more room for all my Sherlock stuff. Enjoy.. To see more caps, visit our GALLERY page…
‘Sherlock’ Season 4 Update: Andrew Scott Knows Moriarty’s Truth
In the final moments of “Sherlock” Season 3 finale, Moriarty popped up on T.V. screens all across the country, asking “did you miss me.” Moriarty’s return on the T.V. screens was a well-planned twist, and not at all a last minute addition. Andrew Scott, who plays Moriarty, has said that he knows the truth about Moriarty’s twist. However, he did not spill the much speculated spoiler.
In an interview with DigitalSpy, Scott said, “”I do know the answer to that question, yes, and I’m not going to tell you!” Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, co-creators of “Sherlock,” have confirmed that Moriarty will feature in Season 4 of “Sherlock.” They have a proper explanation for his appearance in the final moments of Season 3.
The writing duo has already mapped out the Season 4 and Season 5 of “Sherlock.” In the new season, new characters are expected to be introduced. Gatiss had said, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, that moving forward they intend to keep “Sherlock” new and introduce new characters. Also, the upcoming seasons will show Sherlock’s “gradual humanization.” The Season 3 also showed Sherlock’s more human side, because of his best-friend Watson. Watson’s wife, Mary Watson, is very much part of Season 4.
Will another brother of Sherlock arrive in Season 4? In Season 3 finale, “His Last Vow,” Mycroft had alluded to there being another brother. Without revealing anything about this brother, Moffat had said in an interview, “”Wait and see!” when asked about the role of this unknown brother in the future season of “Sherlock.”
Like Season 3, “Sherlock” Season 4 is expected to take almost two years to premiere. Gattis has almost confirmed that Season 4 is likely to air in 2016.
Responding to the news that “Sherlock” Season 4 may premiere in 2016, Gatiss had said to Metro, “There was suddenly a kind of outraged response that it might not be back until 2016 but that’s precisely how long it always is. It’s always two years! But we’d like to return soon, of course.”
‘Sherlock’ Series 4: Six stories we’d like to see
February 4, 2014
Sherlock series 3 may have wrapped up, but there’s plenty to speculate about! As part of ourSherlock week, Hypable picks six Holmes stories we’d like to see in series 4.
Though gripping in it’s own right, the hit BBC series is constantly being applauded by Arthur Conan Doyle fans for frequent references, nods, and adaptations of the original detective novels. Though it’s anyone’s guess exactly how Moriarty survived the roof of St. Barts, and what exactly he has up his sleeve for his adversary, we’ve taken the liberty of turning to the source material and selecting six stories we might see when the show finally returns. We’ll almost undoubtedly be wrong on all accounts (Damn you, Mofftiss!) but we hope our desperate speculation will at least help to soften the painful wait until Benedict Cumberbatch’s sleuth returns to our screens. So, here goes!
Not many Sherlock fans know this, but Professor James Moriarty only actually features in two of the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories. His first – and canonically last – story “The Final Problem” has already been adapted for series 2′s “The Reichenbach Fall”. This leaves “The Valley of Fear” as not only the last Moriarty story the BBC series can draw on, but also the last full-length novel not to be turned into an episode (“A Study in Scarlet” became “A Study in Pink”, and “The Sign of Four” became “The Sign of Three”). With Moriarty back, this adventure seems like a great place to start. The story would start with a montage of Sherlock desperately trying, but failing, to track down Moriarty after his mysterious television takeover. Then, as with the book, he would receive a coded warning from Porlock – an informant against the criminal mastermind. This leads the great detective to a mysterious murder involving a Deathly Hallows like tattoo, a sawn-off shotgun and some missing dumb-bells. The answer to this puzzle involves a twenty year back-story going all the way to Chiacgo. This setting would be dynamic and a great change of scenery, particularly if the show is trying to appeal to a wider American fanbase. Or, of course, if the notoriously cheap BBC wants to do things a bit closer to home, they could take the titular “valley” and transport the action to the Welsh hills. Noted as one of co-creator Steven Moffat’s favourite Holmes stories, “The Speckled Band” is brilliantly surreal and odd. Though referenced as “The Speckled Blond” blog in “A Scandal in Belgravia”, and certain plot elements borrowed in “The Sign of Three”, this short story still has plenty of content to be used in future episodes. Whether it be the garden of dangerous animals and gypsies or the very unique murder method, “The Speckled Band” would make a great case to keep Sherlock busy as he tried to track down Moriarty. Look at the first three series of the show – the serial arc elements of the show (Moriarty in series one and two, Magnussen in series three) are teased in the first two episodes but only properly revealed in the finale. With Jim from IT’s impending revival, series 4 will probably see a wild goose chase as Sherlock tries to track down his arch enemy.The Moriarty thread of “The Valley of Fear” is noticeably quiet, and this is probably the tactic that Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat will take.
While the case is going on, we’d probably see a more heavily pregnant Mary reaching steadily closer to her due date, and John trying to come to terms with looming fatherhood. Perhaps he’ll have to make a choice on whether or not to accompany Sherlock on his travels for the case, or stay with his wife and provide support via Skype. “The Valley of Fear” is one of the great Sherlock Holmes adventures, and would be a perfect way to tease the return of everyone’s favourite maniac. 
 Published in November 2011and written by Alex Riderauthor Anthony Horowitz, ‘The House of Silk’ is the first Sherlock Holmes story not written by Conan Doyle to be endorsed by the writer’s estate. Critically and commercially acclaimed, Horowitz is currently working on a sequel. |
“The House of Silk” might be an unusual choice, because it’s not an Arthur Conan Doyle story, and yet it captures all of the spirit and wit of the original adventures while bringing a slightly more modern outlook than any other attempts have managed. What’s more, Mark Gatiss has not only expressed a love for the novel, but admitted that all Holmes stories are up for grabs when it comes to source material. Highly recommended if you haven’t already read it, “The House of Silk” provides one of the darkest and most mature adventures the Baker Street Boys have ever encountered. The intricate plot begins with the “Flat cap case”, involving missing paintings and a gang of Irish robbers. Enlisting the help of John, Lestrade and his Baker Street Irregulars (the Homeless Network), the great detective embarks on a case full of twists that eventually reveals a corruption scandal at the center of the British government. Though alluded to in “His Last Vow,” we never actually saw Sherlock go up against the government and, by default, his brother Mycroft. This dynamic would make for some riveting character drama, especially if used to build upon the development of the Holmes siblings we saw in series 3. Moriarty would still be present as well, though for once he would aid his nemesis by donning a disguise. Repelling even the master of crime, Moriarty gives John a vital clue to bring down the mysterious “House of Silk”. Without wanting to ruin the final act, those of you who have read the novel will know that the House of Silk’s crimes raise some serious and pertinent questions for father-to-be John Watson. What kind of world will Mary and John be bringing the baby into? There’s some gritty plots to work with here, but once the darkness has cleared we could see Watson Jr. finally being brought into the world – just as Moriarty steps out of the shadows and readies a deadly scheme…“The House of Silk” involves some very dark material, some of which might have to be toned down for broadcast. 
However, there’s still room for plenty of gothic scares – especially at the false denouement when Sherlock and John find themselves trapped in a terrifying travelling circus with a fatal conclusion. “The House of Silk” is a ripping yarn with lots of food for thought, and provides the high stakes mystery that the BBC series thrives from. 
 First published in The Strand Magazine in December 1904, ‘The Adventure of the Second Stain’ is one of thirteen stories included in ‘The Return of Sherlock Holmes’ collection. Writer Arthur Conan Doyle listed the short story as his eighth favourite Holmes adventure. |
Arthur Conan Doyle’s eighth favourite Sherlock Holmes story, “The Adventure of the Second Stain” is the type of high-stakes case that the show excels at. When a Lord, the Secretary of State and the British Prime Minister come to Baker Street in person, the high-functioning sociopath launches a hunt for an important document which, if found, could lead to war. With the threat of international conflict creating a palpable fear, this story would set the series 4 finale off in the explosive way we’ve become accustomed to. In the original adventure, the sleuth tracks down spies to try and find the thief. Of course, this particular crime has all of the makings of a previous acquaintance – ‘The Woman.’ Though she made an incredibly brief cameo in “The Sign of Three”, a full Irene Adler return has long been clamoured for by Sherlockfans, and the creators have always said she would return if their was a suitable story opportunity. This is one, if we’re ever going to get such an opportunity. Besides, now Mary’s a part of the Baker Street fold, she could provide a suitable foil to the sex orientated sass that Lara Pulver’s controversial take on the character brings. Moriarty’s been lurking for too long, and he would (breaking from the original story) eventually be revealed as the document thief – with a public announcement detailing his intention to leak the highly sensitive information for the world to see. There’s only one man who can stop him – Sherlock. The game is back on! “The Adventure of the Red-Headed League” is one of the most notoriously bizarre adventures of the series, but it’s ridiculousness is part of its’ charm. Concocted as a way of keeping a pawn broker out of his shop, the fictional organisation (a group seemingly established to unite those with ginger hair) pays Jabez Wilson a substantial weekly wage to copy the dictionary – while they dig underneath his business to break into a neighbouring bank vault. It would be a brilliant plot point anywhere, but would fit naturally with the missing document in “The Second Stain.” It’s just a shame John shaved his upper-lip hair – The Moustached League would have been a fun little excursion. When it comes to the plot content of the series 4 finale, it will undoubtedly be as unpredictable as we’ve come to expect. 
However, we’d anticipate a nail-biting race against time and plenty of shocks. Moriarty’s endgame would probably involve plenty of threat for John, his wife, and newborn baby – as well as the rest of the Sherlock ensemble. If Irene Adler were to make a return, we could expect her to repent for her previous collaborations with Moriarty by taking him on, and probably meeting her end. As well as a solution to the mystery of Moriarty’s survival (how exactly does someone live through a bullet through the head?), we’ll get a heart-stopping cliff hanger that will leave us screaming and crying for another two years. Then, the cycle will repeat for series 5. All of these predictions will almost certainly be wrong, and in fact, there’s a very real chance that Moriarty might not be alive at all. His “comeback” video in the series 3 finale could easily be part of a scheme he started before his death, and continued by a surviving confidant (Sebastian Moran, anyone?). Until then, all we can do is do what the Sherlock fandom does best – wait! Source
‘Sherlock’ series 4 may not air until 2016, creators hint at new faces
**An older article, but with good info…
March 14, 2014
At a Sherlock event on Tuesday night, organized by the Royal Television Society in London, series creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss teased what’s to come in series 4 of the detective drama.
Perhaps most surprising out of the event is this from The Hollywood Reporter: Sherlock series 4 is “expected” to debut in 2016, which obviously is a long wait and conflicts another report in January that said the show could be ready by this Christmas 2014.
BBC controller of drama commissioning Ben Stephenson was also on hand at Tuesday’s event with Sherlock’s creators, which may lend credence to 2016 being an accurate timeframe. While no one is quoted in THR’s report, the creators do talk about the difficulty with scheduling because of the popularity of the show’s stars, Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and Martin Freeman (Watson).
Elsewhere during the event, Moffat and Gatiss hinted at what’s to come for the two detectives in the new episodes. For starters, Moriarty will “be featured in the new season,” and Moffat reiterated that their plan to bring him back (after teasing his return during the series 3 finale) had been set in stone for a while.
THR says the creators also teased bigger roles for the women of Sherlock. They reportedly suggested “the show is likely to see increased roles for female characters Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) and Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs).” In addition, new female characters “could” be added. Moffat and Gatiss did not offer specific details, as the show is historically very secretive about future plot lines.
The gap between Sherlock series 2 and series 3 was two years long, so while fans are accustomed to a long wait, they’ve been hoping that gaps between future seasons would be sped up as the show continues to gain popularity.
As always, we’ll keep an eye on any and all reports about the Sherlock series 4 air date and pass them along to you.
ANDREW SCOTT: EXCLUSIVE SHOOT WITH THE SHERLOCK STAR
**Posted this because there was a bit of Benedict in it..
Dublin born actor Andrew Scott dresses up in Topman and talks about his latest projects, playing Moriarty and his mental fans.
Down in the Topman Studio, we’re awaiting the arrival of Andrew Scott. We expect him to arrive all mysterious and pouty like his infamous dark Sherlock character, Moriarty, but what we get is a friendly, joking guy who’s keen to get dressed up. Is this a ploy? Some sort of trick to get us comfortable under false pretences? Or, like many, are we just all fanboying and fangirling so hard that we are finding it hard to distinguish between what is real life and what is fiction? Yes, it’s the latter.
Sherlock has become such a cult worldwide phenomenon that it’s sparked homoerotic fanfiction, a Benedict Cumberbatch fanclub (was Cumberbitches, now Cumberpeople), and thousands of internet memes. We tweet a picture halfway through the shoot and our social networks explode. ‘OH SH*T,’ ‘OH GOD SEND HELP,’ and ‘I feel like gouging my eyes out, feeding them to a llama, scream at some Mexican guy then throw myself into a blender so people will understand how jealous I am,’ are just a few of the comments we receive.
So how do you go on after playing such an iconic villain? Andrew Scott talks about life after Sherlock and his eclectic new projects including a play about a disintegrating rock star and an Irish comedy movie. Oh, and that Benedict Cumberbatch kiss scene…
How do you prepare for a role like Moriarty?
They wrote it really brilliantly, and I wanted to do something different with the character. I knew in the last season just gone he’s a very fleeting presence in it. This time when they wrote a scene in Sherlock’s head, I was in a lunatic asylum, so I wanted to do something unhinged. I prepare differently for each role, I don’t like to do much research, I like to keep it as playful as possible. I don’t want to be mistaken for a serious actor!
Who’s idea was it to do the Benedict kiss scene?
It was Mark Gatiss’s (Sherlock writer and Mycroft) idea! It was a funny idea, I kinda knew the reaction it would get. But we had a lot of fun doing it, it’s very tame to a lot of stuff I get sent…
What’s your relationship like with Benedict Cumberbatch?
It’s great, I’m so proud of him. He’s a great pal, he deserves the stuff that’s coming his way. It’s really nice to have gone on this journey with him. We’re from the same backgrounds, we both worked a lot in theatre in our twenties. He’s just a good human being.
See full article here…
Sherlock series 4 predictions: What’s next for Sherlock and John?
First posted January 19, 2014:
It’s been a week. The third series of Sherlock ended last Sunday with Steven Moffat’s ‘His Last Vow’, and now all that awaits is yet another painfully indefinite hiatus.
We’re promised that series four and five are in the works, but neither has yet been officially confirmed by the BBC, and Moffat certainly didn’t skimp on the cliffhangers with his finale. Replacing the overwhelming question mark of series two’s ‘How did he do it?” was a more general sense of “WTF?” Is Moriarty really back? Are John and Mary really going to have a child? Does anyone on this show ever stay dead?
Below, we’ve pulled together our speculation on what’s to come at 221B Baker Street.
Moriarty
Did you miss him? The strange thing about Andrew Scott’s Moriarty is that he was never an integral enough part of Sherlock in its first two series for his absence to be especially striking this year. He appeared only at the very end of the first series, and had cameo appearances in two out of three episodes in series two. So whatever your feelings on Moriarty’s apparent return, it’s hard to accuse Moffat and Gatiss of milking the character – if anything, he’s been under-used in all but name so far.
Given this, it’s easy to see the temptation to bring Moriarty back for real, given how spectacular Scott is and how much dramatic ground there still is to cover with him. The parallels between he and Sherlock – glimpsed briefly again in ‘His Last Vow’ as a demented Moriarty sat chained in the basement of Sherlock’s mind palace – have barely been touched, and then there’s the curious way Gatiss squandered the character of Moriarty’s henchman Sebastian Moran in ‘The Empty Hearse’.
In the book, Moriarty and Moran are a kind of dark mirror image to Sherlock and John – the genius and his military sidekick, the brain and the muscle – and this feels like such fertile ground for exploration, given how focused Sherlock has been on the psychology of its leading duo. We also never really saw how Molly (Louise Brealey) reacted to the truth about “Jim from IT” (beyond the occasional joke about dating sociopaths), and we never saw Molly and Moriarty share the screen. So if Moriarty really is back, it will make sense in storytelling terms.
But what about in logical terms? We, and Sherlock, did apparently see Moriarty put a gun in his mouth and pull the trigger, and we saw blood pooling behind his head afterwards. But Sherlock seems too disoriented in the moment to take a really close look, and he doesn’t check Moriarty’s pulse. Since Moriarty used his own gun, it’s definitely possible that he could have fired a blank, but even a blank would have caused some serious internal damage at that kind of range if it hadn’t killed him. The blood really tells us nothing, since Sherlock was also covered in blood after his faux-fall and Moriarty could have done something similar, but Moffat’s still going to need one hell of an explanation to make this plausible.
On balance, it feels more likely that the “Did you miss me?” thing is a bluff. Moriarty isn’t really alive, but someone wants the world to believe he is. That might be Moran (who we briefly saw getting hauled off at the end of ‘The Empty Hearse’), or Janine (who some have speculated could be Moriarty’s sister, based on her Irish accent and the slight physical resemblance between Yasmine Akram and Andrew Scott). Or it might be someone closer to home.
Moriarty’s “Did you miss me?” loop appears on every screen in the country. The one character in the show we’ve been led to believe might have that kind of power is Mycroft, and of course he’d want to ensure that his little brother wasn’t really going to be sent off to die in exile. Mycroft’s increased presence in series three, and the emphasis on his brotherly dynamic with Sherlock, felt as though it was leading up to something that never quite transpired in ‘His Last Vow’, and this would certainly qualify.
But here’s another idea: Sherlock himself masterminded the “did you miss me?” clip. Wouldn’t it be perfectly in character for Sherlock to make the grand, heroic gesture he did – sacrificing his own freedom by killing Magnussen in order to secure John and Mary’s safety – while actually knowing all along that he had a backup plan, and wouldn’t really have to leave London?
This would be a distinctly dark twist, turning the Richard Brook plot in ‘Reichenbach’ into a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy where Sherlock really does ‘invent’ Moriarty. The idea of Moriarty being a figment of Holmes’s imagination has been explored in several pastiches – most famously Nicholas Meyer’s novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution – and this slant allows Sherlock to remain sane while resorting to desperate measures. The Mycroft option still feels more likely, but both angles are intriguing.
Mary
When Sherlock deduced Mary’s pregnancy at the end of ‘The Sign of Three’, many viewers took it as final confirmation of the widely-held theory that Mrs Watson wasn’t long for this world. After all, Mary famously dies (in a rather perfunctory aside) in Doyle’s stories, and sticking close to the canon in this regard seems the smart choice: as charming as Amanda Abbington is in the role, Sherlock just isn’t Sherlock without its leading duo shacking up together, bachelor-style, at Baker Street. And it certainly isn’t Sherlock with John Watson changing nappies.
But Mary didn’t die. ‘His Last Vow’ ended with her heavily pregnant and Sherlock leaving the Watsons behind to start their family in safety. Which leaves us with the question of how on earth this is going to work going into series four.
If Mary actually has John’s child, it will be the single biggest departure from canon Moffat and Gatiss have ever made. In no version of Sherlock Holmes is John Watson a father, and having him be a father essentially makes it impossible for him to ever return to the risk-taking lifestyle he’s enjoyed with Sherlock – if he’s ultimately left a single father, all the more so. It’s not really clear at this point why the pregnancy was introduced at all, other than to make Mary’s betrayal sting more.
There are still ways Mary and the baby could be dispatched, since series four is presumably going to pick up immediately after ‘His Last Vow’. If Moriarty is really back, the combination of a pregnant Mary and his penchant for threatening Sherlock’s nearest and dearest feels like a no-brainer. But it’s hard to imagine a way in which killing a heavily pregnant woman and her unborn baby won’t feel utterly sadistic, to an extent Sherlock never has been to date.
And it’s equally hard to imagine an alternative – does anyone seriously want to see John Watson tied down to a family life? Want to watch a series four where the divisive middle episode is a ‘Three Men and a Baby’ takeoff with Sherlock, John and Lestrade? Shudder.
The Moriarty reveal is clearly leading somewhere good, whereas the pregnancy just feels like Moffat and Gatiss have written themselves into a problematic corner. We’re nervous, but we’re going to employ a little blind faith on this one.
Read full article here…
Andrew Scott on Sherlock series 3: ‘I got to take Moriarty to extremes’
Andrew Scott has discussed the role of Moriarty in Sherlock‘s third series finale.
In Steven Moffat’s ‘His Last Vow’, a straitjacketed Moriarty appeared to a dying Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a padded room within his “mind palace”.
“That was a really interesting one,” Scott told Digital Spy of the hallucinatory scene. “It was part of an extraordinary sequence that I thought was really beautifully directed, and read fantastically well on the page.
“It was a case of removing myself a little bit from Moriarty, because it was in Sherlock’s mind palace. So it allowed me to go to real extremes with the character, to see what he would be like were he completely unleashed.
“I like being able to see Moriarty through Sherlock’s eyes, it’s such an interesting angle on the character. It’s an insight into the mind of the hero, as much as anything, so it was good to be able to play a different note.”
Scott went on to discuss the show’s acknowledgement of its passionate online fan base, which notably inspired a fantasy sequence in which Sherlock and Moriarty kiss.
“I like the fact that, in a playful way, the third series included [the fans],” Scott mused. “For the most part, they’re very enthusiastic and respectful people, and the support has just been extraordinary.”
Scott also confirmed that he knows the truth behind series three’s climactic twist, in which Moriarty appears to announce his return from the grave via a video message broadcast across every screen in the UK.
“I do know the answer to that question, yes, and I’m not going to tell you!”
Moffat recently assured fans that the ending was not “a last-minute whim”.
Source here..
HiddleBatch Fans! 