Canon Discussion Post: The Empty House

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Welcome back, everyone! Let's have some canon Sherlock Holmes discussion, shall we? What did you all think of The Empty House? As always, I've written up a few of my own random thoughts and questions, which are behind the jump. Add your own in the comments!

Discussion about the Granada adaptation of The Empty House is available in this week's Granada discussion post.


- Special note: I am tremendously jet-lagged, so if these thoughts are even more scattered than usual or are rather a bit less coherent, my apologies.

- Sherlock Holmes is alive again, much to our relief and Watson's. They pick up like they never stopped - never stopped their investigative work, and never stopped being friends. "This is indeed like the old days."

- "I had to confide in him in order to obtain the money which I needed." - Sherlock Holmes almost sounds like he was reluctant to inform Mycroft he was still alive. If he had access to other money, would he have hidden his survival from his brother too? Or was this framing just to make Watson feel better about not being told? What of Mycroft, by the way? What did he think of his younger brother's scheme? Did he have any qualms about it? About lying to Watson? Did he even talk to Watson? And what was the arrangement that Mycroft had with Mrs. Hudson? She didn't know Holmes was alive, so did he tell her to keep the room as some kind of museum?

- This cannot be the entirety of their discussion about the horrible lie and all that Watson was forced to endure. Watson surely must be hurt terribly, and angry besides. What was his real reaction? Did he confront Holmes about it to any degree, or defer to his judgement on the matter, that it was all necessary, no matter how traumatic?

- Moran was only one of two former Moriarty lieutenants left standing after Reichenbach. What happened to the other one?

- Mrs. Hudson is the BEST, "violent hysterics" and all. I like to think she hit him. Maybe more than once. God knows he deserved it. She's just as brave and capable in EMPT as you could ever hope or expect. She's one tough old bird. Love her.

- "You must remember that they knew, and only they knew, that I was still alive. Sooner or later they believed that I should come back to my rooms. They watched them continuously, and this morning they saw me arrive." - This explanation makes no sense to me. They knew he was alive, and no one else did. Isn't that incredibly dangerous? With no one even to worry about his safety, if they did ever manage to find him, they could kill him and no one would ever know. And in the meantime, they've just been hanging out by Baker Street everyday for the last three years, waiting for him to show back up. Wouldn't it be easier to lure him out by threatening Mycroft, Mrs. Hudson, or Watson?

- Moran is a rifle shootist. So why did he try to kill Holmes with boulders? Missing his gun? No good shot?

- "That you, Lestrade?" - Inspector Lestrade shows up, and Holmes is pleased to see him. Aww. Lestrade is happy too, and says so. Holmes then is about to make his standard insult-compliment, but then softens it for his long-missed colleague into a real compliment, something he almost never does. That is just beyond lovely.

- "This empty house is my tree and you are my tiger. You have possibly had other guns in reserve in case there should be several tigers, or in the unlikely supposition of your own aim failing you. These," he pointed around, "are my other guns." - Holmes' guns are his long-absent friends, there once again to watch his back and come to his aid, whenever he needs them.

- "I confess that you had one small surprise for me," said Holmes. "I did not anticipate that you would yourself make use of this empty house and this convenient front window. I had imagined you as operating from the street, where my friend Lestrade and his merry men were awaiting you. With that exception all has gone as I expected." - Oh, yeah, well, except for the fact that you miscalculated completely and almost got yourself and Watson killed with no one around to see or help, yeah sure, everything has gone as you expected. *headdesk*

- So how long would Holmes have been away if Moran had been a little more careful in how he killed his enemies? Five years? A decade? Longer? Would he ever have just decided to face the risk and return?

Comment away and join us next week for The Golden Pince-Nez!

Comments

[hisietari.livejournal.com]

I had a story for today, but three of your notes here just conglomerated into a rather outrageous one. Thank you, there goes my writerly credibility once more. XD;;

[debriswoman]

Moran chucking rocks did seem a little odd.

And, yes, three years of "hanging about". Reactive not proactive, and somewhat out of character for the parties concerned.

Mrs Hudson is always the best:-)

[tripleransom.livejournal.com]

Well, the Empty House really doesn't make much sense, does it? I guess I can see where Moran put some local thug on retainer to keep an eye on the Baker St rooms, so I get that part.

I think it's implied that the reason why Holmes doesn't contact Watson is so that the gang will think he doesn't think Watson is important. But doesn't it seem that the house right across the street might be a good place to shoot from? Why should he not have thought Moran might choose it? Duh.

I've often thought that the reunion scene between H%W works only because we don't actually see it; we can read a bit more emotion into it, but really, it is kinda, well, flat. I have more to say about that reunion in the Granada discussion.

I do think we're meant to think Holmes is a bit ambivalent about coming back at all. It was pretty clearly shown in FINA that he was scared of Moriarty and Moran almost got him once already at Reichenbach, so maybe he did hesitate and tell a confused story because he wasn't sure he was coming back at all.

Once Moran gave him the opening he needed by committing some crime that he could be prosecuted for, it did give Holmes an opportunity to return.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I'd say I was sorry, but I'm not. ;)