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Hey youtubers it’s charlie, this is the sherlock empty hearse breakdown that I’ve
been promising for the last couple of days. What i’ll do is go through the episode and
include as many references as possible and interesting facts about the story and the
production. So it will be a little different than one of my easter egg videos.
There’s actually a bunch of stuff going on this weekend between new sherlock and anime
club so if you’re finding me for the first time be sure to subscribe to get everything.
Since this video conveys so many details about the plot and details of the story. This is
your super spoiler warning. The episode is so long and there are so many details, this
video will just focus on the parts of itI think are the most important.
Here we go let’s blow the doors of the empty hearse. Number 1 - The title is a reference
to the conan doyle story the empty house. Both this episode and that book brought the
character back from the dead so to speak. Doyle killed the character in his novel The
Final Problem.
The character was so popular that fans and his publisher compelled him to bring the character
back. Which led to The adventures of the empty house.
So if anyone didn’t like that there was so much fan service in episode 1, remember
that conan doyle’s novel empty house was essentially written as fan service.
Number 2 - Sherlock Lives Theories. We don’t learn what we’re seeing is Anderson’s
theory until the last frame cuts after this first scenario. Let me know below in the comments
how long it took you to figure out.
I didn’t realize until the Molly Kiss, but the weird dance track made me suspicious.
Derren Brown is actually a famous real life hypnotist.
Sherlock tells watson later that there were 13 possibilities of how he could survive.
There’s a big debate going on in the fandom as to whether he meant 13 ways he could have
faked his death or 13 ways he could have escaped moriarty.
Most presume that he never suspected moriarty would be so committed to his plan that he’d
kill himself to force sherlock’s hand.
All of the scenarios were filmed in broad daylight with a full crowd of reporters and
people watching. No one leaked any of the information, but there were a few pictures
that made it to tumblr.
3 - Moriarty Returns. Andrew Scott who plays moriarty appears in all of the rooftop scenarios.
All those scenes were filmed during series 3 production. Meaning he came back on set.
Early on people leaked that he would be part of the new episodes misleading people into
thinking he didn’t die on the rooftop.
Later we learned that he did in fact die from the gunshot, people keep asking me what happened
to his body. Because sherlock and mycroft were one step ahead of moriarty the whole
time. They had a government crew ready to take the body into custody.
4 - Mycroft knew the whole time. After lestrad calls anderson on his crackpot theory the
press montage let’s us know that everyone ended up learning the real truth about what
moriarty did to sherlock. Because both sherlock and mycroft were one step ahead, they allowed
moriarty to discredit sherlock. So once sherlock got rid of moriarty’s terror network there
was no more reason to keep up the deception. Which is why the press are just now figuring
out the truth.
5 - Mustache watch begins. We see watson with the caterpiller on his lip and mary morstan.
Freeman was actually on loan to steven moffat and mark gatiss for 6 weeks to film the first
two episodes from peter jackson. They had to film both empty hearse and episode 2 sign
of three while production of the hobbit trilogy was still happening.
So peter jackson rearranged freeman’s shooting schedule to allow him to return to england
to film with the sherlock team briefly.
So his mustache was fake the whole time. It’s kind of a sign that he’s let himself go.
He explains to mrs hudson that he never called her because he let a lot of things slide.
Including shaving his upper lip..
6 - Mary Morstan. Mary is played by amanda abbington, martin freeman’s real life partner.
And if you haven’t seen them together, they’re pretty adorable.
7 - Sherlock on the cross. The russian base sherlock got caught breaking into was the
last place he went to dismantle moriarty’s terror cell. That’s why he was there. As
a character he’s kind of regressed emotionally because he’s been on his own for the past
two years.
The interesting thing is that the whole time he carried watson around in his head. That’s
why you catch him talking to an imaginary watson when he’s with molly later. He probably
did that all the time over the past two years.
So in a way, even though sherlock left watson, watson never left sherlock.
8 - Mycroft in the field. The mycroft character in the books is much more isolated than mark
gatiss’ version. So even though he complains it’s actually a huge deal that mycroft came
out to help sherlock.
You learn later that mycroft is actually smarter than sherlock. and that when they were growing
up sherlock though he was stupid by comparison until they met other children and he realized
that he and mycroft were different.
Think of mycroft and sherlock on a sliding scale of weirdness and intellect. The smarter
they get the more isolated they become socially. So sherlock is brilliant and can co-exist
with other humans. Mycroft is a genius and can’t stand people.
9 - back to london. The terror plot that brings sherlock back to london got a lot of complaints
from fans of the novel series. Mark Gatiss used the sebastian moran character as part
of the tube bomb plot and in the episode the character is kind of wasted. He just sits
on the bed and pushes a button.
In the novels, Sebastian moran is like an evil version of watson. they both served in
the military but sebastian met moriarty instead of meeting sherlock. So imagine what watson
would have become after leaving afghanistan if he had met moriarty instead of sherlock.
Most of the complaints about the moran character are that in the novels he and moriarty have
this really interesting relationship that you never see play out on screen.
A lot of people confused molly’s fiancee with the sniper from rikenback fall. That
sniper was moran and in this episode moran is the government official that sets off the
bomb.
Sherlock calls Moran as the head rat. It’s a reference to a holmes adventure that was
talked about but never happened in the books, called the giant rat of sumatra. It’s also
a street near bull and bush in west hampshead for which platforms and staircases were built
but no above ground entry.
10 - The tube is wonky. A lot of people noticed that the plotting and the maps of the london
tube were all wrong. This was on purpose. The maps of the tube are heavily copyrighted
and no one is ever allowed to use them in film or tv. So they had to make their own
maps that could look anything like the real ones.
11 - Mustache references. I know I promised to count all the mustache jokes. 3, 3,7,6
12 - Johnlock for the win. When watson tells mrs hudon that he’s getting engaged mrs
hudson is generally surprised that it’s to a woman. In my opinion she genuinely thought
that he and sherlock were a couple the whole time they were together. Which is hilarious.
It also pays homage to the subtext the fandom has always read into the characters.
13 - The upturned collar. The first time sherlock puts the jacket back on is the first time
the game is on theme stirs. It doesn’t play in full until he re-enters baker street. To
the screams of mrs hudson. 14 - The reunion. Sherlock disguises himself
trying to find a clever way to let watson know he’s alive. This is a joke about the
character’s master of disguise persona. The real joke is that watson doesn’t even
notice him at first.
The three diamonds on watson’s engagement ring are a subtle visual reference to the
three’s company situation of their characters. It’s almost as if Mary will be marrying
watson and sherlock. Or marrying watson and gaining a sherlock.
Later in the episode when watson tries to rip the beard off a patient it’s also a
reference to the holmes character in the novels. The titles of the videos he tries to give
martin freeman are the same titles of the books the conan doyle character tried to sell
that watson while in disguise.
15 - The headbutt. Watson attacks sherlock with a headbutt in one of the progressively
dirtier restaurants they get thrown out of. In the original story, watson fainted when
holmes reappeared.
16 - Mary is a Liar - Sherlock deduces mary and sees that she’s a liar. There’s a
lot of theories, but most of this will tie in with episode 2 the sign of three. When
you see the date code on mary’s cypher it’s may 11th, 2013. And she says that her and
watson’s wedding is in may and she refers to a possible ***.
Since there’s a *** teased during the trailer for episode 2, it means that she’s
probably tied up in the larger plot with the villain this season charles augustus magnussen.
That doesn’t necessarily make her evil though.
17 - London Is Cesspool. Sherlock’s voice over speech london is a cespool is something
the watson wrote during the original book story a study in scarlet.
18 - Doctor Who references. Notice the round things on the wallpaper of mr shilcot’s
apartment. Inspired by the round things of the tardis interior. The code name of sherlock
and mycroft’s plan to fake his death was lazarus, which was an episode of doctor who
that mark gatiss both wrote and starred in. And there’s a tardis on the wall of anderson’s
apartment.
19 - Remember remember the fifth of november. It’s guy fawkes day, who is remembered for
the gunpowder plot of 1605, which the tube bomb plot pays homage to.
20 - Sherlock’s parents. A lot of people recognized that sherlock’s parents are benedict
cumberbatch’s parents in real life. But if you notice the collar on his mother’s
coat is turned up you’ll be pleased to learn that his trademark upturned collars are something
he picked up from his mother.
Sherlock holmes, what a mama’s boy.
21 - The final explanation. Mark Gatiss explained that even though this wasn’t completely
correct, it was the most plausible explanation as to how sherlock survived.
Since I’m sure there were a ton of lines lifted from the books and other references
I missed write them in the comments if you noticed anything.
I’ll be posting my episode 2 review tomorrow after the episode airs. Be sure to subscribe
to get it. Just like last time I’ll be looking through the comments on that video to include
in my episode 2 q and a video on monday. and then a couple days after that I’ll do a
new breakdown.
Right now click here for my episode 1 q and a and click here for my review of the episode.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight! High Fives!