XistentialAngst's Blog, page 64
October 7, 2016
October 6, 2016
"But, of course, it goes without saying, he’s a huge fan of the last series they’ve done.
‘Just wait..."
‘Just wait and see. It’s wonderful, it’s very exciting. It’s exceeded all kind of expectations for how we top what we’ve done before, and it’s ramped up the whole thing. It just gets better and better and better.’
More than other series, he says, this one feels more like one story in three parts–with a villain who ‘comes slamming into the centre’ by the end of the first episode, ‘and carries on into the second and resolves in the end. It’s f***ing ridiculous, it’s so exciting.’
It is, he says, 'one of the best pieces of drama I’ve ever had to do, some of the best sequences I’ve ever had to shoot.’”
-
From GQ UK’s interview with Benedict Cumberbatch (x)
Wow.
The Surgery of "His Last Vow": Agra’s killing shot
Summary
In Magnussen’s office, Agra intended to kill Sherlock.“The bullet is foolish, the bayonet is wise”.
It seems that Alexander Suvorov was good in “surgery”.
In
this paper, I discuss mostly medical aspects of Sherlock’s wound and
give some information in forensic medicine and ballistics. In the final
part, I consider a possible motivation for the assassination.
Anatomy of heart and liver
A human heart is located in the middle of a chest, diagonally from right to left.
The liver is under the heart on the right. The heart is covered slightly by the lungs (pink).Male
nipples are at the level of the fifth rib, sometimes, slightly above or
slightly below it. If we draw a line between the nipples, we cross the
heart at its widest part.
When we breath, the diaphragm moves up (exhalation) and down (inhalation), and the position of the heart changes slightly.A
heart is covered by a special sac called pericardium. The pericardial
sac has two layers. It encloses the pericardial cavity, which contains
about 25 mL of pericardial fluid.Similarly, lungs are placed in a double-walled sac called pleura.
Vena cava inferior lies behind the liver.
Anatomy of Sherlock’s woundWellingtongoose
(http://wellingtongoose.tumblr.com)
considered this picture:(http://wellingtongoose.tumblr.com/post/74878096422/why-mary-did-not-intend-to-kill-sherlock-and-why)
This picture was imagined by Sherlock in his Mind Palace.It is not a reality.
Wellingtongoose concluded that the bullet had hit the liver and vena
cava inferior. However, to reconstruct what had happened, one should
consider not only the picture, but also anatomy of the wound,
physiology, clinical symptoms, and actions of the doctors.I have
found an X-ray of a young male. What can we see on this X-ray? The
white areas are the heart, liver, and bones. The dark areas are lungs.
Let us put this X-ray on Benedict’s chest.
Fits rather well.Now, let us put it onto the body in the mortuary.
The bullet hit between the heart and the liver. The wound is very
serious, taking into account concussion and necrosis of the tissues. In
this case, the bullet could pass through the liver and injury the vena cava inferior.Such is indeed the case in Sherlock’s Mind Palace.
What has really happened?
In the movie, we can see two real situations. First, in the ambulance:
Second, in the intensive care unit (ICU):
Let us superimpose the ambulance photo onto the ICU picture.We can see that the wounds coincide very well! There is the same wound in the ambulance and ICU!
Let us put the photo in the ambulance onto the picture in the mortuary:
We see that thereal wound is located higher than the imagined one.
Look at the X-ray, superimposed onto the ICU photo. This is the key point of my investigation!
The wound entry hole is in the area of the HEART!Agra shot in the heart. Do we need any other evidence of her false “surgery”?
However,
Sherlock did not die. This fact can be explained as follows. The bullet
hit the edge of the sternum and slightly deflected to the right,
brushing the edge of the heart (see the picture).
In this case, the right lung was injured, but the liver and vena cava inferior were intact.
Therefore, the diagnosis is as follows:
The
penetrating gunshot wound of the thorax, injury of the pericardium and
the right lung, bleeding in the pleural sac (hemothorax) and pericardial
sac (hemopericardium).It is a very impressive “surgical safety”, isn’t it?
What has happened to Sherlock?
Therefore, Sherlock lost consciousness after a minute or two, and after 15–20 minutes, there occured a cardiac arrest.In case of injury of vena cava inferior, Sherlock is assumed to die because of an acute massive blood loss (500–1000 mL).
It means that:
1)
The heart had stopped, because it had nothing to pump. The law of
physiology says: a “dry” heart cannot work. An electrocardiograph would
register asystole.2) It is necessary to refill the blood vessels by massive infusion into 3–4 large veins (central and/or peripheral).
Look at the picture in the intensive care unit:
We can see only two infusion systems in the cubital veins. Perhaps, the doctors did not see the massive blood loss?3. The hole in vena cava inferior makes impossible the reanimation without surgical operation and sewing up the wound.
That’s why vena cava inferior is beyond the scope.
See the final ECG:
It’s not asystole. There are four variants of cardiac arrest,
namely, pulseless ventricular tachycardia, electromechanical
dissociation, fibrillation, and asystole. Asystole is a straight or wavy
line at the ECG.
Sherlock had no asystole; he had small-wave atonic fibrillation. His
heart was not really dead, but it could not beat. A defibrillator, by
the way, is not effective in this situation.What reason can be for cardiac arrest?
I think,
because of blood in the pericardial sac (hemopericardium).
Between
two layers of pericardium, there is 25 mL of fluid. Let’s suppose that
the bullet had partially plugged the hole, and blood from damaged
vessels of the pericardium began to flow inside the sac. When the blood
volume achieved 150 mL, the cardiac tamponade occurred. The heart became
trapped in the swollen sac and stopped.So, the cause of death is cardiac tamponade.
In case of cardiac tamponade, cardiopulmonary resuscitation is ineffective without removing blood from the pericardial sac.
Is
it possible for Sherlock to come to life by himself? Perhaps, when the
doctors “pumped” the chest, the bullet shifted and opened the hole in
the pericardium. Blood started to flow out, at some point, the living
heart (it was not dead) could beat.Other versions may be concerned with heart trauma.
The right lung was wounded, no doubt, hence, Sherlock had hemothorax (blood in the pleural space).
Treatment of hemothorax suggests the surgical operation via minimally traumatic access — right anterolateral thoracotomy:
If there was a gunshotabdominal wound (liver and vena cava inferior),
the doctors had to cut off the abdomen in order to treat the damaged
tissues without no exceptions! In this case, we could see laparotomic
cut.Sherlock in the intensive care unit:
there are no laparothomic stiches.
However, we can see the bandage under the right rib.Quod erat demonstrandum.
There is the thoracic wound
treated via right anterolateral thoracotomy.
A
patient should suffer from strong pain (morphine is needed), but after
the adequate surgical treatment, our Sherlock could stand and walk with
strong painkillers.
Dead or not dead?Sherlock had cardiac arrest; it was not a clinical death, taking
into account that CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) was provided at
once.Nevertheless…
CPR performed by skilled doctors provides the brain blood flow at about 35% of norm, the coronary blood flow at 25% of norm.
It
is generally believed that successful CPR “starts" the heart within the
first 5 - 10 minutes, after that period the possibility of irreversible
brain damage increases sharply. However, there were cases, when after
30 minutes of resuscitation, the patient recovered without apparent
consequences for the brain.Since modern technologies allow to
maintain the circulation almost without end, doctors in ICU have the
specific set of rules, concerning the ascertaining of death. There are
two cases, in which resuscitation should be stopped and a person is
considered to be dead:1) Brain death;
2) When CPR is ineffective within 30 minutes.
“Sherlock”
presents the second variant, because Sherlock’s brain is not injured.
Therefore, the doctors performed CPR for at least 30 minutes + the time
in the ambulance.Michael Jackson was resuscitated for an hour, before they ascertained the death.
In “Sherlock”, all the doctors took an official decision that the patient was dead.
Agra is a skilled assassin
From the interview with Amanda, we know that she had James Bond’s
Walther PPK, 7.65.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_PP
This is a special police pistol for effective fire at short distances.A cartridge for
this pistol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.32_ACP
Blunt bullets are very effective to “get stuck” inside the target,
transferring all the huge kinetic energy and damaging seriously the
tissues. Sherlock was thrown back, and the bullet remained in his body.Agra
had the gun with a silencer. However, the silencer does not reduce
completely the sound of the shot. In order to shoot silently, Agra was
to reduce the amount of gunpowder. This explains the fact that a) the
bullet ricocheted off the sternum, and b) Sherlock was not pushed to the
wall, and he just fell on his back.
She was taking aim with a straight arm. Unlike Sherlock, who was
aiming, bending the elbow and holding it by the other hand. Such a pose
says that he was ready to stand a while and talk.
The pose of Agra suggests that she had no time to talk. This is a very threatening gesture that Sherlock had to recognize.A bullet from her pistol punched a hole in the coin.
Therefore, Agra is a skilled shooter with a dangerous gun, she knows how to shoot and kill.Targets
for training of policemen and military men are made schematically, to
avoid the feeling that you’re shooting at a human being.Here is an example of a training target:
The shot in heart (red “apple”) gets “five plus”, exactly in the
center of the target. By the way, the zone around the red “apple” gets
also “five”, that shows the seriousness of the wounds of chest and
abdomen.So, Agra was taught to shoot at the center of the chest.
Where is the real surgery?
In the “empty house”, Sherlock offered the idea of “surgery” to
protect himself and John. John, who saw the medical documents in the
hospital, did not believe, but accepted “the game”. An interesting fact:
during the scene in the “empty house”, the music track “Lie in Leinster
Gardens” is playing.At 221b, Sherlock did not suffer from bleeding.
Morphine has ended, and Sherlock lost consciousness from the pain with a
dramatic performance. Not fatal, he would come to himself immediately
after intravenous morphine. I think, John guessed about it, so did not
rush to help in the first few seconds.Where is the actual surgery?
Just
before the shot, Sherlock started to make a step to the left. He began
to get up and move to the left. The “target”, therefore, shifted
slightly to the right and down. At the distance of 1,5 – 2 meters, the
shift could be up to 1,5-2 cm. See above — only 0,5-1,0 cm separated him
from the death.Here was the actual surgery!
In the movie, we can see that the bullet from the silencer went down a bit, it is a real thing.
Remember
that Sherlock is a very skilled professional. In “Belgravia”, Sherlock
is a master of the technique of knocking the gun from the killer. When
Agra raised her hand, I think, Sherlock had no doubt about her
intentions. He tried to persuade her, but without success. Agra came to
Magnussen to kill Sherlock. Sherlock saved himself by this little
movement.
Assassination or not
assassination?
The shot in the heart, thoracic wound, heart injury, lung injury,
cardiac arrest. The conclusion of the forensic examination is formulated
as “severe bodily injury”. I think, Agra should be arrested for
attempted homicide.
Possible motivation for the assassinationAgra was the missing sniper from Estonia or Dyachenko. She was hired
by Moriarty to keep Sherlock at gunpoint on the roof and kill him if
Sherlock would not jump. Sherlock staged the performance not for John,
but for his personal sniper. The jump of Sherlock saved him from Agra’s
shot.After Sherlock’s “death”, Agra stayed close to his friend.
All these years, Sherlock did not hide from John, but from a spy near
him (from Agra).At the beginning of the “His Last Vow”, the
“employer” (Moriarty? Moran?) demanded to fulfill the order. Sherlock
took the case of Lady Smallwood. Agra found out about it from Janine and
used it as a trap for Sherlock. She came to Magnussen, pretending that
she was going to take her documents from the blackmailer. She knocked
Janine and the security guard to delay John. She used the perfume to
lure Sherlock upstairs. She dressed like shinobi, who were skilled
assassins. She shot in Sherlock’s heart and left. However, Sherlock
succeeded to survive, though severely injured.In “empty house”, Agra
went to complete the assassination, because Sherlock had become her
enemy, and the order remained unfulfilled. In order to protect himself,
Sherlock came up with the idea of “surgery"and took John with him.John, being a very good military doctor, did not believe in “surgery”, but agreed.
Perhaps,
the information on the flash drive, which was to break John, was this:
the contract with the employer about the assassination of Sherlock.Why
didn’t she shoot in the head? She could be ordered to “burn the heart
out”, or the employer may want Sherlock’s head or his skull (Sherlock
Holmes had Billy skull, and Sherlock’s name is Billy, Moriarty would
want to have such a “friend”).Interesting, when Sherlock and Moriarty were talking on the roof, there was a
heptagonal glare on Sherlock’s head (like the heptagonal coin). This is discovery of my friend, Vega-216:
All other glares elsewhere are octagonal.
Conclusion
The case of Agra has completed. As a doctor, I has offered the
diagnosis. As a spectator, I have no doubts that Agra had committed a
crime. Was she really forgiven by Sherlock and John? Maybe, we’ll see it
in the fourth season.
Thanks to everyone who has read it to the end!
I think I have a new hobby: I hadn’t read much in the way of medical metas and the four I read tonight were really fascinating. Not solely the medical analysis, of course, but also the interpretation that comes from it, such as “Perhaps,
the information on the flash drive, which was to break John, was this:
the contract with the employer about the assassination of Sherlock.” @fandom-cluing-for-looks thanks for the information and perspective
Thank you for the meta.
Very interesting and detailed! Thank you.
October 5, 2016
peachinedible:
tyleroakley:
dailydot:
Cards Against Humanity...
Cards Against Humanity is letting customers pick which 2016 candidate they’ll donate to, as long as it’s Clinton
The game’s creators have launched a fundraiser, America Votes With Cards Against Humanity, where they’re letting their customers decide which of the two campaigns should received the donations the company collects.“Today, we’re letting America choose between two new expansion packs about either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump,” the project’s website reads. “At the end of this promotion, Cards Against Humanity will tally up the sales of both packs, and depending on which pack gets more support, we will donate all the money in support of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”
incredible
holy shit
God, actually makes me want to watch the movie. He’s so adorbs.
God, actually makes me want to watch the movie. He’s so adorbs.
Mary’s Confidante
I’m rewatching HLV. This bit struck me as odd:
From a narrative perspective, this line feels like it is setting something up for a future reveal. Mary has a confidante.
I’ve seen meta suggesting this is Janine (x) and also David (x). These are certainly possible. But the gut sense I got rewatching this was that Mary’s confidante must be someone we know, and knew at the time of this scene.
David is Mary’s ex-boyfriend. He’s involved only in TSoT as an ex, and perhaps serves as a foil to John’s “ex”, Sherlock. But otherwise we don’t really see much of David. It’s possible he’s being set up as the baby’s father, which gives a better explanation as to why he exists at all in the story. But as Mary’s confidante? That would hardly be a rug-pull moment since the viewer doesn’t know David and has nothing invested in him. Furthermore, he’s already in the position of “on Mary’s side" as her ex-bodyfriend. Also being her confidante is sort of <shrug>, not a reveal.
Janine – Janine gets involved in Sherlock’s plots in HLV, so it would be a bit of a surprise if she had deeper ties to Mary and knew she was an assassin all along. It would also explain (possibly) how Mary got into Magnussen’s office (though Mary could have just done her assasiny-spider man thing, as we saw her scaling a building in the black outfit in S4 setlock). But again, it’s not that much of a rug-pull because we don’t have much invested in Janine .
The question is: a confidante for what? Even though she’s speaking of Sherlock coming back from the dead here, I’m not convinced she’s speaking of her own “resurrection” as Mary Morstan 5 years ago. Again, it’s not that relevant story-wise HOW she took over the dead baby’s identity. She simply did. I don’t see that figuring into a big future reveal.
What if the thing Mary’s “confidante” is helping her with is the scheme to infiltrate John life and become involved with him, Mary’s whole “nicey nurse” personna at John’s work? That’s much more relevant to the main arc of Sherlock. And what if it’s someone we know? Someone in the main story who has helped Mary all along?
Mycroft? Lestrade? Mrs. Hudson? Molly?
My bet is on one of these. It could be any of them, especially Mycroft. Yet let’s take a look at Molly. Now THAT would be a rug-pull. I submit:
1. We have Molly saying at the Sherlocked con that she was Mary were “good friends” (on screen) in (or by the end of) S4.
2. We have that odd tweet from Amanda to Loo after the S4.E3 readthrough (”What are we going to do?”), implying somehow they were in the same boat.
3. We have Molly appearing during setlock at the beach bit when Moriarty makes his appearance. Why the hell would lab scientist Molly be there? Unless she was a plant all along. (I was looking for the photo she posted of her shoes in sand/rock during that setlock but couldnt’ find it. If you have it please add!
4. We also have this “Molly in disguise” from S4.E3 setlock. Why?
Also, Molly has medican knowledge, so she could have helped Mary with faking being a nurse.
On the con side: If Molly was BOTH SHerlock and Mary’s confidante Mary would have known all along that Sherlock wasn’t dead. So that opens some new questions. Was she hanging out with John waiting for Sherlock to return?
Am I positive about this? No! It’s just a theory. Take it as you will.
Interesting thoughts @xistentialangst . And with all that ‘going back stuff’ in mind which has been deduced during setlock and Sherlocked con (the plane from the flight of the dead, the girl on the plane, the counter stuck at 1895 which leads to the cases ‘Sherlock Holmes baffled’ and ‘The six thatchers’) the story seems somehow to point back to a time before ASIB happended. And what is the last thing we saw from Molly at that time? Before she attended the smal Christmasparty at 221b in ASIB? It’s Molly at TGG - storming out of the lab at Barts - full of exasperation and rage - because Sherlock outed her new boyfriend Jim as gay in a rather insensitive way. And isn’t that a bit of a strange thing too? Sherlock crushes Molly’s blossoming relatenship - Molly is devastated - Molly writes ‘Dearest Sherlock, love Molly’ at Chrismas. What happened in between I wonder.
Here are two pictures from setlock with Molly’s shoes X X or better - the cover for the shoes.
Thanks for the pic of Molly on setlock at
Southerndown, @ebaeschnbliah. Interesting point about TGG.
I love Molly as a naive and sincere friend to Sherlock, so I hope this isn’t true, actually. But at this point nothing would surprise me. And since Molly isn’t a canon character, and was initially intended just for ASiP , the writers could certainly do just about anything they liked with her for the sake of drama.
I was thinking… if we do the thought experiment that Molly is in league with Mary, it raises a lot of hard questions. Mary would have known Sherlock planned to fake his death, so she would presummably have allowed that to happen and been fine with Sherlock working all those years to take out Moriarty’s network. Why? Was it a way of doing some housekeeping and getting rid of those loyal to Jim before taking over as Moriarty? And then she insinuates herself with John to be sure she’s right there when Sherlock returns?
Seems a bit far fetched, honestly, but Moftiss have certainly written some crazy uber drama before, including on Sherlock.
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this too. Molly seems a bit… too perfect, and the Fall went TOO smoothly. Why DIDN’T Moriarty target Molly? And Mary sure as HELL knew Sherlock was alive, that I believe wholeheartedly.
I was TRYING to find more and more clues to Molly being a “reluctant” baddie – TAB being one of them, since she and Mary were NOT on the same team (molly on the side of the greater good). What what a rugpull it would be.
I’m also a bit inclined to think that the “Mary and Molly are great friends” was meant sarcastically (emphasis on “great”), but I don’t know the inflection of how it was said, so I can only make my own biased assumptions.
Either way, I’m sure it will be interesting.
@sherlock-little-weed I feel like this pertains to your interests.
Reblogging for the added comments.
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