EMP/EDT - The incongruent scene in TAB

kakashisauce:

monikakrasnorada:

xistentialangst:

I’m still playing around mentally with the Extended Dream Time idea and had another thought. 

For clarity’s sake, the main problem that exists that the EDT idea helps solve is the utter appalling plot stuff that is HLV from Christmas on. There are so many problems with people being OOC, especially John and Mycroft (Mr. British Gov’t doesn’t wonder who shot his baby brother?). The biggest issue is, of course, the idea that the ultimate Sherlock protecter, John, forgives Mary and returns to her. Then we have Sherlock leaving John in Mary’s hands blithely to fly off to his death after having returned from the dead once already to protect John from Mary. Hugs at the tarmac “take care of him”. Seriously?

Not to rehash all that here. This recent meta by archipelagoarchaea explains the problem with HLV brilliantly. 

I don’t think EDT is the only possible solution to these problems in HLV. I think an equally likely scenario is that John, or possibly John and Mycroft, are plotting against Mary and we’re simply shown the ‘surface’ of their plan to keep Mary placated. However, that doesn’t explain all the problems in HLV and TAB, such as John’s lack of emotion on the tarmac and on the plane, or the general unlikely fizzle of the ‘drug overdose’.  It doesn’t explain some of the weird visual glitches like Mycroft’s tie reversing itself. Nevertheless, we won’t actually know what the writer’s have up their sleeves

until S4 airs.  So while it’s fun to play with different theories, and I’m quite fascinated by the idea of EDT, I’m not placing any bets. We haven’t been given all the facts. They may well surprise us with an option #3 that we don’t see yet.

The one thing I am sure of is that Moftiss are excellent writers. If WE see consistency and character problems, we can be sure they are well aware of them and have an arc in place that resolves them. We’re seeing the tip of the iceberg and it looks weird, but it will make sense when we see the whole thing.

Now to the new point! (finally)

One of the arguments against EDT is that the simplest solution is always the best, and that the writers always broadcast when we are in Mind Palace mode, in order to keep the lines clean. This was absolutely my thought when I first read about EMP after TAB aired. “No way! It’s too confusing!”

But there’s one problem. They did blur the lines and make things totally unclear already in TAB! TAB goes back and forth between the “present day reality” and “1895″. If they were ‘staying within the lines’ and keeping things sharp and clear–so that MP vs ‘not MP’ was obvious–then why did they insert a ‘present day’ sequence that is patently false?

In this ‘return to the present’ sequence there are a few things that tell us, with no room for doubt, that although Sherlock appears to have ‘woken up’ from 1895, just like in all the other ‘current day’ sequences, he is, in fact still asleep.

1. He wakes up in a hospital bed, off the plane. Then later on, he is still on the plane. So this sequence cannot possibly be real.

2. He’s attacked by a skeleton which, as creative as BBC Sherlock gets at times, is not a level of fantasy that can be ‘real’.

So if the writers always make MP clear, and always strive to remain obvious about what is and isn’t MP, why did they insert this patently dream sequence in the middle of supposedly ‘real’ sections of TAB? It certainly wasn’t necessary. And the whole grave/skeleton thing always felt like a throwaway to me, like it sort of fizzled in shock value. So what narrative purpose does this section serve?

Well, it could be a clue or set-up that, in fact, not everything that seems to be ‘real’ is ‘real’. Indeed, maybe none of it is. They have clearly established here that Sherlock isn’t always awake when he thinks he is, that they can and will play with the factual presentation of the show in that way, and thus they’ve made absolutely anything possible. (such as EDT)

Again, we have the problem with the dubious ‘drug overdose’ and other oddities in present day TAB that are either sloppy writing and bad prop work. Or: none of it is real.

But let’s look at this patently false current day section for more clues. What’s the first thing we see in this section? John standing over Sherlock in a hospital bed, checking his eyes with a penlight. On the surface, it’s John checking on Sherlock’s TAB ‘overdose’. But if Sherlock is really in a coma and has been since the domestic in 221B in HLV, then might this not be a bleedthrough from Sherlock’s actual reality? (In a hospital bed with John over him.)

Then there’s Sherlock digging a grave and being attacked by a skeleton of a bride. Others have pointed out what an apt metaphor this is for the way Sherlock has ‘dug his own grave’ with Mary. No argument here. But it’s also a pretty compelling allusion to death, which is something Sherlock is ‘struggling with’ if he’s actually in a coma and dreaming this whole thing.

Apologies in advance if others have covered this before and better. Please feel free to message me and I’ll insert any links you like!

I’d like to look at setlock and see what clues we’ve been given to EDT there. Hopefully later today.

XA

I don’t think EDT is the only possible solution to these problems in HLV.

I absolutely agree with this, @xistentialangst, as, I think, most of us do that are playing around with EMP / EDT theory. It’s just one possible explanation. For me, at this moment, with what we’ve been given so far, it is the only way  I can  make sense of the inconsistencies and problems of HLV and TAB because in NO WAY do I think Moffat and Gatiss are bad writers. Not for a second do I believe that they don’t know exactly what they are doing, so there’s a reason why nothing makes sense from the Domestic™ on. It could be dream, it could be mind palace ala coma, it could be alien abduction, but it will never be that Mofftiss just don’t know what they are doing.

One of the arguments against EDT is that the simplest solution is always the best, and that the writers always broadcast when we are in Mind Palace mode, in order to keep the lines clean.

I read that ‘argument’ yesterday and I have to wholeheartedly disagree because NO THEY DON’T. Case in point, the stealth mind palace sequence in TSOT (which I know has been discussed to death, but seems more relevant in light of all the arguments concerning EMP / EDT):

John (plaid shirt, blue jumper)  the morning after the stag night, in Hudders’ kitchen-

John (plaid shirt, blue jumper) has just left Hudders’ and gone up to the flat to find Sherlock

Sherlock in mind palace during the Mayfly Man deduction with John (different plaid shirt, maroon jumper)

Back in 221B, we would expect everything to be as it was, but still we have John in different clothes (plaid shirt, maroon jumper)

There is also the fact of ALL those laptops that was a clue as to what was ‘real’ and what was ‘mind palace’, but it still didn’t stop viewers from missing them as tells. I’m sure there are viewers at this moment that still don’t know ALL of these scenes were mind palace. Mofftiss have, from the beginning, shown the mind palace as bleeding in and out of real life.

It’s lovely that you point out how John and the TAB hospital scene and Sherlock’s gravedigging scene could be real life influence. It’s said that people in comas do have some sense of what is going on around them and seems to be a possible explanation to the physical manifestation of what we are shown because I’m sure those scenes are working on figurative (Sherlock digging his own grave, allusion to death) and literal (John, standing over his bed, checking his eyes for dilation with the pen light) levels. Blurring the lines between reality and mind palace as they are wont to do.

@tjlcisthenewsexy @ebaeschnbliah 

This is so brilliant. I always thought it was weird that when John confronted Mary, he seemed more frustrated with being lied to than the fact that she NEARLY KILLED SHERLOCK.The man that he had killed for and almost died to protect. I just can’t tell where real life starts and the mind palace ends. Sherlock wakes up in the hospital and says “Mary”, as if he’s woken up to a realization. This seems plausible. John is breathless with relief when he tells Mary that Sherlock has woken up -this seems plausible, too. So is everything after that Mind Palace as Sherlock tries to figure out how best to deal with Mary in a way that wont destroy John?

Reblogging for @monikakrasnorada’s addition, reminding me that there are other MP scenes that are ‘stealth’ MP. 

To @kakashisauce - My personal take on EMP/EDT is that it began after the second time Sherlock collapsed, after Mary is revealed to John, and the domestic in 221B occurred. My main reason for that is that I think John’s behavior in that domestic scene is very much in character and how he would react (with rage) so I’m more inclined to think that was ‘real’. Whereas in scenes later on, especially the tarmac and on the plane in TAB, John seems OOC to me, very passive and somewhat blank, as if Sherlock were imagining John, he just no longer knows how John would react.

But as I’ve mentioned before, John’s OOCness in these scenes might also be an indication that he’s got a ‘secret plan’ regarding Mary, and that, since he’s such a bad liar, his way of being ‘undercover’ is just to go as neutral as possible. That doesn’t solve many of the other issues though.

Anyway, it’s all speculation!