The Hiker and The Backfire Deduction~ ASiB

Out of all the techniques used in BBC Sherlock, I think my favorite is the use of mirrors. The Hiker and The Backfire are among one of the most complicated, and lSiT breaks it down beautifully in this.

myc1ara asked: Hello! I absolutely love your M-theory! I thought it was brilliant! I have an observation that I would like your opinion on: in ASiB, the same music plays when Mycroft receives the text from Moriarty in the scene that the driver sees the hiker killed just after he shows up in 221B. What do you make of that?

I planned to cover this in the S&S entry for A Scandal in Belgravia, but I’ll do it now…

It’s EXTREME heartbreak music. And because it’s so extreme, it’s used sparingly: we only ever hear it three times, iirc:

1. the hiker deduction (this is the big thing)

2. Mycroft being devastated by Moriarty’s text

3. Sherlock’s epiphany that it’s about to be “too late” when he drops his champagne glass before toasting John’s marriage.

So what about that hiker, eh? What could that possibly do with heartbreak? Well, we know it’s got something to do with something important because a lot of time is spent on it and it has NO relevance to the plot of ASiB.

It’s actually my favorite subtext in the show, because it’s a tricky one: it’s BEAUTIFULLY constructed and terribly clever. The hiker and the client who sees the hiker are both mirrors for John, but separate parts of him. I’ll set up why each is a mirror, and then explain what’s going on in the scene.

Then for the hell of it, I’ll tell you John’s other mirror in the episode, because it’s a quick one. This is pretty long (pictures and videos, too), so here’s a cut:

First, keep this in mind: I’ve said over and over that the pool scene is where John realizes he’s undeniably in love with Sherlock. (If you don’t believe me now, see how you feel at the end of this.) Before that point John may have suspected, may have told himself it was just a crush, whatever. But he was willing to give his life at the pool, and that changed things for both John and Sherlock. On the surface, you’d think they left the pool and never thought about it again, but that’s the exact opposite of reality. The entirety of A Scandal in Belgravia is both of them wrestling with what they think are hopeless feelings for the other.

Second, John’s blog tells us exactly what he did after the pool debacle: took a trip to New Zealand with Sarah, which is good, right? We learned in The Great Game John hadn’t had sex with her yet, and there was no point during the episode he could have done so, so hey, nice going, John, must have gotten laid! …Except, huh, they broke up there. They went all the way to New Zealand together… and broke up there. What could have happened?

In the comments, Sherlock says John didn’t tell him he broke up with her. John didn’t want to talk about whatever precipitated it, apparently.

Oh well, guess it’s just a mystery!

So let’s meet the client.

First thing is he dresses like John:

And we get this odd shot with John sitting behind him, literally in the background of the guy’s story. We almost always see John and Sherlock looking at the clients together, but this time it’s intentionally framed this way.

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