isitandwonder:obotligtnyfiken:The Abominable Bride is...

isitandwonder:

obotligtnyfiken:

The Abominable Bride is driving me mad. I keep leaving it out of my infographics since there is no way of knowing if anything in that episode is real. There have been many discussions about this since the episode aired, so I decided to break down what the options are.

Option 1: Nothing in The Abominable Bride is real, except the flashbacks in the beginning. This reading was, to my knowledge, introduced by @skulls-and-tea in this post and is based mainly on the fact that Mycroft’s clothes, especially his tie and scarf, are not exactly the same as when we last saw Mycroft on the tarmac in His Last Vow. This is supported by the mindboggling fact that mind palace scenes in previous episodes have been inverted when it comes to clothes, decor, furniture etc. (as has been shown in this discussion ) This interpretation has come to be known as #tie hell and is also a part of the so called Extended Mind Palace (#emp) and Extended Dream Time (#edt).

Option 2: If the entire episode is a morphine dream as Sherlock lies wounded in hospital after being shot by Mary in His Last Vow, the scene where he wakes up in a hospital bed could be partly real. The room would be real, but Sherlock’s clothes, his lack of injury and the conversation with Mycroft should still be part of his dream. I have lost track of who has discussed this where, but @isitandwonder mentions it in this post

Option 3: All the Victorian scenes are a dream. The first and last airplane scenes are real, but the modern scenes where Sherlock wakes up on a bed and then goes to dig up Emilia Ricolettis grave are a dream. There have been discussions of several dream levels, similar to the film Inception.

Option 4: It is possible to imagine that the scenes where Sherlock wakes up on a bed and goes to dig up the grave are real as well up until the skeleton moves. It makes no narrative sense, though, since they are still in the airplane in the next modern scene. So no, let’s ignore option 4.

Option 5: Mark Gatiss has joked that The Abominable Bride opens up for the interpretation that the entire show is the drug induced imaginings of a 19th century detective. So that is the fifth option, I suppose, but several scenes in the Victorian world must be dreams as well, at least the ones where Moriarty appears.

I think I have covered all possibilities, but please let me know if
you’ve thought of something that I have missed. I am also hopelessly
lost as to who has made which point where, so please chip in if you want
to link to relevant meta.

Tagging the people involved in the discussion I mentioned for Option 1:  @skulls-and-tea​, @adlerforpresident​,  @johnlockhell221b​, @recentlyfolded​, @lynneyginnyjoan​, @asherlockstudy​, @isitandwonder​ and @tjlcisthenewsexy​ (and a few more that I can’t tag)

This brings some order to the chaos. Thanks @obotligtnyfiken! I’ll opt for 1 or 2…

Wonderful infographic and discussion of what’s real or not in TAB.