Jolie Black

BBC Sherlock and general Sherlock Holmes Appreciation & Fanfic (Jolie_Black on AO3 / Downton Abbey sideblog @jolie-goes-downton / Conclave sideblog @jolie-goes-rome)

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

The Missing Three Quarter

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

Seeing how Goalhanger basically originated as a football show, I can see how they really went to town with this one. Seeing how I have zero interest in football, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to follow them very far…

But I love John's insights into the business that is professional football and the toll it can take on those who signed up for it.

Not sure why Sherlock had to half-strangle John at night in his hotel room just to make a point , but since it gave John the subsequent opportunity for a *triple* grand exit, I will forgive him.

It’s nice to have the existence of Mycroft Holmes confirmed. Mysteries remain, however - I get the impression that the medical "explanation" for the treatment of the lady is actually total bollocks. The purpose of the creepily collected blood samples has also remained frustratingly elusive. I understand that they probably wanted to set it up for some later Moriarty devilry, but so far (many months later) there’s still no such devilry forthcoming and I’m left with a rather dissatisfied feeling.

"James Mortimer" as red herring for James Moriarty was very clever though. I remember spending a particularly giddy week after that in happy anticipation of the Hound of the Baskervilles, one of my all time favourite ACD stories.

[lisbeth-kk]

Sherlock Holmes’s father, Arthur Conan Doyle, was born OTD in 1859. Thank you for creating the greatest detective in history, and happy heavenly birthday, sir.

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

The Mazarin Stone

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

This story has always been a major WTF one in canon. I can’t make sense of it, and none of the audio or film adaptations I know have helped with that. I remember the trick with Holmes pretending to be a gramophone, or was it the other way round? That particular moment has also sparked a century of discussion about the actual layout of the Baker Street flat and not contributed at all to any solution…

The waxwork, however, is of course from the Empty House. Looking forward to it making an eventual reappearance there. (Jolie typed, months ago. Well, I am content.)

I never know whether to laugh or cry whenever John deliberately exposes himself to situations where his war PTSD catches up with him big time…

Honestly surprised that Sherlock was fine going paintballing *and* clubbing with Stammo and the gang as well!

Mariana Armadillo 😭

John being accosted in the shower when wearing nothing but a spiderman towel 😂

The Derek character is SO annoying. I’d have said the professor from The Three Students was the worst headache so far but he’s just been toppled off that throne.

It‘s nice how they manager to include every silly sci fi movie trope though.

"American Pope" is hilarious, too, in the year of Our Lord 2025. (I can’t believe how many super contemporary references they always manage to sneak in. I don’t envy the team for the extremely tight production schedule they’re on, but I truly love this aspect of the show.)

Greg Cantlemere is a sweet nerdy guy. I was at Mariana-levels of hanky use by the end of his best man’s speech.

Back to the WTF of the actual plot - so Silvius stole the Mazarin Stone from the exhibition in order to sell it on anonymously, fine. But how did Sherlock manage to change places with his waxwork, pull that whole thing into a different room *and* pickpocket Sylvius at the same time without either the guy nor the girlfriend noticing? They can’t be that dumb. And why did the waxwork have to fall out of the window in the end? Questions upon questions - truly worthy of the highly confusing original.

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

Abbey Grange

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

John, please don’t get into knife fights with idiotic youths! You are far too precious for that!

Moving on to the other end of the age spectrum, elder abuse is a new thing in the Sherlock Holmes universe but unfortunately very relevant IRL. In this show, we‘ve had changes of gender and nationality, but to drastically age a canon character was very unexpected to me. But it worked! Not every senior home is as idyllic as in the Thursday Murder Club. Thank you for giving all these unglamorous old people a voice, Mr Emery!

John connecting so well with deaf Derek when Sherlock just can’t warmed my heart. And how he was chatting with the old fellow about outstaying your welcome on earth and letting the young people live their own lives … 😭

But it’s really not just John with a heart of gold on this show. Sherlock’s insights on dementia and identity in the final conversation with Jack … 😭

"For a long time, I didn’t quite understand the need to become someone I’m not, on such a regular basis - to converse, to share feelings, to be curious about the livelihood of others, to matter to others and have them matter to me. But I've realised that if I were to knock it all down, what would I be left with? I’d be left with many things, but nothing that makes life life."

One of my favourite character insights on this whole show.

Also, John’s farewell words to Margaret …😭

That’s a lot of crying emojis, I realise, but some of these cases really get under my skin. Which is absolutely a compliment.

More, please!

P. S. Before this case aired, I predicted, completely incorrectly, that "Abby Grange" was going to be a person. 😆

[jolieblack]

Jolie's notes on

The Priory School

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

Benjamin Duke being a super annoying tech bro who has too many children with too many women is a great modern equivalent to the actual Duke in ACD's story.

"A relative… a relatively well connected individual." Mention of Mycroft!

The way Sherlock introduces Mariana and John to Tom Huxtable 😭😭😭 He really loves and adores them and wants them to be loved and adored by everyone else, too.

Sherlock as a young fellow looking for escape from boarding school hell had me in tears. 😭

The mention of "J. Moriarty, Academic" made me jump.

The idea that Ragged Shaw is a beer brand made me smile.

Shoutout also to Joel Emery for the awful racist not being a murderer because that’s just too cliché, and then being an actual murderer after all. Plot twist kudos!

I have yet to find out why Jim Wilder tried to abduct Saltire. I mean, what was his purpose? To demand ransom? But all right. Those toxic family dynamics came through just fine. Thank you also to the team for making Saltire 16 years old and not a little kid like in the original story. I can never get over how traumatised the poor little fellow was going to be. To have something like this happen at 16 is bad enough.

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

The Blanched Soldier

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

What a clever way to incorporate the canon oddity of Holmes being the narrator of this case! Of course Sherlock would be shite at hosting the podcast. Loved his awkward version of the usual intro!

It took me a long time to get that Dennis the Pokemon guy was completely unrelated to the actual case.

It’s always intriguing to find out more about John’s military past. I also found myself extremely fond of James M Dodd.

[John complains about the nanny state] - Mariana: "You’re veering to the right. I mean the car." 😂

"I don’t really like people touching me." - Mariana you powerful woman. To me that’s a powerful statement anyway, rather than a repressed and uptight one.

The case itself is a great modernisation of the original. The reconciliation at the end was so touching. I don’t usually have much sympathy for types like the Colonel, but his breakdown was so believable.

I‘m so glad Freddy is going to be OK, I wasn’t going to accept anything else.

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

A Scandal in Bohemia

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

This is another Sherlock & Co. case where I don’t even know where to begin un-jumbling my jumbled feelings. I’ll just walk through them chronologically.

I still have no idea WTF Sherlock‘s soliloquy at the start ("I want a coffee") was about.

I was delighted at him trying out all those disguises just like in ACD's original The checkout clerk in Sainsbury‘s was SO annoying.

Also nice to see the Merrilowes and Eugenia again (and doing well!), and Langdale Pyke arresting people for fashion crimes…

Sherlock reading secret messages into the ruin of John‘s Swindon Town tea towel cracked me up.

John rescuing Mary‘s music box from the kitchen fire was so touching 😭 (and great foreshadowing for role of fire in the denouement).

I am proud to have called the identity switching the moment a Miss Norton was introduced as Irene‘s understudy in the 1st episode. It was SO clear that that was how Irene was going to get away in the end.

Did anyone else spend quite a lot of time trying to figure out if the John Kent legend was a thing IRL? (Not to my knowledge, but it may be?) At any rate, much more touching and engaging than the original King of Bohemia having been caught on camera snogging an American celeb, which was never going to raise any more eyebrows in the 21st century.

I love how they reinterpreted the "Bohemia" reference as "La Boheme" - That is some glorious music right there and it was gloriously employed throughout the entire case.

Irene being super charming and kind and John suddenly falling under her spell was quite a surprise! I wish I could tell whether she’s real when she’s charming and kind. I have to believe that she is, or else I will be very, very worried about the welfare of her child and very disturbed by her getting away. But what a complex character. Certainly my favourite version of Irene Adler in any adaptation that I’m familiar with. Interesting especially that this Irene has an actual baby she wants to protect, I believe this is a first in the Sherlock Holmes universe as well.

Sherlock’s relationship with her has me a little puzzled. I’m very relieved that it isn’t about sex appeal and that he’s not behaving like a lovestruck idiot. But she certainly made a huge impression on him to have him fanboying like that at each of her shows, and she somehow did manage to make him fatally over-confident.

"My dear companion" 🥺

Sherlock's extremely detailed and plausible backstory for "Dan"'s family dynamics - I won’t believe that there isn’t autobiographical aspect in that. Possibly multiple ones.

John's enforced shoutouts while in police custody 😂

"Listen, loverboys - " 😆

So many great moments.

I may have to make an extra meta post on the subject of Sherlock and religion, on which I have many, many thoughts, greatly fuelled by this episode but not limited to it. To say the least, I am surprised at his (apparent) attitude towards the subject whenever it comes up, but it’s a positive kind of surprise!

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

Charles Augustus Milverton

(Sherlock & Co. Podcast)

Charles Augustus Milverton being one of the most iconic bad guys in the Sherlock Holmes universe, and of course Holmes and Watson making out hiding out in his room and constantly holding hands throughout the case is equally iconic, so expectations were high. And Joel Emery & the podcast team did not disappoint!

CAM himself was delightfully disgusting. I wanted to cheer John for knocking him out in defence of Sherlock.

I was in two minds at first about how the cases have started intertwining. Sherlock already sneaking around London doing research and having meetings with John and Mariana out of the way on the Lady Frances Carfax case… The unknown semi-murderous lady being Irene Adler…

But now I feel that it’s really skilfully done. You have heard me complain before about other SH adaptations that they all lose something (in my eyes) when they stop being actual cases and instead descend into a multi-episode Moriarty hunt. But in this case, Joel may just be pulling off the impossible and turning the Moriarty presence/influence into an every-present background thrill, without taking away from (or entirely eliminating) the actual cases, or demeaning the other powerful characters who populate them.

Talking about icons, I couldn’t believe we got "Sherrinford Holmes", John Watson with a moustache AND the deerstalker all in the same case! But poor John, everyone hates the moustache but everyone loves the deerstalker. I will have to have a word with Sherlock wearing it to his most famous breakin, though. Way to stay incognito!

I figured that a data drive was a good alternative for absolutely scandalous documents, although I also want to have a word with CAM for using such an idiotically easily breakable password. Didn’t tech savvy people stop using lexical words as passwords around 2005?

"Wild child" - "I‘m familiar with that euphemism." Oh Sherlock. 😭

"We‘re so synchronised!" - How to say I love you in Sherlock Holmes.

"Take my hand!" YES!

Does anyone else feel an urgent need to meet Sherlock’s super-hacker cousin Raffles? (And is that name a reference to something outside of ACD? If yes, I’m not getting it.)

Oh and of course the CAM story also includes the Agatha/finacée saga. Possibly one of the cruellest things Sherlock Holmes ever did. And I have yet to come across an adaptation where that stunt is presented as exactly as cruel as it is. In the BBC radio plays, Agatha gets engaged with Holmes only to spite her actual serious boyfriend, with whom she has had a row, and bounces back to him right away. In the BBC TV series, "Agatha"/Janine ultimately gets money & fame out of the affair, while Sherlock only gets humiliation. In our podcast, Agatha is clearly after improving her immigration status (which I honestly can’t believe Sherlock didn’t see). Has any adaptation ever had the guts to spell out that it is genuinely not OK to break a girl’s heart just to break into a home? It’s also funny to me how all the adaptations are very eager to stress that they definitely didn’t have sex.

But I don’t remember any previous adaptation where John's jealousy over Agatha leads to an action physical tussle between himself and Sherlock, so that was definitely a plus. These guys are so ridiculous, I love them.

Also, "I can perform the role of a straight man in the grips of love." - "No you can't."

I know I’m very late to the conversation and this has been pointed out already by everyone except myself, but there would honestly be no reason whatsoever for Sherlock to explicitly not self-define as straight if he actually was.

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

I swear I had detailed notes on this case… Or maybe I expected to have them, seeing how this is one of the more fantastical stories of ACD's, but I like it - Watson hunting a bad guy across half the European continent, not knowing half of what he’s actually doing, and then back in London a life-and-death showdown…

Consider me ever so slightly unimpressed with this version.

I guess narratively, in crime stories, it’s always a terrible anticlimax when a supposed crime is really just an insurance scam and your supposed victim turns out to be in on the plot. I believe that as a writer, you need to offer your readers massive rewards in every other way if you’re going to disappoint them like that with the main plot line. Not sure Joel & co achieved that here.

I giggled so hard at the nod to the Giant Rat of Sumatra. I believe wholeheartedly that Sherlock deserved a bout of Enforced Oscillation for being a dick. The Charles Augustus Milverton namedrop intrigued me. But every time there was an excerpt from the Lady Frances show, I wanted to rip off my headphones and throw my device across the room. I understand that Lady F and her idiot sidekick are a parody of the older Sherlock Holmes adaptions where Holmes and Watson are made to look and sound like that. I would still have appreciated not to be subjected to so many painful soundbites.

I don’t remember a single Sherlock & Co. case where I felt mollified and indeed comforted by the presence and utterances of Carol Watson. But as they say, there’s a first time for everything.

"He loves you, John, and you love him."

Carol speaking the truth like that hit me like a freight train out of nowhere.

P. S. If you get the impression that I‘m a bloody whiner who is dragging your favourite podcast through the mud, I‘m honestly not. I love Sherlock & Co., have loved it from the first minute and I desperately want everyone to keep listening to it because of how good it is! The next case was already a vast improvement again that had me fully back on board without reservations.

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s thoughts on

Wisteria Lodge

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

Oh, well done updating this case for 2025. The "Tiger of Damascus" sounds just about right.

Ngl I spent almost the entire case in absolute terror just because of the idea that Mariana has been chatting both on the phone and at the door with Professor Moriarty, and what terrible danger that put her in. Well, we don’t know if they‘ll go full irrational psychopath with this version of Moriarty (I‘d prefer a more imaginative take tbh), so maybe it’s not dangerous at all to just chat on the phone with him. But Andrew Scott has created a long-lasting legacy in my mind there, I‘m afraid.

Back to Wisteria Lodge:

"Why are you conversing with the police?" - "Why are you not?" Classic super cool rejoinder, that. 😎

John being horribly jealous of Inspector Baynes. 😁 It‘s probably not nice of me, but I always find it very sweet when he reacts like that to Sherlock bonding with other men. And I‘m also very fond of how John and Inspector "Raynes" then actually start working together quite well in part 2 when it really matters.

"To be fair, this high level thinker called me Mrs Hudson for a year." You tell him, Mariana! 😝

"Why on earth do you have a helicopter?" - "Why are you naked?" - "I asked you first!" 😂

I love the little modernisations in this one. Tracking down the traitor‘s residence through the router name as the modern version of chatting with former servants at the local pub? Brilliant.

I was quite surprised at how badly Sherlock lost it when the final bad guy resolved the stalemate in that unexpected way. Sure, the story was very tragic and very moving, but, yeah. I was surprised. Love how John supports him through it though. And how he starts panicking on Sherlock‘s behalf when they learn of their client‘s death and John thinks Sherlock is going to go and take drugs to cope.

Also, I‘m happy to hear that John is feeling better about Mary and the Sign of Four debacle. Too bad that every time he starts opening up about it, his hard-won inner tranquility is either shattered by a gunshot or by the absent-mindedness of his supposed friends… Mariana, honestly.

Do we ever actually learn who Ali Garcia and his associates were going to target in London? Well, we obviously know that Eccles got too close to the truth to be allowed to survive, but who *was* the intended victim? Does it even matter?

And that final crackle of static in the seconds before the end credits set in? Is that John just fiddling incompetently with his microphone, or is that someone else listening in on Sherlock’s reaction to the news that he’s been beaten by M? 😱

I don’t think that any Sh&Co case has ever left me with a greater sense of unease. The urge to engage in some more Reichenbach speculation became very strong.

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

Black Peter

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

Spending more than 6 minutes on investigating the death of Cardinal Tosca, and then another 3 on Wilson the Canary Trainer is more than we ever got from ACD, and it would be lovely if it didn’t have an element of the writer desperately trying to fill the time.

It took me a relisten to realise that the recurring joke of "our producers want a new episode asap" is the creators of the show’s way of reflecting on that fact.

Black Peter becoming an outcast when he goes off the rails with the conspiracy theories was so realistic but also so sad. I mean, I‘d never questioned in ACD‘d story that BP was just an asshole, I was always too busy loving ACD for infallibly and fiercely taking the side of the battered women, like he always does. But I really approve of how Joel so often adds depth and humanity to the more two dimensional of ACD‘s villains. The way BP’s wife describes losing him was so touching.

Little thing I liked:

Stanley Hopkins getting a real career boost! I like him a lot so it was great to see him again.

Not clear on how the traumatised Japanese tourist comes into the story at all, except for Mariana to show off her frankly ridiculous supposed language skills. (I like her being organised and clever but I don’t want two prodigy geniuses on this show, thank you.) I mean, the Japanese guy’s ACD equivalent is your classic red herring in every way because he does have a connection to the case and a secret of his own to protect. The poor Japanese guy is just a random complication.

All in all, this case left me somewhat underwhelmed, I'm sorry to say. Luckily here we are a year later, knowing already that it’s absolutely worth it to keep listening!

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s notes on

The Veiled Lodger

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

ACD‘s story of the Veiled Lodger is hands down the least "detective" of all his detective stories. Holmes and Watson go and intrude on the quiet, inoffensive life of a reclusive woman, she freely tells them about her traumatic past, no deductions involved, and they part as friends. If it wasn’t for Holmes‘s therapeutic qualities that always warm my heart, and for ACD stalwartly and unequivocally championing the cause of the Battered Woman *again*, this story would be a disappointment from the crime aficionado‘s POV.

I did not imagine a sit com aspect to enter this version, seeing how extremely bleak and sad the original story is. It was welcome comic relief though, ngl. The deerstalker reference… Sherlock starting a snowball fight… Loved it.

I also didn’t expect deductions to come into it! Joel managed to make not-a-detective story into an actual detective story. It‘s not often that an adaptation actually improves on the original, but this is definitely one of those cases. Kudos indeed.

And kudos to both Sherlock and John being the therapists here. Eugenia‘s story is literally painful to listen to. John is the one who guides her through it and then only at the end do we find out that Sherlock has been holding her hand all this time! A perfect collaboration.

"Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it." - Those have always been beautiful words, but they‘ve just become ten times more beautiful by Sherlock actually saying them to John rather than (only) to a chance encounter, especially after the loss of Mary.

[jolieblack]

Jolie's notes on

The Three Gables

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

Still obsessively catching up with my case notes from a year ago…

Sherlock & Mariana trying to keep the show going while John is in no state to do it… So touching.

My headcanon does not agree with the concept of Sherlock being older than Mariana, but there you go.

Sherlock going all BAMF on Barney Stockdale was a pure joy, only to be surpassed minutes later by one of my Sh & Co. favourite characters of all time, Langdale Pyke! What a creation. What a vivid persona, just through the audio! And I can’t express how utterly intrigued *and* delighted I am by how at ease Sherlock is with them.

And I didn’t know I needed Gary bloody Linneker to dispense wisdom about grief and lack of confidence, but I do love how this shows plays with the concept of the fourth wall, and sometimes it’s just completely gone and those moments are among the best.

John‘s conversation with the sick kid. 🥹🥹🥹

Sherlock’s final revelation speech was so perfect, I always love those and he really didn’t disappoint. As for the actual case, well done Joel for spicing up a rather pedestrian original story.

[jolieblack]

Jolie's notes on

The Sign of Four Part

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

I‘m sorry, but this case absolutely broke my brain. There’s no way my meagre episode notes will be able to do it justice in the slightest.

The return of Mary Morstan! OMG, I had made my peace with either Mary Morstan being a throwaway offscreen one-liner in the pilot, or with her being a brand-new character. I did not expect her to come *back*, tying in nicely with the pilot and then gaining such a personality of her own after all. I think I love everything about her and if it was ever OK in any Sherlock Holmes universe for Dr Watson to be happy with Mary Morstan long-term (which it is not), then this Mary and our Jonk would have been a great, great match.

"Parents don’t have favourite children." - "I assure you they do." - Our first glimpse at Sherlock‘s painful family history. I CANNOT wait to meet Mycroft and find out more.

Sherlock not wanting to retain information about astrophysics was such a lovely reference to his canon disregard for the solar system!

The creepy music box jingle was a bit of a cliché, but the soundscapes of this particular case are absolutely amazing.

Also, the famous watch deduction- I squealed with delight. "Cheap, sentimental and superstitious." 😂 I can’t believe though that both John‘s granddad *and* dad died in action and John still became a soldier afterwards.

I spent the entire adventure wondering when John‘s grandpa‘s military watch was going to come up again.

"I was looking for something… I did find it, yeah. It doesn’t do laundry and it plays the violin all night, but I finally feel like me." What a declaration of love! 💜

And then a minute later we get a bi Mary, too? What a lucky bunch are we even, people?

And that jealousy of John‘s over Sherlock’s fondness for Toby, and then Sherlock’s much worse jealousy of Mary… So telling.

Love the nod to the BBC version in how they gave our boys their own private lab at Barts, with Stamford as the door opener this time. Love how he has taken on a life of his own in the show! "I don’t save lives, I save egos." 😂

"You said my name!"

"He did it!"

"Can we go back to teasing Watson please?" 😂

I love that Past Sherlock/Victor is officially canon now, too.

I did not expect our gang to actually go to India to figure out the case. But yeah, in the 21st century, they absolutely would.

Sherlock taking Athelney Jones down a peg or two when he bursts into their hotel room was a delight.

And then when the trip turns into a road rail movie to Pondicherry, it’s just bursting with friendship and joy. The way Sherlock laughs when they retell the duck chase story from the Noble Bachelor, I don‘t suppose we‘ve ever heard him laugh so happily and unreservedly. Sherlock calling the elephant "lovely fellow". 🥹🐘 I think it’s this short sequence that will stay with me forever.

"Indiana Holmes" 🤣 Sometimes John is just ✨inspired✨.

The sniffer dog chase made me very happy indeed. As did Sherlock‘s second ever most unrestrained laugh in the history of the show.

"Tobias Forester, get back here!" 😂

Athelney Jones grew on me massively throughout this second part pf the case. He is undoubtedly the Interpol agent with the weirdest sense of humour ever.

And well done John for deducing who the white-faced bad guy was, even though Sherlock got there independently anyway.

Sherlock locking Mariana‘s case so the vital evidence wouldn’t get revealed too soon is such classic Sherlock Holmes.

"Who are you?" - "My name is John Watson, once of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, now a true crime podcaster based in Central London…" - What a refrain.

Sherlock taking down the bad guys with the electric carving knife was quite something as well.

I mentioned the amazing soundscapes of this particular case already in my notes on Volume 1, but nothing in this case surpasses Sherlock taking the stolen speedboat down the Thames at 44 knots, cool as a cucumber, to something very reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. What glory.

And then we get to the Andalucia and the showdown… Well. Mary Morstan & John Watson, cursed forever. I don’t think I expected the curse to take this drastic form in this show, to be honest. But yeah. It works, strangely enough. Especially taken together with the aftermath as depicted in the following couple of cases. Poor Mary. Poor John. Forever sidelined in favour of the most beautiful bromance in the history of crime fiction.

[jolieblack]

Jolie's notes on

The Resident Patient

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

The cricketer killing his rival, what a row of deductions before sunrise & breakfast!

The whole "opposites attract" conversation warmed my heart.

Poor John and his fear of the supernatural… Hound of the Baskervilles is going to be SO much fun.

Well… the Resident Patient is of course one of Sherlock Holmes’s actual failures, with the mystery solved but the victim not saved in time. I love how touchy our Sherlock is after that, how abrasive especially with Percy, and with the perpetrators. I would have expected a bout of depression, but that spurt of aggressive energy was quite something, too.

Nice deductions, too - another case of this version actually improving on the original by adding more of those. Stellar writing!

[jolieblack]

Jolie's notes on

The Red Circle

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

OK, this is the culprit. This is the Sherlock & Co. episode that didn’t seem worth typing up a whole review for, and once you let things slide, they, well slide. So there hasn’t been episode commentary from me in, what, over a year? 😭 Is anyone actually still listening to this show?

I will do my best to catch up, however. So, here are my episode notes for The Red Circle, which tbh is only memorable in the original ACD story because of the clever substitution of lodgers and the light signals. If you asked me to recount the actual plot including the backstory, I wouldn’t get far.

"What did you call me?" 😂

It is plausible though that our boys' fame is finally catching up with them.

Their reenacting of the adventure for the mic was SO awkward!

Mariana & friend pranking the boys - loved it.

"It means I can stare at them disapprovingly and tut on occasion." 😂

"Il gioco e in corso" 😆

Loved the twin city code!

Sherlock sending them off on a wild chase to Romney with the train times, that was SO BBC Sherlock even down to the music! Sometimes (surprisingly rarely) this show does stand on the shoulders of its older and bigger cousin.

Tom Gregson grudgingly cooperating with our boys… We love the Gregster.

The reality TV show thing will have to be explained it to me, I‘m afraid. Is that a thing, screaming women like that on TV? Why would anyone on earth watch that?

My favourite part of this case was definitely the showdown, with the Mickey Mouse voices and the ending of part 3 on a literal cliff hanger was just plain EVIL. Swordfight in the British Museum… "It’s a brrreakfast drrrrink!!!" 🥷⚔️ … The red dot coming from the microphone not a rifle … Watson keeping the bad guy at bay with a historical sword. What a hero! And then getting arrested as a museum protester. 😝

"The password is Met123, but with a capital M" 😂

And some good old deducing with the CCTV footage. Mariana is turning into a right hacker! I love how she sped up the analysis.

Keeping in mind especially how the original story is riddled with stereotypes, this is another instance of the podcast improving on the original version imho.

[mandarintheactor]

Found this on Pinterest,

Still true.