Meta: Final Problem is John’s Dying Brain
In The Final Problem, a dying John is deducing both what happened to Sherlock’s sister, and his own heart.
This is a long scene by scene meta, but it’s taken me from a non-believer (we’ve been betrayed) to fairly convinced we’re going to see something else, a beautiful resolution. I have purposely not studied other people’s meta on this, to see whether we can independently come up with something similar. Plenty of evidence elsewhere that what we are seeing is NOT real.
So what do we see in John’s dying brain? It’s a mix of regrets, self-discovery and hope, wish-fulfilment and misunderstanding. In TFP John is deducing both what has happened to Sherlock’s sister (with a healthy dose of film lore - he’s been watching too many films), and also deducing what is happening in his own heart.
He sees Sherlock as in control, incredibly smooth and good-looking, much different from the very messed up, raw Sherlock we see in TLD. Perhaps Sherlock’s rawness and genuine concern is frightening for John.
He sees a Sherlock who values John for his contribution to cases, for being a solider. But he also starts to see the truth about Sherlock - a man who loves, him, Molly, Mycroft even.
He sees a man who has just sacrificed himself (the Governor) to save someone (his clearly loved wife) who dies anyway: Sherlock has sacrificed himself on multiple occasions (from TRF, to HLV, to his near-death experience in TLD), and all for nothing. John’s dying. Euros got them both.
Opening Scene on Plane
We open on a doomed aeroplane reminiscent of Bond Air. AKA The flight of the dead. John is the girl, on the plane. There is a girl who wakes up (John returning to sort-of consciousness after gunshot), she tries her mother with no response (John is very much alone - no family that we yet know of, yet). He knows he needs oxygen. The oxygen masks are down, yet the plane seems to be flying smoothly, no signs of an explosion. Everyone else has died from lack of oxygen to the brain, which is what will happen to him soon.
He gets on the phone which is ringing, looking for help. Moriarty is back. Sherlock has never explained why he believes Moriarty is dead, so this is a realistic fear for John. (John is maybe attempting to telephone for help, or contact Sherlock, perhaps Eurus is doing it for him, to make Sherlock suffer.)
John and Sherlock’s Hoax
This is all hoax sign-posting. We see Mycroft watching a (fake) film, which has lots of innuendo about an investigator and a young lady. Others have commented already. The dialogue refers to Christianity, Adam and Eve, and the start of all human misery. This may be relevant to the internalised homophobia affecting John. John is trying to get help from Mycroft at this point.
Mycroft tries to escape, trying the doors. (John’s remembrance of Eurus locking the doors, rather obviously in TLD). There follows an insane, nightmare-like sequences of film references which point to not just the hoaxing of Mycroft, but a wider hoax. This is John’s dying brain mixing up his favourite films: Mycroft with a sword, The Shining, clowns, the Bond film tune We have all the time in the world. We get a lot more of this imagery later.
Mycroft’s “Sherlock, help me” Is John in real life asking Sherlock for help for his gunshot wound.
221B and the Drone
“Memories can resurface, wounds can re-open, and yours have been waiting a very long time.” (Referring to John’s emotional wound, which has not been fully explored yet.)
We see Eurus’ jumper (turns out to be a cardigan) looks identical to a famous John jumper. From this point on we assume John = Eurus. The child checking their muscles could even be John - he did become a doctor. We see John’s memories of things Mycroft has said about Redbeard the dog, also possibly Sherlock’s heart, as well as Sherlock as a pirate. Mycroft has previously used both Redbeard and Sherlock as pirate as ways to demonstrate that Sherlock has a heart. Maybe this is John finally internalising it.
Lady Bracknell - set up for later, and a hint this is not real. Could be John wondering what will happen to his baby Rosie, who he has left with someone, presumably, whilst he goes to therapy. He doesn’t want to abandon her like Earnest was accidentally abandoned.
“Demons beneath the road” - this sounded literary so I google it. No luck. However, if we’re talking about fairy tales (and we are, they are mentioned elsewhere in TFP), a demon beneath the road could be a troll. Trolls are evil creatures which like to hand out below bridges (roads) in fairy tales. What is a troll? Someone who fishes from a line behind the boat, hoping the fish will snatch. Also someone who cleverly, deliberately and secretly upsets people, using fake stories and arguments in order to provoke an emotional response.
The drone bomb is known as the ‘patience bomb’ - because you have to keep still and patient. The Patience DX 707 is also the name of a clinical thermometer. Mycroft mentions he’s authorised the purchase of a few over the years… so I bet has John. At this point John is being treated by paramedics, they’re referring to him as the patient. They’re sticking a thermometer in him. He’s partially aware. He remembers his daughter (Sherlock - He’s got a daughter, might want to phone her. This could be happening in reality.) There’s also a flash of fire. Possibly a defibrillator?
And where do we go next? That’s right…
The Fishing Boat
John is remembering how Sherlock always wanted to be a pirate - he’s starting to figure out Sherlock’s heart. He’s surrounded by yellow jackets. Could be emergency services. John’s unconscious here. Sherlock, John and Mycroft are together, no sign of any injury though his brain is trying to tell him it’s not real - he’s in a story (the phone call about Mycroft being in hospital, when he’s on the boat - really they should ALL be in hospital after than explosion). This is such a dream sequence - explosion, then on a fishing boat, no injuries. I wonder if they’re in the same clothes (no time to check). Helicopter - background helicopter could be emergency services. Sherlock’s jump onto the boat, coat flying, is reminiscent of TRF. Sirens, alarms and lights could all be the ambulance/hospital.
Eurus’ Cell
Eurus’ cell is a prison within a prison. Eurus’ cell = John’s heart, what he has locked away. Eurus=John=scared child in plane. She gives Sherlock her violin. John knows that if he dies, Sherlock will need a new violin to express his emotions, as his has been destroyed in the (not real) explosion.
John imagines Sherlock playing Irene’s tune (if it really is), and imagines this shows Sherlock has had sex. He’s jealous. He still doesn’t understand.
John starts to deduce (he’s not stupid) how Eurus escaped and he’s struggling to communicate that in real life to Sherlock. He’s dying but he’s trying to keep Sherlock from further danger, and alert him to his own: Vatican Cameos. But his worst nightmare happens - Sherlock ignores Vatican Cameos. That would never happen.
Interestingly Eurus/John admits he had sex - with someone - didn’t know or care if it was a man or a woman. It broke them. John is bi. Not sure how it broke them.
So now Eurus/John is locked in a glass cell, rather like a glass closet - that place in Hollywood where gay actors and gay couples are known by insiders to be gay, but have not officially announced it.
But the glass isn’t real. When Sherlock get close, he finally realises that he can break through the glass wall. Eurus/John can escape his prison. The glass, incidentally, also says “Elephant Glass. Shock Proof”. John (in Eurus’ voice) realises that Sherlock can see a lot, but he has not been able to see the truth about John’s heart.
Then we have Moriarty doing a taunting emergency announcement, naming all sorts of films - hints this is all a creation of John’s mind as he deals with the trauma of dying (rather like Redbeard). The sequence becomes weird and crazy dreamlike. John sinks to a deeper level of unconsciousness, this is where we find Moriarty, like in Sherlock’s dying mind palace, right at the bottom.
John realises finally that Moriarty is gay. Which explains rather a lot about his interactions with Sherlock. Maybe he didn’t pick that up before. We also get the ‘I want to be free’ music sung by the most famous gay rock star in history, a gay anthem about wanting to be free. John/Eurus wants to be free of this cell he/she has voluntarily returned to.
Euros meets Moriarty: John deducing how Eurus escaped?
The Governor
We’re at 50% of the screenplay here. This should be a turning-point, or where the story becomes about something else, and I think it is where John starts to figure out love.
There are interesting parallels between John/Mary and the Governor and his wife. Either John or Mycroft have to kill to save the Governor’s wife (Mary). John asks himself, via the Governor, what he would do to get his wife back. John looks extremely uncomfortable, and ultimately will not sacrifice himself (or presumably Sherlock) just to save Mary. He tries and he tries. He tells himself he’s doing the right thing, the Governor is doing the right thing, but he can’t do it. “You’re doing a good thing. So are you.”
The Governor sacrifices himself to save his wife, but to no purpose - Sherlock has sacrificed himself so many times, and all for nothing - John is dying.
Eurus/John: We should have fitted you with a cardiograph… Want to see inside John’s heart, how does he really feel about his wife.
Then Eurus reveals this scene is not about saving Mary/Governor’s wide, but about revealing their hearts and emotions, and their morals. Mary/Governor’s wife dies anyway.
We then flick back to the plane sequence so quickly it’s impossible it could happen in real time, further proof it’s not real. Sherlock is very gentle with the girl/John. I think this is Sherlock talking to a dying John. John also sees now how Sherlock can be gentle when he cares, like at the end of TLD.
Three Garridebs
Such a disappointment for all the TJLC fans. The Garridebs were literally left dangling - in other words, they (and we) are being kept in suspense about them, this case, which is the most gay of the stories, and which we have all been waiting for.
The Buffalo Gun links to Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, and is problematic on its own.
But why are the Garridebs different? In Conan Doyle, the 3 Garridebs is actually a ridiculous, made-up story, as Sherlock notes in canon, full of discrepancies. Garrideb 1 is actually James Winter aka Killer Evans, who killed 3 men in the US. 2nd Garrideb is entirely made up so Killer Evans can get to the hidden forgery fake again equipment under his house. 3rd Garrideb is the only real one. But why do they have different names now? In canon we had Nathan, Howard, and ‘John’. John was the killer. In Sherlock we had Alex, Howard, and Nathan. Alex was the killer.
Sherlock’s deduction of the killer (John/Alex) is similar to his deduction of John being the shooter on their first night together, ASiP.
Euros notes that the case itself doesn’t matter, she just wanted to see how Sherlock reacts to the people around him. John wonders what his position in Sherlock’s life is - he can help with guns, and military deductions. He has value. Interestingly Sherlock glances at John when he mentions being soldiers. Has John finally realised that Sherlock has an attraction to soldiers, that all the nice boys like a… soldier?
Coffin
The third problem - this is a complex, absolutely crucial scene.
Sherlock talks gently to girl/John/Eurus, trying to get clues. Mycroft wants to sacrifice the girl/John/Eurus for the greater good. Sherlock won’t.
Eurus/John: “Someone’s about to die.. Tragedy.. So many words unsaid et cetera et cetera.” Holy cow. That’s what John said to his other therapist, when Sherlock ‘died’, it’s what Sherlock was saying before going to his supposed death in the plane. John is realising here that what he and Sherlock have both not managed to say is: I love you.
This is not about Molly. It’s about the fact that John is about to die, and neither he nor Sherlock ever got the guts to tell each other how they really felt.
Everything Sherlock was deducing about the coffin would work for John too (in fact I thought it was, at first, great, double, triple, bluff)” Short, practical about death (army doctor, suicidal), no close relatives, probably not much money, alone, unmarried.
Mycroft: “It’s for somebody who loves Sherlock.”
John is eliminating candidates for Sherlock’s heart - is it Irene? No. Is it Molly?
Does Molly become a mirror of John here? Making tea, not having a good day - she looks ill. John’s having a bit of a bad day too. Sherlock’s full of complicated emotions John/Eurus can’t understand.
“I love you.” Sherlock says this to Molly, but also to John as he lies dying. Does John flat-line here?
But it’s all just a game. Real Molly wasn’t in danger. Sherlock refuses to accept he lost, that John is pretty much dead now. He calls it ‘vivisection’, referencing Silence of the Lambs again. John also sees Sherlock understands what he has done to Molly by taunting her and ignoring her over the years.
Empty Room
Possibly references The Empty House - the first Canon story after Reichenbach, and The canon Last Problem. John has possibly died.
John/Eurus now asking himself how important he is to Sherlock. He’s getting so close. Is he family or friend? Or both?
Via Mycroft he accepts that Sherlock needs him, John, more than anything in the world, but he still sees himself, via Mycroft, as a stupid little man. He eventually realises that Sherlock loves him whatever, and Sherlock doesn’t really think he’s stupid.
Moriarty is mentioned by Eurus, specifically that he always wanted to see this. John realises that Moriarty always knew what it took John so long to figure out - that John is Sherlock’s heart, the heart that will be burned out go him.
John sees Sherlock ready to sacrifice himself again to save John - and refers to the Governor, who tried to sacrifice himself to save his wife. John realises that if he dies, Sherlock will lose his will to live.
Then Eurus hits them all with tranquilliser darts. Because this is one weird, oxygen-deprived dream. John’s just been anaesthetised for surgery.
Wells and cells
We see John/Eurus in their matching jumpers again. Then Sherlock says “Are you there?” to girl in plane, but it’s John (alsoEurus/girl in plane) who answers. John’s in the well - which is all very silence of the lambs again, he’s been unconscious for hours (I suspect he’s been in surgery).
“Are you okay?” says Sherlock, gently, raw, just like in TLD.
John is chained to the bottom of the well, in a scene far too reminiscent of Sherlock’s dying moment, in HLV at the bottom of his tower/stairwell (same shape), where Moriarty was chained at the bottom. But in John’s brain it’s him that’s chained, he can’t his own self that won’t let him escape and rise back out of the well/tower, to living a free, honest life. John is dead.
John discovers the bones of Victor/Redbeard. Does John deduce that the death of a dog wouldn’t have been enough to traumatise Sherlock to the extent that he forgoes love and affection for the next 30 years? John realises that Sherlock’s been held back from allowing himself to feel/declare love due to his childhood trauma, which has made him keep his psyche safe by not allowing love to enter. But he, John, is redbeard, Sherlock’s heart, and looks uncommonly like the little Victor. John has re-awoken Sherlock’s heart? (Not entirely sure on all this.)
Then Sherlock is trying to figure out how to get Eurus/John back. John is dead, drowning in the well - drowning in his own blood, and now floating above them, like in the plane. It’s the 80% structural turning point - the dark night of the soul.
Sherlock literally breaks the 4th wall of his cell.
There’s a few interesting comments I can’t quite figure out - “I am lost, who will find me?” Someone wants to causes trouble after her death (Mary?).
Fake gravestones - more gothic horror, but they, like the story, are not real. “Without your words,” says Eurus. “He will be gone.” Ostensibly referring to Victor, but in reality it’s John realising that only Sherlock saying he loves him can save him?
The Secret Room
Sherlock figures out that to save John and the girl, and Eurus, who are all in the same room, he has to find Eurus, John’s locked broken heart, and show it love.
The bleeps of the plane could well be medical bleeps as John starts to come back to life.
“I’m going to die,” says John.
In this insane story, John’s mind has created ‘the perfect metaphor’: He is ‘high above, all alone’ - he’s in a coma. But at last he understands everything about his heart and Sherlock’s. The only thing he doesn’t know is how to get back to consciousness from this coma.”You understand everything, except how to land.”
Sherlock: “No, it’s not too late… open your eyes. I’m here.. You’re not lost anymore.”
This refers back to John’s heartbreaking speech to Sherlock’s gravestone after TRF. “I was so alone, and I owe you so much.” And.. “There’s just one more thing… Don’t. Be. Dead.”
The End - John in a coma
We don’t find out exactly how John was saved, but I’m assuming it’s the realisation Sherlock loves him. Given that he’s raised from the well, like Sherlock taking the staircase in his death-well, but now his feet are miraculously not chained, I’m assuming John has now thrown off his internal/past wound chains that were keeping him trapped, and can now come out.
Then we return to Eurus’ cell - whether the real Eurus, or John’s hospital room is unclear. Mrs Holmes does her “Alive all these years?” Lady Bracknell impression. Could these be representative of John’s own parents, being found by Sherlock and brought to John’s bedside. Mycroft refers to Uncle Rudi again. Uncle Rudi is a German painting whose purpose was to whisper to German citizens about their own culpability in not challenging Nazism. Are John’s parents homophobic about his sister Harriet, and that stopped John ever coming out? But John’s/Eurus’ parents come through, or perhaps John comes through, for love of Rosie as well. The parents, whoever they are, accept their child, whatever they are (mad, crazy, broken, gay, bi, straight), and say - we love you, whatever.
“I said I’d bring her home.” Not sure whether that’s Sherlock talking about John, to John, about Rosie, or about his real life Eurus sister.
Then we have Sherlock devotedly visiting Sherrinford prison to play the violin to his sister. OR, is he devotedly playing the violin to a comatose John, trying to get through to him by playing a song of love? It’s just John never realised what love ‘Irene’s song’ referred to.
To me the final sequences - Sherlock playing to John (that’s what you do to people in comas, isn’t it), and rebuilding Baker Street - are Sherlock painting the life they’ll have together when/if John recovers. A life of the adventure Sherlock always believed John wanted more than anything (the thing Sherlock believes John sees in him). He’s talking and playing John out of his coma, and, perhaps rebuilding John’s brain, just as they rebuild the battered, burned shell of 221B.
In the final episode, we will see John recover from a coma, the real 3 Garribeds moment (not the one they literally dangled in front of us), and the two of them dealing with Eurus. And as John won’t have actually consciously heard Sherlock’s declaration of love, and there’s still some misunderstandings, they’re both going to have to reveal their hearts.
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