I need to scream and cry about Sherlock and Co real quick so spoilers but not for any episode in particular
The Final Problem is going to kill me. I've said it once or twice in the comment sections and someone pointed out the obvious by saying that Sherlock doesn't actually die. I had to post all of my feelings about it here because, I know, that's not the point. The point is John and Mariana. John has already lost so much, I mean, with how close he became with Mary in almost a month? He doesn't stand a chance with losing his best friend. And worse/better yet, all the conformation we've been receiving about Sherlock being queer, we may finally get to see them together (talk about slow burn... 150 some odd years). John will be ruined and maybe Mariana too. And perhaps worst of all, with the new mic there's a good chance that John (and by extension, we) will be able to hear the final confrontation. It'll be a digital ghost that haunts him as he either listens to it over and over or never finds the strength to listen to.
why did Sherlock and co have to go so damn hard on the sign of four part five. First you have me crying over a damn train montage and then theyâre Indiana jonesing their way through a fucking snake pit. This is part five of ten. Literally How Did We Get Here
guys what the HELL is this new sherlock and co adventure
why is there blood everywhere, what the FUCK happened to john.
sherlock and john are holding hands too and "cold hands but warm heart" are we gonna get johnlock?
i want to but i also dont cause I just know the end of this adventure will be something that is no need for extra emotional attachment right now.
i swear whoever's touched john they better sleep with one eye open.
also with the resent six napoleons I have had some thoughts
at first with the dramatic irony of us hearing about moriarty everywhere but them having no idea i have been desperate for them to actually meet him but now im not so sure. following the events of them well meeting him in a way, i know its just the first steps that will snowball into the reichenbach falls and we all know none of us want that, i just want my bakers street babies to be happy, live together and solve crimes is that too much to ask
Not them starting out the episode with the flashback to when we first hear about the spider and his web. Then the microphone interference and the whistled itsy bitsy spider. I am going to lose it. Moriarty is coming. Heâs coming!
i'm so happy they didn't screw up irene and the purpose of her character and that she never had any romantic implications with sherlock whatsoever
the only small thing for me was that irene and daisy didn't get married like i thought but that was just a theory anyway and i'm so happy with how it ended
Those last 7 minutes of The Stockbroke's clerk were so intense!
Sebastian Moran getting name-dropped, AGAIN in the same story
Mariana connecting the dots and finding email we got
John singing "Don't go chasing waterfalls" again
Us getting a little peak in Sherlock's head, the guilt he feels and his realisation his action could led to getting someone killed, maybe even the closest people he has (John and Mariana)
Allusions to a criminal organisation capable of committing crime this big
John getting scared Sherlock could jump and guiding him away from the window
Implications that Sebastian Moran (and James Moriarty) are fabricating cases to throw Sherlock off and waste his time
Mention of the web (spider)
Another audio glitch
Quoting Sherlock's own words from Mailbag episode
Reference to Moriarty's first words on podcast
I feel like after very long hiatus, all of the sudden we are getting SO MUCH in terms of moving the story forward. I really hope we will stay on this rode, and not get some filler episodes for a couple of months. It's been so long since Shoscombe Old Place (a year and a half) and the first appearance of Moriarty. I'm desperate for the story to pick up some speed, even though today's episode made me realise how incomprehensible devastating will be The Reichenbach Falls and everything leading up to this adventure
I think I figured it out: The Comprehensive, Cross-referenced, Compulsively Caveated Sherlock & Co. Timeline
Oh, DC Lily, you and your "I was seven months old" reply to Sherlock's embarrassing story from when he met you for the first time have opened up a whole world of possibility/arguable over-analysis. This originally started just as curiosity about reconciling Lily's comment with one from Dame Lestrade regarding how long she herself had known Sherlock, but as I dug deeper into cross-referencing Lily's age now and some overlooked info with Sherlock's time at Dulwich, everything just gradually coalesced together.
Above is the main ~Proposed Timeline~ visual from the result of a lot of time on Desmos doing basic addition so that I had a history for everything, while below the cut is the reasoning for my conclusions, in the following order:
Mariana's age range
Lily's age range
Cross-referencing Lily's possible ages, and her being a baby when she met Sherlock, with how long Gwen and Sherlock have known each other
Sherlock's age range
Sherlock's age at Dulwich, and the age range for his expulsion
Narrowing down specific years at Dulwich, Sherlock's starting year, and how old Sherlock was when he met Gwen and Lily post-expulsion
I've also spliced off separate posts under the topics for these sections with everything in paragraph form in case that's easier to read, containing bits of additional commentary that's been cut from this bulletpoint version.
Expanded commentary:
Part 1/3: Mariana's age, Lily's age range, and narrowing down the latter
Part 2/3: Sherlock's age, time at Dulwich, and age range for his expulsion
Part 3/3: Sherlock's starting year and date range for Dulwich, possible years for expulsion, and how old he was when meeting the Lestrades
With that, on to the bulletpoints below!
Marianaâs age range (present-day)
States sheâs Gen Z, not a millennial, in The Beryl Coronet (Part One)
Gen Z usually ranges from those born from 1997 to 2012
Now in 2026, thatâs a range of people turning from 14-29 years old this year
Completed university education + already having had an overseas estate agent job 3 years ago + being included in the millennial talk by accident=>most generous range is 27-30 years old (born between 1996/1997 to 1999)
Most likely on the oldest end of that range, letâs say sheâs 28 turning 29 years old this year. Wouldâve been 25 years old when she met Sherlock and John
Lilyâs age range (present-day)
Most likely substantially younger than Mariana, since Sherlock specifically points out her youth and mocks her as practically a child on the force ("Isn't it past your bedtime?" and "Sheâs young, her brain has been rotted by TikTok and memes and podcasts"-type comments)
Met Police website on DC eligibility and training states that you can apply to be a DC at 17, but you have to be 18 to start your training. Then thereâs a 4-year  training period, at the end of which you earn the status.
18+4=22, that means that the absolute youngest Lily can be at present is 21 turning 22 sometime this year.
However, being more generous with that range and if sheâs not freshly graduated from DC training, letâs widen the possible range a bit to include her possibly being up to currently 24 years old.
That gives us her turning anywhere from 22-25 this year, that leaves us with the tentative starting premise of Lily being born sometime from 2001-2004.
Lilyâs age, continued (cross-referencing with how long Sherlock+Gwen have known each other, Lilyâs age when Sherlock met her as a baby, and when Sherlock mustâve met Gwen Lestrade)
Sherlock describes when he met Lily for the first time, and Lily mentions that she was seven months old at the time
In CAM Part 3, Lestrade says that she's "known [Sherlock] for nearly 20 years". That episode aired on May 5th*, 2025, so if they didn't know each other for 20 years exactly, then the earliest they seemingly could've met (19 years before) is 2006
So, was Lily born either that year (2006) or towards the end of 2005 to account for being a seven-month-old when Sherlock met Gwenâs baby niece for the first time? (This is assuming that he had to have met Gwen at/before meeting Lily)
Nope. Neither 2006 or 2005 can be right for a birth year, because that doesnât account for the 4-year DC training period, even if we count her application/acceptance year (2023 or 2024) as Year 1.
She would either be still a trainee and earning her DC status in 2027, or have just squeaked by and earned it crazy recently in 2026. With The Six Napoleons coming out this month (March 2026 at time of writing), thereâs been nothing so far from Sherlock or Lily to indicate that sheâs had the official job for barely three months, even though thatâs easy math and itâd be natural for Sherlock to bring up her being young and only barely accredited.
However, if we interpret Lestradeâs comment slightly differently and say that she meant in CAM that they were coming up on some anniversary of her and Sherlock having met 20 years ago that year, but hadn't reached the specific month-or-what-have-you, then they could've met in 2005. Lily could've been seven months old when Sherlock met her and have been born in 2004.
If Lily was born 2004=>17 turning 18 in 2022, 4-year main training program, counting 2022 as Year 1=Graduated last year with DC status in 2025
She couldnât have been born any earlier, because that would mean that Sherlock somehow met (and was trusted to hold) Gwenâs baby niece a year or more before meeting Gwen herself, without any reference to being pre-existing friends with Lilyâs parent rather than Gwen. Meeting baby Lily slightly before Gwen would definitely smooth out the timeline a bit, but it just doesnât seem likely. 2005 has to be when Sherlock and Gwen met, and thus Lily has to be a 2004 baby.
That would make Lily currently 21 years old, turning 22 later this year. If we take the CAM episode air date (May 5th, 2025) literally as very close to when that conversation happened, then Gwen and Sherlock mustâve met in May or June. With Lily being seven months, that means she mustâve been a fall/winter baby for the previous year. There are some issues with this regarding the DC starting point, but since she has her aunt leading the force, itâs possible to handwave it a smidge. More discussion of that here.
Sherlockâs age range (present-day)
Sherlock just had his birthday in January, and my sole starting assumption for his age range is that he canât have just turned 40. I just wouldn't get it not being commented upon as ~entering a new decade~ by any of the trio (more on my reasoning in the bigger section here).
So, letâs set Sherlockâs upper age limit as just having turned 39 years old.
To get to the youngest he could possibly be right now, letâs consider that he mustâve started at Dulwich between 9-12 years old
Why that range specifically?
In Gloria Scott (Part One), Victor Trevor mentions that he and his parents moved to London when he was "around 9" years old. So, if he and Sherlock were in the same classes at Dulwich (which seems like the simplest explanation for Victor comparing their horrible grades)
Victorâs family came to England considerably well-off already, so it could've been that Victor started at Dulwich right away at that age as well. But that also likely means that Sherlock couldn't have started there before then, for the two of them to meet at the same time and to be peers (since there's no mention of any lonely pre-Victor year(s) at the school).
So, minimum possible age of Sherlock starting at Dulwich is probably 9 years old, maybe 10. If he got that 1999 letter from Mr. Musgrave the year that he started (since itâs logically the latest he couldâve possibly joined the school), then the youngest current age he could be now is 36-37 years old.
Sherlock canât have turned 13 in 1999, because that would make him 40 years old now and break my first assumption. Also, going to note that thereâs also a comment from Watson in a publicly available mailbag that clarifies Sherlock was there for boarding school, not in the more general definition of a UK âcollegeâ being for students in their late teens. More on that here.
So, working backwards, our broadest range has Sherlock logically somewhere between 36-39 years old (born between 1987 to 1990)
Sherlockâs age at Dulwich, and the age range for his expulsion
In Gloria Scott (Part Two), Sherlock mentions to Lionel Trevor that Victor âlooked after me in a couple of turbulent years back in the school days"
With the most literal definition of âcouple of", that would mean he was there for two years. Helpfully, Sherlock is a January baby, so even if he was kicked out before fully completing his second year in the spring/Lent term (per the Dulwich academic calendar), he wouldâve almost definitely been the same age at expulsion as he turned that year. Even without a complete academic year, it'd make sense for him (or really anyone) to count passing two birthdays as spending a couple of years there.
However, you could argue that the language could also apply for if he was there for two full years and didnât complete his third, so heâs rounding down. So, letâs say that he was there between 2-3 years, max.
I would personally lean towards the lower end of that range, taking Sherlockâs âcouple of yearsâ comment on its face, considering mentions from Victor and Reginald emphasizing how he wasnât there long (more on this in the expanded section). All of those make more sense to me if Sherlock was kicked out sometime in his second calendar year at Dulwich (so either before the end of his second academic year, or early into the start of his third), spending two birthdays there, rather than settling into a third year.
So, with a starting age range of 9-12 years, then add three years for the absolute oldest he couldâve been=>Expelled at 12-15 years old. If we stick to just adding two years, then itâs a range of 11-14 years old.
However, we can narrow this down further. In Gloria Scott, after Sherlockâs âcouple of turbulent yearsâ comment, Lionel replies âHa, the turbulent teens. I remember them well.â
Now, the rest of that conversation makes it clear that he didnât actually recognize Sherlock out the gate, so he wasnât thinking in relation to Sherlock being expelled. But, if he was working from the age when his son started, added two, and then came up with âoh yeah, thatâs the range in which he wouldâve known this guyâ, concluding it was their teenage years, then that means that Victor mustâve reached 13 minimum if we go [The boysâ starting age at Dulwich]+[Minimum of two years there]=[Sherlockâs age at expulsion]
So, that shaves off the lower end of our age range for when Sherlock started at Dulwich, anything where adding two years results in <13 years old at expulsion age. So, since he canât have been 13 to start with, we must have Sherlock, as well as Victor, starting at 11-12 years old there.
My inclination is for the boys to have started at 12 years old, since that puts Sherlockâs expulsion when he was 14-15 years old. So, with my +2 years assumption, he was most likely 14 years old when he was expelled. Considering the range for his birth year, that would make him 39 years old. If you consider him any younger, than you also have to push down the age when he was expelled in light of the 2-3 years he was there.
Years at Dulwich, and how old was Sherlock when he met Gwen and Lily Lestrade post-expulsion?
1999 also had to be his starting year for Dulwich, though it isn't stated as such in the episode. Expanded reasoning here with commentary on the Mr. Musgrave letter, but to summarize: if the youngest Sherlock could be now is 36 years, born in 1990, and the youngest he couldâve been starting Dulwich is 9, then the math doesnât square with him spending 2-3 years there and being implied to be a teen when expelled.
So, add 2-3 years to 1999 for the latest he couldâve been expelled, and that gives us a range from 2001 to 2002. Since Iâm favoring him being there for two years, in my mind, 2001 is the most likely of the pair.
So, I personally think he wouldâve been at Dulwich from 1999 (12 years old) until he was expelled in 2001 (at 14 years old)
With that set, letâs jump forward to when he mustâve met Gwen (and Lily) Lestrade in 2005. Consider the date range for his expulsion, thatâs a gap of 3-4 years between the two events. Backtracking to the full range of possible ages he couldâve been when he was expelled (from 9-12 at starting Dulwich, to expelled at 11-15 encompassing our âhe was there 2-3 yearsâ range), that means that he was between 14-19 years old when he met Lestrade. He must have been a teenager; he couldnât have been turning twenty in 2005 (re:my self-imposed "he can't be 40 now" rule).
If we go with my preferred âstarted at Dulwich at 12, expelled at 14, currently 39 years oldâ chain, then Sherlock wouldâve been 18 years old when he met Gwen, and not long after/around that time, was trusted enough to hold her baby niece.
Itâs interesting to me that this would put Sherlock only slightly over the age of majority when he started his closest relationship in the force, compared to if heâd been a minor at the time.
I wonder if this was intentional, or at least has the potential to be explored. If he was more of a free agent hanging around the edges of the Met beforehand (i.e, possibly a runaway/kicked out after more failed schools/living with Mycroft, etc. but still seeking out detective work), maybe he put off directly approaching Gwen until he was a legal adult? That way his guardians/older-brother-who's-probably-not-keen-on-the-makeshift-criminology-career/social workers for minors wouldnât have to be involved. More discussion of that in the expanded section here.
Thanks for reading!𧥠Now I'm going to go find a cave somewhere to forget that math exists for a bit, if no one minds....
Oh my god I loved this episode, I've wanted a solo Mariana adventure for ages, she got a cool intro and everything. She had the gun!! She was prepared to use the gun!!
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