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The Liar Series - a summary

Disguise, mask, façade, lie .....

Already on their first meeting, at the beginning of ASIB, dominatrix Irene Adler tells Sherlock that every disguise reveals something about the one who hides behind it. The ‘Woman’ presents herself as the ‘naked truth’ while Sherlock (the virgin) tries to hide behind the mask of a vicar - a priest in the church of England. The word ‘vicar’ derives from the Latin ‘vicarius’ which can be translated into: representative, replacement, surrogate, dummy (more here).

We are not a couple - Yes you are

First thing Irene arranges when she comes back from her hiatus is a secret meeting with John. When ‘the woman’ confronts John with a question about his jealousy regarding Sherlock, John negates a possible romantic relationship with his friend. Irene disagrees with great determination. Sherlock, who secretly followed John to the meeting place, overhears the conversation between John (the eternal friend) and Irene (dominatrix, ‘naked truth’, Mrs Sex, instructed by ‘Mr Sex’ Jim Moriarty).

Just a big old liar

Inside a London black cab Sherlock watches a short film, created by Jim Moriarty. In his story the master criminal calls Sherlock ‘Sir Boast-a-lot’ and a ‘big old liar’. The next day, on Barth’s roof, Jim (Mr Sex ‘you should see me in a crown’) and Sherlock (sex doesn’t alarm me) talk each other into suicide. Both men end with a broken skull - like Irene with a bashed-in head in ASIB. And just like 'the woman’, at least Sherlock was able to fake his death as well and leave London.

Who are you?

That’s what Sherlock asks after he wakes up in hospital. During his break-in into CAM tower, to retrieve delicate informations (X) from the keeper of ‘secrets and scandals’, he gets shot by Mary. Sherlock starts to investigate John’s wife inside his mind palace. The word ‘liar’ swirls arround her in various different sizes, surrounding her - but also Sherlock - like a cloud. Sherlock imagines that his observation takes place at the same location (Roland-Kerr Further Education College) where John shot serial killer Jeff Hope in ASIP, at the beginning of the story.

The lie of Leinster Gardens

Sherlock asks Mary if she knows about the lie of Leinster Gardens while he leads her into a trap to expose her double identity in the presence of John. The first part of the unveiling takes place in front of and inside the twin houses at Leinster Gardens, which are Sherlock’s property. They were ‘demolished years ago to make way for the London Underground, a vent for the old steam trains’ and consist only of a fake façade. Projected on that façade appears a picture of Mary in her wedding dress. And that’s what Sherlock calls John’s wife as well - a façade.

My lying wife

The second part of the unveiling takes place at Baker Street 221b. When Sherlock asks John “what is she?”, meaning Mary, the doctor responds with ‘my lying wife and the woman who’s carrying my child who has lied to me since the day I met her.’ At this point though, Sherlock is finally ready to go deeper and he urges John to accept Mary as their new client. As a result the A.G.R.A memory stick makes its first appearance. It is the beginning of a process in which Sherlock finally chooses to put down his ‘façade’.

You lied and lied

That’s what Janine (diminutive of Jeanne=John) accuses Sherlock of, because he pretended to be her boyfriend (but no sex - that was never gonna happen) to retrieve letters, once written by Lord Smallwood to the young Helen Catherine Driscoll, more than 30 years ago and before his marriage with Lady Elizabeth/Alicia Smallwood (codename ‘love’). While Sherlock tries to obtain the evidence regarding this secret about Lord and Lady Smallwood, Mary tries to obtain evidence about another secret, concerning ‘Mr and Mrs Watson’. In the end it turns out that nothing is there to obtain at all, the cupboard is empty (an illusion almost like the elephat glass in Eurus’ cell).

The version of you I present to the public

During Sherlock’s mind palace detour at Christmas 1884/85 in TAB, John’s Victorian version confirms to him that the way the great detective is presented to the public by his biographer/blogger, is not in accordance with the truth. The conversation takes place in a greenhouse, while both men are waiting to expose the ‘ghost bride’ who sent 5 orange pips to Mr Carmichael and threatened to kill him, just like Jim sent 5 Greenwich pips to Sherlock in TGG. And it is indeed Jim who hides behind the white veil of the bride, while Mary - foreshadowing her approaching demasking/death - wears already black.

You lie all the time

After drugged Sherlock had been brought to the house of John’s new therapist Elizabeth, in the boot of Mrs Hudsons fiery red Aston Martin and accompanied by the strains of Beethoven's Ode to Joy, he asks for John’s help in the Culveton Smith case. Just like Jeff Hope in ASIP, Smith is also a serial killer with striking teeth and a strong preference to talk to his victims. John insists on a medical examination of Sherlock (second opinion by Molly Hooper) and accuses him in the presence of his new therapist (who later turns out to be Sherlock’s secret sister Eurus) and Mrs Hudson, to be a liar who lies all the time ... ‘It’s like your mission’.

Lie or truth ... that’s a main topic in Sherlock BBC and maybe ‘lie or truth’ equals Sherlock’s own question in TAB: ‘Poetry or truth?’ ... meaning, the lie lies in the poetry and the poetry (canon) hides the truth .....

August, 2021