Creepy Mycroft evil stuff… shit I think I already forgot some but here’s what I remember:
- The stuff Culverton Smith said about how the queen could kill anyone she wants because she’s rich and powerful and people keep her fat. Mycroft is rich and powerful and there’s the running joke about his diet, has been referred to as the queen. I read his diet problems as a possible nod to him being greedy for money.
- Culverton Smith flashing a big ring of keys that lets him go anywhere. Moriarty claimed in TRF to have a digital code that was a key to everything. Mycroft in THoB had an access card to everything, his name literally opens doors.
I don’t really think Mycroft is a secret serial killer – although that would certainly be a rug pull. I more read it that Moriarty has never been caught because he owns Mycroft and thus owns all the things that protect someone like Culverton Smith and hypothetically the queen.
If EMP theory is in play, possibly Sherlock’s mind is beginning to piece together that if Moriarty is alive, someone like Mycroft would have to be abetting him. Like, his subconscious tells him the “queen” is getting away with stuff, and there’s chess boards to indicate long term strategy.
It would be perfect timing for The Final Problem, and why Mycroft is the picture they chose to put next to the description of someone having a long game.