John's Mind Bungalow: all of season 4 or just TFP?
I keep going back and forth between whether or not the entirety of season 4 takes place in John's Mind Bungalow. The glaring inconsistencies in T6T is a clue for the evidence that all three episodes don't exactly happen in reality. But the reason I am disinclined to believe that T6T, TLD, and TFP all occur in the bungalow is just how different each of them is, the last one being so glaringly off. Now, I don't hold on too tightly to any which way so please give me evidence for whichever.
On a personal level, if TLD is just John's MB (Will be using this in place of mind bungalow),then all the emotional output that Sherlock went through is merely derived, it's coming from John not Sherlock. I prefer the reading that it was really Sherlock. I really feel like the characters made significant progress in that scene and I wonder if it would have the same meaning if it was merely a dream.
The smoking gun, quite hilariously is what tip me off to John MB theory--that and all the great meta circling around linking the genre play in the episode to crap entertainment that John has confirmed to like in prior episodes. The last shot in TLD is the smoking gun. We also see Eurus firing but on closer inspection, the image of the gun with the trails of smoking coming from the barrel HAS TO BE JOHN. I am almost 100% certain that it is. But then TFP starts on a completely different note. We are suddenly are in Mycroft's house. At first, it's like wtf, what shitey writing is this but it's a clue. If you have someone get shot presumably in the last scene of the last episode, it is almost common sense that the next episode should follow that immediately. But that doesn't happen. Or does it?
The first time we are submerged in a super intense mind palace sequence is in HLV. We are in it in prior episodes but this is the first time its super trippy and Sherlock is unable to control where it takes him. So, if we follow the logic that John gets shot and the next thing is the immediate consequence, TFP and the MB are the subconscious dream in which John, including us the viewer are being submerged. If you buy the MB theory, TFP as MB is almost entirely a given.
The Three Garidebbs, the "I Love You," even the Redbeard link can all happen if John is in a near death state and is being given external information from the outside. The 3 G story is famous for it being about that one time in Doyle's canon John gets mortally wounded and Sherlock shows his feelings for him. Maybe at this point, outside in reality, Sherlock is losing his mind. John is on the verge of death. Sherlock cannot control his feelings. The I Love You follows that immediately. it's tense. Molly (a mirror for John) who has had feelings for Sherlock is unable to say it until Sherlock says it. Sherlock finally does and Molly's life is saved. If she doesn't say it she dies...John dies. It's the thing that's pulling him through, needing to tell Sherlock that he loves him too (the fact that coffin is actually the right size for John supports this). The Redbeard link which is arguably a symbol for John in prior episodes is downright literal in TFP almost to the laughably absurd. But it's always been there, Redbeard=John, even in HLV and TSOT this link is given over and over. It's the thing Sherlock loves but can bare to lose. Mycroft is there. I am assuming that if we go along the lines that John is in some hospital somewhere, Mycroft may be there as well to comfort Sherlock-or maybe not. But either way, certain names and things could be fed subconsciously to John through potential dialogue between Sherlock and Mycroft happening on the outside, in reality.
This is my theory at least and it would explain in some ways the glaring abuse of some of the most important and romantic themes in Doyle's work as well as the themes and characterizations in the BBC adaptation we have seen thus far.
I'm still not sure about the other two episodes being a part of MB theory. I waver back and forth. The smoking gun shot threads through TLD. That is a clue that chronologically something isn't right. The splicing inconsistent events of T6T is also evidence. But what if the T6T is the alibi and TLD introduces the drug that aids this alibi. What if some of it is real but it's been corrupted? What if we are in the MB for all three episodes but its starts off in reality only to further degrade into what we saw in TFP?
I'm not sure. I haven't quite made up my mind. I'd like to know what everyone else thinks about this.
