In the first scene we were told the code names of the people present - one of them was Love, (Amo in Latin). Though it wasn't her, but the secretary who knew all the codes who was the baddie.

Its going to be really hard to believe that John would forgive Sherlock...

Sherlock is to blame for Mary's death, he put Mary there, and for no good reason (other than the writers needing a way to kill the character of Mary off) why did Sherlock even need them there, he has confronted many baddies by himself (again writers needed a way to kill Mary) and purposely done so by himself in the past as to not to put John in danger, and yet in this episode he puts Mary who he has vowed to protect right bang in the middle of danger.

For me this doesn't ring true within the show, the writers needed to come up with a better more organic way of killing off Mary.

This should be the end of John and Sherlock's friendship, John has put up with some crap from Sherlock over the years at some point there has to be a line, a breaking point, and Sherlock being responsible for the death of the woman he loved and the Mother to his baby... yeah no way would John ever forgive, move on and let it be, it would be the end of them.

Think the writers have gone to far with this... Or maybe I'm missing something (he says optimistically)

I thought it was better than series three.
And happy to see Mary gone.

I like Amanda Abbington as an actress, but her hair in this was strange (and awful). It did not move. It looked terrible.

Thanks for that as it was something I didn't understand in the episode because I too missed it.
But still, I don't understand how Sherlock knew it was the old woman and not the actual agent called 'love'. I'm still confused. And how did he know that she was at the Aquarium?

Mycroft? Questioned Love and she completely denied it, believably, so it would have to be someone who wasn't her, but who KNEW - and 'receptionists know a lot'.

I don't understand about the aquarium mind.

I'd say that the vast majority of people who post while things are on are posting things like "This is crap" and saying they don't get it.

Some of the "This is crap" comments are about 5 minutes into the programme. Too soon to tell, surely?

I can only speak for things I post about, of course. Maybe in other stuff, reality TV, say, that's not the case.

Perhaps it's just my perception. Maybe there are some positives in there and I miss them. Who knows?

It was, wasn't it. And she looked too old to have a baby - or be a spy.

(Now that she's split from my beloved Martin I feel free to be bitchy about her, sorry).

Got to say Martin looked a bit raddled an' all.

Just wanted to say that these two comments completely cracked me up. You, eggshell, are hilarious.

Haha, I will be 50 this year, and my youngest daughter turns five on Thursday
So, it does happen, unplanned or not

I didn't say she was too old, I said she looked it.

I'm sure you look radiantly youthful.


Never!!

The bit with Mary pretending to be attention seeking American woman and then somehow incapacitating the stewardess and change into her clothes without being noticed was just ridiculous. I get she was trying to evade being spotted but it was just silly and I think that whole sequence was just an opportunity for Amanda Abbington to do an American accent and play dress up.

Apparently the dog didn't cooperate well in this and wouldn't move. Good on him.

I just had a look at that bit again. Sherlock tweets John's (I THINK it's John's) phone about where to come (the aquarium), John and Mary have a quick discussion about who should go (there's the baby to look after) and John says to Mary "You should go, there's more to this case" and says he'll follow once Mrs Hudson comes to look after Rosie. Mary: "Okay, you win."

Sure in retrospect Sherlock should've gone alone (and it's a bit clunky), but hey, predestination's a b*gger.

btw, when John see's that lass he fancies sitting in a bus shelter, there's a poster with Toby Jones' face on it and you see 'He's Bac....' and 'It's Murder' on it! I think there's more to come which *might* shed light on all this.

'Suppose so. Doesn't sound like such a great conclusion. It's like the old the butler done it chestnut. It wasn't as if it was a really clever clue which we could have spotted and kicked ourselves for not figuring out. It wasn't what I'd call a satisfying reveal which rewards the viewer.
Usually it's a bit slicker and cleverer than that, such as showing us a sequence of flashback clips like with the soldier who was found dead in the shower cubicle in the wedding episode.

I am Norwegian, and the names on the boats at the Norwegian harbour were names of Conan Doyle stories

No you're right if you're referring to people who are only 5 minutes in. But those early posts are just posts I skip right over and are practically invisible to me.
By the time the episode has finished most of those posts are irrelevant anyway, as most people only start really talking with each other after the episode has finished.
To go back and engage with those early posts saying it's crap after only 5 minutes seems to be fruitless exercise which serves no purpose anyway.

Mary's trip was ridiculous, also considering she had a newborn baby at home. But, I guess she thought it was a fine way to spend her maternity leave.

Oh I agree. I wasn't that impressed either.

That was much better than Series 3, which was too bogged down in trying to bait internet discussions. It was a pretty straightforward episode and I liked the human drama. Gatiss and Moffat aren't geniuses but then which writers are?

I would like there to be more of a traditional mystery next week- not that I'm not enjoying it but there's a very heavy Bond feel to it.

I liked the part with John and the bus woman- not sure whether there's any plot significance but it made him less of a plain nice guy whilst still being true to his character in that he doesn't push for romance.

Really? The many things I don't notice....


That's cute.

I was wondering where she got the money from to just take off on an extended trip. And did John look after Rosie on his own?

Disappointing, yet managed to surprise me - I thought Mary would be a goner in ep 3, not ep1 so bit surprising. For an ep that started quite light, it got dark very suddenly...
Annoyed at Watson for being a total w@nker though.

Yes, even though it's explained to me I still don't feel like there's been a payoff. But what can you do?
Yes, it was the receptionist, she could be someone who knew their codenames. Yes it works, it fits, it serves its function, nothing wrong with it. Technically they don't have to entertain me at all really do they? It's their show and they can do what they want with it I guess.

Timeline of the thread:

Pre 8:30pm: "I can't wait for this episode"
8:30-10pm: What is going on? Can anyone understand this crap?
10:05pm: Ohh that was good. I enjoyed that.
(10:06pm: No you didn't, it was shit)

Im thiinking she may have done a Sherlock and staged it, no other reason for him to bring them there. Sherlocks idea of hell would be for Watson to hate him so he has to go to hell in order to protect him and the baby. Maybe Mary is setting Watson up with bus lady as she is letting him go, plus we never got the body bag scene.

Other theory on bus lady is possibly a visual clue, The Toby Jones poster behind her making her standing to his right indicating his right hand man, also looked like she was wearing a wig. Likely wrong but part of the fun is speculation.