Oh, Sherlock. (S3E2, The Sign of Three - SPOILERS)

Spoiler warning: This post contains spoilers for episodes 1 and 2 of Sherlock Season 3 (The Empty Hearse and The Sign of Three) and a minor spoiler for Doctor Who Series 1 Ep. 10 (The Doctor Dances). The nail art and screenshot contain very mild spoilers. Also, this isn't a proper review but more of a reaction post.

First of all, dear fellow BBC Sherlock fans, I’d like to apologise for punching you right in the feels. Don’t think the nail art is sad? Stay away from this post until you’ve watched the episode or you’ll be majorly spoiled. Seen the episode but still don’t have enough feels about that scene? Listen to this, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 I don’t know about you, but I had to take this off at the earliest opportunity because I couldn’t deal with the sadness every time I looked at my hand. 

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

"The Sign of Three" ©BBC One*

But wait, it’s a happy and funny episode, right? In fact, it’s the funniest Sherlock episode ever.  Best man speech! Drunk deductions! “Am I a pretty lady?”

Half a year has passed since Sherlock’s sudden reappearance, filled with cases (check out John’s blog!) and, more importantly, wedding preparations. Sherlock is the best wedding planner and maid of honour anyone could ask form throwing himself into the wedding preparations with a fervour usually only reserved for particularly interesting cases. He vets the wedding guests (Sherlock’s mini-me is just the best thing ever! Everybody’s parent!lock fics just came true). He even comes up with several napkin folding suggestions and tries to tell Mary he learned it for a case.  "I’m not John, I can tell when you’re fibbing." – "Learned it on youtube."

Yeah, Mary’s totally running her boys.

Poor Sherlock. The disbelief in his eyes as he realised John considered him his best friend was heart-wrenching. Oh Sherlock, you didn’t know?

He may not be the best best man ever, but he’s definitely the best wing man ever (at least for weeding out the bad ones).

For once, my nail art actually looked better with a glossy coat. Here's the  matte version for comparison.

Sherlock’s definitely off his game though. Twice during the wedding he makes “one more deduction than I was expecting”. The emotions he discovered during his absence and after his return are making things harder. Alone used to be what he had, “alone protects me”. But he didn’t realise he was lonely until he had had John’s companionship and then had to leave for two years (see his comment to Mycroft in the previous episode, when Mycroft says he’s not lonely: "How would you know?")

So now he deduces the sign of three (turned that title around completely, furthest departure from any A.C. Doyle titles so far, content-wise) and realises it is indeed the end of an era. But he vows to protect them, to always stick by them. It is as touching a scene as I’ve seen with the three of them. And then he sends them to dance.

Mary: "But what about you?"– John: "We can’t all three dance. There are limits." – Sherlock:  "Yes, there are."

This is adorable and sad at the same time all by itself, but if you’d like to add some subtext, remember how Moffat used "dancing" as a euphemism for sex in Doctor Who? Yeah. Also, want some more crazy talk about nebulous hidden references? That episode, The Doctor Dances, is the one in which “just this once, everybody lives“. As does everybody in this episode. (Though to be fair, nobody died in The Empty Hearse either. Told you it was nebulous. It’s most likely just a coincidence (even if the universe rarely is that lazy), but it’s a pretty one.)

But Sherlock doesn’t get to dance, does he. Not even with head bridesmaid 'it’s a shame you’re...whatever you are' Janine. Even though he loves to dance so much...

Instead, he leaves the wedding early. Alone used to be what protected him. But it doesn’t anymore. If ever there was a danger night, this is it.

Poor Sherlock...

I was going to add a lot of gratuitous speculation on His Last Vow, which airs tomorrow, but I’m so nervous about it that it’s taken me this long to even get a coherent post about The Sign of Three written. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I haven’t been able to think about anything else all week. I don’t remember a TV show ever getting into my head like this. It’s a testament to the writing skills of Moffat, Gatiss and team and the acting skills of the entire cast that they have managed to captivate me like this. Whatever the ending, I know it will be brilliant. I’ve already heard it’s unexpected, which gives me hope, as all the endings I’m imagining are devastating. So perhaps, just this once, everybody lives.

Captain Spacenails, full of admiration for Moffat & team

*Disclaimer: To the best of my understanding, the BBC Terms of Use (for personal use) permit me to use BBC content on this blog when correctly credited. Should this not be the case, I will be happy to take the screenshot down, just please let me know by mailing me at boldly_polish (!ät) yahoo[dot]com or contacting me via one of my social media accounts in the right sidebar.