Hey youtubers it’s charlie, this is the sherlock empty hearse breakdown that I’ve
been promising for the last couple of days.
What i’ll do is go through the episode and include as many references as possible and
interesting facts about the story and the production.
So it will be a little different than one of my easter egg videos.
There’s actually a bunch of stuff going on this weekend between new sherlock and anime
club so if you’re finding me for the first time be sure to subscribe to get everything.
Since this video conveys so many details about the plot and details of the story.
This is your super spoiler warning.
The episode is so long and there are so many details, this video will just focus on the
parts of itI think are the most important.
Here we go let’s blow the doors of the empty hearse.
Number 1 - The title is a reference to the conan doyle story the empty house.
Both this episode and that book brought the character back from the dead so to speak.
Doyle killed the character in his novel The Final Problem.
The character was so popular that fans and his publisher compelled him to bring the character
back.
Which led to The adventures of the empty house.
So if anyone didn’t like that there was so much fan service in episode 1, remember
that conan doyle’s novel empty house was essentially written as fan service.
Number 2 - Sherlock Lives Theories.
We don’t learn what we’re seeing is Anderson’s theory until the last frame cuts after this
first scenario.
Let me know below in the comments how long it took you to figure out.
I didn’t realize until the Molly Kiss, but the weird dance track made me suspicious.
Derren Brown is actually a famous real life hypnotist.
Sherlock tells watson later that there were 13 possibilities of how he could survive.
There’s a big debate going on in the fandom as to whether he meant 13 ways he could have
faked his death or 13 ways he could have escaped moriarty.
Most presume that he never suspected moriarty would be so committed to his plan that he’d
kill himself to force sherlock’s hand.
All of the scenarios were filmed in broad daylight with a full crowd of reporters and
people watching.
No one leaked any of the information, but there were a few pictures that made it to
tumblr.
3 - Moriarty Returns.
Andrew Scott who plays moriarty appears in all of the rooftop scenarios.
All those scenes were filmed during series 3 production.
Meaning he came back on set.
Early on people leaked that he would be part of the new episodes misleading people into
thinking he didn’t die on the rooftop.
Later we learned that he did in fact die from the gunshot, people keep asking me what happened
to his body.
Because sherlock and mycroft were one step ahead of moriarty the whole time.
They had a government crew ready to take the body into custody.
4 - Mycroft knew the whole time.
After lestrad calls anderson on his crackpot theory the press montage let’s us know that
everyone ended up learning the real truth about what moriarty did to sherlock.
Because both sherlock and mycroft were one step ahead, they allowed moriarty to discredit
sherlock.
So once sherlock got rid of moriarty’s terror network there was no more reason to keep up
the deception.
Which is why the press are just now figuring out the truth.
5 - Mustache watch begins.
We see watson with the caterpiller on his lip and mary morstan.
Freeman was actually on loan to steven moffat and mark gatiss for 6 weeks to film the first
two episodes from peter jackson.
They had to film both empty hearse and episode 2 sign of three while production of the hobbit
trilogy was still happening.
So peter jackson rearranged freeman’s shooting schedule to allow him to return to england
to film with the sherlock team briefly.
So his mustache was fake the whole time.
It’s kind of a sign that he’s let himself go.
He explains to mrs hudson that he never called her because he let a lot of things slide.
Including shaving his upper lip..
6 - Mary Morstan.
Mary is played by amanda abbington, martin freeman’s real life partner.
And if you haven’t seen them together, they’re pretty adorable.
7 - Sherlock on the cross.
The russian base sherlock got caught breaking into was the last place he went to dismantle
moriarty’s terror cell.
That’s why he was there.
As a character he’s kind of regressed emotionally because he’s been on his own for the past
two years.
The interesting thing is that the whole time he carried watson around in his head.
That’s why you catch him talking to an imaginary watson when he’s with molly later.
He probably did that all the time over the past two years.
So in a way, even though sherlock left watson, watson never left sherlock.
8 - Mycroft in the field.
The mycroft character in the books is much more isolated than mark gatiss’ version.
So even though he complains it’s actually a huge deal that mycroft came out to help
sherlock.
You learn later that mycroft is actually smarter than sherlock. and that when they were growing
up sherlock though he was stupid by comparison until they met other children and he realized
that he and mycroft were different.
Think of mycroft and sherlock on a sliding scale of weirdness and intellect.
The smarter they get the more isolated they become socially.
So sherlock is brilliant and can co-exist with other humans.
Mycroft is a genius and can’t stand people.
9 - back to london.
The terror plot that brings sherlock back to london got a lot of complaints from fans
of the novel series.
Mark Gatiss used the sebastian moran character as part of the tube bomb plot and in the episode
the character is kind of wasted.
He just sits on the bed and pushes a button.
In the novels, Sebastian moran is like an evil version of watson.
they both served in the military but sebastian met moriarty instead of meeting sherlock.
So imagine what watson would have become after leaving afghanistan if he had met moriarty
instead of sherlock.
Most of the complaints about the moran character are that in the novels he and moriarty have
this really interesting relationship that you never see play out on screen.
A lot of people confused molly’s fiancee with the sniper from rikenback fall.
That sniper was moran and in this episode moran is the government official that sets
off the bomb.
Sherlock calls Moran as the head rat.
It’s a reference to a holmes adventure that was talked about but never happened in the
books, called the giant rat of sumatra.
It’s also a street near bull and bush in west hampshead for which platforms and staircases
were built but no above ground entry.
10 - The tube is wonky.
A lot of people noticed that the plotting and the maps of the london tube were all wrong.
This was on purpose.
The maps of the tube are heavily copyrighted and no one is ever allowed to use them in
film or tv.
So they had to make their own maps that could look anything like the real ones.
11 - Mustache references.
I know I promised to count all the mustache jokes.
3, 3,7,6
12 - Johnlock for the win.
When watson tells mrs hudon that he’s getting engaged mrs hudson is generally surprised
that it’s to a woman.
In my opinion she genuinely thought that he and sherlock were a couple the whole time
they were together.
Which is hilarious.
It also pays homage to the subtext the fandom has always read into the characters.
13 - The upturned collar.
The first time sherlock puts the jacket back on is the first time the game is on theme
stirs.
It doesn’t play in full until he re-enters baker street.
To the screams of mrs hudson. 14 - The reunion.
Sherlock disguises himself trying to find a clever way to let watson know he’s alive.
This is a joke about the character’s master of disguise persona.
The real joke is that watson doesn’t even notice him at first.
The three diamonds on watson’s engagement ring are a subtle visual reference to the
three’s company situation of their characters.
It’s almost as if Mary will be marrying watson and sherlock.
Or marrying watson and gaining a sherlock.
Later in the episode when watson tries to rip the beard off a patient it’s also a
reference to the holmes character in the novels.
The titles of the videos he tries to give martin freeman are the same titles of the
books the conan doyle character tried to sell that watson while in disguise.
15 - The headbutt.
Watson attacks sherlock with a headbutt in one of the progressively dirtier restaurants
they get thrown out of.
In the original story, watson fainted when holmes reappeared.
16 - Mary is a Liar - Sherlock deduces mary and sees that she’s a liar.
There’s a lot of theories, but most of this will tie in with episode 2 the sign of three.
When you see the date code on mary’s cypher it’s may 11th, 2013.
And she says that her and watson’s wedding is in may and she refers to a possible murder.
Since there’s a murder teased during the trailer for episode 2, it means that she’s
probably tied up in the larger plot with the villain this season charles augustus magnussen.
That doesn’t necessarily make her evil though.
17 - London Is Cesspool.
Sherlock’s voice over speech london is a cespool is something the watson wrote during
the original book story a study in scarlet.
18 - Doctor Who references.
Notice the round things on the wallpaper of mr shilcot’s apartment.
Inspired by the round things of the tardis interior.
The code name of sherlock and mycroft’s plan to fake his death was lazarus, which
was an episode of doctor who that mark gatiss both wrote and starred in.
And there’s a tardis on the wall of anderson’s apartment.
19 - Remember remember the fifth of november.
It’s guy fawkes day, who is remembered for the gunpowder plot of 1605, which the tube
bomb plot pays homage to.
20 - Sherlock’s parents.
A lot of people recognized that sherlock’s parents are benedict cumberbatch’s parents
in real life.
But if you notice the collar on his mother’s coat is turned up you’ll be pleased to learn
that his trademark upturned collars are something he picked up from his mother.
Sherlock holmes, what a mama’s boy.
21 - The final explanation.
Mark Gatiss explained that even though this wasn’t completely correct, it was the most
plausible explanation as to how sherlock survived.
Since I’m sure there were a ton of lines lifted from the books and other references
I missed write them in the comments if you noticed anything.
I’ll be posting my episode 2 review tomorrow after the episode airs.
Be sure to subscribe to get it.
Just like last time I’ll be looking through the comments on that video to include in my
episode 2 q and a video on monday. and then a couple days after that I’ll do a new breakdown.
Right now click here for my episode 1 q and a and click here for my review of the episode.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight!
High Fives!