Hey youtubers it’s charlie and it’s time for my breakdown of his last vow.
Thank you for your patience.
These videos are a lot of fun to do so I try to take extra time to make them better.
If you’re finding me for the first time or you haven’t seen any of my other sherlock
episode breakdowns this will just be a shot by shot analysis of references to the canon
or other things like doctor who.
Careful for the east wind if you haven’t seen the episode yet.
I mean spoilers.
Careful for spoilers.
Here we go, number 1 - the director nick hurran.
Hurran also directed the doctor who 50th anniversary episode.
The Day of the doctor.
2 - Charles augustus maunussen.
He’s a direct reference to charles augustus milverton.
He was doyles master blackmailer and a few of maunussen’s character traits are taken
directly from the book character like his glasses and creepily affable nature.
3 - Notice the heads up display.
This isn’t a canon reference, but it is the worst google glass ad ever.
and Later we find out it has nothing to do with the glasses, but cybernetic implants.
I guess that makes him part cyberman.
4 - Speaking of doctor who.
Notice the woman he’s scanning.
That’s lindsay duncan who played adelaide brooke in waters of mars.
Later she even remarks at how wet maunussen’s hands feel.
5 - Notice CAMs license plate.
It almost looks like it says I Can.
During the episode CAM states that he does things just because he can.
6 - clair de la lune.
The perfume serves as connective tissue between lady smallwood, CAM, Mary and Sherlock.
It’s french for light of the moon. and was a lullably with a very sexual double entendre.
7 - the man with the twisted lip.
This is an easy one but starting from the beginning, a woman comes to visit mary looking
for her son issac whitney.
Watson thinks it’s her husband.
In the book it actually was her husband.
8 - the drug den.
Also in twisted lip watson finds sherlock holmes while looking for the womans husband,
whos name is isa whitney.
In the canon holmes was mostly a cocaine user, but also used morphine and vistied the occasional
opium den.
Note that all of these drugs were perfectly legal in late 19th century england.
Now that sounds like a party.
9 - Call Me Shezza.
Sherlock uses it as his undercover name.
In the novel his last bow holmes also uses an undercover name.
It’s Atlamont.
The middle name of conan doyle’s father.
Maybe shezza is sherlock’s father’s middle name.
10 - They call me wiggy.
Billy wiggins is two canon characters merged into one.
Billy was the name of holmes’ page boy.
He was in the valley of fear, the problem of the thor bridge and the mazarin stone.
Wiggins was the leader of the baker street irregulars.
He appeared in a study in scarlet and the sign of four.
11 - When sherlock is describing magnussen to watson his speech ‘when you stand before
the sepents of the zoo’ is lifted directly from the book.
12 - crossdressing would have been a wiser path for you.
In the canon holmes did this at least 3 times including the adventure of black peter, the
adventure of the finale problem and the adventure of the empty house.
13 - Where should we be looking?
In canon holmes used to hide shag tobacco in the toe of his persian slipper.
We actually saw cumberbatch’s sherlock hide cigarettes in the toe of a slipper during
sign of three.
14 - You’ve got a girlfriend.
The canon holmes got engaged to Milverton’s housemaid as part of his case.
Technically janine didn’t have time to accept sherlock’s proposal in the episode though.
thanks to mary.
15 - Mrs Hudson’s rap sheet.
When milverton scans mrs hudson he learns that before she was married her name was sissons,
she is only a semi-reformed alcoholic and former exotic dancer.
Notice the ‘see file’ note.
Later sherlock makes a similar reference and mrs hudson accuses him of youtubing.
So somewhere in the world of the show.
There’s a young naked mrs hudson dancing her way across youtube.
and she has a problem with marijuana.
16 - Breaking and entering.
Sherlock and watson also break into milverton’s home in the canon.
17 - The east wind is coming.
Holmes says this in his last bow.
It means that a great change is coming.
In canon it was referring to the advent of World War 1.
In the context of the show after sherlock is shot the east wind represents death.
But later in the episode the spectre of moriarty is the east wind.
Implying that series 4 will bring major changes for the characters.
18 - Redbeard.
We finally learn that redbeard was sherlock’s childhood dog who had to be put down.
19 - Sussex downs.
Janine sells her story to the tabloids and buys a cottage in sussex downs.
With a bee problem.
In the canon, holmes retires to a farm in sussex downs and keeps bees as a hobby.
20 - Bolt Holes.
Sherlock Holmes’s has 6 known bolt holes including Parliment Hill, Camden Lock and
Dagmar Court.
The Blind Greenhouse in Cue Gardens and the leaning tomb in hampstead cemetary. and Molly’s
Bedroom and behind the clockface in big ben.
Leinester Gardens.
21 - The Lie of Linester gardens.
The fake house is a reference to the story the empty house which deals with what hides
behind facades.
22 - The Dynamics of Combustion.
We learn that Sherlock and Mycroft’s mother was a genius mathematician before retiring
to raise a family.
Thus becoming the source of their genius.
23 - A.G.R.A.
In canon the sign of four involves a treasure plot originating in agra india.
24 - Why do you hate him so much?
Canon holmes would often take justice into his own hands when he felt the law could not.
During the milverton adventure holmes allows milverton to be shot by another person without
trying to stop her.
Because he considers the killing to be justified.
In the episode sherlock did it himself, but the spirit is the same.
He did what the law, represented by mycroft, could not.
25 - Sherlock Holmes dragonslayer - he says is that what you think of me.
Referring to magnussen as the dragon in question, but before this episode was shot cumberbatch
had just completed his role filming smowg in the hobbit part 2.
Also starring martin freeman.
In the same conversation, mycroft says sherlock shouldn’t take the MI6 job as he has more
utility in england.
Because here be dragons.
Implying that he wants sherlock to take out magnussen.
26 - Let me flick your face.
Steven Moffat said that Freeman and Mikkelsen had to perform this scene several times.
The two actors had to find a spot on freeman’s face that mikkelsen could flick four hours
without freeman punching mikkelsen at the end of the day.
27 - Unreliable narrator.
Sherlock calls himself a high functioning sociopath several times, but he specifically
acts in the interests of his own friends.
Which is completely out of character for a true sociopath.
I wonder what else he’s been lying to us about.
28.
The other one.
Mycroft and sherlock have an older brother named sherrinford.
he isn’t part of the actual canon, but a noted holmes scholar theorized his existence
based on facts from the books.
So technically the third older brother exists only as a theory.
He was never an actual character.
29 - Undercover work.
In canon holmes went undercover for the english war effort at the beginning of world war 1.
30 - Did you miss me?
The image shown of moriarty is of him wearing the same suit from rickenback fall.
There are a lot of theories about whether or not it’s really him or just someone using
his image.
But I’m going to save all that for my series 4 predictions video.
Be sure to subscribe to get it.
I’ll probably do another q&a video after that just for questions about next year.
Also if you saw any canon that I didn’t mention in my video just write it in the comments.
Don’t forget, I’m doing videos for the musketeers with peter capaldi starting this
sunday.
Right now click here for my breakdown of episode 2 and here for my breakdown of episode 1.
Thanks for watching.
See you tonight.
High fives!