On Lolo TV, I’ll share my discovery of culture reference in TV shows with you

Today, we are going to look at Season 3 Episode 1 of BBC’s Sherlock

The Empty Hearse

Are there really hidden culture references in TV shows?

Let me give you a quick example

The Empty Hearse gave the explaination on Sherlock's escape

He jumped off from the roof of Barts two years ago.

How on earth did he survive the jump?

Did you notice

Right before the jump

He sent a text messsage to Mycroft

"Lazarus"

Lazarus is a character in the Bible

He was resurrected by Jesus after his death

There is no better name for Sherlock’s escape plan than "Lazarus"

Did you notice this culture reference?

The main arc of this episode is

Sherlock found out a London underground network’s conspiracy to bomb Westminster

When it comes to bombing Westminster

One has to mention the famous Gunpowder Treason and Plot in the British history

Nov 5, 1605, the British Parliament was having a big ceremony at Westminster

Guy Fawkes snuck explosives into the basement

He planned on setting the place on fire during the ceremony

In The Empty Hearse, the story writers refered to the Gunpowder plot several times

to create a parallel between the current case and the history

The parallels provided clues for Sherlock in solving his case

Now let’s look at all these parallels

Parallel 1 – The Copy Cat

Guy Fawkes chose to bomb the parliament on the day of an opening ceremony

In The Empty Hearse, Lord Moran totally copied Guy’s plan

He picked the night when the Parliament was going to be full house voting for the anti- terrorism bill to blow up the place

今晚反恐法案的投票结果很难预测, 当局政府指出这套法案意义重大...

Parallel 2 – The Bonfire

Since fellow conspirators tipped off the authorities, Gunpowder Plot failed

The King survived the assassination

Thus, 5th of Nov was designated as a day for celebration, with bonfires

That is why when Watson was kidnapped

He was placed inside a bonfire

Sherlock saved Watson from the fire

This jolted something in his mind palace.

It’s a vital clue for his deduction

At that point, he realized Lord Moran was planning on blow up the Parliament that night

今晚他不会去议会

今天是11月5日

“切记，切记”

“火药阴谋”

““切记，切记，十一月初五”

This is a British folk song about the Gunpowder Treason and Plot

When Sherlock mentioned that

Watson came to the realization they need to stop the bomb

Parallel 3: The Underground

Sherlock deduced Moran’s plan to bomb the Parliament

But he still needed to find the explosives

History helped Sherlock again

In Gunpowder Plot

Guy Fawkes snuck 36 barrels of gun powders into the basement of the Parliament

Following this scheme

Sherlock found the car full of explosives In the deserted London underground segment

Stopped the bomb just in time

It is fascinating to watch Sherlock using the history as clues to solve his current case

However, some fans complained the writers made Moran such a dumbass

He followed Guy Fawkes template way too literally

Making it too easy for Sherlock to guess his whole plan

Well, to that -

Lolo’s explanation is

Without Moriarty as the Criminal Consultant

Folks like Moran are certainly amateur hours.

These are the culture references I found while watching The Empty Hearse

I’m glad I get to share with you all

If there is a show you like to watch with me and discuss the hidden references

Drop me a line in the comments

Maybe next time

Lolo TV will be watching what you are watching

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