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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Who is Toby?

He is Molly Hooper's cat.

I keep wondering whether I am too suspcious. Maybe the whole Molly's blog thing is just a cute device to draw fans to the show's Web site. But I still wonder, why her? Why not Lestrade's blog or Mike Stamford's blog?

I am still reading "The Sign of the Four" in 10-minute increments in bed. Dr. Doyle really has a way of describing mysterious and haunting scenes, creating a creepy, Gothic atmosphere, all the while still rooting his stories in reality. The part about the dead stiff Bartholomew brother whose face, wearing a crooked smile, floated in moonlight is one of the scariest things I've ever read.

So who is Toby? He is a dog from Sherman's taxidermy shop who helped Holmes trace and find Jonathan Small and his "savage" killer servant.

Holmes: "When you have dropped Miss Morstan, I wish you to go on to No. 3 Pinchin Lane, down near the water's edge at Lambeth. The third house on the right-hand side is a bird-stuffer's; Sherman is the name. You will see a weasel holding a young rabbit in the window. Knock old Sherman up and tell him, with my compliments, that I want Toby at once. You will bring Toby back in the cab with you."


Watson: "A dog, I suppose."

Holmes: "Yes, a queer mongrel with a most amazing power of scent. I would rather have Toby's help than that of the whole detective force of London."

11 comments:

Unknown said...

So you reckon they never choose any character (cat)'s name randomly?

I agree about JimS but am less sure about your suspicion of Sebastian the banker :)

Have you seen the latest post on Sherlocking? They are now debating racism, sexism and classism of SH stories. How preditable...

Unknown said...

Mike Stamford's blog sounds rather boring, hehe. And dear Lestrade, are detective inspectors supposed to keep blogs? Risk of leaking sensitive information?

Little Meatball said...

I don't know. I just have a feeling that Toby's name was not chosen randomly. Maybe it's only because I'm reading The Sign of the Four at this moment.

I did not say anything about Sebatian ah ... :) I think someone on the Sherlocking forum made a connection to Colonel Moran. I don't think Sebastian the banker is coming back, primarily because the Steve Thompson episode seems to be very much off on his own instead of a part of the Moffat-Gatiss enterprise.

Little Meatball said...

I went to the blog and saw the commentary (griping) about the race, class, and gender issues in the series. I don't like the Chinese secret society plot in Ep 2 either, but that's because the episode was generally not well written and Mr. Thompson is clearly cluelss about modern Chinese gangsters. Pity he has seen none of John Woo's and Johnny To's gangster movies.

Whatever, but he had the word "class" in the title and never got into the subject. I had intended to write something about Dr. Doyle's attitude about English classism reflected in the original stories.

Little Meatball said...

I have not found any reference to the names Sarah and Molly.

Unknown said...

I must have been mixing things up, reading too many forums at the same time. Sorry :-)

Mr Thompson's lack of understanding of modern day Chinese gangsters is no worse than Chinese TV soaps' depiction of Western society.

Unknown said...

So you joined the debate :-)

Might start to use "dull" as my signature, excellent word, hehehe.

Little Meatball said...

Even without the Chinese component, the episode does not even make sense. Elementary mistakes and illogical developments all over the place.

If this was the first episode, I'd stop watching the series already.

Dull. :D

Unknown said...

Well, EP1 proves that a modern day Holmes is absolutely do-able; that writing is key to its succuess; that Benedict Cumberbatch is seriously charming. Let's have faith in EP3.

Unknown said...

Excuse my ill-spelling, it's getting worse :(

Little Meatball said...

What ill-spelling? I can't even find any. :D Relax. It's just my little blog...

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