Will Meek

Engl 1102-028

01/28/2014

Assignment 1

Figured World Location

Sherlock, a television series takes place in present day London. London is a modernized city in

England modeled after western culture. Automobile, subway trains, and walking are the most

common forms of transportation. Similar to most major cities, London is divided into culturally

distinctive districts based on the distribution of wealth. In wealthier portions of the city, people

are expected to behave with a high level of professionalism, wear professional looking attire

such as suits, to be polite and courteous towards others and to obey the law. These parts of the

city are filled with skyscrapers and lots of fancy post-modernism buildings. In the middle-class

districts, people are expected to obey the law and share the same levels of courtesy as in the

upper-class districts, but emphasis on presenting one’s self in such a professional fashion is

much less important. People are also expected to be more interactive with their neighbors and

community in the mid-level districts. The middle level districts make up most of London. They

are mostly comprised of suburbs and old buildings that have been refurbished to suit modern

needs. In the poor districts of London, while it is not taught as a positive behavior, it is expected

that many people here break the law. There is still some emphasis on being polite in these

locations but it is not by any means a social expectation. Most underground criminals and

criminal organizations reside in these districts of the city. These areas are coated in graffiti and

other street art, each one has a distinctive look, yet all are far from fancy. The social dress code

standard for these areas is not to wear what you aren’t prepared to lose.

Discourse Communities

London police: All of the members of the London Police hold a special anguish towards

Sherlock except their boss, Lestrade. While even he dislikes Sherlock as a person, he can’t deny

Sherlock’s results. Despite the police’s irritancies with Sherlock, they allow him to help in their

investigations because they recognize his brilliance even though they refuse to admit it.

Consulting Detectives: Sherlock Holmes and his associate Dr. John Watson are both addicted to

the thrill of chasing criminal masterminds though their purposes are somewhat different. John

loves the thrill of catching a criminal and being a hero whereas Sherlock mostly seeks to prove

that he’s smarter than the evil genius he’s chasing.

The Black Lotus: A Chinese criminal organization which specializes in smuggling. They have a

branch operating in London where they sell valuable Chinese antiquities on the black market for

millions. John and Sherlock gain interest in bringing the organization down after it murders three

of its members and leaves Sherlock with a puzzling cipher to solve.

Commented [WM1]: Add description of location

Commented [WM2]: Location and Figured world are different, how the world pertains to Holmes in figured world and details of significance to plot in location.

Commented [WM3]: Add the network the series is played on.

Commented [WM4R3]:

Commented [WM5]: Need self-descriptions of figured world, literacy practice, actors, and discourse communities.

Commented [WM6]: Defining different classes is unnecessary information.

Commented [WM7]: Think carefully if there are any more discourse communities.

Commented [WM8]: Add detail about how each community shares the same goals and/or thought processes.

Commented [WM9]: Elaborate more on why the black lotus is a discourse community.

Actors

Sherlock Holmes: Self-proclaimed “consulting detective,” Sherlock is extraordinarily gifted in

observing and deducting. Sherlock can’t resist showing off his superior intellectual abilities and

is often resented for it. He considers himself to be of higher status relative to the rest of the world

and gives no regard for others’ personal sensitivity.

Dr. John Watson: Dr. Watson is a former British Royal Army field medic. He craves adventure

and danger and this aspect of his personality causes him to find Sherlock and his life of

spontaneity and peril irresistible.

Sgt. Sally Donovan: An officer of the London Police Force who doesn’t understand Sherlock and

repeatedly calls him “freak.”

Inspector Lestrade: Lestrade is a detective inspector for the London Police. He often times calls

Sherlock during investigations involving especially clever criminals. Lestrade knows involving

Sherlock is illegal but cares more about catching the dangerous criminals than his job.

Anderson: A forensics specialist who works for the London Police and dislikes Sherlock even

more than most of the people who know him.

Soo Lin Yao: A former smuggler for the Chinese criminal organization the Black Lotus, Soo Lin

is an expert on ancient Chinese antiquities. Five years after leaving the organization, the Black

Lotus hunts her down and kills her for her betrayal. Before she is killed, Soo Lin translates the

first two words of the gang’s cipher which allows Sherlock to catch the gang and the members

responsible for hers and several other’s deaths.

The Spider: The name of a deadly assassin and member of the Black Lotus. The Spider turns out

to be Soo Lin Yao’s brother and killer. The Spider’s daring break-in to the Shad Sanderson bank

is what gets Sherlock hired and begins his hunt to bring the organization down.

Dr. Sarah Sawyer: When John gets tight on money and searches for a job, Sarah becomes his

new employer and love interest. Sarah shows quick thinking and bravery on multiply occasions

and not only saves both John and Sherlock’s lives, but gives them a major clue in solving the

Black Lotus’ cipher.

Artifacts

Pills: The weapon the serial killer uses to execute his victims.

Taxi: The urban camouflage the serial killer uses to move about the streets of London

undetected. He also uses his knowledge as a cab driver to select the locations he murders his

victims.

John’s cane: John is suffering from PTS syndrome after the war and believes he can no longer

walk without the use of a cane after getting shot. In reality, his mind is playing tricks on himself

and he only believes he needs the cane because he has developed a self-image of a boring man

without any action in his life and sees himself as incapable of doing anything anymore.

Commented [WM10]: Descriptions of actors are good.

Commented [WM11]: Good description of Sherlock Holmes.

Commented [WM12]: Consider condensing list of artifacts and focus more on the purpose/significance of each artifact.

John’s gun: John keeps a gun in the drawer of his desk because he is just waiting for some thrills

to come into his life and secretly hopes he gets the chance to discharge a firearm again.

Suitcase: The victim in pink’s suitcase is what clues Sherlock in to the whereabouts of the killer

and gives him proof that the suicides are in fact murders.

Victim’s phone: The woman in pink’s phone is what allows Sherlock and John to catch the serial

killer, after they deduce that the message she scratched into the floor during her last breaths was

the phone’s password.

Horse crop: Sherlock could have beaten the stiff in the beginning of the episode with practically

anything, but he chose to do so with a horse crop. It displays his character as someone with class

but in an odd sort of fashion.

Serial killer’s gun: The serial killer is above using real guns, they would make his game too

boring. The “gun” he uses to force people to take the pill is actually just a cigarette lighter.

John and Sherlock’s flat: The place John and Sherlock call home. Sherlock keeps it a mess with

all of his assorted experiments and compiled research for the cases he solves. John helps

Sherlock organize the flat from a place to sleep into a real home.

Yellow Paint: The Black Lotus, a Chinese criminal organization uses distinctive yellow spray

paint to write graffiti messages around the city.

Crossbow: The Black Lotus, a Chinese criminal organization uses an antique artistic Chinese

crossbow in one of their circus acts and to kill some of their victims.

Teapots: These 400 year teapots have become Soolin’s obsession and she risks her life to care for

them, a risk which ends in her demise.

Origami lotus: The Black Lotus, a Chinese criminal organization places origami black lotuses on

the victims they kill as a trademark.

Lotus tattoo: Each of the members of the black lotus, a Chinese criminal organization, are

branded with a tattoo of a black lotus on their foot. These tattoos allow Sherlock to convince the

new detective inspector of the organizations presence in London.

Literacy Practices

Traffic signs: Sherlock uses the traffic signs and patterns to map out in his head the destination

of a taxi which the killer is driving.

Text messages: Sherlock sends text messages to the police and reporters during the press

conference, primarily to show off that he can. He also uses a text to frighten the serial killer and

cause him to make a mistake which leads them closer to finding him. Many of the other

characters also use text messages on a frequent basis.

The note: The note the victim in pink scratches into the floor, “Rache,” is what allows John,

Sherlock, and the police to catch the serial killer.

Commented [WM13]: Good literacy practices, street signs were creative idea.

Hangzhou: An ancient Chinese dialect and numeral system which the Black Lotus uses as part of

its secret code.

London A-Z: A book that most tourists and even many residents of London own. It is significant

to members of the Black Lotus Chinese criminal organization because it is the book their secret

cipher is based upon.

E-mail: Most residents of London use email and Sherlock Holmes is no different. One he

receives, in particular, leads him to his mission of bringing down the Black Lotus, a Chinese

gang who has been conducting smuggling operations in London.

Observation One

(Flash back)

Dr. John Watson is serving in active combat for the British Royal Army in Afghanistan and is

wounded during an intense firefight.

(Oct 12)

An unknown woman is talking on the phone to her wealthy husband or boyfriend whom has just

arrived in the airport in London. She advises him that there is not a car waiting for him and that

he will need to take a taxi to come home. The man seen talking on the phone takes a pill and

dies.

(Nov 26)

Two teenage boys are walking in the rain when a taxi drives by, one of the boys tries to flag

down the cab but the driver does not stop. The boy who attempts to catch the cab walks home to

get an umbrella. The same boy is seen taking the same pill as the previous man and dies as well.

(Jan 27)

A woman is seen taking the keys of one of her so-called friends because her friend has been

drinking. The woman is then seen taking the same pill as the previous two victims when trying to

find a way home.

(Jan 28)

8:00 – John is writing a blog about what happens to him but can not think of anything to write.

9:00 – John is seen inside an office attending a mental therapy session for his PTS syndrome he

developed from his time serving in the war. His therapist believes writing a blog about his life

will help him adjust to life as a civilian.

9:30 – Police are holding a press conference about the recent deaths. Inspector Lestrade makes a

statement claiming them to be “serial suicides” when everyone in the room gets a text message

that says “wrong!” Lestrade assures the media that the police have their best people investigating

when everyone receives another text which also says “wrong!” The inspector continues by

claiming “everyone is as safe as they want to be” when a final “wrong!” text is received. When

Commented [WM14]: State the episode being descriped in observation 1 and observation 2. Split Observations 1 & 2 to make a third.

the press conference is over, Lestrade receives a message which says “you know where to find

me.”

10:00 – John is walking in a park when an old military buddy, Mike, recognizes him. John and

Mike talk briefly and John tells Mike he is searching for a new roommate. Mike suggests a friend

who earlier that morning also mentioned he was in need of a roommate.

10:30 – Sherlock is in the morgue examining a body to authenticate the alibi of one of his clients

when John and Mike walk in. Sherlock asks Mike if he can borrow his phone but John offers his

instead. Sherlock asks John “Afghanistan or Iraq?” John is amazed at how Sherlock could have

known such a thing and Sherlock continues to boast his skills of deduction and tell John about

many personal details in his life that only his closest friends would know. Sherlock invites John

to come look at a flat with him and Mike confirms “yeah, he’s always like that.”

11:00 – Woman in pink seen reaching for the same pill that killed the first three victims.

11:30 – Sherlock and John arrive at the flat on 221B Baker St, London. The apartment is a mess

and John says “this could be very nice, just got some old junk to clean out” not realizing that

Sherlock already lives there. Sherlock’s only friend is an old skull and tells John that he’s much

better company. Lestrade arrives at Sherlock’s apartment to tell him there is a fourth victim, and

that this one left a note. As soon as Lestrade leaves the room, Sherlock jumps and shouts

“brilliant!” and compares four suicides and a note to Christmas. As Sherlock is leaving to

observe the crime scene of the fourth victim, Mrs. Hudson calls John “the sitting down type.”

Outraged, John can not refuse Sherlock’s offer to come with him to investigate the crime scene

of the fourth victim and “come see some more trouble,” more referring to the initial traumatizing

experiences he encountered while in the war.

12:00 – While in a taxi on the way to the crime scene, Sherlock shows off his deductive abilities

and explains how he knew all of the details about John’s life after John calls Sherlock an

“amateur detective.”

12:30 – John and Sherlock arrive at the crime scene. Upon arrival, Sgt. Donovan refers to

Sherlock as “freak” and is surprised to see him with company. The murder scene is an old

abandoned apartment building. The body has been found upstairs with the note; the word

“Rache” scratched into the floor. At a quick glance, Sherlock is able to notice that the victim was

left handed, the note was meant to say “Rachel,” the victim had an unhappy marriage which had

lasted over ten years, was a serial adulterer, that the woman came from out of town, and that she

had a suitcase with her (even though one wasn’t found on the crime scene). John can’t help

blurting out how impressed he is.

1:00 – The phone in a public booth rings just as John walks passed it. This repeats until finally

John answers the phone in the third booth he passes. The man on the phone advises him of the

cameras located all around him and tells John to get in the car.

1:30 – John meets the mysterious man in an abandoned warehouse. The man asks John about

Sherlock and calls himself Sherlock’s “arch enemy.” The man bribes John to spy on Sherlock for

him but John refuses. John receives a text from Sherlock telling him to come home and that it

was urgent. The man notices that John’s hand has stopped twitching and informs him that he

isn’t haunted by the war but that he misses it.

2:00 – John stops at his house to get his gun on the way back to the new flat.

2:30 – John arrives back at the new flat to find Sherlock wearing three nicotine patches. John

tells Sherlock about the mysterious man he met and Sherlock informs him that this man is

“extremely dangerous.” The “urgent” reason Sherlock called him back was to have him send a

text. The text is addressed to the victim’s phone so that the killer would see it written as though it

were from the victim in pink. When John asks why Sherlock is talking to him instead of the

police, Sherlock replies “Mrs. Hudson took his skull.”

5:00 – John and Sherlock go out to dinner at a café when Sherlock realizes the serial killer must

be using taxi’s to snatch up his victims.

7:00 – Sherlock and John chase after the cab right in front of them and John leaves without his

cane to hunt the cab down. Sherlock is able to calculate the taxi’s route based on the traffic

patterns. After running through alleys and jumping across rooftops, Sherlock and John catch the

cab they are chasing but realize the man in the back is not the serial killer. While walking home,

they bond over telling each other corny yet witty jokes.

8:00 – When John and Sherlock get home, the police are searching the flat on a “drug bust”

because Sherlock has been withholding the suitcase, valuable evidence. The police tell Sherlock

that Rachel was the victim’s still born daughter. Sherlock determines that Rachel must have been

the password to her e-mail/smart phone. They use this information to track the location of the

victim’s phone and thus the location of the killer. While everyone else is distracted with this

newly found information, an unordered cab arrives for Sherlock and he realizes that it must be

the killer, so he goes to get in. The man waiting outside was the driver of the same cab Sherlock

and John had chased down earlier that evening. Instead of running in and getting the police to

arrest the man, Sherlock gets in because the serial killer tells him if he doesn’t, he’ll never know

what he said to the victims to get them to kill themselves. John traces the location of the phone

but is confused when it says that the phone was at their apartment.

8:15 – Watson realizes that Sherlock is missing and that the location of the phone has changed

after tracing it a second time. He informs the police of this newly found information and they

chase after Sherlock and the serial killer.

9:00 – While on the road, the serial killer tells Sherlock that he recognizes him from Sherlock’s

website and that he was warned about him but he doesn’t say by whom. He explains the “genius”

and convenience of being a cab driver when killing people.

9:30 – The killer takes Sherlock into an empty schoolhouse to show him how he convinced the

others to kill themselves.

9:45 – The killer explains his method. There are two identical bottles with identical pills, but one

bottle contains a good pill, and the other contains a lethal pill. Sherlock must choose one and

whichever he doesn’t take, the killer will take the other. After explaining his “brilliant” system

and feeling overconfident, the killer calls Sherlock “stupid” and Sherlock proves how much

smarter he is. He has already figured out that the serial killer must be dying to put himself in

such risky scenarios and that the killer is murdering his victims for his kids but isn’t sure why.

The killer informs Sherlock that he has a “sponsor,” the same man who warned him about

Sherlock.

9:50 – Watson and the police arrive at the location the killer has taken Sherlock. The police form

a perimeter but John runs frantically to find Sherlock and save him.

10:00 – Sherlock must choose between one of the pills or the gun, he chooses the gun, realizing

that it’s a fake. The serial killer beaten, Sherlock begins to walk away but returns to play his

game. Just as Sherlock is about to take one of the pills, John sees him from out the window of an

adjacent building and shoots the killer before either of them can take a pill. As the serial killer is

dying, Sherlock’s first question is whether or not he chose the right pill. In the serial killer’s last

breaths, Sherlock manages to get the name of the man who warned the killer about Sherlock,

Moriarty.

10:30 – The police are wrapping up everything that happened when Sherlock’s “arch enemy”

shows up. The man reveals himself to be Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s brother. Mycroft is in an

extremely high ranking government position in charge of the British secret service among many

other things.

10:45 – John asks why Sherlock is smiling and Sherlock tells him that he is excited about

Moriarty.

Observation Two

(Feb 22)

5:00 – Soo Lin Yao is performing a Chinese tea ceremony as a demonstration in a museum to

care for and preserve the condition of beautiful antique Chinese clay teapots which are over 400

years old.

5:30 – A boy who also works in the museum talks to Soo Lin and shows obvious romantic

interest. He asks her out on a date but she declines and says “I don’t think you would like me all

that much.”

7:30 – Soo Lin is in the museum after hours cataloging artifacts when she hears a noise and

becomes alarmed. When she goes to investigate, she uncovers something which leaves her with a

face of consternation.

(Feb 23)

10:00 – John is shopping for groceries when the self-check-out machine malfunctions and works

him into a fluster. Meanwhile, Sherlock is in their flat fending off a blade bearing assassin.

During the brawl, the assassin’s sword makes a deep scratch in the dining room table. Sherlock

eventual gains leverage over the attacker and lands a strike which knocks the assassin

unconscious.

10:30 – John arrives back at the flat empty handed because his credit card was declined. When

Sherlock offers John his card and sends him back to the store, John, already upset, yells at

Sherlock for being so lazy; unaware of the attacker Sherlock had just fended off earlier that

morning. As John is yelling at him, Sherlock receives an email from an old colleague and now a

rich banker named Sebastian offering him a job. When John humbly asks Sherlock if he can

borrow some money, Sherlock ironically says “I need to go to the bank.”

11:00 – When at the bank, Sebastian informs John and Sherlock that his bank has a security

breach and offers them a five figure number to find it, but when Sherlock see’s the puzzling

cipher painted on the wall, he becomes less interested in the money and more fascinated with

breaking the code. When Sherlock waves off the money and tells his former colleague that he

doesn’t need motivation, Watson is quick to inform the banker that Sherlock was only joking and

collects the down-payment gasping at the amount for which it was written.

11:15 – Sherlock is observing the break-in at the bank. A symbol has been painted on the wall of

the bank in yellow spray paint and next to it, in the same paint, a line has been sprayed over the

eyes of a fancy portrait. The security camera shows the wall was painted at 12:34 am the night

before, but the feed from the cameras has been tampered with so that no one is ever seen entering

or exiting the bank. After observing the bank, Sherlock determines that the paint was a warning

intended for Edward Vancoon, one of the bank’s employees.

3:30 – John and Sherlock go to Edward Vancoon’s apartment to investigate. When they find that

no one is home, Sherlock gets in by dropping from the balcony above and using the back door.

John is upset because Sherlock is too busy making his own observations to unlock the front door

and let John in when Sherlock discovers Vancoon dead.

4:30 – When the police arrive, there is a new detective inspector in charge. The inspector

assumes Vancoon committed suicide, the way things were made to look by the assassin, but

Sherlock points out that Vancoon was left handed based on observations he made around the

apartment and that Vancoon was shot on the right side of his head, an unlikely scenario for a left-

handed suicide.

8:00 – Sherlock rudely interrupts Sebastian’s business lunch meeting to inform him that

Vancoon has been murdered. Sebastian informs Sherlock about Vancoon’s involvement in his

company. He had been working the Hong-Kong branch and made frequent and often times

sudden trips there so no one suspected anything when he didn’t show up for work. Sebastian also

told Sherlock about a time when Vancoon had lost five million pounds in a single morning and

then made it all back a week later.

10:00 – A man is holding running through the street constantly looking behind him with a look

of horror as though he is being chased.

(Feb 24)

10:00 – The man with the crush on Soo Lin is asking his boss about her since he hasn’t seen her

in a couple of days. His boss informs him that she resigned and suggests that perhaps it was

because some of her fellow employees wouldn’t leave her alone.

2:00 – John is applying for a job at a medical clinic due to his lack of financial security. It is

obvious that he has a crush on Sarah, the doctor interviewing him. She notices he served in the

army and informs him that the job can be “a bit mundane,” but John accepts the job anyways.

(Feb 25)

10:00 – The man who was seen running frantically through the streets has been found murdered.

After begging the new detective inspector, Sherlock has been permitted five minutes in the

man’s flat to make observations. Within five minutes, Sherlock determines that the killer got in

through the skylight and finds a book from the West Kensington Library, where he and John go

to search for further clues.

10:30 – While in the library, John finds symbols identical to those found in the bank sprayed on

one of the bookshelves by the same paint.

12:00 – Sherlock consults a street artist (vandal) for more information about the graffiti. While

Sherlock and John are talking to the graffiti expert, two police officers arrive and arrest John for

the painting of a cop with a pig nose as Sherlock and the street artist run away.

2:00 – When John and Sherlock go to investigate more about the two victims, they both wind up

at the “Lucky Cat Emporium” in China town. Upon reading a price tag in the Lucky Cat,

Sherlock determines that the cipher is comprised of an ancient Chinese dialect and numeral

system known as Hangzhou. He realizes that the two victims must have been smugglers and that

the Lucky Cat was their drop-off location. He also concludes that one of the victims must have

stolen something of value to the organization and so both were threatened.

2:30 – Sherlock breaks into an abandoned flat across the street from the café he and John are

having lunch in and adjacent to the Lucky Cat noticing that no one has been home for a couple of

days. Sherlock doesn’t realize, however, that the flat belongs to Soo Lin Yao and that the killer is

still inside. The assassin attacks Sherlock and strangles him until he falls to the floor and places

an origami black lotus in Sherlock’s pocket. While John is bickering and frustrated that Sherlock

did not let him into the apartment for a second time, Sherlock opens some of Soo Lin’s mail and

uses the address to retrace some of her steps to the museum in order to search for more clues.

5:00 – When exiting the museum, the street artist notifies Sherlock that he’s found more of the

symbols in the distinctive yellow paint.

6:00 – Sherlock and John arrive at one of the underground communities of London. All of the

walls are caked in graffiti and the symbols that Sherlock’s consultant found have already been

painted over. Sherlock and John hunt around the area in search of more of the symbols.

7:00 – John finds an entire wall of the symbols but before he can show Sherlock, the wall is

painted over entirely in black. Fortunately, John took a picture on his phone and so the pair are

able to have a “rosetta stone” of sorts to help themselves crack the code.

(Feb 26)

10:00 – When visiting the museum a second time, Sherlock notices that two of the teapots are

now shining as opposed to the one that had been on their previous visit. Sherlock concludes that

Soo Lin must be breaking into the museum at night to finish taking care of the pots which allows

him and John to find her.

2:00 – Sherlock and John wait for Soo Lin in the museum where she tells them about her past.

Five years ago, she had been a smuggler for a Chinese criminal organization known as the Black

Lotus. The assassin killing the victims was one of their members and known as the “Spider.” She

also informs them that the code is based upon a book and that the gang’s general in charge of the

London operation is known as “Shan” when the three realize that the killer is in the museum.

When Sherlock and John leave Soo Lin to go fend off the Spider, they foolishly leave her

defenseless and she is murdered by her own brother.

(Feb 27)

10:00 – Sherlock informs D.I. Dimmock of the Black Lotus’ operations in London but he

requires proof.

11:00 – Sherlock flirts with Molly in order to gain access to the bodies of the recently deceased

victims he suspects to be involved in the Black Lotus’ smuggling operations.

11:15 – Sherlock shows the D.I. Dimmock the tattoos on the two victims feet, he is now

convinced Sherlock is telling the truth and gives him access to the books found at the victim’s

apartments, as requested.

12:00 – While waiting for the books to be delivered, Sherlock ponders why Shan would need to

go to Soo Lin for help and concludes that the Black Lotus must be smuggling ancient Chinese

antiquities and selling them on the black market in London. Sherlock also realizes that the code

is comprised of numbers and related to a book, therefore the code must refer to the page numbers

of the book and a specific word on the page.

12:30 – The books from Vancoon and Luki’s apartment arrive. Sherlock begins searching

through each of them with John using the picture of the wall John took to put together a sentence

that makes sense.

(Feb 28)

2:00 – While Sherlock continues to decipher the script, John goes to work at his new job but falls

asleep on his first day after staying up all night again attempting to break the code with Sherlock.

Dr. Sawyer finds him asleep and takes all of his clients for the day.

5:00 – When he wakes up, John apologizes and informs Sarah that he had been “out late.” After

Sarah inquires whether he had been out late with a date, John invites her to go out with him that

evening.

6:00 – When John informs Sherlock of his plans to go to the movies with Sarah, Sherlock calls

the idea dull and predictable. He suggests John take her to the Chinese circus, secretly suspecting

that the circus is put on by members of the Black Lotus.

8:00 – John ends up taking Sarah to the circus when Sherlock makes an unexpected appearance.

8:30 – The first act of the circus is a stunt in which a tied up warrior must escape his bonds

before an iron ball drops and activates the pressure plate trigger of an intricate crossbow aimed at

his heart.

8:45 – An acrobat introduced as the “deadly Chinese bird spider” is performing while Sherlock

searches backstage. He finds a can of yellow paint, the same kind used to make the symbols

when he is discovered by the warrior from the crossbow stunt. Sherlock and John are nearly

killed by the warrior when Sarah swats him over the head with the bolt from the crossbow.

9:30 – Sherlock, John, and Sarah return to Sherlock and John’s flat. While Sherlock continues

his attempts to solve the code, John and Sarah try to continue their date. John is in the kitchen

looking for something to eat after Sarah mentions she’s starving. While he is off, Sherlock is

treating Sarah with an attitude as though she were incompetent is she pieces together the

evidence John and Sherlock have so far when she points out that Soo Lin had solved the first two

words of the code from the picture John took, something Sherlock and John had previously failed

to notice. Realizing that the book to translate the code must still be on Soo Lin’s desk, Sherlock

rushes out to find it and finish translating the code in the picture.

9:45 – On his way to the museum, Sherlock realizes that the book the code is based upon is

London A-Z. He grabs a copy from a couple of German tourists and translates the original

message which was left for Vancoon and Luki, “deadman.”

10:00 – Sherlock arrives back at the flat to discover John and Sarah missing and the deadman

message painted on the windows. Sherlock quickly finishes translating the cipher in John’s

picture in order to determine where the Black Lotus must have taken them.

10:30 – John and Sarah are tied up in a sewer tunnel with the crossbow from the circus aimed at

Sarah! General Shan is convinced that John is Sherlock Holmes after finding the check from the

banker in his wallet addressed to Sherlock, the tickets to the circus reserved under Sherlock’s

name, and the credit card Sherlock had lent to John to buy groceries and plans to kill him.

Sherlock arrives just in time to prove Gen. Shan wrong and distract the gang while Watson

kicked the crossbow causing the bolt to miss Sarah and hit the Spider. During the commotion,

however, Gen. Shan escapes.

Interview of John Watson

Q: How did you first meet Sherlock?

A: Um, I was talking to an old mate of mine from when we were in the army and at the time, I

was looking for a new flat mate. My mate told me he knew someone who had just told him

earlier that morning that he was also in need of a new flat mate. So Mike, my old colleague, and

I went to the morgue where we met Sherlock and he was, different. He told me all about myself

before we even spoke and offered to view a flat together later that afternoon. I didn’t exactly

think things would work out between us at that point but I figured I’d give it a go, so we went to

look at the flat and it was just a bloody mess. Then I found out that Sherlock already lived there

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and based on the way he was before we met, I can’t say I’m surprised that the place was such a

wreck. Sherlock always gets too caught up in his cases to take care of his personal life. But

anyways, he ended up with a case that day and I got sucked in. We solved it together, I moved in,

and we’ve been best mates ever since.

(Feb 29)

11:00 – Sherlock and John head over to the bank which employed them. While John is collecting

the twenty thousand pound check, Sherlock takes inquires about how the secretary got her hair

pin, the stolen treasure the Black Lotus had been after. He realizes that she had been in a

relationship with Vancoon and he must have taken it without realizing its value and given it to

her as a gift. Sherlock takes delight in informing the secretary of the value the pin is worth, nine

million pounds!

Q: Sherlock’s never had friends before you, why are you so close to him?

A: Sherlock is, a bit special. He treats you with utter disrespect, but that’s just ‘cause he’s bloody

ignorant. Once you get to know him, he’s not just some freak like some people call him. He does

care about other people, myself, Molly, Mrs. Hudson. He just doesn’t like to show it because he

feels like it makes him weaker. He likes to think he’s above the rest of us, and at times I believe

he is.

Q: Some people say he’s just a phony, that it’s all just a magic trick. Do believe Sherlock is truly

brilliant or just a magician?

A: Sherlock is probably the most intelligent human being who has ever lived, when he wants to

be. The things he’s able to notice, the speed he puts it all together, the sheer mass of random

facts he has memorized, it’s just brilliant. Just being around him is incredible, watching him put

it all together. No, I’ve been with Sherlock long enough now to know it’s not all a game, even

though he’d probably love it if it were. He’s like a big, too smart for his own good, child really.

With all his genius, all he’s interested in doing is playing games. And showing off of course.

Q: Does he ever get on your nerves?

A: Oh god yeah. Every moment I’m awake Sherlock is making me bloody miserable. It’s almost

funny, he doesn’t even understand when he’s being inappropriate, but I’ve taken it upon myself

to try and teach him some manners. And I do honestly believe he does it on purpose, just another

game for him to play, to annoy everyone he meets. I think the one thing he does that bothers me

the most is how he boasts his massive intellect like he’s some sort of superior being. If I had a

pound for every time he did something just to show off I could buy all of England. Don’t get me

wrong, I’d go to hell and back for him, but he can be just a twit sometimes.

Add definitions to bold words.

Well organized paper as a whole.

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