This is it. The big four-part finale that the entire season has been building up to. And it is enormous, easily the length of the rest of the season. This page is one huge spoiler, so if you don't want that, click back now!
In "Dynamics of a Point"...
The Doctor returns the gang to London, November 1895, then takes the TARDIS over to the Cardiff Rift to refuel. And that's the last event ripped directly from Nu Who's Season 3, specifically from "Utopia". Holmes is only getting darker and moodier, and Watson insists that their time in the TARDIS is up. Holmes needs to move on with his life now, needs the stability of being home.
The Doctor reluctantly agrees, heartbroken to have to leave his kids. Naturally, things fall apart completely in his absence. Holmes accepts the case of the Bruce-Partington Plans from his brother but doesn't include Watson in the deal; they proceed to have a tremendous falling-out which results in the Watsons leaving 221B.
Beth insists on joining the Irregulars and helping Holmes out on his new case, to the point where she tells him point-blank that she's coming along for the ride whether he takes her or not. Holmes isn't at all happy but agrees. Eventually, however, she admits that she knows this case, and Holmes forcefully ensures that she'll return to 221B while he continues his investigation. Two vehement arguments follow, the latter ending on a decidedly dark note. Holmes apologizes, but Beth calls him out on his actions. Still, she says that leaving will break her heart, and Holmes admits that he doesn't want her to go.
Holmes ends up failing his investigation but isn't given time to dwell on it before he's kidnapped by Torchwood agents. And his host is none other than Professor James Moriarty, alive and apparently in his forties. Moriarty explains the incredible circumstances of how he survived Reichenbach and rounds his tale off by declaring that Time is freezing over thanks to Holmes breaking one of his Fixed Points. Enter Colonel Sebastian Moran with a struggling Beth, who'd followed Holmes here and been caught by Moran. Moriarty realizes that, in Frozen Time, Beth is a Temporal Paradox, and he explains that she will have to die to keep Time stable. Beth escapes, but Holmes is subdued by Moriarty. Watson is then brought into the equation, and Moriarty brutally exploits the friendship to force Holmes to capitulate to his will. It's quite simple: Moriarty wants to remake the Great Detective into himself.
In "The Dying Detective"...
The world is stuck in November 1895. Holmes and Watson are Moriarty's prisoners, Holmes having Jumped Off The Slippery Slope after being given a Sadistic Choice. The Doctor and the TARDIS are trapped inside the Cardiff Rift going haywire.
On the run from Moran, Beth reaches Mycroft's office to get information on Oberstein, intending to track him down and get the Bruce-Partington Plans back to their rightful place. But once she acquires her data, Moran reappears and shoots Mycroft, Beth narrowly escaping the same fate. She reaches the Irregulas, with whom Sally has been staying, and from there heads off with the current lead Irregular, Will, to find Oberstein and get the papers back. They succeed, but their hard work is all for naught. Time remains frozen, and Sally realizes that the case was never the issue — it was always the friendship between her husband and his best friend.
Meantime, Moriarty is working on corrupting Holmes, a process that Holmes allows quite willingly, sick of dealing with emotions and heartache. Watson is subjected to witnessing the process on his own phone, thanks to Moriarty.
Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse join the womenfolk and the boys, and the band of misfits grows into a working, fighting family unit. Sally soon learns that she is pregnant, and as the group plans rescues for Holmes and Watson, they also seek out a truly safe place for Sally and the younger boys to stay.
Several months later, Beth has an all-too-close encounter with Moran, who tries and nearly succeeds in raping her before killing her. The Irregulars intervene, and Moriarty tells Holmes that Beth has been killed, testing his progress. He finds it wanting: Holmes is obviously a bit shaken and lying when he expresses congratulations for Moran.
Eventually, the baby is born, a daughter whom Sally names after her best friend: Kathy. The group gears up at last for their double-rescue, which will occur in two different parts of London but must happen at the same time, lest Moriarty find out about the one and make it utterly impossible to reach the other. This means an uphill battle of wills for Beth versus the rest of the "family," who don't at all approve of her plan to slip into Moriarty's main base alone.
Beth eventually wins out, however, and the operations commence. The Irregulars have a simple time of it, having already infiltrated Watson's holding place. Beth, on the other hand, faces some close calls before finally reaching Holmes's room. But something's terribly wrong: if Holmes before was not quite being himself, the man before her is more like James Moriarty than Sherlock Holmes. Holmes takes all her shock and pleas and throws them back in her face, but Beth refuses to leave and tells him that his brother is dead. It's a stunning blow to Holmes, and, in the end, he leaves his room with Beth with the intent of talking their way out of Torchwood. Holmes starts out transparently enough, but Beth finishes for him and Moriarty can't help but be impressed by her audacity and talent. On those merits, he allows them to run on a twenty-four hour head-start.
In "Every Good Fairytale"...
Meanwhile, the Irregulars have rescued Watson, who shares a joyous and tearful reunion with Sally and discovers that he's a father again. After a difficult conversation about Holmes and Beth, Watson realizes that there might still be hope for his friend.
Beth and Holmes set out on a long journey, uncertain of where it will lead them. Crossing the Channel, fortunately, presents little difficulty, thanks to Tom Johnstone, who had also ferried Beth and Will "months" before. Getting through France itself presents greater difficulties, some external and others internal, as the pair battle with each other and their own complicated feelings. Matters come to a head in Switzerland, when a jealous Holmes believes that Beth would rather marry Johnstone than stay with him, and Beth blurts out a pretty near Anguished Declaration of Love. This leads to a First Kiss as Holmes finally understands his own feelings, which then leads to My Own Private "I Do".
The couple plan to lay low and rest in Switzerland for a bit before moving on, but while Sherlock wants to go to Italy, Beth wants to go home. At last, he grieves for his brother and promises Beth that they will go home. The next morning, however, Moran and Agent Jones from "The Icarus Experiment" finally catch up with them, and Beth is accidentally shot in the ensuing struggle. She dies, Moran commits suicide for his blunder rather than having to face Moriarty's wrath, and Jones drags Holmes with him back across Europe. He enlists the wrong man to carry them across the Channel, however, and is essentially killed by Johnstone, who then takes Sherlock back to London.
In "Together Or Not At All"...
Sherlock is convalescing from a drug-induced illness that nearly killed him when Moriarty shows up at 221B. Watson appears soon afterwards, and the ensuing confrontation ends with Moriarty dead and the estranged friends wounded. Holmes and Watson ask for each other's forgiveness... and and Time starts to thaw. The world is returned to the morning on which their first breakup occurred. Beth enters, resurrected by the repaired timeline, followed closely by Sally with baby Kathy, who still exists as a newborn by virtue of being a Temporal Paradox. Baby Kathy senses the injuries of both men, and it awakes her Time Lord reflexes, her regenerative abilities healing Watson and Holmes completely. (This is the second time in the series that Holmes has been wiped clean of marks via the Time Vortex.) The stunned companions realize that the Bruce-Partington Case must be solved once more from the very beginning, and Holmes and Watson set out to do so, the way they were always meant to.
The TARDIS emerges from the Time Vortex and lands at Niagara Falls, where Tesla and Westinghouse have been returned thanks to the reality reset. Tesla enters and ends up inside a comatose Doctor's mind, where he meets the Doctor's avatar, John Smith and discovers that the Doctor induced the coma himself in one last desperate attempt to avoid suicide, as his failure with his Companions was something that he could not live with. Nikola coaxes him out, and the Doctor takes him and Westinghouse back to London. The Time Lord is overjoyed to see his Companions again, alive and well.
Holmes invites Beth to partake in the investigation, this time trusting her not to create a paradox. But an attempt to have a real first date ends in tears when Sherlock tries to ascertain whether Beth is really ready to sacrifice her own time and her own family to live the rest of her life with him in the past. Beth breaks down, unable to make that kind of decision either way. But when she leaves for Baker Street, she is kidnapped by Torchwood.
Professor Moriarty and Colonel Moran are alive once more, and Moriarty is hellbent on survival, this time with an also-captive Doctor's aid. In order to break Beth, Moriarty gives her visions of potential future children dying in World War I. Beth submits to his will in order to prevent that future, and the Doctor agrees to help him in exchange for Beth's safety. Moriarty proceeds to transform himself into a Time Lord, and when Sherlock, Watson, and Nikola arrive, the brand-new Time Lord seems to hold all the cards. ...except for Beth's hands, which are busy freeing herself even as Moran flaunts his possession of her in Sherlock's face. Moriarty's revelation of his new status is the last straw for a half-broken Beth, who could live with a human Moriarty but not a half-immortal one. In an unguarded moment, she incapacitates Moran and uses his revolver to shoot the Professor; Holmes and Watson then shoot Moran as he rises to kill Beth for that. Moriarty attempts and fails to summon up enough regenerative energy, and exchanges a last few, almost-affectionate words with Sherlock before dying.
In the aftermath, there's a lot of damage to Beth's mind, spirit, and body that she and Sherlock have to deal with. Help comes in the form of an extraordinarily determined Doctor. He owes Beth in a very big way, and he's quite aware of it. He develops a plan and outlines it to his Companions: Beth can stay without sacrificing anything, and the Doctor will get her Jack Harkness's Vortex Manipulator so that she can travel between Sherlock's time and her own. The Holmeses accept this proposition, and have an official wedding the next day, with Mycroft Holmes's stunned blessing.
There are a lot of pieces to pick up, but now Holmes, Beth, Watson, and Sally can do it together.
These Episodes Provide Examples of:
- All Up to You:
- Holmes indirectly gives Beth the information she needs regarding the Broken Point in order to fix it. At least, in theory...
- Sally encouraging her husband to make things right with Holmes.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Loads of it between Holmes and Beth, despite his not realizing what's going on until very late in the game.
- Bloodier and Gorier: With Family-Unfriendly Violence (including several Family Unfriendly Deaths) and some Cold-Blooded Torture, the finale is this compared to the rest of the series.
- Broken Pedestal: Beth's realization that her hero is not the man she believed he was, starting with handcuffs and spiraling down from there. Even worse is the scene in which she returns to Torchwood to rescue Holmes, only to find him darker and rather like Professor Moriarty.
- Cerebus Retcon: In-universe. Holmes is left with hardly any untainted memories of his childhood after Moriarty reveals that he was a large part of it.
- Courtly Love: Beth's feelings for Holmes fall under this, since she's thoroughly convinced that he's completely a Celibate Hero, as per Canon.
- Darker and Edgier: "The Dying Detective" is definitely the darkest episodes of the season, and the near-rape and death situations are not all that earns it this distinction! The finale, as a whole, is also this to the rest of the season.
- Deal with the Devil: Both Holmes and Beth at different times make essentially the same choice, selling themselves out when Moriarty confronts them with unbearable alternatives.
- Deconstruction: Of the Doctor himself, In-Universe and out of it. Moriarty Breaks Him By Talking, and viciously deconstructed him in discussion with Holmes. Moreover, the Doctor can't stop the Big Bad, not by being the Doctor. He's dealing with a human Chessmaster Cursed with Awesome, and the only way to stop him is to kill him. Moriarty won't allow the Doctor to bargain a happy ending out of the situation, so the Doctor has no resort other than to utilize his Oncoming Storm self.
- Moriarty also pretty thoroughly murders Holmes's Chronic Hero Syndrome.
- Endless Winter: Or near enough, being late November in the British Isles and in the midst of the Continent.
- Everyone Can See It: Holmes is still the only one who can't/won't see Beth's attraction to him or vice versa. Made worse, though, by the fact that, this time around, even the villains can see it!
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Averted, Defied, and Discussed. This is what makes Moriarty an even more dangerous opponent than he was in the Canon — he goes so far as to mock Holmes for not having studied the affairs of the heart.
- Flaw Exploitation: Moriarty is a master at this, exploiting Holmes's obsession with protecting Watson, the Doctor's insecurity at his darker side, Beth's maternal instincts, and the Doctor's need to protect his Companions.
- Forced to Watch:
- For Watson, being forced to hear audio recordings of Holmes's gradual Face–Heel Turn.
- And then Moriarty Mind Rapes both the Doctor and Beth to show them futures in which their loved ones are murdered.
- Freudian Excuse: The entire season up to this point is turned into one for Holmes to Jump Off the Slippery Slope.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Played with. Typically invoked by Beth, justified in that she's a teenager and a good kid. Entirely dropped, however, when the chips come down. See What the hell, Sherlock? in "The Dying Detective".
- Held Gaze: A recurring event for Holmes and Beth.
- Hero of Another Story: Beth's father (a late-21st century Inspector Lestrade) and her half-brother Geoff (several years older and in the USAF) are mentioned several times. Beth clearly comes from a heroic family.
- Insane Troll Logic: Beth more than once threatens to kill Holmes if he gets himself into (deadly) trouble.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Moriarty and Beth enjoy doing this, albeit with very different circumstances. Moriarty is Time Sensitive and knows how the Sherlockian fandom should have progressed; Beth is a Fangirl and thus knows how fans would react to various events.
- Longing Look: Beth gets in several poignant ones.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Played with. Holmes and Beth are certainly willing to go to extremes...
- Madness Mantra: "I can't" — heartrendingly, almost a Catchphrase, as Beth says it all throughout the finale.
- Mind Rape: Moriarty is chillingly good at this.
- Never My Fault: Initially, nothing is Holmes's fault. Eventually, this attitude transitions to It's All My Fault.
- Obviously Evil: Used to its most terrifying effect.
- Ominous Fog: Subverted. Beth once remarks just how useful the constant fog has been for herself and the Irregulars.
- Our Vampires Are Different: The plasmavore gets fleshed-out more here by virtue of having more screentime in the finale than in her first, brief TARDISode, and comes off first as being very much a vampire... and then very much not so. She's an alien woman who plays at being The Vamp and does require blood to live as part of her DNA... However, she experiences some definite Character Development.
- Poor Communication Kills: The basis for nearly everything that goes wrong in these three episodes.
- Precision F-Strike: Different words but quite as powerful in context.
- Holmes and Watson both call Moriarty a bastard, Holmes in his head and Watson to the man's face, as well as saying it again for good measure later on.
- Beth uses G-rated swearing so much that you'd think she'd never say something serious, would you? Well... not if Holmes scares her. See the renamed What the Hell, Hero? in "The Dying Detective".
- Reconstruction: Of Moriarty himself, even if he did have to Come Back Wrong for it to happen. Often in fanfic, Moriarty cannot win the day ultimately because he can't understand The Power of Friendship. Well... guess what he is able to understand this time, and guess how thoroughly and ruthlessly he utilizes that understanding...
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Basically, anyone who is very connected to the Holmes/Watson/Moriarty conflict retains their memory both into Broken Time and back out of it. Notable characters who don't remember either way are Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft, and Inspector Lestrade.
- Self-Inflicted Hell: Invoked several times by Moriarty when speaking with Holmes or Watson, explaining that he would have had gained no serious foothold in Holmes's soul had the pair not damaged their friendship so thoroughly. He also brings up more than once the fact that they broke Time, putting them all in the Crapsack World.
- Seven Deadly Sins:
- Envy: Holmes envies Moriarty his emotional detachment. Moriarty harbors a severe malice towards the happiness of the True Companions.
- Gluttony: Moriarty and Moran in their insatiable desire to inflict pain, particularly upon Holmes...
- Greed: Moriarty's hunger for power, as well as the reason for his corruption of Holmes.
- Lust: Moran (and possibly later Moriarty) towards Beth. (Also, the plasmavore, who really makes her living off of seducing men and tries to seduce Holmes.)
- Pride: It has always been Moriarty's greatest shortcoming.
- Slothfulness: Dark!Holmes, who has no real ambition anymore and is bored to the point of suicidal intentions as a result.
- Wrath: Moriarty's most frightening trait. Also notable in Moran.
- Watson's own anger with Holmes gives him a big push towards Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
- Seven Heavenly Virtues:
- Charity: Beth, though she sees this virtue in herself as simply being her willingness to do what has to be done.
- Chastity: Sherlock tries very hard to remain the gentleman he was raised to be during his living with Beth.
- Diligence: Beth's hard, faithful work towards rescuing Holmes and Watson and restoring Time, as well as keeping Sally and the Irregulars safe.
- Humility: Sally is simply comfortable with herself, for the most part. Beth, on the other hand, has serious self-esteem issues.
- Kindness: Both women, though serious props to Beth for her handling of Holmes in his worst moments.
- Patience: Beth. Holmes. Worst moments. The one time she truly loses it... she immediately apologizes.
- Temperance: Sally, who ends up being the Voice of Reason.
- Staring Down Cthulhu: Watson's general reaction to Moriarty's presence. Plus, you realize that Beth is truly Watson's Distaff Counterpart when she does the exact same thing.
- Stock Monster Symbolism: It's kind of inevitable, and it's deliciously subverted. Rather than having literal monsters serving as metaphors for real life issues, we have realistic humans who closely resemble mythical beings.
- Consider Professor Moriarty. He comes off as a classic vampire — the similarities between him and Literature/Dracula are many — in all but being literally undead and bloodsucking. He thrives off of inflicting pain (much as a vampire does from feeding), corrupts Holmes and attempts to corrupt Beth as well (as a vampire can convert others), and displays deadly fury when something goes seriously awry. (And as far as the whole undead thing is concerned, well... he was supposed to be dead long before now... and instead of dying, came back more powerful than ever before.)
- Colonel Moran is scarcely less vampiric, also thriving on sadism and clearly fitting the more hedonistic elements in vampire lore. (His blinding lust for Beth is truly disturbing.)
- Stopped Clock: Stopped clocks are a side-effect of Time Standing Still.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Holmes. Made painfully explicit in his treatment of Beth in "Dynamics", and he levels up even further in "Detective".
- Trauma Conga Line: Sally is the only hero who manages to escape this fate, and even then, not without some trauma of her own.
- What You Are in the Dark: The secondary Central Theme to The Powers of Friendship and Love.
- Women Are Wiser: Than the heroes, at any rate, as Sally and Beth (and Mrs. Hudson!) consistently show more common sense and compassion than the men they love.
- Xanatos Speed Chess:
- Beth is the real player throughout the first three episodes, though she wouldn't even think of it that way, herself. Nevertheless, she gambits with Sherlock, the entire Time/Space Continuum, and the Big Bad, moving from half-formed plans to well-plotted schemes to going in blind. When something goes wrong, she might blank out for a few minutes but she will adjust accordingly. Better still, her gambits win more than anyone else's...
- Back for the Finale: Mrs. Hudson, Inspector Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes, and the Baker Street Irregulars. The Bus Really Came Back on that last one (the Irregulars' last chronological appearance in the Sherlockian Canon is in The Sign of the Four). Plus, the villains...
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Shades of this between Holmes and Beth. The Hot-Blooded Beth is quite aware of her feelings and doesn't exactly hide them, but Holmes can't seem to figure his out, let alone spit them out. Except for knowing that he doesn't want Beth to go, even if he does cuff her to cab doors and insult her dreadfully.
- Big Bad: Torchwood, as the season has been setting them up to be.
- Breaking the Fellowship: The consequences of the Doctor leaving the gang in London while he refuels in Cardiff.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Beth dishes this out to Holmes after they've both cooled down.
- Can't Spit It Out: Holmes even admits as much to Watson later, regarding his confusion with his feelings for Beth.
- Can't Stand Them, Can't Live Without Them: Holmes and Beth, heartbreakingly hard, by the end. Their last real conversation boils down to this:Holmes: I don't want you to go.
Beth: Then tell me to stay. - Cerebus Syndrome: Although we've had increasingly dark episodes, "Dynamics" is where this trope really kicks off.
- Curse Cut Short: Consider Beth's Hot-Blooded retort to Holmes (which she herself stops just in time):How dare you, you selfish, inconsiderate—
- Jerkass: "Downright cringe-worthy" does not begin to cover Holmes's behavior in this episode.
- Just a Kid: Basically Holmes's purported attitude towards Beth — made even worse when Beth actually says this about herself in as many words, adding "and nothing special".
- Like an Old Married Couple: Beth and Holmes have shades of this... which gets really uncomfortable when Holmes starts to rail abuse at her.
- Manchild: Beth bitingly (and rightly) accuses Holmes of this, to a degree:"This from a grown man who indulges in petulant sulking on a regular basis?"
- Master of the Mixed Message: Beth accuses Holmes of this as well, based on the way he treats her compared to his dislike of the thought of her leaving 1895.
- Meaningful Name: The title, which is truly a Wholockian title with references to both the Sherlockian Canon and Doctor Who.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Holmes and Watson break a Fixed Point in Time with a serious rift they create in their friendship.
- No Hugging, No Kissing: Blithely subverted by Beth early on when, high on excitement, she throws her arms around Holmes and hugs him hard. Sadly... things go downhill from there.
- Refused by the Call: Poor Beth... twice. First by the Doctor, who says that he's taking her home (after her having been only to the 1980s and then the 1890s), then by Holmes, who doesn't want her to break something in the Time-Space Continuum by tagging along on a recorded case.
- The Reveal: "Welcome back to the nineteenth century, Mr. Holmes. So charming to see you once again."
- Sadistic Choice: Sell your soul or let Watson be broken piece by piece. Yeah, that goes down about as well as it sounds.
- Sherlock Scan: Mycroft pulls silent scans on his brother and Watson, realizing that there are a lot of details that don't add up.
- Tag Along Kid: Holmes won't stop thinking of Beth in this light.
- These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Knowledge of the whole of Time and Space? Yeah, that'll go over well... It actually does, if you call a psychopath resisting madness and instead becoming more powerful than ever "going over well".
- Tortured Monster: Everyone, including the man himself, agrees that Moriarty is a monster: there is absolutely no crime he will not commit. However, much of his current personality is built up of what happened to him after his supposed death — after all, the man has been aging in reverse for two decades by the time the story opens!
- Unrequited Love: As far as Beth can tell, and it only gets worse as the story progresses, taking her relationship with Holmes into All Take and No Give territory.
- Would Hit a Girl: The villains come as no surprise, but Holmes does...You can be thankful my physical control far exceeds your own, but you would still be wise not to repeat that performance in future.
- A Day in the Limelight: Holmes remains The Protagonist, but Beth steps up to be The Hero.
- Anger Born of Worry: Holmes's anger at Beth for ignoring his instructions, getting herself nearly killed, and getting herself marked for death..
- Apocalypse How: A planetary Class Z if temporal paradoxes are allowed to exist within Frozen Time. (And it would happen, anyway, because Reality continues to fracture.)
- Attempted Rape: The Irregulars rescued Beth Just in Time from being raped by Colonel Moran, which he decided to do before murdering her.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: The emotional, compassionate, loving Holmes becomes the emotionless, cruel, uncaring Moriarty. Or... so we think.
- Benched Hero:
- Poor Sally expresses her despair at being stuck at "home" while waiting for her baby to be born.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Irregulars save Beth from being murdered twice, which is lampshaded later on by her thoughts.
- Blatant Lies: Moriarty tells distressingly few of these, although one that he does use is Beth's death at Moran's hands. Holmes wasn't entirely convinced but was visibly disturbed.
- Call-Forward:
- "Rule One: The Doctor lies." (Even though it's in the Doctor's future and Moriarty is speaking of it as if it has already happened, this might have been a deliberate usage of that future.)
- Pompeii also gets a mention — from the viewpoint of human history, it's already happened, anyway.
- The Chosen One: Holmes and Watson get to see firsthand the consequences of not fulfilling a Fixed Point in their timeline, a.k.a. the consequences of screwing Fate: it screws the entire planet.
- Crapsack World: The world stuck in 1895 when Time freezes. Sally and Beth regard it this way for different reasons.
- Dead Guy Junior: Baby Katherine for Sally's blasted-to-the-past BFF Cathy Nightingale.
- Despair Event Horizon: Holmes finally hits it when he can't save Robin Locksley, his men, or Marion, and Robin is beheaded right in front of him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Moriarty really wants Moran to stop thinking of Beth in a sexual light.
- Future Me Scares Me: Calling the Doctor "Valeyard" turns out to be an effective weapon.
- Heel Realization:Beth: Sherlock, Mycroft is dead.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Holmes defends his attitude towards Watson in Moriarty's presence as being this. "One does not bleed in front of sharks, Doctor!"
- Historical Hero Upgrade: Tesla and Westinghouse are back, and more awesome than ever!
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Oliver Cromwell. Whatever he did in real life, he commits some truly despicable acts here as the new Sheriff of Nottingham.
- Hope Spot:
- Holmes gets out a message to Robin Locksley's Merry Men, but it's too late: Cromwell already has them.
- Beth reaches Holmes's room to rescue him, and for a moment, Holmes seems like his old self again. But only for a moment...
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: The scary thing is that not even much "encouragement" was needed...
- Longest Pregnancy Ever: Averted with Sally. Although she is pregnant in Frozen Time, she is a Temporal Paradox within Frozen Time, as is her baby. The two of them and Beth age normally whilst everyone else stays the same.
- Which means that all other pregnant women are stuck in whatever stage of pregnancy they were at before Time froze. Fridge Horror, indeed.
- Loving a Shadow:“I suggest you relay your message to his shade, wherever it may roam, and cease to bore me with your melodramatic sentiments.”
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Mycroft's murder proves to be the tipping point for his brother.
- The Night That Never Ends: For London, at any rate, stuck in false dawn around six in the morning.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Tom Johnstone may be an amoral smuggler, selling out his own country to Napoleon Bonaparte (and would have no problems in tossing Beth overboard if she objects to that), but, knowing Beth's actual gender, he assures her that she will not be taken advantage of.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:"Then what does matter to you? The fact that because you're oh-so-aloof-and-alone, you're not going to be hurt anymore by the people you love? You're not going to see them get hurt or die? [...] Coward."
- Red Herring: The Bruce-Partington Plans. The case only hastened along the freezing of Time — what really did it was Holmes and Watson breaking up. Even so, the first part of the episode revolves around resolving this plot point.
- Soft Glass: Subverted. Beth even snarks that she does a lot of window-jumping, but she doesn't get through it unscathed.
- Suicide Mission: Beth is well aware that her one-man rescue operation is probably a suicide mission.
- Temporal Paradox: What Beth and Sally become once Time Stands Still.
- Time Stands Still: Because of the broken Fixed Points, a la "The Wedding of River Song", producing a Crapsack World.
- Title Drop: Moriarty calls Holmes, Watson, and Beth the Doctor's "Children of Time." Holmes later uses the term, himself.
- Unwanted Rescue: Types 1 and 3 show up when Beth does to rescue Holmes.
- What the Hell, Hero?:"You... Who are you?"
- Almost Kiss: For a space of three or four paragraphs, it is so, sooo close between Sherlock and Beth. And then the train whistle sounds...
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: If you thought it was bad in "Dynamics of a Point," it gets worse. Ohhh, it gets worse, particularly with a Sleep Cute scene and a truly painful Almost Kiss.
- Death Is Dramatic: Beth is shot accidentally in the torso, justifying the trope. It's vital enough to kill her in the absence of any modern aid, but she has to bleed to death first. This allows her just enough time for Sherlock to try to help her, for her to get in a few last words, and for one final, heartbreaking kiss.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Beth is shot and bleeds to death.
- Flashback Nightmare: Initiates a heartbreaking scene for Sherlock and Beth.
- Insatiable Newlyweds: The Irregulars allow John and Sally to have some serious alone-time upon their reunion. Sherlock and Beth have their wedding night... and beyond that.
- Last Kiss: The very last thing Beth does before she dies is to kiss her husband.
- May–December Romance: As is the case with the Watsons, there is twenty years between Holmes and Beth — even more egregious in their case, however, as Beth is eighteen. Those twenty-year age gaps sure aren't stopping anybody...
- Mythology Gag: So much for "Elementary, my dear Watson" — Holmes vows that he will never, ever say that, after having been overexposed to an enthusiastic fandom in "Watson and Sparrow".
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Sherlock's reaction to Beth in a dress.
- Shipper on Deck: Nikola is very glad that Beth and Sherlock resolve their issues.
- True Blue Femininity: When Beth wears a dress for the first time around Sherlock, it's blue. And she clearly Cleans Up Nicely in it.
- Action Survivor: Beth may be the only hero that actually dies, but Sally is the only one who manages to avoid experiencing near-death at all.
- Affectionate Nickname: Ohhh boy. Beth calls Sherlock "Kitty" because of his catlike-ness, and he calls her "sunshine" in turn.
- After-Action Healing Drama: Time has been set right after a brief scuffle with Moriarty, leaving Holmes and Watson injured. Enter Baby Time Lady Kathy...
- Back for the Dead: Moriarty and Moran return to life upon Time resetting, only to be killed less than twenty-four hours later.
- Broken Bird:
- Beth's psyche undergoes some serious damage, dealing with nightmares and phantom touches. Moriarty violates her mentally, and Moran violates her physically.
- A handful of vulnerable moments show that Sherlock is pretty much this.
- Call-Back:
- Watson uses the TARDIS's advanced medical equipment to heal Beth's injuries, just as the Doctor did for Holmes in the first episode.
- Sherlock and Beth renew their exploration of the TARDIS.
- Darkest Hour: When Watson returns to Baker Street, Beth is dead, and Sherlock is convalescent from a drug-induced illness and held captive by Moriarty.
- Death Is the Only Option: The Doctor explains that Beth's death was a Fixed Point — no matter what else happened, that had to. He hastens to add that she was always meant to come back to life, also.
- Dramatic Irony: Beth had previously thoroughly chewed Holmes out for his Deal with the Devil. But when the chips come down, she makes pretty much the same bargain.
- Everybody Lives: Starts out with one hero dead and another half-dead. All heroes are alive at the end.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Moriarty allows Moran to watch after a captive Beth, whom Moran proceeds to torment by violating her.
- I Have Your Wife: A variation. Moriarty holds the Doctor and Beth hostage against each other, the Doctor and Beth against the rest of the gang, and Beth's UNBORN CHILDREN against her. Can this man play chess or what?
- Lighter and Fluffier: After the first three episodes — and, indeed, the first half of this episode itself! — the second half of TONAA presents a dramatic shift in tone! Primarily fluff with good ole hurt/comfort.
- Mind Rape: Moriarty does this twice. More extensively to Beth, beating her down to the point where he renders her incapable of committing suicide to escape him, but also to Sherlock.
- Not My Driver: Holmes flags the third cab (as per "The Final Problem") for Beth to avoid this. Too bad Moriarty is savvy.
- Pass the Popcorn: Sherlock asks the Doctor about having popcorn as they ensure that Moriarty's corpse burns completely down.
- Snow Means Love: Subverted. Sherlock and Beth are already married when London receives her first snowfall of the season. Sherlock looks at his bride, standing enraptured in the snow, and tells her that he's just fallen in love with her all over again.
- Take That!: Holmes delivers several of these to his own fandom when Beth asks him questions about himself and his past.
- World-Healing Wave: Time being restored as Holmes and Watson reconcile, wiping out the Always 1895 world and leaving them with 1895 as it should be.
