History Recap / SherlockSpecialTheAbominableBride

* OffstageVillainy: Neither Mr Ricoletti nor Sir Eustace Carmichael are actually ''seen'' doing anything that would warrant death onscreen and Carmichael in particular actually seems wracked by guilt as much as fear for most of his screen time -- even Holmes notes he seems like a man who expects to be dragged away to Hell (and by implication that Carmichael believes he deserves it.) For some viewers this left the militant suffragettes seeming less sympathetic than might have been intended.

* NotHisSled: Holmes and Moriarty are about to fall into the Reichenbach together... and then Watson appears, apprehends Moriarty, then pushes him off. [[InUniverse Moriarty is annoyed that Watson showed up, since its supposed to be just the two of them like every other time.]]

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** Just for a lark, we get to see the Sherlock characters in their proper Victorian setting. This is later revealed to be Sherlock's mind palace, with him imagining himself tackling a famous unsolved case with similarities to his current one to try and figure out how Moriarty could have survived his fatal gunshot wound.
** Near the ending of the episode, it cuts to the Victorian Sherlock and Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach falls, again keeping with the canon Doyle story of 'The Final Problem". This time however, unlike all the canonical adaptations where Watson only witnesses the events, he instead is able to intervene, even kicking Professor Moriarty off of the falls. Could also serve as a FixFic in a meta example.

* SpotOfTea: Mrs Hudson keeps making tea for the reporters besieging their house. She's not sure why.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Dr. Hooper is stern with her employees and evidently dislikes Holmes, but Watson's chat about Sherlock's blindness to certain aspects of human nature hints that she might still be covering feelings for him (as well as her gender).

** Near the ending of episode, it cuts to the Victorian Sherlock and Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach falls, again keeping with the canon Doyle story of 'The Final Problem". This time however, unlike all the canonical adaptations where Watson only witnesses the events, he instead is able to intervene, even kicking Professor Moriarty off of the falls. Could also serve as a FixFic in a meta example.

* BackFromTheDead: Averted with Emelia Ricoletti. Her ghostly reappearance turns out to be faked by similar looking women.

* TheBet: Sherlock and Mycroft have one going about how long it will take for Mycroft's overeating to ''kill'' him, adjusting their estimates based on the amount of puddings he eats in one scene. Mycroft claims that his life is the only interesting "stake" left.

* ChekhovsGunman: Every woman but Mrs. Hudson and Mary Watson turns up as part of the secret society, including Molly Hooper and the Watson's maid.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: While most adaptions are depicting the iconic Victorian era outfit of Sherlock Holmes (inverness coat and deer stalker hat) as brown, grey or greenish, in this version it is black, just like the BadassLongcoat Sherlock is wearing in the series' usual present day incarnation.

* FatSuit: Mark Gatiss wears one in this episode to depict grotesquely overweight Myroft.

* KarmaHoudini: The real Emelia Ricoletti and her accomplices in the 19th century were practically a terrorist group using fear and murder to get their political belief pushed through, but still were given a free pass. As we find out in the present day scenes, her husband's murder was never solved, and presumably the other murders attributed to the Bride weren't either.

-->'''Mrs. Hudson:''' I'm your land lady, not a plot device.

* OffstageVillainy: Neither Mr. Ricoletti nor Sir Eustace Carmichael are actually ''seen'' doing anything that would warrant death onscreen and Carmichael in particular actually seems wracked by guilt as much as fear for most of his screen time -- even Holmes notes he seems like a man who expects to be dragged away to Hell (and by implication that Carmichael believes he deserves it.) For some viewers this left the militant suffragettes seeming less sympathetic than might have been intended.

* PaperThinDisguise: The mortician is Victorian Molly Hooper in a fake mustache. Watson easily figures she's in disguise, what with her not really hiding her voice.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The secret society of militants suffragettes behind the Abominable Bride methodically stalk their AssholeVictim prey, inflicting extensive psychological torture on them before eventually murdering them.

* RunningGag: People complaining at Watson about the way they are portrayed, or aren't, in the stories he writes for ''The Strand Magazine''. Amusingly, everyone else gushes about the stories except for the people who are actually in them.

* SecretCircleOfSecrets: The secret society is meeting at night in a church, wearing hoods and chanting. Holmes congratulates them on their sense of theater.

* SplitPersonalityMerge: Victorian Sherlock takes on the speech-patterns and knowledge of Modern Sherlock when the fantasy starts to properly fragment, calling Dr. Watson "John" and Moriarty "Short-arse".

* TheStinger: Victorian!Sherlock had this strangest dream....

** Mycroft, according to both himself and Sherlock, eats so much that he has less than four years to live. The brothers bicker over just how long he's got, [[LudicrousPrecision down to the days]]. Not helping is that Mycroft not only doesn't care, but keeps actively overeating plum puddings just to speed the whole thing up.
** Emelia Ricoletti was suffering from tuberculosis, as Watson noted when he saw her (real) body, and arranged to be shot by a friend before she succumbed.