Sometime ago during my stupid google searches I discovered that “Red Beard” is the name of the UK’s first nuclear weapon. Now I feel there is a connection between the following bits of our show, and please correct me if I am wrong.
The awful lot of explosives we generally have on our show – and the missing fifth pip
The Bruce Partington Programme being about a missile defense system (which is a reference to but not canon)
Mummy Holmes being the author of “The Dynamics of Combustion” (which is also a reference to but not canon)
Sherlock knowing about a top-secret CIA project called H.O.U.N.D., because “he must have read about it somewhere” (this is what you can do with top-secret CIA projects, you can just google that shit)
Hound being another word for dog, which is even why Sherlock takes Henry’s case, so it must mean something
Sherlock, who initially wanted to be a pirate, calling his dog Redbeard (which is entirely NOT canon!)
Bluebell and Dr Stapleton as mirrors for Redbeard and Mummy Holmes
This could be such a crack theory. But listen.
Once upon a time, little Sherlock got bored. Mycroft didn’t have time to play with Sherlock, which is why he finds himself in Mummy’s study. Guessing the combination for the safe was literally child’s play for him, so he sits on the floor, cross-legged, digging through some quite fascinating papers of Mummy’s. This all sounds so interesting, science seems to be rather fun, though these little CIA logos are quite annoying, what does this mean anyway.
This is how Sherlock reads about H.O.U.N.D., which doesn’t make sense to him as an acronym, because “hound”, isn’t that a word for “dog” they use in these old-fashioned books? And there’s this other project called “Red Beard”. If I ever have a dog, I might him call Redbeard. This sounds like a proper name for a future pirate’s companion. Redbeard…
Could the Redbeard-issue be the fifth pip/bomb?
(I’m sorry, I can’t really think about this properly now, so I’m just putting this out there, hoping for your input! In addition to this post… calling
