Spoilers!
HOW, in any way humanly possible, did CAM get the Redbeard reference in Sherlock’s pressure points? ????? A beloved dog from Sherlock’s childhood, not a secret or crime or blackmailable subject; a dead dog that could not be used for blackmail in any way I can fathom. CAM’s ‘ability’ to gain such minute detail about a person’s psychology and history seems almost…supernatural. Who collected all this info on nearly every person in the world (even the ones CAM determines are ‘unimportant’ in ranking)?
‘Who collected’ — Yeah, there’s the question.
Like, it’s maybe plausible that CAM goes out and collects data on important individuals, and then stows it in his memory palace for blackmail purposes. Sure.
But…even then, how the hell does he have time to do this to such an extent and also run a media empire? I mean, it’d work for people he’s had some reason to hear about. Like, okay, if he knew he’d cross paths with Sherlock: do some research on Sherlock, sure, find out about his friends and allies, come across Mrs. Hudson’s sordid past. But everybody in the western world? Riiiiiiight.
(And how would he have access to information like that when Jim Moriarty only knew details about Sherlock’s past because MYCROFT TOLD HIM?)
I would assume that ‘pressure points’ is a matter of calculation based on the information he has on a person, though. Like, say he did some deep research into Sherlock’s past, found out he had a dog as a kid and it had to be put down. And then when he meets Sherlock, he recognizes that this is a guy who doesn’t like to do feelings, and maaaaaaaybe he goes, “Aha, I bet losing that dog fucked him up as a kid, he seems like the type.”
But yeah, even so. That’s a hell of a stretch.
CAM was set up so well that they could’ve calmed the hell down on the threat he presented and how he went about it and he STILL would’ve been a wildly effective villain. But as we know, Moffat has no idea how to rein himself in when it comes to overblown drama.