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ogsherlockholmes · 2 years

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Charles Augustus Milverton

I said I wasn’t finished talking about this story because it is literally perfect

Surprisingly for me, I’m going to skip over the whole ‘Watson and Sherlock regularly go for evening walks together’ and go to the actual plot because it is very interesting. CAM is a really well-written villain, I don’t like him of course because he’s kind of creepy, but that’s essentially the point of him. Compared to the other ACD villains, he’s one of the ‘better’ ones, if you can use that term. Moving on to how this woman came and SHOT him, repeatedly might I add, whilst saying ‘You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine. You will wring no more hearts as you wrung mine. I will free the world of a poisonous thing. Take that, you hound, and that! - and that!- and that!’. Then GRINDS HER HEEL IN HIS FACE. And gets away with it all.

Do people say girl boss on here because girl boss.

I’m not sure what her names was (I don’t know if it was implied she was Lady Bracknell) but she’s my favourite character from the short stories and I am very annoyed that I haven’t seen her in an adaptation yet. (Please tell me if she was in one).

Whilst she’s murdering him, Sherlock and Watson are just watching behind a curtain, like ‘yep, okay, she’s good, we’ll leave her to it.’ At the end they see her picture in a shop. Basically Sherlock’s reaction:

Moving on to...the beginning, I might have interpreted it wrong, but I’m pretty sure it’s implied that Watson is fully prepared to smash Milverton with a fucking chair because Sherlock wants to stop him from leaving.

‘I picked up a chair, but Holmes shook his head and I laid it down again.’

Then the greatest scene probably ever written in the entire canon, when Sherlock casually says he’s engaged and about to become a criminal.

This is a quick summary:

Sherlock: You don’t think I’m the type of person to get married?

Watson: No (sad because if Sherlock was he would have married him)

Sherlock: I’m engaged.

Watson: ...I mean great-

Sherlock: To Milverton’s housemaid

Watson: W H A T

Sherlock: Well, yeah, I need information. She wasn’t my type but anyway. Also I’m going to rob Milverton

Watson: THATS EVEN WORSE

Sherlock: I’ve thought it through, it’s fine

Then in the funniest passage where Sherlock thinks if he says ‘morally justifiable’ enough it will convince Watson. And it works.

[Exact quote this time I promise]

“Well, I don’t like it; but I suppose it must be,” said I. “When do we start?” “You are not coming.” “Then you are not going,” said I. “I give you my word of honour—and I never broke it in my life—that I will take a cab straight to the police station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure with you.” “You can’t help me.” “How do you know that? You can’t tell what may happen. Anyway, my resolution is taken. Other people beside you have self-respect and even reputations.”

Also, when Sherlock agrees:

“Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared the same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell. You know, Watson, I don’t mind confessing to you that I have always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal. This is the chance of my lifetime in that direction.”

I hate to be that person (I don’t) but ‘room’ in singular. Also I like how Watson is literally confessing to all the readers in the canon for robbery. Mr ‘oh I can’t discuss that case because it’s too sensitive soz guys’ goes into extreme detail about how they would rob the house, with Sherlock being very thorough and prepared.

Anyway, I’ve already made a post about Sherlock and Watson literally holding hands as they break into a house, as you do, but for shits and giggles I’ll just write them out again.

‘He seized my hand in the darkness.‘

‘Still holding my hand in one of his.’

‘“I don’t like it,” he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear.’

‘I felt Holmes’s hand steal into mine.‘

(They’re in a greenhouse for some of these quotes, and I’m not entirely sure on this, but I think I remember seeing that greenhouses can be a metaphor for homosexuality? Sorry if I’m wrong, I might just be making this up.)

As I’ve said, they watch Milverton be blasted to hell by the original girl boss, as I will now be referring to her, and they escape. Sherlock jumps over a garden wall, naturally, and Watson tries to follow but someone catches his leg so he kicks them.

The next day, Sherlock and Watson casually have breakfast like the married couple they are, and Lestrade visits. This is the gist of the scene:

Lestrade: We need your help, someone’s been murdered.

Sherlock: oH mY gOd ReAlLy? oH nO!

Lestrage: Yeah, Charles Augustus Milverton. We already know one of the murderers though [describes Watson]

Sherlock: HA HA HA IT COULD BE WATSON LOL okay it’s not, jokes ha ha- I’m not helping, I don’t like Milverton, I feel sorry for the criminals, not him.

Sherlock at the end of the story pretending he gives a shit:

#I could recreate this entire case in memes #sherlock is a drama queen #watson being a protective husband again I see #what was acd thinking when he wrote this #the original girl boss i love her #acd #sherlock #johnlock #watson #acd canon

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buttclench-ryugazaki · 10 months

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tgaa 1 + 2 final rambling notes

the neutral/negative:

did not like some of the solutions in the cross examination phase because i could easily predict what the prosecution's damning rebuttal would be, meaning the contradiction felt weak even as i presented it. and that will happen in every single aa game without fail, i just felt like it happened too frequently to me, personally. it works for 1-3 where defending an obviously guilty client is supposed to feel shitty and like you're going insane that he isn't being caught, but not so much when you wanna feel smart and triumphant (before immediately getting knocked down again) y'know

dance of deduction phases are stylistically very cool but far, far too easy. i never failed one once because all it is is playing i-spy with 360 degree camera movement and a limited number of possible answers. i enjoy sholmes being insane, but it gets pretty tiresome after a while because there is no challenge whatsoever

cross examining multiple witnesses and pressing ones based on how they react to others: a mechanic that apparently rolled over from PL vs PW. i thought there would be more of a challenge here. the sound cue is VERY OBVIOUS. i assumed their reactions would be more subtle and you would actively have to search for them (case 1-5 with gregson and milverton whispering amongst themselves is what i'd had in mind), but nope. i also think that not every reaction press should have been moment of plot advancement, as 100% of them are. throw in some red herrings for the player to make them think they've found something important at first and burst their bubble. but DON'T penalize because that would be too frustrating, reward them with funny dialogue at least

jury summation phase: i thought i didn't mind doing them until 2-4/5 came around and i found myself relieved that i didn't have to contend with the jury, which is intentionally supposed to be exasperating in how thoughtless its decision-making is (aside from 2-3 with the magician and scientist jurors who actually have some valuable insight). probably the best of the new gameplay phases mechanically, but i don't think i care for the execution. ryunosuke knows, the prosecution knows, you the player know that you're just stalling for time by making the whole trial go on a tangent. i applaud the way reinforces how desperate it feels to flimsily grasp at straws ("we can't trust shamspeare's testimony because he's stealing gas from his cheapskate landlord and thus a liar") but it does annoy me the player to not directly be working towards getting a greater picture of the mystery

examining evidence is required to advance the plot more frequently than in prior games. before, the player would get some flavor text to give them hints about how the evidence should be presented, but it doesn't necessarily trigger anything in the game's code. it doesn't bother me because because i like to poke and prod, thus i examine (mostly) everything. but for others this could be really frustrating if you know why the evidence is contradictory, without examining. a happy medium would be that examining still updates the description but the evidence itself is viable even if you hadn't examined it (for certain pieces, not all) 5a. at the end of 2-5 when you're supposed to present klint's last will and testament, i presented the asogi sword instead because it told me the will was inside. i forgot to examine it and get the note out first. in classic aa, i think my answer would have been the correct one. that's an example of when i think i should have been given some leeway

they give me "gallery" feature in "extra contents" but it does not lead to a menu of CGs and animated cutscenes? why? dual destinies has that feature. it's a must by the standards any modern visual novel game

positives:

the twists, they're good. not all of them are foreshadowed that well or at all, but i enjoy them regardless. things like professor mikotoba turning out to be sholmes' actual partner and kazuma dad being the professor, because we don't even really learn about kazuma's father until the very moment it's revealed. (i predicted that klint was iris's birth father but not because of any informed reasoning; we didn't know he was married until 2-5 and it's not like both her being born and him dying 10 years ago necessitates a relation). these things can still be set up as future plot points without necessarily foreshadowing who is involved

they don't try to catch you off-guard with plot events like, defending van zieks. it's not just a rehash of turnabout goodbyes. you knew it was going to happen eventually; the reaper of the bailey's reputation as a possible murderer constantly comes up, and you know he must be innocent. it's still a decent twist and a good way to conclude the plot line they introduced so early, but the vibe i get is that they didn't try to act like what they were doing was crazy and unprecedented, because a plot line doesn't have to be for it to be good

they really made the world of this game so much bigger, by setting it in two countries, involving international british-japanese relations and politics, the assassination conspiracy and deeper, given the talk of xenophobia, industrialization, classism, crime, life in the city, corruption within the police and the courts, god there's so much. intentionally or unintentionally, ace attorney has always been about the law itself and how it should be utilized to protect the innocent/find the truth, and how it frequently fails to do just that. aa-verse 1900s britain isn't affected by the dystopian, 99% conviction rate and expedited 3-day trials like 2016 japanifornia, but it does have its own legal issues to contend with and i like how they manifested

pacing the hugeness of this plot over the course of two full games was a good call. we know it's possible to do a full arc in 4 to 5 cases but they said, nah. we're going bigger. and not doing THAT THING!!!! aa games are so aggravating for where they don't reference past games directly, only through vague allusion. game 2 does not dare pretend that it's not a sequel; who would be the poor idiot playing Resolve without having played Adventures? (i did comment about how Resolve still gave me a mostly unskippable tutorial, which is just plain silly) but anyway i do understand why japanese fans were so incensed over game 1 ending on a cliffhanger with no official word of a sequel. the game is feels incomplete without Resolve. they shouldn't have reviewbombed it, because it was a good game, but i understand. it's a duology through and through

the characters. i don't think there's a single one i actively dislike, and if i did i've forgotten them. i was very charmed playing as ryunosuke; he's a mess and master of deadpan like his descendant but perhaps... cuter? more deliberately written as naive and ignorant, naturally because he's not actually a law student. and he's afraid of ghosts and aliens. i enjoy that he's more willing to crack jokes to contrast susato playing the straight man, who is the most serious and informed of all the teen girl assistants. she might even be my favorite, now! aa is such a big franchise with too many characters to count, so it's difficult not to view these characters in comparison to their predecessors. but i think they do a good job making the dna of these characters apparent (kazuma and van zieks both having shades of edgeworth, for example) without making me feel like i'm getting the same archetype and the same guy over and over again

#i think i will leave this untagged

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holmesandbees · 2 years

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Can we talk about the implications of these scenes in Granada Holmes? Because holy shit, the way they framed this whole episode is incredibly queer coded. So, for background, the Granada adaptation of the story Charles Augustus Milverton is called “The Master Blackmailer.” The story is largely the same; Holmes and Watson are tasked with helping a young woman who is being extorted by a blackmailer. However, the Granada version differs in that it includes a subplot about a gay man, Colonel Dorking, who commits s*icide after being blackmailed. And this very clearly has a deep emotional impact on Holmes.

(Here’s a link to the scenes I’ll continue analyzing below.)

In the beginning of the episode, we follow Colonel Dorking as he attends a gay bar and is threatened with “incriminating” letters by Milverton, whose men assault him up in an alleyway when he refuses to pay. His lover, (who is a shitty drag queen by the way) has sold him out. The following day, there is a devastating scene in which his fiancé discovers the letters. His life has been ruined. Before his death, Dorking addresses a letter to Sherlock Holmes, with the hopes that he will be able to prevent the same thing from happening to someone else. Dorking’s servant manages to take this letter from the crime scene, and rushes it over to Baker Street before Scotland Yard can get a hold of it. Clearly he thinks that it is important to do so.

After Holmes receives the letter, this insanely tense scene plays out between Lestrade, Holmes, and Watson. And it’s evident that the tension is about something deeper than Lestrade thinking Holmes was tampering with police evidence. Firstly, Lestrade comes barging into Baker Street, demanding that Holmes give him the letter, as Mrs. Hudson frantically tries to calm him down. Lestrade bursts into their sitting room, literally fuming. He is immediately accusatory, and Holmes responds to this with his customary snark. This interaction stands out, because it’s so uncharacteristically hostile. While Holmes and Lestrade do have a rivalry, it’s a good-natured one. Throughout the rest of the series, it’s well-established that they consider each other to be friends. So why is this time so different? It’s the circumstances surrounding Dorking’s death. It’s the big ol’ rainbow elephant in the room.

Lestrade seems betrayed at the thought that Holmes would even consider helping Dorking, and asks him “Did you know the man?!” clearly disgusted. (At this point, Lestrade knows nothing about the nature of their correspondence, only that Dorking had consulted Holmes and Watson for help in his situation.) After Holmes shows him the letter, Lestrade gets all homophobic. (boo) Holmes is immediately defensive of Dorking as Lestrade criticizes him. When Lestrade is dismissive about the suffering that led to his suicide, Holmes clarifies that “he took a soldier’s way out,” and Lestrade “hmmphs” at that. Lestrade interrogates Holmes about Dorking’s homosexuality, in one of the most intense, close-up stare downs I have seen. Lestrade cries, “but he was engaged to be married, damn it!” and then goes “oh yes, it wouldn’t be the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last,” looking as if he’s measuring Holmes’ reaction the whole time. Holmes is angered at this. When Lestrade comments, “So it was blackmail?” he shoots back with “well done Lestrade” and gives him this bitingly sarcastic smile.

It’s also noteworthy that Holmes continues to insist that Dorking was a victim, unlike Lestrade who has shown nothing but disdain for him. He says that “Colonel Dorking was not his first victim, and will not be his last.” Lestrade gives him this panicky little disbelieving smile in return. Then, Holmes goes “Goodbye Lestrade” in the most brutally sarcastic tone of voice ever, and they usher him out of Baker Street. In an epic BAMF moment, Watson even shuts the door on his face as he’s talking to them. Damn. I cannot emphasize enough how out of the ordinary this was for them. I mean, these three are always depicted as being on cordial terms. Based on this interaction, you’d swear they utterly despised each other. And what was the factor that set this off? Lestrade’s homophobia and lack of empathy for Dorking.

After he leaves, Watson laments that they couldn’t have helped the man, and Holmes begins a dramatic monologue about how much he despises Milverton. He even goes as far as to say that, “I’ve had to deal with fifty murderers in my career, but the worst of them never gave me this sense of revulsion that I feel at this moment towards Mr. Charles Augustus Milverton.” That’s… a pretty serious assertion. And what is it that has generated such hatred in him? The fact that he exploited a queer man. And of course, the fact that he blackmails people in general, which is a vile thing to do, but it’s this instance in particular that has struck a chord.

After this event, Holmes and Watson are determined to bring him down, using whatever means necessary. Holmes is even willing to go undercover and seduce Milverton’s maid to help with the case. Which is pretty low for him. It’s something he begrudgingly does, (let’s just say nicely that this lady is far from being his intellectual equal) and Watson is pissed at him about it for how shitty he is being to her. Holmes is generally considerate of others, and his willingness to break this poor woman’s heart by falsely leading her on shows the extent to which he is willing to go.

Finally, another significant event occurs toward the end of the episode, when Holmes and Watson are negotiating with Milverton on behalf of their client, Eva Blackwell. In an attempt to intimidate them, Milverton brings up Dorking; “You may have noticed a small paragraph recently in the morning post— the sudden end of the engagement between the honorable Miss Miles and Colonel Dorking.” Watson immediately shoots back, composed yet with clear anger: “yes, and its tragic consequences.” Holmes chimes in with “that was tantamount to murder,” and Watson then asks “how do you answer to that, Mr. Milverton?” Milverton seems to take notice of the way that they are reacting to this, and says “how a man conducts himself under such circumstances is a matter for himself alone.” Holmes is enraged by this, jumping up and pointing at him. He cries that “That is a monstrous assertion! It was you, and you alone that caused his death!” Milverton seems a bit shocked by this, before changing the subject back to the matter at hand.

I find it intriguing that Granada Holmes chose to incorporate this plotline into this story. They didn’t have to make these choices. But they did. And what does this tell us? Well, it tells us that Holmes and Watson understand the devastating consequences of being outed. And they have nothing but empathy for Dorking’s situation. In fact, they are enraged over what happened to him. Holmes in particular is absolutely disgusted towards Milverton, implying he feels more hatred for him than even Moriarty. This is a very interesting reaction for Victorian men to have, given the intense homophobia of the era. At the very least, it reveals that Holmes and Watson are canonically not homophobes in the Granada universe! But why would they go out of their way to include this plot if they weren’t okay with the implications of Holmes and Watson’s reactions to this?

#Granada Holmes #granada johnlock #johnlock #sherlock holmes #john watson #analysis #charles augustus milverton #the master blackmailer #jeremy brett #homophobia tw #tw homophobia #tw sui #sui tw #tw sewerslide #mine

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tiger-moran · 3 years

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I think this is still partially why I can’t buy into the idea that Moriarty is this sort of supervillain, evil bogeyman type figure, the villain who must be defeated at all costs to maintain the status quo. Or why I cannot take to some of the versions of Moriarty which generally seem to be regarded as the best. And Moran too, though Moran doesn’t get used as a villain as much as Moriarty does.

Because characters like Sherlock Holmes, like Mycroft Holmes, like Watson, like the police inspectors, they represent and support things that are really just... so much more vast and so much worse than anything Moriarty or Moran could do, like the British empire, the royal family, the aristocracy, capitalism.

Sure Moriarty is referred to as being connected to “forgery cases, robberies, murders”. But then, who are forgery cases most likely to impact? Very wealthy people, people with more money than sense often. Robberies? No master criminal of Moriarty’s kind is going to rob from poor people (that would be largely pointless anyway since they are poor, and be akin to Holmes solving the ‘boring’ trivial cases like lost pets or whatever which he refuses to show any interest in), and besides, Holmes is perfectly prepared to steal things to solve his own cases (like the photograph in Irene Adler’s possession for instance) so how is Holmes actually any better? Murders? ‘Commonplace’ murders are not going to interest Moriarty, why would he give a shit about some jealous husband wanting to have his wife or his wife’s lover murdered for example? If he arranges for someone to be killed that person is probably not a very good person anyway. They will be criminals, or very likely they are exploitative people who get away with all sorts because of their wealth/status. Also, Holmes seems perfectly prepared to go off and kill Moriarty himself instead of assisting in bringing him to justice; he covers for the murderer of Milverton; he partially causes Roylott’s death and doesn’t seem to give two shits about that; Holmes himself does not seem to see any issue with killing certain people. And this is also in an era which still had the death penalty of course.

Moriarty also does not (which we can judge by Holmes’s reactions to both characters) seem to blackmail already very vulnerable people the way someone like Milverton does. He does not seem to behave with any kind of actual sexual impropriety or abuse vulnerable women (like Gruner for instance does). And he is also a good teacher, that part of him seems to be very genuine; the mathematics professor thing is not just a front it’s an aspect of him that is very sincere.

I am still not saying that Moriarty is some kind of ‘champion of the poor and oppressed’ or he’s only into crime to help the poor or anything while Holmes and Watson et al support and stand for everything bad. It’s not that simple of course and I’m not saying that the individuals on the side of ‘good’ are all terrible, it’s something much broader than just individuals anyway, and Holmes for example is very unconventional in his attitudes towards various people. I’m certainly not saying that I dislike the ‘good’ characters either. And Moriarty’s motives also (essentially like Holmes’s) are mostly selfish but he does not represent everything that’s bad and wrong with the world. On the contrary he seems to stand in opposition to a lot of what is bad and wrong in the world - at least of Irish ancestry in a culture practically obsessed with ‘British superiority’; queer-coded in a culture that still at best pathologised queerness and at worst imprisoned queer men. And Moran is much the same. And whereas Watson basically got forced to leave the army because of injury/illness and he doesn’t really seem to see an issue with it and what it represents, Moran though got driven out of the army for reasons which are never really explained but it’s no stretch of the imagination to think he was driven out because he didn’t fit, because he came to hate it and everything it stood for. And they’re just... unconventional, and outsiders, and in some ways likely are themselves victims, and victims of a system which uses and exploits and harms people and at least to some extent have been pushed to act the way they do because they’re victims of that. Moriarty and Moran are both outside the norm, creating and playing by their own rules. They are not actually that dangerous as people. They are however a danger to the established order of things, and that is why it would suit a lot of people to portray them as these almost inhuman monstrous unrepentant villains with no depth, no other facet to them other than a capacity to kill and harm people.

And I’m not saying that the incarnations of Moriarty that I love necessarily get everything right. Jared Harris’s is of course my favourite but I still think there are significant flaws in his characterisation and things I do not see Moriarty actually ever doing, but they did get it right in showing him genuinely as a maths professor and a teacher and someone who is liked and admired as a professor/teacher. They got it right in making him actually just a pretty normal person, not some ‘grotesque’, not ‘inhuman’ but just a pretty normal guy and someone who is genuinely charming. They got it right in showing him having a side which appreciates opera/music, which loves pigeons (and I think the symbolism of pigeons is significant too - intelligent animals but widely regarded as pests or vermin which should be exterminated. Of course Moriarty has latched on to these creatures), which is close to Moran as well. Yes Moriarty is the ‘villain’ who has to be defeated by the end which obviously is something I don’t like but he is at least a far more believable character than many versions of him. Not this Evil Villain who sprang out of nowhere and is absolutely depraved, he’s just a man, someone with other likes and interests besides just crime, and a man who is really only exploiting what other human beings (mostly those with far more power and influence than him) have already done or will do with or without his influence.

#James Moriarty #Professor Moriarty #Sebastian Moran #Sherlock Holmes

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odishaphotos · 2 years

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Robert Hill

Robert Hill (born 2 April 1899) was also known as Robin Hill, a British botanist. The "Hill reaction" of photosynthesis in 1939 proved that the light requiring steps outside of oxygen was involved in photosynthesis, and that it had a significant contribution to the Z-scheme and oxygenic photosynthesis.

Childhood biography ---

He was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, New Milverton. He received his first education at Bedales School, where he studied biology and mathematics, and studied Natural Sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Work biography--

In 1992, he joined the Department of Biochemistry, Cambridge. He began researching hemoglobin directly. In 1932, he began work on herbivores and photosynthesis and the oxygen evolution of chloroplasts and invented the Hill reaction.

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pentanguine · 5 years

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In which I get mad at Ms. Holmes of Baker Street

Ms. Holmes of Baker Street is a truly awful man-ifesto arguing that Sherlock Holmes is really a woman--and not just any woman, but a delicate, weak, constitutionally inferior woman! C. Alan Bradley and William Sarjeant take it upon themselves to misapply deductive reasoning in blatantly sexist ways, and the result is...certainly something. If you’re the kind of person who enjoys entertaining themself by getting angry at other people’s shoddily constructed arguments, you might enjoy it. Hopefully you’ll also enjoy my commentary on select gems from this rigorous scholarly work.

-“The authors recognize fully that, in making our interpretations of these remarks and these attributes and, indeed, at many other points in the analysis that follows, we risk offending our feminine readership by making generalizations about women that certainly do not apply to the whole range of womankind. However, we live in an age when divergence from the sexual stereotypes is more usual, and much more permissible, than it was during the Victorian and Edwardian times that were the setting for Holmes's investigations. We urge our readers to remember how much more closely the women of Holmes's day were forced, by social circumstances and pressures, to conform to the expectations, not only of their menfolk but also of their mothers, sisters, aunts and peers. Such generalizations are not only easier to make about women of that time than about women of today but also, we sincerely believe, much more likely to be valid. Similar pressures were, of course, forcing the men of that time to conform closely to their own, very different, stereotype. The gulf between the sexes was infinitely greater than it is today—and the individuals who, like Holmes, dared to traverse it, were infinitely fewer.” BULL FUCKING SHIT DUDES you can’t argue that she’s daring to traverse it and still utterly beholden to it in the same fucking sentence!!!

[On their argument that Sherlock was (un)familiar with certain subjects because of her gender] -Women were held to stricter standards of gendered behavior than they are now? Ok, fair. But you are literally arguing that this woman disguised herself as a man and lived as a man!! You are saying that she grievously broke these gendered norms!! And yet she couldn’t be bothered to brush up on her politics?? NO man, not even a private investigator, would DARE to learn about perfume?? Somehow her uterus is magically aligned with these stereotypes and gives her debilitatingly bad cramps?? (Idk if you’ve noticed, cis bros, but the majority of women don’t actually vanish from public life once a month. I’m pretty sure if your period is actually incapacitating that’s a medical issue) OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO STUPID

-They’re arguing…that Holmes is a woman…because a dog…humped his leg.

-“Was it, indeed, an awareness of physical unattractiveness that caused Holmes to despair of marriage and to embark, instead, on a career that would involve lifelong roleplaying?” OH GOOD GOD ‘What if…hear me out…Sherlock Holmes became a brilliant consulting detective because he knew he was too ugly to attract a man?’ *tee hee*

-“In this adventure there is the well-known scene in which Holmes "picked up the steel poker, and with a sudden effort straightened it out again." This, however, is no proof of masculinity. Everyone has heard at one time or another of the mother who, in sudden exertion, is able to lift the automobile under which her child is trapped. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's behaviour had been sufficiently threatening to arouse a similar reaction. If we picture Holmes's eye on his child—or in this case, on Watson!—all becomes clear.” WOMEN CAN ONLY BE STRONG WHEN THEIR LOVED ONES ARE THREATENED

-“What man ever orders another to put on his hat—and what wife ever fails to do so?” Nothing says deductive reasoning like rhetorical questions about culturally specific gender stereotypes based in misogyny and toxic masculinity

-“But [what about] the boxing? Yet Watson gives no details to support his asseveration.” This just in: women Cannot Hit Things

-“It is of the first importance," he warns Watson, "not to allow your judgement to be biased by personal qualities." LIKE YOUR OWN MISOGYNY PERHAPS

-“Sherlock, for once, visits the Watson menage and soon finds the most comfortable chair. Note her crossing of the legs—left over right, the reverse of the masculine norm.” BEHOLD the rigorous deduction

-“No doubt it was not the right time of the month in which to endure so emotionally stressful an adventure!” FUCK off, you namby-pamby little nose-wiping gits before I punch you, you smug bastards

-WILL YOU STOP GETTING YOUR LITTLE INTELLECTUAL NUTS OFF ON THE IDEA OF WOMEN BEING SOUNDLY BEATEN BY MEN DESPITE THEIR ‘GOOD SHOW’ AT TRYING TO BE EQUAL THE POOR DEARS FUCK YOU

-“Whilst Victorian Puritanism was indeed extreme, it is surprising that Holmes shared it to such a degree that he considered a not-very-determined attempt at seduction to be as serious as murder!” AND THEY LAUGH AT SEXUAL ASSAULT WHO’S SURPRISED NOT ME

-This book is just the product of a period fetish

-“A man may understand another man, but no man may ever hope fully to understand a woman.” And yet you’re certainly trying

-“it may have been that Sherlock’s mother was—unlike the present writers!— a Bronte fan” ‘Just in case you think we like, you know, ~women’s literature~, ha ha, no homo!!’

[On their claim that Sherlock went to university disguised as a man while her parents sat passively at home and despaired] -Ok, the major flaw in the argument at this point is why didn’t her parents just expose her and drag her home in disgrace?? If they know about this, why are they sitting at home wringing their hands going “Oh, our poor little Charlotte’s a cross-dresser whatever shall we do!” when they could be getting her kicked out of college and dragging her right back home again?? Cut off her resources! Discreetly force her to return before she causes a scandal!!

-“It would have been easy enough for her to attend lectures—or, indeed, not to attend them, whenever her physical condition made attendance difficult.” OH MY FUCKING GOD what do you think college students with periods do now??????

-I officially diagnose the writers of this book with period envy/fetish

-“Moreover, she was too fastidious to wish to spend her evenings in a public house, among drunks and in an atmosphere thick with tobacco smoke.” -I’m not…I can’t even, honestly

-“While they were waiting in the darkness of Milverton's study, she was even to seek the physical reassurance of Watson's touch—for that was what happened, even if Watson reported it otherwise.” So now we’ve just resorted to blatantly making things up, this is great

-“we felt that the unproven nature of the evidence for biorhythms might jeopardize the credibility of an otherwise serious work of scholarship” -Oh did you now

In conclusion: If anyone ever tries to tell you that men are inherently smarter than women, just make them read this book

#actually don't they'll probably love it #personal

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stillgeekingout · 7 years

Text

apologies friends I am a day late (as if you guys keep track). I’m a lil embarrassed about this chapter lol (there’s.... a lot of kissing....)

anyway here it is, CHAPTER TEN of the ultimate aaron milverton crossover fic! we’ve come so far lol.

I hope I didn’t accidentally plagiarize rainbow rowell (aka my Inspiration), also if yanki or demitri ever somehow find this I’ll die. ok enjoy!

previous: 1 here, 2 here, 3 here, 4 here, 5 here, 6 here, 7 here, 8 here, 9 here

------

Chad was kissing a boy. It was a pleasant development that he hadn’t expected out of his Thanksgiving vacation.

He should have told Aaron his feelings sooner. He couldn’t believe he had let months go by. He should have known Blair was benevolent enough to accept a broken oath for a worthy cause. He should have just asked her what she thought when they were at the convention. He should have--

He shook the thoughts from his head. It doesn’t matter, because he’s here now, he thought. He needed to enjoy the moment while it lasted. After months of nothing but emails and fantasies, touching Aaron at all was incredible. Let alone kissing him. He couldn’t settle on a place for his hands-- he kept moving them from Aaron’s face, to his neck, to his shoulders.

Aaron had one hand on the back of Chad’s neck and the other in his hair. I should grow my hair longer in the back, Chad thought. Then he would have something to hold onto. Aaron’s hair was longer than his; he moved his hands up to run his fingers through it.

“I have to say,” Chad whispered between kisses, “I think driving halfway across the state-- is the most-- romantic thing-- anyone’s ever done for me.” He felt Aaron smile against his lips.

“Worth it,” Aaron whispered back. “But I can’t take all the credit, it was Zoe’s id-- wait, Zoe!” He pulled away suddenly. “They’re all still in the car!” Aaron said, as if it had just occurred to him. He turned towards the door, but Chad grabbed his hands. He had sort of hoped they could ignore that fact for a few more minutes.

“You guys aren’t driving back tonight, are you? It’s so late.” He wasn’t ready for Aaron to leave. He wove his fingers through Aaron’s, swinging their hands back and forth a little.

“I’m not totally sure,” Aaron said. “We didn’t really think that far ahead.”

“Too consumed by your need to see me?” Chad grinned, leaning in for another quick kiss.

“I know you’re joking, but yeah, pretty much,” Aaron said, smiling. He had a great smile. “I was kind of dying without you.” Chad tried not to look too pleased, but his heart was glowing.

“Well, we’re together now,” he said, unclasping one hand to brush Aaron’s cheek again. “That’s what matters.”

“Yeah.” They were both still grinning. They didn’t break eye contact for a long moment, but then Aaron looked down. “I really should go check on my friends,” he said. “Come with me?”

“Of course.” And they walked outside, still holding hands.

------

Kate Whitney stared at her phone. Aaron’s last text was from twenty minutes earlier.

omg ok we’re here. at his house. blair and i are gonna go talk to him

She had texted him exactly 11 times since:

!!!!!!!!!!!!! good luck, ily whatever happens!

so?

how’s it going? any luck?

aaron?

AARON

I NEED DETAILS WHAT’S HAPPENING

aaaaaaaaaaronnnnnnnnn

are you making out with him

oh my GOD you are aren’t you

there’s no way you’re not making out with chad right now

aaron omggggggg

She stood up, pacing the room. For all she knew, her best friend was uniting with the love of his life, and she was stuck waiting for text updates on the opposite corner of the country. It was absolutely killing her.

Her phone whistled. She jumped up to grab it. There was a single text from Aaron:

;)

------

There were very few things Zoe Lasnammer loved more than impromptu adventures and road trips with friends. So between combining both of those things and getting to spend more time with the cute girl she was trying very hard not to develop a crush on, she was having a pretty stellar night. Hera telling them her real name was Rachel was a little odd, but she didn’t question it too much. Maybe her middle name was Hera and that was what she normally went by. It did make it more convenient not to have to deal with Blair about it. (Seriously, did no two gods share a name? She’d have to get used to it sooner or later. There were about a million humans named Alex.)

“They’re coming out!” Alex said suddenly, pointing at Chad’s front door.

“Nice choice of words,” Zoe said, and Rachel laughed. She looked out the window to see that indeed, Aaron and Chad had emerged from the house-- and they were holding hands. Everyone in the car cheered (except for Blair, but even she cracked a smile).

“I’m happy for him that it worked out,” said Zoe. Aaron looked over at the car, and Zoe saw Rachel give him a thumbs up through the window (a cute gesture, even though it was dark outside and the window was tinted so there was no way he could see it).

“Let me talk to them really quickly,” Zoe said, getting out of the car. As soon as she was sure Aaron could see her, she raised an eyebrow at him. To which he WINKED. What a dork.

“So, um. This is Chad,” he said, holding up their joined hands. “Chad, Zoe. She works for Blair.”

“Sort of,” Zoe corrected, reaching out to shake Chad’s free hand. Gods, it was like he and Aaron were glued together at the hands or something.

“So nice to officially meet you, Zoe,” Chad said. “And thanks for bringing this one to me.” He jerked his head sideways at Aaron, who seemed flustered. Zoe noticed that his hair was ruffled.

“Likewise,” she said. “And you’re welcome.”

“So, I’m not sure what your plans are--”

“Well, it’s definitely too late to drive back tonight,” she said. “I think we’ll get a hotel.” With magic god money. If Rachel weren’t with them, they’d probably teleport back or whatever, but Zoe was fine with forcing her friends to spend more time in the car with her.

Aaron kept looking between Chad and Zoe, as if unsure what the next step was.

“We can come back in the morning before we leave,” Zoe said pointedly. Was she really going to have to do all the work here?

“Oh!” said Aaron. “I didn’t-- I mean I don’t know if--” He faltered, looking at Chad.

“Of course you should stay over, babe,” said Chad. Aaron’s facial reaction to being called “babe” was hilariously adorable.

“Will your parents--”

“They’d love to meet you. You can have breakfast with us.” He leaned sideways, nudging Aaron’s shoulder with his own. “They might be a little surprised, since they think I’ve sworn off romance and before that I hadn’t figured out I was gay... but they’re chill. It’ll be fine.”

Aaron still looked indecisive, so Zoe took action. “Great, see you in the morning!” she said brightly, turning back towards the car and waving over her shoulder. Behind her, she heard Chad laugh.

------

One drive to a hotel and check-in later, Zoe found herself in a predicament. The last time they had stayed in a hotel, Blair and Alex had shared a bed. This time, though, they had a new addition to the group-- and Zoe didn’t exactly see suggesting to Rachel that they sleep together, even in the most innocent sense of the phrase.

As soon as Rachel went in the bathroom, she knew she had to act quickly.

“Move over,” she said to Blair, who was already lounging on one of the beds. Blair grunted in protest but scooted over to make room anyway. Zoe kicked off her shoes and climbed under the covers. (None of them had brought a change of clothes or toothbrushes or really anything except Alex’s St. Augustine souvenirs.) It had been a long drive and she was exhausted. She turned towards the wall and closed her eyes immediately, figuring she’d let Rachel and Alex work out sleeping arrangements.

------

Aaron had given up trying to decide if he was stuck in a really vivid dream. He didn’t want to risk waking himself up. After Zoe left, Chad had insisted that they could both sleep in his bed. “I only get you until the morning,” he’d said. “I’m not losing that time to the couch.” Aaron had agreed, of course, because he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do than fall asleep cuddled up next to the boy he was in love with. A little while later, he realized he had been wrong. He couldn’t fall asleep, because then the night (or dream, or whatever) would end. He fought to keep his eyes open as Chad lay behind him, idly playing with his hair.

“You know,” Chad said into the back of his neck, “you could stay longer tomorrow if you wanted. What’s one more last minute plane ticket?”

Aaron rolled over to face him. “I’m not letting you buy me a-- wait, what do you mean one more?”

Chad winced. “Yeah so… I have a confession.”

“Hm?”

“About this afternoon...” Aaron still couldn’t believe it was the same day-- possibly the best day he’d ever had. (Definitely the best dream he’d ever had, if that was the case. And he’d had plenty of dreams about Chad.) “My flight wasn’t actually delayed,” Chad said. “I missed the connection on purpose because I wanted to see you.”

Aaron laughed. “Calm down, dude. Kinda seems like you’re obsessed with me.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who drove all the way down here--”

“Yeah, yeah.” Chad’s face was close enough that Aaron could reach forward and kiss him on the nose with very little effort. I’m allowed to do that now, he reminded himself, so he did. He had imagined stuff like that for so long that it was unreal to actually be able to act on it.

“Ok but seriously though,” he said. “I’m not letting you buy me a plane ticket. I’ll ride back with Zoe. She has to take me to my car anyway. And plus, if I stay any longer my sister will kill me. I was supposed to be back to finish Moana.”

“It’s not fair,” Chad said. “I just got you, and now I’m gonna lose you again.”

“We’ll have skype,” Aaron said, though he was thinking the same thing. “And we can still email.”

“I think we’re a little past email now, babe,” said Chad. It was the second time Chad had called him “babe”, and he was a little embarrassed by how much he loved it.

“I like the emails,” he protested. “They’re romantic. Like writing letters.”

“In that case I’ll email you three times a day.”

“Good.” Aaron could feel his eyes drooping. He tried to fight it. “I’m gonna miss you too much.”

“We survived it before,” Chad said, tracing his fingers down the side of Aaron’s face. Aaron gave in and closed his eyes.

“It was different before,” he said sleepily.

“I know,” said Chad. It was the last thing Aaron heard before he fell asleep.

------

Rachel woke up in a sweat. She looked around at the dark hotel room where her new friends were sleeping, reminding herself that it was just a nightmare. It had been a while since she’d had one that vivid. She took a few deep breaths, then got up to splash some water on her face.

When she came back to slide back into bed, Alex was sitting up. It startled her, but she tried not to show it. “Are you ok?” they whispered.

“Yeah,” she whispered back, but she suspected they could tell she was lying. She stood at the corner of the bed. “I’m just having trouble sleeping, I guess,” she said finally.

“Nightmares?” They sounded genuinely concerned.

“Was it that obvious?” She still hadn’t moved.

“No! Sorry! I just… I heard you talking a little in your sleep and I got worried.”

“Oh,” she said, blinking. So she talked in her sleep. Just great. Way to not scare off the first people she’d felt comfortable talking to in a year and a half. “Sorry for waking you up. I’ll be ok.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

The question surprised her. She didn’t know how to respond, so she decided not to. “Can you tell me what you heard?” she asked. “Like, what did I say?”

“Something about ‘they’re all gone’,” Alex said hesitantly, as if they regretted telling her they had heard anything.

“Sounds about right,” Rachel said, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking down at her lap. They’re all gone. They’re all-- She took another deep breath, trying to clear her head.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand,” said Alex quietly from behind her. They sat in silence for a few long moments. “But you’re ok now. It was just a dream.” If only, she thought.

“Yeah,” she said, unsure what else to say.

“I know what it’s like to feel alone,” Alex said. “It’s really really hard.” Rachel turned around slowly, sitting criss-cross on the corner of the bed. She met Alex’s eyes. Through the dark, it was hard to read their expression, but their voice was sincere.

“Yeah,” she said again.

“But you’re strong,” Alex went on. “And you’re not alone now. You have us.” They gestured to Blair and Zoe asleep in the other bed. Rachel couldn’t tell if they were still just talking her down from the dream or if they could somehow sense that there was some deeper truth to her distressed mutterings. Either way, it made her feel a little better.

“Thanks, Alex,” she said. They seemed satisfied and laid back down, closing their eyes. She finally crawled back up to the top of the bed and slid under the covers. She hadn’t talked to Alex much on the trip thus far, so she hadn’t been sure what to expect out of that exchange. She certainly hadn’t expected a gently whispered pep talk, but Alex’s words were strangely comforting. And when she fell back asleep, she didn’t have any more dreams for the rest of the night.

------

They drove to pick Aaron up in the morning, as promised. When they pulled up to the house, Aaron and Chad were already having a big goodbye scene on the front porch. It seemed a little excessive to Rachel, but who was she to judge? It did give her a twinge of jealousy, though. Aaron’s unrequited crush had clearly become requited-- a luxury she hadn’t been afforded.

She glanced up at Zoe in the front seat (Blair had once again claimed shotgun). She still wasn’t sure where she stood on that whole thing. Did she like Zoe? Or was it just that she was pretty and funny and conveniently unavailable due to distance, so the whole thing felt safer? She felt like her gauge was broken after Hamlet. Would she ever be able to like someone that much again?

“Ugh, can they wrap it up?” said Blair. Rachel looked back out the window. The two boys were still making out on the porch.

“I think it’s sweet,” said Alex.

“Sweet but gross,” Zoe amended. She hit a button to roll down the passenger side window. “Take it away, Blair, they’ll listen to you.”

“Humans!” Blair called, and the boys jolted. Rachel doubted they had even noticed the car. “It’s time for us to go!”

“Of course, Blair!” Chad called. “Right away!” He said something else to Aaron that Rachel couldn’t hear, gave him one final kiss, then Aaron rushed over to the car. Rachel thought it was funny how much the two of them listened to Blair, and also that she called them “humans”, but maybe it was all just part of the code of their charity religion thing, whatever it was.

When Aaron was inside with the door closed, Rachel and Alex applauded. He seemed embarrassed as he climbed into the back seat next to Rachel. “Guess it worked out pretty well,” she said, laughing.

“Yeah,” he said, turning to wave at Chad through the window as they drove away. “Yeah, I guess it did.”

#remember when this was gonna be 10 chapters total lol #idk folks I'm in it for the long haul (but hopefully not TOO much longer)#tajwash #blairgp #hamdam #mine

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inevitably-johnlocked · 7 years

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Deeper Still Redux: ‘The Lying Detective’ Clustermeta Update

Alrighty, so now that we are rapidly approaching The Lying Detective (the episode I have been looking forward to the most), I’ve decided I would “BRIEFLY” (HA!) update what I think is going to happen in the next episode now that we have one episode under our belt.

I’m going to be writing this meta assuming you have read Deeper Still and the tiny addition Pocketed Drugs. Please read those first, and then come back to this one.

I wrote Deeper Still on a whim one hot afternoon during setlock and it ended up being a 7 hour crack clustermeta based solely on what I was seeing on my dash for 2 weeks straight relating to S4E2.

I may have been a TEENY BIT buzzed when I wrote it.

This is the episode I have been looking most forward to, because I think it will be one of the most powerful episodes in canon. Already it’s looking to be dark and whumpy, and HOPEFULLY a bit of relationship building in there as well, since episode two of every season is the one that focuses on John and Sherlock’s changes in their relationship (and early keywords for this episode hinted at this one being a romance episode), and I just LOVE having my heart ripped out and stomped on several times and then put back into my chest.

ANYWAY, this is just a “small” addition to that meta, updating some of my original theories with new info plus adding on some new theories based on evidence presented in T6T. I’ll separate it similarly, so you can follow along on the old post if you need to reference back. First though, I’m going to address T6T.

PART 1: What the Heck is Going On in T6T?

See Also: Post-T6T: My Theories and Speculations || Things Bothering Me in T6T

Okay, so I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about this because other people have already taken this whole episode apart and analysed it to death – rather I will link to other meta that support my own readings, so I encourage you to check them out as well.

That said, why bring it up at all in a meta about TLD? Because I think that the “hidden plot” will actually be uncovered either at the beginning or end of TLD (the “surprise” mentioned in reviews), OR will be the opener in TFP, as there is an excellent speculation that TFP will be the “reliable narrator” or “author god” version of events. There is a reason that Ben has said that all three episodes must be watched before coming to a conclusion about them (here and here): I think that all three stories are all one long narrative that ALL tie together in a beautiful bow at the end of TFP while also resolving the major plot holes of the series (not ALL of them; they need some left for the fifth season). I think that the next two episodes will directly link back into T6T, ergo my discussion about T6T here.

Here is what I am believing happened in T6T:

The end of the episode, where Sherlock is talking to Ella, is actually the beginning of the episode. This entire episode is an “Unreliable Narrator” story told by Sherlock as he comes up with a way to provide a believable story for Mary’s death.

That said, I don’t think that this is “real Ella”. I believe that she is a mind-palace projection created by Sherlock as “Sherlock’s intuition” [SHERLOCK: Intuitions are not to be ignored, John. They represent data processed too fast for the conscious mind to comprehend. (x)], as Ella is someone who knows John and would be able to help understand John, while Sherlock’s MP self represents his “logic” and I think, in a way, his own heart. Bleh, I know it conflicts with the John = heart and Mycroft = logic totems of the MP characters, but I think in this case, I believe Sherlock thinks John is ‘too close’ to the situation, and he’s replacing Mycroft with himself because Big Brother can’t help him this time.

Also another idea: Sherlock represents his mind, and Ella represents his heart, ‘lo: Sherlock is allowing sentiment to rule his head, and let it guide him into doing what he intuits is right (again with the intuition)

The first scene of the episode, where they are doctoring the footage of Magnussen’s death, is foreshadowing the events of the episode, and proves that the entire episode is “doctored” to fit a narrative that is “okay for the public”.

Sherlock is telling a story that makes John sympathetic to Mary so that it takes all blame away from John and so he would have no reason to kill Mary. This is why Mary is disturbingly sweet to John, writes a letter like it was composed in Victorian era, and why Sherlock keeps reiterating that they were friends (so that her jumping in front of a bullet to save him was logical for her to do). I still think Mary is an unrepentant villain and that it will be proven by the end of TFP. Both upcoming episodes will feature snippets of info and show Mary as the psychopath she is.

The more lies you tell (only lies have detail), the harder it is to keep track of your story. I think this is why there are a lot of inconsistencies, like the disappearing police officers at the end, the details of John’s flat being wrong, and the suddenly appearing police officers when confronting Ajay.

Unreliable Narrator “Proof” Meta:

Frame Story

Billy the Skull Has Lenses On

It’s a Fish Story

Fragmented Perceptions and The Stream of Consciousness of an Unreliable Narrator

one possible narrative

There are only four (or five) people who know what happened

Did they really…?

None of it is Real

The Physics of Mary jumping in front of Sherlock

The “Unreliable Narrator” Theory works in conjunction with “John’s Alibi” Theory. This is the belief that John actually killed Mary and Sherlock is creating a believable alibi to protect him, which was foreshadowed in ASiP.

I think the general fandom consensus is that John was oddly out of character in this episode.

Mark and Steven mentioned their headcanon for the ACD story The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton: Moffat: If you read [The Adventure Of] Charles Augustus Milverton, Dr. Watson in the opening paragraph tells you that he’s about to tell you a porkie. He says, ‘I even now must be very reticent.’ I think what Doyle is hinting at is that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson sat in Baker Street and said, ‘Right, we’re going to have to go and kill him, aren’t we? That’s the only way we can do this.’ So they break in, kill him, and then Dr. Watson writes up a version of the story that puts the murder [on someone else]. Gatiss: They’re hiding in their burglar masks behind the curtain, and this random woman comes and shoots Milverton in the face and then grinds her heel into his face. It’s odd, isn’t it? So I mean really, it’s just an extrapolation of saying, ‘Well, he probably did it, I think.’(x) This leads us to speculate, given that this is a tail-end to HLV, that they are using this headcanon for Season 4 – that John was actually the perpetrator in Mary’s death.

Norbury agreed to take the fall for the murder and was paid a nice sum of money to just “disappear”.

Norbury is a John Mirror

I think Lestrade is in on the Alibi, just like he knew / suspected about John in the pilot being the shooter.

Some Alibi Theories that I have latched onto.

John’s Rejected Alibis - All the cases listed in the episode are alibis that Sherlock was running concurrent simulations for to find the alibi that would work for John. This is how they came up with the Jellyfish Alibi. Note that I do NOT believe the death of Mary was premeditation – the simulations, I believe, run AFTER the death of Mary – Sherlock is coming up with these ON HIS OWN, and chooses the jellyfish one because it is the one that takes away the most blame from John.

The jellyfish though - John shot Mary from behind, in the shadows, foreshadowed both in ASiP (only firing when Sherlock was in direct danger) and by the jellyfish joke: You can’t arrest a Jellyfish.

Surprise! - More about the Jellyfish Assassin, and further proof that it could have been John.

Mary is acting out ‘a post- Reichenbach’ Sherlock - Mary is the one who actually took the shot. Sherlock is giving Mary the words he wanted to always say.

People do not change how they respond in crisis – John’s uncharacteristic way of dealing with Mary’s gunshot. He let her die.

John Didn’t Go Into Action – Further discussion about John’s inability to help Mary.

Did John kill Mary? (Yes. Yes, he probably did.)

John is actually working for MI5/6 to capture Mary / Moriarty and to protect Sherlock.

And Bus Stop Lady is his contact. John WAS going to throw out the paper, but SOMETHING ON IT made him second guess.

But she’s also the same actress as in TLD, so this has me questioning if she is an agent or a twin.

But I also think that Sherlock and John have their own plan in the works, and Sherlock is the mystery texter.

Night Owl or Vampire? Confirming the Plan

John’s “cheating texts” ARE from Sherlock, but because they are part of Sherlock’s story

Cheating

John & Sherlock’s Plan: A Brief Meta

The Room in Morocco

AGRA is still one person. They are two aliases of Mary. I don’t doubt that Mary DID have a team of assassins that she betrayed. But I don’t think they were called AGRA.

The Six Thatchers busts are used as a ploy for Sherlock��s story, taking a story from John’s blog and changes details in it to fit his narrative.

I think John’s reaction to Ajay’s torture is both "relatable” and he is suddenly realizing what Sherlock had gone through in his time away.

“Amo” will be used to prompt the “I love you” seen in the trailer. I do not believe that the trailer “I love you is genuine, but a deduction, and the keyword “Amo” is the answer.

Something went wrong, and now Sherlock is in danger.

Rewatch the aquarium scene!!

John is angry at Sherlock for going into danger without him

OR John is going on the mission alone, either per Sherlock or Mycroft’s instructions

Mary dead or alive? Right now, I think she’s dead, since I subscribe to the Jellyfish alibi. I think I’m torn because I love the jellyfish theory, but I REALLY want Mary to go down in a blaze of glory. HOWEVER, Amanda is cast for all three episodes, though that could mean anything from a major role to a flashbacks role. There is proof for both theories, though more for her having faked her death:

ALIVE:

Mary’s Death & The Last Act: A Brief Meta

We Haven’t Seen this Yet

Mary’s Trial Run (Meta)

Mary’s Death & Molly the Record Keeper: A Brief Meta

Mary at the Window

Mary isn’t dead.

Mary is paralysing Mycroft

Mary is Birdy Edwards

DEAD:

The Day, Mary Sent Sherlock to Hell

“Go To Hell, Sherlock” is both a clue and a threat. I’m wondering if this is where John goes while Sherlock takes care of business at home.

If she is dead, I think we will see her act out the missing chunks, such as what was really said in her miss me video AND what really happened at the aquarium.

Mary is the Other One?

“LONG BURIED SECRETS”

Amnesia

Baby Watson – Possibly stillborn, though if she was, then why is Sherlock weaving her into his story? To make a softer narrative, perhaps. What has me thinking that she is no longer existent is the fact that the baby, as far as I know, was only cast for episode one. HOWEVER... given the nature of the kind of character that Smith is, I fear that he perhaps kills the baby.

The Letter – A coded message to Sherlock. Molly was the go between. Possibly reveals John’s plans with Mycroft? Sherlock read the letter in the car, so we can speculate that we will eventually find out what’s on it.

Bleh, I ain’t got no more. Don’t ask me to interconnect them into a story narrative. These are simply the theories I think are probable.

Either way, my big theory is the JOHN is the game master this season. He’s controlling the course of events, and Sherlock is doing what John has planned.

PART 2: Revisiting Deeper Still

Alright, here’s where I get into my updated theory on TLD. I’m just going to make this as brief as possible, following along with my original meta. Apologies for my free-thought meta, I’m too tired to edit it.

The Dying Detective: It Takes John Watson to Save a Life

I still believe that John Watson is the main character this episode. He will play a huge role in solving this episode’s case. However, I believe that we will see about 10 minutes of repeating events from T6T to see what really happened from John’s POV. Perhaps, if he has killed Mary, we will see that play out at the END of the episode (the shocking twist). Since we know John is away early in the episode, I think he was the one who “went to Hell” to track down Mary’s operatives and to keep up appearances of the estrangement between he and Sherlock. Honestly, I’m not really even sure where I’m going with this, just that I believe that John is on his own mission for Mycroft but may be double-bluffing and working with Sherlock without Myc’s knowledge.

We saw some MI6 filming, did we not for this episode? John and Sherlock were both seen at that setlock iirc, and I think that it has to do with John’s mission to save Sherlock.

I still think that Sherlock will be a damsel in distress for John, given how ill Sherlock actually looks. Perhaps this is why he returns at the request of Mycroft. Sherlock is becoming delusional and hallucinating, and John is the only doctor that Sherlock will allow to see him.

NEW STUFF from the trailer, we know that Sherlock shoots at something or someone and that John and Sherlock are in a morgue and John punches Sherlock.

Could Sherlock be shooting at John? What if this whole episode, as Sherlock gets more ill, he starts hallucinating John as Culverton and vice versa? Either way, it will be John who brings Sherlock out of it. I think and believe that Sherlock’s aimless wandering around London may tie into the Alibi Theory (there’s setlock photos of Sherlock throwing a gun into the river... is this John’s gun that was used to kill Mary?), discarding the gun in the Thames (calling back to the pilot) and trying to find John.

As for John in the morgue, I actually think it’s Sherlock hallucinating Culverton as John. There’s a reason they made them look similar this season.

There was filming for this episode at a children’s ward in the hospital. What if this is where Rosie dies? Also: I think that Culverton “runs” this hospital, and has done very unsavoury things here.

I really REALLY like Blind Theory, and I think it COULD explain Sherlock’s disorientation in the episode. Some of the hospital setlock supports the theory, plus there’s that REALLY trippy-but-beautiful looking clip of Sherlock in the trailer where his eyes are almost pinpricks. THAT ALL SAID, what if this is why John returns?

WILD SPECULATION: A “Virus in the Data”. Perhaps Sherlock knew subconsciously long ago something was wrong with him? An incubating virus? I previously speculated that Mary could have poisoned / drugged him in the hospital, and perhaps the chemical-laced paper is what activated it in T6T.

WILD SPECULATION: Sherlock has Melideliosis (highly contagious, so probably not. The meta I wrote was interesting, thought I would posit it here)

WILD SPECULATION: A callback to THoB with the drug Vancomycin Hydrochloride

Culverton is Connected to Every Season Somehow

A lot of my ongoing theories about Culverton still stand, mostly the ones listed below plus a few new additions:

We know that Culverton may possibly be based on Jimmy Savile and loosely modelled after Trump. We also know he is the most “disgusting villain they’ve ever had” (paraphrasing). With that info, I believe that Culverton has a public façade as a TV personality / philanthropist which is a front for his illicit drugging of patients, his support of conversion therapy (homophobia) and possible unspeakable acts against children.

Apparently “Business Killer” is like “Kitchen Nightmares”, so I don’t even know where to begin. I still think that Business Killer exposes the problems of businesses / business owners. Where CAM had info and used it for blackmail, I think Culverton just fucking does it – he just exposes the shit out of people and essentially kills a business. BUT they seem to be promoting him as a philanthropist, so what if on the surface he exposes bad businesses, and it looks good to the public? But he’s SO SO much worse in private.

While I do think the military theories I posited in my original post are off the plate, I do still think Culverton is interconnected with the Mary / CAM / Moriarty triangle, possibly a a Dear Jim, possibly still is developing his own “treatment” for his patients. I think he still has ties to Baskerville and the HOUND drug. CAM obviously had blackmail material on him, which got him into trouble in the past. And Mary was one of his nurses, which is how they met.

I think that Culverton’s nasty arse is part of a scandal at the hospital he runs.

I still think John knows of Culverton Smith and what he does. The person Sherlock is talking to in the trailer (the “this monster” line) will be either Lestrade or his brother, not John. THOUGH I am wondering if the “enlighten me” bit directly follows that, so perhaps John knows OF Smith but not the extent of his evil.

Mary is Why Sherlock is Infected in the First Place

Alive or dead, Mary wants Sherlock DEAD, but not before burning his heart. I think somehow Sherlock felt John was going to be hurt, and ended up being poisoned.

BLEH, Mary ‘dying’ really put a kink in my original theory, so most of it is void now. I don’t think any of it is really valid anymore.

Meh, I’ll just throw a theory out there so I can check it off if it does happen, though I know it won’t: Sherlock was already drugged, when Mary made him sniff the paper. What if that’s what started his illness? Long acting-agent, remains dormant? Or he’s suffering side-effects from that? OR, if she is alive, what if the paper that Sherlock is carrying around was laced with ricin?

I do still think, though, that Mary was the one who gave Sherlock drugs on the tarmac, and that they were probably laced with something if they gave him a gay Victorian fever dream.

The Lady in Red Conundrum

Alright, so I’m going to concede and say that all my previous guestimations on her have been debunked with the leak that the LiR is actually Faith Smith, Culverton’s daughter. Who also is played by the same actress who was ‘E’ in T6T. Which is interesting. Twins maybe? (one works for Myc and the other is the woman we see in this ep)? I’m guessing, if this is the case, that she and John have not met (we never have seen John with the Lady in Red, have we?) But I don’t think her intentions are wholly good, either; some speculate that it is her in the background when John is punching Sherlock.

Why is she seen hanging around Sherlock? Apparently she comes to Sherlock with a case early in the episode, but why does she then follow him around the whole time? I still really believe that she is a projection / hallucination Sherlock is having trying to cope with the foulness of what Culverton’s actions are this episode.

And we can all laugh at how silly my Sixth Sense theory was. Wow. :/ Okay, well, the WHOLE thing isn’t completely stupid...

[...] it’s the hallucinations aspect of it all that interests me. She is a physical manifestation of the LiR that Sherlock hallucinates, and they’re so real that his mind fills in the logical gaps (the rain), kind of like it did in TAB; there’s theories going around that this woman is the same as the one in Miskin (but not confirmed), so Sherlock does have a basis to establish a voice and a mannerism set for her to create a “ghost” to help him solve the case. The Baskerville drug dealt with hallucinations, and I think it’s coming back in this episode.

As I said above, I don’t much think there’s going to be a callback to Baskerville, but whatever Sherlock is poisoned with, I think they cause hallucinations and fuck up his mind palace.

Additional Thoughts on TLD

I mentioned the paper above, but I noticed on my old meta that I also suggest that this is a “list”, one that he either received from John (the letter) or one he acquired and needs to get to John so John can save him (possibly foreshadowed in TAB when Sherlock made lists for Myc, but now he gives them to John. John is a medical man, and a very good doctor, and would know how to save Sherlock.

For some reason I mentioned the bus stop and fish and chips on my old post. Now that we ALMOST know for sure that ‘E’ / Bus Stop Lady is also the Lady in Red, perhaps it’s Sherlock piecing together the clues of John’s mission? The bus stop is so significant in T6T that I think something important happens here in TLD as well. And he’s eating, which seems to be a pretty common theme this season already... (food = sex metaphor... Sherlock’s allowing the indulgences). Anyway.

I really truly believe that the love confession will happen this episode. Sherlock’s guards are down, and he’s terrified he won’t survive this time. I think, when they’re alone and Sherlock is scared, this will be when Sherlock confesses. He can’t die this time without John knowing. To what capacity it progresses, I think it will be at least a hug and forehead kiss from John. AHH I just read my original description, and I love it:

The extremely suggestive lighting from the bridge and London Eye shots makes me more certain than ever about this. Throw in the medical aspect of it, where John’s time to shine bright for Sherlock finally comes into full swing and we may get full confessions yet. Sherlock may feel like he might actually want to confess his feelings if he is does believe he is dying. Plus, gems from canon like “Quick man, if you love me…!” would be something Mofftiss would not miss their chance at pulling into the modern era.

I think, given that we know the description now for TFP the episode will end in Sherlock and John “going away” for a bit to heal mentally after the torment of this episode. I suspect Sherlock will be a wreck the whole time and I feel like their rift will be fully healed by the time the episode ends, especially now that we know it will pretty much be the two of them against the world for TFP.

Molly’s Role, forgot to mention, is one of two possibilities:

John’s go-between. She is his trusted go between just as Sherlock trusted her in TRF. Her “Anyone” speech was actually a coded message.

If Mary is alive, Molly is being coerced to make Sherlock believe John is mad at him. The letter is NOT from John but from Mary pretending to be John.

PART 3: Receipts for TLD

Here is a list of my own TLD-related meta, taken from my S4 Receipts Masterpost.

So What if in S4…

Sherlock in TLD

A Theory About Culverton and Sherlock’s Drug Use

Aren’t Sherlock and John Both Technically Detectives?

John Punching Sherlock: Why Does he Do it?

What’s Going on in the Russian TLD Trailer?

Is That John?

John or Culverton?

H.O.U.N.D. and the Unrelated Drug

Melideliosis

UMQRA and the Vignère Cipher

The Stubble and the Swoop

Sherlock Faking?

Will Sherlock Tell John He’s Faking?

Will Sherlock Lie to John Again?

Sick Sherlock?

Mentally Ill, Or Back on Drugs?

Dying Detective Headcanon #1

Why is he Faking Being Poisoned?

Sherlock Drugged With a Hallucinogen

What if Dying Detective and Garridebs are in the Same Ep?

The Nurses

Are the Nurses John’s Girlfriends?

There’s a Male Nurse, Plus Culverton

The Scene With The Nurses: Pointing to Sherrinford?

UNCONFIRMED for TLD:

Sherlock’s Deerstalker in the Czech Trailer?

What is Garridebs?

What is Three Garridebs (Part 2)

Didn’t We Already Have Garridebs?

Why Is Garridebs so Important?

Wait, Has it Been Confirmed?

Johnlock, Garridebs and S4

Why Will Garridebs Happen in S4?

They Won’t Permanently Kill John…

What’s the Worst Case for 3G?

‘Vatican Cameos’ and ‘East Wind’

Reverse Garridebs?

John Will Die

Billy Wiggins’ Role in Sherlock S4

OTHER PEOPLE’S TLD META

The Lying Detective: What You Need to Know

Drugs and Tea Culverton and AGRA

The Lying Detective Speculation

Isn’t Lestrade a Detective?

Sherlock Filming By the Thames

Who is Culverton Smith

Just how Evil is Culverton Smith?

Culverton Will Kill Sherlock’s Business (Blind Sherlock Theory)

“Quick Man, If You Love Me!”

Why “Estranged”?

“Estranged”

Possible Plot of TLD Pieced Together with Setlock

Culverton Smith and Trump

The Dying Detective

It’s All Gone Dark

The Blind Illustrator

More About Blind Sherlock Theory

Blind Sherlock / Rapunzul Parallel

First Impressions

Circles in the Czech Trailer

Manchurian Candidate?

Czech Trailer Setlock Breakdown

Conversion Disorder?

Hallucinations

The Scopolamine Theory

The 7% Solution and TLD

Mind Palace Gone Awry

PART 4: FINAL WORD & THANK YOU

Oy, that turned out a lot longer than anticipated. I wasn’t even going to cover T6T. It was just supposed to be a quick recap of my old TLD Setlock meta, and I got this monster instead, as is my M.O., apparently. I sat down at 6:30 PM on Friday and it is now 2:30 in the morning on Saturday and I just ran with it.

I know a lot of theories contradict each other in this post, and quite frankly, that’s because I can’t set my heart on just one theory, because as of right now I can honestly see the narrative going in any direction.

Also, I’m not discrediting everything I mentioned in my first meta; this one is just a more refined one based one info we already have and all neatly packaged up here.

Anyway. Thank you all very much for taking the time out to read through this whole thing! This is the episode I was most looking forward to, probably BECAUSE I spent so much time writing the original one. And Episode 2 of each season is usually my fave. I’m wary because of the apparent dark theme for this one, but we’ll see. The early keyword of “Romance” for this episode gives me hope, and the “Amo = Love” keyword from T6T will surely carry over into this one.

Cheers, everyone!

TAGS:

@marcespot @beejohnlocked @shawleyleres @yorkiepug @coloringthegreyscale @shervival21st @shylockgnomes @twocandles @benaddictmindpalace @mollydobby

Because y’all talk meta with me. :)

#sherlock meta #spoilers s4 #tld meta #t6t meta #tld spoilers #t6t spoilers #sherlock s4 #my meta #the mary problem #culverton smith #sherlock s4e2 #deeper still #masterpost #my meta masterposts #lady in red #bus stop lady #john's alibi #unreliable narrator #long post

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