#first official web weaving post! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

missshezz · 2 years

Text

Kenobi dropped episodes 1 and 2 last Friday (and episode 3 as of this post) and like many I found myself drawn into the nostalgia web Dickney weaved. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been my favorite Star Wars character (next to Boba Fett) since I was a little girl. His “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for” still remains one of the best lines (followed by a sassy “Hello There” from Ewan McGregor) and best scene (next to the fabulous “You were the Chosen One!” from ROTS).

I honestly had zero hopes for Kenobi when it was officially announced. Kathleen Kennedy made it clear years ago she had no interest in giving us Obi-Wan Kenobi. She shutdown the series many times and said in interviews they had no interest in telling his story.

Only reason we got Kenobi now is $$$

Dickney loves money and they need ways to draw in new subscribers and keep what existing ones they have.

I’m not here to talk about any of that, though. This is about Kenobi as a show and my impressions of it after watching the first two episodes (I will post my thoughts on episode 3 soon)

This Scorp!talk will feature spoilers so if you still haven’t seen these episodes be forewarned!

…

Kenobi opens with a nice montage reminding us about who Obi-Wan is and why he ended up in exile. I liked that little nod as it was a way of reorienting fans and foreshadowing how this Kenobi is not the Kenobi of that series.

It’s been ten years and our Jedi Master has settled into a routine of sorts in his exile on Tatooine. I liked the fact he took a job as a butcher. It’s as far from being a Jedi as one can get. His daily stealing a slice of bantha meat for his eopie is also classic Obi-Wan.

The scene in his cave (illogical but sure, we’ll roll with it) with Teeka is by far my favorite of the two episodes. I love how he made friends with the Jawas. It’s a slight nod to the Legends books we are not supposed to treat as existing because Dickney has told us not too. I honestly did laugh about them stealing his parts and selling them back to him (and him just going along with it).

I will pause here to issue my first complaint of the show: no damn Kenobi shower scene! Or even just a shirtless scene following his waking from his nightmare!! Missed opportunity here! Ewan has zero problem with getting naked on screen (Young Adam folks) so we should have gotten a shirtless Obi scene!

(For those lacking a sense of humor… that was a joke, not a real complaint. Well… not a big one anyway 🤣)

Obi-Wan having PTSD and nightmares is something I definitely love seeing. It shows the impact of the war, the toll it took on him, how even a stoic man like Obi-Wan Kenobi can be traumatized by what he’s been through. Plus factor in Anakin, Padme and his guilt, grief, anger over that entire situation and you’ve got some deliciously emotional whump going on here.

This is also a great bit of character development for a character we already know so much about. He suffers from self-doubt, has skills fade, lost his way in the darkness. He’s not General Kenobi any longer. He’s not Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. He’s Ben. No more, no less.

I also love how he seeks out his master when he’s confused/sad/lonely/needs a sign he’s on the right path. It takes us and Obi-Wan on a journey. Ultimately, that’s what this story is supposed to be about: a lost Jedi searching for his way back.

Again, missed opportunities here. There’s a section in one of those books we’re supposed to ignore where Qui-Gon comes to Obi-Wan. In fact, the passage is this one (from Jude Watson’s, The Last Of The Jedi):

They should have included this. It works so perfectly to setup how Obi-Wan has lost his way, he’s not as attuned to the Force as he once was, and he has to regain that in order to learn how to be a Force Ghost by the time of ANH.

Now, people have commented about his going out and digging up his and Anakin’s lightsabers without any landmarks around and honestly, I think that has to do with the crystal in his lightsaber. My memory of how kybers work (and this is based on information pre-prequels era) is that when Jedi go to Ilum to seek their crystals, a bond forms between them and the crystal. It’s similar to how wands choose their wizards in Harry Potter. The crystals are sentient beings so Obi-Wan likely felt where the box was buried the closer he got to it. Bit far-fetched maybe but it’s a better explanation than the show gave us (which is little to nothing).

Bail Organa and the look at Alderaan were also nice touches. Wherever they filmed or chose as their model is absolutely gorgeous.

The appearance of Temuera Morrison as a rando clone took me by surprise but it was a welcomed one since it showed the clones didn’t all get old and fat like Rex, Gregor, and Wolffe did in Rebels (🖕🏻Shitoni)

However… and this is where we start getting into the parts of the show I found bad/preposterous/horribly written.

If you have no desire to read my criticisms of the show, I advise scrolling on by now…

…

You’ve been warned…

Okay, Obi-Wan being found not once but twice really breaks all logic. Nobody should have been able to find Obi-Wan on Tatooine. Not when his job is to protect Luke. A strange Jedi walking up on him in the desert was beyond stupid. More stupid? Reva not getting that from the guy before they hung him or from Owen who literally just spoke with Obi-Wan three seconds before her ass showed up (we’ll come back to Reva in a moment).

Bail knowing Obi-Wan is on Tatooine was established in ROTS. However, he had no idea where Obi-Wan lived. Plus, at this point Reva has had Leia kidnapped because she learned about Obi-Wan and Bail having a connection. But she doesn’t think to have Bail followed or to monitor his comms? (🖕🏻)

This leads me to the 501st soldier again. His appearance actually makes no sense and serves as a bit of a McGuffin (he’s a plot device) and red herring (has no real significance or impact on the story). Kenobi was considered the top general. Under Palps in terms of authority. Helmed the 212th. This soldier not recognizing Obi-Wan? Nope. Not even drunk. Also, he would have been part of Vader’s Fist. With him at the Temple. It’s not gelling for me. I feel this was a missed opportunity (and part of me hopes this still does turn out to be true in the remaining episodes but I have zero hopes for it at this point). This is where they could have setup that this clone was a plant, an insider working for the person who Bail should have turned to for help instead of risking Luke’s location being revealed (another bit of stupidity): Ashoka Tano. Seeing Kenobi out of hiding, said clone contacts Tano who dispatches help in either the form of Rex or The Bad Batch (tying those shows together). Would make sense and set the stage for Ashoka’s show (my excitement for it is such I’m falling asleep). Nope, instead we got a lame kidnapping arc that culminates in a ridiculous scene where Reva reveals information she absolutely should NOT have before she runs the Grand Inquisitor through with her lightsaber in order to “free herself from her white oppressor” and establish dominance (because she’s not already entitled enough as is).

Leia’s “kidnapping” was another missed opportunity to me. Dickney could have brought in Cad Bane (who has history with Kenobi) or even Hondo Ohnaka (who also has history with Kenobi) to kidnap Leia. This would have put the screws really to Obi-Wan because not only does he have Vader on his heels but he has to deal with characters who were challenges for him at his best. Nope, instead we got a rescue mission that had some good moments in them (Obi having to fight and being rusty, Haja stepping up and helping him, Obi-Wan struggling to use the Force to save Leia) but which got overshadowed by the dumbest scene ever.

Also, sorry, Obi-Wan not knowing Anakin was alive at this point is absolute bantha spit (small insignificant spoiler:

he reveals knowledge about the Empire’s movements in episode 3 which debunks his not knowing about Vader being alive).

This brings us now to Reva, a character who is yet another in a long line of poorly designed, terribly executed, and underwhelming ones created by Dickney (Rose Tico, Rey, Kylo Ren, Vice-Admiral Holdo, and Omega all qualify here for this position). We get no development from the onset. Just dumped into a town where the Inquisitors are dispatched because they heard a “rumor” about a Jedi being there. Immediately, Reva takes charge, force throwing a knife at the cantina owner to lure out the Jedi. Okay… whatever, I’ll roll with it. Might have been better to open with the Inquisitors receiving this rumor and Reva demanding to handle it alone but being rebuked but hey, let’s not worry about stuff like that.

It doesn’t get any better from there and only gets worse as we go on, honestly.

Moses Ingram simply lacks the ability to create a rich and dynamic villain (which subpar writing and poor directing doesn’t help). Her character reeks of nothing but entitlement, acts as a Woke Savior (oppressed, victim, glass ceiling), knows all without any justification for it, has zero actual struggles beyond being “reckless”, and is more of a low grade DC villain than a Star Wars villain (her posing like Batman on the roof and that horrendous parkour scene didn’t help that opinion any).

Also, the flashback to the Temple (because they will tie back to her, guaranteed) doesn’t impress me any in terms of Reva’s character. That flashback doesn’t explain her high opinion of herself, her hatred and fixation with Obi-Wan or her skill level in general. She was only 7-8, a youngling, not a padawan being trained by a master (but we’ll ignore that, too, Dickney) and it’s only been ten years. The Grand Inquisitor even said she was the lowest of them so she wouldn’t have received any special training. Least of all to achieve the skill level she displays. Maul and Ventress were both older and had personalized training given to them. Y’all really think the big bad “white” Inquisitor or the other brother who isn’t a stereotype at all (ignore that, too, Dickney) would really be giving her special training based on how they spoke to her in these episodes?

The answer is no.

Making Reva a messy, one-dimensional and flatly portrayed character. One who is either reeeeing all the time because she angry or giving people what we call the resting bitch face.

Boring to say the least.

Closing this off (because it’s long as it is), I just want to say I did enjoy parts of Kenobi. I think the show had all the potential in the world but in typical Dickney fashion they slammed together a half-ass storyline, shoehorned in an unnecessary character, and relied on nostalgia bait to draw in the fans. That plan is backfiring because many of us are smart enough to see the bantha poodoo smeared on their screens and call it out.

#Kenobi #kenobi series #obi-wan kenobi #star wars #scorp!talk

7 notes · View notes

tenpintsof-sundrop · 2 months

Note

“Officially announcing my new series: Careful.” Mentally I did the whole nine yards of standing and cheering when I read the word “series”. I look forward to it. Funny because it’s a fic series for a series I have never seen before, but here we are. -Rotten Anon

and like OKAY OKAY the structure is kind of similar to No Place Like Home??? like there is a lot of flashbacks and smutty moments and the characters definitely have that Soulmate vibe (soulmates but we are doing everything we can to avoid the inevitable type vibe)

also - I don't think you NEED to know Criminal Minds for it to make sense? because it's mostly focused on Spencer. and the references to actual Criminal Minds episodes... I could explain them to you (cause I am just realizing that there is references to JJ shooting dogs (in self defence) that would sound SO WEIRD out of context).

anyway - I am glad that you're excited for the series!!!! I have been having so much fun with it. I feel like an evil spider weaving a web of angst while writing it and I am so, so excited for you guys to read it. but I am glad that I have the post dates - because I am giving myself plenty of time to marinate with it and take a break after finishing writing it before posting the first chapter

(which, before when writing a series, it has just been a blind race to the finish, and I am comfortable that I don't need to do that this time, and I can just enjoy this)

I am gonna be very interested to hear how this series reads to someone who hasn't seen Criminal Minds

#anonymous #rotten anon #the dad spencer fic #sundrop answers #criminal minds fanfiction

1 note · View note

newplace2befrom · 2 years

Text

my first web weaving post has officially surpassed my hwang joon post by 50 notes!!! wtf

#speck talks #text #wish my fandom art got that many notes

1 note · View note

one-real-imonkey · 2 years

Note

SHAP CAN POLE DANCE!!! Also can we hear more about Shap because you've referenced them a few times now?

Oh yeah, Shap can definitely pole dance. (This is, I’m guessing, reference to my tags on this post).

He used to climb up and down the pipes on Kamino to sneak around, which helped him unknowingly develop the skills he needed, including holding himself by his legs and reaching down to grab things, and when he got to Coruscant he found out about Pole dancing and then found a place where they taught pole fitness and worked from there.

Weave and Loom know, Kepi found out and got them to make him a skimpy outfit for it as a joke, though as far as they know it's never been worn. Shap laughed incredibly hard and swore them to silence, though he's promised if he does a show again he'll invite them. The person who taught his pole fitness club let him know it was a decent way to make a bit of cash. Shap isn't massively the performing sort (sober, drunk is a very different story) but it's worth it for the cash and it's actually quite fun most of the time.

Shap's first posting was on the front lines, though three weeks into the war he took a hard hit to the head and lost the ability to see all colour and gave him dyslexia. To save him, his Commander sent him to the Guard, but he prefers the Guard to the front lines mostly anyway, despite how tough it often is. He knows he wouldn't have lasted on the front lines, and neither Velt nor Fox have ever pulled him up for any spelling issues in his reports, just double checked them themselves and smoothed over any chaos it's caused (it's not his fault his report had the wrong address, numbers and letters swap themselves around and there are far too many places on Coruscant with similar names).

Shap is officially a Barrack Guard (for the Corries and any battalion stationed on Coruscant), but he was originally on patrols and he fills in any job that needs filling, he’s always willing to take time to help his vode.

Shap has caused Fox a number of problems over the years, though never intentionally, but he's always made up for it afterwards. He certainly always means well, he's just a little cursed with a lot of bad luck, and if it wasn't too long to be a name, his vode would have called him 'Wrong place, wrong time.'

He's just got cartoonishly bad luck, and he's number of time's he's had to explain he fell down an open manhole or narrowly missed a plant pot hitting his head... if there weren't other witnesses and security holos, his CO's wouldn't believe him.

It someone comes back into base covered in mud or paint after a patrol when everyone else is clean or mostly clean, it's Shap.

Which may or may not be the reason he was taken off of patrols and officially reassigned to the Barrack Guards in less than 4 months.

Shap can be a bit of a prankster, and once put a toy ratadillo in Vent's bunk to commemorate his recovery from when one bit him. Velt laughed and named it, Sir Shap the Second, and made it, and Shap, a woolly hat each. He would have been given one anyway because Velt is his CO and was making one for every member of his squad, but Shap's matched the ratadillo's. He’s been assured they’re not ugly but he has no idea what colour they actually are.

Sir Shap the Second is the Barrack Guard's mascot.

Shap is secretly very proud of this.

Shap loved art, but when he lost colour he felt like he'd lost art too, until Ink sat him down with charcoal and a wall and told him to go nuts. He keeps his art greyscale, but it doesn't matter, they're stunning peaces. They sell fairly well too.

Shap's armour is plain on the outside, uniform to all the Guard, but the inside is covered in little designs. His hair isn't dyed, and isn't much longer than regulation, but is constantly a mess, no matter how hard he and his vode try to sort it out. If it does look neat, it won't last, and typically that's not his fault either. His hair is more patchy at the back of his head, due to the web of scars there, some of which creep around to under his ears by his jaw. He has several tattoos, most of which he designed himself, including an impressive mountain range across his shoulders from his deployment that he'd seen and been stunned by right before his injury. He has a pattern of Guard gears above his left eye going from the middle of his forehead to where the scar peaks out under his ear, and Aran'e Solus on one hip, as well as many more, some significant and some just because he felt like it.

———

Thanks for the ask, Shap deserves to be talked about, he’s so much fun.

Inbox always open. (-:

#oc clone shap #Star Wars #my corrie guard au #Coruscant guard #commander fox #oc clone velt #sir Shap the Second #oc clone Kepi #oc clones weave and loom #anon ask #anon response #thanks anon

40 notes · View notes

weirdmarioenemies · 3 years

Photo

IT’S TIME TO TALK ABOUT BUGSNAX

Do you know about Bugsnax? You gotta know about Bugsnax! Everyone’s talkin’ ‘bout Bugsnax! The game that baffled viewers of the PS5 reveal, leading to many sarcastic jokes about it being “game of the year”, and leading so many to convince themselves and others that it MUST be secretly a horror game.

And that’s BOGUS! Even kind of rude, if you ask me. Isn’t it sad how so many simply cannot accept that something so unabashedly silly, so proudly whimsical, can exist without a twist? That the core concept, that the developers put so much passion into, isn’t seen as “enough”, and that it apparently must be a sort of cover-up? I sure think it is. It’s basically the new “were they on DRUGS when they made this”!

Of course, when I saw the reveal of Bugsnax, I knew the truth. That this was like a game tailor-made for me specifically. A creature-collecting game where EVERY single creature is not just food with googly eyes (which, by the way, puts EVERY Bugsnak on my Best Ever Characters List), but EVERY single one is based on some sort of invertebrate! Not a SINGLE collectable creature here that I dislike, or even not like that much!

And as we learned more, the passion only grew! Even the regular characters are funny creatures... there are mysteries to be uncovered... there’s a boatload of LGBT+ representation, even! There’s a non-binary character who’s just as prominent as everyone else, who everyone else effortlessly uses the correct pronouns for!

At this point, I’ve not only become a quite prominent member of the Bugsnax fandom across the wiki and official Discord server, but I’ve now finally played Bugsnax, and it is my favorite piece of media ever. I am not exaggerating. Please, if you get the chance, play Bugsnax (by Young Horses Games, creators of Octodad, by the way!). I could go on for so long. But this is not a game review, it’s a creature review! And this is not just a Funky Friday. It’s Flavor Friday this week!

So I’m going to be talkin’ ‘bout a bunch of Bugsnax! Both some of the most major ones, as well as some of my top favorites. Each Snak’s name will be a link to a video of all their lovely voice clips! I will not be talking about any plot details, but some Bugsnax discussed will be ones not “officially” revealed at the time of the game’s release, so keep that in mind if it may concerns you!

STRABBY

We will start with Strabby, the first Bugsnak ever seen, as well as, without a doubt, the mascot! And I think it’s perfect for the role. It’s simple, it’s iconic, it’s cute, it’s silly, and I would probably say this about any Bugsnak if it were the mascot, but Strabby is the one with an official plush, so here we are!

Strabby is based on a ladybug, and maybe it doesn’t resemble one THAT much, but I still think it makes sense, as a red little “bug” with seeds resembling spots in a way, and being conventionally charismatic overall.

Also, say hello to Sprout! This baby Strabby in a ball is entrusted to the player to take on their adventure, and can be directed with a laser pointer to access small areas, and help catch other Bugsnax!

BUNGER

Strabby may be the mascot, but Bunger is, without a doubt, the breakout star! All Bugsnax are silly, but Bunger is absolutely goofy. This fast food rhino beetle runs around without a care in the world, saying “bungerbungerbunger”, and gleefully knocking any other creature it sees into next Tuesday. They also knock away any traps in their path, but their recklessness and love for ketchup is key to capturing them!

CINNASNAIL

Strabby and Bunger may be the only ones with dancing gifs (for now), but now we enter my FAVORITES! Starting with Cinnasnail, who is absolutely perfect in every way, and of course my number one favorite. A cinnamon roll snail is even a creature concept I’ve come up with and drawn myself over four years ago, and seeing Bugsnax have the same idea for my favorite creature was really magical! Of all the Bugsnax, Cinnasnail not only has my favorite “bug” basis, but maybe also my favorite snack basis. I do not eat cinnamon rolls very often at all, but they are so splendid. As a snail, it is of course rather easy to catch, but it tends to be JUST out of reach... you will need some way to retrieve the trap before it escapes!

FRYDER

Fryder may be cute like all the others, but it’s also really dang cool! I really love the visual of the ketchup cup being the main body, but also like a sort of obscuring hat. Fryder is based specifically on orb-weaving spiders, and unfortunately its ketchup webs did not make it into the final game, but it still behaves uniquely in that it lurks on cave ceilings until tempted with ketchup to come down!

DR SODIE

Dr Sodie is one of many Sodies throughout the game, all delightful and based on specific canned drinks, but Dr Sodie in particular is my favorite, thanks to its name, implying this Sodie has a medical license. At this point, you may be questioning how this is a snack at all, but Bugsnax are only KINDA bug and KINDA snack! This is 100% edible and 100% Bugsnak, baby! Sodie’s anatomy fascinated me even before I played the game, and hearing it SING made it for sure one of my top favorites! It is also one of the ones I was most confused on the bug basis for, until finding out that Sodies are shrimp! I think they have some of the most interesting behaviors, too. They swim happily around, but unlike most Bugsnax, they HATE sauce of all kind, and spray water to wash it all away! How inconvenient... or is it?

CRAPPLE

a CRAB! a CRABAPPLE! Delightful! It’s a bit hard to see here but yes, it does have eyestalks. Crapple is important to me on a personal level, you see. Every day, I eat an apple with peanut butter for breakfast. And Crapple’s favorite sauce is peanut butter! You can even cover Crapple itself with peanut butter! I can make peanut butter apple IN this game! As if it wasn’t perfect enough. Also wonderful is that Crapple is a curious creature and likes to pick things up and bring them back to its lair!

I really do have a lot to say about Bugsnax. But I think this is a good point to stop at for now, given the length of the post! There will be a part 2 in the future, and this one will probably be soon!

#bugsnax #funky friday #not mario #mod chikako

246 notes · View notes

emotionalmotionsicknessxx · 3 years

Text

Chapter 22 - Crisis

[E/C / Post-LND / Domestic Fluff, Angst, WWI AU/ Fic length: 100k]

The gala attendees sat in rows of metal chairs in the recessed center of the building, peering up at the makeshift stage. Late stragglers trickled in through wide wooden doors, guarded by officials. Beyond, the buzz of onlookers peered in, trying to catch a glimpse of the prohibitively expensive show. Soldiers dotted the aisles and up the center, armed and resplendent in their formal uniforms. Christine shivered. From where she stood, the rising moon shone over the Colosseum’s walls, the ancient grey stone looking otherworldly in the light of the moon and gaslight.

The rows and rows of original stadium seating were empty – “structurally unstable,” the guides had said. She smiled, imagining the ancients watching this silly pageant from their eternal box seats. From the top levels of seats, spotlights blinded her to any further detail. She blinked, dots forming in her sight from staring too hard. She took a slow breath, trying to ease her racing heart.

She was next, she knew. Backstage, she noticed her pianist waiting in the wings and nodded to the gentleman. At the announcement, she took a hesitant step onto the boards of the stage.

a/n: What a tangled web we weave! How will they get out of this?! Only 2-3 chapters left :) Thank you for reading and commenting

Read on Ao3 // Read the first installment, A Chance to Live here

#myfic #poto fic #lnd fic #love never dies #phantom of the opera #erik/christine #e/c #wwi au

16 notes · View notes

floatingcatacombs · 3 years

Text

Even More Lesbian Manga About Adults Before My Holiday Creative Energies Wither Away

12 Days of Aniblogging 2020, Day 12

It’s easily been Floating Catacombs’ most successful year, with far more posts that I’m proud of than previous times. With that, I’d like to round out the year with something of a tradition on this blog: sharing some yuri manga featuring adults, because I will never get tired of emotionally compromised women working things out.

Crescent Moon and Donuts

An office lady who’s constantly stressed out about not being normal enough falls into an anxiety spiral only to be consoled by her coworker, who it turns out is just as trashbrained, but in slightly different ways so they’re able to strengthen each other. Crescent Moon and Donuts is a surprisingly good meditation on anxiety and feeling like a fuckup, and trying to navigate these feelings between family, work, and romantic partners. As someone with self-doubt almost as bad as these ladies, who both strengthens and is strengthened by her partner with her own slew of struggles, I really felt this one.

Runaway Girl

Runaway Girl walks the tightrope line between cutesy and devastatingly messy. Now a working adult, Maki has a chance encounter with her old high school sorta-girlfriend Midori. While Maki’s still a pent-up lesbian, Midori got knocked up and is planning a shotgun wedding with her deadbeat fiancée. What follows is a lot of unraveling of compulsory heterosexuality, with Midori eventually realizing that her situation is abusive and trying to find the resolve to change her situation. It’s the love and support from the women in her life that finally reaches her. This manga has some heavy subject matter, but it’s dealt with using a certain level of fluffiness that keeps it from being outright depressing. Concluded with 4 volumes, this one is a quick but strong read.

Even Though We’re Adults

Ah, Takako Shimura. I don’t have many thoughts on Aoi Hana, but Wandering Son is deeply vivid and cruel in a way that caused me to read the entire second half in a single afternoon and left me in a trans haze. She can weave truly messy webs of character dynamics, but her stories aren’t without unreasonable moments. So with some caution, I caught up on the scanlated chapters of her newest work. Even Though We’re Adults is pretty much Runaway Girl but on a higher difficulty setting. A woman has a sloppy hookup with her bartender, only for the bartender to discover afterwards that she’s married to a man. The hard part is that the husband isn’t a blatantly awful person like in Runaway Girl – when he finds out that his wife has been cheating with another woman, he’s confused and concerned first and foremost. The worst part is that this bartender has been betrayed time and time again by dating women who turned out to be married, but she can’t ignore this one for horny and lonely reasons.

In the last chapters the scanlations got to, the husband decides to move with his wife back into his family’s house, and you can already imagine the in-law tension that begins boiling there. Even Though We’re Adults will probably turn out to be a messy bisexual family drama instead of a decidedly lesbian break like Runaway Girl. But what I read of it was interesting, and with an official translation on the way, we’ll see if Takako Shimura’s still got it.

I need gay women in my life to survive. I’m glad manga increasingly has me covered, with more of these genuinely interesting LGBT+ series coming out every year.

#12 days of anime #yuri #Even Though We’re Adults #runaway girl #crescent moon and donuts

14 notes · View notes

samwrights · 4 years

Text

Upside Down

Hi guys~ so awhile back, I was asked if I would ever continue Spider’s Web in which Iwa and Oiks just kind of distance themselves from the reader because they love each other more. So, here’s my rather lackluster attempt at writing angst lmao. I’ve been in a weird place for awhile and this has really been the only “request” that spoke to me while I’ve been on hiatus.

This particular piece was entirely inspired by Upside Down by The Story So Far so if you need some ear candy while you read this, I’d reccommend that.

Warnings: alcohol consumption/implied alcoholism, sad (?)

Word Count: ~1k

The problem with a spider’s web is that no matter how much work the creature put into threading and weaving and bobbing their trap to sustain life, it could easily be broken with a force stronger than it. That was how you viewed your relationship with Iwaizumi Hajime and Oikawa Tōru after spending years together, slowly and carefully threading the web. But given their solid foundation of a friendship, it shouldn’t have ever come to a surprise to you that they would eventually pull closer together and drift away from you.

Now the three of you were twenty four years old, still sharing that same apartment from your university days as you sit by your lonesome at the small dining table with your umpteenth beer bottle in hand. You stared at the front door, waiting for your boyfriends to return home from a night out together, without you, again. Initially, they said they were doing their little guys’ night routine—a tradition they had procured after graduating university to make sure they kept contact with Hanamaki and Matsukawa. Not that you minded, but once a month turned into every other week into every weekend, leaving you alone on these nights.

They’d come home laughing every time, splotches of red painting their cheeks and parts of their neck from apparent alcohol consumption. At first, you’d started falling asleep on the couch, waiting for their return dutifully only to have them both head straight to bed without you. Eventually, it felt that doing so had become a chore and you’d decided to have your own pity party complete with you draining a twelve-pack by yourself. Sometimes, you’d aimlessly scroll through your social media timelines, other times you would flip through real estate websites, praying to a god you didn’t believe in to help you find something more, while wondering if you could afford to escape before the impending expiration on yours, Oikawa’s, and Iwaizumi’s relationship. Regardless of the side activity, you made it a point to kill the case of beer and then some until you could no longer tell the ceiling from the floor.

Today was different though.

You’d sifted through potential places up for rent for months, spending your days off inspecting the place with a realtor unbeknownst to your boyfriends. Could you even call them that anymore? No, probably not. You knew you had to cut the leash now—you couldn’t stay here anymore. Iwaizumi and Oikawa, whether they realized it or not, were a genuine couple now. A couple that didn’t involve their third, and you can’t help but wonder how and when the love that had started off with you and Iwaizumi had gotten lost in the undertow. But as you wonder, you realize there was never a place for you to begin with. It had always been Oikawa and Iwaizumi, long before you entered the picture.

The thought felt like warm resin flooding your lungs, attempting to mold around the organs to capture the aching agony in your chest. No matter the pain, you couldn’t bring yourself to hate them. For the last seven years, you had nothing but love for these men. But nothing could change the truth in reality—the quiet front that seeped into the air when the three of you were home or the fact that you were merely floating in their little world. As if the three of you could no longer talk to each other. As if the three of you were no longer in love with each other. As if they no longer loved you; the thought alone makes your head swirl. It was wild to remember that, at some point, the three of you were in love with each other once.

A foolish dream birthing baggage in the form you’d be forced to carry for the rest of your life, never to put it back down. The only thing you could put down was your body on the plush of the couch, feeling the fatigue from the alcohol overrun your veins as you closed your eyes for the last time in the shared apartment of you, Oikawa, and Iwaizumi.

They didn’t know it was coming until you’d loaded up your little old SUV with the minimal amount of belongings you had tucked away into moving boxes. “W-wait, you’re leaving?” Iwaizumi stutters out as you surrender your house keys the following morning. The ace’s body runs cold, colder than any treatment he had ever given you because he knows what you’re really saying. He knows that the eight year run he had with you was now officially in the graveyard and he swears up and down he never meant to hurt you.

“I think I’ve overstayed my welcome long enough, Iwaizumi.” You sound so formal, both in tone and wording and the way you call your high school sweetheart by such a formal name.

“Is this really what you want?” Oikawa asks, surprisingly more held together than his counterpart in this moment.

“No,” you admit quietly, barely loud enough for either of them to hear you, “but I can’t handle this anymore, Oikawa.” The setter nods in solemn understanding, wrapping his arms tightly around you because, before anything else, Oikawa was once of your best friends.

You knew you had to do this—having to say goodbye. There was no more room for you to shoulder on anymore, and you’d had a nice run with them while it lasted. But the web of spider can only remain for so long until it breaks under pressure, until the spider has to once again set a trap to sustain life. You supposed that was all you could do now as your climbed into the driver’s side of your vehicle, severing this web for good.

Haikyuu!! Tag List

Send an ask to be added to my tag list so you can be notified every time I post!

@hihiq @tamcitrus @yourlocalmemedumpster @90s-belladonna @basicallyberry

#iwaioireader #iwaoi #iwaizumi hajime #hajime iwaizumi #iwazumi x reader #iwaizumi imagine #iwaizumi headcanons #oikawa tōru #oikawa x reader #oikawa scenarios #oikawa angst #haikyuu took over my life #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu scenario #haikyuu imagine #samwrights #iwaizumi x reader x oikawa #break up

70 notes · View notes

charcubed · 4 years

Text

Frank Hudson, Greta, Margaret, & Mary

(PSA: If you’ve been tagged in this post, it’s because I’m crediting you or linking to a meta you wrote! I particularly linked a lot of things at the end I think could be tangentially related. No pressure to read all of this!)

Please allow me to take you on a journey in which I present a theory:

Mary is Frank Hudson’s daughter from a relationship with another woman, and part of her motivation (as a villain, as Moriarty’s agent/possible successor) is to get revenge on Sherlock for having killed her father all those years ago and ruining the drug cartel empire.

I was calling this a crack theory, but uh, given that I’ve now written thousands of words connecting weird dots, I’m gonna say maybe this is potentially not as far-fetched as I initially thought.

Before Sherlock series 4 came out, we were given this delightful niche little “clue” in a Youtube video on the official channel:

It’s always struck me as odd that this was specifically shown in a video advertising / leading up to series 4... when it seemingly never connected to anything. Why this, of all things?

Let’s review what we know about Mr. Frank Hudson.

• He was sentenced to death in Florida; Sherlock ensured his execution. (ASiP)

• He was executed for double murder and the execution was via lethal injection. He was arrested for “blowing someone’s head off.” (TSoT)

• According to Mrs. Hudson, about their relationship: “It was just a whirlwind thing for us. I knew it wouldn’t work, but I just got sort of swept along. And then we moved to Florida. We had a fantastic time, but of course I didn’t know what he was up to” and “It was purely physical between me and Frank. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other.” What Frank was “up to” included a drug cartel and “all the other women.” (TSoT)

• Mrs. Hudson was a typist in Frank’s drug cartel (and an exotic dancer, which is in YouTube videos in-universe). This is also the scene where she’s present to hear enough to figure out that Mary shot Sherlock; in the original script, it’s made obvious that she was eavesdropping even after walking out. (HLV)

• We’re also given repeated reminders in TLD that Mrs. Hudson was/is somewhat of a badass. She tells Sherlock “you’re not my first smackhead, Sherlock Holmes,” and whether or not any of that (the revolver, the kidnapping of Sherlock, the car) is actually literally real, I take it mostly as a blatant reminder that Mrs. Hudson has a past filled with “not good” people.

A lot of this info is given in more comedic moments... but I think because it is repeatedly mentioned with consistent detail, especially largely in season 3 when Mary arrives (partially to mirror John/Mary’s doomed relationship), it shouldn’t be swept aside.

Speaking of Mary, let’s get into it.

In ACD’s The Sign of Four, Mary Morstan’s story centers heavily around the loss of her father. That’s also the story that involves the Agra treasure, and Mary notably receives 6 pearls in the mail as part of the mystery. Keep all of this in mind because it’s going to be relevant as we go.

First, let’s roll all the way back to The Abominable Bride.

(All transcripts I will be quoting are from the inimitable Ariane DeVere.)

Giles, & Morse Hudson

The abominable bride herself–who I trust we all know mirrors Mary at this point lol–stands on the balcony and aims her guns at people on the street while saying “You?” / “You, or me?” One of the people she aims at is this man, who is listed in the credits as Giles. I always found it odd that he was named, so I decided to look him up in relation to Sherlock Holmes.

“Giles” connects to Giles Conover, the criminal in the 1944 Sherlock Holmes movie The Pearl of Death. That movie is loosely based on ACD’s The Adventure of the Six Napoleans. In the movie, Giles (who is not in the ACD story) stole the Borgia Pearl and hid it in a bust of Napoleon. In case there’s any doubt, we can know for a fact that Moffat and Gatiss are familiar with this movie because they referenced it in TGG previously; the Golem assassin is a nod to The Creeper.

So I was like, why that movie specifically? What’s significant, and how would that connect to the bride?

And as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now... they later referenced that movie again in TST. The writers called back to both the ACD story and the 1944 movie, very specifically.

Referenced movie details I noticed in TST include the following: Sherlock calls Lestrade “Giles.” The Borgia Pearl (movie phrasing, as opposed to “the black pearl of the Borgias”) is mentioned multiple times; we’ll go back to that. We are also pointedly told by Ajay that one of the members of AGRA was killed via a broken back, which is how a murder happens in the 1944 movie.

As for TST’s references to the original Napoleon story by ACD... there are many, but there’s one thing they pointedly didn’t reference (unless I missed it) that I find interesting: in the ACD story, 3 of the 6 busts were at the shop of a Morse Hudson. Beppo, the criminal in the story, worked at Morse Hudson’s shop to have access to the locations of those 3 busts. Even in The Six Thatchers version on John’s blog, Beppo is the criminal but Morse Hudson was not mentioned.

So I thought... alright, Morse? What morse code have we seen in the show? Well, there’s UMQRA, from The Hounds of Baskerville.

I poked around and some genius anon on @inevitably-johnlocked‘s blog once said that if you encode UMQRA with HOUND using a vigenere cypher, you get BAKED. Mary bakes her own bread, according to Sherlock’s deductions in TEH. The abominable bride, in the above scene, shoots at/into a bakery.

Edit: @rosie_ww on Twitter aka @silverybees pointed me to this, from THoB:

SHERLOCK: You’ve been to see Mr Chatterjee again.

MRS HUDSON: Pardon?

SHERLOCK: Sandwich shop. That’s a new dress, but there’s flour on the sleeve. You wouldn’t dress like that for baking.

(Friendly reminder that shortly thereafter we find out that Mr. Chatterjee has other women)

Does this morse code / BAKED business necessarily mean anything by itself? No, and of anything in this post, it’s the biggest stretch. But it’s still kind of wild, because let’s recap so far:

• We have Morse Hudson in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, a story which is heavily referenced in TST

• TST heavily connects to Mary / AGRA (we’ll get to how specifically)

• TST also heavily connects to The Pearl of Death, which connects to TAB

• And not only that, but The Pearl of Death connects to the exact scene in TAB where the bride shoots @ Giles and the bread shop. The bread shop could connect to the UMQRA morse code in the show... meaning “Morse” (code, and therefore Hudson) could then connect to Mary.

Morse Hudson -> The Six Napoleons -> TST -> The Pearl of Death (“Giles” etc.) -> TAB (“Giles”) -> Mary, the bride

Oh what a tangled web we weave. That’s a Hudson to Mary.

But let’s keep going. Better stuff to come.

The Black Pearl of the Borgias In TST

Let’s play the game of following the trail of the Black Pearl. Shout out to @miadifferent and @impossibleleaf, because their combo post here I came across was very helpful for showing me the best way to write this out to make it easily understandable. I will be quoting / paraphrasing them below!

The first time we hear about the Pearl, it’s from Mycroft, who connects it to Moriarty’s final activities:

MYCROFT: In the last year of his life, James Moriarty was involved with four political assassinations over 70 assorted robberies and terrorist attacks, including a chemical weapons factory in North Korea and had latterly shown some interest in tracking down the Black Pearl of the Borgias, which is still missing by the way, in case you feel like applying yourself to something practical.

We also learn that the Pearl is somehow connected to London.

HOPKINS: Interpol think, the case of the Borgia Pearl trail leads back to London, so..

So we have Moriarty -> Black Pearl -> London...

And next up, there’s Sherlock’s “fake” deduction about Greta Bengtsdotter (who has always very obviously made us all think about Mary.)

SHERLOCK: Your wife is a spy. That’s right. Her real name is Greta Bengtsdotter. Swedish by birth and probably the most dangerous spy in the world. She’s been operating deep undercover for the past four years now as your wife for one reason only: to get near the American embassy which is across the road from your flat. Tomorrow the U.S. president will be at the embassy as part of an official state visit. As the president greets members of staff, Greta Bengtsdotter, disguised as a twenty-two stone cleaner, will inject the president in the back of the neck with a dangerous new drug hidden inside a secret compartment insider her padded armpit. This drug will then render the president entirely susceptible to the will of their new master, none other than James Moriarty. Moriarty will then use the president as a pawn to destabilize the United Nations General Assembly which is due to vote on a nuclear non-proliferation treaty tipping the balance in favour of a first strike policy against Russia. This chain of events will then prove unstoppable thus precipitating World War 3.

The name “Greta” is derived from the name Margareta, which comes from the Greek word margarites. It means pearl. Further versions of this name are Margarita / Margaret / Maggie.

Thus, we add her in: Moriarty -> Greta -> Black Pearl -> London

So when Sherlock finds the AGRA stick in the busts of Margaret Thatcher, he says to Mary...

SHERLOCK: I was so convinced it was Moriarty, I couldn’t see what was right under my nose. I expected a pearl.

Sherlock expected to find a pearl (Greta / a spy), but instead he found AGRA/Mary’s identity. He actually found what he was looking for, but he just didn’t recognize it.

And it actually still makes sense:

Margaret Thatcher’s bust -> Black Pearl -> Greta (“pearl”, spy) -> Mary (spy) -> AGRA memory stick

That’s how it went in the plot. It’s a subconscious connection.

So what’s ACD have to say about all that then?

This is the point where I remind you...

So all of this does have connections back to ACD canon; who is surprised?

But what do we know about Mary’s past from the show’s canon in His Last Vow? Let’s look at some other reminders.

SHERLOCK: By your skill set, you are – or were – an intelligence agent. Your accent is currently English but I suspect you are not. You’re on the run from something; you’ve used your skills to disappear; Magnussen knows your secret, which is why you were going to kill him; and I assume you befriended Janine in order to get close to him.

MAGNUSSEN: All those wet jobs for the CIA. Ooh! She’s gone a bit... freelance now. Bad girl.

Mary’s not English; she could be Swedish, she could be American, but regardless–Sherlock deduced she’s a linguist in TEH. And either way, she’s worked for America.

Americans crop up a weird amount in BBC Sherlock (and ACD canon too really), and usually in negative contexts. I just want to highlight one American connection from The Abominable Bride, about Emilia Ricoletti:

SHERLOCK: So she decided to make her death count. She was already familiar with the secret societies of America and was able to draw on their methods of fear and intimidation to publicly – very publicly – confront Sir Eustace Carmichael with the sins of his past.

HOOPER: He knew her out in the States. Promised her everything... marriage, position – and then he had his way with her and threw her over, left her abandoned and penniless.

Also, where was it that Mr. Hudson had his drug cartel? Oh yeah. Florida.

We’ll go back to that.

More Margarets In BBC Sherlock

So we’ve officially got one connection where Margaret relates to Mary. TST makes that pretty clear.

Now, where else have we encountered the name Margaret in the show?

Three places (at least, that I’ve caught):

1. A Study In Pink.

The first victim of Jeff Hope the serial killer is Sir Jeffrey Patterson. He was having an affair with his personal assistant Helen, despite being married to his wife Margaret Patterson.

It’s a well-known fact in this fandom that the victims in ASiP are considered mirrors for John Watson, highlighting things that would lead to his own unhappiness/death–possibly even by suicide. (TJLCE video) So, let’s say Jeffrey Patterson is a mirror for John.

Helen the personal assistant (who says “I love you”) is, perhaps, a mirror for Sherlock. She’s wearing a deep purple shirt.

Does that connect Margaret Patterson, who insists her husband was happy, to Mary?

MARGARET PATTERSON: My husband was a happy man who lived life to the full. He loved his family and his work – and that he should have taken his own life in this way is a mystery and a shock to all who knew him.

[looks at John’s unhappiness in HLV after a month of marriage, looks at series 4 theories about John faking his suicide / trying to commit suicide, laughs nervously]

Well. Moving on.

2. The Hounds of Baskerville.

Project HOUND was a CIA Classified / American project that Major Barrymore was involved in. The Major is apparently a fan of Margaret Thatcher, and the password to his laptop is Maggie. Sherlock types “Margare” then hesitantly backtracks and writes Maggie and it works. It’s worth noting that in the script it was drafted to just be Margaret.

3. The Sign of Three.

MRS. HUDSON: My best friend, Margaret – she was my chief bridesmaid. We were going to be best friends forever, we always said that; but I hardly saw her after that. [...] She cried the whole day, saying, “Ooh, it’s the end of an era.” She was probably right, really. I remember she left early. I mean, who leaves a wedding early?

So in BBC Sherlock, the name Margaret is connected to...

• The Margaret Thatcher busts in The Six Thatchers, which connects to Mary/AGRA/pearls/Greta the Swedish spy

• Margaret Patterson, the wife of a mirror for John who was the victim of murder that masqueraded as suicide. This Margaret insists that the John mirror was happy in their marriage, but the John mirror was having an affair with a Sherlock mirror

• Project HOUND, of the CIA. I find this exceedingly interesting because the name "Margaret” has connections to Moriarty/Mary, and this could mean it’s safe to guess that this case is/was connected to the wider Moriarty web. We see Sherlock hallucinate Moriarty when drugged by the fog, sure, but otherwise Moriarty’s handiwork supposedly isn’t involved in this case... but maybe it was indirectly, by Mary in the CIA. Just ruminating.

• Margaret was Mrs. Hudson’s best friend, who left the wedding early when Mrs. Hudson and Frank got married

Re: that last bullet point, here is what I am suggesting as a possibility: Margaret was one of Mr. Hudson’s “other women.” Margaret left the wedding early because she was sad about the marriage, obviously, but maybe she wasn’t in love with Mrs. H like we would naturally assume (per Sherlock leaving the wedding early because he loves John). Maybe Margaret was in love with Mr. Hudson.

Maybe Mary is the daughter of Margaret and Mr. Hudson, and (as previously stated) she’s motivated to get revenge on Sherlock for killing her father and ruining the drug cartel empire. Who knows what would’ve happened to her mother Margaret, in that case, too.

This is speculation, of course, yes. Yet [waves to all the ridiculous web of connections I’ve delved deeply into, and the Frank Hudson hangman] can you blame me?

But, maybe you’re wondering... why would I think she’s the daughter of a Hudson specifically, even aside from all this Margaret stuff?

Well.

Hudsons In ACD Canon

Where is the name “Hudson” used in ACD canon, other than for Mrs. Hudson?

Three places (that I’ve caught; my ACD canon knowledge is limited):

• Morse Hudson in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, as discussed above; not mentioned in BBC Sherlock canon for some reason, yet strongly tied to the story that inspired TST.

• A name drop of “Hudson” in The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips.

Quick run-down of some aspects of this case: the client, John Openshaw, asks Holmes for help because a series of mysterious letters seems to be connected with the recent suspicious deaths of his uncle Elias and his father Joseph. The letters included 5 orange pips, and KKK on the envelope. When his uncle received his letter, he burnt a bunch of secret personal papers. One paper survived; it’s on that paper that we see Hudson’s name, associated with the KKK, and otherwise oddly unrelated to the case.

Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from a book. It was headed, “March, 1869,” and beneath were the following enigmatical notices:

“4th. Hudson came. Same old platform.

“7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and John Swain of St. Augustine.

“9th. McCauley cleared.

“10th. John Swain cleared.

“12th. Visited Paramore. All well.”

Here are other ~features of interest~ in this case to me: Openshaw’s uncle Elias was a planter in Florida for many years. Florida is mentioned by Holmes as a “notable” state where the KKK formed a branch; the others are Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas, and Georgia (hello to Tbilisi, Georgia being in TST seemingly at random). It is also mentioned that the fear of someone or something is what drove Elias from America to England. There’s also a very random name drop of “Mary” in this story that doesn’t relate to the case, told as part of Openshaw’s story, in which I can only assume Mary was a maid?

OPENSHAW, QUOTING UNCLE ELIAS: “They may do what they like, but I’ll checkmate them still,’ said he with an oath. ‘Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.’

The fact that the name Mary manages to be in this cracks me up.

The orange pips / secret societies in America / etc. all heavily tie into The Abominable Bride, and the women’s hoods were visually reminiscent of the KKK. Sir Eustace’s line in TAB of “Death” (when he receives the pips) is a direct quote from Elias in this story when he receives his pips–and a quote that Mary echoes in TST when she completes Vivian Norbury’s sentence in the aquarium.

VIVIAN NORBURY: I’m just like the merchant in the story. I thought I could outrun the inevitable. I’ve always been looking over my shoulder; always expecting to see the grim figure of...

MARY: Death.

So, in summary we have: a name drop of Hudson in a story that factors in Florida, Georgia, pips, secret societies, the KKK, and even a name drop of Mary.

• Hudson is the criminal in The Adventure of the Gloria Scott.

This case is the one Holmes credits as his first case, and it inspired his future profession. He’s telling Watson the story. It happened in his university days and centers on his friend Victor Trevor (TFP says hi, lmao). More specifically, it centers on Victor Trevor’s father. I won’t go into all the details, and the plot summary on Wikipedia is good if you’re curious, but–

A quick run-down of some ~features of interest~ in this case: Mr. Trevor the elder is being blackmailed by the criminal Hudson because of their old criminal past together with others. Hudson is threatening him with exposure / public shame, and Mr. Trevor is forced to employ him. Victor gets pissed about it and eventually upsets Hudson enough that Hudson leaves in a very “this isn’t over” kind of way. Later, Mr. Trevor dies from a stroke after receiving a letter that threatened him via a skip code. It is a skip code of specifically every third word, beginning with the first.

Full skip code message: "The supply of game for London is going steadily up. Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen pheasant's life."

Decoded message: "The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life."

(It’s not a game anymore...)

Who do we have in show canon who recognizes a skip code on sight of specifically every third word, beginning with the first?

All together now: Mary.

(Bonus points for “Save John Watson” being the phrase Mary says in her creepy posthumous DVDs. Bonus points x2 for the fact that this text was sent by Magnussen, the “Napoleon of blackmail,” to Mary when he was supposedly trying to find Sherlock’s pressure point. But anyway!)

Another feature of interest about the Gloria Scott case: Holmes deduces that Mr. Trevor was once connected to someone with the initials J.A. whom he wanted to forget, guessing it was an old lover. Mr. Trevor momentarily faints in shock. Holmes guessed this based on an old arm tattoo that Mr. Trevor had tried to get rid of, where the initials are blurry. This later turns out to be wrong, because Mr. Trevor’s previous name was James Armitage–J.A.–when he was a criminal, and that is the reason behind the tattoo. (JA? AJ / Ajay? Much to think about)

The J.A. tattoo deduction was referenced in The Six Thatchers, when Sherlock deduces that the client had a Japanese girlfriend he is now indifferent about.

SHERLOCK: You’ve got a Japanese tattoo in the crook of your elbow in the name ‘Akako.’ It’s obvious you’ve tried to have it removed.

KINGSLEY: But surely that means I wanna forget her, not that I’m indifferent.

SHERLOCK: If she’d really hurt your feelings, you would have had the word obliterated, but the first attempt wasn’t successful and you haven’t tried again, so it seems you can live with the slightly blurred memory of Akako, hence the indifference.

I’m bothering to highlight this in TST because after Sherlock explains it, the client remarks upon it being “simple”... and that’s when Sherlock immediately launches into his ~fake~ long-winded deduction about his wife being Greta the spy, as I already talked about above. Wild.

One last fascinating thing about the Gloria Scott: this case is referenced in 2 other ACD stories–The Sussex Vampire (John texting in TST), and The Musgrave Ritual (TFP). Gotta love that.

So, uh, what if Mrs. Hudson’s “case” (getting her husband executed) was one of Sherlock’s “firsts” that inspires him to become a consultive detective full-time? We’re told in ASiP that he ensured Frank Hudson’s execution “a few years back.” The inexactness of that year amount drives me bonkers, but I think it’s potentially plausible.

Short Coda: Ghost Stories...

In Mr. Trevor’s reply to Holmes’ (incorrect) J.A. tattoo deduction, he includes the following line:

“Of all ghosts, the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.”

Mark Gatiss talked a lot about ghost stories. In the Sherlock Chronicles book (which I own) teasing series 4, he said, “I can certainly give you one word. Ghosts...” and in this interview he said “There’s a conspiracy theory about everything and they’re almost the modern equivalent of ghost stories. And the great thing is, you can have all the tropes of a ghost story. . . There are lots of people in happy marriages who turn out to have terrible secrets or to have done some awful deed in the past that must be paid for in the present. In Doyle’s stories, those are the ghosts you need to worry about.”

And here are the lines we get from Holmes in The Abominable Bride about ghosts (that aren’t literal):

You may, however, rest assured there are no ghosts in this world... Save those we make for ourselves.

We all have a past, Watson. Ghosts – they are the shadows that define our every sunny day. Sir Eustace knows he’s a marked man.

The avenging ghost – a legend to strike terror into the heart of any man with malicious intent; a spectre to stalk those unpunished brutes whose reckoning is long overdue.

While typing, I’ve now galaxy-brained my way to the realization that Mrs. H was canonically an “abominable bride” to Frank Hudson and literally murdered him (with Sherlock’s help), just like the women in the special. She’s also shown as one of the women ignored/disparaged in the special (”I’m your landlady, not a plot device”) but just isn’t shown in the crypt/society. So that’s, uh... interesting.

In (Semi-)Conclusion: A Summary

We have the following significant points at minimum:

• A Frank Hudson clue in a series 4 video

• One reference where Mary is undeniably connected to a Hudson who was a criminal in ACD canon (skip code)

• One ACD Hudson who was heavily connected to The Six Napoleons story, aka The Six Thatchers

• One ACD Hudson name-dropped in a story that heavily connects to The Abominable Bride, and Florida

• A bizarre pile of evidence that all Margaret mentions in the show could relate back to Mary the ex-CIA spy, in some way or another

• A Margaret connected to Mrs. Hudson who could’ve been in love with Frank Hudson (in Florida)

• The overall theme of s4 being ghosts from past deeds and un(happy) marriages coming to haunt people. And lest we forget, “ghost” Mary literally haunts Sherlock and John after her “death.”

Does that cover it? I feel like that covers it.

Of course, I absolutely could be reading into a ton of things that are unrelated, but... Who is to say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Random Related Stuff

Not required reading, but while poking around, I’ve found other things that could or could not connect to the above theory. I’m just gonna... info dump it right here. It could all be meaningless, it could all connect, it could be unrelated! You decide! Lots of meta links involved below, so credit where credit is due.

• I knew I wasn’t the first to come up with this concept/possibility of Mary being a Hudson. While building this post, I ran a search and came across this old one by @the-7-percent-solution, who posited there’s a letter game at play of AEIOU involving Mary’s monstrous regiment of various characters and connects Amo/Love to Mary. I love this concept, and while I do think there are other elements/aspects in play for the plot besides just this, that post still has pieces that can work nicely; doesn’t matter that it was written before TFP aired.

• Frequently thinking about how Sherlock said “Mrs. Hudson? Leave Baker Street? England would fall,” because what does Mrs. Hudson do in TLD? She leaves Baker Street.

• All of the above cursed elements haunt me. (Arwel’s Instagram post was April of this year.) Note: there’s another tweet Arwel jokingly posted of this photo years ago, but that tweet’s caption was connected to Brexit based on dates / my memory (i.e. “England has fallen”), so I’m not including it lol.

• In TFP, when Mrs. Hudson is vacuuming, she’s listening to Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast.” The lyrics we get are “666, the Number of the Beast. Hell and fire was spawned to be released.” The other time 666 is mentioned was by Mary in TST, in reference to Rosie.

• Mrs. Hudson is in the center of the 221B promo pic for series 4, as noticed by @sherlocks-salty-blog.

• This cursed pic of Mary’s "ring from her past” on top of a series 4, episode 3 script (??) that Amanda took has haunted me since she tweeted it. Mary wears this ring on-screen in TEH, and you can see it when Sherlock deduces her.

• The Gabrielle Ashdown passport (in TST) is from America.

• Janine (who many of us notice is likely involved with Mary / Moriarty of course) often wears pearls, as @sherlockmeta noticed. Mary also wears pearl earrings in series 4 promo shots but never in s4 episodes (that I can find/remember). I also always think that Mary and Mrs. Hudson are dressed very similarly in s4 promo images (see all promos here).

• @raggedyblue discussed how Sherlock’s window deduction in TLD sounds a lot like Mrs. Hudson’s kitchen in 221A, and how a sheet of paper being pinned/folded is an opposite element in ACD’s The Sign of Four. The re-folded paper was a map leading to the AGRA treasure, and Mary found it in her father’s desk. Brilliant catch. Of course, in the show, the paper says Miss Me which is also heavily connected to Mary.

• The mystery of the little girls with blond and braided hair, as compiled by @ebaeschnbliah, is also going to haunt me. I suggest reading the post, but minor summary: during s4 setlock, there was filming with Ben and Mark at Ogmore Castle with a little girl "wearing a skirt or dress, and her hair was blonde and in pigtails,” and she was running circles around Sherlock. There are two separate reports from people who saw this and mentioned it had to do with Mary; at first glance it bears similarities to Eurus scenes we got in TFP, but seems different in description. This also brings to mind the little girl with blonde braided hair in TEH at the bonfire, who notably wears a bright red jacket just like Mary. And there’s also a doll with blond braided pigtails in Magnussen’s mind palace.

• @gosherlocked has posts about “The Children of Sherlock” (part 1)(part 2) that highlight how children are frequently victims in this show. Metaphorically, I find this interesting if Mary plays a role of a “wronged child” avenging her father, regardless of age.

• Let’s talk music in TLD–or at least, one piece of it. When Mrs. Hudson drops the teacup, Mozart’s “Andante From Piano Concerto #21” plays. That specific second movement was used in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. Sweden, of course, immediately reminded me of Greta the spy (aka Mary) being Swedish. After I realized this info, I ran a search to see if anyone else had mentioned this movie and I found this post, where @tjlcisthenewsexy and @possiblyimbiassed discussed how it’s a story of 2 doomed lovers who die via suicide-by-revolver. This is significant because Sherlock drops a revolver to catch the tea; death replaced by (gay) love?

• Speaking of Sweden: in The Game Is Now, Sherlock is abroad in Sweden. This is mentioned more than once: first, in this audio message between Sherlock and Mycroft (“Sweden sends its regards.” “It does?” “No, not really.”). This audio message also includes “This is not an international game of sardines.” Fish reference? Aquarium?

The second Sweden mention is visually, in this video. See below. (Also, in both, the characters say “real people,” which I can’t help but feel is a fourth wall break of them being fictional?)

I hate this Sweden stuff specifically. Thank you.

This post is so much longer than I expected it would be, thank you for reading all of this if you did, Johnlock is real, Mary is a villain, etc.

Come yell at me on Twitter @CharCubed!

Also, I made a secret sideblog @frankhudson to just reblog meta or info I might want to be able to find later lmao. Feel free to poke around if you want.

18 notes · View notes