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inevitably-johnlocked · 3 years

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((my account is @mymiddlenameslove tumblr is still being weird lol)) do you have any fics where john and sherlock hold hands for the first time? i just love the build up/panic that leads to some good fluff thank you (*´∇｀*)

Hi Lovely!!!

Bah, sorry about Tumblr being dumb!!!!

What a fun fic req!! I know for SURE I’ve missed a lot, so these are either fics I remember have hand-holding, are tagged with it, or I’ve just re-read and found it in there :D Hope you Enjoy!!

HAND HOLDING / for COMFORT

The Four Incidents by TheGirlWithRedHair22 (K+, 1,064 w., 1 Ch. || S1 Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, John Whump, Accident, John POV, Hand Holding, Worried Sherlock, Sherlock’s Self Esteem) – The first time John was present when someone insulted Sherlock, he brushed it off as a strange coincidence.

Peacock by ClassyGirlsWearPearls (T, 1,189 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Cranky Sherlock, Soft John, Hand Holding, Soft Sherlock) – A study in Sherlock and John.

Here to Stay by MockJayPhoenix12 (K, 1,574 w., 1 Ch. || Post Reunion, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Headache, Bed Sharing, Care Taker Sherlock, Hand Holding, Fluff) – On Sherlock's first day home, John wakes with a migraine.

Random Numbers by songlin (T, 1,671 w., 1 Ch. || Ace Sherlock / Straight John, Cuddling / Snuggling, Massage, Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Post-TRF, Slice of Life) – A collection of moments in the relationship of asexual!Sherlock and straight!John.

Giveaway Fic #9 - Angsty Sick Fic/Sherlock is Sick by ConsultingPurplePants (T, 1,734 w., 1 Ch. || Sick Fic, Hypothermia) – The next time he awakens is even more chaotic. Two doctors are shouting at each other in the corner, and John is holding his hand so tightly Sherlock is worried he’ll break it. Part 9 of 1000 Tumblr Followers Giveaway Fics

Once is Enough by Jominerva (T, 3,030 w., 1 Ch. || Love Confessions, Domestic Fluff, Whump) – Just as the earth rises to meet the sun at every mountain crest, John reaches out for Sherlock and takes his hand in his own."Tell me it won't end like this," he says, blue eyes holding grey while he laces their fingers together. Sherlock lets out a shaky laugh and shakes his head. "I wish I could."

holding steady by darcylindbergh (E, 12,724 w., 4 Ch. || Post S4, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Growing Old, Gone Fishing, Mood without Plot, Soft Sherlock, Caring Sherlock, POV John Third Person, Anxious Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Feeling Old, Sherlock Worship, Crying Sherlock, Cuddles, Comforting, Introspection, Retirement, Hand Holding, Forehead Kisses, Caring John, Bed Sharing, Emotional Love Making) – Sitting on a thick wool blanket at the end of a rickety dock side-by-side, legs dangling over the edge, a styrofoam container of wet, dark dirt between them, they’re fishing. John knows what this is about. This is about finally figuring it out.

A Gossamer Dream by CarmillaCarmine (E, 15,985 w., 4 Ch. || Writer/Teacher AU || First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Writer John / Teacher Sherlock, Fluff, London, Holding Hands, Online Friendship / Romance, Phone Sex, Anal Sex, Happy Ending, Alternating POV, Scottish John, Online Relationship, Internalized Homophobia, Hand Holding, Forehead Touching, First Kiss/Time, Texting/Sexting, Rimming, Toplock, Sherlock Speaks French) – Sherlock had never realised one could care so much about someone they'd never met in person. Now he is about to meet the friend with whom he's been chatting online for months and his anticipation is reaching a crescendo.

How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.

Insanity in the Middle by DotyTakeThisDown (E, 28,010 w., 8 Ch. || Equestrian Sports AU || Alternate First Meeting, POV John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Clueless Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Passionate Kisses, Hand Holding, Caught Making Out, Bed Sharing, Spooning, Blow Job) – John is a world-class eventing rider with a gold medal and several four-star wins to his credit, but he's never won at Rolex. Sherlock is an up-and-coming rider taking the sport by storm.

Lucifer's Gardens by ampersand_ch (E, 32,679 w., 12 Ch. || GERMAN VERSION || Romance, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Murder, Poison / Drugging, Mystery, John Undercover, Academic Club, Therapy, Rituals, Jungian Archetypes, Doctors & Physicians, Grief/Mourning, Esotericism, Hospitals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, John Falls In Love With Another Man, Jealous Sherlock, Crying, Doctor John, Hand Holding, First Kiss/Time, Mysticism, Hugging, Touching) – John goes undercover for an investigation as a favour to Lestrade in a village in Suffolk. The events surrounding the case awaken deep-seated fears in Sherlock. While John begins to come to a realisation of what he needs in Lucifer's Gardens, Sherlock tries to find a way to reach John – in more ways than one.

A Promise Made to Be Broken by PlantsAreNeat (E, 37,018 w., 7 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Pining, Slow Burn, RST, Eventual Relationship, POV Sherlock) – A young John makes an ‘if we’re still single at 40, we’ll get together’ pledge to a woman who ends up all wrong for him. She keeps reminding him of the promise, and won’t let go of it. John asks Sherlock to pose as his boyfriend at a family wedding, so as to dash her hopes permanently. Sherlock, who has at last acknowledged his feelings for John, reluctantly agrees despite knowing how painful it will be to ‘have’ John, but not keep him.

A Love with No Name Series by aceofhearts61 (G to M, 49,955 w. across 20 stories || Asexual Sherlock / Straight John, Est. Rel, Queerplatonic Relationship, Romance, Cuddling, Fluff, Platonic Romance, Domestics, Rape/Non-Con) – In which Asexual!Sherlock and Straight!John are platonically in love life partners.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by SilentAuror (E, 50,635 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4/S4 Divergence, Case Fic, For a Case / Reverse Fake-Relationship, Conferences, Marriage Equality, Travelling / New York, Pride, Homophobia, Bottomlock, Marriage Proposal, John POV, Sexuality, Love Confessions, Emotional Love Making, Public Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Passionate Kissing, Needy/Clingy Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Touching / Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Little Spoon Sherlock, Intense Orgasms) – John and Sherlock go to New York to attend a conference run by the National Defence of Traditional Marriage Coalition in order to investigate the potential bombing of the annual Manhattan Pride parade. As the conference unfolds, John finds himself repulsed by the toxic ideology being presented, which becomes relevent to his own unacknowledged issues and his friendship with Sherlock...

Repairing the Broken Things by BakerTumblings (M, 75,252 w., 15 Ch. || S4 Compliant, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Trauma, Hospitals, Big Brother Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Realizations, Severe Accident, John Whump, Pneumonia, Medical Procedures, Bed Sharing, First Time, Healing, Happy Ending) – "I'm calling today to notify you that there's been an accident."

Not Broken, Just Bent by Schmiezi (E, 87,585 w., 43 Ch. || Pining, Love Confessions, Rape/Sexual Assault, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Villain!Mary, Suicidal Ideations, Main Character Death, Sherlock First Person POV, Parentlock, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Love Making, Possessiveness, Depression, PTSD, Kidnapping, Virgin Sherlock, Eventual Happy Ending) – "For a second, I allow myself to remember teaching John how to waltz. There is a special room in my mind palace for it. A big one, with a proper parquet dance floor. For a second, I go there. I remember holding him, closer than the World Dance Council asks for, excusing it with the fact that we are training for a wedding, not for a competition. For a second, I feel his hand on mine again, smell his sweat, hear the song we used. For a second, I allow myself to love him deeply. For a second, only a second, that love reflects on my face." Fix-it for S3, starting at the end of TSoT. Evil Mary.

Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (E, 95,157 w., 27 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Canadian AU || BAMF!John, Canadian John, PTSD, Anal / Oral Sex, Rimming, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Drug Rehab, Falling in Love, Pining Sherlock, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Panic Attacks, Switching, Anxious / Protective Sherlock, Hugs for Comfort, Suicide Mentions, Healing Each Other) – Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes." Part 1 of Tales from the Northwest

The Lost Special: Family Matters (As Do Relationships) by ShirleyCarlton (M, 144,688 w., 40 Ch. || S4 Fix It Fic / Meta Fic, Unreliable Narrator, John’s Mind Bungalow, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Demisexual Sherlock, Holmes Family, John Whump, Gay Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Drug Addiction, Parenting, TFP is a Nightmare, Virgin Sherlock, Slow Burn, Minor Character Death, Switchlock, John’s Past, Sherlock’s Past, Eurus, Love Confessions) – Sherrinford is not really the name of some high security prison. That was just a figment of John’s frantic coma dream. And Eurus is not actually Sherlock’s sister. That’s just something random she said to John before shooting him. Sherlock and John were never actually estranged. That was just their act to cover up what really happened to Mary – or Rosamund Moran, as her real name has turned out to be. Sherlock does have a secret sibling, though, and his name is Sherrinford. After finally eliminating Moran – though in a rather dramatically different way than they had envisioned – and exposing the truth about Eurus, John encourages Sherlock to delve into his past and to find out whether the reasons to keep Sherrinford away from Sherlock were the right ones, and to discover what really happened in 1981. Along the way, Sherlock and John gradually, finally, stop keeping each other at a distance, and eventually become a proper family of their own.

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

Unkissed Series by 221b_hound (T to E, 184,100 w. across 45 works || Established Relationship, Ace Sherlock) – Sherlock returned from the dead a year ago. John returned to Baker Street six months ago. They've been in a couple since then. or at least, not NOT a couple. For two smart men, they sure can be dumb. Luckily, an art thief tries to drown Sherlock, Sherlock has a fever dream and things are about to change.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #holding hands #fluff fics #my fic recs #Anonymous

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thewatsonbeekeepers · 4 years

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Chapter 1 – A Mental Mindfuck Can Be Nice – an introduction to EMP theory

I amused myself whilst writing this meta by coming up with referential chapter titles – the song to title this chapter can be found here! (X)

I’m not the first person to propose EMP [extended mind palace] theory and I certainly can’t claim to take the credit for it! After TFP (well, after Apple Tree Yard aired really) I left the fandom, and only rejoined tjlc this year during lockdown and discovered the theory that the entirety of S4 takes place in Sherlock’s Mind Palace, not just TAB, and that even more crucially, the EMP section of the narrative doesn’t happen because of Sherlock’s overdose but rather after Mary shoots him in HLV. Other people have elaborated as to why this is in greater detail and I certainly don’t want to steal their thunder – you can find some of my favourite metas on this here! X X X The original founders’ post is here and great X – it should be noted that the concept of EMP theory appeared way before the superficial shitshow that was series 4, so it was not invented as a fix-it – far from it!

As well as that, tweets from Arwel Wyn Jones (production designer) and Douglas MacKinnon (TAB director) here X X suggest that a lot of the inconsistencies that make HLV onwards quite dreamlike are absolutely deliberate, which has never been explained in the context of the show. In fact, Douglas MacKinnon specifically suggests that the plane could be in Sherlock’s mind, which has no bearing on the superficial plot unless you buy into EMP theory. We’ve also already been shown that the modern day, particularly when it’s fucky, can be in a mind palace illusion in TAB, and we can read that as a kind of rehearsal for the proper fucky mind palace stuff in S4, a clue that everything is not as it seems – much like the Mayfly Man’s murder rehearsal in TSoT.

It's worth pointing out that there are several different versions of EMP theory – I personally subscribe to the idea that this is Sherlock’s mind palace after being shot by Mary, but there are plenty of popular theories on John’s ‘Mind Bungalow’, blog theory, which I don’t want to dismiss out of hand. However, I think the obsession with the figure of Sherlock Holmes and who that might be throughout the fourth series is thematically consistent with it being from Sherlock’s perspective, as is the precedent from TAB.

The other thing I want to lay on the table as foundational to this theory is the fandom’s obsession with TPLoSH [1970 Billy Wilder queer Holmes adaptation, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes]. Mofftiss have long stated their love for TPLoSH and even that it is the adaptation that has most inspired them, and I don’t know a single tjlcer who doesn’t have this quotation from Wilder emblazoned onto their memory.

I should have been more daring. I have this theory. I wanted to have Holmes homosexual and not admitting it to anyone, including maybe even himself. The burden of keeping it secret was the reason he took dope. X

What I’m proposing here is that whilst we’ve thought about this quote quite a lot, we’ve always focused on the first half – that Sherlock Holmes is a homosexual – and not the second, which is that that’s the reason he’s on dope. We talk a bit about Sherlock being upset in HLV about John’s marriage and that being why he turns back to drugs, and likewise when TAB first aired a lot of people (myself included) thought he was ODing because he wasn’t going to see John again. I now think – and will provide evidence through the meta! – that it isn’t his feelings of (seemingly) unrequited love which are sending him to drugs, nor that the EMP is a place where he’s discovering his feelings – my meta here X is not the first to point out that Sherlock almost definitely deduces his own feelings for John in TSoT, in a case of the worst timing in television history. Instead, much like Wilder’s Holmes, I think our Sherlock is dealing with a huge amount of shame and internalised homophobia, which has metafictionally* been building up since Conan Doyle started writing – hence the trip back to 1895 in TAB. S4 is about breaking through over a century of Holmes adaptations which have formed Sherlock’s own version of himself, so that he can break out of them into a ‘Private Life’ outside of established canon.

*Metafictionality is the defining idea around my version of EMP theory, so for anybody who’s not familiar I’m going to do a quick run down. The idea behind metafictionality is that Sherlock is aware of itself as being a work of fiction and deliberately plays with that – in this case, I’m arguing that the character Sherlock is subconsciously aware of the history of book/film/tv adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, and his existence outside Sherlock builds up to create his internalised homophobia. Sounds mad? Maybe. But stick with me here. The reason it’s taking so long for Sherlock to process his sexuality is not just because he’s repressed, but because he’s dealing with the weight of other Holmes adaptations – which is the reason arguably that a modern audience would also take so long to accept it, longer than were this character not such a huge part of the Western psyche.

My aims from this meta:

1. To prove that tjlc remains endgame (eh, if there’s a series 5)

2. To show that s4 is about Sherlock trying to break out of his MP coma after being shot by Mary

3. That s4 engages with the history of Sherlock Holmes adaptations through the character of Sherlock investigating his psyche

4. That in the real (non-MP) world, John is suicidal, and Sherlock has to wake up to save him.

Chapter 1 – A Mental Mindfuck Can Be Nice: a quick summary of EMP theory

Chapter 2 – Look up here, I’m in Heaven: the height metaphor

Chapter 3 – Death Cannot Stop True Love [HLV 1/1]

Chapter 4 – It is always 1895 [TAB 1/1]

Chapter 5 – Hey, Soul Sister: Who is Eurus?

Chapter 6 – So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish [TST 1/2]

Chapter 7 – There’s Something About Mary [TST 2/2]

Chapter 8 – Dream a Little Dream of Me: parallels with Doctor Who

Chapter 9 – Rock’n’roll Suicide [TLD 1/2]

Chapter 10 – Oh No Love, You’re Not Alone [TLD 2/2]

Chapter 11 – The Importance of Being Earnest [TFP 1/3]

Chapter 12 – Three Men in a Boat [TFP 2/3]

Chapter 13 – Out of My Dreams [TFP 3/3]

I’ll (ideally) be uploading a chapter a day for the next 13 days. Some of these chapters will contain links to later chapters; if that chapter isn’t uploaded yet, I’ll add in the link retrospectively, so that might be why the links don’t all work on first read. With chapters that have an episode in parentheses beside, I strongly recommend either watching the episode before reading the meta, or even better to do a simultaneous read and watch through with your finger on the pause button. The only episode which doesn’t do a play by play is TLD 1/2 , purely for time reasons (my college term starts very soon and I really needed this meta put to bed for the sake of my degree!).

The other thing worth saying is that if you want this meta as a word document for some reason, drop me a message – I’m more than happy to share it that way as well. It is a cool 50k so takes some reading. This chapter has been a bit of a nothing, but I hope it lays the groundwork for what to expect from the next 12 – I’ll see you over the next 12 days!

#emp theory #thewatsonbeekeepers #my meta #chapter one #mine #introduction #then I get the fun job of working out how to actually organise my tumblr so people can actually find the shit i write

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possiblyimbiassed · 4 years

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What happened to Sherlock? Part VIII - The Sign of the Hetero Norm (1)

Why does Mary Morstan play such a prominent role in BBC Sherlock?

I’m surely not the only one asking myself this; while she’s barely mentioned in canon after marrying Watson, she’s all over the place from TEH and onwards in Mofftiss’ adaptation. And when I recently read this excellent fic by @discordantwords, a couple of things dawned on me, that I think have been brewing in my mind for quite some time. Which brings me to the long promised continuation of my marathon meta series about what I think we’re actually seeing in this show. Because the entire point of Mary Morstan seems to be to prevent Sherlock and John from getting together in a romantic relationship - a story of hetero norm. This eighth installment will explore the ‘case’ of little Rosie, and the role she and her mother plays in this show.

This far I’ve published an intro and seven installments, each with corresponding attempts to test my hypotheses:

Introduction - The game is on (explains the method of analysis) Part I - Blog vs TV-show Part II - Re-living memories Part III - Drugs and weirdness Part IV – Heartbreak and coma (1) Part IV – Heartbreak and coma (2) Part V – Bizarre scenarios Part VI - Live and let die (1) Part VI - Live and let die (2)

Part VII - The Importance of Being Earnest (1)

Part VII - The Importance of Being Earnest (2)

This installment will also be parted in two, and the second half can be found here (X). Many of the screen caps from BBC Sherlock in this meta are from Kissthemgoodbye.net - thanks! And thanks also to Ariane DeVere for the incredibly useful transcripts!

My next hypotheses is, in and off itself, a clear and straightforward prediction that can be explicitly verified or falsified once we finally get to S5, so it will be extra fun to see what happens with it in future:

Hypothesis #8: John is not the father of Mary’s baby

(Disclaimer: My suspicion here only concerns John’s biological offspring. It would still be possible that John, and perhaps also Sherlock, might father the child - if it exists - by adoption. It does not exclude a metaphorical reading where the baby represents, for example, Sherlock’s and John’s relationship. I also want to stress that this hypothesis is an attempt at logical reasoning based on observations in the show and in ACD canon; it’s not meant to be ‘gossipy’ and has nothing to do with whether I would actually like to see this happen or not - that’s a whole other story. ;) )

This hypothesis has been brewing in my mind for quite some time now, but I don’t think it’s just a hunch; there are actually a series of reasons that have made me come to this conclusion.

(Continued under the cut)

But first of all: can we debunk my hypothesis at this stage in the story, by testing it ‘scientifically’? Well, not really, since the show doesn’t provide any reliable evidence that confirms John as Rosie’s biological father. Not even IRL would this have been possible without a DNA-test (or without physical circumstances that would have made any other option impossible). And the only thing that the show tells us about human DNA-tests is that not even this procedure is 100% reliable, as shown in ASIB:

JOHN: You were dead on a slab. It was definitely you. IRENE: DNA-tests are only as good as the records you keep. JOHN: And I bet you know the record-keeper. IRENE: I know what he likes, and I needed to disappear.

DNA is brought up in TGG (Ian Monkford’s blood) and again in TST (the identification of Charlie Wellsborough’s body), but since John’s fatherhood is never questioned in the show, little Rosie is never tested, as far as we know. The remaining evidence that speaks for John being the father is circumstantial: that John and Mary obviously must have been living together at the approximate time of conception. And that they both act as if they’re both Rosie’s parents.

So I guess that in order to get any further with this, I’ll have to start at the other end, analysing the characters and see if I can find evidence that support my hypothesis - on a textual level as well as metaphorically and on the meta level.

Mary’s function in the story

I think we can safely say that Mary is the most controversial character of BBC Sherlock. Some viewers love her, others hate her, but I can’t recall anyone claiming to feel indifferent towards her. Mofftiss have indeed managed to push forward a character who is hardly even visible in canon, once she’s married to Watson. In BBC Sherlock, however, Mary totally dominates the show from HLV and onwards. Her appearances may have been increasing in numbers and length already from her introduction in TEH. But from the point where John wakes up in HLV, there isn’t a single case where she’s not somehow involved. Up until TFP, everything is about ’Mary’. And even then, once we might have believed we’d got rid of the ghost of this hijacking protagonist, she comes back, only to once again take over the narrative with a weird and basically inexplicable voiceover. She seems like some kind of obsession; a brain ghost stuck on someone’s mind.

This is rather different from ACD canon, where Mary Morstan has extremely few lines as soon as she’s no longer a client, but Watson’s wife. Personally I find it hard to see the lovable aspect of this character in BBC Sherlock, since she constantly shifts appearance, behaviour and motivation; it’s almost impossible to pin down who she actually is. Which makes me convinced that Mary is not meant to be a real, believable character that we can relate to as such - at least not all the time. And maybe that goes for canon as well.

But what then is the purpose of her, what’s Mary’s actual function in the narrative, looking at the subtext? I think there’s basically three of them, and by no means mutually exclusive:

1. Mary is a metaphor for heteronormativity and its power over people when they internalise it

2. Mary is a façade or ‘beard’, where a straight marriage is established to cover up a story of a gay relationship

3. Mary is a mirror for Sherlock; by substituting himself with a female spouse for John, Sherlock can be with John ‘by proxy’, trying to figure out John without having to face his own real problem: reveal his emotions and risk failure.

As soon as Mary firmly puts her foot in the show, it all becomes a spectacle, a demonstration of how to keep up a straight facade at any cost. After TSoT, no-one ever assumes John and Sherlock are a romantic couple; Mary is the ultimate ’proof’ that John is indeed straight. Which is of course illogical, because why would a bi person stop being it because they married someone, no matter of which sex? Mary admits it herself by telling Sherlock that ”neither of us was the first, you know”. And Sherlock complains that John is dancing around Sholto ”like a puppet” even after the wedding ceremony. But in all the episodes after TSoT, John is happily freed from people’s assumptions regarding his sexual orientation. Gone are all the gay jokes, and John Watson is miraculously ‘cured’.

I think this is perfectly illustrated in the fic by @discordantwords that I mentioned above. The plot follows logically on TFP, as things would be if everything we’ve seen from HLV and onwards is actually meant to be ‘true’. Mary is now dead and John lives alone with little Rosie. For a case, in order to get close to the suspects, Sherlock is planning to fake his own wedding with Janine Hawkins, and John is feeling jealous and excluded – especially when he finds out that one of the murders that Sherlock is investigating had involved a wedding of a gay couple:

"Why all of this, then?" he asked. He tipped his head towards the kitchen, where Janine was fiddling with the kettle. "I could have just—wouldn't it have been easier for us to just—?"

"You're not gay," Sherlock said.

"Well," John paused. "No." He cleared his throat, looked back at the wall. "But everyone already thinks we're a couple. Wouldn't be that much of a stretch, really. For a case."

"No one has thought that for quite some time."

This fanfic rings perfectly true to me, considering S4 on the surface level; John and Sherlock appearing as a couple wouldn’t work after John’s own wedding in TSoT. Because gone is now every allusion to John being anything else than straight. Gone is also John’s admiration for Sherlock; from HLV and on, he hardly ever even speaks about Sherlock in a positive way. (Which also makes me wonder: was ‘The Fall’ also about Sherlock feeling he had fallen from John’s pedestal of admiration?). For the rest of the show, it’s only Sherlock whom we see suffering from (presumably) gay pining. It’s only in Sherlock’s Victorian imagination that Moriarty tells them to ’elope’ together, while John in TLD is shown to be exclusively fixed on his dead wife.

On the surface, Sherlock seems to support John’s relationship with Mary, while I’m sure he is actually suffering deeply. But I think, metaphorically, that Sherlock is acting like some kind of self-sacrificing Christ figure. (Don’t forget Irene’s words from ASiB: “I think you’re damaged, delusional and believe in a higher power. In your case, it’s yourself”). He bears the ‘cross’ of torture by seeing John with someone else, until he can’t stand it any more and trashes himself on drugs. This is what we see at the beginning of TEH, John holding hands with a woman in front of Sherlock’s grave:

Why can’t we see Mary’s face already here? I think it’s because this is from Sherlock’s POV; he’s either seeing or imagining them from behind. She might have a hidden face but a familiar shape because by the time Sherlock is recalling this, he already knows what Mary looks like. But at this point in time, maybe he didn’t? In any case, it must be devastating for Sherlock to see or imagine John with someone else, when he should be there to mourn him, Sherlock.

Thinking about John with Mary, Sherlock can’t even sleep. He is tortured on a cross and dies for all our ’sins’, doesn’t he? On the meta level Sherlock Holmes sacrifices his life, he extinguishes his true self, in the name of heteronormativity. So that John can have his straight marriage, even if it’s dysfunctional. But our worst ’sin’ as an audience, I believe - our ultimate mistake - is to buy into this narrative without questioning it. That’s literally letting the hetero norm rule.

King David the Adulterer

Mary’s ex-boyfriend David is introduced in TSoT, but after this episode he never shows up again. But this seems very random to me; why is David even there, and why is he depicted as some kind of rival to John? What is his narrative purpose? David is often blurred out in the scenes, but he is definitely present during the whole wedding reception, where his role is to be an usher (showing people their places/seats). David gives the impression to be single, since he attends Mary’s wedding without any partner as company.

Sherlock, who meets David alone at 221B during the wedding planning, deduces that he still seems to have an intimate relationship with Mary. Only recently I discovered this meta from 2014 called The Baby Problem by @abitnotgood, which brings up pretty much exactly the same suspicions I have had for quite some time now. The main points are the following:

Mary was dating David for 2 of the totally 5 years she had been undercover with the false name Mary.

They’re still close enough friends for David to attend the wedding, which might indicate their breakup was unwanted from one or both parts.

Mary’s reactions during the wedding reception indicates that she still cares for David.

Sherlock finds out that David has “offered to be her shoulder to cry on no less than three occasions.”

David sits at the same table as most other major characters, which indicates that he’s important.

David doesn’t look particularly happy while toasting for the bride and groom.

To these I could also add that Sherlock gets so suspicious about David that he threatens him with keeping a close eye on his whereabouts with Mary. From a story telling POV, when a character is suspected by the main character who is a genius detective, there should actually be some reason for this - shouldn’t it?

So who is David? Does he appear anywhere in canon? I actually think he does. In ACD’s short story The Crooked Man (CROO), the name David plays a symbolical role. The story is about a (supposed) murder of a middle-aged military officer, colonel James Barclay. It’s a classical Sherlock Holmes mystery with a door locked from the inside and the key missing. The death seems to originate from a domestic quarrel between the colonel and his wife. (Which is particularly interesting considering the Watsons’ ‘domestic’ in HLV).

Turns out the colonel died of fright when he saw his old rival Henry Wood, whom he had betrayed in the war and deliberately left to be captured by the enemy. Henry was repeatedly tortured and crippled and held prisoner for many years, until he could escape back to London and a coincidence brought his old love interest in his way, who was now married to the colonel. (Hmm... tortured by the enemy. Been away. Love interest married. Does this seem like anyone we know? ;) ). Henry was “the crooked man” of the story, who was bereft of his loved one because of James.

But the name David was mystically uttered by Colonel Barclay’s wife while quarreling with her husband - why? Holmes claimed it was a biblical reference to the drama of king David, Batsheba and Uriah. King David committed adultery with the beautiful Bathsheba, who was married to his soldier Uriah. Bathsheba got pregnant after sleeping with David, while Uriah was out fighting a war. David tried to cover up that fact by sending Uriah home, but Uriah refused to leave his comrades. Then David betrayed his rival Uriah the same way James betrayed Henry: by deliberately leaving him exposed to the enemy. The only difference was that Uriah died on the battlefield, while Henry was caught and crippled. Which leads us almost inevitably to Captain John Watson - he is a soldier who was crippled by the enemy too, wasn’t he? ;)

What about Rosie?

Although Mary is dominating the show from TEH and forwards, John’s and Mary’s daughter - little Rosie - is subjected to the opposite treatment; she has very little screen time, and we never learn about a single character trait of hers. In ACD canon the Watsons never had a child, as far as I know. And – even in Victorian times – I believe it would have seemed strange with the Doctor spending so much of his free time (besides work) together with Holmes, obviously neglecting his family duties. So since Mofftiss have introduced a totally new ingredient to their adaptation - a time-consuming baby - one would think this has to have a clear purpose, right? I would have expected Rosie to play a part of her own, someone the audience could relate to just like the other characters, if only still a baby.

But instead, Rosie is seen most of all as an obstacle. Mary is balancing her while discussing a case with Sherlock. Rosie is handed over to John like a sack of potatoes when the family goes on to solve a case with Sherlock; she doesn’t make a sound and we don’t even see her little face. We see John change Rosie’s diaper once (basically to show that he has a toy daisy behind his ear, which is apparently a good flirting device), and then we see Sherlock trying to babysit her at 221B, getting hit in the eye by her toy. We also hear her cry in the background once, and see Molly hold her once. And that’s about it.

When Sherlock texts them from the London Aquarium at the end of TST, Mary and John debate which of them is going to have to stay with the baby, but finally both of them show up at the Aquarium – without Rosie. And this happens not long after Mary has taken a ‘little trip’ around Eurasia ending up in Morocco and John and Sherlock going after her – little Rosie staying at home. Which means weeks without any of her parents. If S4 were real, I’d feel truly sorry for little Rosie.

In TLD, Rosie is more absent than her dead mother! While Mary haunts the episode, all we hear about the baby is John’s tremendous guilt for neglecting and abandoning her (which he manages to do completely). John does seem to have enough spare time and energy to go on another case with Sherlock, though, in the middle of his therapy session. At the end of TLD, all is supposedly fine again with Rosie (until John gets shot with a tranquiliser), but we never get to see it. But then in TFP John goes on a long journey with Sherlock to a far away island, and not a word about Rosie. She’s not even present when John receives Mary’s DVD at home. At the end she’s suddenly there again, though, without any comment.

Based on this, it doesn’t seem farfetched to ask if this little character is even supposed to be real. There’s a subtle hint in TLD which could point in this skeptic direction:

Sherlock: “And, of course, I hadn’t really anticipated that I’d hallucinated meeting his daughter.” “Still a bit troubled by the daughter. Did seem very real, and she gave me information I couldn’t have acquired elsewhere.”

John: “But she wasn’t ever here?”

An earlier quote from TGG could also question John’s fatherhood: ”Of course he’s not the boy’s father - look at the turnups on his jeans!” (Sherlock while watching telly with John in TGG, right after the fourth ‘pip’).

And - of course - if S4 is all imaginary, only happening in Sherlock’s head, Rosie would probably not even have been born yet.

There are also some more subtle hints about Rosie’s narrative function: John’s guilt about cheating on Mary in TLD is connected to the baby. John specifically mentions that he was “cheating” on Mary while she was taking care of Rosie: JOHN (to Ghost!Mary): “We texted constantly. You wanna know when? Every time you left the room, that’s when. When you were feeding our daughter; when you were stopping her from crying – that’s when.” This does make the (otherwise rather exaggerated) texting affair sound a bit more damning for John, doesn’t it? ;) If this is all taking place inside Sherlock’s head, it might rather reflect one of Sherlock’s (possibly) major excuses to himself for not confessing his true feelings to John; it might (once the baby is born) disrupt a whole family and affect an innocent little child.

John and Mary’s relationship

The other day I took to re-watch this little piece of extra material from S4: statements by Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington about John’s and Mary’s relationship (X). Every time I see this video I’m just laughing so hard. Please don’t miss how Martin is struggling to keep a straight face without smiling, after claiming “they’ve been through stuff already in S3 that would test any couple.” (Yep. Like the discovery that Mary is actually a contract killer who shot his best friend and hasn’t even revealed her real name to John). Or how Amanda avoids looking at the camera when she’s lying talking about Mary’s feelings towards John, closing her eyes and shaking her head. Great acting! :)

I mean, this cannot even be intended to fool anyone; I think this is meant to signal to the audience that the marriage we’re seeing is a dishonest, superficial construction made up of empty words. It’s very similar to the scene in HLV where Sherlock tells John about his ‘relationship’ with Janine. Platitudes like “we’re in a good place” are not only included, but also called out in the very same dialogue. John: “You got that from a book!” Sherlock: “Everyone got that from a book!”. In the video clip, overly sweet violin music is playing when Martin and Amanda talk about their characters’ supposed deep love for each other, but this is mixed up with sitcom-like scenes where this love is made very hard to believe in, like Mary about to give birth in the car and roaring to her husband to pull over, or John telling Mary that he simply intends to forget about a recent past where she very nearly murdered his best friend.

John’s marriage actually seems terrible from start; he can’t even keep himself off Sherlock’s blog comments during his own honeymoon. Which I believe is canon consistent; in ACD’s stories Mary Morstan even encourages Watson to never leave Holmes’ side. And the bad marriage is also confirmed in HLV by Wiggins’ and Sherlock’s deductions about John’s cycling to work and keeping his shirts ‘folded and ready to leave’ at any moment.

But what’s Mary’s position in this? Let’s say, as a mental experiment, that she knows from start about John’s feelings for Sherlock. Why would she want to be together with, and even go on to marry, a man who is obviously in love with someone else? Well, while I don’t buy the facade-climbing Ninja!Mary who tries to kill Sherlock in HLV, she could still be dishonest in her approach to John. She could still be on some sort of mission related to Sherlock, where her role simply is to get in between John and Sherlock, while she actually is together with someone else (and even carrying that someone’s child). Her aim could be to hurt Sherlock as much as possible, for a specific reason.

As far as I see in TEH, Mary seems suspiciously eager to befriend Sherlock. Instead of behaving like one would expect from someone in love who just got their special moment ruined by a rival; with anger or at least annoyance, and of course supporting the beloved - Mary immediately sides with Sherlock.

And she seems to side with him most of all on an intellectual level, taking part in his explanations of how he managed to fake his death.

“Oh, he would have needed a confidant...”

So - what can we deduce about Mary?

If everything we see in the show after TSoT only has happened inside Sherlock’s head (as I’ve tried to make a case for in this meta series), from this follows logically that in Sherlock’s ‘reality’, there is no Assasin!Mary, no SecretAgent!Mary, no Martyr!Mary and - of course - no Ghost!Mary. Because up until the wedding, Mary seemed to be just an ordinary woman. The character’s appearance from HLV and onwards would all be fabrications of Sherlock’s drug-influenced mind, albeit loaded with a lot of metaphorical meaning from his subconscious.

But Mary still seems to exist on some level, doesn’t she? She is referred to by John on his blog, talked about by other people on the blog (including Sherlock), and she even makes comments on it on no less than ten occasions. On the blog, John is clear about getting married to Mary. And after Sherlock’s final blog post ‘The Sign of Three’, it also gets obvious that Mary is now pregnant.

And – most importantly – if S4 is all-fake, this also means that in Sherlock’s ‘reality’, Mary’s drama-loaded death in TST never happened. Mary is still alive! So if Mary is a ‘façade’, a ‘beard’ and/or a mirror for Sherlock on a meta- and sub-textual level, who is she on the textual level? Well, I think there are some clues in the show, and also a lot of subtext material in ACD canon to draw from, which might have been developed into actual story line in the show.

And this will bring us to the second half of this meta, which you can find here (X).

Tagging some people who might be interested: @raggedyblue @ebaeschnbliah @sarahthecoat @gosherlocked @loveismyrevolution @sagestreet @tjlcisthenewsexy @elldotsee @88thparallel @devoursjohnlock @sherlock-overflow-error @yeah-oh-shit

#who is mary?

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ebaeschnbliah · 5 years

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DISTRACTIONS & CONSEQUENCES

Exploring the deeper meaning of ASIB has always been a joy and an exiting experience. No matter if it’s about the Strange Similarities this episode shares with HLV, or the intriguing question why Sherlock plays Irene’s theme in TFP when prompted by Eurus to ‘play himself’ (Explosive, it’s more me Oh, have you had sex?). Also the recuring Christmas theme in every series and Mycroft’s Bond Air plan, that doesn’t appear very ‘Neat’ at all after taking just a slightly closer look. When I wrote The Importance of Little Things Boomerang and the other posts mentioned above, I didn’t dwell on a detailed metaphorical reading of the somewhat strange boomerang case, which initiates the appearance of ‘the woman’. @sarahthecoat added a short and very good summary of the already existing theory on this post. It was this comment which reminded me that I still hadn’t written down my own version of he boomerang case in ASIB.

Playing around with the idea of a much further extended mind palace scenario than that from the shooting in CAM Tower onwards (EMP Master Post 2016), those ideas inevitably led to slightly different interpretations of events than some of the already existing ones. (EEMP=Extraordinary Extendend Mind Palace, I called it back then, jokingly. Links are included in this post),

Characters created by Sherlock’s imagination, to play a role on his mind stage, aren’t autonomous individuals who can act of their own free will. Instead, they would represent different aspects of Sherlock’s personality, his views, fears, desires, expectations and experiences, his memory, etc. The way they look, speak and act would be designed by Sherlock, precisely to play their role in the experiments/scenarios appointed to them. Approaching Sherlock BBC from this angle, the story appears in a different light …. like a holographic postcard, where the motive displayed on it, changes with the slightest movement. Most importantly, it changes the central question from HOW to WHY something happens. And it also raises the question of ... WHAT could be the actual meaning behind choices regarding character behaviour, names, places, dialogues and so on, inside those scenarios. What’s the real meaning of all those little stories told in the coded language of Shelrock’s mind?

Based on this idea, the boomerang case, the story of Phil with his backfiring car and the Hiker with the bashed-in head, in context with the main storyline of the associated episode, changes as well.

For anyone who is interested in a different reading, this theory is …. alternatively below the cut …. :)

The boomerang case of A Scandal in Belgravia is presented in four sequences:

The first part is placed near the beginning of the episode. Phil’s POV of the event is shown almost exclusively by visuals without dialogue. This sequence merges seamlessly into ...

... the second part, which is about John, his investigation on the crime scene and his report to Sherlock via WiFi before he and Sherlock, separately, get whisked away to Buckingham Palace, ordered by Mycroft Holmes.

In the third part Sherlock explains the event to Irene at her place. Before Sherlock can finish his explanation he gets interuppted, first by the fire alarm, initiated by John, then by the American agents who want to confiscate Irene’s camera phone.

Directly afterwards Sherlock gets injected with drugs from Irene’s syringe. He imagines how Irene gives the final explanation and reveals the solution of the boomerang case.

This fourth sequence contains, what Sherlock would call ‘a special feature of interest’. The Hiker, distracted by the sound of an ‘explosion’, is hit by his returning boomerang. While the man is shown falling backwards and out of the picture, the scene, just for a second, jumps also backwards in time to the very moment where Sherlock falls to the floor in Irene’s bedroom, due to the influence of her 'chemistry’. Then the scene continues with the Hiker still falling backwards out of the picture.

In the third sequence, while Sherlock describes the event, the camera circles round himself and the Hiker in a very explicit way. One man vanishes behind the other alternately.

Additionally there are also a certain similarities when it comes to

men lying on the ground with bashed-in heads (red and blue)

characters wearing red jackets (x)

characters wearing specific headgears

All of this strongly suggests that the Hiker, like Mary, is a mirror for Sherlock. Phil, the driver of the unmoving car, on the other hand, appears to be more connected to John, at least on a first glance. He wears similar clothing. ‘Ghost’ John can be seen sitting behind him on the sofa, while the man tells his story, placed in the clients chair in the middle of the living room. This leaves the question why John isn’t shown sitting in his own chair if he is present at the time and not in Dublin. Later, during the Wi-Fi conversation from the crime scene, Phil sits in John’s chair while Sherlock seems to have just woken up.

“Morbidly obese, the undisguised halitosis of a single man living on his own, the right sleeve of an internet porn addict and the breathing pattern of an untreated heart condition. Low self-esteem, tiny IQ and a limited life expectancy “ … this is how Sherlock describes Phil. As I mentioned in ‘Importance of Little Things’ those characteristics can also be attributed either directly to Sherlock himself or indirectly to some of his ‘mirrors’.

morbidly obese - Mycroft, who represents Sherlock’s brain department for logic and reason, appears exactly like that in TAB

halitosis - foul things coming out of ones mouth, could easily be a metaphor for ‘you alway say such horrible things’. Furthermore, halitosis is also mentioned associated with Mr. Howard Shilcott, the train guy from TEH, the one with the silly (ear) hat who is sentimental, maybe isolated but doesn’t mind being different.

internet porn addict - computer language metaphors aren’t uncommon in this story. Sherlock compares his brain to a hard drive. Jim calls himself ‘virus in the data’ and Mycroft shares that opinion. Brains consist of billions of neurons, interconnected with each other, communicating with each other, carrying trains of signal pulses and informations … very much like the internet. Metaphorically, an internet porn adict could be someone who deals with sexual desires ‘virtually’ inside his head and not with the body.

untreated heart condition - this description mustn’t necessariy be aimed at a real pathological condition of said organ. Heart metaphors are very often used to paint vivid pictures of the emotional state of a person. Hearts can suffer, can be neglected, they can break, turn to stone, freeze, burn, melt, do a somersault, sing with joy … and so on

low self-esteem - in TSOT Sherlock describs himself … ‘I am the most unpleasant, rude, ignorant and all-round obnoxious arsehole that anyone could possibly have the misfortune to meet’ … ‘I never expected to be anybody’s best friend’ No further words needed, I guess.

tiny IQ - only some statements which compare Sherlock to an idiot (there exist a lot more) … ‘I used to think I was an idiot’ (Sherlock, TEH), ‘I’ve been an idiot – a blind idiot!’ (Sherlock, TEH), ‘I’m an idiot. I know nothing’ (Sherlock, TST), ‘You always were the slow one …. the idiot’ (Mycroft, TFP) and finally Sherlock about Phil, the man this description is aimed at: ‘He’s an idiot. Why else would he think himself a suspect?’

limited life expectancy - Mycroft again, the brain department for logic and reason. In TAB Sherlock and Mycroft are betting on big brother’s life expectancy, which both brothers assume to be not very long: ‘Three years flat if you eat that plum pudding’ … ‘Done’

If Phil with his unmoving car is indeed a mirror for Sherlock, like the Hiker, why is he visually connected so closely to John? Maybe because Phil represents the object of Sherlock’s investigations and deductions.

Phil, the driver of the transport that lies dormant

A little later in this episode Sherlock observes how John meets Irene at Battersea, the disused Power Station. An unmoving car and a disused power station ... are this two different metaphors for the same thing?

A disused power station, a car that doesn’t move = a body whose sexual urges lie dormant. Repressed desires, emotions behind elephant glass ... ‘ignored, patronised, disregarded, not allowed so much as a vote’. And the brain demands ‘you will stay out of this’ and warns ‘don’t get involved’. But the same brain also forces Sherlock to investigate ‘the woman’ and later releases ‘the criminal mastermind’. And in TAB this brain proclaims very clearly ‘We must lose this war because they are right and we are wrong’. Janus-faced indeed. Or maybe just a massively conflicted mind, torn in two, like the family pictures at the walls of the grey chamber in TFP.

Who’s John Watson on Sherlock’s mind stage?

John Watson - acting as a character on Sherlock’s mind stage - is hard to pin down. He seems to represent several aspects at the same time and he is definitely the main focus of Sherlock’s investigations.

In ASIP Sherlock confirms John’s question that he’s filling in for his skull - the one Sherlock calls ‘friend’. The skull is an imortant part of the body. Made of strong bone, it encloses the brain and protects it. Interestingly, broken up skulls - bashed-in or penetrated by bullets - are a rather important theme of this story. Maybe something imprisoned by inflexible bone wants to break free … an idea, a dream, a desire ….

John, ‘good old doctor Watson, the one fixed (inflerxible) point in a changing age’ is strongly connected to mirrors for love and emotions. As his counterpart, he is also connected to Jim Moriarty, Mr. Sex …. ‘John or James, James or John … the more is less’. John seems to be Jim’s main target in the game the criminal mastermind plays with Sherlock. And the painting of the Reichenbach Falls is declared as ‘William Turner’s masterpiece’ (Reichenbach=Rich Brook, William=William Sherlock Scott Holmes, turn(er)=turn round/change direction)

John - the eternal friend - is the incarnation of PHILIA (love between friends). But in this adaptation of the great detective, PHILIA is mingled with EROS (intimate love, sexual passion) right from the start. In PILOT & ASIP, when Anteros, the god of requited love, rises behind the episode title and a dog starts barking in the middle of the night. (More detailed explanations and musings on this topic - the evolution from friend to lover - can be found in ‘The Big Question’, ‘Solutions or Choices’, ‘Shoes for the Hound’ and ‘Sekhmet’

Skull, body, heart, protector, emotions, desire, friendship, love ... but also the fear to lose friendship and love, in case the ‘fixed point’ changes …. all those terms can be assigned to the John-character on Sherlock’s mind stage and his mirrors.

Out in the middle of nowhere ...

When the curtain rises for the boomerang case, the stage is set somewhere in the countryside. There’s a shallow valley and soft hills, thickly covered by woodland. A lush green meadow leads gently sloping down to a river or maybe a lake. There’s also a small brook which meanders through the wetland and flows forth into the greater water. Not far away a street runs along the margin ot the forest.

The main characters of the play are:

the Hiker in a bright red jacket, who busies himself with his boomerang beside the small brook

Phil, who tries to restart his unmoving car on the street nearby

It’s not explained how long Phil is working on his problem at the time the scene starts, but when the audience first sees him leaving the car to take a look at the engine, the bonnet is already open. So, most propably this is not his first attempt to restart the car.

The surrounding area is still and quiet. No significant background noises can be heard. Though both men stand in shouting distance to each other, there is no contact between them. The Hiker has turned his back to the street. He either really hasn’t noticed Phil and his unmoving car or he has, but simply doesn’t care. Phil on the other hand is aware of the Hiker on the meadow. For a moment it looks like he considers calling the man for assistence but then Phil apparently dismisses that idea again.

Instead Phil makes another attemt to restart his car.This time it backfires and the sound of the explosion splits the silence. The Hiker, distracted by the sudden noise, turns round and looks back to the street. At this moment the boomerang comes flying back, hits his head and kills him instantly. When Phil gets out of the car and looks down the meadow, he sees the Hiker in the red jacket lying motionless on the ground next to the small brook.

The Hiker and Phil ... Sherlock’s MIND and BODY

The Hiker - the MIND who plays with an idea

Viewing the Hiker as a mirror for Sherlock, his bright red jacket connects the character also to Mary, the facade. This makes him the man with his facade still intact but already curious about ... something. The Hiker wears a checkered shirt, which otherwise is closely attributed to John, while he palys with the boomerang.

If someone returns from foreign travel with a boomerang, one can assume that this person is meant to have been in Australia. Compared to Great Britain, Australia lies very far in the East. The East is strongly connected to Eurus, the East Wind, who represents Sherlock’s emotional side and is also strongly linked to buried/deleted memories and the Holmes family history.

The Hiker who traveled far to the East and brought back a small, fascinating but dangerous item, would then represent Sherlock, who went deep down into his mind palace. He retrieved something from the past, something he had ‘deleted’ a long time ago. Maybe something related to emotions and love. Sherlock/the Hiker takes that memory back into the present and starts playing with it …. he lets a seemingly harmless idea fly ….

Phil - the desire of a BODY whose sexuell transport lies dormant

Viewing Phil also as a mirror for Sherlock, that man and his unmoving car would represent an aspect of Sherlock, which is consciously or unconsciously dealing with investigations and deductions about the ‘John-Problem’. Phil too, wears a checkered shirt which links him even further to John. Obeseness stems from too much eating. Some time ago I read and reblogged a very intersting meta about eating as a metaphor for desire. Sadly I can’t find it again and credit the autor. If someone has a link, please add it, that would be great. In my opinion the food=desire methaphor is brilliant and fits perfectly. Phil, the carnal desire of Sherlock’s BODY, eats too much/stuffs himself with desire and is therefore obese ... he is filled with desire to bursting … just like the BRAIN in TAB.

The Hiker has turned his back on Phil. He doesn’t even see the desperate man beside his car. Sherlock’s MIND, dismisses the desires of the BODY as unimportant and at best sencondary. Who needs that annoying ‘transport’, when one can ‘hike’ with the MIND wherever one wants and let the ideas fly? The brain is what counts, logic and reason … cases and mysteries are solved by the MIND … the desires of the BODY, who repeatedly tries to restart the transport, are just distractions which can/should be ignored and neglected. Especially when one has just unearthed a fascinting little memory from a long time ago …

Different aspects of Sherlock are dealing with related cases at the same time. One case lies in the past, the other one in the present. They overlap ... and this leads to consequences:

a car backfires and the sound of an explosion splits the silence = a BODY reacts and explodes/has an orgasm

a head gets bashed-in = ‘la petite mort’ of the BRAIN

The best thing about this interpretation is, that an almost similar scene, in a different setting, is played out a second time simultaneously during the Irene Adler case.

The repetition of a hit

Fascinated and very pleased with himself, Sherlock plays with a little item he has just retrieved from a secured and guarded place. He lets the thing fly through the air and catches it again, a bit like someone would do with a boomerang. This time though, it’s a camera phone packed full with ‘scandalous’ informations. Sherlock underestimates the danger he is in and most of all, he underestimates the opponent he is faced with.

Carelessly and maybe even provokingly he turns his back at Irene. The next second Sherlock is hit by a syringe full of chemistry … the chemistry of sex. Sherlock falls to the floor of Irene’s bedroom ... beaten by Mrs. Sex.

As mentioned above, in the final explanation of the boomerang case, the fall of the Hiker beside the small brook on the meadow, closely frames the fall of Sherlock in Irene’s bedroom … they actually become one fall. What lies closer at hand than to assume that both cases are actually about the same topic?

Sherlock’s experience of a sudden, unexpected orgasm … triggered by awakening emotions, while playing with a memory from the past.

A full list of the ‘cast’ involved in the boomerang case

The Hiker and his boomerang - Sherlock’s mind plays with an idea, with a once deleted but now revived memory

Phil and his unmoving car - Sherlock’s carnal desire, affected by the ‘John-Problem’, awakens and tries to start his sex drive

the colour green - it’s the colour of HOPE, rebirth and harmony (X) it’s also the colour assigned to John in the PILOT and ASIP. (X)

the river/lake - a lot of water means a lot of emotions, ‘deep waters, all your life’. Eurus represents emotions, the past and deleted memories

the small brook next to which the Hiker dies - Rich Brook, the storyteller who is also Jim Moriarty, Mr. Sex. RichBrook translates into Reichenbach, an event that is linked to the music of J.S. Bach

the ‘object’ on the meadow - (more on this in The Cabin on the Meadow)

Viewing Series One as prelude for the whole story, where the three episodes serve as introduction (ASIP), user manual (TBB) and chapter list (TGG), the actual story told in Sherlock BBC would then start with A Scandal in Belgravia.

“Don’t be alarmed ….. it’s to do with sex“

Mycroft’s statement, when he introduces Sherlock to the Irene Adler case, describes the whole episode in a nutshell. Sherlock’s RATIO tells himself (and the audience) what this case, this episode actually is about:

The emotional and sexual awakening of the character Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock’s appearance, when he starts his investigation of the boomerang case, is the most fitting outfit to present a metaphorical scenario for an awakening of this kind. Clothed in a pristine, white sheet (virginity), completely naked (newborn) beneath it and heartily yawning. Sherlock enters the ‘stage’ of 221b Baker Street, as if he had just woken up from a very long sleep. Just like Snow White slept in her coffin of glass before she woke to a new and exciting life (Sherlock in ASIP).

“Noises are important ... noises can tell you everything"

A car backfires, innitiated by Phil. There’s the loud noise of an explosion. Distracted, the Hiker turns and as a consequence, his head is hit and bashed-in.

A fire alarm goes off, innitiated by John. Mr. Archer (the ‘bowman’, Cupid) gets the order to shoot John in the head.

The most significant noises of this episode are the orgasmic sighs Sherlock’s phone makes every time the text alert gets activated by Mrs. Sex … 59 in total.

The noises are the most important factor on all three occasions … the explosion, the alarm, the orgasmic sigh ….

At the end of the episode Sherlock lets Irene’s phone fly again. He catches it, takes a thoughtfull look at the little thing and tucks it away in the drawer. Then Sherlock looks out of the window, while rain pours down the glass pane in front of his face.

Fiftynine orgasmic sighs have been ignored (59 calls will be ignored in TST before little Rosy is born). The phone and with it the sexual desires get tucked away in a drawer. Sherlock, detached and secure behind a wall of glass, contemplates the pouring rain/emotions. His RATIO always carries an umbrella to avoid getting wet/affected by emotions. But his RATIO also seems to be in need of a cigarette after that case. A substitute drug/chemistry instead of the ‘real thing’, the ‘natural high’ which he denies himself stubbornly? Meanwhile the ‘eternal friend’ is already soaked wet with rain. The matter of the ‘fixed point in a changing age’ has already become a highly emotional one for Sherlock, it seems. Looks very much like the first stage of drowning.

In the next episode the HOUND will be unleashed, immediately followed by Mr. Sex ….. ‘Honey, you should see me in a crown’ …. who smashes the impenetrable glass case and reaches for the Crown Jewels. (When the man with the key becomes king)

May, 2019

I leave you to your own deductions. Thanks @callie-ariane for the scripts.

#distractions and consequences #the boomerang case #Phil and the hiker #the backfiring car #metaphorical reading #alternate version #la petite mort

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guanin · 5 years

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Mrs. Hudson: Sherlock’s Chosen Mummy

An essay examining Sherlock's relationship to Mrs. Hudson. Sherlock has a mother, but isn’t close to her. He doesn’t seem to call or visit her often. He agrees with Mrs. Hudson in TSOT when she says that his mother “has a lot to answer” for (although she’s referring to Sherlock’s expectation of never having to bother about his own tea). He does his best to ignore his parents when they visit London in TEH. He doesn’t seem to want to spend time with his mother in general. Yet not only does he live one floor above Mrs. Hudson in her building, but he welcomes her taking care of him and is affectionate with her. Mrs. Hudson, in turn, makes him tea and food, and cleans up after him while fussing over his messy habits, just like a mother would. She has no chldren, and we aren’t given any indication on whether she ever wanted them, but she certainly enjoys treating Sherlock as if he were her own. Living Situation We know little of Mrs. Hudson and Sherlock’s relationship previous to ASIP. “A few years ago”, Sherlock ensured that her husband would be executed for drug crimes in Florida. So they’ve known each other for a good amount of time. Sherlock is in need of a flatmate to help cover the rent of his flat, implying that he’s a relatively new tenant there. However, not terribly new, since his flat is fully lived in, with no packing boxes in sight and his usual mess, which shows that he’s been there long enough to get comfortable. Adding to the list of things we don’t know is his living situation before this, as well as how long Mrs. Hudson has been living in the building. There is no telling when she could have bought it in the first place. It might have been part of the property she owned alongside her husband, or be a recent acquisition. She is giving Sherlock a special discount on his rent in a part of London that is particularly expensive. This, along with the way that she acts toward him, indicates that she’s fond of Sherlock. That’s a lot of money she’s saying “no” to by providing this discount. Of course, gratitude over his aid in getting rid of her criminal husband has a part to play, but living with Sherlock isn’t an easy endeavor, and there’s no need for this gratitude to extend to offering him a really nice flat in central London. This offer could have come upon Sherlock mentioning to her that he was looking for a flat. If she had been in the building for a while, the former tenants of 221B could have been moving out at the same time. Or, if she’s new to the building, she might have offered Sherlock the flat straightaway. Sherlock might have been in need of a flat at the time or he might have simply preferred to live in 221B. Reasons for the latter could be its location, the space, the rent even despite needing to find a flatmate to cover it, or the particular landlady he was renting from. Or all four. He certainly likes the space, and the central location, apart from being a nice neighborhood, is ideal for someone who is constantly running all over London. But it is apparent that he’s as fond of Mrs. Hudson as she is of him, and likes it when she takes care of him. We can only speculate as to what their relationship was like before this, but we know that they kept in touch for years and that Mrs. Hudson liked him enough to offer him a premium discounted flat. This suggests more than a passing acquaintance. Even with all these unknowns, we can deduce that these two like living together and wouldn’t have begun doing so without a genuine enjoyment of each other’s company. The two certainly spend enough time together to prove this. Mrs. Hudson is a frequent visitor to his flat, and Sherlock is comfortable enough in hers to casually grab food from her fridge in ASIB. Mrs. Hudson providing him with meals, as well as tiding up his flat, is another frequent occurrence. Sherlock also makes a point of celebrating Christmas with her. In ASIB, he and John hold a Christmas party at their flat with Mrs. Hudson in attendance, during which he plays a Christmas carol on his violin, to her delight. It is unknown who had the idea to have the party, but it is notable that there is no mention of Sherlock visiting his parents over the season. When he calls Mycroft, his brother protests, “We’re not going to have Christmas phone calls, now are we?”. Not only does the Holmes family not get together for Christmas. They don’t even call. But Sherlock does celebrate with Mrs.Hudson. Not only that, but it’s the one day when he endeavors to be on his best behavior towards her. Mrs. Hudson says, “It’s the one day of the year when the boys have to be nice to me.” Now, we do see John being nice to her very often, but Sherlock is his usual, brash, petulant self with her a lot, as with everyone else. We aren’t given any indication of him making an exception in this behavior for anyone except for this instance, with Mrs. Hudson, so it’s very indicative of his love for her, even if it’s only for one day a year. Caretaking While introducing John to the flat, Mrs. Hudson grabs a used teacup from a table in the sitting room and takes it to the kitchen. We learn in season 3 that she brings up Sherlock tea every morning, therefore this cup is from tea that she herself supplied him with. It is possible that this practice began after Sherlock’s return in season 3, but it is far likelier that they fell back into all their old patterns of behavior after the reunion, so it’s a fair assumption that this is already occurring at the beginning of the show. She fusses over the state of the kitchen, saying, “Sherlock, the mess you’ve made” in a chiding tone, very much like a mother disapproving of their child’s messy room. While Sherlock and John are talking, we hear the clinking of dishes in the background. It carries on for a bit, which can only mean that Mrs. Hudson is cleaning up. Hardly typical landlady behavior. She does it automatically and without comment, suggesting that this is a normal occurrence, like with the tea. Her protest a few moments later, “I’m your landlady, dear, not your housekeeper” when Sherlock asks her to prepare him food for later sounds a little worn, like she’s said it before, and she probably has. Quite a few times, even, not that he ever listens, and she’s used to him not listening. She doesn’t protest again after he says, “Something cold will do,” just looks resigned. The chances are high that she did have some food waiting for him when he got home. Everything about this interaction feels like a routine, both speaking familiar lines. The child is demanding food from their parent, who is exasperated at their child not being willing to get it for themselves. The parent also chastizes their child for their messy habits, which the child is unwilling to fix. Yet the parent continues to indulge their child’s bad habits. These behaviors, on both their parts, continue through the series. In ASIB, we see Mrs. Hudson tiding in the flat again. She picks up a discarded mug and bottle of milk and takes them into the kitchen, complaining to herself about the mess. Later on, she brings Sherlock breakfast. She tidies up again at another day in the same episode. In TRF, Sherlock questions her about what she has cleaned in the flat in the last week, indicating that her cleaning up goes beyond the kitchen. As Sherlock’s landlady and not his housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson is under no obligation to tidy up his flat or make him tea or food, yet she does these things. Why? Since it’s not a duty, the only option is that she likes it. Mrs. Hudson enjoys taking care of Sherlock. After John moves in, she extends this maternal care towards him, as well, which is reciprocated. Demonstrations of Affection Mrs. Hudson and Sherlock are very physically affectionate with each other. This is an activity that we rarely see Sherlock engaging in generally. The only people we see him hug are Mrs. Hudson, John, and Lestrade. In the case of Lestrade, when he comes back from the dead, he simply stands, arms at his sides, allowing Lestrade to hug him. John hugs him at the wedding. It is only with Mrs. Hudson that we see Sherlock hug someone multiple times, and this in an enthusiastic fashion. The first instance we see of the two of them hugging is when Sherlock introduces John to her and the flat on Baker Street. The second occurs just a bit later, as Sherlock is dashing off to the serial suicide case. When Mrs. Hudson notices that both Sherlock and John are going, Sherlock steps toward her, expressing his excitement over the case and grabs her by the shoulders and kisses her on the cheek with a loud “mwah” sound. Sherlock touches her again during and after she is held hostage in ASIB. While she is being held at gunpoint, he touches her wrist as he examines her injuries and torn clothes. After he headbutts her attacker, incapacitating him, he crouches in front of her to assure her that she’s alright now, and gently touches her cheek, only turning away once she reassures him that she's okay. Later on, in Mrs. Hudson's flat, he stands next to her and places his hand on her shoulder and tugs her to him. She leans against him, smiling while placing her hand on his, the gesture and her expression filled with affection. During this interaction, it is revealed that she snuck away the mobile phone that her attackers were seeking to take from Sherlock, as he has deduced, responding to John’s question about the phone’s whereabouts with, “Safest place I know.” He trusts Mrs. Hudson implicitly. In a further show of fondness and comfort, he balks at John’s insistence that she take a break from Baker Street, using her to ability hide the phone while being attacked as proof that she’s a most capable and resourceful person whose presence near him is imperative not only to his own well-being, but that of the nation’s. “Mrs. Hudson, leave Baker Street?” he says, appalled by the very notion. “England would fall.” It is then that he holds her to him, his actions and his words a reassurance and declaration of how much he values her and her place in his life. Protectiveness The entirety of this incident provides the strongest evidence of Sherlock’s affection towards Mrs. Hudson. As soon as Sherlock becomes aware that Mrs. Hudson has been attacked, his face twists with rage. He is quick to go to up to 221B, where she is being held hostage by three men, the ringleader holding a gun to her head. Sherlock persuades the ringleader to dismiss his two men so that they are alone. He notices that the ringleader struck Mrs. Hudson in the face earlier, which incites his anger even further. He is quick to gain the upper hand, headbutting and knocking out the ringleader, and rushes to Mrs. Hudson to make sure that she’s alright, filled with concern. He waits with her, holding the ringleader hostage until John arrives to tend to her downstairs. Then he throws her attacker out the window. The man is subdued and tied up, no threat anymore. Sherlock’s action is motivated purely by revenge. That man hurt and frightened Mrs. Hudson, and so he must pay dearly. His protectiveness isn’t one-sided. Earlier in the episode, she reprimands Mycroft for putting Sherlock at risk. “It’s a disgrace,” she says, “sending your little brother into danger like that. Family is all we have in the end, Mycroft Holmes.” This statement is swiftly followed by another protective action from Sherlock’s part. Mycroft tells Mrs. Hudson to shut up. Sherlock immediately shouts his name, a furious expression on his face, compelling him to apologize. Sherlock and Mrs. Hudson share a bond that goes far beyond a tenant-landlady relationship. They have both happily chosen to live with the other, and love and care for each other, expressing this through their easy domesticity and by engaging in typical parent-child behaviors. Sherlock may not call Mrs. Hudson “mummy” and Mrs. Hudson may not call him “son”, but it is so clear that this what they truly mean to each other.

#sherlock #sherlock meta #sherlock holmes #mrs. hudson

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nightingveilxo · 7 years

Photo

Two Different Kinds…of Protection (Heart and *coughs*) [Updated 3/9/18]

TEH

John: *shaves, then goes into the medical facility, where Prescriptions is on a big sign with an arrow and Ring For Assistance is also prominently displayed* (Pharmacy then, please call on your phone if you need assistance. If your heart needs help, call.)

Sherlock: He made his position quite clear.

Us: Ohhhhh.

John: Cough.

Time passes…

PROTECTOR VINYL + Phone (But instead of the heart call, Mary buzzes on the intercom. Biggest c*ck block.)

Meanwhile, Sherlock has been on the train case with Molly (the John mirror). They discuss going out for chips (TLD Faith - We had chips.), and his helping a man put up shelves (have sex).

Fast forward…

John is saved from the bonfire, and comes around to 221B again.

John doesn’t understand, so Sherlock explains about deception. Two kinds of…(Sorry, distracted by the…

…*gratuitous booty shot*)

See, I’m staring you (the audience) in the face (while we’re investigating train carriages disappearing into…places).

Stag Night *booty shot with John standing behind him* Also, when Sherlock gets up and wipes the edge of his mouth, the transition goes to John’s mouth in the jail.

Leather seat…sleep…

T6T

Two different kinds of vinyl.

Yes, but he was a student (a younger person, but he’s a Sherlock mirror). Sherlock doesn’t have a car in TLD, so Mrs. Hudson suddenly does, and is his transport when his own breaks down. She delivers him directly (as opposed to straight) to John, because Molly won’t do.

Vinyl’s cheaper than leather. (Accepting a poor substitute will never go well.)

John explains that Charlie had been dead for a week.

John: I’m going to make a deduction…Happy Birthday. Cake is obligatory. (TSoT: according to Janine, sex isn’t obligatory).

Mary, who came to tell John when he had new patients in TEH, and use the intercom. She miraculously knows about the two kinds of vinyl, because (speaking of Janine)…

Fast forward…John and his phone (heart and Mary might be picking up what is happening?)

John’s mobile sounds, and we see this split screen with bathroom where John shaved for Sherlock.

The vampire (Sherlock was patterned after Lord Byron, who was the pattern for Dr. Polidori’s The Vampyre, which was then used for Dracula) and John are texting, and Mary is mentioning crying.

Mary says, “I know,” to Rosie right before the “I know” appears on John’s screen, rather like in MHR when Sherlock appears to be replying to John on the DVD.

ASiP Sherlock: It’s been in the same pocket as keys and coins. The man beside me wouldn’t treat his one luxury item like this, so it’s had a previous owner. (In ACD canon, this deduction was made about Watson’s watch.)

THoB

Just like Moriarty, but Henry says his father was torn apart (and we know Henry is a Sherlock mirror-same clothing colors as everyone except Molly in S4, he smokes, suppressed childhood trauma at age 7, etc, etc, etc).

Train again…

Disappointing breakfast and black coffee (with two sugars?), not tea. How very heteronormative of you, Henry. (Not Hamish)

John gets the girl’s number, but is more interested in (S)topping. John doesn’t use the train anymore or ride his bike, but we don’t know why. Mary might still have the car…

John changing his mind from the girl that was across the aisle that fancied him, E aka Euros. Also, the “I’m not free” part is a direct lift from TPLoSH, when Holmes first mentions that he and Watson are together. Have been...for five years, the same length of time since Moriarty met Eurus, since Christmas was canceled in ASiB, etc.

Route 59 was extended in 2007, which coincided with the relocation of the Euros(tar) terminal. Route 159…Henry’s napkin.

But, you waited too long to remember what would make you happy, and to fix the situation.

But, John already did his crying in TLD after telling someone he wasn’t free, so who could this be about, hmm? Moriarty, the one whose body was never found, dressed like Sherlock…

Again, referencing TPLoSH via Queen.

Just like in TEH when Sherlock and Mycroft go from playing Operation with the broken heart to making deductions, we’re going to play a new game, a different game…

If you want to use the phone (your heart), you’re going to have to work for it.

Then they get down the Chekhov gun, and we get this little gem…

Mycroft, the brain and tradition, is refusing to comply.

John has no such compulsions. He has his own version…

Early release…camera shows up John, then Sherlock, and then

…another gratuitous booty shot.

Fast forward through Sherlock and Eurus playing the duet, and the boys cleaning up 221B to John using his phone (heart) to call Sherlock.

After leaving Shutter Island, he uses the land line instead of the mobile. Also, notice how clean the flat is here, as compared to when Mary was inside of it. (The flat symbolizing the state of their marriage, just as the Welsborough’s home was a bit outdated, but still clean, and they were so happy.)

Transition scene to putting in Mary’s DVD: PROGRESSIVE SCAN OPEN/CLOSE - CLOSE

They put in the DVD from Mary, and she says, “PS…”

Because except for punishing Mycroft for being bad, we’re back to the two men we always had, the two good men. Also, the people that helped you, will be rewarded by being allowed in 221B (see linked meta).

The reason John started his blog in the first place, wasn’t for the credit or the legend. He and Sherlock don’t care about that, and never have.

Tagging people involved in the two kinds of vinyl conversation from this past weekend, and some usual suspects @smoljohnlock @monikakrasnorada @mrskolesouniverse @victorianfantasywatson @swimmingfeelsinajohnlockianpool @antisocial-otaku @johnlockiseternal @tendergingergirl @sherlockshadow @kateis-cakeis @princesse-des-lucioles @sarahthecoat @may-shepard

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bassfanimation · 7 years

Text

The Secret Girlfriend Theory

Before anyone chortles at the title of this, please bear with me. It’s something that, I think in the ending of the Sherlock series, actually makes sense if I had to dissect his relationships with women (romantically speaking).

Since so many people have enjoyed the “I Love You: A Man’s Perspective” post, I also had a great talk with my hub about this new theory of mine, and again, his interpretation from a man’s perspective is really interesting. We also had a very personal talk, which opened my eyes to something I didn’t know about him before. I’ve asked if I can include it here and he’s totally cool with. He’s also completely amazed that people like our banter, but mostly he likes that it’s opened up new avenues of discussion in the fanbase. I’ll denote in the post between our views for clarity.

A small disclaimer: this is merely my (and some of my dude’s) own personal view, coming from our own worldviews and experiences. In no way am I writing any meta, thoughts, or opinions that are meant to invalidate anyone else’s reading of the show or characters. Everyone can have their view and their story, and it’s ok. These are just ours. Art and media is open to everyone’s interpretations.

This is another long one folks, so take a potty break now!

In The Final Problem, Sherlock had to say the most painful words he’s had to say throughout this entire series: “I love you.” What’s worse, he had to say these words in front of the two people he has most wanted to impress in his life: John and Mycroft. I think them being in the room with Sherlock for this test was highly, highly significant.

Sherlock has always been like the Wizard of Oz, which I wrote something back a while ago. I’m not sure if I can find it though as I think it was on the end of someone else’s post, but I might be wrong. Anyways, Sherlock make believes he is a larger than life figure in front of literally everyone, but none moreso than John Watson, and his brother Mycroft.

With John...John is Sherlock’s #1 fan. Sherlock wants John to believe he is the ubermensch. He’s Superman, literally. Even Moffat and Gatiss have stated things that lead you to believe they too thought of Sherlock Holmes as a comic book hero. To young boys, he is just that. Sherlock, in turn, thrives off of John’s adoration for him and his skills, he clearly eats it up. Most immature, childish people crave attention, and Sherlock is the picture of immaturity at the start of this series. Because of Sherlock’s need for John to see him as this super-intelligent, amazing man, he has to hide a lot of the more ‘human’ aspects that he has deep inside himself. It’s why John thinks he’s a “machine”, early on. Sherlock, in effect, cannot let John Watson see how the sausage is made. (no dick jokes now, this is a clean post, you can send me dick jokes later tho)

Next, with Mycroft, it’s very obvious as to why Sherlock hides all his feelings even more around his big brother. With John, Sherlock is Superman. With Mycroft, Sherlock is only a child, and he makes this very well known in how he talks to and treats him. He taunts Sherlock constantly about sentimentality. He mocks love, he cares nothing for feelings, and he uses the mere notion of Sherlock “feeling” against him. Any sort of emotion Sherlock has he absolutely cannot let Mycroft become wise to them. I like to believe that Sherlock actually idolizes his big brother, and loves him deeply (we see in the family videos). He’d never show it of course, because to show it would mean Mycroft would probably roll his eyes at him and Sherlock, until this point, couldn’t handle that.

Now, let’s take a good look at the women in Sherlock’s life (that we know of) who’ve had even any inkling of romantic or sexual attraction with Sherlock.

Irene Adler. Even as a Sherlolly shipper to the grave, I will never deny Irene and Sherlock’s very real attraction. Gatiss has stated Irene and Sherlock were “made for each other”, and he’s right, in a specific way. BC has stated that he truly believes Sherlock and Irene had a night together (that means sex, to be indelicate about it, heheh) after he saved her. Now, technically that’s not canon, as canon only pertains to what happens on screen. But, if the actor that’s playing the character has imagined that in the character’s backstory, and is playing that character with that in mind, then I feel it’s so close to canon it might as well be. *shrug* Anyways...there was an intimate, sexual love affair between Sherlock and Irene...with one very interesting aspect that spans across to other women, later: it was a secret, until now. More on that later.

Sherlock never allowed John to know that he knew Irene was alive. Sherlock purposely kept Irene’s existence as a connection to himself as secret from everyone. From John, to Mycroft, to literally anyone, even Molly Hooper, of course (though I like that Molly never considered it a secret, she deduced it pretty clearly when Sherlock ID’d Irene’s body despite her face being unrecognizable). We see in TSoT that Irene appears inside Sherlock’s mind, naked, and seductively touching his face. Irene Adler is a secret, but she is firmly, undeniably still part of Sherlock’s life, his dreams, his lust, his admiration...all of that. But she is his secret romance. Again, I’ll revisit this in a bit.

Janine Hopkins is up next. We don’t meet Janine until TSoT, which is also where Irene Adler pops into Sherlock’s mind, AND Molly Hooper is present and shown in contrasting ways to Sherlock more than a handful of times. All three of these women are making a very bold impact in TSoT, which is the episode featuring John and Mary’s wedding. For me, that is no coincidence. Mary also is playing a hugely impactful role, but not a romantic one. Many JLers interpret TSoT and the women in it as Sherlock struggling with his losing John because he’s in love with John. It’s totally fine if you want to see that. For me though, I think it’s the opposite. We have Irene inside Sherlock’s head, nude. We have Molly Hooper, who is now engaged but keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Sherlock (not to mention him peeping into the frame from behind as Molly’s kissing on Tom). And we have Janine who is actively looking to hook up with a man at the wedding. She’s a sexually mature, sexually available woman who has a pretty clear agenda. I rather loved that about J, she’s awesome. I’ll come back to that with a thought from my hub, later.

Now, Janine and Sherlock actually get on really well. They laugh together, Sherlock tries to impress her a bit, he goofs off with her. They have a really nice rapport, yet still she ends up dancing with someone else at the end of the wedding. We see her with another guy, we see Molly unfortunately chained to ol’ Meat Dagger McGee, Mary dancing romantically with John...and Sherlock goes off, alone...as Molly watches, helplessly. (damn that made me cry)

In the very next episode, His Last Vow, we see that Sherlock is actually dating Janine. Most of us knew that it was under false pretenses just because of the canon ACD story where Holmes fakes an engagement. The important part to notice is that In the first part of the episode, Sherlock has a near meltdown when Mycroft approaches his room, where Janine is sleeping. He physically threatens Mycroft to get him out of 221B and away from nosing about. He’s hiding a secret.

After Mycroft leaves, Sherlock goes to take a bath, and Janine then comes out of his bedroom, wearing one of his shirts as her pj’s. John is utterly gobsmacked, reflecting us, the audience, as we’re feeling the same. Janine then proceeds to act like a typical ‘girlfriend’. Sherlock eventually comes out of his room fully dressed, and the two put on a show in front of John that looks very normal, despite the audience knowing it’s bull. I think all of us remember the very awkward kiss Sherlock and Janine share that made all of us sort of recoil, because it felt unnatural. I know there’s about 10,000 meta pointing out that this means Sherlock is not into women, but I think there may be another reason that kiss was so weird. My hub has a good take on it. I’ll also bring this back up later.

Near the end of HLV, when Sherlock’s lying in the hospital with his gunshot wound from Mary, Janine visits him there. Her revenge and her words here now have a new meaning to me than they used to. She says, “I know what kind of man you are, Sherlock Holmes.” Then we see the tabloid news paper where Janine has blabbed to the press about her and Sherlock’s highly voracious sexual relationship. “He made me wear the hat!”, one of the headlines says. Sherlock looks really defeated by it all, and Janine says he didn’t have to lie to her, that they could have been friends.

Putting the rest of the series together, Janine’s words, and her “revenge” have a new meaning for me. It lines up with Irene, AND with Molly. Sherlock Holmes’s private life has never been examined much. If anything, it’s remained very “off screen”. Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat drew a lot of inspiration for Irene Adler from The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. I think that right there is what makes me think Sherlock’s love life was, in the BBC version, “private”. It’s something he wanted kept out of the public view, his friends’ view, everyone. It was not for them to know about it, especially considering how closed off Sherlock’s own true heart really was. It was basically DEAD, as the coffin in TFP represented.

Now, for Molly Hooper. Loo Brealey stated in a PBS podcast interview that she got this feeling that there was a lot going on behind the scenes with Molly and Sherlock. It’s never out in the open, but the way they interact leads you to think there is something there. We’re not sure what, but it’s deliberately set up to be an ‘are they or aren’t they’ question. Personally, I found Eurus’s test to give us the definitive answer: they ARE. The reason I think this is true, is how it was all laid out. It was made to be A) in front of John and Mycroft, B) the words I Love You had to be said, and they had to be REAL, Molly made sure of that or she wouldn’t have said it back to him (also genius on Eurus’ part), and C) how she told him to say it. She said, “You say it. Say it like you mean it.” This just absolutely smacks of two people who have a “something” together, but neither has actually made it REAL, until now. Not only were they BOTH forced to make it REAL, but it wasn’t a SECRET anymore. Mycroft knows it, John knows it (fkin finally), Eurus already knew it because she’s a badass queen. Sherlock is now terrified, the most private part of his life is now out in the open. The coffin was smashed. Skadoosh, you have a heart and everyone knows it now, no going back.

I think Molly Hooper has always been Sherlock’s ‘secret girlfriend’ (I know how dumb that sounds but I don’t have a better term) because that’s the way it was supposed to be: out of our view. Sherlock Holmes doesn’t flagrantly date women like Bruce Wayne, he doesn’t go on publicly identified dates at all (can you imagine the paparazzi). His heart IS his most guarded secret, and I don’t mean the friendly love he shared with John. That was well out in the open from the first series. It was even featured in the newspaper, which neither was happy about. No one likes their life blared about and dissected by the public. Also they’re Holmes and Watson, it’s the most iconic love between two men ever. No, in this series...Sherlock’s heart was the thing he struggled most to keep under wraps. It’s the thing that he was most afraid of, it’s the thing that made him most vulnerable, it’s the thing he could not risk, not even for us, the viewers!

Back to some ideas between me and my hub.

My view of Janine’s revenge was meant to be a huge slap to Sherlock by saying, “Look what I did, I let the public think they’re in on your sex life. I told lies about the most private thing you can do with another person. I made it into a joke.” Janine made Sherlock’s heart into a JOKE, let that sink in.

Now, Janine also said she “knew what kind of man Sherlock is”. This line is hotly debated by fandom as to what that means. I thought that that meant she knew he was a lying shit, and also he didn’t want people to know him, or his private affairs, especially regarding his most guarded emotions. That’s why Janine stuck it to him good. He made her heart a joke, so she made his a joke right back. Also, the awkward kiss? To me, that was so awkward, because Sherlock didn’t love Janine...he loved someone else, he just didn’t know it yet. I think he was so stiff and weird with Janine because it really wasn’t genuine at all, and it made him feel terrible on some level that he was there, hurting someone else (Molly) by being with Janine. He was betraying the good man Molly thinks he is...big time. I think that’s also why he didn’t have sex with her. A lot of people use that as evidence that Sherlock isn’t into women, but in the context of the series as I personally see it, I think he was close enough to Molly at that point that he felt like he’d be betraying her horribly to sleep with another woman.

My husband, who I just talked to this morning about this, has a wildly interesting view of Janine and Sherlock, and why that felt so odd. My hub thinks that Janine scared the pants off of Sherlock. He has always viewed Sherlock as a normal guy, but also, he’s a nerd. He is an immature, extremely childish, inexperienced NERD. He said that a sexually experienced woman who is very comfortable with her appetites for sex probably scared Sherlock shitless. He said Sherlock is essentially a virgin, despite having most likely had sex with Irene Adler. He noted that Sherlock and Adler probably only were together after it was on his terms, not hers. He went to Adler to save her, he was in that control over her at the time, meaning the intimacy they shared was on his terms. With Janine, however, she held the advantage over him, big time. My hub also thinks Sherlock was still highly inexperienced with sex, so, that aspect alone would mean he may very possibly avoid being in a situation with Janine where he could come off as a horrible sex partner...much like young guys fear when they have no effing clue how to please an experienced lady.

My hub also said he feels Janine was Sherlock’s “tantrum”. He came back from his faked death and everyone had moved on. He expected John to just whip back into things. He expected Molly to still be there at his beck and call. We saw the heartbreaking stairwell scene. She had moved on from him. At the wedding, we see Molly looking at Sherlock almost the entire time, and she is staring daggers at Janine as well. My dude says he feels Sherlock probably saw all this happening and said, “Well fuck it, if they’ve all moved on, heh I can do that, watch me I’m going to make them all so jealous, because I’m a great big fucking child and I can show them *sticks tongue out*”. So, he tries, but it’s a woeful wreck. I find this reading insanely cute, and heartbreaking, considering Sherlock even says to Mycroft on the phone, “I’m not a child!” Yes, you still are, Sherlock. :(

Let’s circle back around to Irene Adler for a moment where I’ll talk about my views first. I see Irene as Sherlock’s secret romance. I do believe they had a something shortly after Belgravia, but I don’t think it lasted. I think it was a short-lived, hot, firey affair in which two people who suddenly came together, and fit sexually and intellectually, clicked like hell. Irene Adler was Sherlock’s absolute fantasy come to life. We have all had those people we’ve looked at and just oozed lust for. Celebrities, singers, you name it. We all have our own personal fold-outs. Hell I have a Sherlock standy in my office that my own husband gave to me, LOL! I’m a lustful cow and Sherlock is hugely sexy to me...but he is also a fantasy. An image. Sherlock is not who I’d spend my life with. Sherlock isn’t going to come home, cook me spaghetti, rub my back, listen to me cry, etc. That man is my husband, who I truly love and loves me back for exactly who I am. I think, from my personal interpretation, Irene Adler is Sherlock’s ‘standy’. He does have strong feelings for her, and he always will because he obviously was intimate with her, and I think she was his first “love”. She’s gorgeous, dangerous, mysterious, smart as hell, and even sexier than she is smart. She is the ultimate fantasy. His secret fantasy, which we ALL have.

My hub’s view of Irene Adler is slightly more simple in that to him, she represents Sherlock’s desire, his sexuality. She is the flesh’s fantasy, in the flesh! What’s neat though is that she was also highly, highly intelligent, which was also a turn on for Sherlock. In the end though, Sherlock is already a genius. Irene was much more about the flesh than the mind, in this particular adaptation. In the books, Irene Adler was much more of an intellectual foil, so this read on the BBC Adler is very much aimed at sex, specifically Sherlock, and his very obvious interest in sex (and not with men). My hub and I agree though, that we both think that Irene is who Sherlock thought of for sex...not what he actually wanted in love. The fantasies we all have, the porn we watch, the fanfic I read, hell...that’s all great fun, but it’s not who we really are inside. We don’t want our fantasies at the end of the day. We want love. We want honesty, softness, common interests, trust, reliability. Sex is the sprinkles on the cake. When we’re old and in Depends we want someone who smiles at us like we’re the most beautiful person on Earth.

On to Molly Hooper, and why I believe she was truly Sherlock’s ‘secret love’, his real love. Molly was there with Sherlock from the very start, and always, always, always shown in a romantic (and even sexual) context. Even when the writers used her as the butt of jokes, it was still in relation to her love for Sherlock (stuff it with your fake feminism, there’s a point to it). Her love was ever present.

Now, Molly was also there when Sherlock behaved at his worst. She was aware of his moods, his volatility, his childishness, and still she remained strong in the face of that. She saw his emotions even when he was sure he’d locked them away. John and Mycroft sure didn’t see them. Molly really knew what kind of man Sherlock was, only unlike Janine...she was okay with that. She didn’t like when he was mean, but she corrected him. She tried her best to help him be better, and he let her do it. What did John say about Mary? John said he wanted to be the man Mary thought he was. Sherlock asked Molly in TRF, “If I wasn’t the kind of man I think I am, would you still want to help me?” The answer was an unbending yes. Sherlock allowed himself to be made a better man in large part thanks to Molly Hooper, not Irene, not Janine. Mary was the love of John’s life. What would that make Molly to Sherlock? To me it’s very clear, maybe it’s my shipper goggles, I won’t deny I love them, but to me the parallels speak for themselves.

Talking to my husband, he said he’s always related heavily to Sherlock, and I had never known why until this morning. He recalled when we first met, how closed off he was. He often spouted out random facts and knowledge, so much that my grandma used to call him a “Know It All”. We had a hard time connecting as anything other than friends, because quite frankly, I thought he was cold. We had a big fight once, and I cried and I said that he never showed emotion. When I was happy, I wanted him to be happy with me. When I was sad, I wanted him to understand that I was sad, and to be sad with me. He was raised in a family where the men were kind of closed off. Oddly enough he also had wanted to be a forensic pathologist, LOL. But it took YEARS for him to open up to me, and me to him, cause I’ve had my own horrible childhood woes that have led me to be very scared of intimacy. YEARS. People kept asking us if were were a “thing” and we never knew how to address it, until one day he just asked what we were. It was at that point that we gave it a go, we became a “thing”. We still had a long, long way to go though. Long story short, we’ve been with each other in some fashion for 17 years. We’re still learning how to love and to be open. For men, it’s twice as hard to learn. It takes a long time for them to understand their own feelings, and even then they’ll find new ways to be confused, LOL. It is human.

I’ve always thought of myself as Molly Hooper; lonely, a little weird, strange interests, plain, and probably no one’s lifetime love. And now I know my husband has always thought of himself a lot like Sherlock Holmes; lonely, emotionally sensitive but closed off out of fear, often insecure, intelligent with facts but afraid of emotion, having to unlearn aloofness and to be ok with trust. Forever we were together, but not together. Everyone sort of saw us and thought maybe we were a thing, maybe we weren’t. Were we secret lovers and didn’t realize it? We didn’t even know for ages, until one day, you just open your heart. After that, you see what happens. For us, our love for each other doesn’t fit the typical mold. We’re not everyone else, but we fit perfectly with each other. Perfectly.

Molly and Sherlock also fit perfectly, especially if you view them as who they really are, as the kind of people they actually are. He was closed off, a nerd to the 9th degree, not very “normal”, messy, childish, moody, stupid a LOT of the time, and not very popular with anyone. She was lonely but open, also a nerd to the 9th degree, not very “normal” herself but she didn’t care and didn’t pretend to be, had a sadness in her that she tried to turn into a smile for others, ignored but accepting of it, overlooked by everyone (except by one person), not very popular with anyone yet one person still came back to her time and time again. I find the stairway scene extra telling now, considering it was Molly trying to be “normal”, stating her and Tom have a dog and they go to pubs with friends...then as Sherlock insinuates that not every man she loves can be a sociopath, she whispers to herself, “Maybe it’s just my type”. Girl does not fit into any “normal” mold whatsoever, just like Sherlock doesn’t fit into a mold of any sort. I love that so much about them, it kills me, because I relate so much.

Molly and Sherlock are like me and my hub. The secrets that you don’t realize are there, right in front of you. Sometimes, people don’t even know what they feel. Sometimes it takes years, a crushing event, hell even a drunk night of Mario Kart and tamales. You just know when you know that you love someone. It’ll hit you like thunder and it’ll scare the shit out of you. That’s why I, and my hub, think Sherlock really did mean what he said to Molly, and that he’s known on some level for a very long time that she was the real deal. She’s not his standy. Not his foldout. Not an experiment.

Molly as Sherlock’s real love might have been a secret before, but now she’s real, and his love is real for her too now. It became real in front of John Watson and Mycroft Holmes, the other two most important people in their circle. The coffin that Sherlock obliterated in front of them? That’s the secret being destroyed. The love is revealed. Their love may not fit a mold, it may not be the kind of relationship you think of when you think of ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’, but it doesn’t have to be like everyone else’s relationships. These two people fit in their own way, and I think Molly has always, always been okay with that. Similarly, Sherlock knows she’s okay with that. Their realness is theirs to make it their own. You can’t go back to be a secret once you say “I Love You.” That is as real as it gets.

#Sherlock #Sherlolly #Molly Hooper #The Secret Girlfriend Theory #long post #extremely long post #like holy shit this took me forever long post #me and my dude talk about nerd love #and how it manifests #yay emotionally closed off people learning how to not be closed off #to us the entire series of Sherlock makes perfect sense like this #but we're just us #and everyone is always free to see how they want #this is just our way #please enjoy!

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penelope1730 · 7 years

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I Want To Break Free: Or How Sherlock got his groove back.

So, did anyone else think that Jim Moriarty's playlist song - Queen's "I Want To Break Free" - might have been intentionally introduced as one of the metaphors for The Final Problem? As well as Sherlock and Molly? Honest to God, I never thought, in a bazillion years, I'd end up writing a song meta. I love music, surrounded by musicians & music - but a meta? Who woulda thunk....

There's some spectacular metas floating around that go into incredible detail about the Sherlock and Molly set-up (excellent reading, btw), but this song, more or less, sums it up in a nutshell. It truly is a mixture of fears, thoughts and feelings that have been exchanged between these two characters since the very beginning, including within themselves. It couldn't have been more perfectly and surreptitiously placed in this episode. Especially as it's introduced by a crazy mofo.

The focus of love, unacknowledged and unrequited, has always zeroed in on Molly. As she's pretty much the only 'real life' relatable character in this fictional world (aside from Lestrade), one of her functions has been to humanize everyone in the story, although primarily Sherlock. Yes, I know John's important, but this isn't about John, so let's just save focusing on him for another meta.

From the first episode to the last, Molly's scenes and dialogue are 99.9999% with Sherlock. And the two scenes that weren't with Sherlock were directly about him. One of those scenes was to purposely inform the other characters regarding his deeply emotional nature and to pay attention (TSoT). The other scene was to inform the viewing audience on the expanded intimacy of their relationship (HLV). Intimacy, in this particular case, is not demonstrated via romantic attachment, but that of evolved trust and friendship.

Love, romantic or otherwise, can't exist in a vacuum. At least not forever. That's not the nature of Love. Eventually it has to be set free and this is something we've directly seen Molly struggle with. We've witnessed her feelings mocked; we've witnessed her innocence broken along with her trust shaken and shattered; we witnessed her attempt to focus her heart elsewhere and when that failed, we even witnessed her use of distancing by focusing on the practical, yet unconditional, elements of love. She has always found a way to pick herself up and move on in the healthiest possible way. Always. But, and this is a big BUT, in our distraction of focusing on Molly, many never really saw (shipper goggles set aside), that Sherlock was stuck in the same vacuum.

Both characters, Molly and Sherlock, have needed to set themselves free. Not only from their respective 'prisons' that have prevented free expression with one another, but the lies they've told themselves, and each other, which sustained emotional bondage.

I really dig this passage from the book, A Course In Miracles:

"The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite."

Fear, in this case, has been the gatekeeper of the biggest lie. It truly is the final problem. Breaking down all those barriers to love's presence. But, it's also the message behind Queen's "I Want To Break Free." It can be so easy to look upon another and see their lies, game playing or self-denial. Not so easy with ourselves, however. Life has sorta trained us to look outside of ourselves for the causation of pain, leaving us beret of personal accountability and culpability of our choices.

I could make this strictly about romantic love, but it's more than that. Romance is just one of the many avenues in which love can be expressed. Love, itself, is profound and indelible. Choosing to allow, express and receive love with another being is so much more than flowers, kisses, midnight pillow talk, and sex. It requires not only the ability to be vulnerable and authentic, but understanding of the Self. Truly, we cannot hope to extend love to another if we have no concept of who we are, what we're about, or capable of.

Criminally insane and batshit crazy Jim Moriarty gave us two bold clues about the very long game that was being played out via his soundtrack.

The first was about himself: Staying Alive (Bee Gees, 1977). It was tough for him. Suicide has never been a shy theme in the SHERLOCK series and Jim Moriarty sought what he believed was the ultimate freedom: Death.

The second was about Sherlock's life: I Want To Break Free (Queen, 1984) from lies. The Final Problem showed us that Sherlock, from a very early age (4 yrs old), chose a revisionist history over acceptance and allowance. If he didn't like something personal to him, he'd re-write the story. In many respects, this is actually a really healthy thing to do. If we want to change a condition or circumstance in our life for the better - telling a new story is a good way to begin. However, when it involves suppression and self-denial - even when it's roots were justifiably based in trauma or self-protection - it will eventually erode into attrition. Cognitively, the use of this application, over time, will create a sort of dissonance. With Sherlock, it no longer protected him from trauma - the event had long passed. Instead, it created a different kind of trauma by emotional crippling.

Honestly, all of this has been said before, and more eloquently, in other meta's (go read 'em), but the 'I Love You' and 'coffin' scene are clearly represented in 'I Want To Break Free.'

"But life still goes on; I can't get used to, living without, living without, Living without you by my side, I don't want to live alone, hey God knows, got to make it on my own, So baby can't you see I've got to break free."

In ASiP, Mycroft told John Watson that his therapist got it wrong. He instructed John to fire her. John wasn't traumatized by the war, he missed it. For as brilliant and remarkable as Mycroft is, unfortunately, he got it wrong by misunderstanding the intention and meaning of "I Love You." It's perfectly understandable that he would. Love is something he denies himself, even though it's something he desires. Mycroft thought 'I love you' was about someone who loves Sherlock. And, in one respect he was right - it was the clue that Sherlock knew would bust open a fixed decision. And what this particular test was about. If you recall, it was "Vivisection" - the opening of Sherlock so he would recognize, as well as those present, how he really works... and expose what's going on behind that immutable facade he wears. Ouch! Bet he didn't wake up that morning thinking, "Today's the day!" No. He was laid bare and vulnerable - all his arrogance and superiority crushed with three little words - because the I Love You wasn't about who loves him, it was about who he loves. Ironic how he foretold us this in The Lying Detective:

Your life, once it's over, it's not you who'll miss it. Your own death is something that happens to everybody else. Your life is not your own.

Of course, he was talking about suicide (and Mary's death, which he's grieving), but the point he makes remains valid. Our death is a long term event that will be experienced through loss and grief by those who love us and miss our physical presence. It will be experienced through memories, possessions shared, voids where our life used to stand - but it will also be missed through - "So many days not lived, so many words unsaid, etc, etc, etc." It might be a difficult fact to face, but when we're dead, we're no longer concerned with all the earthly, mundane affairs. We're soaring through the clouds, re-emerged with non-physical energy and the Conscious Mind. It's those we leave behind who will be thinking about all the things they never said, but wished they had. They will be thinking about all the things they wished they did, but never got around to. They will think about all the lost moments, never to be retrieved. That's what grief is relative to death. Irretrievable loss. It's what my neighbor is currently going through right now...his wife of 35 years passed away on Christmas day.

As a counselor, I speak with thousands of people - directly and through workshops. The primary questions people ask about their loved ones who've re-emerged into non-physical are not about "Why didn't they leave a will?" Or, "I hope they rot in hell." Instead, they are always about, "Are they okay? I never got to say good-bye. Do they know how much I love them? I never said I Love You. I never said it enough. I always thought we'd have more time. How do I move on? I don't think I'll ever be okay. This isn't happening, it doesn't feel real." These are actual concerns the grieving confront upon the death of someone they love, especially as they move through despondency and depression. The dead don't place a golden plaque on a coffin that says 'I Love You.' That's what their beloved does.

If you've ever read Harry Potter, Dumbledore sums it up pretty cool, too:

"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love."

We'll never actually know exactly how Sherlock and Molly went about resolving this whole thing. That's what imagination and fanfic is for. But, like Sherlock, Moffat and Gatiss don't have a problem saying: "We'll leave you to your own deductions." Since clues are like gold in this show, Molly's effervescent smile at the end sums it up nicely: They Broke Free.

#sherlolly #molly and sherlock #mollock #sherlock #music #Queen #meta #sherlock meta #love #grieving

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mytvlovelies · 7 years

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The Final Problem, just a little perspective:

Now don’t get me wrong, I am aware whole heartedly that this issue, and this series had its many issues, and we didn’t get the ending we were hoping for/had reason to believe was coming. I also love this show and even though I don’t have a very prominent presence, I obsess over this and Johnlock has been the only thing I looked forward too for months; I watch the show with my sister who is a casual and I lot really helped me see it without just sheer betrayal.

With that all said this episode was good (not what we were hoping for and not fitting to the mood of the show currently) but good. - What I think Moftiss was trying to accomplish was bringing the show back towards its roots, of it being John and Sherlock solving cases together like in season 1. This was a series of cases (with a personal touch) that they had to solve in order to regain a normal, in their sense of the word, life. - And what the point of Eurus’ ‘game’ was to get rid of Sherlock’s emotion and sentiment. She was jealous of Victor and the fact that she couldn’t make that kind of connection with someone, so make Sherlock ruin his relationship with Molly, make him choose who to kill b/w sentiment and logic, which she thought he would choose to keep Mycroft, the logic, but instead he chose sentiment for them both (which was a good sherlock moment - This was also clearly meant as redemption for John. Many, or most, have spent that last two so begins upset with him, with good reason, and it wasn’t till the end of TLD that John was getting back in good graces. In TFP John has fallen back into to his true soldier mode, giving a nice touch to the ep of again sentiment vs logic like way beck when. He is back to being a protector of Sherlock when he realizes what wrong with the prison, he was most concerned about Mrs Hudson when the germane was there cause he care most about others and the entire time he was willing to sacrifice himself for whatever was needed. - Now the ending itself was very ambiguous, and I think that was intentional as well. This ending allows for it to either have a 5th series or for that to be the end of it. With that said, if this is the last ever episode and there is no series 5 then it becomes a little more disappointing because of the quality of the ep, but they wrapped it up for us still. This ep is a lot more enjoyable if there is a fifth because it allows for the fifth to be anything, not constantly having draw backs, it allows for John and Sherlock to be anything, there relationship is fixed and clearly growing, so I believe there is still hope for us;) (even if this is veiled as the biggest queer bait and let down) – John and Sherlock’s relationship truly does still have potential, simply because they didn’t have to kill Mary. If this was the end with nothing for those two in mind, why not let her live, why kill her off. Sherlock and John’s relationship never really got fixed after TRF, they were still hurt and unresolved issues and then TSoT and the Wedding/Marriage didn’t help, only managed to separate them further, but once Mary was gone TLD was an entire ep about fixing their relationship. They are finally back to a healthy state with (mostly) everything on the table. That’s why in TFP their relationship was just as it was before, but not being over played. But they can be in a happy healthy relationship now because of TLD and it was witnessed at the end of TFP #parentlock. Mary’s final dialogue at the end was simply saying that too, that they as a pair are back and stronger with room to grow stronger still, and if they do or they don’t it’s still the two of them. IF there is series five, I think there is hope. -Finally, I feel like everyone went into it with the exception of it to be terrible vex of the last two days but if you were to but that out of your mind, there are some pretty amazing things in this episode (in literally NO ORDER AT ALL) - the fact that Sherlock’s best friend as a child was a mini John Watson - John Watson willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good and so Sherlock wouldn’t have to shoot his brother - Mycroft intentionally being a dick so Sherlock would shoot him instead of his best friend - John's sad little lip bite when Mycroft was telling Sherlock to shoot him -John'a face when he thought Sherlock was gonna shoot him self - Mycroft’s cane sword gun - Sherlock asking if John would be able to call Rosie - Lady Bracknell - the fact that Sherlock playing himself is what he played in ASiB (which theory connects to john ;) for those who know what I’m talking about @quietlyprim) - All Things Jim Moriarty - “I Want to Break Freee” - the violin duet was cool (idc what context) - a good character story, for Eurus and Sherlock - that Mystrade moment at the end - Greg being shocked when Sherlock used his name - Sherlock Holmes is finally a Good Man - rebuilding 221B Baker St., especially the smile - SHERLOCK HOLDING ROSIE AND MOUTHING 'DADDY’ - Sherlock saying John is family - Mrs. Hudson still telling Mycroft how it is - “Still had ten minutes to go” (johns joke about the end of TLD - and if you still hate it after all this, the irony of looking at the screen when Mycroft says it’s all his fault and seeing Moffat and thinking “Yep it is”

Alll in all, I don't think we should give up, "I Know what you have the potential to become is like a beacon for the future, or at least whatever future we choose to interpret. So be pissed at Moftiss, be sad that the tv history made was the fastest decline ever, for the next few weeks months or so just take a step away from this mess created because what happened wasn't fair and our feelings out valid but don't give up on them completely. Sherlock and John, no matter who you ship or thoughts on characters, they are our "Baker Street Boys"

I hope this helps at least some of you enjoy the episode and not give up on the show… but feel free to be pissed cause I still am too

*also if not clear, I am a hardcore johnlock shipper but this post was meant for the entire fandom, with a slight lean towards them who I know feel this agony

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inevitably-johnlocked · 4 years

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hi, do you have some Johnlock shower sex fics (maybe bottomlock) ? thank you,love your blogs

Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: Καλημέρα (or good afternoon depending where your from😁) Would you by any chance have any fics of john and sherlock like showering together? It could be smut or not, I just think that showering with your s/o is kinda cute and they would be adorable 🥺 Thank You 🥰

Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: Hey, I was wondering if you have any fluffy bath-sharing fics?

Hi Nonny!

Aww, thanks, I’m glad you enjoy my blog!

AHHHH Okay so I know I have a tonne of fics with Shower Sex, but I haven’t started retagging fics until recently with this because someone asked me AGES ago with them, LOL

SHOWERING / BATHING TOGETHER

Through A Glass by Mildredandbobbin (M, 2,012 w., 1 Ch. || Voyeurism, Masturbation, First Kiss) – There is an adjoining door in the bathroom at 221B that leads into Sherlock’s bedroom. The door, from the bathroom to Sherlock’s bedroom, is made of three glass, semi-opaque panels. It has suddenly come to Sherlock’s attention that if he stands in exactly the right spot in his bedroom he can see through said panels, and more to the point, can see John.

Bathroom Accessories by Evenlodes_Friend (E, 3,324 w., 1 Ch. || Sex Toys, Butt Plug, First Kiss / Time, Romance, Horny Sherlock, John’s Patience Wears Thin, Humour, Bottomlock) – John discovers that Sherlock has been playing with some very adult toys in the bath.

Uninhibited by 221b_hound (M, 4,293 w., 1 Ch. || Bathing/Washing, Naked Cuddling, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Big Brother Mycroft, Relationship Negotiation, Massage, Sherlock Has a Low Libido, Pet Names) – Sherlock and John have been apart for the first time since Sherlock returned from the dead. Neither of them has had a good day. John's gets worse when Mycroft comes to Baker Street in Sherlock's absence to warn John Watson against disappointing his brother by expecting things to change. Mycroft has misjudged things rather badly. But finally he sods off and leaves John and Sherlock to reconnect, to give and receive comfort, and show each other that they are, indeed, perfectly matched. Part 15 of Unkissed

Linger by queenoftrivia (E, 4,879 w., 1 Ch. || Lingerie, Fluff and Smut, BJ / HJ, Switchlock, Sherlock in Lingerie, Come Play, Dirty Talk, Anal Fingering, Anal/Oral, Implied Shower Sex, Neck Kissing) – Sherlock decides to surprise John after a somewhat stressful day at work.

What Happens in Vegas (is legally binding in the United Kingdom) by moonblossom (E, 5,051 w., 1 Ch. || Accidental Marriage, Friends to Husbands to Lovers, CSI Crossover, Fluff & Porn, Bathtub Sex, Hand Jobs, First Time) – When a case sends the boys to Vegas, John comes out of it with a bit more than he bargained for. Part 19 of Prompt Fills, Remixes, Works inspired by others

The Bathing Habits of Dr. John H. Watson by scullyseviltwin (T, 5,077 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, Happy Endings, Domestics, Baths, Slice of Life Snippets) – The knocks come crisply—three raps and then a long span of quiet. Slumping down further, John makes every effort to ignore the intrusion and relaxes as best he can in the less-than-ideal space available. If he doesn’t move, maybe he’ll be left in peace. There’s a brief respite of silence and then, again, three more raps on the door, in faster succession this time, followed by, “John, it’s been an hour, how can you possibly—” “We agreed two, two hours.” There’s no room for argument; John’s tone makes that very clear.It sounds as though Sherlock’s mouth is pressed right to the door when he next speaks. “What if I need the toilet!?”

Just Like That by sussexbound (E, 8,442 w., 1 Ch. || First Time/Kiss, Frottage, Virgin Sherlock, French Kissing, Anal, Emotional Lovemaking, Enthusiastic Consent, Tenderness, Crying John, Bathing/Washing, Insecure John, Toplock) – John doesn’t want to talk anymore. He wants. Oh dear god, how he wants. For the first time in what feels like years he WANTS.

Johnlock Ficlet Collection by Irrevocably_Sherlocked (E, 11,505+ w., 16/? Ch. [WiP] | Random Ficlets, Pining, Angst, Fluff & Smut, Parentlock, AU’s, First Kiss, Character POV’s) - Just a collection of Johnlock ficlets, originally posted on my Tumblr page.

I'll Meet You in Hong Kong by alexxphoenix42 (E, 12,767 w., 5 Ch. || Freebatch RPF || Phone / Shower Sex, Infidelity, Polyamory, Bit of Angst, Cuddles) – Benedict and Martin's busy, busy schedules have them grabbing a few nights together in Hong Kong during Ben's Doctor Strange junket. They both have news to share. While this does pick up after the story "Forever 1895," you don't absolutely have to read that one to dive on in here. Part 2 of Forever Freebatch

A Hundred Thousand Ways to Say the Name John by Jberry (E, 16,825 w., 1 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Fake Marriage, POV John, Pining John, Cruise Ship, Angst & Fluff, Case Fic) – John Watson and Sherlock Holmes must solve a case on a cruise ship. To get close to the crew and passengers, they must get married for the case on the Baetica. However, their relationship hits rocky seas both due to the case and internal conflicts. Part 1 of Baetica

John Watson doesn't have a Boyfriend by naughtyspirit (E, 18,932 w., 7 Ch. || UST / URT, Fluff & Smut, Voyeurism, Masturbation) – John's date has gone very well. Sherlock requires tea. John wishes he hadn't resolved that their relationship was strictly hands off and isn't about to address it. Unless he has to. Smut, fluff and shower time for a naked John Watson.

Through the Clouds by Mazarin221b (E, 20,004 w., 6 Ch. || Retirement, Sussex, Bees, Home Improvement, First Time, Romance) – Sherlock takes a remarkably early retirement at 47, and convinces John that a change of pace would do them both good. They buy an old cottage on the South Downs, and exchange their nonstop life in Baker Street for quiet contemplation, bee studies, and book writing. They might go completely insane, but sometimes it takes stepping outside of the life you're living to find the life you want. Part 1 of Through The Clouds

The Whore of Babylon Was a Perfectly Nice Girl by out_there (E, 32,897 w., 1 Ch. || Past Drug Use, Blowjobs, Toplock, Mentions of Switching, Rough Sex, Background Cases, Sherlock’s Past, Sherlock’s Sexual History, Experienced Sherlock, Past One Night Stands, Fingering, Cuddling, Possessive Sherlock, Paris Holiday, Bed Sharing, Naked Lie-Ins, Bathing Together, Confessions, Worried Sherlock, Laying in Bed All Day, Meddling Mycroft, Naked Lazy Day) – Sherlock walks into a room and takes all the space right out of it. He does the same inside John's head.

Right Hand Man by SilentAuror (E, 42,031 w., 4 Ch. || H/C, Injury, Slow Burn) – When John's left arm becomes paralysed after a car accident, Mary asks Sherlock to take him back to Baker Street to recuperate, as she's about to give birth. Despite the fact that the search for Moriarty is ongoing, Sherlock takes John in and takes responsibility for overseeing his rehabilitation as he adjusts to the loss of his arm.

The Case of the Vanishing Pants by SwissMiss (E, 44,025 w., 6 Ch. || Five and Ones, Post-TRF, Case Fic, UST, Homophobia, Friends to Lovers, Pining John, Showering Together, Couple for a Case, Sherlock’s Bum, Fantasies, Jealous Sherlock) – Five times John and Sherlock lost their pants in the course of a case.

The Real Great Perfumers by shelleysprometheus (E, 45,355 w., 68 Ch. || Case Fic, Alternating POV, Gay Sherlock / Bi John, Canon Compliant with Divergence at TRF, Friends to Lovers, Oral / Anal, Pining, First Kiss / Time, Dev. Rel., Drugging, Body Worship, Bathing, Love Confessions, Travelling, Bottomlock, Cranky Sherlock, BJ’s, Alternating POV, Jealous John) – The case, this case. This extraordinary, fascinating, scintillating case. A house. Designed entirely by its eccentric owner, built by no less than five hundred expert tradesmen in the heart of Marrakesh. A house that had, seemingly not only driven its owner out, but also to his quite unpleasant death. And a perfumer, a chemist no less, the very thought of the secrets that house could reveal, would reveal was irresistible. Sherlock had to have this case ... and it seems, he also had to have John! Part 1 of the Forethought and Fire series

Guilty Secrets by Ellipsical (E, 55,086 w., 16 Ch. || Drumsticks, First Kiss/Time, Love Confession, Self-Sexual-Discovery, Anal, Rimming, Orgasim Denial, Butt Plugs, Cooking, Furniture Sex, Bath Sex, Rimming, Double Penetration, Prostate Massage, Anal Beads, Dancing, Romance, Tantric Edging, Internalized Homophobia, Case as Foreplay) – John has a prostate exam and discovers something surprising about himself. Experimentation follows. Sherlock wants to help. They're in love. You know the drill.

The Moonlight and the Frost by CaitlinFairchild (E, 77,289 w., 10 Ch. || Case Fic, Post-HLV, Self Harm, Virgin Sherlock, First Time, Oral/Anal/Rimming, Romance, Angst, Mary is Not Nice) – John has to somehow rebuild his life in the wake of Mary's betrayal and Sherlock's deceptions.

The Wedding Garments by cwb (E, 105,390 w., 36 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Alternate Future AU || Alternate First Meeting, Dating / Arranged Marriages, Romance, First Kiss/Time, Heavy Petting, Cuddles, POV Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn / Falling in Love / Dev. Rel., Nervous/Anxious Sherlock, Jealous/Cranky, Hiking, Vacation Homes / Honeymoon, Sherlock’s Family, Horny John/Sherlock, Patient John, Massages, Hand Jobs, Assassination Plots, Hand Jobs / Oral Sex, Case Fic, Emotional Love Making, Bath Time Fun) – This is the story of a young consulting detective who wants nothing to do with marriage and an army doctor who wants to find true love. It's 2020 post-Brexit England and the British government is encouraging arranged marriages. Candidates meet through state-run agencies and date in hopes of finding love (and tax benefits). Sherlock doesn't need or want a spouse, at least not until John Watson shows up. Hesitant to give in to his more carnal urges because of the way they derail his mind, how will Sherlock progress toward the more intimate aspects of a relationship? The answer lies in a very special wedding gift.

Two Two One Bravo Baker by abundantlyqueer (E, 114,574 w., 27 Ch. || Military AU || Afghanistan, War Story, Thriller, Switchlock, Rimming, Emotional Lovemaking, Lots of Sex, HJ/BJ’s) – Captain John Watson of 40 Commando, the Royal Marines, is assigned to protect and assist Sherlock Holmes as he investigates what appears to be a simple war atrocity in Afghanistan. An intense attraction ignites between the two men as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens everything they’ve ever known, but Sherlock is as much hunted as hunter, and everyone close to him is in deadly danger. Can he solve the case in time to save himself and John? Part 1 of Two Two One Bravo Baker Universe

Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #showering #bathing #my fic recs #Anonymous

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destinationtoast · 7 years

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Very Old Spicey

So, I liked a bunch about The Final Problem, and also was not impressed by a bunch. As usual, it’ll take me a while to sort through it all. But I have to agree with one of the friends who I watch Sherlock with, who said last week that the show had gotten increasingly like an Old Spice ad –

Look at your plot, now back at the plot that was actually hiding underneath. Look again, your therapist is now the woman you flirted with AND you best mate’s secret sister. Look down, back up. Where are you? You’re on a boat.

This week, they were literally on a boat.

A few rapidly dashed off reactions, with more to follow:

Paging Mark Gatiss – your love of cheesy horror has gotten lost and wandered into the wrong show

Why did Eurus go back to Sherrinford after being out? And why did they assume she had?

JOHN IS FAMILY <3 <3 <3 /dies happy

Mycroft as reluctant client yessssss

Eurus reprogramming people drove me nuts… way too supernatural. I liked a lot about her, but not that

Moriarty’s beach arrival was brilliant, as was his whole Sherrinford visit. I did miss him. Didn’t so much love all the video snippets, though. Some of them yes, but some of it didn’t add much

Gratuitous and pointless: 221b explosion (with no injuries?!), pirates, airplane scenario

Eurus’ game went on waaaay too long. I felt both tense and bored at times.

Why would Sherlock, John, and Mycroft believe the plane scenario was real? And why keep playing after writers Eurus proved she wasn’t obeying her own rules? They should have opted out much sooner

I hated Molly being used as a prop for a game, and being toyed with so cruelly. But I’ve seen some meta from Molly fans and Sherlolly shippers who enjoyed it, so I’ll need to read more and think about it. Glad Sherlock showed real awareness of her emotions and broke the coffin, though.

Mycroft trying to reverse psychology Sherlock into killing him. *sniff* And John being ready to sacrifice himself. so much good emotional stuff in this scene!

Poor Mycroft! Lots about him tugged on my heartstrings.

The use of repressed memories is a thing that could have bugged me a lot, but I actually liked them pretty well – I found the Redbeard wrap-up reasonably satisfying, (though what was up with the gravestones exactly? need to go back and rewatch.)

I didn’t as much feel satisfied by the “hug your sister and she’ll fix everything and then stop talking” ending. And the giant plot hole that with her magic powers she can do it all again.

Oh right I forgot there was a baby. ;P I feel like the whole point of the baby was to make a joke back in TSoT and then they didn’t know what to do with her – she was offscreen, conveniently forgotten, with mysterious friends. (And I’m still not interested in writing parentlock, so it’ll be AUs or distant future fics for me)

John and Sherlock redecorating the flat together and being happy and back together at 221B made me SO HAPPY. (Though I’m not sure it was earned… I more viscerally felt how much they cared for each other earlier in the series, I think. Dunno, need to rewatch the whole season and see.)

No wrap up of a bunch of loose ends that @finalproblem and I and others have come up with great fan theories about (surviving the fall, more about Mary’s motivations for shooting Sherlock, etc.) but I didn’t honestly expect any of that at this point.

Mary and Lestrade’s comments felt very final.

So, overall, a mixed bag. A lot of sending the viewers to look here and then there, and ratcheting up constantly without a lot of sense. But also a lot I really liked.

It is what it is. In spite of frustrations, I love so much about what the show gives us to work with, definitely including this episode. And there will be fic and meta galore to fill in or fix the gaps.

#sherlock #sherlock s4 spoilers #my stuff #all the thinkiness #first reax #tfp #old spicey #50

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ebaeschnbliah · 5 years

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KILLING THE BEST FRIEND

________________________________________________________________

After the events shown in Sherlock BBCs ‘The Final Problem’ it really looks like the connections between ‘the skull’, the ‘best friend’ and ‘sacrifying/killing the best friend’ are one of the most important components of the whole story. If not the most important at all. And on a metaphorical level it makes all the sense in the world too.

If you like, enjoy this idea under the cut …

Four cases, four characters, four different stories and each one circles round ‘the death of a best friend’.

a scientist (Frankland)

a detective (Sherlock)

a friend (anonym)

a sister (Eurus)

The Hounds of Baskerville

Little Henry witnesses how his father is murdered by Bob Frankland, his best friend. The scientist and Henry’s father are compared to Sherlock and John.

HENRY: Well, mates are mates, aren’t they? I mean, look at you and John.

For a subtext-reading I recommend @sagestreet ‘s ‘Follow the dog’ meta.

The Reichenbach Fall

JIM: Your friends will die if you don’t. SHERLOCK: John.

The showdown on Bart’s roof leaves two ‘dead’ men behind. Each of them forced the other one to commit suicide. And by doing this, Sherlock kills John’s best friend …. himself.

The Abominable Bride

EMELIA: Swiftly now. No Tears.

A ‘faithful sister’ asks an anonymous friend to kill her. This starts a war which divides ‘the world’ and lets loose invisible armies, raging furies, a monstrous regiment, a mysterieous cult ... subdued for a long time and not allowed to raise their voices.

The Final Problem

There are no dog bones in the well as expected. What emerges out of the water of the well is the skull of little Victor, who once had been Sherlock’s best friend.

In TFP the human skull in the hands of Sherlock’s best friend John, closes the circle backwards

to the skull on the mantlepiece in the living room of 221b Baker Street

to Sherlock, who introduces that skull as ‘friend of mine.’ and

to John’s question ‘So I’m basically filling in for your skull?’

The ‘skull’ and the ‘friend’ are merging into one another …. thereby connecting Victor, John and RedBeard. (More on that topic X)

And then, there is Eurus, the ‘other one’, the sister who supposedly put the skull/the friend in the well. Eurus, who wears a knitted cardigan very similar to John’s jumper. Another connection.

The ghost and the skull

a sister can be called a nun

a headless nun is a sister without a head, without a face, without a skull

Sherlock once had a case … code word ‘headless nun’

a headless nun can be a very effective ingredient of a ghost story

Sherlock accuses Mycroft … ‘You turned my sister into a ghost story:’

Sherrinford is the abode of ‘ghost sister’ Eurus

and in the well at Musgrave Hall lies a skull …

A headless ghost sister and a skull without a body. This still untold story seems to be all about some dramatic division in the past and because of that it almost screams for an end with a ‘reunion’ of skull and body. Of head and transport? Of intellect and emotions? Because ‘just a head’ - even the most cleverest one - isn’t able to exist on its own forever? And eventually the neglected ghost of a body, treated like transport, necessary but annoying, for far too long ….. awakens, begins to stir and demands to be heard.

In other words: .... a snowcaped mountain starts rumbling, becaus it actually is a volcano ….

“Sherlock Holmes, again, must have sexual impulses because human beings tend to -- most human beings, not absolutely all, but that's the majority. The fact is, he decides to put all that in an iron box to make his brain work better. Of course, the fact that that iron box bounces around and shakes and bangs from the inside is what makes the story interesting. He wants to rise above us like a snowcapped mountain, but he's actually a volcano, and that's where the story is. That's where the story is. You know, you shove Irene Adler in front of him, and he just falls apart like most men would.”

Steven Moffat on Sherlock (IGN interview, February 2014)

On a metaphorical level, what does Irene represent in this story? Sexuality. Irene is Mrs. Sex. I wrote about it in ‘Explosive ... it’s more me’. Jim Moriarty - Mr. Sex - represents Sherlock’s very own sex drive. Irene and Jim, both are gay and it looks very much like both are returning by the end of TFP.

Experimenting with metaphors

The metaphor creates the world - the time and place; the who, what, when, where and why. Metaphor literally means to "carry over," to substitute one thing for another. To describe one thing by means of another. To describe something that is unknown by the use of things that are known. (Metaphors in story writing and moviemaking)

Exploring the story told in Sherlock BBC has always fascinated me. And this fascination multiplied since the day I started to suspect that there’s maybe more to discover in it than the already highly interesting, coded subtext …. that even the surface level of that story might consist of carefully crafted metaphors used by the creators to paint a picture. The picture of Sherlock painting a picture inside of his own mind. A picture of himself.

SHERLOCK: Oh, hello again, Archie. What’s your theory? Get this right and there’s a headless nun in it for you. ARCHIE: The invisible man could do it. SHERLOCK: The who, the what, the why, the when, the where? (TSOT)

That this story isn’t only told from Sherlock’s POV but - for the first time in history - Sherlock Holmes himself has become the storyteller. And all the stories he creates and tells himself inside his head - on a mind stage - are presented through Sherlock’s own metaphors, acted out by different characters, clothed in varying costumes, hidden behind masks, some distorted, some made visble by mirrors.

The truth of the matter is that the underlying universal structures of great stories hide some amazing bits of wisdom concerning who we really are and who we were really meant to be, and what we can do to become fully realized human beings - but to keep these amazing hidden bits of truth potent and relevant, the metaphors that express them have to be constantly renewed and kept fresh - i.e. the underlying story and message stays the same but the costumes and other outer trappings have to keep changing with the times. (Metaphors in story writing and moviemaking)

Metaphors in storytelling have been used since humans are telling their stories. And inventing, creating or rewriting stories can also have a great healing effect that should not be underestimated.

In oral and written language, using the medium of picture imagery, metaphor speaks directly to our imaginative faculties, bypassing our rational brain. Such metaphoric byways and pathways enable us to explore the ideas, forces, and powers that lie behind or beyond our rational thought. Metaphors reach deep into our soul imagination and, simply stated, “touch our heart.” ... In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s book The Little Prince we learn a simple secret from the fox: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.” (Therapeutic Storytelling)

Basically, this is the advice that Ella Thopson, the changeable therapist, gives at the beginning of the story, in PILOT/ASIP: “.... and it will help so much to write about everything that’s happening to you.”

Metaphors of ‘change’

There exist some key metaphors to express change and inner transformations, that are present in the literature of all world cultures (X).

Transitioning from caterpillar to butterfly

Awakening from the dream of reality

Uncovering the veils of illusion

Moving from captivity to liberation

Purification by inner fire

Going from darkness to light

Moving from fragmentation into wholeness

Moving through life events as a journey or path

Returning to the source

Dying and being reborn

Unfolding the tree of our life

It seems that more than one of those examples can be discovered in Sherlock BBC.

The metaphorical killing of the ‘best friend’

As the saying goes: ‘Old skin has to be shed before the new one can come’. Before any significant change can happen, traditional opinions and views must be challenged, altered and overcome. In The Big Question I tried to work out the core problem Sherlock seems to be dealing with:

There is friendship and there is love, between Holmes and Watson. Ever has been … unchanged … for more than hundred years. I guess no one would deny that. But a loving friendship is not the same as a romantic and sexual relationship.

If the traditional relationship between Dr. John Watson, the ‘fixed point in a changing age’, the eternal ‘best friend’ of Sherlock Holmes should change into a romantic and sexuell relationship, it makes sense that on a metaphorical level:

first the facade needs to go

then the ‘best friend’ can be killed

to finally make way for the ‘lover’

And if this change comes to pass through Sherlock’s own investigations, deductions and conclusions, it makes also sense that it is Sherlock who sacrifices himself in his role as Mary/facade and then shoots John/best friend in his incarntion as Elsa/Eurus …. just as it happens at the end of TST and TLD.

Sherlock’s ‘I love you’ confession in front of a mirror, directed at a mirror, followed a little later by the statement of his former facade ‘I know you two; and if I’m gone, I know what you could become’ ... happens in the very next episode.

A fitting and promising developement of a story that deals with the reunion of intellect and emotion and the metamorphosis from ‘best friend’ to ‘lover’.

Nonetheless, S5 would be highly appreciated at this point. :)))

I leave you to your own deductions. Thanks @callie-ariane for the scripts.

January, 2019

@gosherlocked @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @possiblyimbiassed @spenglernot @loveismyrevolution @sherlockshadow @sagestreet

#the skull #the friend #killing a friend #metaphorical reading #filling in for the skull #killing the best friend

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katyagrayce · 7 years

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The Final Problem: my final opinion

I know that there are some fans, on Tumblr and elsewhere, who actually liked this episode. THAT’S OKAY. SERIOUSLY. You’re entitled to like whatever you want. It doesn’t mean anything other than that we have different taste in movies/different priorities when it comes to what we want from Sherlock, and that kind of opinion divide is pretty much inevitable with a show this varied and this popular. So if you belong to the TFP Fans Club, I want to clarify that I mean you no hate :-)

Personally, however, I did not like The Final Problem. My reasons included, but were not limited to: a) The disproportionally rapid, action-reliant and melodramatic storytelling, which wasn’t really consistent with the series’ tone so far. (This encompasses everything from that crazy Hollywood explosion to the fake cell Euros built for Sherlock - not to mention the the ‘video game’ set up of her puzzle system. Also, the age-old idea of throwing someone down a well. There were a lot of clichés at play in this episode). b) The suddenness with which Euros was introduced as a character, and the unfeasibility (IMHO) of Sherlock not remembering her at all. c) Speaking of unfeasibility - I also had issues with Euros planning the entire torture session in five minutes, building all of that underground lair, ferrying herself between Sherrinford and London so easily, getting everyone to Musgrave Hall/into their various cells so quickly, and getting John/Victor down that well without causing them serious injury. d) The oversimplicity of Euros’ psychological arc also frustrated me. I mean - there is loneliness, and then there is clinical psychopathy. They are two separate things. It’s true that there’s some overlap between the two groups, but not enough to pin all Euros’ behaviour on her being a scared little child with ‘no one’ to turn to - someone who later becomes 100% complacent just because she’s finally been hugged. Plus, when they decided to oversimplify Euros’ psychology Mofftiss basically dropped the chance to create a really complicated, really nuanced villain like Moriarty (remember all that amazing analysis about whether he wanted to beat Sherlock or just wanted the distraction, why he killed himself, whether boredom had driven him almost to the edge of insanity, etc., etc.? Euros doesn’t get any of those interesting conversations, mainly because she’s been automatically typecast as a ‘creepy loner child in need of attention.’) e) Speaking of emotional oversimplification - I also didn’t like the maximum emotional milking that Mofftiss brought to EVERY SCENE. Entire sequences, like Sherlock’s phone call to Molly and Euros forcing Sherlock to choose between Mycroft and John, seemed explicitly orchestrated to stir up audience feels as quickly as possible, instead of doing it slowly, skilfully and in-context (eg. I found Sherlock’s conversation asking for Molly’s help at the end of TRF much more feels-worthy than his phone call here, because it tied back to a conversation they’d already had about her ‘not counting’ and didn’t take place in a completely staged, high-tension situation.) f) And now for a big one - inconsistent character development. I feel that there were a lot of characters who acted quite OOC in this episode. First up, I think that John would have shot the governor. After all, he’s a soldier, he knows the pain of losing a wife, he’s very morally self-assured and he has killed before (see ASIP for evidence of the last two points), so even though he would have found it difficult I think he would’ve pushed through. I also think he would’ve tried very, very hard to talk Sherlock out of suicide, not just stood there dumbly and watched. Especially considering that he’d been prepared to die for him literally twenty seconds beforehand. Now for a second character: Molly. I understand that the scene with Molly was really effective for a lot of viewers, but - I wasn’t one of them. In TEH, it seemed that Molly was finally getting some character development beyond her crush on Sherlock - she recognised that he was using her as a replacement for John and cut that behaviour in its tracks, despite how difficult it might have been for her. In this episode, she spends every second on-screen looking totally lovesick, and proceeds to sacrifice her dignity just to answer a request that - from her perspective - must look a lot like either a cruel prank or a childish whim. The Molly we knew had grown beyond that - and, while I’m happy she survived, I’m not happy she had to fall apart to do it. Plus, what about that quick glance of her in the closing sequence when she pops into Baker St, smiling and seemingly totally okay? Did the phone call really have that low an emotional impact on her? To me, it just seems like a quick, lazy fix. And now, last but not least: Sherlock. This episode throws some spanners in what has been, up until this point, a very consistent and well-written subplot about his emotional growth. Throughout all the previous episodes we can track his ‘becoming a good man’ - he knows he’s hurt Molly in ASIB, he soothes a hysterical Henry Knight in THOB, he can talk down Major Sholto in TSOT and understands John’s grieving process in TLD. He even goes from subtly intervening in John’s suicide in ASIP to explicitly saving ‘Faith’ in TLD, which is an amazing example of how much he’s grown as a character. But in this episode - all of a sudden - he starts fluctuating wildly between ‘emotionally incapable’ and ‘emotional paragon’ when he shouldn’t really be at either end of the scale. The kind of man who can’t understand why Molly isn’t picking up, and who thinks “But it’s me calling!” is a valid excuse, can’t possibly be the same person who charms his sister out of psychosis with a hug and explicitly tells a DI that his brother ‘isn’t as strong as he thinks.’ Personally, I think that the episode’s latter actions are slightly more in-character for Sherlock than the earlier ones, but that’s not the point. The point is that this episode muddled a lot of very good character development back up again. g) A more minor thing, but - this episode was literally full of plot holes. Including, but not limited to, how the furniture in 221B possibly survived the blast, how Euros (an adult woman) sounded like a little girl on the phone, and how John climbed out of a well he was chained to. h) Another, less minor thing - ALL THE LOOSE ENDS FROM THE SERIES THAT THIS EPISODE LEFT BEHIND. Irene Adler was brought back into the picture, only for nothing to come of it. Rosie Watson was born and then featured for a grand total of two seconds after TST. Euros had a working partnership with Culverton Smith (? How did that exist while she was confined at Sherrinford?) that was neither explained nor justified. And, perhaps worst of all - this whole ‘final problem’ promised by Moriarty ended up being organised by someone totally different. i) And finally, one of the most disappointing elements of the whole episode - Mary’s final video. Put bluntly, it contradicted everything that I see the show as being about. Sherlock has always been very much about the two people behind the legend, putting the spotlight on Sherlock’s fragility and John’s dangerous addictions where ACD just smoothed them over with a Victorian gloss - ‘there’s always the two of them,’ as said in TAB, and the focus is on the relationship in between. But what Mary is saying in this speech is that nothing the show gave us apparently matters. Only the legend does. The ACD stories are apparently the important part. It’s a very, very demeaning way for the series to summarise itself, and it’s this, over anything else, that makes me suspect we might have a secret 4th episode upcoming.

Now, you might notice something - reading the above list. You might notice that I didn’t mention Johnlock. That’s right. I, personally, didn’t mind whether Johnlock happened or not. And it’s getting really frustrating seeing people dissatisfied with TFP get dismissed because ‘they’re just angry that their ship didn’t happen.’ There was a lot, a LOT wrong with this episode beyond the ship, and while it might be a valid reason for people not to like TFP (I’ll get to that in Point 4) it’s not the only one. Please, don’t write off some very legitimate, very reasoned disappointment as some kind of ship-driven whim just because you can.

Now, all that said - I have to add that the queer-baiting in the lead-up to this episode was absolutely horrendous. Like I said, I’m not a Johnlock shipper and always had doubts about it happening, but the trailer editing and publicity stunts - Sherlock saying ‘I love you’ right after the Culverton Smith ‘darkest secret’ quote, the flickering rainbow letters on the PBS TV spot, Benedict saying ‘Love conquers all’ and Amanda saying TFP ‘makes television history’ - all those things were pointing in one pretty obvious direction. Now, this wouldn’t be such a bad thing if it had happened with literally any other potential plotline on the show, but the thing about queer-baiting is that it exploits a highly vulnerable and extremely under-represented group - the LGBTQ+ community. It lures them in with something they sorely want and need - media representation - and then not only fails to deliver but thumbs its nose at their disappointment. It rubs salt into the wound. It’s cruel and not okay, and as an experienced partnership with one gay member Mofftiss should have known better. So, even if you think disappointed Johnlockers are ‘just being petty,’ you have to remember that the experience of being denied this ship can carry a lot of emotional impacts other ships don’t.

And, finally - there were things about this episode that I liked, even loved wholeheartedly. Sherlock calling John family. Their re-decorating the flat, and the two-second snapshot featuring a happy Rosie. Sherlock remembering Greg’s name, and Greg calling him a ‘good man’ (it was a bit on-the-nose, but still). Mrs Hudson sassing Mycroft about the kettle. Even the idea of Euros as a little girl on a plane was fundamentally a good one, if oversimplified, over-focused on and overdone. So yes - this episode did have its moments. And it’s not affecting my enjoyment of Sherlock as a whole, but still - that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Um... If you’ve read this far, congratulations! I didn’t mean for this post to get so long, but it feels good to have vented a bit :-)

#sherlock #s4 #the final problem #tfp #rant #long post #sorry for the long post!#spoilers #sherlock spoilers #tfp spoilers #original post

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