#I want an adaptation that really shows Watson's grief for Holmes

[mouse-of-mischief]

Whenever I come across an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes that I have not seen/read yet, I immediately think two things without fail:

1. I hope that they do Holmes and Watson's relationship justice and don't just make one a cold-hearted, unfeeling machine and the other one a gormless side-character or someone who just constantly scolds their partner

2. Oh damn, how do they handle The Fall...?

[thewatsonbeekeepers]

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

Do you get it? She’s his sister? But metaphorically, she’s a part of his soul? I was very impressed with myself for this title. Anyway…

This chapter of the meta is going to deal with the various times we meet Eurus before TFP and what this might mean, which will help us to understand who she is once we have stripped off the disguises.

Before series 4, we had real!characters and MP!characters set up as distinct entities, particularly in TSoT, which distinguishes between MP!Mycroft (the deducing brain) and real!Mycroft, as well as MP!Irene representing desire and real!Irene, who doesn’t come near the episode. The MP section in TSoT, for a lot of people in the fandom, broke down Sherlock’s psyche into MP!John vs. MP!Mycroft – and John is clearly winning.

However, I want to suggest that Sherlock’s psyche isn’t nearly so straightforward as a tug of war between the brain and the heart. Whilst MP!Mycroft undoubtedly represents the oppressively reasonable part of Sherlock’s psyche, that’s not the only thing repressing him – it can’t be. If it were simply a rejection of ‘sentiment’, this wouldn’t be the powerful queer love story we know it to be – there is a lot more internalised homophobia being dealt with than just love being illogical. That’s where Eurus comes in.

Eurus and Mycroft are parallel oppressive forces in Sherlock’s brain, but they’re oppressive in different ways. Having family members and childhood trauma be the psyche’s symbols for repression is particularly poignant in a queer love story, for obvious reasons. However, I want to take you through my reasoning behind Eurus being the most secret and troubled part of Sherlock’s soul.

The first clue is that her prison is called Sherrinford. We all assumed that the third Holmes sibling was going to be Sherrinford back before s4, and it seemed that way in the beginning, with Mycroft mentioning speaking to Sherrinford several times, construing it as a person rather than a place. This is no coincidence – for those who aren’t familiar with the history of the stories, Conan Doyle’s original name for his protagonist was Sherrinford Holmes, which he later changed to Sherlock. That Eurus is trapped inside Sherrinford is a clear suggestion that Eurus is something that’s trapped inside Sherlock – a dangerous MP entity. More important than that, Sherrinford is the version of Holmes that never made it into the books. Plenty of people have worked on queering the Holmes canon and working out what ACD might have been implying and leaving out and arguably none more so in an adaptation that Mofftiss. Let’s think about the implications of this. A kind of second self, not shown to the public, buried inside your mind and forgotten since childhood, which is bursting out into a moment of acute psychological distress. Gee, I don’t know what that could be about. The Sherlock that Sherlock thinks he is has thus far been dominated by MP!Mycroft, but this series is about uniting canon!Holmes with the non-canon, queer Sherrinford who has always existed, judging by the name, and who is currently dominated by the destructive MP!Eurus. The other important point to note here is that Sherrinford is an island in the middle of the sea – that’s not a coincidence, given how much water imagery abounds in this series. I spoke briefly in Chapter 2 X about how water represents Sherlock sinking deeper and deeper into his own subconsciousness – this is the deepest he can go. In Greek mythology, Eurus was the name of the wind most associated with causing storms at sea X – this isn’t a coincidence either. She’s very deliberately tied in with water.

(In real life terms, of course, all this means that a real!Eurus probably does or did exist in some form, although I can’t begin to hazard a guess about this. However, I’m trying to refer to her as MP!Eurus when she’s in her normal form in the MP, in case we get a series 5 with Sian Brooke as real!Eurus, and also to distinguish her from therapist!Eurus etc.)

This is my reasoning as to why MP!Eurus represents Sherlock’s innermost trauma. She is not merely the fact that he loves John – he deduced this in TSoT without her appearance. She is the trauma that he needs to come to terms with. A running theme through our analysis of Eurus will be that her gender is particularly important; her representation of Sherlock’s repression cannot be but as a woman, because for most of s4 he is only able to process his identity through the most heterosexual of lenses. We see this hinted at quite early on in TST, when Sherlock takes on a case called ‘The Duplicate Man’, warning John that it is never twins. The word ‘duplicate’ here, removing twins, leaves us with the only real possibility that it is in fact the same person. Eurus’s gender makes that more difficult to see; she needs to be female, but it’s much more difficult to elide the two characters without employing a Cumberbatch doppelganger. However, this hint that Eurus is not only male but an actual ‘duplicate’ of her brother should give us pause for thought. With this in mind, I want to use the rest of this chapter to analyse her three forms before TFP.

1.)    Faith!Eurus

I’m certainly not the first to point out that Faith!Eurus is a mirror for John, nor will I be the last – people jumped on it pretty much as soon as TLD aired. There are a few good reasons for this. Firstly, she walks with a cane, a throwback to ASiP – in case we’d forgotten, however, Sherlock has a flashback to John walking with a cane to make the link explicit. We are supposed to link these two characters, the authors are saying pretty clearly. Faith!Eurus is also suicidal, which John was at the start of ASiP, as made clear by the fact he carried a gun – and Faith!Eurus does the same. Sherlock also takes her out for food (for more on the food/sex metaphor, see here X) which he doesn’t with anyone bar John, and we certainly never see him talk so easily with someone who isn’t John. An eagle-eyed tumblr post that I can’t find now also broke my heart in pointing out that Faith!Eurus’s unseen self-harm matches long-sleeved John Watson a little too well.

This isn’t just the show trying to remind us of what John was like in ASiP, however. MP!Eurus is the trauma prodding Sherlock’s sexuality – it’s going to be hell to get through it, but he absolutely needs to do it. This is Sherlock’s trauma, not reminding him that John was suicidal, but forcing him to acknowledge it in the first place, something which Sherlock has buried. We know this because of the way the image of John forces its way into Sherlock’s mind – it’s much like the way Moriarty breaks into TAB. His brain is making a connection that he’s not quite capable of making and it’s knocking him. His deduction that Faith!Eurus is suicidal is accompanied by that image of John, and he then re-enacts the food ritual he completed with John the evening John left his cane behind, before throwing Faith!Eurus’s gun into the Thames – proving that it was Sherlock himself who stopped John from taking his own life.

This is trauma, however, and Sherlock can’t process it in full – hence why the image of John that breaks in is shaky, and Sherlock tries to push it out of his head. It’s also why Faith!Eurus, who in Sherlock’s subconscious could take any form, specifically takes the form of a woman. His gay trauma means that he first has to process John’s suicidal ideation in a heterosexual dynamic, before fully grasping and applying it to his relationship with John. (Chapter 9 X explains how that plays out over the rest of TLD in full detail.)

2.)   E!Eurus

Taking a jump back to surface level plot here, the first thing that grabbed me about E!Eurus was just how minor John’s flirtation with her was. In the terms of a television show which really rides on very high drama (multiple faked deaths and insane cliffhangers for a start), the emotional peak of John’s emotional arc with Mary being that he texted another woman – not went out for lunch, not kissed, not slept with – is bizarre, particularly when we know next to nothing about E!Eurus at this point. It’s incredibly anti-climactic as a means of John falling short of Mary’s view of him. Maybe we can accept it as in line with John Moral-Principles Watson, but it’s difficult to accept as in keeping with the nature of a show whose intent is nearly always to shock.

With this in mind, let’s delve back into the MP to see how that might give this moment greater emotional significance. Chapter 10 X is on the hug scene, and that will deal with John’s revelation of his infidelity in greater detail. For the moment, the most important thing to remember is that John Watson is not real!John – he is heart!John. In other words, we are seeing a similarly heterosexualised re-enactment of Sherlock’s relationship with John.

I will talk a lot in Chapter 10 X about how MP!Mary is linked to Sherlock’s compulsory heterosexuality; at the end of TST, Sherlock substitutes Mary’s body for his because he cannot conceive of John’s queer grief without breaking himself. This is interesting because the E of Eurus actually stands for Elizabeth in this scene (certainly in the credits, and possibly elsewhere, although I can’t remember Sian Brooke actually saying it). Elizabeth is Elizabeth is Mary’s middle name in BBC Sherlock, which looks like another of those shared name links our creators love so well. If so, this begins to justify how Sherlock’s heart is conceiving of its emotions. We will see in TLD that heart!John’s relationship with fem!John in the form of Eurus is aligned with Sherlock’s sexual desire in the form of MP!Irene. Both are hidden and exist only in texts – i.e., they cannot be spoken yet. But they will be.

 3.)    Therapist!Eurus

This one is perhaps the most straightforward on a symbolism level, but also possibly the most significant moment in the series. Therapist!Eurus, plain and simple, is Sherlock’s trauma prodding at John, interrogating him like a therapist would, trying to work him out – and largely failing, right? She can get basically nothing about how he feels about Sherlock out of him. But this is part of MP!Eurus’s ongoing project to get Sherlock to wake up – the Gay Trauma is interrogating John, trying to suss him, and failing.

Except, in the final scene of TLD, without the help of Therapist!Eurus, Sherlock has finally sussed John – it has taken until Culverton’s confession to recognise that John is suicidal without Sherlock (Chapter 9 X). The sigh of relief that is the hug scene (Chapter 10 X) is a kind of acknowledgement of that relief that he’s finally worked out what he’s been trying to cover up with drugs – so much so, that he misses the obvious, which is that John is suicidal again. When John leaves his cane with Sherlock in the hospital, it is a reminder of the first time he is suicidal, and Sherlock doesn’t make the immediate leap in his comatose haze that this is what his psyche has been trying to tell him. Hence you have this moment of immense relief and fade out at the end of the hug scene which suggests the end of the episode, and could feasibly end Sherlock’s life, except we’re started awake with a much more abrupt and troubling ending scene – Therapist!Eurus shooting John. Because, of course, if Sherlock is gone again, John must be suicidal again, and it has taken a few scenes of cognitive dissonance for this to clock. Indeed, it’s not Sherlock himself who clocks – Gay Trauma in the form of Eurus!Therapist returns and shoots John for us. This shooting isn’t, of course, permanent (in one of the worst cliffhanger resolutions in TV history), but that’s because it’s not real – it hasn’t happened yet. It is Sherlock, through MP!Eurus, finally recognising the problem – John.

This is particularly poignant in light of the opening and closing shots of TLD. Although there’s the fucky not-blood red that fills the screen at the end of TLD, apart from that the shots of Norbury shooting Mary and Therapist!Eurus shooting John are one and the same shot. It’s also a stylish shot (what I call split screen, but given that I never went to film school I think that’s just my name for it) and it’s repeated enough times over TLD that it’s pretty clear the creatives want it to be memorable. By the time John gets shot, then, we shouldn’t be caught up in the drama of it – we should be thinking, as so many did, “something’s fucky.”

And it is – but it’s brilliantly fucky! Head over to Chapter 7 X if you want to read about Norbury shooting Mary, but TLDR it’s a metaphor for Mary shooting Sherlock as understood from Sherlock’s warped and depressed perspective – and he’s finally realised what it means! The version in which Mary shooting Sherlock means John losing Mary (the Norbury version) is one in which John is sad, goes to therapy, and the world moves on. Now, however, that Sherlock has recognised that John was suicidal, he can also recognise that Mary shooting Sherlock will make John suicidal again – hence why it’s the same shot. Mary shooting Sherlock is the same as John dying – and the latter is much more important in Sherlock’s mind.

[It’s worth noting that the identical shots we see in TST and TLD don’t match the shot in HLV, although admittedly that one’s not in the MP – it does strike me, however, that the sounds are reversed – HLV sounds like a dart, whereas the MP shots sound like bullets. If anyone has any thoughts on that, do let me know – it has me flummoxed for the moment. If you want meta explaining why the shot from TST is the same as HLV, Chapter 7 is here X, and I’m certainly not the first to hypothesise this. For me, the TLD shot being the same is therefore a logical extension.]

[nellie-elizabeth]

Elementary: Reichenbach Falls (7x12)

I can't help but feel that this episode was slightly anticlimactic. Let's talk about it.

Cons:

Anybody who knows anything about Sherlock Holmes knows what "Reichenbach Falls" means. So honestly it's a little insulting that they tried to fool us for even one second with the idea that Sherlock might really be dead. When they did the "reveal" that he had fled the country, I sighed and rolled my eyes. They did that thing where they kept him off-screen for as long as possible so we'd all be "surprised" at the last second. But like I said, was there really a single person watching the show who was surprised by that twist?

It's also patently obvious that Joan was in on the plan. There's that moment when Sherlock says they have to "plan a murder of their own" and it's supposed to be a trick, like we think Sherlock and Joan are planning Odin's murder. But obviously he's talking about the plan to fake his own death in order to frame Odin for killing him. I just don't want to waste any time in next week's finale hashing out the details of this ridiculously obvious plan.

Doing the Sherlock Holmes death fake-out thing is a classic of adaptation. I don't begrudge them for putting their own spin on it, and as I will discuss below, there were things about this version that I actually really enjoyed. But on the other hand, it felt a bit forced. Like of course they had to give it a try, and this is what they came up with. Sherlock states that they missed their one and only chance to get Reichenbach, and that leads him to the desperate plan that we see him enact. But I don't know if I'm convinced that their backs were really up against the wall. They needed to do more to convince me that this was really the best and only solution to the Odin Reichenbach problem.

One last note on how this all went down: they subverted many of the expectations about the classic fall/death moment, and I did appreciate that. But earlier in the season, when Joan's name was being thrown around as a potential weakness for Sherlock, I really thought they were building to an even bigger subversion. I thought maybe when it came down to it, Joan would be the one to "die." Think of how interesting and different that would have been. Imagine a true Reichenbach fake-out ending, where Joan is forced to make a move without the time to properly prepare Sherlock for it. She seemingly falls to her death, and Sherlock believes it, until the truth comes out. Now that would be something different, and interesting, and intense. I can't blame the episode for not doing what I hoped it would do. But I guess I just wish that in its final episodes, Elementary could have found a way to pull off another Natalie-Dormer-sized twist. If they couldn't get their Moriarty back, they might have found another way to twist a classic into something shiny and new.

Pros:

All that said, they did make some changes to the formula that I thought were pretty cool. Other than the obvious fact that this villain isn't Moriarty, although he does fulfill the tropes of the classic spider-like Professor from the originals, there's the fact that Odin doesn't die. Instead of Sherlock faking his death to ensure his nemesis will perish, he uses the fake-out to capture Odin, to get him arrested and start him on the path to his own destruction. This is a really clever change, and one that I definitely wouldn't have expected. It makes perfect sense, though - it's the ultimate sign of the philosophical differences between these two people. Sherlock knows that Odin is dangerous - knows that he has killed, and will kill again. But he still wants to find a way for him to be punished through legal channels, without resulting to vigilantism. Odin, on the other hand, continues his plan of executing potential threats, right up to the end. The system doesn't always work. In fact, it often fails. But Sherlock knows that killing people isn't the answer. He's not willing to cross that line, even now.

I also appreciate that Joan appears to be in on the plan, even though it's telegraphed far too obviously within the episode. Traditionally, Watson isn't supposed to know that Holmes is alive, but for Sherlock to pull that kind of a move here would have been wildly out of character. So I appreciate that it seems pretty clear that she was fully aware, and worked with Sherlock to pull this off.

Also, there's just the general angst of this scenario. I'm a sucker for it, as always. While Joan appears to know what's going on, Bell and Gregson seem ignorant of the plan. This means that we got to watch two of Sherlock's dearest friends try to process their grief and anger over what happened. Gregson getting in Odin's face was particularly affecting. And Bell has this quieter grief going on. I think he's in shock. He's just looking for answers, like if he can find Sherlock's body, it will allow him to accept the awful truth.

Despite my many problems with how this went down, the acting in that final moment on the bridge was really great. So much tension. I almost wish Odin could have been more Moriarty-esque. Not in the traditional Arthur Conan Doyle sense, but in the later-adaptation sense - a long-standing villain, cropping up again and again through the life of the show. But even without a multi-season buildup, this scene had a proper epic scope. It was very simple. Nothing elaborate, nothing too built up or ridiculous. Just two men talking on a bridge. Very well performed by both actors.

I think that's where I'll leave it. As you may be able to tell from my above comments, one of my main disappointments with this episode is simply that this show has never managed to top what it did at the end of the first season. Here at the end, I was hoping for something to really blow me away, and instead what I got was... perfectly fine. I'll still be a bit sad to say goodbye to these characters next week!

7.5/10

[sanguinarysanguinity]

Hey! You mentioned a Sherlock Holmes radio play earlier on one of your posts, which reminded me of when I was in 7th grade and my English teacher had us listen to a SH radio play (which I hadn't thought about in years!) Do you have recs for where to start with SH radio plays (or just some that you really like)?

YES I HAVE RECS. I’M SO GLAD YOU ASKED.

Start with the so-called “Bert Coules” radioplays (also sometimes called Merrison!Holmes or simply radio!Holmes), which were recorded by BBC Radio 4 from 1987 to 2010. These consist of:

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1987), Roger Rees and Crawford Logan, adapted by Bert Coules.

The Collected Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1989-1989), Clive Merrison and Michael Williams; all 60 canon stories, the lion’s share of which were adapted by Bert Coules.

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2002-2010), Clive Merrison and Andrew Sachs. Fifteen original stories expanding upon the teasers Watson would mention every now again, all by Bert Coules.

Yes, yes, I know, that’s seventy-six stories, which is faaaaaaaaaaar too long of a list for someone wanting help with where to start. So here’s a shortlist of favorites:

The Lion’s Mane (Case-Book). Bert Coules took a story that is often deemed the worst in canon, and turned it into a masterwork. ACD’s original had no Watson whatsoever in it – it’s set during Holmes’ retirement in Sussex – but Coules builds a framing story wherein Watson comes down to Sussex for the weekend and learns that Holmes, who has been anxious that Watson might be bored, has kept back a case as a surprise and wants to re-enact the whole thing for Watson, with Watson playing the part of the detective. (Because it’ll be fun, Watson!) The episode is adorkable and hilarious and startlingly poignant, Holmes alternately hamming up the death scenes and wondering whether he chose well in bypassing love, whereas Watson is keenly aware that he’s about to go down in history as a not-so-bright literary device who exists to make Holmes look smarter than he already is. These two have been friends for twenty-four years at this point, and it shows. (My god, it shows!) Things to know: the episode begins with Holmes and Watson reading the script of the William Gillette stageplay about themselves. Gillette was basically the Basil Rathbone of his time, and half of the shit we think of as classically Holmes (such as the curved pipe, or the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson!”) come from Gillette’s version. There are easter eggs in the episode about the literary-tradition-yet-to-come, the one that grew out of Holmesian roots – Batman, the Green Hornet, Star Trek’s Spock – and the episode references their own Study in Scarlet several times. At some point you should really listen to STUD and LION back-to-back, and hear what a quarter-century evolution of a friendship sounds like. 

The Devil’s Foot (Last Bow). You may know the canon story; it’s the one where they almost die together. The episode begins with them walking on a beach, quoting epic love poems to each other about dying for one’s love. And why yes, it is Tristan and Isolde that plays when the two of them very nearly die.

The Dying Detective (Last Bow). The parts about the actual case can be a bit slow, but the Holmes-Watson shenanigans are magnificent. Watson gets to be brave and heartbroken and noble and really truly angry, and Holmes is going to have soooo much sucking-up to do to make that right.

A Scandal in Bohemia (Adventures). FYI, this was recorded during the period when the BBC higher-ups were meddling with the format, insisting that one can’t do Sherlock Holmes without Watsonian narration, boo. HOWEVER. The episode gets Irene Adler right (hurrah!), and also asks a very important question: why the hell is Holmes harassing a rich, noble bully-boy’s ex-mistress for him?? Everywhere else in canon, when a case like this is brought to him, Holmes tells Rich Guy to go fuck himself, so why did he play along that time? There’s also some lovely Holmes-Watson bits, especially at the beginning, when they’re learning how to be friends again despite Watson’s marriage.

Blue Carbuncle (Adventures). Another early story, so Watsonian narration again, iirc. But I love the Holmes-and-Watson interactions, two friends taking refuge in each other during the frenetic Christmas season. And the final moments of the episode frankly make me melt.

Retired Colorman (Case-Book). Yeah, okay, fine, I remember nothing of the first half hour. But the very last bit? When Holmes retires? Makes me cry. Every. Fucking. Time. (You can listen to LION again after if you need to feel better.)

A Study in Scarlet. Holmes and Watson are just so young and enthusiastic and taken with each other, I just.

And hello, here you are at the beginning of the canon! You could do the back-to-back listen with LION at this point, but really, you might as well just start listening in order, right through all sixty stories. :-P

While we’re talking about Coules, I also love the 1987 Rees and Logan Hound of the Baskervilles, which is more vibrant than Merrison and Williams’ take on it. Sadly, it’s difficult to lay hands on, but the BBC re-airs it every now and again.

And I frankly adore Bert Coules’ Further Adventures. It took me a little while to get used to the different Watson, but Bert Coules’ idea of what makes for a good Sherlock Holmes story suits me far better than Doyle’s did. (There. I said it, and I stand by it.) Favorites include Colonel Warburton, Miss Gloria Wilson, Cripplegate Square, Abergavenny Murder, and Miss Franny Blossom, but honestly, it’s a very strong collection. I admit that I’m so attached to a few of them that I have a hard time not reflexively rejecting other people’s takes on the same canon references. You can listen to these before the canon sixty, if you want – in fact, I support that choice wholeheartedly.

There are other Holmesian radioplays beyond the ones Coules was involved with, of course. Big Finish has an ongoing line, but overall I’m not that impressed with it. The Big Finish Holmes productions tend to go heavy on the atmosphere, heavy on the narration, and light on the Holmes-Watson partnership: if you’re not there for the case, there’s not much of anything else going on. (Here, have a review I wrote of their Hound of the Baskervilles.)

THAT SAID, I do like a few of the Big Finish Productions:

The Last Act (1x01). Roger Llewellyn, script by David Stuart Davies, adapting his own one-man stageplay. This one is angst upon angst upon angst: Holmes drinking alone on the occasion of Watson’s funeral, reflecting on all the things he never said to Watson.

The Death and Life (1x02). Roger Llewellyn, script by David Stuart Davies, adapting his own one-man stageplay. Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty join forces to keep Doyle from killing them off. I want a fixit for the Watson parts and there’s a racist bit I don’t like, but mostly I laughed lots.

The Final Problem (2x01). Nicholas Briggs and Richard Earl. See my review of their Hound for my feelings about narration-heavy adaptations of canon stories (tl;dr if you’re just going to read Doyle’s words aloud, I’d sooner have the audiobook), but this is the one instance, I think, where keeping it in Watson’s words worked. Keeping all the narration in made it a story about Watson’s grief, and Richard Earl does a fine job. Sadly, I think their Empty House – which is sold as a pair with FINA – is weak; I vastly prefer the Coules/Merrison/Williams version.

It may be that the more recent Big Finish stories get better again; I’ve only listened to the first three-or-so series.

Lessee, who else? During the 1940s, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce did thirty-odd radioplays together, and then after Rathbone left, Bruce kept right on doing them. I haven’t listened to very many, I’m afraid: I tend to bounce off of Bruce’s Watson, and furthermore, Bruce is a mumbler and the audio quality is staticky, which isn’t a great combination. However, there were so many that there must be some good ones among them? I welcome suggestions from those in the know. Here are fifty-four of them, available for free download.

And I’m also fond of the Peepolykus radioplay of Hound of the Baskervilles. It’s very silly broad comedy, but it makes me laugh lots and Holmes and Watson love each other (and Watson maybe also loves Lestrade?), and while I’m an incorrigible crankypants about some things, I’m an incredible pushover for others.

Does that help? Let me know if you have any questions about anything!

[fangirlsovertoomanythings]

The main criteria used was 1) how useful is Watson, united with 2) is he close to the canon/if not is it a good change and 3) how much of a presence he has in the adaptations

S -> I couldn't choose 1, so all 3 got to be in S. Granada Watson helps Holmes with his deductions from time to time and even takes the first step in an investigation if necessary. He gets plenty of screentime and I can not imagine the show without him. He just has so many things to do and I adore how they changed the text to make him more relevant! Radio Holmes, at least in the episodes I listened, does not really get to deduce with Holmes but he is allowed to have additional dialogue where he has more room to express what type of character he is and how his relationship is with each character he interacts with. I love the aditional dialogue they included in A Study in Scarlet and how much he seems to struggle with the aftermath of the war. It makes him seem like a proud man, and sometimes it is a flaw so thank God he isn't just the kind uwu best friend guy. Soviet Watson also has new ideas to be worked with, and I can't express enough how much I love the soviet adaptation of The Empty House: the Watson screentime, the grief, the bad things happening to him, his reaction to Holmes coming back, it just adds so much to him. He is also cute 😔 he deserved an S 😔 leave him be 😔

A -> no one is worthy 😔

B -> These two have original interpretations of the character I don't usually see. I mean, Watson was 30ish yo when he met Holmes, so seeing him being actually much older is something new. Seeing Holmes adaptations where Holmes and Watson boxe is not something new for something filmed in slavic territory, but the new thing is that Watson wins even with his injury. He also gets to move the plot forward because he basically is the main character. The reason why he's in B is just... I didn't really click with him?? Like, I can believe he's Watson but there's just something there that I can't really point out what that makes me not like him as much as I do the others. And David Q. Dawson is in B because although he is original, overall a intelligent mouse and can be just as much as a character without anyone nearby as he is when he is around Basil, he still doesn't add much apart from that - I still do appreciate him though.

C -> Elementary Watson is... something else. I like the backstory change and her interactions with Holmes, and I also understand that the whole concept for making her a woman was because Holmes appears to be misogynistic in canon so they wanted to play with that, but I couldn't really see Watson in her just as I couldn't really see Holmes in Elementary Holmes. However, Elementary Watson is still shown as being a necessary part of the series - I can notice when she leaves, her presence is notable. Guy Ritchie's Watson also has a big presence in the two movies, hopefully will also have with the third one, but I just wasn't a fan of him picking up fights with Holmes all the time and he overall is just a standard Watson, not really adding much to the adaptation realm. He is just what you would expect for an action movie adapdation of Sherlock Holmes, that's what I'm saying. I still think he's neat though, I'm sorry 😔

D -> These column is for the "You tried ❤" Watsons. No seriously. Every Watson in this one is trying to have new concepts or to at least be in a fun adaptation, but there's something in each of them that make the atempt just be... an atempt. Sherlock Gnomes' Watson being irrelevant is literally a major plotpoint, but I can at least give them credit for the original idea of making him the bad guy. I haven't seen any adaptation where Watson was the bad guy yet, and this one was the first, and thank God this movie at least has something going on that I can clinge onto. Private Watson starts out fine, but he looses his presence throughout the movie. There's a point in the movie where you ask yourself why is he there if the focus is that 'Lady Ashwood' and Sherlock Holmes trying to find her husband/understand what he was doing before he died. For real, he looses A LOT of presence after the whole ballet drama and after he treats 'Lady Ashwood'. I wish he was more of a character there, he had potential to make some scenes funny or light up the mood but then he didn't. Sherlock Hound's Watson is... normal. Nothing much to add about him. He's still a gentle guy, but he is just Book Watson But Furry And Less Dialogue.

E -> I'm just not really fond of these three. Tom & Jerry's Watson manage to be even more irrelevant than Tom & Jerry's Holmes and he mostly just has a hug-sized design. BBC Watson is not that relevant to the overall narrative even if he has many interactions with BBC Holmes, but most of the time I feel like he is ready to fistfight that guy and I just question if their friendship is healthy because, like, BBC Holmes is a jerk and BBC Watson is angry all the time - not the best combo. And Yukoku No Moriarty's Watson is just... there. He's wholesome, though. Really wholesome. So there's that.

F -> Stockholm Syndrome isn't funny, get him a therapist.

This was the most difficult task I ever had in my life Introducing: John Watson's characterization toptier list. I'll post why on the next post

[roseofithaca]

Thank You (A John Rant)

Okay so. I’m not over Sherlock. But I am over Johnlock...happening in the show. I accept that. Not the story they wanted to tell. Fine. There’s many, many questions about the choices they made if that was the direction they were going and things I have trouble liking but...whatever. I have fics and RPs, it will do.

But you know what I want now, if there is a Series 5?

I want John to tell Sherlock; “Thank you.

Thank you for curing me of my limp and giving me a purpose in life again.

Thank you for giving me access to your debit card after knowing me for a couple of months and taking cases that you know will give us money so I don’t have to worry about finances.

Thank you for saving me that time I was kidnapped and almost killed.

Thank you for going through two years of hell in exile, involving suicide missions and torture, just to save my life and a couple of our friends.

Thank you for saving me that time I was kidnapped and almost killed. 

Thank you for organising my wedding and writing the most beautiful best man speech and then saving someone else I cared about.

Thank you for showing me the truth about who my wife is and then persuading me to be with her, despite what she did to you, because you just wanted me to be happy and with the woman you thought and I loved and was carrying my child.

Thank you for shooting the man who was threatening to destroy our lives and thus sentencing yourself to yet another exile and more likely suicide mission. Additional points for not telling me about this to save me further grief.

Thank you for babysitting my daughter and being a good godfather because I have trouble remembering she even exists half the time.

Thank you for almost killing yourself and putting yourself in harms way all because my wife suggested it would be the only thing to pull me out of my grief after she died even though I wrongly blamed you for her death.

Thank you for comforting me and embracing me after I beat the shit out of you and confessed to having cheated on the woman you had tried so hard to protect for me.

Thank you for standing up for me to your brother and calling me family.

Thank you for saving me that last time I was kidnapped and almost killed. I doubt it will be the last.”

Where is this? Any of this, in the entire show? 

When does John ever show ANY gratitude or recognition for Sherlock as a person? The only moment I can think of is when he hugs him at his wedding, only after Sherlock has poured his heart out, and John has had some wine to curb his inhibitions. The rest of the time he just bitches and snaps about how much of a madman or inhuman monster Sherlock is. That’s when he’s not physically assaulting him. When are we going to get to see John do something for Sherlock?

Okay he saves him once in the first episode. Good...is that it? In four seasons, are we ever going to see that again?

We see him save Sherlock in TAB! But, oh wait, that’s all in Sherlock’s head.

We see him save Sherlock in TLD! Oh, except he’s the one who beat him up and abandoned him there in the first place. Also he apparently only went to save him because Mary: Blu Ray Edition told him to. Also, the policeman could have kicked that door in!

We are TOLD in TSOT that he’s saved Sherlock ‘so many times and in so many ways’. We’re only shown one or two of these times. And the other ways he apparently saved Sherlock...well, I don’t think we honestly see a lot of John trying to explain and teach Sherlock to be a better person, it’s just nagging and snapping and then implying that causes him to change. It’s hardly Beauty and the Beast. I’d argue Sherlock wasn’t that much of a monster to begin with. John is hardly a saint or someone who can tell others how to be moral either.

I suppose John does help rebuild Sherlock’s flat in the end....Call it even? :P

The reason I’m focusing so much on this is because, before watching that ‘Why Sherlock is Garbage’ vid, I was beginning to think I was alone in seeing how John was poorly used in this show. I rarely saw anyone else complaining at how many times this supposedly badass army doctor gets kidnapped and needs Sherlock to rescue him, especially in contrast to how often John gets to be the hero (almost never). But I got to see someone else rant about it at last and I hate it because he also pointed out how the show really is about making Sherlock out to be this superhuman hero rather than a clever detective. Watson goes from being a hero in his own right to being a tool used to show off how awesome Sherlock is.

And not just Sherlock, but Mary as well. In TST, Mary nearly takes John’s place, with Sherlock stating she is ‘better at this than him’. Because that’s what Holmes and Watson fans want to see! Watson being replaced and seen as useless! It’s the same anger I have in how they turned the three badass fairies whom I loved from Sleeping Beauty into three neglectful idiots in Maleficent; unnecessarily tearing down a beloved character in order to build up another.

But, despite this all, I do still love John Watson. Before Series 3 he was my favourite character. Maybe it’s Martin’s amazing acting or maybe it’s the potential I saw. Maybe it’s me confusing ACD!Watson (which is NOT fanon Watson, thank you!) with Mofftiss’ Watson. Maybe it’s because John starts out as the character we are first introduced through and who we are supposed to see their world through so there’s a need to identify and like this character. So I really, really want the writers to start giving a crap about John and stop sacrificing his potential as a good friend and true hero for the sake of making Sherlock the big, amazing Christ figure who always saves the day and everyone else is a damsel in distress. 

I love Sherlock too, I do, and I do like the journey his character has gone through. But it’s supposed to be a show about BOTH of them as heroes. And, you know what, it’s not even that big a problem if you do have John just as a damsel in distress. It’s kinda insulting to the original Watson but, whatever, it’s an adaptation and a new spin, you can do what you like. Lois Lane, April O’Neal, Xander from Buffy, these are likeable characters despite ending up needing to be rescued a lot. But if the character being saved can not even be grateful to the hero - then how we, as the audience, see them as worth saving, let alone remaining ‘best friends’ with?

If this is supposed to be a show that is about a great friendship - then make that friendship great! Because at the moment it feels painfully one-sided and the idea that this could be the last series, that the show could end with them in this unhealthy state, makes me way more sad than the idea of them not getting together romantically. 

[pansexual-link-larkin]

Some LIWs and the Musical Theater Adaptations of Their Source Material

The Adventures of Jamie Watson (and Sherlock Holmes) - Adapted in 1965 Baker Street is such an example of 1960s classic “men talk-singing and women with arias” musical culture. It’s So Simple is a musical deduction that I can’t stop listening to, and Finding Words For Spring is Irene Adler’s epic love song for the ages. Produced by the same producers of She Loves Me and Fiddler on the Roof, so, it’s something. 

Twelfth Grade (or Whatever) - I’ve lamented before that all musical adaptations of twelfth night are crap, but then I discovered OUR QUEEN AND SAVIOR SHAINA TAUB who not only wrote the songs for Public Works’ Twelfth Night BUT ALSO recorded the entire soundtrack herself (with exception of the malvolio numbers which are performed by the actual actor) and it’s perfect and FREE TO DOWNLOAD and amazing with a female feste with an accordion and some pretty blatant nb viola Just listen to this for the love of all that is good and holy. I’m literally sitting here thinking of which is the best song and honestly like...track 6, Viola’s Soliloquy, is extremely nb, then it goes straight into You’re the Worst, the roasting of Sirs Toby and Andrew, also Feste and Malvolio. And then track 8, Is This Not Love, is the best love song I have ever heard and includes actual canon lines of my favorite scene (and with a green and yellow melancholy/she sat like patience on a monument/smiling at grief/is this not love indeed?) 

Just....listen to any one of the songs. It’s like She’s the Man mixed with Hamilton all sung by Sara Bareilles except it’s not her it’s Shaina Taub.

The Grey Tarmac Road -  I mean it’s Wizard of Oz it’s the most adapted thing ever it’s a musical masterpiece if you’ve seen one musical it’s probably this one. So points for that.  The Wiz!!! ah! So good! Also I’m putting The Muppets Wizard of Oz because how good was the lyricism in I’m With You and The Witch is In the House like seriously Also my old high school did wizard of oz and that involved Tellytubbies costumes AND Ingrid showed me Corey in a hip hop adaptation so honestly like what else could you want It’s the best

The Blair Goddess Project - I know the show’s original but it’s so much like Xanadu I can’t ignore it. Xanadu is the worst kind of musical: a roller musical. Roller skate choreography is just....egh. It was a fad in the gaudy ALW times of the eighties along with Starlight Express and it existed. It certainly existed. Long story short BGP is the best story of a mythological being banished to earth and there is nothing else that matters in this entire genre.

School Spirit -  hello naughty children it’s time for me to talk about Noel Coward. So in case you were unaware, Noel Coward, who wrote Blithe Spirit, was also a comedic singer songwriter because why the heck not. So naturally he made his own play into a musical called High Spirits with the CHEESIEST LYRICS EVER and I both hate and love it and he gave Elvira a sultry lounge singer song about the afterlife and then at one point Ruth and Elvira yell sing to Charles about how he was a crap husband. It’s all really weird and surreal.

[charnamefic]

I really need TFP to sweep the rug out from under me.

I don't tend to leave fandoms. I think I'm into Sherlock for life. But I'm also thinking that I'm going to be one of those people who ignores canon after TRF.

I know that many viewers don't take what we're shown at face value. I know that the writers love to be clever and play tricks on their viewers. Still, I think it's important to always consider multiple perspectives and possibilities, so I have been entertaining the idea that we're seeing on screen is intended to be accepted exactly as shown. If that is right, I find the show heartbreaking in ways that have nothing to do with any shipping theories or arguments.

The events we have seen so far in series 4 -- if taken at face value -- have shown that this Sherlock Holmes and John Watson have become bad for each other. It's an interpretation that I'm distressed by, but can't put out of my mind. In full disclosure, I'm posting this partly because I want to be convinced that this interpretation is wrong.

When this show started, I loved the relationship between Sherlock and John. The way I saw it, they made each other's lives exponentially better. I think they each thought the other was amazing and cared for each other deeply. They were always both difficult, messed up, not necessarily good men, but they gave each other what they needed to be better and happier than they could have been.

Back when they were promoting the first series, we were told that John would humanize Sherlock and help him develop a softer side. I'm not sure whether or not this has happened. Yes, we have seen far more sweetness from Sherlock over series 3 and 4, but I believe we have also had a PoV switch. If the first two series were from John's perspective, then what we saw of Sherlock was what he was permitted to see. Perhaps these soft asides have always been there and we simply didn't have a chance to know about them. I think that if our perceptions of Sherlock in S3 and S4 were from John's point of view we would be seeing Sherlock very, very differently. He is still the sort of man who has so little consideration for the pain of others that he'd speak to a pair of grieving parents about their daughter under the conceit that their dead son wasn't important enough to deserve having his gender remembered. He still hurts people who aren't useful to him, or whose hurt may be convenient. I think it's entirely possible that exposure to John hasn't made a significant difference on Sherlock's humanity. I’m really not overly concerned about whether Sherlock has changed. In the end, I’m not sure he needs to. I bring the matter to attention to illustrate that these characters are meant to influence each other, and that sometimes those influences are more clear than others.

Since the Reichenbach fall, Sherlock has had at least two major drug relapses. One after the Watson wedding (which I thought was fair enough in reference to Holmes' drug use in The Sign of the Four) and one in response to Mary's death and John's reaction. Sherlock is miserable -- I believe suicidal -- without John, and I suspect that he's still better with John regardless of any "humanizing" or lack thereof, but I am no longer sure that John is better off with Sherlock.

I think it's reasonable to assume that believing that he had watched Sherlock kill himself all but destroyed John. I say this because of the acting choices made in that and the following scenes, and because John described Mary as the second person who saved his life. Mary was there to pick up the pieces of John after Sherlock fell. She did help him. In the wake of her death, he was left so broken that he started hallucinating her. If we take that at face value, I think it is only reasonable to conclude that he truly, deeply loved her. From what we've seen, the hallucinations would indicate that John grieved her far more intensely than he had Sherlock.

Mary helped John through his grieving process. He grieved for Sherlock, then he began to build a new life with her.

If Sherlock hadn't returned after The Reichenbach Fall, John would have lived in blissful ignorance of his wife's past. If he ever found out, it would likely have been through an event far less traumatizing than having her (temporarily) kill his best friend, which put a certain sort of spin on the information. He never would have felt inadequate in the face of Sherlock preferring her as a mystery-solving companion who was "better" at it than him. Without that trauma and those feelings of inadequacy, I don't believe he would have seriously considered an affair.

It was Sherlock who told Ajay who (Rosamund) Mary Watson was. He may have had information about her old identities on his flash drive, but since this new one was such a good disguise that -- again taking all of this at face value -- even Mycroft Holmes (who kept such close tabs on his little brother's companions that he abducted John immediately and confronted him with his therapist's notes, who had known that Sherlock was coming into extremely close contact with Mary, and who had worked with A.G.R.A. before) couldn't detect that she wasn't who she claimed she was, Ajay (with his fixation on his mysterious decision that she was the "English woman") would likely never have found her. If he had -- as we saw -- she could still take care of herself. It was Sherlock who led Ajay to Mary, and then Mary to her killer. Without Sherlock, Ajay would not have had the information he would need to go after the Watsons. Norbury would never have had any reason to encounter Mary. Mary's past was certainly a problem, but it was Sherlock who made it a dangerous one. John was wrong to blame Sherlock for Mary's death as he did. Sherlock did not force Mary to jump in front of a speeding bullet. Sherlock told John to come to the aquarium and sent Mary a text about curtains. Taking what we saw at face value, Mary's own actions were instrumental in her demise.

Even so, without Sherlock, we have every indication that Mary would still be alive.

Bad things would still have happened. Maybe the underground plot would have succeeded. Maybe Sholto would have died after the Watson wedding. Maybe Magnussen would have still tracked down and blackmailed Mary. Maybe someone else who was also apparently more competent than the man we're told acts as the British government would have. But if we take what the show has given us at face value, Mary could have solved that on her own. She could have shot Magnussen without being interrupted. The only consequences of his death came about because he was murdered in front of others while being filmed. Without Sherlock, he would have died without affecting John at all.

Would the Watsons be bored without regular adrenaline fixes? I think so. I think that would cause conflict. But I think they could raise their daughter happily enough together. Maybe they would need to occasionally go skydiving and participate in particularly intense paintball matches. Maybe activities like that wouldn't be enough. Maybe they'd find something else that would be; they're competent enough. The point is that Rosamund would have a living mother. John wouldn't be a single father passing his daughter off to friends while mourning. John wouldn't be hallucinating his dead wife from grief.

Sherlock came back, and his actions led to unbelievable pain for John. First through John's conception of how Sherlock had treated him (especially if we take the explanation that they told us was correct -- the one we saw given to Anderson -- as true) and then through the discovery that his wife's very identity was a lie. He started out with trust issues. His fears were justified. Betrayal was stacked upon betrayal by the people closest to him. Then the woman he loved died under his hands. I find it horrifying, but not at all inconceivable, that he ended up fucked up enough to do what he did in the morgue. He was entirely responsible for his own actions, no matter what state of mind he was in; I’m simply trying to convey that I found the outcome tragically believable.

If we are meant to interpret Mary the way they are telling us to, as a super competent ex-spy who did bad things but felt regret and wanted more than anything a domestic life with her loving husband and child, then our interpretations of everything else have to account for that. I know that many people in this fandom prefer -- for various reasons -- to interpret her as a villain. Due to the conclusion of this meta, I'll count myself among them. But, unless The Final Problem is going to retcon the last few episodes -- which I suspect is highly unlikely -- then she is the complicated, lovely woman that they have been telling us she is. And she's dead due to her association with Sherlock.

If we take everything we are seeing at face value (and I see why many people don't, but I dwell on it myself) then this John Watson would have been better off if Sherlock Holmes had died in The Reichenbach Fall. That is what I'm finding heartbreaking about this series.

I want this meta to be wrong. I keep reminding myself that no matter what, Thompson is writing The Final Problem and I usually love the way he writes Sherlock and John together. But even so, at this moment, I think BBC’s Sherlock is shaping up to be one of the most depressing Sherlock Holmes adaptations ever. It is what it is, but I know what I don’t want it to be.

Show me this is wrong. Please.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Sherlock: The Six Thatchers (4x01)

Rarely have I been so conflicted about an episode of a TV show. I feel like a mixed reaction is inevitable when you wait three years for something. This show has the problem that while it was busy hiatus-ing and making all of its key players into superstars, another modern-day Sherlock Holmes adaption came along that is arguably better in almost every way. But we're not here to talk about Elementary, or about living in Sherlock's prolonged hiatus hell. We're here to talk about "The Six Thatchers," an episode with some great moments and phenomenal acting, but some off-putting developments to say the least.

Cons:

Okay, so let's start with the big one: Mary dies. On the one hand, this isn't a surprise, for many reasons. Mary dies in ACD's canon, and the story of Sherlock Holmes is, at its core, a story about Holmes and Watson. There's also the fact that Moffat has never successfully pulled off a character arc for a female character, or at least not that I'm aware of. So yeah, I guess I'm not surprised. But I'm still disappointed. The shifting dynamics between Mary, John, and Sherlock were really, really interesting. I think Mary got let off the hook for shooting Sherlock just a little too quickly last season, but that could have been explored here. We have John ostensibly engaging in an affair, which is despicable, but is this a manifestation of lingering resentment because Mary lied to him? Or, even more interestingly, a manifestation of his jealousy, since Sherlock openly remarks that Mary is better at working cases than John is? He should be thrilled that his best friend and his wife get along so well, but is he really? Or is John being forced to choose between a life of thrill and a life of convention, represented by two people he really loves? Or is Sherlock forced to learn to share his best friend, the only person he's ever really let in, with somebody just as clever and engaging as himself?

I could go on. All of those elements made for this trio being a really compelling one to explore. But what did we get? Mary is killed off as the result of a standard revenge plot. Mary's past catches up with her, she tries to run, Sherlock brings her back to London, Sherlock mouths off to the secret baddie, Mary jumps in front of a bullet meant for Sherlock, and dies in John's arms. What I think is so frustrating about this is that, on its surface, this could have been a fulfilling arc for Mary. And yet somehow, even in the instant of her death, this becomes about Sherlock and John. Why did Mary die for Sherlock? Well, they're friends, and I get the sense that she felt like a violent end was inevitable for her. All great things that could have been explored more. Instead, we get John blaming Sherlock, and pushing him away.

All of this, by the way, is excellent angst-fodder for those of us (myself included) who want to see Sherlock and John at odds so we can watch their emotional bond regrow. But that doesn't change the fact that Mary was actually an interesting, intelligent, dynamic character who really added something to the show as a whole, and she's just been fridged for the development of male angst. That's never not going to piss me off, and it's particularly hard to stomach from Moffat, a man pretty much infamous for fridging the ladies.

Also, let's talk about John for a hot second. Above, I mentioned that John is having an affair in this episode. All may not be as it seems, of course, but I think we can safely assume that he at least has been having an emotional affair of sorts with a woman he met on a bus. As I mentioned above, there could be something interesting going on here - John resenting Mary for the lies, John feeling insecure in his marriage because of how close Sherlock and Mary are becoming, John feeling restless with his normal happy little family... but that's not what we get. We get John Watson, a guy who lords his moral superiority over everybody, cheating on his wife. His wife who just had a baby. Like... what? Ew. I don't want to rage about this for too long, because there's this part of me that thinks I'm missing information, and that there will be a twist in here somewhere wherein we get a better explanation for John's behavior. But as is? Yikes.

So, John's initial reaction of anger and grief over Mary's death is perfectly acceptable. He is furious at Sherlock because he "made a vow" to protect them, and now Mary is dead. Okay, yeah. I can get that. But you would think that after some time passed, John would realize that Sherlock is not actually a mythical being capable of planning for every contingency. You would think that John would come to accept that Mary's past caught up with her, and that even if Sherlock might have been able to do something to prevent this, it wasn't his fault. The fact that John told Molly to send Sherlock away just breaks my heart. Like I said earlier, this is great angst-fodder. But is it realistic behavior from John Watson, the man who forgave Sherlock for lying to him about being dead for two years, in a matter of days? Riddle me this one: what if Mary hadn't jumped in front of Sherlock? What if Sherlock had taken that bullet and died? Would John have blamed Mary for getting Sherlock entangled in her past, leading to his death? I'm not blaming Mary for her own death, here. But I'm just saying - there's just as much reason to point the finger at her as there is to point it at Sherlock. This is another situation where I think I need to wait and see how it plays out. What's in that letter that John wrote to Sherlock? Maybe he will come around and stop blaming Sherlock for things that aren't his fault. The jury is out, folks.

Pros:

Despite everything I just wrote, this episode was still worth the wait. Even if the biggest plot development of the night left me with a really sour taste in my mouth, I still have so much to say in praise of this collective effort. There are acting kudos to give out, there are script moments to praise, and I won't let a couple of big things overshadow all of the awesomeness this episode truly did have to offer.

I've basically already told the plot, insofar as this episode even had a standard plot. Mary's past comes back to haunt her as one of her fellow assassins believes that she betrayed their group six years ago. The mastermind behind the betrayal is eventually revealed to be a secretary, who then shoots at Sherlock for mouthing off, while Lestrade, Mycroft, and a whole host of law enforcement look on. Mary takes the bullet. John shows up just in time to hold her in his arms as she dies. One of the weird things about this episode that I actually quite enjoyed was how all over the place it seemed in the beginning. We're seeing Sherlock working manically on cases, we're seeing John and Mary welcoming baby Rosamund into their lives (Rosamond is Mary's real name, by the way), we see Mycroft and his fellow government-running secret agent people pardoning Sherlock for killing Magnussen, we see worry about what Moriarty might be up to, and then somebody starts smashing Margaret Thatcher busts and things start to coalesce into an A-plot. It's weird and it's messy and for whatever reason, it actually works for me.

I like seeing the chaos of these character's lives. I liked the moment when Sherlock and John were off on a case, and John realizes he's got like 50 missed calls from Mary, as she's gone into labor. Sherlock remarks "we're in trouble." I like that Sherlock is made Rosie's godfather, despite his ineptitude for ordinary social interaction. I liked seeing Sherlock babysitting Rosie. I liked the hints we got here of Lestrade, Molly, and Mrs. Hudson, even if they were mostly background characters. It felt sort of like we were just seeing the whirlwind of these characters' lives, without the need for structure until things started to narrow to a focus. For whatever reason, and I'm sorry I'm having such a hard time articulating that reason, the pacing of this episode really worked for me.

Best character of the week? Mycroft Holmes. I'm more convinced than ever that Mycroft is going to die, if not this season, then definitely by the end of the show. Although we don't see this stated explicitly, there's an implication here that Mycroft's predictions from last season's "The Sign of Three" are coming true: he and Sherlock seem to be spending more and more time together. There seems to be less animosity and more trust between them than ever before, as Sherlock depends on his brother to believe his word and investigate one of his colleagues, and Sherlock goes to Mycroft to get help in keeping his vow of protecting Mary, John, and their child. If I were writing this show, I'd be setting Mycroft up as more and more of a true support system for Sherlock, so that his death would pack an appropriately big punch. I'm dreading being right about this.

Continuing a theme from last season's finale, we see that Sherlock is embracing his humanity more and more, while Mycroft remains aloof. Sherlock shows Mycroft a picture of baby Rosie on his phone, and Mycroft has nothing to say other than that the child looks "fully functioning." Sherlock seems disappointed, asking Mycroft "is that really the best you can do?" I love that we see Sherlock making a real effort for John and his family, even though this sort of human connection doesn't come naturally to him. Mycroft, on the other hand, doesn't appear to have made any effort whatsoever. An interesting thread to pull!

As I mentioned before, some of our other characters didn't really get a lot of screen time, but I still admired the characterization they did receive. Molly was gently chastising of Sherlock when he was texting during Rosie's baptism. She was named a godparent, along with both Mrs. Hudson and Sherlock. Not sure why they were allowed three godparents, but whatever! I love that Molly was included! Mrs. Hudson was given a great deal of respect, especially when Sherlock told her to keep him in check if he seemed too arrogant or sure of himself. The fact that Sherlock would ask Mrs. Hudson to police him in this way shows how much he trusts her. Lestrade spent the episode quietly annoyed at his difficult work situation. See, Sherlock insists on not taking credit for every case he solves, meaning that Lestrade gets the official credit. But then, of course, John blogs about it, so everybody who follows this sort of thing knows that Sherlock was actually the brains behind the operation. It makes Lestrade look like an egomaniac who insists on getting credit even when he doesn't deserve it. I liked this comedic little thread, because it raised some more serious questions about Sherlock's work. Does he like getting the credit? I mean, he certainly likes showing off, right? Poor Lestrade, that's all I can say!

Let's talk about Mary. For all that her death feels like a letdown, Amanda Abbington gave a truly incredible performance, and that deserves to be talked about. Her love for John feels genuine, but so does her past as an assassin. Her connection to her fellow assassins feels real, even though we're just learning about them for the first time. Her decision to jump in front of a bullet feels right for her character. She both acted on emotional instinct and made a calculated decision. It was a very... Sherlockian thing for her to do, and does go a long way towards redeeming her for her betrayal in the last season. As sad as I am to lose the dynamic between Mary and the two leads, I guess if she had to be killed off, this was about as good as it was going to get.

John's character took a bit of an ethical beating this week, as I've discussed, what with his cruelty towards his best friend even after the initial grief has worn off, and his infidelity, and all of that. But Martin Freeman still deserves all the props for his incredibly delicate portrayal of John Watson. He balances the comedy with the drama as seamlessly as ever. Highlights include John asking Sherlock to be the godfather of baby Rosie, John substituting himself with a balloon to act as a stand-in for Sherlock to talk to, and John's flummoxed expression upon hearing that Sherlock considers Mary better at case work than John. And, of course, on the drama side of things, his reaction to Mary's death was just as heart-rending as you would expect. It was hard to watch, honestly.

This episode, more-so perhaps than any other single episode this show has ever done, acted as a character study of Sherlock Holmes. As I'll discuss during these last few paragraphs of the review, it's this that saves the episode from too harsh of a critique. I'm super salty about Mary's death, but if you look at this episode for what it does for its main character, it's... well, it's stunning. If you think back to Series One or even Series Two, the show really featured John Watson as the protagonist, and Sherlock as the center of the A-plot, if that makes sense. Series Three began to mix things up in this regard, and now, Series Four contains this episode, which takes a comprehensive look at Sherlock Holmes. His flaws, his strengths, what he values, and what he cares about. We see him try to make a change, try and fail to keep promises, and, at the end, begin to examine his choices and his behavior in a way we've yet to see from him.

First of all, we see that he's making a real effort to be there for his friend and his new family. He texts rudely during the christening, of course, but this takes on a much more melancholy edge when you consider what Sherlock tells Mrs. Hudson at the end of the episode, about work being the best antidote to grief. He's keeping himself busy. Why? Because he's afraid of Moriarty? Because he's bored? Well, sure, both of those things to some extent. But I think he's also keeping himself busy to avoid thinking about all the changes going on. The fact that John and Sherlock carried on, business as usual, while Mary was pregnant doesn't mean that things can keep going indefinitely. Sherlock is visibly trying to adjust to his new reality, taking care of baby Rosie and even showing her off to his brother.

He's also being more open and honest with John than ever before. We saw in last season's wedding episode that Sherlock was willing to express his love and deep affection for John. But that was at a wedding. In the everyday chaos of life, it would probably be all too easy for Sherlock to slip back into old and indifferent habits. There's lots of evidence to suggest that making John feel important is a real priority to Sherlock. He tells him that he values his contributions. He compares John to the dog Toby, saying he's "slow but steady" and knows what he wants. John remarks: "you just like this dog, don't you?" and Sherlock says: "well, I like you." There's just something so sincere and honest about that. I saw real effort on Sherlock's part to soften the edges of his harsh personality, solely for the sake of growing the affection between himself and John. And it's not just John, either! He actually makes an effort to learn Lestrade's first name, even if he does forget it a few more times. This active effort is really endearing.

But, of course, Sherlock still has a big problem. He gets too focused on his cases. He gets too caught up in his own brilliance, and he can fail to be compassionate because of that. It's what leads him to be dismissive of the family that loses their son, in favor of the more interesting mystery of the smashed Thatcher bust. It's what leads him to show off with deductions to such an extent that our bad guy of the evening ends up shooting at him, costing Mary her life.

And here's where we get the incredible, remarkable thing that makes this episode such a gift. Benedict Cumberbatch's acting is always a treat to watch, but that moment when Mary was dying, that look on his face... oh boy. We then learn that he's been having a recurring nightmare. How do we know this? Well, he talks about it with his therapist. That's right. Sherlock Holmes is talking to a therapist. He expressly informs said therapist that he's there because he needs to know what to do about John. He asks Mrs. Hudson to help keep him in check if he gets too cocky in the future. John has just told him that he's at fault for Mary's death. He believes that to be true, and takes immediate steps to learn how to change himself so that nothing like this will ever happen again. It's... I mean... wow. These last few scenes are just so gut-wrenching and complicated and everything else in between. All of Series Three and all of this episode showed me that Sherlock Holmes will do anything, anything for John Watson. He'd die for him, become a criminal for him, even write a best man speech and throw him a stag party. And he made a vow to protect the Watsons. The fact that he broke that vow, however unintentionally, has fundamentally changed him as a person, and I think we're really going to see the ramifications of that.

I'll end with Mary, again. She leaves a video message for Sherlock, to be delivered to him in the event of her death. She tells him to "Save John Watson." She also says, in a brief moment after the credits: "Go to Hell, Sherlock." It's an odd message, to say the least. Does she mean "Save John Watson" just in the generic sense, as in save him from his grief over losing Mary? Or is there a specific threat at work here? And what's with the "Go to Hell?" My guess is that she's referring to a place - a town or a city or something called "Hell." It was just too weird and pointed not to mean something else. Mary is clever, and she's not cruel, and she likes Sherlock. In her final moments, she did not blame Sherlock at all for what had happened. She wouldn't just be randomly telling him to go to Hell.

I guess I should wrap up this review. It's always impossible to talk about this show with any kind of brevity, but since it comes around so rarely, that's alright. My thoughts are difficult to articulate, as you might be able to guess by all my rambling on. I am annoyed, on principle, with Mary's death. In execution, it was done about as well as I could have hoped. I am frustrated with John Watson's behavior, but I'm holding out hope that there's more to this than I currently understand. I'm delighted with Sherlock's character development, but annoyed that Mary had to die to get us there. I'm happy with Mycroft's expanding role in events, but wish we could have had more Molly, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade. As I prepare to boil down my thoughts into a rating out of ten, I'm forced to admit that I enjoyed watching this episode quite a lot. The good does outweigh the bad.

8/10