#M for Mystery

[onceinawhilemoon]

tonight's insomnia is brought to you by:

in the ending where mycroft narrates the aftermath, he briefly mentions how one of his agents’ vehicles was ignited during a surveillance operation..

mycroft then says, “there's only one man who could orchestrate such a feat - or perhaps two.”

i'm pretty sure one of the "two" is M. him being responsible for something like this is my personal canon and just makes sense. but the way mycroft says it right after talking about sherlock and how he's afraid for him, and right after saying, "i suspect he is growing paranoid," drives me insane. the way it's phrased seems to suggest that mycroft is referring to sherlock as one of the two men who could have been responsible, and that seems to be what led mycroft to suspect sherlock was growing paranoid..

but why would mycroft even suspect sherlock, and why would sherlock even do such a thing?

"she was lucky to get out alive" implies the incident was pretty serious and could have killed the agent and whoever was inside the vehicle with her. i doubt that sherlock would intentionally endanger people's lives like that..

and why would he even go out of his way to sabotage mycroft's operations in the first place? unless this “surveillance" operation was actually a “keep an eye on my brother and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid” operation. and when sherlock realized that he was being followed/watched, he set fire to the agent’s vehicle to protect himself and scare her off, perhaps thinking she was sent by someone he antagonized in cordona?

i've spent more time than i care to admit squinting at this screenshot depicting Mystery Man Around the Corner. M would definitely hire someone to do the dirty for him, but sherlock is more of a hands-on kind of person, right? i mean... the hairline kiiiiiind of resembles sherlock's, i guess? maybe? if you squint? i'm probably just seeing things at this point..

what further firms my suspicion that the "two" is in reference to sherlock and M, is how the phrasing seems to play into the idea of them being equals. the idea of only two people possessing the same level of intelligence and cunning, who have access to certain information, and who are capable of knowing exactly when and how to intercept mycroft's operations. M, who seems to have consistently stayed at least one step ahead of mycroft, and mycroft's own brother, who knows him a little too well and shares his brain genetics, who is also familiar with many of his agents, some even by name.

i love this ending because it's the only one where we get a glimpse into Sherlock After Jon from a perspective that isn't sherlock's. he's lonely, he's likely paranoid, his brother is worried about him... all of it contradicting the other endings in which sherlock tells us that he's fine and has moved on with his life.

so the whole fire incident thing and mycroft’s line about who could have been responsible could be a way of hinting at the negative consequences that jon's loss is having on sherlock. now, without jon to course-correct and reorient him, he's more prone to (extreme?) paranoid reactions such as this. though i'm not sure if i like the aspect of going to the extent of jeoprodizing lives... (also, funny how the loss of what sherlock perceived as his "irrational" part probably caused HIM to act in irrational ways..)

it gets even sadder when you think about it from mycroft's perspective, especially with him saying, "i saved my brother. he will never forgive me" right after he mentions the fire incident. if he truly believes that sherlock could have been responsible, then it would not only sprout worry and confusion, but also send him into a spiral grappling with conjectures, because what if sherlock WOULD go out of his way to deliberately break mycroft’s trust? what if it's an act of retaliation because mycroft broke HIS trust by lying to him to save his life? but mycroft attributes it to paranoia, possibly because he doesn't want to fully lose faith in his little brother and their relationship yet, but most likely because he's resignedly too aware of their family history...

from mycroft's perspective, even if sherlock truly did it, he had to have been driven by something out of his rational mind, rather than by mere spite or a desire for revenge. and mycroft doesn't hold it against him because he knows that sherlock only did it to defend and protect himself from a perceived threat. instead, he fears for sherlock and his mental health because the last time someone close to mycroft took action against a perceived threat in a fit of paranoid delusion... well, we all know how that went..

anyway. i'm choosing to end the ramble by rolling down the brighter side of this hill: mycroft dropping hints about his awareness of M in this ending (and his knowledge of M in TA in general) implies to me that sherlock taking jon's advice and swallowing his pride to ask Big Bro for help regarding M is most likely very canon. weeee :')

[raeofalbion]

M for Mystery

[bethccassidy]

AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (1997) dir. Jay Roach

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE

[foccaccia]

if i were ever isekai'd id wanna be one of those pokemon mystery dungeon isekai protags. id be so good at being a creature little guy, having a homoerotic relationship with my best furry friend, shooting fireballs out of my face at pokemon driven wild by eternally shifting dungeons, eating berries, staggering under the weight of an impending apocalyptic destiny, wearing a little scarf, dying, and eating more berries

[divine-draws]

cookin up gf au that i'm calling forgotten falls for now. tldr; stan and ford BOTH fall into the portal and now 36 years later mabel and mason go sleuthing... up next Stan and Ford!!

+ bonus version without their glasses

[mournfulroses]

Manuel M. Flores, from a poem titled "The Chest of Perote," featured in Anthology of Mexican Poetry

[hballegro]

ok so i was trying to get a clip of bj saluting so i could make it into a gif [because my friend uses a gif of mulcahy saluting and i want to get him back] and. bj what was this

why did you do this. what the hell was that

[lesbianshepard]

"why are you focusing on hating jk rowling getting money instead of the actual laws being passed?" yeah bro those laws do seem pretty awful and transphobic. i wonder who's lobbying for them?

[mcbride]

#work of art🖼️

MELISSA MCBRIDE as Carol Peletier TWD: DARYL DIXON - THE BOOK OF CAROL 2.03- L'invisible

[maskerat]

every now and then I remember this guy exists. mysterious rick<3 what a shame he didn't get much screentime in Pocket Mortys.

[onceinawhilemoon]

Some food for fanfic:

So "James Mallus" aka "M" (aka James Moriarty even though it's not canonically confirmed, yet) arrived at Il Palazzo del Lusso on the same day as Sherlock and checked in just before him... hm.

There’s no recorded time of arrival for any of the guests, so we can only speculate. But what are the chances that M was also on the same train/ferry as Sherlock and had been following him closely since he left his home in London?

I looked up Nelson's Monument and Trafalgar Sqaure to see if they held any significance in the ACD canon. The only relevant detail I was able to find was that the square falls within close proximity to Pall Mall and the Diogenes Club.

Frogwares might have had an entirely different plotline planned for M and Sherlock involving this specific location since the Diogenes Club is never mentioned in CO and TA and it doesn’t seem to exist in this universe, but still I couldn't help but have a little freak out session at this info because WHAT IF M WAS KEEPING TABS ON MYCROFT TOO? WHAT IF HE WAS IMPLICITLY THREATENING SHERLOCK WITH HIS BROTHER'S SAFETY?

What if M knew that Sherlock would seek Mycroft’s assistance and left this photograph as a way to say, "You think you're being clever and playing it safe by leaving this matter in your brother's hands, but guess what, I'm watching him too, and I'm several steps ahead of you both."

[arithmonym]

i feel like we, as a fandom, gloss over the scene where palamedes brings “dulcinea” tea.

he knows the real dulcie dislikes it when people bring her tea!!! he’s judging cytherea’s response! he’s starting to figure things out before abigail and magnus are even killed!

an excerpt from dulcie’s letter in the mysterious study of doctor sex (which everyone should read, by the way):

in conclusion: WHAT A MAN

[bethccassidy]

AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (1997) dir. Jay Roach

Austin Powers: [holding Scott hostage] It seems the tables have turned again, Dr. Evil.

[dailyflicks]

COLIN FARRELL as Det. Ray Velcoro in True Detective

[phantomrev]

Morro is an old fart

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