#had the same problem with bbc Moriarty

[too-alien-to-take-you-home]

I FORGOT TO DOWNLOAD THE REFERENCE PICTURE AAARHH

If anyone cares, this is the profile pic in the drawing ^^

I love my homicidal men

[winterdaphne2]

Musings on Johnlock and Moftisson's Use of Dialogue from ACD Canon

I recently finished rereading the original ACD Sherlock Holmes stories, and I had a lot of fun spotting places where the BBC Sherlock writers lifted dialogue directly from the original canon and incorporated it into the show. For example, this exchange between Sherlock and Moriarty during the pool scene in TGG…

Moriarty: I would try to convince you, but everything I have to say has already crossed your mind. Sherlock: Probably my answer has crossed yours.

…comes from Holmes and Moriarty’s first meeting in “The Adventure of the Final Problem,” with only very slight modifications.

Moriarty: All that I have to say has already crossed your mind. Holmes: Then possibly my answer has crossed yours.

Another one of my favorites might be when Sherlock says “Sorry, I never could resist a touch of drama” to Mary in the Leinster Gardens scene in HLV. This line comes from “The Adventure of the Naval Treaty,” where Holmes shocks his client by revealing the missing treaty from under a serving dish and then says “…Watson here will tell you that I never can resist a touch of the dramatic.” (The Sherlock writers liked this one so much that they gave it a callback in TAB. In the church scene, Sherlock strikes a gong to catch the women’s attention and then says “Sorry, I could never resist a gong, or a touch of the dramatic.”)

There are lots of other examples!

What really caught my eye during my reread, though, were places where it seemed like the show writers lifted lines from the ACD stories, but then changed them in some way or incorporated them into the show in ways that changed their meanings or significance. I think there are a few places where they did this and perhaps made the dialogue more…Johnlocky.

There are four passages in particular that I’m thinking about. I would love to hear your thoughts on these!

 “Oscillation on the pavement always means there’s a love affair.” In TSOT, Sherlock says this to John as John looks out the window of the 221B sitting room and watches a potential client trying to make up her mind about whether to come in.

Sherlock: She’s a client. She’s boring. I’ve seen those symptoms before. Oscillation on the pavement always means there’s a love affair.

This comes from the ACD story “A Case of Identity”:

Holmes: I have seen those symptoms before. Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affaire de cœur.

The literal situation in the original story is very similar; Holmes is looking out the window of the sitting room and watching a potential client try to make up her mind about whether to come in. In the show, however, this line is much more significant than just an observation about a client. As many of us have recognized, in the show there’s some very important subtext going on because this is a reference to John’s oscillation on the pavement in TEH, when John came to visit Sherlock after their disastrous reunion but hesitated outside the door.

(gifs from @afishlearningpoetry, here)

So in the show, because the writers also included John’s oscillation on the pavement in the previous episode, this line becomes much more important. The text of the line itself is pretty much the same as in the original story and appears in a very similar immediate context, but the show writers changed the broader context to modify its meaning and significance. Now it’s about Sherlock and John and full of Johnlock subtext.

I also think the fact that we’re talking about a love affair is significant. This tells us that John feels torn between Mary and Sherlock after Sherlock’s return in TEH and he’s not really sure what to do about it. I wonder if this might be a clue that John was already thinking about cheating on Mary with Sherlock in TEH—we saw that he was prepared to do this a few months later during the stag night in TSOT. Read another way, perhaps the reference to an “affair” here indicates that John is already cheating on Sherlock by being with Mary, because the real love story in this show is always the one between Sherlock and John. Just a thought.

When they lifted this line from “A Case of Identity,” the show writers also changed the French phrase “affaire de cœur” to the English phrase “love affair.” I’m not a French speaker, but I think “affaire de cœur” might have the same meaning in French that “love affair” has in English—it’s not just referring to an “affair of the heart,” as in something to do with love, but to an actual affair. But please, if there are any French speakers reading this, I would love to hear what you think! If this phrase does have a different connotation in French, that could be really interesting.

“…he has many fine qualities of his own that he has overlooked in his obsession with me.” There are at least two lines from Sherlock’s best man speech that seem to have been inspired by the original stories, but changed slightly. Here’s the first one.

Sherlock: If I burden myself with a little help-mate during my adventures, it is not out of sentiment or caprice—it is that he has many fine qualities of his own that he has overlooked in his obsession with me.

This comes from “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier,” one of only two stories in the original canon narrated by Holmes instead of Watson. In the original story, Holmes writes this:

Holmes: Speaking of my old friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark that if I burden myself with a companion in my various little inquiries it is not done out of sentiment or caprice, but it is that Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own, to which in his modesty he has given small attention amid his exaggerated estimates of my own performances.

Sherlock’s line in TSOT is a bit harsher towards John than what Holmes writes in the original story, but it comes in the section of the speech where Sherlock is purposely trying to make himself look like a jerk. Sherlock is deliberately self-deprecating right after this, explaining that “…if I didn’t understand I was being asked to be best man, it is because I never expected to be anybody’s best friend. Certainly not the best friend of the bravest and kindest and wisest human being I have ever had the good fortune of knowing.” So perhaps we shouldn’t take Sherlock too seriously when reading this line in particular.

Even so, it seems notable to me that the show writers changed the end of the quote and specifically chose to have Sherlock use the word “obsession” to describe John’s attitude towards him. That word isn’t in the passage from the ACD story, so I feel like the writers must have put it there for a reason. To me, “obsession” feels like much stronger language that what Holmes wrote and is more suggestive of love or infatuation than of a platonic relationship.

Moreover, I wonder if Sherlock’s use of the word “obsession” here is also meant to give us a clue as to how Sherlock sees John’s feelings towards him at this point in the narrative. Personally, I think Sherlock has known or suspected that John is in love with him ever since he overheard John and Irene’s conversation at Battersea in ASIB. But I also think that by the time we get to S3 (and especially to HLV) Sherlock and John have both come to believe that their love for each other is destructive and dangerous. (I could write a much longer meta about this, and might do so at some point.) So to me, perhaps Moftisson using the word “obsession” here is meant to indicate that Sherlock believes John’s love for him is unhealthy, or that John doesn’t see him clearly. It’s a very sad thought. But then again, I might be reading too much into this, because after all, this is the part of the speech that Sherlock later tells us to dismiss by revealing that he purposely meant to make himself look bad here.

Although actually that’s still pretty sad, because Sherlock is basically saying that he doesn’t deserve John. So I guess either way, Moftisson took what was actually a pretty sweet and complementary thing that Holmes said about Watson in the original canon and made it part of the evidence that Sherlock is feeling quite down on himself by this point in the narrative of the show.

“…but then, you know, he’s a romantic.” In the best man speech, we also get this line from Sherlock when he’s talking about John’s blog and how John writes up their cases.

Sherlock: Of course, he does tend to romanticize things a bit, but then, you know, he’s a romantic.

In the original ACD stories, Holmes often critiques Watson’s writing style and how he presents their cases in his stories for the Strand and other magazines. One of the first instances of this takes place in The Sign of Four, where Holmes critiques Watson’s write-up of A Study in Scarlet.

Holmes: I glanced over it. Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid. Watson: But the romance was there. I could not tamper with the facts. Holmes: Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it. Watson [narrating to the reader]: I was annoyed at this criticism of a work which had been specially designed to please him. I confess, too, that I was irritated by the egotism which seemed to demand that every line of my pamphlet should be devoted to his own special doings.

We could probably have a whole separate conversation about the queer subtext in this passage, but I’ll try to stick to the aspects of this that I think are particularly relevant here. First, Holmes specifically uses the word “romanticism,” basically saying what Sherlock said in the show when he said that John tends to “romanticize” their cases. So this is pretty similar! But what I think is different is that in the passage from The Sign of Four, Holmes is criticizing Watson’s writing in a negative fashion, is actively pointing out areas for improvement, and seems a bit peeved, or at least not wholly impressed. Watson certainly takes it that way, since he writes that he was “annoyed at this criticism of a work which had been specially designed to please him.”

In contrast, Moftisson softened Sherlock’s comments significantly for the best man speech. He’s not actually picking a bone with John like Holmes is in the original canon. Sherlock is still saying that John is “a romantic” who “romanticizes” their cases together, but he doesn’t mean it in a bad way!

(gif from thejohnlocked, here)

And now here’s the sad part, because this is BBC Sherlock, after all. When Sherlock says this, his voice drops in pitch a bit and sounds sadder, more subdued. He also looks down, avoiding eye contact with John. So the way this line appears in the show, it’s about Sherlock acknowledging that John is a romantic in the context of John marrying someone else. Sherlock knows that side of John isn’t directed solely or mostly at him anymore.

“Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.” In TLD, Sherlock says this to Faith after he realizes that she’s seriously thinking about committing suicide.

Sherlock: “Taking your own life.” Interesting expression. Taking it from who? Oh, 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. Keep your hands off it.

This comes from “The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger,” where Holmes also encounters a woman who has a plan to commit suicide and talks her out of it. Moffat wrote TLD, and he took these two sentences in particular straight from the original story with no wording changes:

Holmes: Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.

There’s not much that I like about S4, but I do think this is one place where the writers actually improved on a line from the original canon and used it very effectively in the show. In this scene from TLD, it’s so clear that Sherlock is talking about his own fake suicide. His small speech to Faith demonstrates that he feels deep, genuine regret over his actions on the rooftop that day because of what his fake death did to John.

In the original canon, “The Veiled Lodger” is set in 1896 (see here), so it takes place after Holmes’s fake death at the Reichenbach Falls in 1891 and his return to London in 1894. The dialogue that surrounds the two sentences that Moffat pulled is more about the minor character than about Holmes, though, so although it’s possible that Holmes was thinking of his own fake death when he said them, it’s not as obvious as it is in the show.

In TLD, Sherlock first says “Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it,” to Faith as she’s leaving 221B, similarly to how Holmes says this to the minor character at the end of their interview in “The Veiled Lodger.” But Moffat decided to have Sherlock say these lines again later on when they’re by the water, and in that scene he added this part to Sherlock’s dialogue, which isn’t in the original story and makes it clear what Sherlock is really talking about:

Sherlock: “Taking your own life.” Interesting expression. Taking it from who? Oh, once it’s over, it’s not you who’ll miss it. Your own death is something that happens to everybody else.

If we accept S4 as the official ending of the show, then Sherlock’s fake suicide in TRF is the crucial turning point in Sherlock and John’s love story. It is the terrible event that they are never able to recover from, and it sets in motion all of the pain that follows after. (This is also something I could write a much longer meta about.) So having Sherlock express such deep regret over it in TLD was actually a very powerful move on Moffat’s part. So yeah, that’s at least one good writing choice in S4. (*Screams*)

Anyway, this is what’s been on my mind recently, and I would love to hear what you think in the reblogs and replies! Thank you for reading 😊

[mzannthropy]

So, Enola Holmes. How do I solve a problem like Enola Holmes?

I have liked Sherlock Holmes stories for years (albeit not to the extent I like Agatha Christie, nor am I the type of expert on Sherlock as I am on Agatha Christie; when it comes to adaptations I've seen some and mostly enjoyed them, some more, like the Granada series, some less, like the BBC Sherlock). I am also a fan of Sam Claflin. When I heard there was going to be a film centred on a young Holmes sister, with Sam as Mycroft, I was, naturally excited. It sounded right up my street, even though I'm not the target demographic. A period drama with a young heroine? As a lover of L.M. Montgomery I'd like that by default. A mystery set in Victorian London? It had all the ingredients. I was not thrilled about it being about a younger sister of Sherlock, but it wasn't a major issue. And Sam was going to be in it!

Then I saw the trailer and felt like someone stabbed me with a knife.

I'm saying this to make it clear that I did not go into it with the intention of hating it. I never do, bc I'm not like that. I give everything a chance, even when everyone else is being negative. "I can't wait to hate on this show", that's not me. Sure, I didn't have to watch it--but I also I had to bc of Sam. So I did and somehow got through it, while fast forwarding parts of the film and yeah, I would have liked it, bc there was a lot about it to like, except that one crucial thing--Sam as Mycroft. Or a character named Mycroft, bc he has nothing whatsoever in common with Mycroft of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. (Okay, neither have many adaptations, but at least they're not... like that.) Except for the working for the government, and I suspect they kept that bc it suited them, not out of any respect to the Sherlockian canon.

This Mycroft is a ridiculous cartoon villain, with a cartoon villain moustache, cartoon villain hairstyle and cartoon villain lines. Mycroft from the original books is smarter than Sherlock (Sherlock himself says so, read the beginning of Greek Interpreter if you don't believe me), he's just too lazy to actively solve crimes. He founded a club for antisocial men. He created his own position in the government, securing employment for the rest of his life. Enola!Mycroft is none of that. He possesses no skills of observation or deduction. He appears to be a conservative, old fashioned, sexist, all the bad things that the audience will hate him for. Enola, on the other hand, is smarter than both of her brothers. Bc of course she is. And people here ate it all up. So you can see why the film was so upsetting to me.

I like seeing Sam in different roles. I LIKE him playing villains. Heck, one of my most favourite performances of his is Oswald Mosley in Peaky Blinders, a real world fascist. In The Nightingale, he plays an absolute monster and that's one of his best films. I like to see him play three-dimensional, well rounded characters. I'm not interested in watching him in romcoms. You get my point. If Sam's character in Enola was the one she was after, like the culprit of the crime she was solving, I would have been fine with that. If he was, let's say, Moriarty, I would even have welcomed that. If Enola was a character in her own universe, not Sherlock pastiche, and Sam was, for example, her strict uncle, with the same characterisation as this Mycroft, I would have been okay with that. (He behaves more as an uncle than a brother in any case, these guys have no sibling dynamic. Source: I have siblings with a big age gap.) But even all that I could get through with gritted teeth, if if wasn't for another obstacle--Henry Cavill as Sherlock.

They really went all-in on Eye Candy Sherlock, with those pretty curls. Whereas Sam... well, you can see for yourselves what they did to him. The gross moustache, the idiot hairdo. Yet Sam has curls just as pretty as Henry's. (Funny thing is, that Sam and Henry are sort of similar looking, they can believably play brothers. But they did everything to make them look different.) So between peeps who loved Enola and the wokery of the film, and Henry's fans gushing over his cuteness, it was quite a hard place to be for me as a fan of Sam. It made me feel like a poor relation, something I have, let's say, a bit of a baggage with.

I understand that playing a cartoon villain was something Sam wanted to try his hand at, and I don't hold it against him. (Like, if I was an actress, I'd have liked to play a stepmother in Cinderella, I would get a kick out of that role.) But that doesn't mean I have to like the end result.

And now back to what I started with--how do I deal with all this, how do I reconcile my love for Sam Claflin with what he did to Mycroft, as also a fan of Sherlock Holmes?

The best explanation I can come up with is that, as the story is told from Enola's POV, she sees him as worse than he really is. Not that she's an unreliable narrator, or if she is, not on purpose. (Like you can do the same with e.g. Snape in Harry Potter.) He could have had good intentions with her, with regards to the boarding school. As for the scenes where she doesn't appear and he does, well, she cannot know what went on there anyway, so how do we know she's not making that up? I mean, him and Sherlock seemed to have got on well and Sherlock liked him, so he couldn't have been that horrible.

I was relieved to find out he wouldn't be in the second film (he was filming DJATS), I didn't watch it and never will. But now the third one has been announced and the old dread is creeping back. Another scheduling conflict would be too much luck, so all I can hope for is at least a tiny bit of character development. Please, gods of film and TV, please.

[hergan416]

Why do I love Moriarty the Patriot?

It's not just like...compelling story. Sure it has compelling story, but ultimately it is a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. Surely I would have gotten into I dunno, Elementary when my mom was super into it when I was a teen, or the old BBC show my ex's grandparents had on at their house all the time (that more or less followed ACD canon). Maybe even ACD's books...which I like but am languishing on reading even after getting into MTP). So why this one?

Admittedly, I am the kind of person who is much more interested in animated works than live action, so I'm a little biased towards the format of an anime (and then finding the manga for more context after I love it). That's definitely a me thing.

But why did I start to hyperfixate on it? How did it become my fandom?

Gonna have some heavy topics and spoilers now.

It's relating to every single character as human. It's the way the relationships are so real and easy to imagine. It's the main character...who basically tries to commit suicide around the same age that I tried to commit suicide, failing, then having to learn to live with himself.

It's about the struggle to relate to people, to communicate, even for brilliant people who are very close (Will and Al and Louis), even for brilliant people who want to be (Sherlock and Liam), even for people who at first glance don't all seem to be neurodivergent (Sherlock and Watson). It's about how no friendship or familial relationship, no matter how deep the ties go, is perfect. It's about found family and blood ties and being true to oneself.

It's about good and evil and what those terms even mean. It's about the inherent worth of humanity. Nobles not finding all people to be people. Louis lives because William has been acknowledging his worth and thinks Holmes can provide that for William. But in the end, Louis and William both find their own worth for themselves. Louis pushes forward and really starts to shine in his new role. He's so good at what he does. He's so comfortable. He's a leader, not a servant. He is the new head of the family.

William too, learns a lot from having to live with just himself to look after (and maybe Sherlock). But he's not enmeshed with Sherlock the way he was with his brothers. He's learning to live as his own person, to become himself. Not an actor on a stage, not someone he is expected to be, to be vulnerable, to not know the answers. Because when you are smart like that...you're supposed to know all the answers. Even now.

It's beautiful. The Final Problem isn't enough. The first part ends with a brief description of how things happen after a three year time skip. Its about healing. And not healing. And struggling to move forward anyway.

How could I NOT love it?

[twistedtummies2]

Top 10 Sherlock Holmes Series

Happy New Year, Everyone! Hopefully it will be better than the last…several. ‘XD An interesting thing about this year is the number of well-known properties and characters that are officially entering the public domain starting now. Among these is the World’s Greatest Detective, Sherlock Holmes. Now, my love for Sherlock Holmes is quite well-known, but while I’ve talked about some of my favorite takes on the characters of his universe, I’ve never actually gone into great detail about my favorite versions of Sherlock Holmes OVERALL: which versions of his universe and cast as a whole I love the most. So, I decided this New Year’s Day to remedy that, at least slightly, by discussing my favorite Sherlock Holmes series portrayals ever made.

Now, keep in mind, I’m talking about versions that are a SERIES; this means there has to be more than one singular installment for me to discuss them. So standalone films - such as “The Great Mouse Detective” or “A Study in Terror” - or singular episodes from TV shows, or oneshot video games or radio production, will not be included. Maybe sometime I’ll go over something cover all of those, but for now, we’re focusing on series versions of the Holmes universe. I had to struggle a fair bit with picking the cream of the crop for this, and I based my decisions on a few factors: how good is Holmes himself in each version? How do the supporting cast of his world stand up? How often do I visit and revisit installments from this rendition? And, perhaps most importantly, how often do I think of them when I think of the simple name “Sherlock Holmes”? Some of my choices and rankings may surprise you, and I should add there were several versions that didn’t quite make the cut (you’ll find at least a couple of them listed in the Honorable Mentions), but I think the final results I came up with are satisfactory. With that in mind, allow me to present My Top 10 Sherlock Holmes Series!

10. The Frogwares Video Game Series.

While Holmes and Holmesian characters have appeared in multiple video games over the years, there’s really only one proper Sherlock Holmes video game series worth its salt. That is the Frogwares game series. I must confess I’ve only played ONE of these games myself (that’s part of the reason they take the bottom slot), but I’ve looked into other games of the series via walkthroughs and such. That’s obviously not the same experience, but it does give me an understanding of the stories and characters presented. These games are essentially cult classics: no one would call them great masterpieces, but they have a certain charm to them that’s all their own. As the series has gone on, it’s pitted Holmes against increasingly dreadful odds. He’s faced Professor Moriarty, of course, but he’s also gone against Jack the Ripper, and even crossed swords with Arsene Lupin. He’s steeled himself against the madness of Lovecraftian abominations, and struggled to defeat terrorist organizations. The series has been going strong for two decades now; its first game was released in 2002. In 2023, a remake of one of its most popular early releases, “Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened,” is scheduled to debut. What further adventures await the Master Detective? Only time will tell…

9. The 1950s BBC Radio Series.

There have been numerous radio and audio productions of Sherlock Holmes over the years. My personal favorite is this one. Entitled simply “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” these radio dramas starred two of the greatest actors in English history, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson, as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively. It was directed by Sir John’s brother, Val Gielgud (who also played Mycroft in the radio program), and guest-starred Orson Welles as Professor Moriarty in “The Final Problem.” The series was short-lived, with less than 30 episodes to its name and a run of only six or seven months between 1954 and 1955. Despite its miniscule lifespan, it’s still a pretty stellar interpretation of the Conan Doyle classics, largely due to the pedigree of its leading performers. For those who aren’t into radio and audio productions, this will be something of an acquired taste, but if you’re open to the idea, this is a great place to start.

8. Elementary.

“Elementary” was an attempt to reinterpret the Conan Doyle characters and stories in a style reminiscent of many modern crime drama shows. This is essentially what you would get if you crossed something like “NCIS” or “CSI” with…well…Sherlock Holmes. The series lasted for quite a long time, running for seven years (and seven seasons) between 2012 and 2019. I feel like this show was something of a hit-or-miss affair; sometimes the ways it reinterpreted the Holmesian characters and story ideas were absolutely brilliant, but other times it felt like the show was having trouble balancing its tone and style with its source material. I have always, however, defended its two main characters: Jonny Lee Miller as a modern age Holmes and Lucy Liu as a female Dr. Watson. In my opinion, nearly every take on this universe lives or dies based on the strength of these two characters, for perhaps obvious reasons. No matter what the show did wrong or right, both of them were amazing in their respective roles, and the overall interpretation was solidly constructed. Admittedly, I revisit this version less often than some other takes on Holmes, which is the primary reason it gets a lower ranking, but it’s definitely worthy of praise.

7. The 1960s BBC TV Series.

This series ran for two seasons in the mid-to-late 60s, and if you look at both seasons, you almost feel like you’re watching two different shows. The first season was produced and released in black-and-white; it starred Douglas Wilmer as the Great Detective, and had an ever so slightly darker tone than the second season. This second season was in color, and starred the immortal Peter Cushing (pictured here) as Holmes. Other casting elements were changed between the two seasons as well (both Mrs. Hudson and Inspector Lestrade were replaced by new actors, most notably); really, the only thing that seemed to stay the same was the resident Watson, played by Nigel Stock. Much of this series has been lost to time, sadly, but the episodes of each season that have been recovered have been released to the public online and via home media. Personally, I think that Season 2 is overall the better season, but Season 1 has its fair share of great moments, too. Check both out if you get a chance.

6. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson.

Who ever expected Russia to give us one of the greatest takes on Sherlock Holmes ever made? Well, it happened: in the 1980s, a series of television movies collectively entitled “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson” were released in Russia, starring Vasily Livanov as the super sleuth, with Vitaly Solomin as Watson. The TV productions were surprisingly faithful and atmospheric, as well as brilliantly acted, creating what many consider to be one of the most critically acclaimed and surprisingly grand interpretations of the Conan Doyle stories and characters ever made. I, personally, especially recommend the adaptations of “The Final Problem” (entitled “The Deadly Fight”), “The Empty House” (entitled “The Tiger Hunt”), and “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” The series is not only considered a great adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, but also one of the greatest TV programs in Russian history; it’s definitely worthy of a peek.

5. The Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Films.

Produced first by 20th Century FOX, and then later by Universal, these 14 monochrome movies are considered arguably the first truly “classic” Sherlock Holmes movies ever created, and for good reason. The first two films, in my opinion, are truly cinematic gems; any Holmes fan worth their salt should at least watch those first two movies. The later 12 films - made on a lower budget and with more of a time crunch between each one - are more varied in quality, ranging from genuinely great crime/mystery movies (such as “The Pearl of Death”) to “so bad it’s good” schlock (such as “Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror”). No matter the quality of the film overall, the series stands high for the simple and iconic presence of its two lead actors: Basil Rathbone, arguably the most iconic Sherlock Holmes of all time, and his Watson, Nigel Bruce. Bruce often gets a lot of flak for his more comical interpretation of Watson, but I actually think he’s grossly underappreciated: while he is a more comedic take on the character, the comedy is balanced, and you fully believe in his friendship and partnership with Sherlock. Rathbone, meanwhile, is perhaps the first truly brilliant Sherlock Holmes, presenting the character with a sense of authority that contrasts greatly with his eccentricities. While it would be a lie to say they saved every movie, they certainly were the reason the overall run of these films remains beloved and talked about to this day, and I’ve rewatched some of these old classics more often than even versions found higher on the list. Proof of the phrase “oldies but goldies,” give at least a few of these a watch whenever you can.

4. Moriarty the Patriot.

Yeah, I bet a lot of you expected this to be in my Top 3, didn’t you? To be perfectly honest, choosing between third and fourth place for this list was EXTREMELY difficult, because I liked both series for both similar and very different reasons. I’ll get into why one defeated the other later, but for now, let’s focus on this specific version. “Moriarty the Patriot” has become my favorite anime and manga series; the premise of the show places the focus not on Holmes himself, but instead his arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty. In this version, Moriarty is depicted as a much younger man than most other incarnations, and is revealed to be less of a straightforward villain and more of a violent anti-hero, organizing crimes in an elaborate scheme to try and change the system of the English government. When Holmes himself arrives in the series, it is the relationship between himself and Moriarty that becomes the focal point of the story. The series is a highly unique and fascinating reimagining of the Conan Doyle characters and stories; this is not your granny’s Sherlock Holmes, to say the least. For many people, I imagine this rendition will be something of an acquired taste; I, thankfully, have developed said taste, and will adore and praise this rendition for all of time. If it catches your interest, give it a try.

3. Sherlock.

Like I said, choosing between MTP and this popular reimagining from the BBC - starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson - was extremely difficult. In some ways, I actually think Moriarty the Patriot is better (shocking to admit, I know, without any sarcasm). It’s more inventive, more unexpected, and I can’t actually think of any truly bad stories in it, off the top of my head. (At least not so far; the manga is still ongoing.) There are some better than others, but none that are outright bad. In contrast, Sherlock - while certainly home to many creative reinterpretations of the stories and characters - follows the Sherlock Holmes formula more typically, and while I think the first two seasons are spectacular, the third season is still okay, and “The Abominable Bride” movie is quite interesting…the fourth season sort of implodes on itself, in my opinion. At the end of the day, what made me decide between the two was simply this: when I compared the bulk of the major shared characters between each version, I simply discovered I liked Sherlock’s versions of those characters a little more than the ones in MTP. I love Moriarty’s take on Holmes, but it’s hard to top Benedict Cumberbatch; Moriarty’s Watson is an adorable and earnest fellow, but it’s hard to top Martin Freeman. The same goes for Inspector Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson, and Irene Adler, among some others: as much as I love MTP’s takes on the characters, Sherlock is just what I think of more immediately when I think of most of these classic stories, at least in comparison between the two. I think the fact this series follows the formula might be part of the reason why: it still makes changes that are interesting and unique, to keep the stories fresh and to manage them with a more modern lens, but it doesn’t change things SO drastically that it becomes more of a niche interpretation. Sherlock is a mainstream mammoth, while Moriarty the Patriot is more the home of a small but highly devoted fanbase, and while neither is a good or bad thing by their own design, I think it’s telling for the way each handles the source material. Both are brilliant reimaginings of the Conan Doyle classics, and I love them both a great deal…but after some serious internal debate, I do think that Sherlock, overall, is the one I prefer, if only slightly.

2. The Guy Ritchie Films.

While there are only two of these movies (at least at present; I keep hearing rumors they might make a third one, but I’m not holding my breath), I still think these films are absolutely great. I doubt anybody expected them to be as good as they are, in fact: when you first hear the idea of Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law busting crimes in a steampunk-infused Victorian mad-scape, it sounds kind of out there. But remarkably, these films clicked with many audiences and fans, including myself. In just two films, a lot of the more prominent Holmes characters do appear with ample time to shine, yet neither film feels claustrophobically packed. They focus more heavily on the action/adventure elements of the Holmes universe, but you still get a lot of great deductions and cluefinding sequences throughout both stories. The villains are great, the characters are very well-interpreted, acting both surprisingly faithful to the original books while also having unique quirks and ideals all their own…and I have to be honest, I’m a sucker for the steampunk-inspired aesthetic of these films and the way they showcase the Holmes universe. In fact, if you had asked me a few years ago, I might have named these movies as my number one. There are two reasons why I don’t now. What are those reasons? Well…let’s address them in my number one pick…

1. The Granada TV Series.

Reason number one for why the Guy Ritchie films aren’t here: there are only two of them. In contrast, the Granada TV program of Sherlock Holmes - which ran for multiple seasons under multiple titles for a whole ten years, between 1984 and 1994 - obviously had a lot more content to sift through and more time allowed to get to know the characters and their world. However, the bigger reason is number two: this series has the single greatest Sherlock Holmes of all time, Jeremy Brett. And as much as I love other Holmeses on this countdown - Downey Jr., Cumberbatch, Rathbone, Cushing, and of course the one from Moriarty the Patriot - I’m sorry, having the best Sherlock Holmes ever made almost automatically grants the Granada series top billing. In contrast to the 1960s BBC series, this show had one consistent Holmes throughout (and most of the other major cast members were consistently cast, as well), but DID have two different Watsons. David Burke played the good doctor in the first (and, in my opinion, best) season of the show, while Edward Hardwicke took over for the remainder of the series. Each of them are magnificent, easily among my Top 5 Favorite Watsons of all time. Essentially by that sheer default, of having two of the greatest Watsons of all time and the single best Holmes ever created, the series wins top billing. The show also stands high for its faithfulness to the Conan Doyle stories: every episode is an adaptation of a classic book or short story, and while there are some changes sprinkled throughout, for the majority of the time, they stay EXTREMELY true to the source. In fact, most changes made only serve to make the stories better than before, only adding to the power of this rendition. While not all of the supporting cast are my absolute favorites, the two most important characters (along with a few others) are, and that is what ultimately matters most. If you haven’t already seen anything from this masterwork, you can easily find episodes of it online or on DVD and Blu-ray. Check out a few and find out what you are missing this New Year! There’s no doubt in my mind the Granada series with Jeremy Brett is My Favorite Sherlock Holmes Series. Case closed.

Honorable Mentions Include…

The 1954 American TV Series. (Starring Ronald Howard as Sherlock Holmes.)

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century. (An animated series starring Jason Gray Stanford as Holmes.)

The Hallmark TV Movies. (Starring Matt Frewer as Holmes.)

Big Finish Audio Productions. (Starring Nicholas Briggs as Holmes.)

[depressed-bubbles]

Martin Luther had his 95 Theses/Grievances against the Roman Catholic Church, but today I come to you with my Top 3 Grievances against Sherlock bbc.

1. what the hell is this time line? i’m not even sure then is any canon time line for the entire series, let alone each episode. the only exact time we are given is of Sherlock’s “death” being two years long. and some people will say that the measurement of time doesn’t *really* matter, soooo who cares! I DO!!!! it matters so much, i can’t even iterate my reasonings except scream in a bucket. there’s so many concepts including Mary life before and after John, just Johns entire life before meeting Sherlock (by basic calculations he should be sooooo gosh damn old to work as a doctor as he does), Moriarty and everything he does outside of and pertaining to Sherlock, Eurus (her crimes, her time in Sherrinford, her time with Moriarty), just—- so many plots and aspects of this show make little to no logical sense because of how off and awkward the series chronically works, or doesn’t work.

2. John. his life. and by life i mean love life. i will admit i’ve never understood the concept of just meeting someone and suddenly dating them, maybe it’s the greyromantic thing, but hey…. this isn’t about me. but what the fuck? when does this guy have the time? he basically had three jobs: mystery man, doctor man, and sherlock babysitter man. when is this guy going out and meeting these girls? and why is he doing this? he knows he’s in no place to be #dating anyone, mentally or physically. the only person he hangs out with is the *cough* love of his life *cough* i mean unsocial flatmate, whom i heavily doubt would allow his John to get taken with anyone else. but overall, in the entirety of this show, John and dating don’t have a purpose except to show that John cares about Sherlock more than anyone he claims to care about more. to show his true hufflepuff— wrong fandom —his true loyalty and undying yearning to follow Sherlock into the deepest darks. except Mary, that has a plot, a good one? ehhhhhhhhhh but there’s q reason for the relationship, not just “here we go, another reason Johns not a H O M O S E X U A L

3. the ‘end’ of the season. personally i liked that episode. is it really weird and create a few plot problems and unrealistic scenarios based on what we know of our characters? yes, yes it does. but at the same time i don’t care and the only thing i truly hate is how annoying the Moriarty recordings were. they broke my ears. but this being the end of a series that i love so much and truly cherish, just breaks my heart because it’s so SHITTY! not a shitty episode, but a shitty one to end a series on. but yeah sure, they say they’ll do another season…………. i can’t believe that. at all. so, until i open Netflix and see a new season of Sherlock there I will be calling “The Final Problem” the series finale of Sherlock.

even though it sucks as one.

[heavenly-kazee]

Man- I'm this close 👌🏻 leaving yuumori fandom whenever I see Eurus being mentioned 😭

(TW: Sherlock BBC spoilers, RKDD spoilers, supervillain acting the most pitiable sympathetic character and mental health disorders mentioned)

Sherlock BBC didn't healed me, it traumatized me. Yup— I better be sticking around in RKDD fandom because at least the mangaka is more respected with the actual ACD version (maybe Ron is still similar like Benedict Cumberbatch but in a positive light)

I know there are Eurus fans out there but I am not sorry about this post. All I wanted is someone to save me from this horrible nightmare fuel of Sherlock BBC hysteria, not even God can take me away from this hell of redeeming the most psychopathic creature that has nothing to do in ACD book-

I'm not even surprised she's the youngest, I do not wanted to be associated as her. I prefer to be associated as Mycroft, a autistic government who has not stepped outside of his office room (Unfortunately, that is who I am throughout my childhood years)

In conclusion, (points at Eurus) she is Mary Sue. Such mary sue coded because she's too overly intelligent and easily overpower Sherlock and Mycroft. My main concern is Mycroft. He got berated, criticized from his parents and thinking why their son put their daughter in private prison- Ffs Mycroft never once get comforted by them at all, I could already tell who's the golden child here in the family-

How come Jim Moriarty, Charles Augustus Milverton and that quaky cereal villain got punished and died early on? That doesn't make any sense why Eurus got away from killing staff members and causing chaos everywhere. Oh, that's right, she's Eurus Holmes, their youngest third sister and a redeemable antagonist supervillain. A psychopath at a young age who killed Sherlock's best friend. Firstly, she killed someone, Mycroft found out she's dangerous and decided to send her off to the Sherrinfold private prison institution out of fear letting her hurt Sherlock. Secondly, her intelligence and abilities grew outsmarting anyone in the room and third, Mycroft gives up in the end and gives her "reasonable" motive presents.

I never once like season 4 or The Final Problem episode, everything feels out of place and it doesn't feel like Sherlock and Moriarty's death battle anymore.

Tragically wasted potential. RKDD done it way better than that. Instead of Eurus Holmes being in the manga series, that personality of hers was imported to Alice Moriarty as a character. Humming as she sings, Mylo almost kill Alice at their young age but she survived in the end. Alice treated Mylo the same treatment as Mylo did in the past. At first I didn't think too much about it until I finished watching Sherlock BBC, the pattern was too hard to ignore the more I investigate where Alice's personality came from.

Last but not least, Eurus Holmes is a character only for BBC, nothing more. She has no interesting quirks, only mind games like an unredeemable villain. If I was her little sister, I would be disappointed, angry and have many mixed emotions all at once for having a sibling who lost her morality as an human being. "But, Mycroft and Sherlock accepted her!" No, that's lazy writing. A realistic siblings wouldn't accept it as it is. They will think you're crazy, a criminal, disappointment in the family and probably be the first people to kick you out of the house for breaking family code rules. And as for them, they might as well tell the parents about their youngest daughter had killed thousands of people compared to Moriarty, Charles Augustus and quacky cereal killer.

That's all for my Ted talk. If you want to voice your opinions, that's fine as well but I won't tolerate any comments about defending Eurus as a character, she's already a vile mess, what do you want to argue more about 😭

[faggotrevolution]

conclusionless rant about andrew scott under the cut

why did andrew scott give such a terrible performance in Sherlock when he's obviously a good actor?

i've wondered this for over a decade now, ever since my drama teacher in 8th grade pointed out that all andrew scott is really doing in the pool scene is being loud, which isn't the same as being convincing.

is it moffat? he makes a really good scapegoat for most problems with BBC Sherlock. but he's the writer and producer, not the director, and even though i think it would be difficult to convincingly act lines like "Daddy's had enough now" and "I will burn the heart out of you" i still think the awkward, uncomfortable, overly loud performance can't be fully blamed on the writing.

so i look at gatiss, the director, the one who said that 'Moriarty has always been a sort of posh, dull villain' and that he wanted to have his Moriarty be 'genuinely frightening'. gatiss doesn't get half as much hate as moffat. while moffat was angrily replying to people's tweets about river song's bisexuality gatiss was getting interviewed and lauded as a folk hero of the fandom, someone nerdy and hard-working, truly invested in the enjoyment of the audience. but he's no different from moffat. he too enjoyed early success writing what some might call "darkly intellectual" doctor who episodes, and he worked on sherlock just as much. people love to call out moffat for queerbaiting and lying about Sherlock but like... gatiss was there too. and he's gay! i can expect betrayal from a straight man but a faggot?? it hurts!!

i think cumberbatch and freeman, reprehensible people that they are, give consistently good performances on Sherlock. but does that mean mark gatiss is good at directing them? i mean benedict cumberbatch was their prophesied 'sex symbol', the eponymous character, a nepotism hire with connections in the industry - and martin freeman was an established actor who is just playing the same type of guy he played on Bruiser. he probably didn't need too much direction.

but at the end of the day all i can really glean from this is imagining gatiss kept halfheartedly telling scott to 'ramp it up' with his performance of these terrible lines in an effort to make it stand out, while paying most of his attention to the star. which could very well have happened, but there's no proof.

[denimbex1986]

'In recent days, an interview with the Irish actor Andrew Scott on the red carpet of the BAFTAs has gone viral : a BBC journalist - icon of real journalism, the Messi of public television, the example that every good university lifts to the max for his students who dream of working in the media— he asks if he knows Barry Keoghan well, and how he reacted to seeing his final scene in Saltburn . Scott, a polite professional, gets away with it as best he can, visibly uncomfortable. The question is completely inappropriate at the outset because Andrew Scott was nominated for the BAFTA for his leading role in All Of Us Strangers , which has nothing to do with the film by Emmerald Fennell . And because, faced with such an insensibly yellow question, worthy of the latest copy of La Cuore and not of British public television, it is necessary to question whether they would have asked the same to an actor who is not openly homosexual. I can't imagine, what do I know, Brad Pitt , questioned about the explicitly naked scenes of Michael Fassbender in Shame .

The lack, in itself, is historic. But the hour is especially poignant when the spotlight is on the credit for which Scott stepped on the red carpet: his lead in the film All Of Us Strangers , which hit the big screen this Friday. Andrew Haigh 's film caused a furor during the festival season , and unfortunately it has been diluted to the point where only a few nominations remain at the British Academy Awards - the only ones that, whether or not, had to bet on it for its national production. And the contempt is incomprehensible in the face of the wonderful work that Haigh has created.

Andrew Scott — for many, Fleabag 's Hot Priest , and for others who hang on to the visionary badge, Sherlock 's talented Moriarty — is joined by Paul Mescal — if, by now, you don't know him yet, don't I know what you're doing with your cinephile lives—, Claire Foy — God Save — and Jaime Bell — the Billy Elliot we all fell in love with — to tell the metaphorical and fanciful story of a young homosexual (Scott) who, on the day who returns to his childhood home, discovers to his surprise that his late parents (Foy and Bell) seem to still be alive. Enough to dialogue with them, live with them, and even stay there for dinner. All while trying to manage a passionate love affair and sex with his lonely neighbor (Mescal). It is worth not divulging more secrets of the film, because its brilliant dance between the limits of fantasy and reality , dream and coherence, magic and everyday life , is one of the distinctive marks of a film which, under the premise of a love story, investigates a theme that has been explored a thousand times: the acceptance of one's identity starting with sexual orientation.

The journey of Scott's character is not too different from what the cinema has brought us multiple times. The LGBTIQ+ problem often goes through introspection into the past, into childhood, into the relationship - tempestuous or not - with parents in a turbulent time for the group - the 80s, in the midst of the AIDS epidemic . It is an exhaustively explored topic, but that does not make it any less interesting or worthy of further exploration. Especially if the patina that covers it plays so well with genre, with the constraints of cinema, with blurred boundaries and mystery. Haigh manages to turn an LGTBIQ+ drama into a delightfully delicate story that straddles science fiction and romance . All driven by a direction that makes the hair stand on end both when it plays with the terrifying tension - there are moments when they almost drink from the horror cinema - and when it does it with the emotion at the flower of the skin - with a care for delicacy that makes you feel part of an intimacy to which you should not have a window. And nothing works without the direction, but above all without the interpretations of its four protagonists.

Scott is the undisputed MVP. What many - and here, let's not miss the pedantic medallion - we had already sensed when he gave life to the schizophrenic and exaggerated evil counterpoint of Benedict Cumberbatch 's Sherlock Holmes , here takes on another dimension. The actor shows that the American Academy, and the Golden Globes, and the other awards that claim to be important, have ignored one of the most valuable performances of this last year . A work of absolute precision of a character made of halftones, which, with a slight movement of an eyebrow or a lip, composes an emotion radically different from the previous one. A restful, minimal interpretation, which includes thousands of stories and memories in a slight change practically imperceptible at the time, but which adds up to a global calculation of dominated melancholy. Their exaggerated, bandarra and tortured counterpoint is provided by Mescal, with whom they not only share a great mastery of art, but also a sulfurous chemistry , the kind that pierces the screen. It is certainly not the best role found in the already enviable career of the young Irishman. But the duo culminates the film in an emotional climax that leaves you breathless.

Scott, however, breathes life into a character with the inexorable help of his parents. Foy and Bell are the true secondaries ; two characters who give meaning to the supporting actor who names the award categories. Both of these characters build Scott's main character almost more than his performance. It is in the conversations, the shared memories, the reactions, the displays of affection, understanding and, above all, incomprehension, that we understand the problems that the protagonist draws. A child orphaned not only of parents, but also of a normal, constructive childhood , which has allowed him to accept himself in every way. Conversations that were never had and that are now finally having, and that push the protagonist to a truth that until now he could not live with.

However, All Of Us Strangers is still a reflection on life, identity, family and mental health. A clichéd and excessive mess in the hands of a talent inferior to Andrew Haigh , who has drawn a deeply emotional work, visually full of layers of meaning, and disturbing in the best of senses. One of those films you keep thinking about for days, weeks, and months after watching it. Of those that, even now, cause you to know something in your heart. Of those who ridicule the homophobic questions of journalists on a red carpet in which it is more than clear that stories like those narrated by All Of Us Strangers continue to be , fortunately or unfortunately, more necessary and significant than ever.'

[bakerstreetbabble]

"The Final Problem" (BBC Sherlock): Review

Here's my review of the final episode of Season 4 of the BBC's Sherlock, and possibly the final episode of the entire series. This review was originally published on I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.

"It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen" [FINA] 

[Editor's Note: this is the eighth in our series of reviews for Series 4 of Sherlock. There are spoilers below. Don't say we didn't warn you.]

Where to begin? How does one describe this beautiful mess, this sublimely ludicrous end to a season that has delighted and frustrated so many viewers? Well, I guess we have to start with the obligatory spoiler warning. I mean, for the love of all that is Sherlockian, don't think about reading any further until you've watched the final episode of Season 4 of Sherlock: "The Final Problem."

Let's start with that title: despite the obvious reference to perhaps the most famous of all Holmes stories in the Canon, this episode has little to do with Doyle's story of the same name. Moffat and Gatiss had already plundered Doyle's "The Final Problem" back in Season 2, with "The Reichenbach Fall." So plot-wise, there's not much in the way of references to that source material, other than a certain air of finality at the end of the episode. But more on that point later...

There are references to the Canon, of course, as we have come to expect from this series: the reference to "The Three Garridebs" (just their names—the plot point is completely different); the "Dancing Men" reference in the final montage. Perhaps other more eagle-eyed Sherlockians will detect other clues. And there was a delightful detail in the final shot, where a placard on a building clearly reads "Rathbone Place," a cheeky little extra-canonical tidbit. But I'm getting ahead of myself again.

As a fan of comic books when I was younger, I can't help but think that the island fortress of Sherrinford was reminiscent of Arkham Asylum from the Batman series: a place where only the most brilliant of the criminally insane reside. Meanwhile, the writers made the parallel to Silence of the Lambs explicit in the scene where Sherlock first visits Eurus at her cell, and a guard refers to the famous film/novel. Eurus certainly brought Hannibal Lecter to mind right away.

Perhaps one of the biggest laughs I got (maybe the only laugh, considering the dark tone of the episode) was when the camera panned down through the floor at 221B, to show Mrs. Hudson vacuuming her floor, while listening to Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" on her headphones. No, that's not right, I did laugh at one other spot: the great musical cue at the beginning of the flashback to Moriarty's visit to Sherrinford, wherein he's listening to Queen's "I Want to Break Free." Typical Moriarty flash and cheese, all in one delicious moment.

The Critical Question At this point, though, I have to ask myself: canonical references and humorous musical cues aside, what about the rest of it? Did this episode, in fact, make any sense?

No, I don't think it did. For all their attempts to really wow us, with all the suspense — will Sherlock shoot Watson or Mycroft? Will Mrs. Hudson perish in the explosion? Will Molly Hooper die because she won't say "I love you"? — for all that, much of the action felt horribly contrived to me. If anyone has watched any of the Saw films, there's often a point in those elaborately executed torture traps where the viewer thinks, "How could anyone possibly set all of this up?" In the case of Eurus Holmes, a woman who had been incarcerated for much of her adult life, I found myself thinking the same thing: even with the help of the guards that she had (almost magically) talked into doing her bidding, there was just too much planning and almost superhuman omniscience involved in setting up her elaborate test of brothers Sherlock and Mycroft.

Speaking of superhuman, we're also forced to believe that Sherlock, John and Mycroft (not to mention Mrs. Hudson) all walked away from the huge explosion at 221B, with nary a scratch on them? For heaven's sake, Sherlock and John were blown through a second story window!

But this same superhero-style Sherlock doesn't even realize that there is no glass between him and Eurus, the whole time he's talking to her? Nope, sorry, I don't buy it. I've stood in front of glass walls, and it's quite easy to tell the difference between glass and thin air. And it takes that long for Sherlock to figure out that the little girl on the plane is all a ruse? As they have in the past, Moffat and Gatiss seem to have thought we, as viewers, would simply accept their overly elaborate game (that's "not a game any more," according to the trailer), and not notice how far-fetched the whole thing was, or how lame Sherlock has gotten at figuring things out.

Almost the entire length of the episode, I just kept thinking, "No, that wouldn't happen that way...no, that just isn't possible." Just as they did at the beginning of Season 3, when everyone wanted to know how Sherlock had survived his "Reichenbach Fall," the Sherlock writers simply said, "We don't need to explain it. Sherlock's just the cleverest man alive." Except for when he's not. Which leads me to the end...

There has been much speculation, especially as Season 4 has progressed, as to whether this will be the last season of Sherlock. The final montage of this episode certainly seemed to lean that way: Mary's final words about her "Baker Street Boys...Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson!" had a definite air of finality about them. Are Moffat and Gatiss going to accomplish what Arthur Conan Doyle failed to do with his "Final Problem"? Will this be the end of the story? Doyle tried to kill off his detective, but ended up bringing him back to life. All of our favorite characters (well, most of them) are still alive and well at the end of this "Final Problem." So I guess the future of the series is still open.

Of course, that leads me to my final dilemma: how do I view this episode as a series finale, rather than just a season finale, if that's what it turns out to be? I suppose, to a certain extent, this finale demonstrates what Sherlock has always been: entertaining, frustrating, impressed by its own cleverness, slick, modern, and completely in love with its source material. I mean, that's what's kept so many of us coming back, through the long hiatuses and all that, isn't it?

It's always been clear (to me, at least) that Moffat and Gatiss absolutely adore the characters and stories created by Arthur Conan Doyle. In the end, if it is actually over, the whole series is kind of like a crazy, devoted fan fiction: they have always said, "What if?" What if Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were living in today's world? What stories could we tell about that?

And they did.

[asherlockstudy]

Hey i was reading your TAB metas and i agree with most of it except for the last bit about the Reichenbach falls. Sherlock doesn't choose John, he chooses Moriarty. He jumps into the falls after him like he does on the rooftop where he loses and succumbs to Moriarty's fake death plan. He leaves John not joins him? idk i just thought id mention it because that was my original though process when i watched TAB and i think it fits better considering the bbc canon.

I wrote the TAB metas before S4 aired and therefore I do not interpret TAB in the exact same way anymore. Some of the TAB metas need editing and some parts should perhaps be deleted.

However, my reasons for this are different than your interpretation. In my opinion, there is no indication in TAB that Sherlock chooses Moriarty over John, even though he is seriously tempted by his fascination for Moriarty, since he allows John to kill Moriarty.

For one thing, I was right when I wrote that TAB was all of the Series squeezed in one semi-Victorian episode. The problem is that I expected a 5-season arch with a different climax and ending. My Reichenbach falls interpretation made sense based on the imaginary fifth season plot I expected (and was originally promised by Moffat, let’s not forget). But given the actual plot we were unfortunately served, the TAB Reichenbach falls were apparently a mix of S2E3 and S4E3. Moriarty’s fall was the Victorian version of Jim’s suicide. Sherlock’s cathartic fall (and the following suggested mysterious smiley survival) was his fake suicide on a surface level and Sherlock going deep into his repressed trauma caused by Eurus and coming out of it a better man on a more profound level.

We never saw the equivalent of John “pushing” Moriarty to his death, but here are some possible interpretations:

It symbolised Sherlock’s love for John being the catalyst for Sherlock’s victory over Eurus and Jim’s plan, although this was so poorly explained in S4.

It was supposed to be clearer if the original plan of five seasons was not changed and if Freeman had not grown so hostile against Cumberbatch.

[lacelynpage]

Hi! Can you write about the BBC Sherlock characters comforting their S/O who is stressed about looking for a job?

A/N: Alright, it has taken me exactly one month to get to this request, but here it finely is! I hope It was at least a little like what you wanted. enjoy Darlings! Ill see you all next Thursday!

Job hunting stress ~ Sherlock Preferences 

Sherlock: 

While Sherlocks work has earned him quite a bit of fame it has not earned him the same financial return. This lead you to try to find a job that would consistently pay you. Sherlock didn't really get why you would want to have a normal job but that didn't stop you. It was stressful as hell to find a good job that had flexible enough hours that you could still run around with Sherlock. In all honesty he didn't want you to get a job because then you wouldn't be there to talk to. He mentioned it randomly one day after you got home from an interview and it warmed your heart a little to know that he wanted you around so much. In the end he was the one who saw and ad for a position you were perfect for. You got the job and were eternally grateful to Sherlock for finding it.   

John:

John was there for you every step of the way. You weren't happy in your current position so he helped you look for a new one. He would send you links to different places throughout the work day and check your resume for you. Honestly you don't know how you would have gotten through it without him. He took you out for a nice dinner when you finally put you two weeks in at your old job. He was so happy for you to start a new chapter and glad you left your miserable old one. All John wants is for you to be happy and if a new job would make you happy then he made it his mission to help you. 

Mycroft:

Mycroft hated seeing you like that. Your last job ended in a less than ideal way. So the stress of finding a new one, combined with all the free time, was a bit of a disaster. You weren't sleeping, your anxiety was through the roof, and you just weren't happy. Mycroft being Mycroft he took it upon himself to fix the situation. One day he came home and handed you a large stack of papers. It was his way of offering you a position in his department. You were more than qualified and the job looked interesting but you declined. After explaining that while this was hard, it was also something you needed to do on your own. He understood and helped you look in his free time after that. 

Greg:

Job hunting is kind of the worst. However, having Greg with you made it all easier. He would make you a cup of tea when you needed it and bring you biscuits if you seemed particularly stressed. He didn't hover over you or completely ignore you. He helped when asked and backed off when needed. He encouraged you to take breaks and just come sit with him for a little while. It was all a little overwhelming but you got through it. Greg was your rock and you love him all the more for it. 

Moriarty:

Looking for a job isn't so much of a problem, Jim keeps you busy with assignments. However they can be stressful and down right intolerable sometimes. When you are stressed he will come to your aid. He will make sure you are alright of course but he focuses on getting the job done before he truly is there to help you. He loves you dearly but his work is very important to him. Once it's over and he has the time to help you he is right by your side. He listens to everything that happened and is therefore whatever you need. If something doesn't fit your skills he re adjusts and never sends you on a job like that again. While he can be single minded in the middle of a job you are still his favorite thing and he goes to great lengths to protect you.

[ebaeschnbliah]

ON BEHALF OF ‘AMO’ … HIS LAST VOW

An attempt to unravel the Sherlock BBC Tapestry based on metaphorical reading

The prior episode The Sign of Three triggered a chain reaction of revelations in Sherlock that led the detective to the quite unexpected realisation that his facade, the guard that ‘thatchend’ and protected his well-kept secret, had been penetrated without noticing. The pink seed of love (Rosie) had been laid and taken root and is now growing slowly but steadily. 

‘Oh, what a night! … I was never gonna be the same … I felt a rush like a rollin’ ball of thunder spinnin’ my head around n’ takin’ my body under’

This is the big turning point of the story and also in Sherlock’s investigations regarding his own case, the pink one. Sherlock accepts the change and opts for an entirely different approach to tackle his ‘problem’.  Despite being confused, anxious and torn in two, he adds ‘love’ to the equation when he restarts his experiment for another cycle. And so the new client of the new episode turns out to be a character who isn’t only Mycroft’s (brain, reason, intellect) superior, her secret codename, revealed two episodes later, is AMO ...  the Latin wording for ‘I love’. AMO comes to Baker Street, asks Sherlock to take her case and retrieve informations about a certain past event, a forbidden almost-love story, that is treated like a dark and scandalous secret ... although nothing that could be called a scandal or a crime has ever really happened. 

Sherlock takes the case, goes undercover and becomes a junkie who is high on drugs ... the chemistry of love ...

TBC below the cut .....

The title chosen for this episode - His Last Vow - refers to Doyle’s His Last Bow.  This story is set in 1914, shortly before the great war breakes loose over the world. It is the very last case the great detective and his best friend and biographer solve together. Holmes’ famous quote about the approaching east wind and good old doctor Watson being the one fixed point in a changing age, marks the endpoint of the Sherlock Holmes canon universe.  

'Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet.’

The East Wind is indeed finally released and given free rein in Sherlock BBC ... a ‘wind’ (Eurus) that never blew on ‘England’ (Sherlock) yet. A ‘cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared’, predicts canon Sherlock Holmes in His Last Bow. And in His Last Vow modern Sherlock Holmes is confronted with an intense war that rages inside himself. One half of his being fights against the other. It’s a war he must loose in order to win. And so His Last Bow marks ‘the end’ while His Last Vow becomes a ‘new beginning’.

The end is the beginning

This theme is repeatedly picked up in Sherlock BBC. The story runs in several cycles that are linked backwards to prior events, either inside this modern adaptation but also in relation to the canon universe. For example: 

the penultimate episode, The Lying Detective, takes up the serial-killer-theme from A Study in Pink/PILOT ... that’s a circle backwards to the beginning of the modern Sherlock BBC universe.

the title of the last episode, The Final Problem, is linked to Doyle’s originally planned end of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland ... that’s a circle backwards to Sherlock BBC’s The Reichenbach Fall

the addition of Victor Trevor and the Musgrave Ritual in the same episode establishes a connection to the literary birth of Sherlock Holmes before he met Dr Watson ... that’s a circle backwards to the chronological beginning of the canon universe.

As mentioned above, the reference to the ‘East Wind’ in His Last Vow, spans a bridge to the canon’s final case, the very last adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. On the other hand, the canon quote about ‘good old Dr Watson’ from His Last Bow, creates a bridge to Sherlock BBC’s first and unofficial episode, the Unaired Pilot, in which Sherlock uses exactly these words when he refers to John Watson, the army doctor whom he had only just met. This in mind, the episode His Last Vow connects the beginning with the end and the end with the beginning and - as far as I see - it is also the episode that uses the method of ‘repeated motives’ for the first time. Assuming that the previous episode, The Sign of Three, is indeed the turning point of the whole story, everything that happened before can be viewed as the first cycle, the basis cycle, of the show.

Sherlock restarts his ‘experiment’ for another cycle

As explained in The meaning of Series One I tend to see the three episodes of Sherlock BBC S1 as Introduction (ASIP), User Manual (TBB) and Chapter List (TGG) for the whole show. The very first chapter of the show, that actually starts the story about Sherlock’s emotional and sexual awakening (in Distraction and Consequences), however, is set in A Scandal in Belgravia. In this episode Irene removes the clerical collar - the ‘dog collar’ - from virgin-Sherlock’s vicar-disguise and confronts him with the ‘scandlous’ naked truth regarding the true nature of his feelings towards his ‘eternal’ best friend. What follows is the ‘rising of the hound’ (sex) because ‘the chemistry of love starts filling the air’ (airosol drug, love is in the air) in THOB. Then Mr Sex reaches for the crown jewels to rule the whole empire (body) in TRF. Sherlock retreats (hiatus) but then he returns and starts to investigate and question his facade (Mary) in TEH and tries to assess what might happen if he isn’t able to prevent the explosion (love confession). Because ‘once you’ve opened your heart, you can’t close it again ... you can’t take it back’. Finally - Hamish - John’s secret and unliked middle name (the Scottish version of James/Jim) leads Sherlock to the big ‘I’m in love’ revelation in TSOT. It is ‘Mr Sex’ who hides in plain sight, right in the middle of John H Watson. This becomes the great turning point of the story and the following episode - His Last Vow - marks a new beginning. AMO (I love) asks Sherlock to retrieve some ‘sensitive and dangerous information’, kept somewhere deep inside the vaults of the ‘Alexandrian Library of secrets and scandals’ ... a place deep inside Sherlock’s own mind palace where he keeps all the thoughts, ideas and fantasies he is most afraid of and never wanted - never was allowed - to deal with. 

How big of a surprise is it then that the motives Sherlock picks up in this first repetition are, above all, from those episodes that can also be viewed as the two ‘starting points’ of Sherlock BBC ... ASIP and ASIB ... because they come ‘always in pairs’.  :)

ASIB revisited in HLV

The consideralbe amount of interesting connections between HLV and 'Scandal’ have been already the subject of several discussions back in 2016. It’s all a bit of a blur by Longsnowsmoon5 triggered what I called ‘Strange Similarities’. Here’s a summary and comparison of the most striking interconnections between those two episodes:

ASIB: Sherlock wakes up (in 221b), covered in nothing but a white sheet. HLV: Sherlock wakes up (in a morgue), covered in nothing but a white sheet.

ASIB: Mycroft, the government (brain), orders Sherlock to find and retrieve a phone with informations about a scandalous secret. HLV: Lady Smallwood, Mycroft’s superior (AMO), orders Sherlock to find and retrieve a letter with informations about a scandalous secret.

ASIB: Mycroft takes his order back and tells Sherlock: “The 'secrets owner’ is no longer any concern of yours. From now on you will stay out of this.” Sherlock doesn’t obey. HLV: Mycroft interferes with the Smallwood case and tells Sherlock: “The 'secrets owner’ is not your business. If you go against (that person), then you will find yourself going against me”. Sherlock doesn’t obey.

ASIB: Sherlock disguises as vicar, engaged with god (himself), before he contacts the person who owns the secret. HLV: Sherlock disguises as junkie, engagend with Janine (’little’ John), before he contacts the person who owns the secret.

ASIB: Secrets and scandals on Irene’s phone ... ‘On this phone I’ve got secrets, pictures and scandals that could topple your whole world’. HLV: Secrets and scandals inside Magnussens’s vaults ... underneath that house there is kept ‘the greatest repository of sensitive and dangerous information anywhere in the world, the Alexandrian Library of secrets and scandals’.

ASIB: Sherlock isn’t the only one who tries to retrieve scandalous informations. CIA agents (’Mycroft is the CIA on a freelance basis’ ASIP) are also after those informations. HLV: Sherlock isn’t the only one who tries to retrieve scandalous informations. Mary (’Little brother must never suspect you of working for me’ says Mycroft in TAB) is also after informations kept at the same place.

ASIB: Neither Sherlock nor the CIA agents are able to retrieve the scandalous informations. Instead Sherlock gets drugged and beaten because of that case and ultimately ends up unconscious in bed ... DI Lestrade takes a video of drugged Sherlock. HLV: Neither Sherlock nor Mary are able to retrieve the scandalous informations. Instead Sherlock, who got high for that case, gets beaten and shot and ultimately ends up unconscious in bed ... DI Lestrade wants to take a video of drugged Sherlock.

ASIB: Sherlock is attacked by a woman (Irene) who has a dubious past, misbehaves, is used to live an undercover life with a fake identity ... and yet, Sherlock protects her anyway. HLV: Sherlock is attacked by a woman (Mary) who has a dubious past, misbehaves, is used to live an undercover life with a fake identity ... and yet, he protects her anyway.

ASIB: Irene’s PA and friend is called Kate. Kate takes John to an abandoned building - a disused power station - where he is confronted with the truth about his relationship with Sherlock. HLV: Mary’s neighbour and friend is called Kate. Kate sends John to an abandoned building - a drug den - where he is confronted with Sherlock who is high for a case.

ASIB: Ordered by Mycroft and in agreement with John, 221b Baker Street is searched for drugs. HLV: Ordered by Mycroft and in agreement with John, 221b Baker Street is searched for drugs.

ASIB: CIA agent Neilson, who is connected to Mycroft, orders his men to search Sherlock and John for secret weapons. HLV: Magnussen, who is connected to Mycroft, orders his bodyguards to search Sherlock and John for secret weapons.

ASIB: A time jump of several months happens ... then it is Christmas. HLV: A time jump of several months happens ... then it is Christmas.

ASIB: A person (Irene) lies ‘dead’ in the morgue - Molly, Mycrofft and Sherlock are surrounding her body. Later Irene comes back from the dead. HLV: A person (Sherlock) lies ‘dead’ in the morgue - Molly, Mycrofft and Sherlock are surrounding his body (inside the MP). Later Sherlock comes back from the dead.

ASIB: Sherlock says ‘People don’t really go to heaven when they die. They’re taken to a special room and burned.’ HLV: John says ‘Alarms would go off and you’d be dragged away by security and taken to a small room somewhere and your head kicked in.’

ASIB: At some point Sherlock gets really angry and throws a man, who is connected to Mycroft and tortured Mrs Hudson, out of the window. HLV: At some point Sherlock gets really angry and shoots a man, who is connected to Mycroft and tortured John, in the head.

ASIB: Irene isn’t expected to survive undercover more than six months without her protection. HLV: Sherlock’s undercover assignment is expected to prove fatal within six months.

ASIB: Jim sends a message to ‘the government’ and a flight (of the dead) gets cancelled. HLV: Jim sends a message to ‘the whole country’ and a flight (into death) gets cancelled.

ASIB: Beyond the black screen of the END credits - static interferences initiate one additional and not expected information ... Irene is still alive. HLV: Beyond the black screen of the END credits - static interferences initiate one additional and not expected information ... Jim appears to be still alive.

ASIP revisited in HLV

For a long time I wasn’t aware that ASIB isn’t the only ‘first’ episode that is mirrored in HLV ... not until this post by @critgemhero crossed my dash. Fascinating how the creators of Sherlock BBC are able to hide informations in plain sight throughout their show. The amount of connecting points between those two episodes is just as considerable as the ones between ASIB and HLV. Here’s a summary and comparison of the most striking similarities (extended by some of my own observations):

ASIP: John wakes from an Afghanistan nightmare. HLV: John wakes from an Afghanistan nightmare.

ASIP: Sherlock admits having been a junkie. HLV: Sherlock is forced to admit that he’s taken drugs for the case.

ASIP: Anderson assists DI Lestrade with a drugs bust at 221b. HLV: Anderson assists Mycroft with a drugs bust at 221b.

ASIP: The Lauriston Garden staircase and the hallway of Roland-Kerr Further Education College are important locations in ASIP. HLV: The Lauriston Garden staircase and the hallway of Roland-Kerr Further Education College turn up again and play an important role inside Sherlock’s mind palace.

ASIP: Sherlock thinks 'Oh, it’s Christmas!’ because of the new case and Mycroft’s negative attitude towards Christmas dinners is mentioned. HLV: It is Christmas and Mycroft’s negative attitude towards Christmas dinners can be observed.

ASIP: Sherlock characterizes himself as sociopath ‘I’m not a psychopath, Anderson. I’m a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research.’ HLV: Sherlock characterizes himself as sociopath ‘I’m a high-functioning sociopath. Merry Christmas!’

ASIP: John shoots Hope to protect Sherlock. HLV: Sherlock shoots CAM to protect John and Mary.

ASIP: Sherlock’s and John’s first meeting and first handshake. HLV: Sherlock’s and John’s farewell and a last handshake.

ASIP: A barking dog can be heard after John has waken from his nightmare. HLV: Redbeard, Sherlock’s childhood dog enters the stage for the first time. 

ASIP: The junior minister for transport becomes a victim of Hope. HLV: The empty houses at Leinster Gardens are described as fake facade for transport.

ASIP: John eats pasta that could be penne at Angelo’s Italian restaurant. HLV: Sherlock eats pasta penne at a restaurant he calls the ‘hospital canteen’. (Pasta Penne)

ASIP: Two phone calls - Sherlock instructs John to come to Baker Street 221b and Hope to Northumberland Street 22. HLV: Two phone calls - Sherlock seperately instructs John and Mary to come to the empty houses at 23 and 24 Leinster Gardens.  (21,22,23,24 ... interesting)

ASIP: Twin houses - Roland-Kerr Further Education College. HLV: Twin houses - Leinster Gardens 23&24.

ASIP: Empty houses - the crime scene location at Lauriston Gardens and Roland-Kerr Further Education College (’only the cleaners are in’). HLV: Empty houses - the derelict drug den in which Sherlock is high for a case (’Is he clean?’ ... ‘Clean?’) and the twin houses at Leinster Gardens.

ASIP: A pink case lies in a garbage container that’s called a skip. HLV: Sherlock (he IS the pink case) lies in a drug den that’s called a dump.

ASIP: Sherlock beats a dead body in a morgue who is covered by a white sheet. HLV: Sherlock gets beaten and becomes a dead body in a morgue, covered by a white sheet.

ASIP: Jim Moriarty enters the stage for the first time at the end of the episode. HLV: Jim Moriarty re-enters the stage at the end of the episode.

What does actually happen in HLV

Sherlock takes the case of AMO and gets high on drugs. 

Mycroft orders him to stay out of that case but Sherlock doesn’t obey. 

Sherlock pretends to be in love with Janine and even gets engaged with her to get access to the secret informations regarding AMO.

He fails to get the information but finds Mary instead, who just like him, tries to get access to secret informations about herself but fails as well. 

The secrets of both characters - Lady Elizabeth Smallwood and Mary Elizabeth Watson - are kept at Magnussen’s Appledore. (same middle names ... ineresting)

Mary shoots Sherlock to keep her secret hidden but Sherlock survives. 

John gets informed and stays with Mary. 

Mycroft recommends that Sherlock should decline an MI6 undercover assignment in Eastern Europe that would prove fatal for him in about six months. 

 AMO’s secret is made public and a man commits suicide. 

Mary’s secret stays hidden because a man gets killed. Sherlock too is expected to die because due to Mycroft’s suggestion and AMO’s approval he has to go on the previously declined suicide mission. 

When Sherlock’s plane takes off eastwards, Jim Moriarty turns up            simultaneously on every screen in the country and the flight gets cancled. 

Mycroft thinks that Sherlock was already high on drugs even before he entered the plane. 

Mirrored shootings ...

John shoots Hope, Mary shoots Sherlock, Sherlock shoots Magnussen, Norbury shoots Mary, Eurus shoots John and Jim shoots himself ... twice. Imagine that all those shooting scenes miraculously condense and merge into just one moment in time ... what a highly dramatic Mexican standoff that would be. :)

The ‘dual’ shooting of Sherlock in HLV and Mary in TST has been a subject for many discussions and theories in the past, because both ‘death scenes’ have been clearly designed as opposite mirrors. Even the placements of their gunshot wounds are identical. It’s really very hard to assume that those scenes could have come to pass by some strange coincidence.

In HLV Mary shoots Sherlock at CAM Tower, in Magnussen’s penthouse high up over the roofs of London, surrounded by massive glass windows. Magnussen is compared to a ‘shark’ by Sherlock.

Mary’s death-scene in TST happens deep down, in the underground passageways of the London Aquarium, surrounded by the massive glass windows of shark and jellyfish tanks. 

About shootings and explosions ....

In the additions of this post by @possiblyimbiassed I wrote about some ideas and possible explanations (on a metaphorical level) regarding the chronological sequence of those shootings in connection with the exploding bombs that hit 221b Baker Street in TGG and TFP. 

Mary gets outed as facade in HLV - Sherlock’s facade - because her picture covers the front of the Empty Houses, which are confirmed to be Sherlock’s property. It’s not uncommon to use ‘house’ as a metaphor for ‘body’ (@gosherlocked refered to that topic in Set this house of fire). These considerations in mind, wouldn’t it make sense, to assume that a bullet, fired at a house (body) covered by a facade, would cause a hole in both - the facade and the house - at the same spot? Sure, there is the fact that in the timeline of this story the body (Sherlock) is hit earlier than the facade (Mary) - which is impossible in a real life situation - but on the other hand … do we assume this to be a real life situation? If that shot and the resulting wound are metaphors and meant to be a consequence of Sherlock’s earlier ‘I’m in love’ deduction in TSOT, then the basic conditions might be different because Sherlock’s realisation happens in the mind - inside his body - and therefore the shot, the explosion would go from the inside out, right? It would hit first the body and then the facade. 

The two explosions in 221b Baker Street come to mind. The one in TGG happens outside but the one in TFP takes place inside the house (The symbolism of exploding bombs). What’s even more interesting, the outside explosion in TGG happens in the house opposite 221b, exactly where ‘the empty house’ from canon is located. And the one responsible for the explosion is Jim - Mr Sex - who invites/tempts Sherlock to play the game with him. Also interesting, PILOT-John hides in that house opposite, shoots at 221b and the glass window breaks. A possible interpretation could be: first something ‘explosively sexy’ (John) hits a house/a body (Sherlock’s) from outside (like: the first time ever I saw your face) and as a result it triggers a revelation, an explosion inside the mind, that ultimately smashes the facade (Mary) to pieces. 

Metaphorical interpretation

In HLV Sherlock - due to his ‘I’m in love’ revelation from TSOT - seems to fight with himself. To get access to a scandalous information about a forbidden love affair that never came to pass, he pretends to be in love with Janine. Her name is a female version of John, meaning ‘little John’. As a consequence, Sherlock is confronted with his own fassade, represented by Mary, who guards his own deepest secret - that he is in love with John. He is torn between the desire to reveal his secret and his fear to endanger the ‘eternal’ friendship with John and lose him forever, if he dares to tell the truth. Because, as Culverton Smith says: ‘If you tell them your darkest secret and they decide they’d rather not know, you can’t take it back. You can’t unsay it. Once you’ve opened your heart, you can’t close it again.’ This inner confrontation becomes the centerpiece of the episode. 

‘John or James Watson? Saint or Sinner? James or John? The more is Less?’  (TEH)

So, if Sherlock wants more - not just John’s friendship but also his love - he might have less in the end. That’s the risk. One half of his being is at war with the ‘other one’. The part of him that is still covered and protected by the facade, stands opposed to Sherlock’s slowly increasing emotional side, that is driven by his love for John. Somewhere deep inside his mind Sherlock probably knows already that this is ‘a war he must lose’. To solve this case though, he first has to go deeper inside himself. Suggested by Mycroft and with AMO’s approval, Sherlock is sent on an undercover assignment into that part of the world where the ‘East Wind’ (Eurus) comes from. The plane takes off but it has hardly gained some height, when Mycroft (brain) receives the message that Jim (Mr Sex) suddenly has turned up on every screen in the country (in every fibre of Sherlock’s body). Although the mission immediately gets cancled - because Sherlock always reacts to ‘John is in danger’ - it seems to be already too late for another retreat, similar to the one that followed the Reichenbach Fall. It looks like Sherlock has crossed the Rubikon for good and the road he’s walking/flying now, has already become ‘a river with only one destination’. 

In any case, it’s not quite clear where Sherlock has been left in this story. Has the plane really landed again? If so, where did it land? Or is it still flying? None of the following episodes provides a clear answer to that conundrum.

Metaphorical reading of:  The Sign of Three   The Hamish Investigation

Thanks for reading and thanks @callie-ariane​ for the scripts.

May, 2022

[melon-kiss]

This is just going to be a ramble about everything Sherlock. You’re most welcome to discuss or just ignore it. I needed the space to vent.

I watched Sherlock. Again. I think it’s beginning to become my annual tradition. And I have a crisis. Don’t get me wrong, I am always Sherlollian at heart. It’s just… I have doubts sometimes. And what triggered those doubts this time was the fact that Sherlock calls Molly “John”. Twice. And then Irene Adler. And then one post on Tumblr. And many, many more.

OK, these are just my random thoughts. Enjoy if you’re willing to read them.

 1. “John”. “Molly”.

We often mix up names of people we consider to have the same place in our lives. Which is good, right? Right. Only, in Sherlock’s case, we’d have lean into the theory that Sherlock does love John romantically and feels the same way about Molly. Or concede the fact that he loves them both platonically. Neither of these options is really satisfying, isn’t it? Well, that’s why I’m struggling… One could say he’s in denial of feelings for Molly and identifies them as friendship, as this is the strongest, purest relationship in his life, the only one he describes as emotional and the closest he’s ever had to love. Besides, Molly and John are similar in one way – they both share the same – medical – knowledge. Of course, Sherlock doesn’t realise her other qualities until The Reichenbach Fall when she says she can help him whenever he needs it. It’s not until she’s honest with him again and tells him, without a shred of grudge, that she knows she means nothing to him, that he realises he has at least two friends. He calls her “John” when his mind is busy with something else, so there’s no room for any purposeful confusion. The same thing happens in The Empty Hearse. What else can it mean if not friendship?

 2. Nothing Hits Like Irene

Irene Adler is created as the love interest for Sherlock. Is she, though? Well, we see Sherlock utterly confused upon their first meeting. We also see him flirting and creating an atmosphere of sexual tension for the first time. OK, he saves her but then she vanishes, he got over her, I thought. And all was fine until The Lying Detective came and Irene Adler sent a text to Sherlock, first in such a long time. John, of course, suggests that if Sherlock should be romantically involved with anyone, it should be her. And then it hit me.

Irene Adler is the symbol of chemistry in Sherlock’s life.

She’s a dominatrix. She’s all about sex, that’s obvious. At the critical point of The Scandal in Belgravia Sherlock says: I believe John Watson thinks love’s a mystery for me but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very distractive. Sherlock discovers that he, indeed, can have chemistry with people. He doesn’t mention love, he merely says sentiment, referring to the crush Irene Adler had on him. She is, indeed, a simple distraction – you can see it clearly in his memory palace when he yells at her to get away. But Molly… Molly stays. She leads him through the entire process of surviving a shot.

And then Irene Adler returns in The Lying Detective. John confesses to Sherlock about texting with a stranger met on the bus. And that he wanted more. Sherlock says everyone gets to be human sometimes. Even he can’t resist the urge of replying to Irene Adler sometimes. It was all about attraction again.

And that’s why she’s not considered a romantic relationship in his life. John rambles about love changing him, to be more specific, the love of his woman changing him. But he says Irene’s a dangerous criminal. How would that change Sherlock in any way?

In The Final Problem, upon deducing the coffin, John suggests Irene Adler but she’s not his first thought in general once they all hear that this is about someone who loves Sherlock. Sherlock’s response is very telling: Don’t be ridiculous. Look at the coffin. It seems like Sherlock pieces the puzzle at once – the coffin, plus the “name” on the lid – it couldn’t have been Irene Adler.

And that’s why Sherlock calls her The Woman. As a symbol of his sexuality. The Woman who’s woken up certain impulses in his life.

 3. Makeshift Gauge

Who is she?, Sherlock asks John in His Last Vow.

Based on what Mofftiss duo said about Molly, she was supposed to be featured in two episodes top. Yet, she stayed. The uncanonical character not only stayed but became fans’ favourite. I think she became a useful tool for Moffat and Gatiss. I think that not only she represents Sherlock heart (of which existence he has no idea at first) but later becomes our makeshift gauge. For what? For measuring Sherlock’s progress. See, it’s like when you live with someone, you don’t notice when they put on weight or grew a little but those who see less of them will notice all changes right away. So, when Sherlock runs around with John, we don’t notice the change in his behaviour at once (also because he’s always been nice to him, from the very beginning), we need to focus to see that. But Molly pops by once per episode and we see how Sherlock’s perception changes. In season one, he has good intentions, but they turn out bad. In season two, he’s more neutral but doesn’t restrain himself from rude comments. And Molly is being Molly – tells him he’s rude in her natural, soft way and he says sorry. For the first time. Without anyone making him do that. Almost the same happens in The Reichenbach Fall – but this time, Molly doesn’t let herself be fooled by Sherlock’s arrogance and just ignores it, going straight to the point. She says: “I’m here for you” and lowers his defences. In season three, he spends an entire day with her, smiles at her and is the sweetest, softest Sherlock we’ve ever seen. Moreover, when Lestrade asks him about her helping him solve cases, he says: [John] is not in the picture anymore, implying that she not necessarily had to be a temporary replacement. In season four, he says I love you to her.

What can we deduce about his heart?

 4. The Eurus Conundrum

We could write an entire book about Eurus and not even be able to grasp her spirit. I’m not going to do that right now.

I have issues with what happened in season four finale. I mean – Molly, of course. Mycroft says Eurus and Jim Moriarty met five years ago, so before Moriarty revealed himself to Sherlock. They both planned the entire game for Sherlock. Does that mean Sherlock never really won with him? Does that mean Moriarty let him use Molly to “win”? Since she was included in Eurus’ plan, we can safely assume Jim knew about Molly back then. At first, when I saw Moriarty saying We both know that’s not quite true [that you don’t have a heart] in many Sherlolly fanvids, I was like naaaaah. He didn’t see her as one of the important people in Sherlock’s life, it couldn’t have been a reference to their meeting. But now… how deeply back in time was Eurus’ plan allocated? Which events did she predict?

Or maybe I’m missing something? Any thoughts on this?

 5. Sherlock Evergreen

I once came across a post here, about how BBC Sherlock is literature, about sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s struggle with his own genius character. He was over with him, didn’t feel like writing any more of his stories so he killed him, but fans demanded more. He kept writing, although he hated it from the bottom of his heart. Season four, so often considered as the worst of all of them, is a way of saying that Sherlock character is, unfortunately, invincible. Immortal. He will live forever. We can’t kill him, no one can. Even his creator couldn’t have done it.

In season four, Sherlock goes back to the start. He is a clean slate again. He went through the entire process of change – became a good Sherlock, considerate of other people’s feelings and emotions, appreciative, supportive, loving, ready to mend what he broke. That interpretation, although very good, kind of killed my Sherlolly spirit. But I guess every interpretation like this would do it. If we stop treating characters like real human being, we’re left with what they really are – a construct, tools, puppets in the author’s hands.

Based on this, I think we’re safe to say there will never be a fifth season of BBC Sherlock (gosh, how I wish I was wrong!). Why? Because, despite what Moffat said in an interview once (after season three finale he said they’ve plotted out the entire fourth and fifth season – liar, liar, pants on fire!), season four had the perfect ending. As mentioned above, Sherlock became a good man and Mary Watson summed up what Sherlock is all about: two man, a genius junkie and a former soldier, who solve the weirdest, the toughest of cases together in flat on 221B Baker Street. Now, Sherlock is ready to be taken over by other artists who may find a new way to tell his story (though, I don’t think so) all over again.

And that’s a big, big shame… I think I speak for at least most of Sherlollians when I say we’d like to see Sherlock and Molly’s first encounter after the call. The finale really closed all the story arcs and subplots, except for this one. I mean, c’mon. You don’t have to be a Sherlollian to be annoyed by this – just remember that it was such a “biggie” that Moffat was asked about this in an interview. And this may be another reason as to why we won’t ever get a fifth season of Sherlock – because that would mean taking a side. And none of the creators will do it because Sherlock cannot be an open-and-shut case. It has to be like literature: big, open, twisted, unclear and full of room for interpretation. As long as there’s no certain explanation – yes, Sherlock loves Molly, no, Sherlock is gay – we create more and more content out of the need of closure. Thanks to the room for interpretation, the story lives. I mean, it’s been four years since The Final Problem airing and here I am, discussing BBC Sherlock still.

 Coming back to Sherlolly… don’t worry. Though I’m still not sure that we can harvest any hard evidence for Sherlock’s feelings for Molly (other than friendship and respect), I’m still a Sherlollian. There two new fics waiting for me to pull myself together and write them. I think it’s good to have doubts – it means my brain hasn’t rotten yet and I can still be critical, I’m able of having my own opinions.

 Thank you if you managed to read it all! I’d love to discuss if you have any conclusions. If not, that’s fine, too. I just needed it get it out of my system.

PS WHY DOES MY POSTS IN ENGLISH SOUND SO SOPHISTICATED IN MY HEAD BUT WHEN I PUT THEM IN WRITING, THEY’RE SO SHITTY?!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph!! I was wondering if you knew of any really long fics (like 25k or more) that are only one chapter, I travel a lot sometimes and some places don't really have good enough internet for multi chapter fics. So yeah, any really long one chapter fics about John and Sherlock would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hey Nonny!!

LOL OKAY FUNNY STORY. I almost replied to this with “oof I’ll have to read EVERYTHING so I’m sorry.... and then... I remembered.......

I put chapter counts on everything 🙃😐 

I’m not the brightest crayon in the box. 🖍 

Anyway, so yes, I can definitely rec you some fics! BUT I should also offer you two suggestions you can totally do to read ANY fic!

On Ao3, you can click on the “Entire Work” button to load ALL chapters of a fic (it’s the very first button along the top) and in turn you can then just read it all there! 

And the very last button along the top, you can Download copies of the fic to your phone or computer with eBook file types (AZw3 for Kindle, ePub for iPhone’s Books app, and MOBI is for other mobile devices and e-readers), the HTML if you want to read it as-is in a web-browser, or the PDF format which is a universal file format that is supported by everything, even web browsers, so it’s a good one to download if you don’t know what format you need :) If you read on an eReader, though, I can’t recommend enough just downloading the format for your device. You get to keep a copy of the fic AND the eReader keeps it nicely formatted. It’s a BRILLIANT, BEAUTIFUL feature that Ao3 gave us, because I like downloading all my fics and read them later in iBooks. Once you start that, Nonny, you can’t do it any other way. AND at the VERY END of the fics, it links BACK to the original post so you can bookmark, kudos, and comment on it!! <3

So yeah, two options you can do to solve your poopy internet and still read long fics hee hee! <3

ANYWAY EXCUSE FOR A NEW LIST LOL. 

ALSO, side note, check out @silentauroriamthereal; a large chunk of her fics are both long AND one chapter, so it’s a good place to go and she’s a brilliant author so I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! <3 Plus a lot of her fics are on this list, so I am sorry hahah.

AND I wanted to make the list a bit longer than I had, so I picked fics over 20K, if that’s alright :) As always, if you wrote a 20k+ single chapter fic, let us know!

SINGLE CHAPTER FICS OVER 20K WORDS

A Life Well-Lived by Kate_Lear (E, 20,121 w., 1 Ch. || Original Male Character, Sherlock Woos John, Jealous Sherlock, Reluctant Bi-John, Past Abuse, Insecure John, Reassuring / Caring Sherlock, Protective Sherlock, Understanding Sherlock) – John got scared off men by an abusive past relationship. Sherlock has to try and woo him while not scaring him off with protective possessive rage.

The White Lotuses by SilentAuror (E, 20,340 w., 1 Ch. || Slow Burn, Domestic, Romance) – One day John realises that he just isn't where he belongs, which is back at Baker Street with Sherlock. So he goes back and Sherlock, in his own way, courts him. Romance.

Out of the Woods by SilentAuror (E, 20,471 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Romance, Slow Burn, Flirting, Drunk Sex, Practical Jokes, POV Sherlock, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Pining Sherlock, Frustrated Wanking, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, First Kiss/Time, Virgin Sherlock, Love Confessions, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Bum Appreciation, Hanging out with the Yard) – Sherlock is fairly certain that John has taken to flirting with him of late, but can't be entirely certain of it. At least, not until a case takes them into a forest, along with Lestrade's team and something happens that will change everything about their lives...

You're On the Air by prettysailorsoldier (M, 20,616 w., 1 Ch. || Unilock, Matchmaking, Radio, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Sherlock POV, Pining Sherlock, Flirting, Bisexual John) – The Consulting Detective and The Woman dominate the airwaves of their university radio station, doling out advice on everything from meeting the parents to sexual positions. When their ratings start to dip before the holidays, however, manager Mike thinks it's time for some fresh blood, and who better to fill in the gaps than rugby captain--and notorious flirt--John Watson? Part 1 of 25 Days of Johnlock

whiskies neat by Ellipsical (E, 20,660 w., 15 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting, POV Second Person Sherlock, Slow Burn, One Night Stand, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Anal, Soldier John, Crying, Emotional Lovemaking, Switchlock) – Home and hearth and whiskies neat, or, alternatively, Sherlock Holmes falls in love.

Achieving the Together-Coloured Instant by teahigh (E, 20,776 w., 1 Ch. || Est. Rel, PTSD, Codependency, Fluff & Angst, H/C, Smut, Demisexual Sherlock, Experiments) – John wonders if this is how it’s going to be: A life speaking in code, because they’re both too stupid to figure out how to say, “I love you.”

Winter's Delights by Kate_Lear (E, 21,173 w., 1 Ch. || Holmes Family, Christmas, Fake Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Bed Sharing, Domestics) – Sherlock takes John home for Christmas to meet the extended Holmes family. Part 1 of Winter's Delights

Love Is by SilentAuror (E, 21,508 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, UST / URT, Post HLV, Romance) – At Mrs Hudson’s urging, Sherlock finally decides to tell John how he feels about him. Part 1 of Love Is

echoes through time by chellefic (E, 21,619 w., 1 Ch. || First Time, Romance, ACD & BBC, Epistolary) – Mummy sends a trunk from the Holmes cottage in Sussex to 221B. Its contents alter the way John and Sherlock see themselves and one another.

Ghost Stories by SwissMiss (M, 22,256 w., 1 Ch. || Pining, Holmes Family, Christmas, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, First Time) – Sherlock's parents think he and John are a couple. They might be onto something.

Sonatina in G Minor by SilentAuror (E, 22,574 w., 1 Ch. || Case Fic, POV Sherlock, Angst, UST, Sherlock’s Violin, Post-S3, Romance) – John has come back to Baker Street, but Sherlock doesn't understand the strange tension between them, even after he begins teaching John to play the violin at John's request.

The Kepler Problem by kinklock (E, 24,270 w., 1 Ch. || Sci-Fi AU, Alien Sherlock, Space Repairman John, Alien Biology, Horny John) – Working in uncharted space exploration was not as exciting as John had hoped, especially when it turned out to be mostly bot maintenance on uninhabited planets. However, the mystery of the repeated, unexplained malfunctions on planet BAK 2212 might turn out to be exactly the kind of adventure he'd been craving.

26 Pieces by Lanning (E, 28,236 w., 1 Ch. || H/C, Torture, First Time, Happy Ending, Schmoop, Past Abuse) – Mycroft gives Sherlock the apparently simple task of solving a puzzle box containing a stolen microchip. It isn't simple.

The Wisteria Tree by SilentAuror (E, 29,773 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S3, Emotional Love Making, Amnesia/Memory Loss, Sherlock Loves John So Much, Sherlock POV, Romance, Angst with Happy Ending, First Times, Hurt/Comfort, Est. Rel., Retirement) – Sherlock wakes up from a month-long coma only to discover that he has no memory of the previous six years to his own shock as well as John's...

Shallow Grave by SilentAuror (E, 31,672 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Angst, HLV Fix It, Infidelity, Pining Sherlock, First Person POV Sherlock) – Starts as Sherlock's plane is taking off at the end of His Last Vow. When he finds out that Moriarty is alive and that he's being recalled from his mission, Sherlock decides that he should have told John how he felt before he left. So he walks off the plane and kisses him.

The Midas Touch by flawedamythyst (E, 32,231 w., 1 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Magical Realism || John has a Magical Cock, Dub Con, Healer John) – John Watson has a medical condition that means everyone he sleeps with is instantly healed of all illness and injury. This causes complications when Sherlock breaks his arm, and even more complications when Sherlock falls in love with him. Yes, this is a story where John has a literal magic healing cock. It's a lot less cracky than you're probably imagining. Warning: Contains complex issues of sexual consent, although not between Sherlock and John.

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.

Our Enthusiasms Which Cannot Always Be Explained by withoutawish (M, 32,961 w., 1 Ch. || Christmas, Fluff and Angst, H/C, Post-TRF, Case Fic, Mild Gore, Sherlock Whump) – The list that is tacked haphazardly on the refrigerator of 221B reads, ‘Kidney(s), and/or a full cadaver (preferably male, late 30s, under six feet tall), bag of fresh toes, sixteen cow’s eyes (corneas retained), dual exhaust hand –held flame thrower, an unopened first edition copy of Joseph Conrad’s 'Heart of Darkness', and no less than ten abhorrently gruesome murders in the upcoming month.” The one neatly hanging next to it simply reads, “Sex.” One of these lists is not John Watson’s. If John Watson were to put what he really wanted in list form, to live in a land somewhere beyond ‘almosts' now that Sherlock Holmes has indeed returned to him, he would never be able to look his flatmate in the eye ever again.

Bedtime Stories by Liketheriver (M, 34,388 w., 1 Ch. || Emotional H/C, Romance, Angst & Humour, Bed Sharing, John First Person, TRF, John Whump) – John's POV during Season 2 and beyond when Sherlock takes up semi-permanent residence in his bed. A collection of codas and missing scenes wrapped up into one long fic and topped with a bow that takes the story beyond Reichenbach and into happy territory once more. Part 1 of Bedtime Universe

The Yellow Poppies by SilentAuror (E, 34,952 w., 1 Ch. || H/C, Nightmares, HLV Fix-It, PTSD, Trauma, POV Sherlock, Doctor John) – Sherlock is threatened and assaulted in the hospital immediately after having been shot in the heart, first by Mary, then by Magnussen. As he recovers at Baker Street with John and plans the attack on Appledore with Mycroft, he fights to work through the trauma caused by these two visits. Set during His Last Vow.

The Unfinished Letters by SilentAuror (E, 37,391 w., 1 Ch. || Post S3 / S3 / HLV Fix it, Angst with Happy Ending, Romance, Infidelity, Depression, Case Fic, POV Third Person Sherlock, Love Confessions, Pining Sherlock, Letters) – A fire at Baker Street leads John to read something he was never intended to see: a notebook of half-written, unfinished letters Sherlock wrote during his time away...

Set in Stone by SilentAuror (E, 39,309 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Wedding, Therapy, Fluff and Angst) – Sherlock and John are back from Ravine Valley and planning their wedding. However, as they move past the trial of the human traffickers, Sherlock can't help but wonder if he's imagining that John is becoming a little distant. Surely he isn't getting cold feet about the wedding... Part 2 of The Ravine Valley series

Act IV by SilentAuror (E, 39,707 w., 1 Ch. || First Person POV Sherlock, HLV Fix-It, Infidelity, Angst, Drama) – After Sherlock is shot, John moves back into Baker Street. They spend the autumn together as John tries to make sense of his life and make some important decisions about both Mary and Sherlock. Canon-compliant, excerpts from His Last Vow.

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...

[dynamics-of-an-asteroid]

hey i just wanted to say thank you for making me obsessed with sherlock and moriarty's dynamic and also introducing me to moriarty the patriot aka my only source of happiness right now /pos

Aw, that's very sweet of you to say (although I'm not sure if I should say "you're welcome" or "I'm sorry").

And yes, isn't it so strange to find Holmes & Moriarty content that leaves you feeling HAPPY?! I've sent excerpts to friends in English and Japanese just to make sure I'm not like...seeing things cause it's almost too gay good to be true.

And even when I'm like "nah, this is years of shipper rot clouding my judgement", the production crew is like "hey, here's the inside of a CD that when opened reveals they're tied by the Red String of Fate" or "Oh, hey, do you like this cover? How about this cover? What if we made the covers interact like this? Or how about we make the last cover of the Final Problem arc look like this? (Don't you love how we replaced the falling debris with cherry blossom petals? And added quotes like 'Catch me. Don't leave me alone.'//'Finally, I caught you. I won't leave you alone.')"? I'm being tested and I'm gonna fail lmao

Also, it's nice to know we all share one brain cell cause this official cover art for the soundtrack:

Looks almost like an unfinished fanart I did for the BBC version like four or five years ago I shit you not:

We've had zero meetings about this as a group, but somehow have all come to this same conclusion. I love it.