#i watched tfp way back when so i really only remember bits and pieces

[whattraintracks]

how many transformers iterations have u read/watched so far 👀

Hi hi! Not very many, and of them, I've only finished a couple. I'm mostly just having fun with whatever I come across.

Transformers: Prime - the only show I've seen all the way through

Transformers: Rescue Bots - I've seen season one a few times, and now I'm s l o w l y getting through the rest. Currently somewhere in season 2

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - I watched about 3/4 of this film, plus I have some vague recollections of seeing one of the other live-action movies when I was younger

Transformers One - the only movie I've seen all the way through

The Transformers 1984 - so far, only the pilot miniseries and a couple random episodes

Transformers: Animated - I just finished season 1!!

More than Meets the Eye - just started reading this thanks to languajix!

[dockwcrker]

❝ Don’t leave. . . . ❞

🌸| So I was thinking of an AU ending for TFP. Like what if Elita was there when Prime had to sacrifice himself basically? So I wrote this. This takes place at the end of Predacons rising. :3 sorry if it’s not that accurate. Haven’t watched it in a while.

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A lot had happened. Too much for anyone to think properly. It happened too fast. Unicron came back...Optimus was looking for the Allspark to save the planet...Starscream tried to take the ship, Predaking even started helping! A shocker to everyone after what happened before. The femme of course was with Optimus and Wheeljack when they were getting the Allspark.

The harsh landing off the ship getting shot down by Megatron or...Unicron? Megacron? Unitron? Oh whatever! The name doesn’t matter. Finally the battle had ended but with an unexpected outcome to everyone. Megatron actually disbanded the ‘Cons! But after such events that had just happened he seemed trumatized. Elita has never see him like this before. It was odd but she could tell it was true. He really was trumatized enough to end the war. She knew the look. She was shocked as well when she heard him yell at Starscream.

That annoying seeker! Primus, she wanted to hit Starscream then and there. Another war didn’t need to start up. The planet was already suffering enough. She stood next to Optimus as Megatron took his leave. Leaving Starscream helpless but then he too flew off elsewhere. No one went after him.

After a bit of time relaxing from such events the team was gathered around the Well of Allsparks. Optimus stood before everyone about to bring news to everyone. Since he was merged with the Matrix and now the Allspark he had to go into the Well in order to activate and heal the planet once more. Then she heard the devastating words in his speech.

"To not return the Allspark to the Well would be to prevent future generations of new life from existing on Cybertron. My quest must be completed." Optimus said.

That’s when the pink femme’s spark ached. Shattered completely. Into a million tiny pieces. She knew what he meant or had to do. She didn’t like it. After the other two and Ratchet begging Optimus to stay Elita spoke up.

“D-Do you have to? Th-There must be another w-way.” Her words cracked as she spoke. Her voice was soft with dread in it. She didn’t want to lose him again. Not after just being without him for what seems like forever. They just reunited! The others became silent and looked over at her with sadness. Right. Optimus had a sparkmate. They almost forgot with all the craziness of war happening.

Optimus looked at her then at the ground, shaking his helm solemnly. “I’m afraid there isn’t.” He spoke with his sweet baritone voice. Elita stared at him with mixed emotions within her. Before he could say anything else she closed her optics tightly to prevent tears slipping from her optics and ran to him. Once in range of his frame she didn’t care of the others watching them as she wrapped her arms around his torso. Well, as much as she can. He was huge.

The Prime didn’t hesitate to hug her in return and hold her close to his massive frame. The femme buried her face in his chest. Small sobs were heard from her. Tears were seen down her cheeks. Staining it. Optimus did his best to comfort her as much as he can. He even sent pulses of reassurance through the bond of theirs.

“Y-You have to leave again? Th-This isnt fair...” Elita choked out.

Optimus listened to her words carefully and remained silent until he put his servo on her cheek, making her look up at him. Most of the time he keeps a straight face but for a rare occasion like this he let a soft smile cross his face. One she was used to. The others were baffled at the sight. Even Ratchet. He bent down on one knee to be exactly the same height as her. He pressed the crest on his helm against hers.

“I may not be here no longer but I assure you. I will always be in your spark, Elita.” He held one of her servos in his own, rubbing it with a thumb.

Elita watched him closely. Not taking her optics off of him one bit. Her spark felt like it was pounding out of her chest. She just stared into his optics then closed hers when he pressed his helm against hers. She had a faint smile on her face but tears still came rushing out of her optics. Optimus wiped them away with his digits thwn proceeded to kiss her deeply for further reassurance.

We will be together again. I promise. He spoke through the bond they shared.

The pink femme kissed him back of course and cherished this moment. Each time they kissed it felt like the world stopped around them. All the worries shooing away. No responsibilities. At the end of the kiss Optimus was the one that parted. Her cheeks tinted a faint blue after looking at him.

“I-I love you, Optimus Prime.” Elita whispered softly to him and instead of his torso since he bent donw she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him close and tightly, not wanting him to leave her. She was starting to tremble.

The Prime just kept her close as well, rubbing her back. “I love you too...Ariel.” His own baritone voice was in a whisper. Her optics widened at the name used. Primus, no one has said that name in ages. Now she was too shocked to move. She couldn’t believe he remembered the name. Optimus grabbed both of her arms gently and proceeded hold both her servos. They both just stared at each other for a moment while she was still in shock. She sniffled and kept wiping her optics. Now it was time for him to leave.

The femme hesitated to let go of his hand but he gave a reassuring nod towards her direction that made her let go. She closed her optics tightly and shook her helm to refuse to cry again. She then opened them again and ran to Ratchet to stay next to a friend as she watched Prime leave with the others. The Prime himself also carefully watched her leave him.

"I ask only this of you fellow Autobots....Keep Fighting the noblist of fights....” Optimus continued his speech then dove into the Well. Elita hugged Ratchet for comfort as she watched Optimus leave them.

Goodbye...My Orion.

She spoke through the bond one last time.

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🌸 | Congrats you have reached the end! Did I make ya cry? If so, Oh goodie. xD Hope you liked it!! Some OPxEO!

[orangewritesstuff]

Tfp megatron,starscream, knockout, and breakdown turned into dogs and human!s/o taking care of them,petting them, and hugging them. I love dogs.

I love dogs too! But I’ve never ever had a dog due to my allergies. And I don’t know that much about how to take care of them. I mean, I have some ideas, but I had to ask Google for help, lol. 

Oh, shoot, it came out more like general mech-to-dog headcanons, isn’t it..? Still hope you’ll like it, love!

Prologue

You woke up early at morning because of strange sounds you had heard. It sounded like… panting? Very heavy panting. Almost as if it was… dog? You almost laughed — yeah, a dog. No way. This is Nemesis and you were in your mech’s berthroom. You giggled a little, then rolled over to get up from the bed…

And barely held back a shriek. In front of your bed stood Soundwave, silent as always. “Soundwave!” You tried to calm down. “Stop sneaking up on people like that! Especially at morning…” He barely nods, still looking at you. It was uncomfortable, mostly because you didn’t know why is he here this early. “Is there… something you need? And did Megatron already left.?” Soundwave shook his head. “But he is not here?” He shook his head again. You raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. And then you heard weird sounds again. They sounded like… like some animal was scratching something metal with its claws. Only then you noticed Soundwave’s hand, his slim digits positioned as if he was holding something, very delicately… Or someone? You heard barking, and your eyes widened in realisation. That was indeed a dog in there!

You looked at Soundwave bewildered. “Why… is there a dog here?”. In a few long minutes, Soudwave told you something about weird experiments with organics material, something about holoforms decepticons were trying to make to be on one level with autobots, something more… He explained to you, very shortly, that there was an accident, which resulted in this situation: your mech is now a dog for an unknown amout of time. “Can you… show me him?” You carefully asked. Silent mech nodded and lowered his hand near you, then slowly let your mech… er, dog… out. It (he?) seemed disoriented for a moment. This moment gave you a time to observe it. You saw…

Megatron

…a very obviously irritated rottweiler. Yep, this is Megatron. Definitely. Actually, he looked kind of cute, being a dog and all of this… You’ve always liked dogs, and he was intimidating, but still somehow very adorable in his irritation. It made you snicker. Megatron glared at you and got off Soundwave’s hand, coming to you. He sat in front of you, and you saw, that he was actually pretty big for a dog. And still, it didn’t scare you. You reached out to his head, wanting to pet him. He growled at your hand, but you weren’t going to give up, so you kept going. Then Megatron tried to bite you. You gasped, then frowned. “Megz! Behave!” You said as you lightly flicked his nose. That made him calm down, looking at you almost shocked. You just smirked, petting his head, now that he was calm. “This is going to be very interesting…” 

Most of the time you spend on teaching Megatron how to behave. He actually bit you a few times, when you tried to stop him from doing something. Like, this one time when he was so disgusted by dog’s food, he made a mess by scattering everything in the bowl on the floor.

He found out that couch in your corner of room is very comfortable and now he is on it every time he wants. With dirty paws. Whenever you try to wash him, he tries to bite you yet again.

Megatron never ever whined. Never ever. At least, till he bites you too hard. You cried out in pain, and he got scared. He whined while you treated your small wound. He actually never bit you after that.

Hate baths. And dog food. And when you try to pet him (at least he tries to, but you saw how relaxed he becomes). Pretty much hate everything.

Ok, he does not hate everything. Remember the couch? When you read something, he comes to you, lay down on the couch with head on your lap. He still “don’t like” petting, but he definitely likes when you read to him.

Very boring dog, because he doesn’t want to play with you, even on your rather short walks :(

Never wents too far on walks. Calm and observant, always smells something. He likes waks. That’s good, right?

He is also the smatest dog, but just because he somehow keeps all of his instincts under control. HOW.

Eats meat like a wild animal, it’s almost scary. 

Once he is back, he will never mention this incident.

Starscream

…a very lost black poodle. Starscream is poodle now. This is not exactly what you expected, but he looked so adorably confused. You started to laugh at his expression, and he made a weird high-pitched screech. You’ve never thought that poodle can sound so peacock-like. Starscream ran to you, rather clumsily, with his claws loudly tapping on the metal floor. He buried his head in your stomach, whining. You think this was something caused by instincts, because he would never act that way if he was himself. You hugged the poor thing. For some reason, he was scared, and your heart filled with pity. Poor seeker. Can’t even fly now. Well, since no one knows for how long it’ll stay that way, you can at least try to make him comfortable. 

He would be in some kind of depression for a few days. Starscream clearly couldn’t get used to his present state. He won’t eat dog food, so you have to find a way to feed him. He actually liked some pork and plain yogurt. You double-checked if they’re ok for dogs, though, you don’t want him to get sick.

Starscream is a very anxious poodle. He whines and cries when you are not near him, got scared by other mechs easily. Probably because he is so small.

Megatron tried to step on him, no one knows if it was an accident. You saved poor seeker, and he clung to you all day.

Adore hugs. He is very anxious and restless, almost trembling when you are hugging him. Sleeps with you all the time.

You found out why he is so nervous when you went to a walk. Once he is outside, he is running around like a mad…dog. Turns out, he needed more air. He is still a seeker and being grounded, and inside of the ship — it scared him and was highly uncomfortable. Since then, you try to walk with him as long as you can.

WELL, YOU KNOW, HE WAS CUTER, WHEN HE WAS NERVOUS. Now he is very picky! Won’t eat a pork with too much lard (or how do you call it), won’t lay with you if you are asking. He will even act like he doesn’t like hugs and petting!

Don’t like baths, but looks so cute when he is wet. But he likes when you try to use fan to dry him. Probably, because of air.

Once he is back, he is sooo embarrassed. Won’t talk about it either, just because he is very uncomfortable with how he acted when he was scared. Tsundere-mod full on. (Still thanks you for your help. Though, very hesitantly).

Knockout

…the smuggest papillon you’ve ever seen in your short human life. You could FEEL Knockout’s smirk. Even if he is a dog. He is not going to get down, you realized, so you came to pick him up. Knockout nuzzled into your neck, tickling you with his fluffy ears. You chuckled. “No, Doc, I won’t carry you around. You should walk by yourself.” You settled Knockout on floor, and he huffed, running somewhere else, somewhere towards kitchen corner. You shrugged and turned to Soundwave. Not even a minute came by when you two heard something fell and broke to pieces in the kitchen. Smug Knockout ran out of there. You sighed. It’s going to be difficult. 

SO. PICKY. Won’t eat a lot of things that he should eat, would always steal something he wants even if he can’t eat it. 

He loves sitting on your lap. And he loves petting and he loves when you stroke his fur. He is getting soo relaxed and calm, this is the only way to stop him from being naughty and moody.

Hates all sorts of dirt, due to this, loves bathing. But only with the shampoo he likes. Probably will try to make you use your own, but nope! You want him to be healthy!

Doesn’t like to play, but sometimes plays with... ribbons. Are you sure he is a dog and not a cat?

CLIMBING EVERYWHERE. Only if there is no dirt, lol. You have to save him quite a lot. You think he likes it and that’s why he does it more often.

No, really, you sure he is not a cat? Because his favorite things is salmon, tuna and milk. Luckily, he doesn’t have lactose intolerance.

He is definitely likes to make you worried. Whether it means being in danger or trying to break some of your stuff. You realised that he is teasing you only after he fell from shelves and you caught him. You were worried sick, but he looked soo pleased! 

You just can’t stay mad at him, because he makes the best puppy eyes.

Pretends that he is not watching when you’re changing for sleep.

He is watching.

When he is back, he tease you a lot like the asshole he is. Lovingly, of course. But you almost hit him, when he started to talk about your striped underwear in front of Breakdown.

Breakdown

...probably a hapiest Saint Bernard you’ve seen. Breakdown ran to you instantly. But he is definitely forgot that he is a big boy. Bigger than normal SBernard for sure. You are lucky that you are still on the bed, because you needed something soft to land on, when he charged himself on you, licking your face. You giggled, trying to push him off. “Ok, ok, I love you too, good boy, just get off, Breaky, you are heavy!” You think time you’ll spend with him will be very enjoyable!

He LOVES to play! Outside, inside, with everything and everywhere. And he always licks your face or hands after you done playing. 

Eats everything. Steals food. Kepp an eye on him.

Love hugs and literally any affection. Petting? Awesome! Hugging? Th best! Just laying near you? Great!

He is one of those oversized dogs, who doesn’t realize that they are big. That’s why he broke a few cups while running around. 

Breakdown is the softest big dog you’ll ever meet. He is so comfortable to hug. That’s why you let him sleep with you, even though he is a little bit too big for your bed.

Loves everything. Bath, walks, food, games. Especially you.

Following you around the ship everywhere. Knockout snickering at you two and tease you a lot. That makes Breaky growl at him. 

Loves to get under your covers while you are watching movies or something. Somehow, you never notice until his cold wet nose is touching your hand.

After he is back, he tells you, that it was fun. He actually enjoyed it, though, he would never want to stay like this. 

[lilsherlockian1975]

She Does Now

This is for @mizjoely  simply because I felt like giving her a fic! Anyhoo, it’s T rated for one or two bad words. Post TFP a touch of angst but love abounds! It’s also posted here on AO3 and here on FF.net. Enjoy~Lil~

"Okay Sherlock, I'm here, on my day off, what do you need?" Molly said as she tossed her jacket on the chair next to her and sat across from the detective. It had been an odd request, to say the least, when Sherlock had phoned (not sent a text) and asked her to join him at Screaming Beans, her second favourite coffee shop, but she hadn't hesitated to meet him.

"Here." He pushed a large latte towards her before picking up his own mug and taking a drink. "How's our goddaughter?"

Small talk, really? Another oddity. "Amazing, perfect, beautiful. But I might be biased," she replied with a smile then took a small sip of her drink. She had been sitting with Rosie when he'd phoned. Saturday mornings were designated 'girl time' for her and her goddaughter. "So, what's this all about? John? He seems to be doing much better if that's what you wanted to…"

"No," he interrupted. "This has nothing to do with John."

That's when she noticed the contemplative expression on the detective's face. He looked like he sometimes did when he was working out the last bits of a case. She'd seen that face many times in the lab and morgue. Something about this seemed personal, however. "Sherlock, whatever it is, you know you can talk to me, right?"

Turning his focus on her, he stared like he was trying to figure something out, but didn't speak.

"Is it your sister? Have you just visited her lately?" Molly asked, trying to pry the information out of the man.

He shook his head. "No. No, it's not Eurus."

"Okay, but..." she was going to ask more questions, but suddenly his face changed from thoughtful to determined.

"You didn't know," he said.

I didn't know? Oh, my God… "Sherlock, are you high?"

He waved his hand and shook his head. "I'm clean, Molly. I promise. But something dawned on me this morning and I've been thinking about it ever since."

"What is it?"

Taking a deep breath, he picked up his coffee cup and drained the last of it. "It occurred to me that if you didn't know that, which I realised before, then you must not know everything else either."

Molly steadied herself; it was going to be one of those conversations. The ones where Sherlock seemed to know exactly what was going on, but she'd have to piece it together like a puzzle (or incredibly complex differential equation). Usually, when he was in the midst of one of these broken rambling discussions (using that word lightly, because her input was rarely needed) he was buried in a case; just working out the final component that would solidify his deduction. This was clearly different.

"Sherlock," she said, drawing his focus once again. "Do you want a refill?" She hoped that she could give him a moment to work out what he was trying to say.

"Please. And see if they have a decent looking muffin."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Blueberry?"

"Chocolate. Something chocolate."

Definitely not a case. She took her time walking to the front of the shop trying to shake the feeling of foreboding that was looming in the back of mind. "Coffee and two of these," she instructed, pointing to the decadent looking chocolate muffins behind the glass. "Do they have nuts in them?" She hated nuts. Well, not all nuts. Almonds were okay and she could tolerate the occasional pistachio, but...

"No," the ginger teenager behind the counter answered. "But they're not gluten free.

"O-kay. Um, I have no issue with gluten. How much?"

"Oh, that bloke in the coat opened a tab."

"He what?"

"I know. Weird, that one. But he wouldn't take no for an answer. Said that he'd be here for a while and would need… what did he call it? Oh right, fuel! Needed to fuel himself." He suddenly looked embarrassed. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to insult your boyfriend."

Molly laughed. "He's not my boyfriend and he's not weird." He handed her the coffee. "Well, he is a bit odd, I suppose. Just different. Incredibly smart, really. And..." She huffed. "Never mind. Can I have my muffins?"

The ginger had been holding them while she tried to define Sherlock's personality. It really was a lost cause.

"Sorry, madam," he said, his voice squeaking as he finally relinquished his hold on the pastry.

I hate getting madam'd, she thought as she made her way back to Sherlock. "Chocolate muffin. No nuts and plenty of gluten."

He wrinkled his nose at her joke, but let it pass. "You don't know about when I was shot," he said as soon as she sat down.

"If you're talking about Mary…"

"I'm not." He exhaled deeply. "I'm talking about what happened after I was shot. Just after, seconds after. I…" Reaching for the sugar, he cocked his head and looked at Molly for the first time since she sat back down. "I really didn't tell you this?"

"Tell me what?"

"That you were there, in my mind. You, Molly, were there with me." He added the sugar to his cup and waited for her reaction.

"What was I doing?" she asked, not sure what he was trying to tell her.

"I immediately went to my mind palace, trying to… I was panicking, a little. You slapped me. Though that happened a bit later."

"Not hard to imagine."

"You told me how to fall." He smirked. "You're always there when I fall, Molly."

"Oh, she was in front of you," Molly said, instantly working out where Mary must have been standing. God, I can't even believe how casually we're talking about the fact that our friend shot him... "So considering the location of the bullet, if you'd have fallen forward…"

"It would have meant my death, most likely, yes. But you talked me through it."

She laughed, a little. All this talk about his near death (not to mention Mary Watson) was making her uncomfortable. "But it wasn't me, Sherlock, it was you. You had that knowledge, you knew how to fall."

"But don't you see? When I needed someone, someone to make me focus and help me remember… it was you my mind turned to."

"Sure, all right. Was I the only one there? Was John there too?"

He got a sheepish look on his face, a very odd look on Sherlock. "No. Not John."

For a man who loved the sound of his own voice, it was suddenly like pulling teeth to get him to talk. "Who else?"

He mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said," he started, a bit loudly. "Anderson." That part came out in a softer. "And my brother and a dog."

"So I had good company, then?"

"Molly, you're missing the point…"

"And what is the point, Sherlock? Why are we talking about all of this?"

"It wasn't the last time!" he said, a little more forcefully.

"I've been in your mind palace since the shooting?"

"And before. There've been...other...times." He shook his head. "But they don't matter. On the plane, you were there. You were a pathologist, in Victorian London."

"When you were high? When you nearly overdosed?" she asked, interested in what he was telling her, yet once again, hating the circumstances. "Not many female doctors in the 1800's, if my history's right."

"You were a man."

"Of course." She took a large bite of her muffin to keep the grimace off her face.

"No, I mean, you were you, but disguised as a man. John thought I didn't know, but of course, I knew. I created you."

"And you made me... a man?" Comforting.

"Only because you had to be. How else could I still have you as my pathologist?"

"Right."

"Also, you hated me and were part of a murderous plot."

"I was a murderer?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that. But, yes, you played your part."

Cleaning her hands off on a napkin, she said, "As fascinating as this all is, I'm not sure why you're telling me now."

"Anderson."

"Aaand we're back to Anderson."

"He had a theory. Did he ever tell you?"

"A theory? A theory about what?"

"He didn't believe that I was dead. He had my jump from Barts all worked out." He studied her for a moment. "You really don't know about this one, do you?"

Molly sighed. "No, Sherlock. Strangely enough, Phillip Anderson and I don't spend a great deal of time chatting. What was his theory?"

"It was surprisingly close to the facts. Oh, it was fanciful and overly dramatic. But he was convinced that you were involved."

"Hmmm," she hummed. "All right, colour me impressed."

"He said I used a bungee…"

"A bungee? And how would John have not seen a bungee?"

"Well, he's still an idiot." He laughed. "But he theorised that I crashed through a window…"

"Which John would have heard."

"...the window that you were watching from, no less - and… and…"

"And what?"

"I dusted the broken glass out of my hair then took you in my arms and kissed you... passionately."

Molly stared at the man across the table. Then she stared some more. How exactly was she supposed to respond to that?

"Molly, are you with me?" Sherlock asked.

"Ah, yeah."

"See, I thought you knew about all of this. And until that day, I thought you knew…" He sighed, obviously frustrated.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Molly asked, "You thought that you had told me? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes!"

"Why would you think that?"

Focusing on his half empty coffee cup, he looked almost embarrassed. "We had a conversation. This conversation, for the most part, in my head." He glanced up, briefly, then added. "But there's more."

"What, Sherlock, what else did you tell me?"

He licked his lips as he sat back in his chair. "I thought that you knew..." Running a hand through his hair, he said, "When we talked, when I told you all of this, you seemed to already be aware…"

"I already knew about telling you how to fall and that I was a murderous crossdresser?" she asked, thinking she was finally getting to the bottom of...whatever this was.

"No, the other thing."

She sighed. "Anderson's theory?" With an eyeroll and another bite of muffin she said, "Why would I care what…"

"No, Molly, the other thing. The important thing." He looked hurt and guilty.

Molly tried, she really tried to understand what the hell he could be talking about, but she simply could not figure it out. "Sherlock, I'm sorry, but I don't know what the other thing is."

Shaking his head, he closed his eyes, put his fingers to his temples and mumbled under his breath. He opened his eyes, looking a bit more collected and said, "When I asked you to say the release code…"

"Stop!" She held up a hand. "Release code? Sherlock, this may be another perceived conversation."

"Didn't John tell you about Sherrinford?"

As uncomfortable as the shooting and Anderson's theory had been to discuss, this was not a topic she was in the mood to rehash. "No, Sherlock, he didn't. Actually, he said that I needed to ask you about it myself. Then I told him to bugger off."

He smiled. "Of course you did." After a moment he started in. He told her about his sister, her visit whilst he was high, the drone and explosion at Baker Street. She knew about the explosion, but not the details and had gotten only bits and pieces about his sister. For her part, she'd been waiting for Sherlock to come to her and fill in the blanks, and bring up (or never bring up) the things they'd both said. He told her about going to Sherrinford, and all the games Eurus made him play. Molly wasn't a coward and she knew that this whole thing had to be dealt with at some point, but that didn't mean she was enjoying it or what was coming next.

"Then we were in a room with a coffin." The pained look on his face nearly broke her heart. "It was yours."

She nodded, almost expecting those to be the next words.

"There wasn't a name, just three words etched on the plaque."

"The release code," she confirmed.

"I had to get you to say it or…"

"I'd be killed."

"She said your flat was set to blow up in three minutes and the only way to stop it was to get you to say...that."

"Your sister sounds like a real treat, Sherlock."

"You have no idea."

Clearly, there was more that he wasn't telling her, but she tried to focus on the matter at hand. "I'm glad you finally told me, but what does this have to do with your mind palace and Anderson and…"

"You asked me to say it first. You asked me to say it as if I'd never said it before."

She sucked in a breath. No doubt the look on her face was pure shock because he spoke again quickly.

"It took me until today, this morning, to realise that the first time I said those words to you, it was in my mind. Then I realised that we'd never had the conversation about all the times you've been in my mind palace. I hadn't actually told you, the real you. See? You didn't know."

Still stunned silent, Molly just waited for him to continue.

"I know what John and Mycroft thought, well, Mycroft might have figured it out, but John certainly didn't. He never quite gets…"

"Sherlock!"

"Sorry. I was tired of playing her games and...and then she made us expose ourselves, like that… Then I realised, whilst she was taunting me, that you had had no idea. You didn't know. It was brand new information. But it wasn't, it shouldn't have been. It took me until today to figure out the rest. I've been a bit… preoccupied." He paused, licking his lips and taking a deep breath. "John didn't understand. He thought I lied. He thought I was upset for hurting you. But that wasn't it. It was..." he trailed off, looking very uncomfortable.

"What happened next, Sherlock?" He didn't answer, so she pressed further, "What happened next?"

"I may have lost my composure, a bit."

"Lost your…"

He suddenly looked angry. "Complicated little emotions, she called them. As if it all meant nothing! Some kind of experiment to see how far she could push me before I snapped!" he growled, his voice rising.

Molly looked around the café, other patrons were starting to stare. Reaching across the table, she closed both of her hands around one of his. "Calm down, Sherlock. It's over."

"Is it? Now we're having this conversation, like this," he emphasised the last two words with frustration while motioning between the two of them. "Instead of ignoring it like we have for years. It worked for us, Molly. It always worked for us."

Still holding onto one of his hands, perhaps a little harder than she should have, she asked, "What worked for us?"

"You see, in my head, you'd never returned the sentiment. I knew, Molly, I knew how you felt. But I couldn't make you say the words, even in my mind. I honestly didn't think you ever would. You just looked at me and smiled. Never actually said it." He paused. "Feeling something and admitting it outloud is very different. Don't you see?"

She could not disagree with him on that point. Having actually spoken the words to the man himself had been one of the most painful moments of her life.

"I suppose that's why I told you in my mind. It was safe there, and we wouldn't have to face it all and...

"And what?"

He ignored her question. "But sometimes I spend too much time in my own head and things get muddled with reality. Though, it might have happened after Mary died and I was… using."

She didn't realise that she was crying until a white linen handkerchief was inches away from her face.

Several more moments passed until Sherlock finally said, "Molly?"

"You don't want to face it," she said, realising that even if he did actually love her (mind still in the process of being blown over that revelation), he'd just admitted for all intent and purposes, that he didn't want to love her.

"Well," she said as she picked up her jacket. "This has been… interesting, confusing and the bits about your sister, frankly disturbing. But I really need…" She stood up.

Sherlock, quick as lightning, stood and reached for her wrist. "Where are you going?"

She swallowed. "I'm not sure what else there is to say, Sherlock."

"You're angry."

"I'm just... " She shrugged. "What was the point of telling me all of this? I mean… why?"

"Because… because it's true." His face was awash with emotions: hurt, hope, fear and most of all, vulnerability.

Molly opened her mouth to try to respond, but how? How was she supposed to respond to that? He had just dumped a shedload of information on her, culminating with his sort of confession of love, and she was supposed to what? Be happy? Ecstatic? Slap the hell out of him again?

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she pulled her hand free. "The way I see it, we're at the same place as we were thirty minutes ago. The only exception being that I'm now aware that you may feel the same way about me as I do you. But there's a caveat, isn't' there?" With a bitter laugh, she added, "You don't want to feel this way."

"I didn't say that."

She smiled sadly and said, "Yes you did. And trust me, I know the feeling." Then she walked out of the shop.

Molly hit the pavement and turned left, not really caring where she went as long as it was away from Sherlock Holmes. How dare he? She had purposefully (and very nearly successfully) pushed away that phone call and what it all meant for three solid weeks. Telling herself that he had his reasons and piecing together the events from what John and Mrs. Hudson had told her. Now she had to think about the reality of those words and Sherlock's ambivalence toward his own feelings. The bastard was right; it was better not knowing.

Her love wasn't unrequited, it was completely unwanted. This is so much worse. He could return it, but he'd chose to ignore it. And for how long? Just how long had he known?

She kept walking, arms wrapped around her middle like she was holding in her emotions with the appendages until she looked up and realised that she had walked right into a dead end. "Fuck!" Turning, with every intention of going back out to the main street and finding a new route, she found the very person she was trying to avoid standing about three meters away. She stood her ground, not moving.

Hands in his pockets, he appeared much more composed than he'd been in the coffee shop. It seemed they'd switched places, emotionally speaking. "I wasn't finished," he said, his voice calm and steady.

"I was. That's why I left. For future reference, when someone practically runs away from you, it's a subtle hint that they don't want to be in your presence."

"You're wrong. I never said that I didn't want to love you, Molly." He stepped a little closer. "I told you in my mind palace, remember?"

"You never told me!"

"But I thought I did. And you didn't say it back." He looked almost impassive but there was a hint of something more there. "Even though I knew how you felt, I couldn't make you say it."

"Why does that matter?"

Shaking his head. "Until Sherrinford, until my sister made us say it, I thought… I- I just knew…"

"What did you know?!"

"That you didn't want to love me, Molly!" he yelled, his composure slipping once again.

"What?"

"You tried to move on. And I don't blame you, I gave you no indication that I wanted… anything more from us. But I genuinely thought that you were happier this way. I thought I was too late. I thought that love wasn't enough." He walked forward. "Is it?"

Molly shook her head. "I don't know."

"I don't either." He huffed a small laugh. "I don't know anything about this sort of thing."

"Jesus. We're hopeless." She laughed.

"I have no idea where to begin," he admitted. "But…"

"But what?"

"I love you," he whispered. "And if that's enough, if you want to love me…"

Molly stared at him. He was hurting, that was for sure. She had learned a lot about Sherlock Holmes in the last seven years and she knew when he dropped the shields and let himself feel. He didn't do it often. The real question was could she trust him, this emotionally stunted addict, this beautiful, brilliant man, with her heart? He loved her and she actually believed him. But was that enough?

"Molly?"

Of course, it was.

"Don't break me, Sherlock," she pleaded. "I want you, but I don't want…"

"I'll do my best, Molly. Promise." He stepped closer. "May I hold you? I've never done that outside my mind palace."

She smiled and nodded. Sherlock's arms enveloped her, holding her close, burying his face in her neck.

After a couple of minutes, Molly said, "Ah, Sherlock? What else have we done in your mind palace?"

He pulled back and cupped her face with his hands. "It'd be much more enjoyable to show you," he said before lowering his face and kissing her sweetly. 

Thanks for reading! ~Lil~

[ebaeschnbliah]

IT'S  NEVER  TWINS  BECAUSE  IT'S  .....  TRIPLETS ?

________________________________________________________________

A bit of a crazy theory maybe, but then .... who knows?

SHERLOCK  IS  THREE  PEOPLE _______________________

I view the whole of S4 on a metaphorical level and as something that happens inside Sherlock's head. Every character is an interpretation/imagination of Sherlock. Everyone is an 'actor' on his Mind-Stage and plays exactly the role Sherlock has assigned them to.

There are certain scenes and pieces of dialoge in TST as well as in TLD that feel somewhat ... odd .... strange. Almost as if the text has been given to the wrong actors. Mary - for example - has a lot of dialoge that could be spoken by Sherlock as well (the whole 'Hiatus-stuff')  Not really a big surprise. For Mary is visually presented as Sherlock's facade in HLV ... plastered all over the Empty Houses .... which are the property of Sherlock Holmes. She is Sherlock's major mirror and plays a big part on his Mind-Stage.

The character who really surprised me though, is John. Because there are several scenes in TST and TLD where he appears to be much more like Sherlock Holmes than John Watson. All the 'cheating' sequences, for example. E flirting with John reminds me a lot of Jim flirting with Sherlock in S1-S2. And every time I watch the end of TLD - the conversation between Sherlock, John and Ghost-Mary - it feels like I'm looking here at three Sherlocks debating with each other.

This gave me the idea that - like Mary - maybe John as well takes over the role of Sherlock Holmes ... that there are three incarnations of Sherlock on the Mind-Stage of TST and TLD.

A summary for all  three episodes of S4 under the cut ....

THE SIX THATCHERS _______________________________

This episode replays mostly events from S1-TGG  to S3- HLV (excluding ASIB and THOB). Sherlock uses not only a completely different setting for this 'play', he 'casts' John and Mary as 'himself'.

Sherlock's FORMER SELF - JOHN

covered by the FACADE - MARY

Sherlock's TRUE SELF/the SOUL - SHERLOCK

John plays Sherlock from S1 .... the one who is fascinated by the 'criminal mastermind':

E's phone number on a piece of paper ('This is me')

Secret calls, secret meetings ... the pool, the roof

Not going further but still wanting to. Still fascinated by the dark side? Because Sherlock loves the game? Because this is 'novel' ... this is 'something new'? ... something 'not boring?'

Sherlock 'delets any text that begins 'hi'  ('Jim Moriarty. Hi')

The first texts John and E exchange begin 'hey'

Mary plays Sherlock from S2 and S3:

Sherlock who falls in love with John,

who is prepared to leave John to keep him safe,

who is tracked by someone driven by the desire for revenge,

who finally comes back, hoping that John will forgive,

who is even willing to expose the sinister past (though reluctantly)

John married to Mary would then be the equivalent of Sherlock married with his FACADE.

The fake facade of a sociopath who pretends to value the work above all else. A wannabe sociopath who falls desperately in love. Who is able to fall in love because the 'Empty Houses' behind that fake FACADE aren't empty at all. The 'Empty Houses' are the bolt hole number one for ... Sherlock the SOUL. 'Infected' by the 'virus of love' the FACADE (the firewall) loses power and starts crumbling bit by bit ... mask by mask.

Then the SOUL picks a fight with a bad guy and at the very last second the FACADE steps in to save his life.

That's the moment when the FACADE is ripped from the MAN's face ... who is utterly shocked for being exposed in such an unexpected and hurtful way.  

THE LYING DETECTIVE ______________________________

This episode is the most tricky one of the whole series. There are lots of layers. All mingled and twisted around each other. Just to name the most obvious threads:

Addiction and fighting it

How to save John Watson

Selfharm, suicidal behaviour, aggression

The Holmes family history ... memories starting to come back (X  X)

Connections to THOB and TAB through HOUND and TD12 (fear and the bliss of ignorance) and 'Ghostly Sisters'

Closing a circle back to ASIP (X)

Selfharm, suicidal behaviour, aggression ...

TLD starts with Faith who is more or less forced to take drugs. She represents the desire to forget as well as the desire to remember. She comes to Baker Street as a 'vanguard' of Eurus ... of memory. She carries a gun in her handbag. She wears the signs of selfharm on her arms. When Sherlock looks at her, he remembers John because Sherlock knows the signs ... most likely from himself. 

If John is indeed a manifestation of Sherlock's 'former self' in this episode ... the MAN whose FACADE has been ripped of ... it doesn't really come as a surprise if he is now full of anger, hurt and fear. Feeling vulnerable and exposed. Having bad nights, dark thoughts. Alcoholism is also a form of addiction.

I wonder if the creators did something in TLD similar to what happens in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (by Oscar Wilde). In that story the effects of the changes in Dorian's character are not visible on himself but only on his portrait ... which represents his soul.

The MAN who lost the FACADE (played by John) and  the SOUL (played by Sherlock)

What John lives through after losing Mary ... is it equal to what 'the MAN' lives through after losing his FACADE? The MAN expresses wrath, anger, hurt, shame, fear, vulnerability. There are dark thoughts and bad nights with drinking.

The effects of all this though .... are they made visible on ... the SOUL?

John doesn't believe Sherlock when he tells him that Culverton Smith - the manifestation of drug addiction - Sherlock's own drug addiction  is a serial killer.

Meaning: the MAN doesn't believe his inner voice - his SOUL - that ADDICTION will kill him little by little ... will kill him in series

When Sherlock attacks Culverton Smith, John attacks Sherlock violently.

When the SOUL starts fighting ADDICTION for real the MAN reacts with gross violence. Similar to an addict who anticipates that drugs are going to be taken away from him very soon? Similar to a body already deprived of drugs?

The ugly scene in the morgue ... could it be a visual manifestation of 'withdrawal symptoms'?

It is the memory of the FACADE (DVD) who advices the SOUL how to 'reactivate' the MAN. This seems fitting as it was the 'MAN with the FACADE' who fell in love with John. So it is the memory of love that keeps Sherlock alive in the end.

Then the SOUL picks a fight with a bad guy and at the very last second the MAN  steps in to save his life.

The last scene of TLD shows Eurus shooting the MAN who once hid behind a FACADE. I wonder if this symbolizes the metaphorical killing of Sherlock's FORMER SELF.

The FACADE had to go .... Mary got shot, died and became memory (DVD)

Sherlock's FORMER SELF has to go as well to make way for a new Sherlock .... John got shot and Eurus pulled the trigger. Sherlock himself killed the MAN he once was? 

John though survives in another incarnation. He plays the role of Sherlock's HEART in TFP.

THE FINAL PROBLEM _______________________________

The last episode of S4 looks again like a whole new play on Sherlock's Mind-Stage. With a lot of incarnations for different parts of Sherlock. If TST and TLD reflect previous episodes of Sherlock BBC already in a very condensed version ... TFP seems to be the last destillation of the most important bits.

Task: Staying alive - because if you die, John will die as well  (X)

Task: Recognize your shortsightedness, your addiction and your facade - and get rid of them  (X)

Task: Recognize love and acknowledge it  (X)

Task: Logic or emotions? - you can’t kill one, you need both  (X comments))

Task: Reunite head and heart

And the final results of these experiments point to a very promising future represented by little Rosie ... once the elephant in the womb.

THE CASE OF THE THREE SHERLOCKS

A possibility or just a crazy imagination? A  MAN who wears a FACADE to hide his SOUL ... his 'true self'.  Or mayby  'Sherlock-Past' - 'Sherlock-Present' - 'Sherlock-Future'? I remember the creators jokingly called the first episode of S4 'The Three Watsons' instead of The Six Thatchers'. Could this be one of their twisted truths? Of course, ther are three Watsons on one level of the story .... but could there also be three Sherlocks on another level?

And wouldn't it be a major rug-pull if it turns out that ....  'it's indeed never twins' because it's actually .... TRIPLETS?

JOHN: “My husband is three people.” It’s interesting. Says he has three distinct patterns of moles on his skin. SHERLOCK: Identical triplets – one in half a million births.

John mentions this special 'tripling-case' two times in an episode that is called ...  'THE SIGN OF THREE' .... just saying ....

August, 2017

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

@gosherlocked @loveismyrevolution @monikakrasnorada @sagestreet @sherlockshadow @sarahthecoat @221bloodnun

[silentauroriamthereal]

Every title I could think of was too long, too: Thoughts on series 4 (and 1-3). Johnlock, Mary, Queer baiting, plot holes, how human relationships work, and other things that made me use a lot of caps

All right, folks. It’s 4,500 words long, hahaha. I feel like I just gave birth. Read on, if you dare. 

I’ve started this post about five different times now. Sixth time’s the charm? 

Okay. I have to start with this: I am a Johnlock shipper. A diehard, it-comes-before-everything-else-for-me sort of shipper. That doesn’t give me that most objective of stances, but there it is. Counting my 8 pre-series 3 stories (303,923 words collectively) and my 5 post-series 4 stories (30,526 words collectively so far), I have now written a total, as of yesterday’s fic, of 1,557,772 words of fiction over exactly 70 stories. That means that 1,223,323 words of the fiction I’ve produced over the past three years has been series 3 fix-it fic. Because that’s when the show runners lost me.

It’s a super unpopular opinion. Or was then, at least! What I see, as a writer and a viewer both, is a pattern in both Moffat and Gatiss’ writing of starting off really strongly, then inevitably copping out and taking some kind of easy out that fails to fully resolve what came before it. It fails to realistically deal with the fall-out in terms of human relationships. I watched Doctor Who for awhile, though I was never a huge fan. On Doctor Who, nothing makes sense. The “science” is obviously not meant to be believable. Personally, I always prefer things set in real life with believable plots and storylines. Despite my beginnings in the Harry Potter world, universes that involve magic and similar elements are not usually my first choice. With a large exception for Tolkien’s entire universe. On Doctor Who, you’re not supposed to believe the plot, and that’s good, because it’s impossible to do so. However, when the human relationships also make no sense, I’m out. And they don’t. I was constantly seeing, particularly when Moffat took over as the main writer, things that didn’t make sense in Amy and Rory’s relationship. And the plots, nonsensical as they were, also never panned out, added up, had the impact they should have, and I generally got the feeling that they’d often not been planned through from the start.

I’ve had the same feeling about Sherlock at least since series 3. And in part, they’ve said it themselves. True, they’ve said that they had some things in mind all along, but they’ve also admitted that they didn’t have everything plotted out from the start. I don’t have an article reference for this, but I remember reading once that Gatiss said that they had not planned what to do with the baby after series 3, that they had written her in to amp up the drama for HLV. That says sloppy planning to me, because a baby is not exactly a goldfish. You can’t give it to a neighbour when it becomes inconvenient (though apparently John did little else in series 4). I maintain that it was a bad writing decision. My point, though, is that they didn’t make a plan as to what to do in the longer term. And every series resolution has had this same problem.

Series 1 ending: Sherlock and John have just silently agreed to die together rather than let Moriarty escape them. Sherlock shooting the bomb would take out the entire building, including the snipers above them.

Resolution: Moriarty gets a phone call, changes his mind, shuts down the snipers, and walks out unchallenged. There MAY have been a massive police search for the snipers and Moriarty, but it was never shown. They didn’t seem to think it was important. It was all onto the sexy naked lady. And there was no conversation between Sherlock and John about the fact that they nearly died, that they agreed to do it together, that they agree that the world cannot be compromised with terrorists like Moriarty on the loose. Normal people discuss things like that, major, potentially life-ending events. But they didn’t think it was important to show us any of that.

Series 2 ending: Sherlock is blackmailed into jumping off a nine-storey building in front of John. The collateral was the lives of John, Lestrade, and Mrs Hudson. He jumps and somehow survives. John is seen grieving fiercely. Moriarty is dead.

Resolution: John is never told that he would have died had Moriarty not forced Sherlock’s hand. (You can say things about the blog here, but I consider that only semi-canon and frequently inconsistent with the onscreen canon, so let’s just leave that out of this discussion.) The writers never thought it was important for John to know that: a) Sherlock had no choice. Not if he wanted John to live. John is still, in series 4, blaming Sherlock for his absence. b) He didn’t know that he was going to die if Sherlock didn’t do it, that there was a reason that Sherlock couldn’t tell him he was still alive. Sherlock’s silence was imperative for John’s safety, and Sherlock – as he has always done – put John’s safety above everything else. Literally everything. He didn’t even know for certain that he would survive the jump, but he took the chance because John’s life, and the lives of Mrs Hudson and Lestrade, mean that much to him. John still doesn’t know that, because the writers didn’t think it was important to include that. Not only that, they refused to even confirm that that was actually the definitive method by which Sherlock survived. Sloppy resolution, and disappointing.

Series 3 ending: Sherlock has just killed someone, for the sake of someone who shot him in the heart. Moriarty appears to be alive. John sends Sherlock off un-thanked and refusing to name his child after Sherlock, which considering all that Sherlock has done for him and his killer wife, is a bit low. Also there’s a baby on the way despite nothing pointing to the Watson/Morstan having an ice cube’s hope in hell of surviving. A marriage based on lies, John not even knowing his wife’s real name and preferring to keep it that way, the most reluctant, grudging take-back scene in history, and a piece of seriously inconsistent characterisation for a man who once got himself arrested for having punched someone for insulting Sherlock. Ugh.

Resolution: None whatsoever. The Watson/Morstan union is still on, though the Watson half is obviously very unhappy and actively looking to cheat (also completely inconsistent with his former characterisation). The Morstan part of the union (and believe me, we are coming back to this character with force in a bit) is apparently nothing like her former self, sugar-coated in the worst of ways and apparently still full unrepentant for absolutely everything, starting from any of her criminal past to having shot Sherlock, to having accepted his sacrifice in killing her blackmailer for her, to having lied her ass off to John from the very start, to pushing John aside to come between him and Sherlock, to making him stay at home with the baby while she goes in his place, all while “playfully” calling Sherlock a pig and comparing John to a dog. The baby is still there and still in the way. Moriarty is apparently still pursuing a posthumous attack scheme. What the ever-living fuck.

Why else they lost me in series 3: because, as I said, I’m a Johnlock shipper. I’ll admit without shame that I’m far more invested in this relationship than I am in the plots themselves. It’s nice when the plot is good. But if this central relationship isn’t working for me, then I don’t give three fucks what happens in the rest of the plot. For me, TST was really bad. I hated it. But TLD was vivisection, if I may. I was never expecting Johnlock to become canon – next point, hang on – but seeing John actively hating Sherlock and beating him half to death when he was already dying (that’s not exaggeration; that’s canon) – not even the hug could redeem that for me. I loved the hug. I would have loved it forty million times more if it hadn’t happened because John was crying about his dead killer wife. I would have loved it even more than that if he’d hugged back. For that reason alone, TFP was preferable for me, just because Sherlock and John were clearly a team again, friends again, happy to be in each other’s presence again. I LOVED that both Sherlock and Mycroft knew instantly, without a word of discussion, that there was no way in hell that Sherlock was ever going to even consider choosing Mycroft above John. John was less clear on that point, but the Holmes brothers both knew that this was concrete, unchanging law, which is completely consistent with literally everything Sherlock has done since TRF. I loved that this wasn’t even a question for him. We’ll get to the rest of the episode.

What I hated about series 3 was that John married someone who isn’t Sherlock. It’s that simple: people were squeeing about the stag night and the dancing behind closed curtains, but at the end of the day, JOHN MARRIED SOMEONE ELSE. This is so far beyond acceptable for me that I felt sick. I was dreading series 3 coming out for the very reason of John’s wedding to Mary Morstan. We hadn’t met Mary yet. I knew that Amanda Abbington, who I knew nothing about other than that she was Martin’s partner, had been cast. I had a friend at the time who argued that they had to cast someone that Martin had strong chemistry with to balance his chemistry with Benedict. I hated that, too. I hated having that chemistry that everyone loves so much challenged. And then HLV took a turn for the better: Mary was exposed as the terrible human being that she is. In a down side, she shot and very nearly killed Sherlock. But his love for John and concern for his safety and knowledge of Mary’s villainy pulled him through and they sat her on her ass and treated her as a client, a client and nothing more. I cheered. And then the writers wrote in a bizarre six-month gap, one in which John was clearly not living with Mary (“months of silence”), and then he made the inexplicable and completely out of character decision to take her back. My heart sank. “But the baby!” you rage-moo, and yes, precisely: the baby. If only there hadn’t been a baby. Personally, I think it’s a disservice to raise a child in a hostile atmosphere, but what do I know. So, I was massively unhappy with series 3, as my 1.2+ million words of ensuing fic might suggest.

One of the worst decisions the writers made, and this is all part, by the way, of my overarching point of how they didn’t make Johnlock canon, was the inclusion of the character of Mary Morstan. They have queer-baited and alternately straight-washed throughout these four series, but this was the ultimate straight-wash: having John ACTUALLY marry someone else. And for me personally, it was just weird seeing that person be Martin’s former actual partner. They had, in an ironic backfiring, zero chemistry onscreen. They had old boring married I-gave-up-and-let-go-ten-years-ago chemistry, and it still didn’t compete with Martin and Benedict’s amazing onscreen chemistry. So we had to watch this thing that they cooked up and shoved down our throats and were told to accept it and believe and love it and defend it. And I just didn’t do any of those things. I hated Mary from the moment she interrupted John’s super reluctant proposal. They wrote nothing that made me believe in their relationship, even had I wanted to forget everything they had already written pointing to a romantic relationship between Sherlock and John. Which I didn’t. They wrote that and sold me and thousands of other people on it, then introduced this third wheel. Amanda promised that Mary would never come between Sherlock and John, but perhaps she should consider shutting her trap and not acting like part of the official PR (not that they’re any better, and I’m still coming to that), because Mary did LITERALLY nothing but come between Sherlock and John.

She immediately inserted herself into their relationship. I blame this partly on Sherlock’s idiotic decision to see John immediately, no matter what he was doing. He assumed, and it frankly should have been a correct assumption, because he was the sun around which John revolved, that John would want to see him no matter what he was in the middle of doing. A bit of bad planning, but if Sherlock is somewhere on the autism spectrum, which people generally assume that he is, then social skills are not his strongest suit. He hadn’t seen the friend he spent two years enduring torture and living on the run to protect and he’d just gotten back. Of COURSE he wanted to see John as soon as possible. And of course John’s reaction was entirely understandable, and entirely predictable. What that scene didn’t need was Mary to further hack away at John’s feeling of insignificance by siding with Sherlock immediately, agreeing that she hated his awful moustache, and ignoring everything her semi-fiancé was going through and stating that she liked Sherlock, as if her opinion had ANY relevance at that point. She inserted herself as their mediator, when they would have gotten there soon enough once John’s temper cooled down. Her pushing at John probably only slowed him down, because John doesn’t respond to pushing. And maybe Mary meant to slow him down. I don’t know. Mary came between them in every way possible. By marrying John, by inserting herself into their duo and pushing John to the side, by fucking up absolutely everything in their lives with her undisclosed past, by shooting Sherlock in the heart rather than dealing with her blackmailer herself and accepting Sherlock’s help. By lying, lying, lying, lying, and more lying. Now there’s a child for them to look after. Now there’s the spectre of John’s failed attempt to love her between them. Her double-faced, lying presence threw off the balance of the show. Her abusive, gaslighting, manipulative behaviour was portrayed as cute and fun and somehow manages to gloss over the canonical reality that Mary was someone who killed people to earn money for herself, showed zero remorse for having done so, zero remorse for her inexplicable decision to try to kill the title character of the show while leaving her blackmailer alive, zero remorse for having attacked her own maid of honour, zero remorse for having lied to John from start to finish, zero gratitude to Sherlock for having saved her from Magnussen, zero remorse for having drugged Sherlock, zero remorse for having left John and the baby behind, zero remorse for having killed that flight attendant and whomever else, zero remorse for having fled John’s side to protect herself as soon as the shooting broke out, zero remorse for having abandoned her teammates without even checking to see if a rescue attempt was possible, leaving them to die or suffer six years of torture, zero remorse for FUCKING ANYTHING except having been caught in her lies. And then she left Sherlock a video telling him to kill himself or get himself killed as a “means to save John” (who wouldn’t have needed saving had he never met her lying ass in the first place!), with no means for John to see said video, and her method failed anyway because John was so racked with guilt over having wanted to or almost cheated on her that he had already made the fucked up choice to displace his guilt onto Sherlock, rendering him incapable of caring whether Sherlock lived or died, in the very worst of his inexplicably out of character actions.

And then the writers credited Mary for having somehow “created” the Holmes/Watson duo, as though they wouldn’t have become what they already were had Mary Fucking Morstan not told them to from one of her posthumous home videos. FUCK THAT SHIT. I have never hated a character as much as I hate Mary Morstan. Her presence on this show ruined it for me.

They could have saved it. They could have, I don’t know, kept her in character in series 4 as the completely terrible human being that she is, played it out to its natural conclusion – have her fake her death to reveal her as one of the nurses who was administering the memory altering drug, who passed Faith Smith’s note on to Eurus Holmes, as part of the whole Eurus/Moriarty/Mary axis of evil. Except that the first two of those people are clinically insane, and Mary is apparently just a quirky narcissist.

All this is to say how and why they lost me as of series 3. For the past three years, I’ve been reading meta (and writing a little, myself) about the romantic coding of the Sherlock/John relationship. It’s ALL there in the show. I never disagreed with that. Let me explain super clearly the ONLY place where I diverged from TJLC: Look, it’s diagram time, courtesy of my shitty Paint skills! 

Let me be super clear: I don’t think that anyone read anything wrong. I don’t blame anyone for having believed that they would make it canon. I’m just saying why I didn’t. We were given conflicting messages. The show said one thing, and the creators said something else – sometimes. I fully agree that they were deliberately misleading. It’s just that I’m a cynic, and I believed the times when they told us what turned out to be the truth. My gut believed it. It wasn’t just the ways in which they said they would never do it, it was how. I saw that that tweet screen cap is going around again, with the person who said they would die if Johnlock didn’t become canon in series 4 and Mark Gatiss responded with “RIP”. It was an incredibly insensitive tweet given that the attack in Orlando had just taken place the previous day. And it wasn’t the first comment of its nature that the writers have made. Mark talks in this video about how “moving” the scene of John taking Mary back is (start just before the 58-minute mark). (Side note: I mis-remembered this as Sue having made this remark, which I’ve said a few times now. Apologies!) It’s said on the Behind the Scenes video for TST that Sue cries every time she sees the Mary death scene. It’s things like this that make me wonder if they’ve been watching the show they actually made, because it really seems like they can’t see their own work accurately. What really put the nail in the coffin for me, though, was what Mark said at San Diego ComicCon last year. He said the following:

“He explicitly says he is not interested. Doesn’t mean he couldn’t be. Doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it. I’m a gay man. This is not an issue. But we’ve explicitly said this is not going to happen – there is no game plan – no matter how much we lie about other things, that this show is going to culminate in Martin and Benedict going off into the sunset together. They are not going to do it. And if people want to write whatever they like and have a great time extrapolating that’s absolutely fine. But there is no hidden or exposed agenda. We’re not trying to fuck with people’s heads. Not trying to insult anybody or make any kind of issue out of it, there’s nothing there. It’s just our show and that’s what these characters are like.” (Here)

 He also said in the same article that they were not going to use their show as a platform for representation or other social issues. He said that doing so would ruin the show. These are his exact words:

“Don’t blame us for things that aren’t there. It is infuriating. We get pilloried for these things as if our show – we haven’t even made the thirteenth one yet – has to have the shoulders to bear every single issue and every single campaign point. You can’t do that. It’s our show, they’re our characters, they do what we want them to do, and we don’t have to represent absolutely everything in that ninety minutes. It’s impossible.  And it would kill it. It would be deadly to it.”

Yeah. He said that our seeing Johnlock in what they wrote was “infuriating”. It damned well shouldn’t have been, because they’re the ones who put it there!! I can only assume that it was a deliberate choice to then deny it and leave it out in what certainly felt like their final episode. It would have been SO EASY to put it in. With no “help” from that ridiculous, unnecessary Mary video, all they had to do was add something like Sherlock dropping a kiss on John’s forehead as he passed the baby over. That’s all it would have taken. That’s all anyone could have dreamed of, asked for, hoped for. No one was demanding explicit anal penetration in the sitting room with the married ones looking on from the front door. Just a simple little action like that would have said it all, and been enough to confirm the relationship they’ve written from the start. Or it could have been a quick exchange of dialogue in that montage at the end of TFP. John could have started doing something and Sherlock could have said, “John, you don’t have to do that.” John could have smiled into the camera/mirror and said, “Yes, I do. No flat that I live in is going to have a bison skull with no headphones!” And there we would have at least had explicit confirmation that John moved back in. I’ve always loathed parentlock, personally, but I’d have taken it. I’d have taken it and thanked them for at least just making the ship canon after all. And I’d have eaten every word of doubt about their intentions that I’d ever uttered, too.

I don’t blame anyone for believing. Because they could have done it, and they should have. They should have. And you have every right to feel angry and hurt and cheated that they didn’t. Shame on you, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat. Shame on you for the queer-baiting. Shame on you for leading us on. Shame on you for the lazy writing, the sloppy resolutions, the vast array of plot holes and loose threads.

I promised I would also comment on this last episode specifically, so here it is. Don’t hate me for this, but I have to say that, plot holes and lack of Johnlock aside, I liked TFP better than either TST or TLD. You know why? Because Sherlock and John were a team again, and that’s what I live for. John didn’t actively hate Sherlock. He wasn’t an OOC asshole to him the entire time. He didn’t hurt him, physically or emotionally. They were clearly and wonderfully working together from the very start. I loved his exchange with Mycroft at the end of the scene at Mycroft’s (weird, scary) house, the whole “someone gave him the idea that you would only tell the truth if you were basically wetting yourself” and that that person was John, and his candour in telling Mycroft that. I loved that. And what I liked the most about the episode was how, when Sherlock was forced to make a decision between John and Mycroft, both the Holmes brothers knew without one shred of doubt that there was no way that Sherlock would ever, ever, ever choose Mycroft over John. It was unquestioned. In TLD, there was a hug at the end, yeah. But I also had to endure the beating scene, and Mary throughout. The best thing about this series is that Mary is dead. That’s the best thing I can say. Because the rest was a disaster.

The straight-washing with all of the unnecessary Irene inserts. Lady Smallwood and Mycroft, though at least there was a ray of hope for you Mystrade shippers out there at the end. The Molly scene was BRUTAL. And fuck them for what they did with her character, too. LET HER MOVE ON. And behave like a grown woman, too. Ugh. Poor Molly. The plot holes. THE PLOT HOLES. Better people than me have already written lengthy posts outlining them all and this one is already more than long enough, so I won’t detail them all. The Garridebs massacre. That was cruel. I found all of the references pointing to Mycroft as a closet cross-dresser amusing. Taking after Uncle Rudy, indeed, plus the whole Lady Bracknell thing. I actually laughed out loud at that, whereas I didn’t laugh at anything in TST or TLD at all, ever. I think I watched them both with clenched fists. As I said earlier, I frankly don’t really care about the plots, this one included, though I rolled my eyes massively at the thought that Eurus was behind Moriarty. Sigh. I did like Sherlock’s growth and compassion, and I really liked him taking the time to reach out to her through the violin. I like that they put a woman in Sherlock’s life who was important to him as something other than a failed love interest. The violin conversation at the end was beautiful. The Redbeard stuff was utterly horrifying. Insert more ranting about the associated nonsensical, plot-hole-y stuff here. I think I’m starting to run out of steam, lol. I just want to go and write fiction now. I’ve been writing this post for hours and I could say a lot more, but… I think that’s enough.

Bottom line: you weren’t wrong to believe. I didn’t, but I don’t blame you for it. These writers have done the show and its characters and its audience a massive disservice. For me, Mary was the worst thing they inflicted on this show and on the ship, but it wasn’t beyond hope, EVEN in spite of everything else they did to ruin this relationship in the first two episodes of the series. I can’t help but wonder if they denied it out of sheer spite in response to the fan pressure to make it canon, but that would be blaming the victim. I just wonder how spiteful they have to be. I genuinely think that they don’t see this as having been a malicious action, or that they’ve ever considered that what they’ve done qualifies as queer baiting. Obviously it is, but I genuinely wonder about their intentions. I don’t know, but at this point, all that matters is what they actually did.

I’m emotionally exhausted by all of this, but relieved that the series is over, because I was frankly dreading it, apparently for good reasons. At least I know now what I’ll be busy fixing for the next three years, or possibly forever if they never make another series. Mission: accepted. And now my watch begins. As I said the other day, this is why we here in this fandom exist: because the canon will end someday, and after that, their world belongs to us.

[rhiannon-a-christy]

The World

Mycroft groaned as he slowly came to. The last thing he remembered was watching as Sherlock brought the gun up to his chin and counted down to his own death. His eyes shot open to gray. Gray walls, gray ceiling, gray world. He sat up. He was alone with no sign of Sherlock or John anywhere. A moment’s look around and he was certain he had been locked in Euros’ old cell. He looked about him. He had been left with nothing. The single television on the wall across from him was black. Radio silence then. There was no point screaming into the void, he was pretty sure that his sister would ignore him. No, her focus was on their brother. This worried him more than anything. He wished that he could say that she wouldn’t hurt him, but his sister was too unstable. A cool breeze drifted over his hand cutting his thoughts short. He looked down at his hand frowning. His eyes traced the likely path of the cool breeze, landing on a thin crack in the wall. He edged over to the wall and slid his hand along the crack. As he went pieces of gray cement fell to the floor. He dug at it with his fingernails, removing the dusty cement further up the wall. With each new inch revealed he became more frantic, digging and chipping until the floor at his feet was littered with dust. He stood back, panting as he tried to gather enough air into his lungs. The single crack had grown up and across in a straight line revealing the frame of a door. He reached forward, once again digging his nails into the crack to try and pull the door open. His fingers were bleeding before he stopped and leaned against it instead. The door creaked under his weight, pushing forward. He swallowed, worried what he would find on the other side, and pushed. He stood within the open door, mouth open and eyes wide. If he didn’t know better he would have thought he had just stepped into someone’s home. A certain someone’s home at that. The shock wore off as he realized what it could mean and took off towards the little kitchen. He stepped around the counters and looked down at the figure huddled on the floor. Everything looked as it had on the monitors. The same counters, the same kettle, lemons, mobile. And the same woman in her brightly colored jumper. Only now she was folded in on herself and fast asleep on the floor. He must have made some noise, as she jolted awake and shot up with her eyes wide in fear. She blinked when she realized who it was before her. “Mycroft? Where… what?” Molly shook her head and used the counters to help pull her up. Her whole body hurt, but not as much as her heart. “It seems that my sister is even more clever than I believed.” Mycroft reached out to catch the younger woman as she stumbled. “I take it you have been here since before Sherlock’s call?” “Yes, I’m not sure how long. At least a day, possibly a little longer.” Molly smiled weakly and stepped out of Mycroft’s arms. There was something about the Holmes brothers, both of them never failed to fluster a woman. “I was on my way home from Bart’s when they took me.” “You are remarkably calm, my dear, for having been kidnapped.” There was no censure in his voice, though perhaps a bit of admiration. He had always wondered how his brother could ignore this woman for so long. He wasn’t so sure he would have been able to stay away if she had focused her attentions on him. “I’ve dealt with a lot since meeting your brother.” Molly laughed, though no humor was in the sound. “Though don’t be fooled. I’ve had my cry.” The two just stood there staring at each other, neither really knowing what should come next. Molly cleared her throat and turned to leave the kitchen. She stopped as she reached the end of the counters, remembering that she wasn’t in her home but a replication of her kitchen. She turned back and started fiddling with the things on the counter. “I met your sister. She was the one that came to talk to me, give me my instructions.” Molly thought back on it all. How the woman, Euros, had explained what would happen. She had insured Molly’s cooperation by dangling Sherlock’s life in front of her. “So, everything you did and said was part of her game?” Mycroft remembered how Sherlock had reacted, tearing apart the coffin with so much rage. He wasn’t sure how his brother would handle this new information. “Yes, well, mostly. She instructed me on what to do, what to say. Still…” She picked up the mobile off the counter and quickly set it back down. “I didn’t lie about loving him. I always have, and I know I always will. Funny all of this. The one thing that saved both our lives and that will be the first and last time we ever say it to each other.” “You seem so sure about my brother.” Mycroft slipped his jacket from his shoulders, suddenly it was too tight. “I’m not a fool, Mycroft. I know he feels something for me, but he would never act on them even if it was love.” She shook her head. She noticed her companion’s hands and sighed. “The two of you are more alike than either of you would admit.” “And what makes you say that?” He lifted a brow as he watched her gather a towel and wet it. “You have been standing there talking all while your hands are bleeding. Come here then, let me see to them.” Molly took his hands in hers when he came near. Slowly she washed the blood and dust from them, careful not to cause further injury. When she was done she looked up into his face. He was older than his brother, lines were carved at the corners of his eyes. His hair was thinner than when she had last seen him, a single tuff resting in a curl above his forehead. Even so there was a grace about him that Molly thought made him handsome. Her eyes slid away from his face and down his arms. She giggled. “Are those sleeve garters? How very proper of you.” Mycroft cleared his throat and stepped back. He had felt uncomfortable standing there under her care. It had been a very long time since anyone had shown such gentleness towards him. “Yes, well one must always look presentable.” He fiddled with the cuffs of his sleeves, now wet with a mixture of blood and water. He had a vision of Lady Macbeth then, hands stained with blood. Would he ever be clean of the blood on his hands because of Euros? “Even at the end of the world. I am sure you would meet your end buttoned and groomed to a shine.” She smiled and dried her hands on a clean towel. She was sure there was nothing that could upset the elder Holmes enough to ruffle him up. Though she would pay good money to see him rumpled just once. Mycroft cleared his throat and turned to look about the room. The place was a perfect reproduction of her flat, down to the plants. The window was a sheet of white glass backed with LED to simulate sunlight. It was no wonder that both he and Sherlock had been fooled. For awhile the two didn’t talk, Molly busied herself with making tea as there wasn’t much of anything else to do in there, and Mycroft checked every wall and crack. For what he wasn’t sure, but anything to keep himself busy. After some time he turned and looked at the woman sipping at her tea. “What keeps you going back? My brother hasn’t treated you with any kind of care. He disregards your feelings with no semblance of tact. Why would you cling to him when there are others who would gladly hand over the world for you?” He wasn’t sure what made him say it. He was even pretty sure he didn’t want to know the answer. “Your brother, he is the kind of man that gets into your blood. You can’t get away from him, no matter how hard you try. And believe me, I have tried.” Molly set her cup down on the counter and turned to look at the man fully. “And what men are you talking about, Mycroft? In my experience those men only exist in novels.” Mycroft swallowed thickly and took two steps forward before stopping. He cleared his throat. “Of course they do, how silly of me.” He gave a weak smile and went back to examining the room. A small hand on his arm stopped him short. He turned and looked down at the woman beside him. She took a deep breath and with no warning leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was soft, slow, and questioning. Mycroft held on to her, pulling her into his chest as he deepened the kiss. The sound of footsteps pulled them apart. Lestrade could be heard out in the other room, his men working on opening the cell. Molly sighed and stepped back from him, her voice was nothing more than a whisper when she spoke. “Keep the world, Mycroft. And keep it safe.” She gave him a sad little smile and slipped past him out into the cell. Mycroft shut his eyes for a moment. He gave a soft laugh, shook his head and followed Molly to freedom. ---------------------------------- Author’s Note: This was a prompt for @justasyou-are who asked for: “Mollcroft. Set in TFP. They are locked in the same room alone and they try to comfort each other.” Probably not what you were thinking, but I rewatched TFP and this is what popped into my head. Still, hope you like it. Also, I figure that Mycroft know what Molly’s place looks like not just because of looking into her when she started hanging out with Sherlock, but because he often visited her during the two years Sherlock was gone to keep her informed. I also figure this is where he started feeling something for her. Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

[elizabethisjustakitten]

Mary is the villain of S4 and Eurus is not real

Mary is so important -narratively speaking- and I will love her forever but that doesn’t mean I don’t think for a moment she is not truly the evil behind the S4. She is who this series was all about. For me, she will remain the villain of S4.

Because she managed to do what Moriarty (if that really was Moriarty and they didn’t change their roles) couldn’t accomplish. Mary moved the story to the whole new level, she was the catalyst making Sherlock realise how blind he was. He let a liar near the most important person in his life, while he was off, chasing some minor players. He let her literally burn his heart out. And not by shooting him, but by taking John Watson from him. She chained John to herself, made him into the self-loathing man he is. He was thriving these first years with Sherlock. But then Sherlock killed himself and Mary made her way in, manipulated (and I’m sure about all of this being intentional manipulation) John into loving dating her and made him virtually cheat on Sherlock. And when he came back, their life never was the same.

I make these wild conclusions and assumptions on my belief that they couldn’t make the whole Mary thing unsolved. And I think this whole series is actually narrated from some weird, twisted alternative villain perspective, if not trough eyes of actual sociopath, since most of the characters are ooc and their emotional responses don’t make sense.

And we hear Mary’s narrative trough S4 so much, it makes me thing that the sociopath narrating these episodes could be her. Amanda herself told us that Mary is a psychopath, remember? And I think what we see in S4 is not just how the story proceeds, but it’s the past as well.

Mary, though portrayed as a caring wife and mother, is certainly heavily coded as “the devil” trough the show. She shoots Sherlock in cold blood and sometimes reacts inappropriately and coldly in situations that should be emotional (agra, the whole dying thing, even a bloody Sherlock in a drug den). Which makes me think she is just trained sociopath or psychopath that studied human emotions and behaviour just to fit in. Why, you ask? To manipulate, to make herself the victim maybe. Certainly, to hurt.

So we have what they set as the main villain for S4, but we see Mary Morstan (Moran, damn it) die at the end of first episode. But what if the death we see is mainly symbolic? What if what we see dying is Mary Watson, the idea John conjured of her in his head. She dies heroically, at her last attempt to save somebody. She dies telling John that her life as Mary Watson was the best, though there are clear signs she was bored out of her mind in the relationship. She dies telling Sherlock she likes him. Because it’s gonna be hatred and wrath from now on.

That’s what makes me thing about villain of this season and it draws a Mary/Eurus parallel. They are both clever sociopaths/psychopaths portrayed as villains. We have the scene where Eurus is not able to distinguish between Sherlock screaming and laughing as a kid. And then there’s Mary shooting Sherlock just because she....what? Panicked, that her identity is not safe anymore? SHE SHOT A PERSON TO KEEP A SECRET. And if the AGRA explanations is real (which it isn’t, or not entirely), it was a lame secret really. Also for most of TFP we see Eurus trough a screen. You know who else we see on a screen since she is supposedly dead? Mary.

The video recording is where the fictional Mary Watson dies and real Mary Morstan comes to play. She literally titles the video Miss me telling Sherlock WHO SHE IS. It’s not just to get his attention, it’s to let Sherlock know she is there, watching his every move and they are in danger. She is Moriarty’s legacy.

I whole-heartedly believe the video wasn’t a plea to look after John. It was a threat. Save John Watson. Save him! She was mocking Sherlock, telling him she set a plan to motion and there’s little to none Sherlock can do about it. The coding was clear. Save John Watson. Do it again, die for him again to save him. It didn’t do you any good the last time, did it?

It’s a circle. Sherlock finds himself back at the Reichenbach and we as viewers do with him, but this time we know how it’s gonna end. And it’s worse, because if he called from that roof, John wouldn’t pick up his phone this time. Go to hell Sherlock, indeed.

So what if we erase Eurus from the narrative and put Mary there instead? What if Sherlock is not the one emotionally compromised by someone who is family, but John is?

The whole Mary Morstan meeting Jim Moriarty and plotting together makes suddenly so much more sense than Moriarty going to most secured prison just to meet somebody he doesn’t even know. They didn’t meet on “Shutter Island” although that’s the story Mary wants you to believe. Because villains in this series always had a theatrical element to them. If we look at the whole horror movie sequence as unreliable sociopathic narrator, it’s as good explanation as any at this point. Making Eurus Mary and putting her into narrative instead project all the things they really did in S3 into series of weird tasks in TFP.

When we meet Eurus as Faith she gives Sherlock a note that sends him on a suicide mission. Mary does the same with the Miss me titled video. What if those two notes are actually the same one? What if the person giving Sherlock the note is the same one? I toyed with the idea that the note is not actually from Faith/Eurus but it’s the note John send to Sherlock by Molly. And it’s not an explanation why he needs to get out of his life (or it kinda is). It’s just what they said it is. A person. One name. Moriarty.  John gave Sherlock a note with a warning, telling him who Mary really is. She is working for Moriarty or is Moriarty. We can’t be sure. 

Mary, knowing this, sends a video. Telling Sherlock to go to hell, throw himself into danger. Because she can’t have him just sitting after John’s warning, she needs to destroy them together.

If we look at TFP as narration of happenings from S3 in no particular order, we get this: 

 The patience grenade is the bomb in The Empty Hears. But this time it goes off. For all we know Mary has no idea what actually happened in that tube car. But after it, Sherlock and John are good. More than good, they are awesome. Back in Baker Street, happy. So for Mary, the bomb goes off, because they are more in love than before. 

Then there’s the whole shoot one of them or I shoot your wife scene. You can look at this as Mary’s choice between shooting Sherlock or exposing herself. Shoot him or the wife is dead (again, death here is used as a revelation rather than an actual death = the metaphorical death of Mary Watson).  

The 3 Garridebs is John and Sherlock solving crimes together to Mary’s delight. She watches them like lab rats during an experiment. She really likes to watch, did you notice? Trough S3 she tags alone, silently watching, observing. She relishes in it. In Sign of three she literally makes John find them a case.

The I love you scene is an easy one. Just coded into heteronormative sequence and the other way around. It’s not about the actual I love you being said, it’s about making Sherlock think about it. It’s about the best man speech. Sherlock is running out of time to confess, or to make John confess or do anything really. And in the end we literally see Sherlock flair up in anger over his love (love=death, so of course the manifestation of the confession will be a coffin. And even if we treat death as a revelation this series, it’s self-explanatory with the I love you) and smash it into pieces. He goes of the rail, both in reality with drugs and here with letting his frustration flow rather than lock it away. And who pulls him out of it, tells him to “man up”? John Watson. Of course. I still believe Molly in that scene is the manifestation of John in every bit. She is even dressed in the same clothes as she was, when Sherlock himself used her as a substitution for John.

Then there’s another choose who you gonna shoot scene. This is Magnussen. We know Sherlock would never shot John, he would never turn against John, no matter what. Being caught in seemingly unsolvable situation, he turns his gun to himself, trying to commit suicide. And that’s what Sherlock did when he shot Magnussen basically. He turned the gun at the wrong person and put himself out of the game by it.

I know a lot of you think that Eurus is Sherlock or John mirror but why it can’t be Mary mirror as well? TFP is Abominable Bride, but it’s Mary’s Abominable Bride, where she recounts all the ways she managed to win over Sherlock Holmes by holding John Watson on a leash. People do really get sentimental over their pets.

And as for my Baker Street Boys? (Yes, I know it sounds like a boy band name). I believe Moriarty and Mary Morstan were both proud of creating Sherlock Holmes. They created a valuable opponent. And after getting him a pet to play, the game just got more interesting. Mary/Eurus just wanted to play with Sherlock. But I believe the play wouldn’t be as two equal playmates. Rather they consider themselves the creators of their world. They play with them as they would with toys, not with equals. They are just puppets for them. But that’s where they are mistaken. 

WHen we consider all this, it makes the whole Mary thinking she is in John’s head delusion that more creepy and important at the same time. Think about it. Not only Mary believes she managed to get to John so close, she literally haunts his dreams and makes him miserable even after she is gone, but she is proud of it.

And then there’s this scene…

First we meet E. on the bus, smiling on John, slipping him her phone number. What if the scene we are seeing is not some strange lover John cheated on Mary with, what if it’s John cheating on the memory of Sherlock with Mary herself. The memory therefore being of how they met? 

If this is true, it makes the scene where John confesses to Mary’s ghost that much more important. Because what if John is not confessing to Mary for cheating on her? What if he is finally confronting his grief over the fact that he didn’t believe in Sherlock anymore and run to another woman while Sherlock was risking his life on the front line? What if it’s not “Mary, I cheated on you” but rather “Sherlock, I didn’t wait for you” moment. Which makes it all so much bittersweet and the hug makes more sense than ever. Because Sherlock knows now how deeply their love runs. Sherlock now knows Mary was there just to dull the pain. Because John Watson truly believed the love of his life was dead. mary made him feel as cheating on a memory. But not on the memory of herself, but the other way around.

(Also sorry, I know this is half-assed meta and some things are not really detailed and other explanations are missing. I need to rewatch S3 and 4 and I will work on it and post any updates)

[unprincipledaddict]

Hi lovely, and sorry in advance: I have a serious case of tinfoil hatting :) But since I really enjoyed some of your theories lately, I wondered what you might think of Eurus' (as E.) matching phone number to the one, the lady gave Henry in THOB? Coincidence?

Hi! No need to apologize, I’m a ridiculous tinhatter myself and got into posting some of this stuff on here just cause I want people to talk to! With the exception of my casual-viewer husband (who looks at me like he’s going to commit me if I say anything much more than pointing out set design inconsistencies in s4), none of my friends watch Sherlock, so I have no one to talk to about my fixations, haha! So I’m all over discussing theories! *grabby hands*

That said, I’d never heard or seen it pointed out that the phone numbers were the same. I just popped in Netflix and the DVD and checked and I’m not entirely convinced they are the same. The THOB number looks like it ends with something along the lines of 154 or 152, while E’s number in TST ends with 552. I’m not saying they’re not the same, but the 3rd from last number on the napkin in THOB looks a lot like a 1 to me. (Unless they show the number better at some point than when Sherlock is talking about it during the deductions and the napkin is kind of wadded up?) For kicks, I looked up the UK standards for fake phone numbers in films/TV because I only know the US standards (the block of 555-01XX numbers being reserved for films/TV here) and one of the blocks held for UK numbers is anything 07700 900XXX...which it looks like both of those numbers fall into. If those last 3 numbers ARE the same, then that’s a good catch! Though when I just looked for it in THOB now, I wasn’t convinced they were the same...but I could be wrong!

Either way, if they were/are the same, it would totally go along with a s4 theory that I’m starting to buy into more. Like I’ve said, I try not to go too far into what I think is ACTUALLY going on, because there are so many theories and possibilities that latching onto one of them will just make me more likely to be wrong, haha. All I’ve been able to let myself say for certain is that there’s a lot of weird stuff in s4 and it all implies to me that all or part of s4 isn’t actually happening as we’ve seen it. When I let myself go further with it, my favorite theory is basically everything up to the end of TLD was true, but all of TFP is in John’s head after he got shot at the end of TLD. I admit I’m partial to that idea because a lot of the EMP theories would render scenes/events that I really like to not have been real. As an example, I selfishly don’t buy into (or don’t want to buy into, to be more accurate) the idea that everything since Sherlock getting shot in HLV (or even earlier) hasn’t been real...because in my dark and twisted personal preferences, Sherlock shooting CAM in the face is one of my favorite parts of the series. It makes me sad to think it might not have actually happened, haha. But that’s just me wanting that particular part to be real.

Anyways, the problem with my “everything is real up to John getting shot at the end of TLD, then TFP is in his head” theory is that there’s just too much in TST and TLD that don’t make sense or also allude to it not being entirely real. I still have a hard time believing that ALL of s4 is in someone’s head (a dream-within-a dream and multi-season-EMP theories seem, while plausible, a bit too extreme to me. We have to remember that normal, non-conspiracy-nutters watch this show too and need to be able to understand what ultimately happened), so I’m inclined to extend the “TFP is in John’s head after getting shot” theory to include either false memories of TST and TLD due to trauma (or TD-12), or maybe the whole thing actually is just a false retelling of the entire season.

ANYWAYS, I have a point here and a reason why this relates back to your original question about the phone numbers! In my recent re-watchings of s4, I’ve been noticing more and more how practically every aspect of the episodes is some callback or reference or blatant rip-off of something that’s already happened. I feel like if you put all the “old season episode vs s4 episode parallels” metas and dialog comparisons and all that together, you could reconstruct the entire s4 from things that have already happened. (Well, that and other movies.) If I had the fortitude and time to do so, I actually would love to just start at the beginning of s4 and do exactly that, piece the dialog and scenes and events together from things that came before. All of this to say that this is really starting to make me lean towards the false retelling or false memories or possibly it all being in someone (my money’s on John)’s mind...because they’re reconstructing it from things they’ve already seen and experienced. That would explain all of the parallels, the reuse of The Six Thatchers case, similarities in events and dialog, etc etc. Heck, even the girl in the plane being the same girl from TSIB.

(Though I don’t give that TOO much credit because I’ve definitely seen other shows where the same actor came back years later and played an entirely different character. Especially since she’s so much older and her character in TSIB was such a throwaway character that it took me awhile to even figure out which character was the same girl from the plane. On the other hand, it’s not like they couldn’t have found another little girl for TFP...or like she did such an amazing job in TSIB they wanted her back for a bigger role...or like they wouldn’t have possibly thought people would notice it was the same actress.........but I digress, in the end, it’s just a TV show and TV show’s reuse actors all the time.)

So anyways! Long story short is whether the phone numbers are the same or not, I think that there’s a reason that so much in s4 brings back elements from previous seasons. Either John’s traumatized brain is trying to piece together everything that’s happened...or someone is creating scenarios in their MP using stuff they already know...or a faulty memory is filling in holes with previous experiences....or something I’m not thinking of. It honestly wouldn’t have surprised me if the phone numbers were/are the same. No more out there than the glass sculpture from the Mayfly Man’s house showing up in Sherlock’s hospital room, I think!

Sorry to write an essay. I should’ve mentioned that when I said I want people to talk to, I mean...I talk a lot. ;D

[howterrifying]

Hey! I don't know if you're still doing prompt fills or anything, but I was wondering if you could write a Sherlolly prompt based on the song, "Far Too Young to Die" by Panic! at the Disco? That's like my favorite song right now and I just kind of imagined Sherlock watching Molly walk towards him through a crowded room. Thank you!

Dear Anon, I am so sorry for making you wait years. :( Now that I have The Admirer out of the way, I can start working on these really old prompts. Please accept my sincere apologies!I can only hope that you find this story somehow. :( That said, thank you for your prompt. It’s a very beautiful and dark song and wow it could be used to tell so many stories. I decided to go with the times and so wrote a post-TFP story focusing of course on the aftermath of the ‘release code’ scene. I hope you’ll enjoy what I’ve done with it. xx

:: CONTAINS SERIES FOUR SPOILERS ::

::

Grounds  (also on FF.net)

I never so adored you
I’m twisting allegories now
I want to complicate you
Don’t let me do this to myself

For two people who were rather averse to crowds, itseemed an odd choice for a meeting place. Lights of different colours, pulsingat random speeds tinted the ocean of people between them. Still, in their ownpaths, they walked calmly through the bubbling crowd. There were men, therewere women and there were children. There were ice-creams, there was laughter,there were tears. Molly knew exactly where she was headed, for this was a spot in the fairgroundshe had been to since she was a child. This place had been the one exception inspite of her dislike for crowds. Even when her father had gotten ill and couldno longer walk, she would push him along in his wheelchair, both of themdetermined not to miss their yearly tradition of ice-cream by the ferris wheel.

It seemed strange that now, this spot had also become their spot eventhough they had met here only once before. It happened when Sherlock had caughther by surprise, confronting her about her imminent departure which he haddeduced. This was some time after the whole matter with Sherlock’s sister andtheir exchange over that most peculiarly orchestrated phone call. After that phone call, they had somehow naturally avoided each other. Mollyleft her god-motherly duties as often as she could to Mrs Hudson and made sureto take up more paperwork so as to keep herself at her little office deskinstead of the labs or the morgue. Even when her supervisor had pleaded withher to take on a case, saying, you’re the only who can handle him, shepolitely but firmly declined. Then came another phone call, a call from a former colleague, now overseas, whosought Molly’s advice on a piece of research. Eventually, the conversation ledto Molly taking up a temporary research position at said colleague’suniversity. It seemed the perfect opportunity at such opportune timing. On her last evening in London, Molly paid one last visit to the fairground ofher childhood. There was no carnival in operation at the time for the ferriswheel was not lit and the ice-cream stall, among others, was closed. Still,Molly took a slow walk through the grounds, finding a bench that faced the seaand sat herself there, grateful for the emptiness but wishing she could havehad one more ice-cream. It was then that Sherlock Holmes, after months of silence, appeared beside her,casting a shadow in spite of how dimly lit the place already was. He had askedpolitely if he could sit down, Molly replied by shifting to one side, makingroom for him beside her. Are you— okay? he had asked her. 
As okay as it gets, she hadreplied. And you?
I’m far too busy to notbe okay, he had joked, temporarily bringing small smiles to both theirfaces. That’s good to know, she had answered.What time is your flight?How did you know I was leaving? Sorry. Occupational hazard. I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me.So— you’re really leaving?It’s just three weeks.I see. Everything sorted?Mmhmm.Good.


To both their surprise, Sherlock had turned to kiss her gently on thecheek. How many times had he done this now? Molly remembered frantically tryingto recall the occasions he had done so; there was the Christmas apology, therewas the one wishing her well for her engagement by a stairway. This one? Shehad not been able to place. Are you saying sorry? Molly remembered asking.
No.Is this to say goodbye? she had asked again.No, he had repeated.What was that for then? Molly could see the ferris wheel nearing. She was almost there. She wondered ifhe had remembered their appointment. After all, it had been his suggestion. To be honest, Molly, I don’t know— Sherlock had said, after a longpause. Then you shouldn’t have done it, she had interjected.It’s not that— he had continued, almost a little anxiously, I know why— I just don’t know—what to say, howto say it.Well, when you’ve worked it out, let me know.There had been a pause before he turned to look at her. I will. Yes— I will. Same time, same place, next month, hehad replied, with a sudden streak of determination in his voice. You’ll beback by then, won’t you? Yes, I will be.Next month then. At the ice-cream stand by the ferris wheel.
How do you knowabout that spot? Molly had asked, amazed.You told me once.I did?Yes, he had said, with a furtive smile in her direction. So, you’ll bethere? I’ll be there.Here she was at last. Molly could not help but smile at the familiarblackboard display that had the day’s ice-cream flavours written in colouredchalk. She was glad it was open this evening. She could have that ice-cream atlast. “I’m partial to the vanilla,” came the voice she had been expecting.Molly turned round and could not help but smile when she saw Sherlock. It hadonly been three weeks that she was away from London but it had been even longerthat she had been away from him. “Really? Well, I can’t picture you eating an ice-cream anyway,” said Molly witha laugh. “Would you like one?” he asked, gesturing to the queue. “Not now,” said Molly, “Maybe we should take a walk.”“Agreed,” said Sherlock with a nod Offering his arm to her, Molly looped hers in his and together, they strolledthrough the same colourful, noisy throngs of people that had separated thembefore. The bench from where they had met a month ago was occupied, so theystrode off towards the long metal railing that separated the fairground fromthe beach below and stood there. Both of them leaned forward against the railing, resting their elbows on thesturdy metal and took a moment to enjoy what little they could see of the sea.“How— have you been?” asked Sherlock, trying to strike up conversation. “Good. The research thing went well.”“So I’d heard…”“Have you been spying on me?” asked Molly in amusement as she turned to facehim.“A little bit,” he answered, suppressing a smile as he continued to look ahead.The pair of them continued to stare out into the sea, enjoying the calmingsound of waves rushing to the shore then falling back into the water. “I owe you something, don’t I?” said Sherlock at last.“You don’t owe me anything, Sherlock,” Molly replied with a soft chuckle.“But I do have something to say, Molly,” he continued, “Will you listen to whatI have to say?”“Of course,” she replied softly, turning to face him. With a gentle smile, Sherlock leaned over to whisper in her ear. The words werenot new — for had he not said them before? Yet, they had new meaning since thefirst time they had been uttered. Now, under no duress, the words stood ontheir own, carrying the weight of their own truth.Molly turned to him, watching him watch her as she processed these old words innew context. It perplexed her that he had said them again; that he had chosento say them again. There was no perceivable motivation nor were there anygrounds for him to have elected to do this. “What was that for?” she found herself asking in an incredulous whisper. Sherlock smiled at her question, staring into her bewildered eyes with brighteyes of his own. “I don’t mean to plagiarise but—” he paused as he began recalling her words tohim that particular afternoon. It startled him how unadulterated hers had beenand it almost frightened him that they had been true. Now that he thought about it, however— it no longer frightened him. Notanymore. “Because it’s true, Molly Hooper,” said Sherlock at last. “It’s alwaysbeen true.”

Well I never really thought that you’d come tonight
When the crown hangs heavy on either side
Give me one last kiss while we’re far too young to die

END

[jupiternovak]

So let's talk about Sherlock...

I just watched The Final Problem today and I am very torn on my opinion on it. while watching i didn’t notice almost any of the major issues with it, probably because I was too emotional to pay attention. I came on tumblr right after finishing and to be honest I was overwhelmed by the amount of hate TFP got, although now it’s been a few hours though and the more I think about it, the more problems arise. I would just like to talk about the plot holes I noticed in this and also the things I liked and disliked.

for the record, I didn’t hate the episode and I didn’t think it was horrible, I just think that Moftiss were overthinking and absolutely overlooked some key points and needless to say, almost everyone noticed.

first off

- how the fuck did John get out of the well? he was literally chained to the bottom and they just threw a rope at him, what the actual friggity fuck?!?

- TLD ended with Eurus shooting John, not just shooting at him, John literally said in the beginning of TFP that he got shot. Eurus said she would put a hole in John’s face an I really doubt she’d miss if she really wanted to shoot him. John doesn’t seem to be hurt at all though, guess he must be jesus h. fucking christ in the flesh or something;

- speaking of mysterious healing, tHEY JUMPED OUT OF A FIRST FLOOR WINDOW WITH A BOMB EXPLODING BEHIND THEM AND DIDN’T GET A SINGLE SCRATCH ON THEMSELVES. firstly, they broke the windows with their bodies so they must have gotten damaged from the glass. secondly, they jumped out of a window. remember in scandal in Belgravia when Sherlock threw that guy out of a window and how bad he got hurt from that? thirdly, a bomb exploded behind them. that would have increased their speed and also hurt them. yet, in the next scene they are completely fine and don’t even come and tell me it was a while later because when they talk on the phone they say Mycroft is in the hospital unconcious, which would suggest that the explosion had just happened.

- jumping back to TLD now, what exactly was the purpose of Eurus dressing up as Faith, the girl on the bus and Johns therapist? I kinda understand Eurus helping Sherlock by giving him the letter and leading him to Culverton, but why the other two? I understand that she’s a literal psycho but what benefit did that give her? none. just fucking confusing everyone.

- Mycroft is one of the smartest men alive and yet he lets Moriarty and Eurus meet without anyone checking on them whAT THE FUCK

- how’d the “miss me?” video get all over London in HLV? who the fuck distributed it? Eurus? she can hack now?

- Mycroft: *locks Eurus in Sherrinford* Eurus: *escapes* Mycroft: “hey yknow what’s a good idea? let’s take Eurus back to Sherrinford bc that sounds like a great plan lol!”

- why’d they never look in the well when looking for Victor/Redbeard? tf smh

- how and why tf did Eurus build a fake cell? what was the fucking point?

- one moment Sherlock and Eurus are talking to eachother through a tv screen and literally three human seconds later Eurus is sitting on the floor in her room and basically looks like she’s absolutely traumatised, with no camera or anything. were the videos prerecorded? if thats the case then wtf happened to Eurus while Sherlock was out? this bit and the next one still piss me off the most

- I understand building tension and putting Sherlock under pressure but the whole plane story was literally pointless. did Eurus pretend to be the child? i understand the metaphore of it but everything about Eurus is contradicting itself at this point and her character is just messy tbh

- suprisingly convenient doors in cells that lead to other cells what a coincidence :o

- how did Mycroft Holmes, again, one of the smartest men alive, not see this coming? is he a moron? he knew exactly what his sister was capable of and he was just like tralala Eurus can literally hypnotise ppl and make them do what she wants but shes locked up in a prison so that means no worries for me (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡

- where did the fake tombstones come from? did 8 year old Eurus bring them there or something? tf

- the absolute fuckery that happened when Sherlock first went into the room Eurus was in. how did he not see there was no glass? last i checked glass reflects, shouldn’t you be able to see that?

- there are fucking security cameras, did Mycroft literally never check what happened while he wasn’t there and while Eurus was just having a walk around London with Sherlock and having chips, and not only Mycroft, did nOONE CHECK AT ALL? SHERRINFORD IS A PRISOM FOR THE MOST DANGREROUS WHAT THE SHIT

- HOW DID JOHN GET OUT OF THE WELL I’M STILL CONFUSED

This episode wasn’t all bad though (hard to believe looking at literally everything I just wrote) but i did love a lot of things about it.

- WE GOT TO SEE SHERLOCK’S AND MYCROFT’S CHILDHOOD AND WHY THEY ENDED UP THE WAY THEY DID THIS IS ALL I EVER WANTED

- despite everything I still love the way they use the camera when filming Sherlock they’re all so smart about that

- Mycroft mouthing along to that movie

- Mycroft’s magic umbrella

- “hey bro!”

- THE HAT

- Mycroft having to sit in the chair

- MRS HUDSON LISTENING TO NUMBER OF THE BEAST

- Sherlock calling John family

- Sherlock calliNG JOHN FAMILY

- SHERLOCK CALLING JOHN FAMILY

- SHERLOCK LITERALLY GOT SO PISSED AT MYCROFT FOR WANTING TO EXCLUDE JOHN AND C A L L E D H I M F A M I L Y

- “Sherlock the pirate”

- Mycroft disguised as an old man anD THE REVEAL

- Sherlocks fake accent

- Eurus playing the violin

- Eurus being all gay

- Jim Moriarty

- Jim Moriarty stepping out if a helicopter with queen playing in the background

- Jim Moriarty literally hitting on his bodyguard

- Jim Moriarty

- “I am your christmas present”

- the thing Moriarty and Eurus do through the glass

- tiNY SHERLOCK

- FAT TINY MYCROFT

- TINY SHERLOCK BEING A PIRATE

- the absolutely horrifying amount of pressure Sherlock, John and Mycroft were under while doing the tasks

- the kid on the plane, absolutely terrified, but sippin on a juicebox

- John being so sure he could shoot the general but couldn’t

- Mycroft getting sick at the thought of killing

- Sherlock’s voice when he talks to the girl on the plane

- Mycroft and Sherlock deducing together

- Sherlock choosing John over Mycroft

- “soldiers today”

- Sherlock realising Molly loves him

- Sherlock choosing to shoot himself

- Sherlock doing the hand thing when matching the years on the tombstones to Eurus’s song

- Lestrade saying Sherlock is a good man yES

- violin-off

- SHERLOCK AND JOHN BEING ACTUAL FAMILY AND RAISING ROSIE TOGETHER

- HAPPY SHERLOCK HOLDING HAPPY ROSIE AND HAPPY JOHN HOLDING HAPPY ROSIE WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT

- SHERLOCK CALLED JOHN FAMILY I CAN NOT DEAL

- EVERYBODY IS HAPPY IN THE END (except probs Molly)

and now let’s get to everything I didn’t like, excluding the plot holes i described before

- how everyone treats John, like he’s always the dumb one in every situation, Mycroft thinks that, Eurus thinks that, Mary thought that, all the fans only know Sherlock and not him jUST PLS PPL APPRECIATE HIM MORE HE’S GOT IS SO HARD AND HE DESERVES BETTER

- Molly deserved better, she was just thrown around like trash like I get it you don’t wanna make Sherlolly canon (me neither dw) but stop toying with her like she’s nothing please she’s a great person and deserves more

- how John literally couldn’t physically and mentally push himself to watch the “miss me?” video at first but then when he got the “miss you” video he was like “oi Sherlock fam got some mail wanna have a movie night?”

- Moriarty is still dead, how disappointing

- there wasn’t enough Lestrade or Hudson, pls give the real heroes of the show some screentime they have to put up with Sherlock’s and John’s shit

- not enough deduction

- somehow even though Eurus is overpowered in every way Sherlock can still beat her so easily

- not enough Rosie

- we get it her name means East Wind now stop mentioning it every 2 minutes

- every character that is even a little bit LGBT is a bad character (Irene Adler, Moriarty bc let’s face it he’s gay as shit, Eurus etc)

that’s about all I got for now, I’m planning to rewatch the episode tomorrow so maybe I can evaluate it with a clearer head and get a less biased opinion on it. Moftiss could have done so much better when making this, TLD was an absolute masterpiece in so many aspects and TFP was a piece of literal garbage next to it. really hope they redeem themselves in the next season (if there is one) and explain a few things they didn’t this time. I really hope people stop hating on Moftiss for the decisions they made with this episode and instead give them actual legit points where they went wrong. too much negativity in the fandom right now. hope you all have a good day!