#kitty winter

[d1gitalwitness]

Love and Justice in Elementary — "The One That Got Away"

I rewatch this episode from time to time, and it strikes me over and again just how committed it is to non-legal means of justice, which is particularly rare given that Elementary technically operates within the copaganda genre (with some room for outliers here and there).

When Kitty is about to murder Gruner, the man who sexually assaulted and tortured her, Sherlock shows up. Typically within the police procedural, Sherlock would be the Character Who Reminds [X] That Killing Is Wrong and Legal Justice is Right. But Sherlock doesn't do any of that. He tells Kitty that she deserves to know that he has found a way to prosecute Gruner. He tells her that this is an option if she doesn't want to wrestle with what it means to take a life. While following the law is not what Sherlock thinks Kitty should do, it is an option nonetheless. What would be unfair, Sherlock understands, is for Kitty to have no way out but to resort to murder.

Kitty responds, "What does that have to do with me? With what he did to me?"

And she's right, prosecuting Gruner has nothing to do with what he did to her. What the police wants is not what she wants. Kitty's assault was a singular event, and only she can determine what justice should be. It's an oddly refreshing take, given that most procedurals would remind to Kitty to uphold the law (e.g. SVU).

Sherlock replies, "Nothing. Everything. Wish I could tell you. If you decide that killing Gruner will make you feel whole again, I won't stop you. But whatever you decide, you will always be my friend."

I've thought a lot about this scene, and how it places Kitty's decision and Sherlock's love at the center of what justice should be. It also brings to the forefront Sherlock's struggle with addiction — he doesn't have many friends which means that his gesture of love is completely genuine. It's a gesture of unconditional love from a stoic man who finds it difficult to love, to a woman whose experience of love has been destroyed by sexual abuse. It doesn't matter to Sherlock if Kitty kills Gruner because the fact that she is his friend will always come first. In the end, Kitty realises that she is offered something she has wanted for so long but thought she couldn't have. That is, someone loves her so much to the point where she feels, for the first time, that she is able to say it back and mean it. So it is beautiful that the episode ultimately conludes with Kitty saying: "Do you know what I haven't said to anyone in a really long time? I love you. Isn't that the saddest thing?"

While the heart of Elementary will always be Sherlock and Watson's relationship, stories like Kitty also reveal that sobriety requires love at its center, and it requires Sherlock to show up for his friends. He is a self proclaimed misanthrope, but his time with Joan has changed him; instead of embracing being a lone genius, he puts in the work to be worthy of the care and love that he receives in return. It may be corny or whatever, but the series is about true and genuine love, the kind that is so huge that it passes on from one person to another, healing everything in it touches.

[di-daynamic]

Not a fan of how Elementary gave all three main women (Joan, Moriarty, Kitty) children, but definitely am a fan of how each woman got them, dealt with it, and was never villainized for it.

Moriarty has a daughter, but that doesn't mean she stops her criminal masterminding. She can't be a proper mother, but she gets her child adopted by a nice, well to do family. No one who watched that episode can deny that she loves her kid, or that her daughter at least knows her mother.

Kitty has a son by accident, with a man she doesn't want to be in a relationship with. And that's okay! She coparents with him. She loves her son. She steps back from her job, and that's also okay, because that happens. People change their lifestyle when they have kids. It wasn't in an 'all women must step back from careers, especially risky ones, when they have children' but in a 'it was time and healthy for me' way. She's clearly still the amazing badass she was in S3.

Joan's progression to motherhood is gradual and deliberate. She wants a child. And after getting him with a lot of effort, she rearranges some of her life for Arthur, but is still on the job. She has friends to care for him. She hires an ex-military nanny. She has a personal assistant. She is a single mother via adoption who has a dangerous lifestyle.

All three of their motherhoods are at least somewhat unconventional, but all of them love their kids and yet still work, which I think is pretty good rep even if I would have liked a couple of childless women in the main cast.

[moroniccats]

Reread The Illustrious client, and

KITTY WINTER.

You agree?

(I was thinking SHE’S SUCH A QUEEN, and then I got the Barbie And The Twelve Dancing Princesses birthday queen song stuck in my head.

🎶We sing for you miss Violet,

And sashay for you, Irene.

We pirouette for Kitty, and we bow before the queens!🎶)

[happygirl2oo2]

Elementary as textposts part 5/?

[astudyinimagination]

Truly, the women of the Sherlock Holmes canon and the surrounding media are beautiful and excellent and messy and awful and human, human, human... and the fandom does not deserve them.

[rknchan]

new important poll just dropped

my personal silly thoughts under the cut

i think that after realizing gruner's true intentions, violet would feel guilty for 'mistreating that long-suffering woman who was so unfairly slandered' .. she'd meet with kitty after she's released from prison, violet would apologise and admit that she was 'an unutterable fool' (kitty: "indeed you are") and they would talk and talk about how vile gruner was ... violet aka the ultimate "i can fix them with the power of love" truther will try her best to help kitty financially ... maybe to make kitty her protegée even ... she'll grow obsessed with kitty as fanatically as she was with gruner ... kitty will reject all her offerings bc "i don't need your apologies i don't need your help all i wanted was revenge"... that would be a very complicated relationship bordering on toxic yuri even

[vargamornight]

kitty winter, survivor of a brutal kidnapping and assault, being mother hen'd by sherlock in the form of him giving her busywork to keep her away from her first male suitor since the attack, says his behavior made her feel protected and loved. i'm not crying. YOU'RE crying.

[variouspolltournaments]

[possibility221]

Inktober 2024, Oct. 26 prompt: camera

Elementary episode: 3x07

[wipbigbang]

WIP BIG BANG SIGN-UPS ARE LIVE!

The 2024 round of WIP Big Bang is now open for sign-ups! Any fandom is welcome, as long as the fic is 500 completed so far and will be at least 7,500 words upon its finishing. Signing up is easy: just fill out the form linked below after you read the FAQ and take a look at the schedule.

[moroniccats]

👑👑👑👑 My design for Kitty Winter

I actually made this a while ago I just forgot to post XD

[happygirl2oo2]

Elementary as textposts part 52/?

[murdermostace]

[kasinonightlife]

*After the Squad's plan goes horribly wrong*

Sherlock: Now it seems we're back at square one: Finding Kitty.

Moriarty: For the record, I already found her.

Watson: And then you let her get away before we could have a meaningful conversation!

Moriarty: She stabbed me!

Sherlock: I'm surprised she waited this long, Moriarty. We've all had the urge.

[rknchan]

ladies from ‘the illustrous client’

rip violet de merville you would love ‘criminal’ by britney spears

[tired-fandom-ndn]

Aaaaa I forgot how much I loved Sherlock and Kitty's relationship. He claims, over and over, that taking Kitty on as a protege was to replicate his dynamic with Joan, but he actually holds a role in Kitty's life that was very similar to Joan's role in his.

He's not just her mentor, he's also her friend and confidant, trying to support her and help her, to protect her from threats to her recovery. I don't think he even realizes he's doing it, even while he asks Joan for advice on how best to help Kitty. I don't think he even believs he's capable of taking on that kind of compassionate and caring role for someone.