#pj-gingernuts

[abovethethroat]

pj-gingernuts reblogged your photoset and added:

Ew. Never noticed his hand’s reaction to the...

that little hand thingy is so precious?? what tHE HECK

[asherlockstudy]

@pj-gingernuts replied to your post “@moonlightlock replied to your post “A new rant” ...”

Kind of like the cop-out Fall explanation. How did he REALLY do it? Or the ambiguous "I love you" in TFP. Was that a realization of platonic love or romantic love? Or just a good fakeout? What's up with that "establishing" shot panning into 221b  after The TLD Hug? Did they get it on? No. But the camera is acting like they did. What was Sherlock going to say on the tarmac? Was he going to tell John something deep and personal, like I love you? You decide! Decide all those things! Not only will the writers not spoon-feed warm paste to their viewers, but they won't even figure it out for themselves, it seems. I get mad when I think about it.

This exactly

[lunadax]

pj-gingernuts replied to your post “I’m currently reading the Patrick Melrose novels. I just finished the...”

And how are you enjoying the Melrose series?

I read Never Mind this morning (a two hour affair, they’re not really long.) and will maybe start the second one tonight. 

I thought all these people are so, so far away from my reality, it’s almost like reading science fiction about the habits of an alien race. Somehow I was able to feel a tiny wee bit of pity for them: being so rich yet SO miserable...but I’m afraid that this will be the extent of my positive feelings for them (apart from poor little Patrick, of course. I’m sad that we can already see the snobbery that his education instilled in him so early in life, and the anger that the abuse will undoubtedly exacerbate)

The writing is just perfect. St Aubyn is able to describe this whole society of quite horrible people in a very precise, clear prose that is quite funny at times. The “funny” I mean is almost always sardonic, or even savage, in a way.  

I feel i’ll be able to find this more in the next one, where Patrick is 22 and most probably inherited his father’s repartie...  

[ivyblossom]

Curious - how did you feel at the closing of TST? Did you take it at face value? I did not because the odd pacing and inconsistencies were so loud to me that, in addition to melodrama at Mary's death, I thought we were supposed to feel off kilter. I was convinced by theories of Unreliable Narrator or John's Alibi, etc. What were you thoughts about the construction and execution of TST? Have they changed since the series ended?

I did take it at face value, yeah. I agree that Mary’s death was clumsily accomplished, but I think it’s meant to show an emotional story rather than a clinical one. 

When the bullet is fired, we have two internal stories to follow: Sherlock’s and Mary’s. Both of these stories have to be shown without dialogue, because once we’re into the seconds before and after a trigger is pulled, there’s no time for talking.

For Sherlock, this moment feels very slow. As much as Mary has an appointment in Samarra, Sherlock himself has had one for much, much longer, and he knows it. He’s felt marked for death ever since his sister threatened to kill him as a child, and has been dangling himself in front of life-threatening danger ever since, even without knowing why. He pushes Mrs Norbury too far, and as that gun is fired he’s certain this is finally it. Take a deep breath, Sherlock, it’s showtime. 

So the story shows some slow, slow beats as Sherlock realizes what’s about to happen, sees that there’s nothing he can do about it, understands that he’s about to die, finally, this is how it was always meant to end, and takes a deep breath. He recognizes it and accepts it. This is his fate, and he’s meeting it. And it’s all happening underwater, which must feel especially apt to him. But of course given the speed of a bullet, Sherlock can’t have all those thoughts after the gun is fired. So it’s in the moments between knowing it’s about to happen and it happening.

Simultaneously for Mary, it’s a very fast moment. She sees that Sherlock is about to take a bullet again. She’s tries to be a good guy, but her instincts keep taking her in the wrong direction. She hurts the people she loves instead of protecting them. This time she’s bound and determined to do the right thing: put yourself in the way, take that bullet. You owe him one. Not really a terrific idea, but there’s no time for more thought, no time to consider how terrible this is about to be or what the right thing to do really is. She jumps.

Can you do that? See a bullet fired and decide to get in the way of it? Can you take a deep breath and prepare yourself for a bullet that’s just been fired? No. So technically both of these things had to happen just before and as the gun is fired. 

As with many other scenes in Sherlock, it’s a depiction of what this moment felt like more than what it actually was. A bullet is fired. Sherlock has time to take a breath, and Mary has time to jump.

Is it melodramatic? I suppose so. 

I agree that we’re meant to feel off-kilter after that, but I think more so because John is so irrationally angry at Sherlock. Sherlock is in pain as well, but now he has to endure the ultimate rejection of the most important person in his life exactly when he wants to be there for him. He’s devastated and at a loss, and I think we’re meant to feel that. Mary made a decision, and since she isn’t there to be angry with, John will be angry with Sherlock. It’s unfair, but John is utterly broken, and broken people often lash out sideways.

So no: I don’t find myself looking for an explanation for any of this. I, like Sherlock, take a deep breath and accept my fannish fate.

[teaandforeshadowing]

pj-gingernuts replied to your chat “ben c: love wins literally every character: still single”

Love does come in non Romantic

While that is true, they still chose to tease several different romantic relationships, and not give any of them a satisfying resolution. I made several other posts at the same time I made that one detailing my frustrations about the issue.

The issue that most people have with Ben saying “Love Wins” is that it’s become something of a slogan among the same-sex marriage and LGBT+ right movements. That phrase has a certain romantic (and queer) connotation. For him to use it to describe the frankly undeserved “brotherly love” that Sherlock uses to save Eurus is a bit out of place.

EDIT: The phrase he used was actually “Love conquers all” (curse my memory), but the point still stands that that phrase isn’t usually used in contexts that aren’t romantic.

[notagarroter]

pj-gingernuts replied to your post “Nota, I have enjoyed your blog for a long time and respect your...”

I forgot about "Happy New Year". I am going to run with the idea that he texts her puzzles from his cases as a salute to her intellect. She's gay and wasn"just playing the game". He might be gay but at least women are not "his area". I just can't imagine Sherlock in a romantic relationship with a woman. I can only imagine him being interested inJohn, but even

You’re of course free to your own headcanons and ships.  I’m sorry if my answer was not what you were seeking, but I’m afraid that if you wanted someone to reassure you that Johnlock is the Only True Ship, you were very much barking up the wrong tree.

I have to admit I’m a bit baffled that anyone could follow me and be unaware of my status as a proud and flagrant multishipper.  I ship Sherlock with anyone and everyone, and I’ve never been shy about that. 

But in case anyone out there is still confused, please see my Multishipping Manifesto. 

ETA: looking back at the original ask, I see that you did know I was a multishipper.  So I suppose you must not be surprised at my answer?

[ivyblossom]

I would like to engage in a real discussion about s4. I found the suspension of disbelief demands too high in TFP. Secret crazy psychopath sister locked away since early childhood, convenient piracy of randomness boat in time for secret sister's murder maze, the Murder Maze, magic teleportation to Musgrave with John chained in well, silly graves conveniently solve song puzzle... oh and I forgot about the prank at Mycrofts house. Actually that was sort of believable from Sherlock. But thoughts?

I’m not sure any of these things on their own require any more suspension of disbelief than other plot points in this series, to be honest with you. But I think I know what you mean. 

You’ve raised a lot of issues, but let’s talk about the problem of Eurus.

Secret crazy psychopath sister locked away since early childhood doesn’t really require that much more suspension of disbelief than we’ve already been primed for, and that may be the problem. We know there’s a third Holmes sibling who Sherlock never mentions and the Holmes parents don’t invite to Christmas. It isn’t actually that far out of the realm of possibility that she’s the smartest of them all. 

They give us an explanation for why she’s locked away: she kidnapped and killed a child, burned the house down, and was threatening to kill Sherlock. She was institutionalized as part of treatment and to protect others, something that happens when a child is uncontrollably violent. I don’t think that’s too far out of the realm of believability.

Her superskill of controlling the people around her i actually like, as it’s a call out to Arthur Conan Doyle’s belief in mesmerism. It could have been more subtle, but it was wrapped up in an action-adventure film, so I think it comes off more heavy-handed than it could have.

The existence of Eurus answers a lot of big questions about Sherlock himself. We’ve been asking all along why Sherlock is determined to see himself as a sociopath when it’s clear he isn’t one: well, now we know why! It also answers the question about why Sherlock turns to drugs, and why he’s so driven to solve puzzles, particularly crimes. He’s reliving that key moment where solving a puzzle would have saved the life of someone he loved, and if he’s not busily doing that, the inside of his head is a fresh hell.

I think the essential problem with Eurus isn’t so much Eurus herself, but the fact that “extra-smart people exist and are terrifying” is the go-to trope for this show. We’ve got Sherlock, who is dazzlingly smart, and we’ve got Mycroft, who is extra-dazzlingly-smart. Then we get Jefferson Hope. Moriarty. Irene Adler. Mrs Holmes. Magnussen. Mary Morstan. Culverton Smith. Even, possibly, Mrs Hudson. And finally, Eurus. There’s just too many of them. 

This problem is, I think, a sign of limited planning and probably insufficient brainstorming. When you don’t plan to generate enough ideas to choose between, you tend to reach for the same solution to a plot problem over and over again because it’s sounds so great every time. Moriarty is a threat to Sherlock because…he’s smart in the same way Sherlock is. (So creepy!) Irene Adler is a threat to Sherlock because…she’s smart in the same way Sherlock is. (Forcing him to re-evaluate himself!) Magnussen is smart enough to keep a mind palace full of undocumented facts, just like Sherlock does! Culverton Smith is so smart he can be a serial killer hiding in plain sight, acting one way but secretly being something else (just like Sherlock!). Mary is sweet and nice, and you think she’s going to be a normal person in the mix, but she’s actually super-smart and dangerous, just like Sherlock! Individually these are great story decisions, but taken all together, the repetition of the theme undercuts them all, and fundamentally undercuts the final antagonist.

Eurus is one of the few characters who actually needs to be super-smart in the same way Sherlock and Mycroft are, but uncontrollably more. She is the Ur-smart person, the one Sherlock is both emulating and fighting against his whole life. But her existence is diluted and made to seem redundant because of all the other super-smart villains running around who faintly resemble her. They wouldn’t have had to make her quite so extra if Sherlock-like villains hadn’t been a dime a dozen already.