#she really showed up to holmes and watson going ''i know this is shifty and what i want from you is to agree with me that it's shifty''

[not-all-those-who-wonder-r-lost]

How I Wish Sherlock Would Have Gone (part 3)

Part 1 on TEH can be found here (in my technologically challenged way):

http://not-all-those-who-wonder-r-lost.tumblr.com/post/169321652561/how-i-wish-sherlock-would-have-gone-part-1

Part 2 on TSOT can be found here:

http://not-all-those-who-wonder-r-lost.tumblr.com/post/169343645581/how-i-wish-sherlock-would-have-gone-part-2

I started doing these because I wanted to demonstrate how great Sherlock could be again with minor changes. However, HLV was a clusterfork. I would not even know where to begin with making this episode great with minor changes. So I decided that I would make two versions of this episode. Version 1 with big changes that makes this episode great. Version 2 with small changes that makes this episode goodish. 

Version 1 (big changes):

Mary. I actually really like how Amanda plays her. Except the lazy gay jokes that do not lead to anything in the canon. And there is more. She is brilliant and very talented but the only way she could get married was to pretend to be someone she is not. And I take offense to that. Let’s take a roll call. We have a very rich woman in her 70s who acts like Sherlock and John’s housekeeper because she just loves them so much? We have an accomplished doctor/medical examiner in her thirties who pines over a man who doesn’t want her for YEARS. We have a self-proclaimed gay woman who falls in love with a man? We have Sally who is POC, which is awesome because this show lacks all kinds of representation. Sally sleeps with a married guy, hates Sherlock because he is too smart and plays a big part in Sherlock’s fall from grace in TGG. Did I miss anyone? Mary is such a wasted opportunity to have some strong female representation in this show. I wish she was a villain. A nice, strong, interesting villain. Because as she is, she is just a lesson for all girls out there who want to marry a guy some day. “Oh, it does not matter how clever, skilled or interesting you are. You got to pretend to be a nice, amicable provider (e.g. a nurse) if you ever want a man to marry you. God, forbid he finds out who you truly are! Don’t forget to get pregnant as soon as possible so that if he ever does find out, he won’t be able to leave you!” Long story short, let’s make Mary into a villain. This could done so like it is in the M theory. Or maybe Mary used to work for Moriarty and she decides to take over when he dies. Then, Moriarty’s network starts to crumble and she realizes that something is off. She gets close to John to find out whether Sherlock is really dead. When it turns out he is not actually dead, she decides to stay in their lives because it will be easier to work around them this way. Magnussen finds out about Mary’s background when he was trying to find leverage over Sherlock; however, he does not know the whole story. Mary kills Magnussen the night Sherlock and John break in (not using Janine because that story line is just awful as is discussed below). Sherlock and John get thrown into jail but not before Sherlock gets a whiff of Mary’s perfume at the apartment. Sherlock and John get out on bail, Sherlock sets a trap for Lady Smallwood to find out if it was actually her that killed Magnussen. John knows only half the plan and tells Mary what he knows. She shows up to the trap to find out what is actually going on. Stuff happens and Sherlock shoots Mary who was about to shoot John. I don’t know. I did not think a lot about this. This just came to me as I was writing this. In any case, I wish Mary was a formidable character...

Janine. Ok, let’s put aside the dynamic Janine and Sherlock had at the wedding. Because that really did not come across as these two lovebirds will end up dating. Anyways. Sherlock and Janine have been dating for a month. They haven’t had any sex yet. They haven’t introduced each other to their friends yet. They barely know each other. Then, Sherlock pops the question while SHE IS AT WORK. And she let’s him up instead of calling the cops? Is it me? Am I too jaded for this world? If a guy I barely knew and was dating only a month asked me to marry him, I would freak out. That’s weird, isn’t it? The fact that Sherlock does it while she is at her high security work is so much worse. The least she could have done was to tell him to go home and that they need to have a serious conversation later. And let’s not forget that she is also probably in her thirties. I literally know no woman in their thirties who would be excited to get proposed to after only a month of dating. The only scenario I can think of is maybe two people have been friends for years, they slowly started fall in love with each other but they were too scared to ruin their friendship to ever address those feelings. They finally get together after years of mutual pining. Maybe this could could think about marriage early on. But one months is a bit too short even for them. So let’s add Janine to the horrible examples of women that exist only to ease men’s lives in this show. 

I also have a problem gay coding all the major villains on this show. Can we just not?

I think those three are my biggest problems with this episode. 

Version 2 (small changes)

At the beginning of the episode Mary acts like a jealous psycho. I wish she didn't. “One month! You have not seen him only for one month!” Calm the fuck down Mary. I thought you liked Sherlock. Also, who would not be upset to not see their best friend for a month? I wanna see my friends all the time! What kind of a wife/girlfriend would not be okay with someone missing their friend??

Jokes about John’s dick. Lazy. Have we really sunk so low that we are making dick jokes now?

The awkward John-Janine-Sherlock scene. Did not have to be this awkward. If John is not into Sherlock, why would it be this awkward. Also, Janine comes off a bit unhinged, in my humble opinion. Can we just have a female writer rewrite this scene?

Janine’s reaction to Sherlock’s proposal. Let’s say we just HAVE TO keep this story line in... For some inexplicable reason... I wish Janine would say “What the hell?? Sherlock have you lost your mind? Are you having an episode of some kind? Here come up. Oh my God, Sherlock...”

“MAGNUSSEN (offscreen): What-what-what would your husband think, eh? (Sherlock walks carefully towards a partially open door at the end of the hall.) MAGNUSSEN (offscreen): He ... your lovely husband, upright, honourable... (Sherlock looks through the gap in the door and sees Magnussen on his knees with his hands behind his head and cowering.) MAGNUSSEN: ... so English. What-what would he say to you now?” Oh boy... Such a sexist scene. Why can't Magnussen talk about how she turned her life around now. How she has friends, a husband. How she is no longer this person. Why can’t she change her mind about shooting him because she is a different person now? What does she have to change her mind to please her husband? Just why Mofftiss?

Mary shooting Sherlock. As I have mentioned above, I do not like this plot line at all. She could have killed Magnussen here and the remaining two survivors (Janine and the ex-con security guard) know that there was someone there before Sherlock and John got there. But if this was going to be in the show, I wish Mary shot Sherlock slightly more towards his shoulder. Maybe where John was shot. If it was only “surgery”, make it a bit more obvious so that it doesn’t look like Sherlock surviving was an accident. 

‘Sherlock got shot’ dream scene. I like this scene. It’s a silly scene and I have read discontent comments over the fact that it was not related to the case. I get that. I do have a problem with all the extra “style over substance” stuff as well. I would be fine if this scene was taken out. I like this scene but I rather have substance over style. 

Also at the end of the dream scene “JIM: ... and John will cry buckets and buckets. It’s him that I worry about the most. That wife! (He grimaces and blows out a noisy breath.) JIM: You’re letting him down, Sherlock. John Watson is definitely in danger.” This show needs to decide whether Mary is a villain or not. So Sherlock was so convinced that Mary is a danger to John that he brought himself back to life. However, the fact that he did not die meant that Mary was doing “surgery” and she is not evil/dangerous after all. Instead of “John will cry buckets and buckets. It’s him that I worry about the most. That wife! You’re letting him down, Sherlock. John Watson is definitely in danger.”, Moriarty could say “John will cry buckets and buckets. It’s him that I worry about the most. He barely survived last time. You’re letting him down, Sherlock. John Watson is definitely does not deserve losing you twice.”

“JANINE (softly): You lied to me. You lied and lied. SHERLOCK: I exploited the fact of our connection. JANINE: When?! SHERLOCK: Hmm? JANINE: Just once would have been nice. SHERLOCK: Oh.  (He looks a little shifty-eyed.) I was waiting until we got married. JANINE: That was never gonna happen!” Really? Janine is so sex-hungry, she has such low self-esteem that she wishes the man who “exploited their connection” and constantly lied to her had sex with her AT LEAST ONCE. Is that what straight men want? Do they want sex so bad that they want just any women to throw them a bone even if these women treat them despicably?

“MR HOLMES: Complete flake, my wife, but happens to be a genius. MARY: She was a mathematician? MR HOLMES: Gave it all up for children.” WHY DO WOMEN NEED TO GIVE UP THEIR CAREERS FOR CHILDREN?????? 

I am not sure how I feel about John not looking at the AGRA flash drive. This is the mother of his child. It would be irresponsible to not know what he was up against, to not know about the future complication that will most likely happen (and in fact does happen in canon: TST). Isn’t John a bit too smart, too cynical not to look at it? I mean let’s say that I understand why John would say “The problems of your past are your business. The problems of your future ... are my privilege.” But why would anyone assume that the problems of her past will not become the problems of her future? Shouldn’t he know the problems of her past so that he can protect her in the future? 

Also, why does John not look happy to reconcile with his wife?

“SHERLOCK: John – Magnussen is all that matters now. You can trust Mary. She saved my life. JOHN (quietly): She shot you. (Sherlock pulls a face, half-nodding his agreement.) SHERLOCK: Er, mixed messages, I grant you.” *le sigh*

Comments like “Your damsel in distress” are not okay if Johnlock is not the end game.

The twist of Magnussen not actually having the blackmail material. I don’t think I like this. Do people like this? Is this a believable twist? I mean the problem is in order to Magnussen to store the information in his brain, he first has to see them, right? Once he get his hands on this material, doesn’t it make more sense to store it somewhere? Wouldn’t it be cooler if Sherlock and John took the materials and Magnussen was nonchalant about it. Magnussen would say “Go ahead take it. I don’t actually need the proof. I’m in news, you moron. I don’t have to prove it – I just have to print it.”

The tarmac scene... IF THE END GAME IS NOT JOHNLOCK, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH ALL THAT TENSION??? “Just friends” do not have such tension between them. 

Wow, apparently I really hate this episode. Maybe I hate this show!?! How did this happen?? When did this happen??? I think I just assumed all these little details that did not sit right with me was part of a bigger plan. Mofftiss was going to provide a huge twist making Johnlock canon and put down sexism/heteronormativity/etc. When that never came true, we were left with all this queerbaiting and sexists elements. And that sucked. It still sucks. Ugh...

As always, I would like to thank ARIANE DEVERE for her transcriptions of the episodes. The lines from the show have been taken from her transcriptions.

[thursdayplaid]

Narrow Line Chapter 12

Edited by Caroline who helped as best she could.  Some chapters I write and I high five myself - which admittedly is just clapping - but some I’m unsure of when they’re done.  So with that grand introduction!  Also this chapter is absolutely massive.  So.  Sorry?

“Well, that was dramatic,” Greg said.  If the fortress house and the posh art hadn’t been enough of a hint. The whole setup felt very BBC.  All drama and swelling music.  He seemed to have taken the little confrontation well, but then Greg felt like he had taken the whole weird other universe pretty well as a whole.  He’d already decided he wasn’t going to be too bothered by the situation last night.  If they were there for more than a week he’d have a break down.  Until then there was no point in panicking when he could be paying attention.

That show of force aside, he liked Bad Davey, liked something about him.  Or maybe just felt sympathetic to him somehow.  For one thing the kid looked like he’d just gotten over a ten day flu, for another he had the prickly vulnerability Greg had gotten used to in the Holmes brothers ages ago.  David sat down at the table again, his hands tight on the chair arms, too tightly buttoned up to flop back down like a teenager. Sherlock looked pale, like a man pushed to the very, very edge of things.  That did bother Greg.

Greg still felt like he was floating a bit, had ever since last night, he had put some things together himself.  He might be a low hanging fruit, but he was a regular golden plum.

Despite what Sherlock said, Greg wasn't a DI for nothing. He might miss the sort of things Sherlock stitched together a mystery with, but could still read a room, still could pick things up with a mixture of experience and opening his eyes.

“That’s the only language the idiot knows.  Drama,” David’s face seemed to sharpen up into something about twenty years older.  “Did he ramble on about our tragic backstories while reclined on a settee with a handkerchief clutched to his bosom?”

“Something like that,” Sherlock said, but he looked like he had to work at it.  That was troubling.

The door to the dining room popped open and in marched Timothy Dimmock.  Greg had tried to talk to him last night, but the man hid behind that Irene Adler. That woman took special pleasure in her cheek, and under that had the sort of protective streak that could teach a mother bear a thing or two.

“David,” Tim said.  The affectionate exasperation in his voice informed Greg all about the relationship between the two of them.  Next the man would be telling Davey to eat his fruit and veg.

“Greetings and felicitations, Auntie.  I haven’t even killed anyone yet.”

A giant dog bound into the room, its white ears flapping. It tumbled over to John who half stood to block its way to Mary.  It pressed its face against John’s chest and huffed.

“H-Hey.”

It let out a high whine.

“Wrong John, sweetheart,” Tim said, patting his thigh. The dog made that tick of movement that trained animals had and trotted over.

“Hello again,” John tried, but Tim just flinched, his shoulder lifting up almost to his ear.

“Are the Nortons still out?” Davey asked, interrupting anything more John might try to say.  The whole interaction between John and Tim made Greg sit up and pay attention if only because of how hard Tim was trying not to have an interaction with John.

“You know them,” Tim answered.  His hand curled around the head of his giant dog, rubbing its ears while it stared up at him with adoring eyes.  “Real Sherlock wants to lead a field trip with the members of the family whose faces won’t get us all killed. Everyone else gets to stay here and eat cake with me.”

That was interesting.  Greg would have bet Tim would rather have been on the moon.

“What if we don’t want to eat cake with you?” John asked.

“If you leave the house my brothers’ life will be in danger,” David cut across the conversation again.  His hands turned the tablecloth red-pink where they flexed.  The plates shivered and clinked against each other. The threat was clear enough that saying anything more would almost be an insult.  John and Mary sat up straighter, squaring up somehow.  Sherlock leaned forward, his face finally brightening.

Davey turned back toward Tim, wiping off his hands on the white linen serviettes.  Greg could practically feel his mother’s ghost rising from the grave in disapproval. No surprise, Tim tutted as well. The man had that look about him like someone who trying to retire from life.  Except those moments when Adler or her husband had demanded the man's attention, or when one of the boys’ got a hair out of place.  He'd sit up straight at them like he was their mother then go back to his phone.  This Tim looked more adult than the Tim that Greg knew too.  Something about this Tim made him seem more comfortable in his own skin if only because his suit actually fit to him. He looked a proper adult, not like he was playing dress up.

Greg wondered where the younger Watsons were.  Getting into trouble probably if he knew his own Watsons at all.

Roost Greg had liked almost straight off.  The young man had something going on with him, but also had that self-sufficiency that showed he knew what he was about and would stand up for himself if it came to it.  He loitered by Greg for a short time, going so far as to shake Greg's hand and nick his warrant card.  Greg had grown so used to that sort of thing, all it really did was make him feel nostalgic as he scolded the young man.  Roost just ducked his head, smiling to himself as though he was used to that sort of treatment.  It made Greg feel fond of the boy.  Reminded him of Sherlock.

Johnny he wasn’t sure of.  The boy had a shifty look about him, like he thought he knew better. Seemed the sort of dangerous little bloke who solved problems by acting good and being friendly.  Greg had a flatshare with a bloke like that when he was younger, he’d done all the dishes for six months before he’d realized what was happening

They needed to cooperate with this, the whole plan to divide and conquer.  He could see it with the same sort of instinct that had helped him survive so long.

Sherlock needed a break, needed to get away from everything, from John, from the last few months.  He’d looked on the edge for a while and last night when he’d been with that kid, Johnny, he’d looked something like happy again.

“Sounds like fun,” Greg said.  “What are you going to do about the fact that Sherlock and I look like ourselves?”

“Fast talking, pre-planning, and messing with the CCTV,” Tim said.  “The Yard liaison will want to keep the trouble to a minimum.  Our Sherlock will give her something to tell her superiors if they ask and you’ll just get out of the way before anyone else who might ask more questions shows up.”

“She lets Sherlock do what he wants then?” Mary asked.

Davey let out a laugh, it sounded like silk that had been dragged across concrete.

Tim smiled, it looked like John’s.  Sherlock and Mary both jolted where they sat although Mary hid it better.  Greg wouldn’t have seen it if he hadn’t been looking for that sort of thing.  “She likes to get the job done.”

“She does,” said Holmes, looming in the doorway like some great, distinguished crane.  He looked both more rumpled around the edges and like he’d been honed somehow.  He looked, Greg realized, like a father.  “I do hope you’re not just going to rip food up, Davey.”  He shifted sideways, pulling his phone out to scroll through it.  “Seems wasteful.”

Davey narrowed his eyes and shoved a fruit tart into his mouth.

“Charming as ever,” he drawled in the kind of voice that usually got Greg wound up when it came to kids, but Davey just grinned with stuffed cheeks and started filling up his plate with whatever was closest.  Some of the tension that had been in him had slid loose somehow, resettled his face.

Holmes’ eyes flicked to Sherlock, looking him over with a sort of casualness that meant he was up to something.

For his part, Sherlock’s jaw went hard, his back straightened.

“Mm,” Holmes allowed and turned to Greg.  “Are you ready then, Greg?  Or do you prefer Lestrade?”

“Greg is fine.”

“Very good, we should go before John gets anxious waiting and starts improvising.”

“Does he…?” John started then stopped at the sudden weight of eyes upon him.

“Does he what?” Holmes tilted his head forward, just a bit. Greg had never heard him sound so gentle.

“Does he do that often?  Start… improvising?”

“He’s a genius with an overinflated sense of his own responsibility.  If you don’t give him something to take care of he goes and makes friends.”

Davey coughed out a laugh into his eggs.

 The ride to the crime scene was in the back of one of Davey’s cars.  Holmes muttered about how cabs were better while Johnny just jumped right in and started a conversation with the driver.

“This happen a lot?” Greg asked.  

“What?” Holmes said, his attention squarely on John via pretending he was reading something on his phone.

“Posh car ride around London.”

“Not unless Davey catches us.  Cabs are perfectly respectable and reliable forms of transportation.”

“Unless there’s a car already ready,” Johnny said, still half turned in his seat.

“Yes, yes, you have lots of friends.  Still, I’d rather not be associated with your brother if I can help it.  It’s bad for business.”

“If you say so.”

“Where are we going?” Sherlock asked, his eyes twitching toward Johnny.

“The aquarium!  Someone stole a turtle.”

“Take care of a lot of stolen turtles then?” Sherlock asked.

“Turtles are beautiful creatures,” Holmes answered. “We should all try to be more like them. But if you must know, both the Yard and I suspect it has something to do with another case involving murder.”

“Really?” Greg leaned forward.  “How?”

“We don’t know yet, but the other person was stabbed to death with a walrus tusk.”

“Sherlock thinks they were stabbed to death with a walrus tusk,” Johnny said.

“They didn’t fall on that tusk, several times.”

“They looked really surprised.  And it didn’t feel like a murder.”

“Evidence?”

“I’m not always good with evidence!”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

“I’ll figure it out.”  Johnny rolled his eyes and went back to talking with the driver about puppies. The whole exchange had been quick, almost pointed, but both of them had been loose limbed and smiling during the whole thing.  They really were work partners, not so much tossing ideas back and forth as lobbing them at each other, trusting each other to keep up.

That had squashed any other attempts at conversation until they came to a stop at an aquarium.  “This is it.”  Holmes flipped up his collar.  “Everyone out.”

By the time Greg was able to get out, last in the proverbial (or rather the literal) line as he was, everyone was pushing for the police line and he’d had to fall in.

“Holmes,” Sally said, then froze when she saw Greg.

“Donovan,” Holmes said, he could hear the tilt up of the smile in the man’s voice.  He pulled up the police line to let Johnny under and nodded for Sherlock to go after the kid.  Sherlock bristled a bit at being placed at the kid’s table, but Johnny bounced on his toes a couple times and off Sherlock went to try to observe him as much as he could.

“What?” Sally said again.

“Don’t think about it too much, Donovan,” Holmes grinned, he was loving it.

“Just tell me something, I need something to tell my boss.”

“Your boss is an idiot, that’s what their job is, to be an idiot.  If they weren’t you would have been a DI years ago.”

She let out an irritated huff, “Who’s that then at least?” She hovered between wanting to point at Greg and Sherlock and seemed to settle on Sherlock.  He did have the greatest potential as an agent of chaos.

“Cousin William, clever lad.”  Holmes grinned, a silly thing that illuminated his face.

“Part of the family business,” Johnny added.

“Learning the trade.”  

“Work experience.”

She looked upward.  “Fine.  Just don’t blow anything up.”

“No promises!” Johnny said and frolicked.  He just looked so happy.  He bounced off the pavement and bounced off Holmes’ side, turning as he went to watch Holmes face and laugh at what he saw.

Sally turned to him.

He shrugged, shoulders around his ears, “I don’t know if you’d even really want to know the details of the situation?”

She covered her eyes making a sort of growling sigh.  “I really, really do.  But I guess I also don’t.”

They’d been escorted past three sets of doors down concrete halls, up some metal stairs, and to a platform around a large tank of water. Both Holmes and Sherlock set to poking around with the pocket magnifiers, bumping into each other until Holmes made a sort of growling sound and motioned Johnny over the railing in front of the tank.  

“Oh,” Johnny blinked between them and then down at the railing around the top of the tank, and then at the slow movement of the turtles flapping through the water.  “Well, whoever did it was really angry, it was spur of the moment, impulsive.  One of the employees, I guess, why he had the sudden impulse I don’t know.”

“There’s no way for you to know that,” Sherlock said. “Transporting a turtle of this size would have taken a lot of planning.”

Johnny’s brows notched, his jaw set.  “Because it was one man and he didn’t panic.”

“Don’t look at how he feels,” Holmes said.  His voice was slow, patient.  He seemed to plant his feet and sink into his roots.  “Look at what he did.  Let all the residual feelings be a signpost, not the road.”

“Very poetic.”

“I’m a man of many talents.”

“Roost is better at this,” John said like every teenager from the beginning of man.  

“Don’t be lazy, John.  I’m not interested in teaching Roost right now.”

Greg had never seen anyone more clearly look like they were sticking their tongue out without actually doing it.  He projected the idea of it like a physical presence into the room.

Holmes rolled his eyes, “I’m not going to try to decipher your feelings, you can talk.”

“You’re the worst.”

Holmes grinned.

“Ugh, stop it.  Here next to post,” John pressed a thumb under some marks on the railing Greg had to crowd up to see.  “Someone was in a hurry.  Someone who works here definitely.”

“Reasons.”

“There was an effort to avoid something right below that spot there,” he pointed at a spot below the lip of the platform and right in front of a gate.  “Even though from up here, from the way the pulley works, it would have made more sense to pull the giant turtle up where there was a gate.  The person showed a care to avoid that spot but a lack of care for the railing.  Here, you can see a scrape mark as they pulled the chain back in this direction. Look at that.”

“Very good.  Why was he avoiding that spot?” Holmes asked.

“Look in the glass at the far side of the tank.”

Greg and the Sherlocks squinted.  “I don’t see anything,” Greg finally said.

“I think I might see something.  A… hatch maybe?” Sherlock tried.

John let out a little huff of breath, straightening up into military posture again.  “I don’t think it’s a hatch.”

He opened the gate, crouching at the edge of the platform. Holmes moved at a speed Greg hadn’t been able to catch, one pale hand around the back collar of Johnny’s coat. The boy acted with the sort of nonchalance about the hand keeping him from tipping into the water that told Greg a great deal about the sort of father Holmes was.  Johnny wiggled his fingers in the water and pulled them back just in time for a pale shape to bob up.  A turtle stuck its head up, snapping its mouth at nothing, its eyes cloudy with cataracts.

Johnny went utterly still, his face going blank in a way that turned Greg’s stomach into a stone.  It looked like Roost wasn’t the only Watson sibling who had something going on. Alerted by the touch against the back of John’s neck, Holmes moved with a fluid immediacy.  One large hand covered Johnny’s eyes, while the other pull him back against his chest.  “The turtle’s fine, John.  John, it’s okay, it’s not hurt.  You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But-” John twitched in Holmes’ arms, face still scary blank.

“It’ll be confused, that’s all.  John.  John, you aren’t the turtle.  John, you didn’t hurt it by doing that.  You didn’t even touch it.”

“It’s helpless.”  

The way the kid said the word.  It made Greg’s knee buckle a little        

“It’s helpless and it thought there was food, but there isn’t.”

Holmes jarred the boy gently, as though he was trying to wake him up.  He probably was.  “It’s probably a thousand years old and has its own personal chef.  It probably has its own personal assistant.”  

“It was an employee who stole the turtle,” Johnny said, trying to talk his way back.  “They knew the second one was there, that it was blind.  They wanted to keep the blind turtle safe, prevent the two from knocking into each other.  They missing turtle, the thief is trying to keep it safe.”

“Yes, John,” Holmes said.  “Very good.”

“The turtle stays there because it knows that’s where the food comes from.”

“You’re worried about that old thing,” Holmes said voice steady, steady, steady, almost like a metronome.  “It gets first picks.  What a spoiled turtle.”

Johnny gave himself a little shake and Holmes was up and on his feet, staring at his phone while Johnny staggered back to them.  He was bright pink and wouldn’t look at anyone.

Then there was Sherlock at Johnny’s shoulder, not so much bumping against him as drifting through his personal space.

“The only question now,” Holmes said, “is what he used and why he stole the turtle in the first place.”

“How am I supposed to know that?”  Johnny pressed his lips together, pretending like he wasn’t leaning back against Sherlock.  “We could look in an inventory?  See if there are any conspicuous things missing in the back room?”

“That’s a very good guess,” Holmes allowed.

“If you know the answer, why bother asking me?”

“I’m not asking you for your professional opinion, don’t be lazy and apply yourself.  I’ll tell you my deductions later if you work hard.”

“Fine.”  John spun on his heal and grabbed hold of Sherlock’s sleeve.  “We’ll split up, Cousin William and I will go one way, you and Lestrade there will go the other.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Divide and conquer.”

“Alright, I’m sure you have some sort of plan and I’ll let you get along with it.”  

John nodded, squaring up like a little soldier. “Alright, sync up.  We’ll see you at tea time.”

“You don’t need all that time.  I’ve already solved it.”

“We’ve got to follow clues,” Johnny said, nodding at Sherlock.  “It might take time.”

“Don’t care,” Holmes waved him off, not looking up from his phone.

Popping up on his toes, Johnny made an irritated noise.

“Lunch and dinner.”

“Hmm?” Johnny perked up.

“I expect you to eat both.”

“Ugh.”

“And you’ll be back by ten.”

“Eleven.”

“Good.  Ten. It’s agreed.”

“Ugh, I’ll be with you. Sort of,” Johnny nodded at Sherlock who was watching the interaction with open fascination.  “He’ll help me reach things on the top shelf or whatever else.”

“Have him back by ten too.  And try not to become a nuisance John, I’m not putting up with your whinging if you fall into the Thames again.”

Johnny looked fond for a moment, proud, before darting out the door with Sherlock behind him.  His voice trailed after them “Yeah!  Sure! Later!”

“He is just a kid,” Greg said, feeling a bit wrong footed. “Wasn’t that a bit… something?”

Holmes actually looked pained, like a parent who was too familiar with their child, as he looked at the empty doorway.  “John can’t always discern if he’s in physical danger or why he should stop himself from getting hurt.  We have him stuck in a conspiracy of safety, but he still needs to be his own person.  Making it a matter of convenience for him to keep himself in one piece gives his brain an idea of what to avoid.”

“You’re serious.”

“I’m always serious when it comes to John,” Sherlock said. “John was trained to be a child soldier, programmed like some robot to fulfill certain tasks.  He wasn’t taught to understand or respect care directed toward him, not from those who are supposed to take care of him and not from himself.  He only learned it later because his father-”  His teeth snapped shut.

“Who am I going to tell, Sherlock?” Greg held out his arms to gesture to the general himness of himself.  “I’m not even from this universe.”

“Child operatives, children who are trained up to kill and kill well are generally taught to despise acts of softness, of kindness and to respect harshness, authoritarianism.”

“But Johnny seems so well adjusted.”

“Hamish got him out young.  And Hamish was…  Hamish was authority, he was inarguable, he was a law of the universe.  The very symbol of ability and strength.  This old souldier. And he was so kind. I doubted him.  Because he wasn’t what I wanted him to be.”  His hands flinched upward and Holmes finally looked Greg straight in the eye.

“You’ve been crying,” Greg said, then could have kicked himself.  He recognized the way the white of Holmes’ eyes had gone pink, but that didn’t mean he should comment on it.  Them being here, all it was doing was ripping these people up.  Making them stand in a grief they thought they had climbed past.

Holmes shrugged, seemed to notice the open gate and wandered over to it.  His hands seemed steady as he shut it, locked it.

“Who was Hamish then?  That turned you into… this.  If you don’t mind me asking.  Since I probably won’t get another chance?”

Greg could hear the smile in Holmes voice.  “He was just a man.  A stubborn, grumpy, belligerently optimistic man.  He just saw your best potential and then he militarized his faith in you and just-   He was just a man.  Just my friend.”

[codenameantarctica]

The Final Problem - Portrayal vs. Perception

(This morning @i-like-shooting-walls and myself had a bit of conversation on our impression that after TFP the appreciation of - if not the love for - Mycroft is at an all-time high. In fact, I think that this outcome is one of the mayor archivements of TFP and it's not in any way by chance. I found people wonder what Mofftiss had in mind, when they had Mummy Holmes call Mycroft idiot boy and limited. Most people seem to find that she was being absolutely unfair here, and she was. Yet Mofftiss are not stupid. They know what they're doing and what they're doing is making use of the difference between Portrayal and Perception. What the actors say or show is on the one hand whilst our perception, our reaction is another thing altogether.)

(I’m sorry the post got rather long....)

Abstract, stiff, unfathomable, shady, untrustworthy:

This is a journey from Mycroft's exposition in Episode 1 // via him being rather a plot device in Sherlock's and John's adventures and Sherlock's characterization // to the moment when you (whether you liked him before or not) want to wrap your arms around him for a hug and maybe even a declaration of love.

From the very first episode the relationship between Sherlock and Mycroft is established as being difficult (this is quite an understatement). Mycroft mentions to John that Sherlock might perceive his big brother as his arch enemy, and when John later tells Sherlock that he had just met Sherlock's arch enemy Sherlock knows instantly that John is talking about Mycroft (ASIP).

In the whole of season 1 and 2 Mycroft remains quite abstract. He is the British Government or at least one of the most powerful men in the country, but what he does exactly we only see glimpses of. His name literally opens doors to secret, high security facilities (as in THOB). He fills a plane with corpses to blow up in midair to fool some terrorists (as in ASIB) and generally keeps an eye on Sherlock and John, trying to get Sherlock to help with Government's issues. All the while Mycroft remains shady - or as my best friend put it 'stiff and unfathomable'.

We have to wait until season 3 to finally see a bit more of Mycroft and some other nuances of the character that might suggest that there is a softer core to the Ice Man. He personally gets to Serbia to free Sherlock though he very likely could have sent a team of agents to do so. He also plays operation and 'the deduction thing' with Sherlock. For the first time ever we see him without wearing a jacket what in terms of Mycroft means that he is essentially naked. At his most humane we find him in HLV with upturned sleeves (which as some people pointed out is basically porn) at the kitchen table of his mother, he is alluded to by a nickname that he doesn't like, he hates Christmas, tries to hide from his mother that he is smoking, and asks Sherlock to decline an offer by MI6 frankly because he is scared that Sherlock might die if he accepted the offer. Most importantly he eventually attempts to express his feelings towards Sherlock ('your loss would break my heart') and we even see him in shock and deep concern for his brother after Sherlock shot Magnussen. And yet on the other hand he is still uncannily at some points of season 3 with his cryptic statements ('Do you remember Redbeard?', 'I'm not given to outbursts of brotherly compassion. You know what happened to the other one.')

TAB, whilst finally giving us a bit of background to the relationship between the brothers Holmes (in telling us that Mycroft would usually be the one to go and find Sherlock in drug dens and get his younger brother off drugs), also pushes us into speculating over the meaning of the cryptic discussion between Sherlock and Mycroft in Sherlock's drug induced Mind Palace. They bet when Mycroft might die which led a great many people to believe/fear that Mycroft's days were counted and that he would die in season 4. A very integral moment of the plot of TAB is the scene when Sherlock, Mary and John get off the plane in the end. Mycroft calls John back and - for what I think is the first time - doesn't use John’s first name but calls him 'Dr. Watson' (and if I remember correctly he never call’s him John again in season 4). He asks John to look after Sherlock in a very melancholic expression, even using the word 'please' which is a first time, too. Has he just decided to be the nice big brother for once or is this foreshadowing? We do know now, but back then we might have been led to assume that this was just another hint, that Mycroft's days were counted and that he knew it.

The first two episodes of season 4 bring back the shady Mycroft. We see the Ice Man that is using the machinery of the state to keep tabs on his family, who is powerful enough to conceal that his brother is a murderer without even letting the PM know, and who uses spooks to find out what triggered this new incident of drug abuse of this younger sibling and to get rid of the evidence. Plus, there is the moment his tongue slips when talking to John on the phone ('The fact that I am his brother changes absolutely nothing. It didn't the last time and it won't with.... with Sherlock' - TLD) calling into our memory the 'You know what happened to the other one' from the end of HLV and his obvious and outright lie to John when John understands that there is another Holmes child. Furthermore, if you didn't like Mycroft before, the 'get out of my house, you reptile' moment with Mrs. Hudson was what would have broadened your antipathy towards Mycroft even more.

At the exposition of TFP we have a Mycroft, that has obviously been lying to Sherlock and John for a long time, that is shifty, deeply untrustworthy, really powerful, rather abuses the machinery of the state to control his brother than trying to intervene on a brotherly level (which I am sure he simply can't and Sherlock would never accept), and who seems to be very much devoid of any kind of emotion or empathy. (Did I mention that I REALLY like him =D)

Send in the Clowns:

Pranking Mycroft in the beginning of TFP is a wonderful proof for the friendship and funny dynamics between John and Sherlock. They are an impaccable team not only in carrying out the prank but also in planning as John explains that it was not in the first place - as we might have thought - Sherlock’s idea but John’s.

From the moment on that we arrive in 221B Baker Street both speech and facial expressions of John and Sherlock establish the ‘we against you’ plot. First Mycroft is dissed by Mrs. Watson (’the kettle is over there’) and both Sherlock and John smile. Whenever John snaps at Mycroft, Sherlock smiles. When Sherlock tells Mycroft, that John will stay, because he IS family, John smiles quite triumphantly. You can indeed read the joy from Sherlock’s face when John points out, that he knows the quote by Oscar Wilde (’the truth is rarely pure and never simple’).

After we arrive on Sherrinford the mood of the ‘we against you’ dynamic shifts pretty soon and heavily. Until now it has been one of two very close friends facing the brother of one of them who has been lying to both of them, but on Sherrinford the attitude of Sherlock and John towards Mycroft becomes dismissive if not hostile.

It’s in the look Sherlock gives Mycroft after his brother’s dry heaving, but then turning to John and asking him if John was ok. It’s in the ‘I’m beginning to think that you are not very clever’ comment by Sherlock towards Mycroft and in the many times when Mycroft is completely disregarded or cut off by Sherlock. We’re influenced to pick the side of Sherlock and John because of Mycroft’s refusal to play along, because we know that he allowed the meeting between Moriarty and Eurus, because it was John who figured out first that Eurus had taken control of Sherrinford. We’re supposed to see Mycroft as being weak, squeamish, to be a spoilsport and absolutely inhumane when he suggests that they must get the girl on the plane to crash into the sea.

While Sherlock and John do their best to be soldiers to pull through Eurus’ tasks Mycroft is the third wheel. He understands quite soon that him and John are being made to compete with each other and also tries to make John aware of this, but again he is dismissed. He is disinclined to play Eurus’ game and whilst John and Sherlock put a lot of effort in their attempt to work through (because of their nonsensical hope they might win) Mycroft is getting more and more dispensable both by his own doing and by the attitude of the other two. 

It’s make your mind up time

When we arrive at the Eliminiation Game we find ourselves with two characters that work together flawlessly, that have been inseparable from the start of the episode and that need each other to pull trough. If you didn’t like Mycroft all along or were pushed into not liking him because of all you saw in TFP so far, you might be very sure and maybe even content with Mycroft now biting the dust. If you still liked him, you might be very scared for him now.

Mycroft attempts for the last time to stop his sister, but realizing that she’s not gonna give in, he steps forward and starts to bash John. What we are supposed to feel in this moment is bewilderment because WE know how much Sherlock and John need each other. If we didn’t know before TFP then we learned in this episode. How can Mycroft not be aware of this? And we’re meant to be outright furious because of those nasty things Mycroft says not only about John but also in confessing that he had always despised Sherlock. Mycroft is picking at Sherlock’s and John’s self-esteem what angers us, pushing us towards a climax of complete contempt for Mycroft (if he had meant it, would anyone still be resolved in liking or even loving him?).

And then the rug is being pulled from under our feet

Whatever antipathy, doubt or contempt you might have felt towards Mycroft it’s falling apart with just a few words: “He’s trying to be kind. He’s trying to make it easy for me to kill him.”

Here is the Ice Man, that seemed to be so much devoid of emotion, that is a control freak, is abusing his possibilities as one of the most powerful men in the state, has no empathy for others and who would just be dragged along as a third wheel while Sherlock and John fought on as soldiers. And there is the Big Brother that is - beneath that shield of iciness, beyond the facade and the posh suits - willing to sacrifice himself as he DOES know that Sherlock would never recover from losing John. He eventually tries to push Sherlock into it by bashing John, by abasing Sherlock, by laying the blame for everything onto himself.

Even Mycroft

The whole episode of TFP we are pushed and persuaded and influenced into antipathy towards Mycroft because that is the message that is conveyed troughout most of the episode by the attitude/portrayal of Sherlock and John. We’re told that Mycroft is the one to be blamed for everything Moriarty and Eurus did. 

Yet at the very end we can't bring ourselves to stick to this antipathy and we don’t lay the blame on him. When John answers Lestrade's explanation that Eurus put Mycroft into her old cell with 'what goes around, comes around' we don't agree. When Mummy Holmes glowers down at Mycroft, calling him 'idiot boy', telling him that he is very limited because he didn't manage to do better, we want to burst into the room to tell her off. We are left to feel angry about the way Mycroft was treated, though we are well aware of his mistakes. We throw them into context - ‘context’, that is one of the catch phrases of the episode. All the dynamic against Mycroft, all the mistakes he made, we still do not find it in our hearts to despise him or to condemn him. And all of this just because of that short ‘brother mine’ scene. Now we see who he is underneath. We see beyond the disguise, beyond the facade and find a character that not to like, that not to vouch for or not to defend becomes quite unbearable.

Here the discussion at the end of TLD is true once again: Sherlock: "It's not a pleasant thought, John, but I have this terrible feeling from time to time that we might all just be human." John: "Even you?" Sherlock: "No. Even you." Ultimately: Even Mycroft.