#tjlc meta

[beingallmysterious]

Okay I’m late to this as it has already been out a year but I just discovered the series A Better Story on the TJLCExplained YouTube channel by the always lovely @victorianpining and I cannot scream loudly enough when I say that if you haven’t watched it, stop whatever you are doing and watch it now.

Rebecca’s analysis is as piercing and intelligent as it is open-minded and thoughtful and at every step there is so much heart.

If you were hurt by season four, it is time to heal and A Better Story is exactly the medicine you need. You will be held with complete compassion and understanding as you come to terms with it all

Even if you never want to come back to BBC Sherlock, consider taking the time to heal anyway. I’ve seen the old Sherlock pain rise from the deep like a monster in other fandoms and it really does spoil things— sucks out all the fun and corrupts the interpretation. We need to heal.

And if you don’t have any lingering trauma, damn watch it anyway. It’s joyful and intelligent and brilliant. The game is on.

[teapotcode]

now that I think more about it, I think I get why sherlock falsely assumes Irene is in love with him in ASIB. 

Earlier in the episode he wrongly assumes Molly’s interested in another man at the Christmas party, but finds out he’s wrong and feels bad and apologizes to her. He clearly didn’t know and didn’t mean to hurt her. So now having learned from his mistake, he *overcorrects* and falsely assumes Irene *must* be in love him. He misinterprets Irene’s racing pulse as fear instead of love despite feeling Mrs. Hudson’s pulse and knowing she was afraid when it raced, so this tells me the Molly thing is clouding his better judgment.

 So he’s wrong the first time with Molly (he thinks Molly doesn’t love him when actually she does), then based on that he makes the same assumption but reversed with Irene (he thinks Irene loves him when actually she doesn’t) to avoid hurting her despite his kinda harsh “you should never let your heart rule your head” speech. He’s clearly upset about the idea of love being dangerous and humiliating in this scene and not mad at Irene since he goes on to save her at the end of the episode. sherlock isn’t any closer to understanding human emotions or their motivations by the end of the episode, he just unfortunately hammers home his own belief about love being dangerous. 

this also explains how he was able to figure out her password. Irene isn’t actually in love with him (she wants protection, she’s “playing the game”). so sherlock’s *reasoning* for figuring out her password is wrong, but he still ends up getting the right answer (i.e., that is was meant to be an unguessable password bc he’s a clueless virgin).

[sherlockwatson-holmesblog]

“Got to see a man about a dog.”

Surprisingly so, also used euphemistically to conceal one’s true purpose.

[edandstede]

imagine it. sherlock returns in 2026. the baby is gone. what baby? the baby never existed. all the conspirators are vindicated. sherlock and john fuck nasty and the skull with glowing eyes on the wall watches. mystrade is canon. there is never any mention of his sister again and we still don’t know if sherlock’s best friend was a boy or a dog and at this point everyone is too afraid to ask.

[winterdaphne2]

Gay Easter Eggs in BBC Sherlock

(I trust the above requires no explanation.)

Perhaps someone has done this before, but I wanted to put together a compilation of gay easter eggs in the show that I’ve seen other people point out and/or have thoughts on myself. So here it is!

When I say “easter eggs,” I’m thinking of small clues that the show creators included in the set designs, music choices, and other details of the show to reference that Sherlock and John are in love. I’m thinking of things you could miss at first, especially little clues that often require a bit of extra information or require observations across episodes to understand.

Of course, there’s also lots of subtext woven into the show, moments where interpreting the dialogue or visuals in a certain way tells us something about Sherlock, John, and/or the state of their feelings for one another. I’m not sure if I can clearly define “subtext” versus “easter eggs” and explain what distinguishes them, but at least to me, several of the things I’ve listed here seem a bit different from what people often refer to as subtext. Maybe subtext is about uncovering the layers to a piece of dialogue or an action that takes place in plain sight and seeing how that impacts our interpretation of the story, but easter eggs are about spotting smaller, hidden details. I’m not trained in literary or film studies, though, and I’m not trying to be doctrinaire about this at all! This list is just for fun, anyway. (The above image might not actually count as an easter egg, but I couldn’t resist including it here. Indulge me.)

The more I read about this show and the harder I look, the more I think that hardly anything is there on accident. All these easter eggs must have been included on purpose. The creators knew they were telling a love story all along.

I’ve linked to the posts where I initially saw people point these out or to other good sources, and for some of these I’ve added my own commentary/observations/interpretations. I’m sure there are many other easter eggs that I’ve missed! What have you spotted?

John’s PIN in TBB – When John tries to pay for his groceries at the beginning of the episode, we see that his PIN is 743. In ASIB, Irene’s code to unlock her phone is SHER, which would be 7437 on a phone keypad. So, John’s PIN is a clue that he is or will be in love with Sherlock. Source: @loudest-subtext-in-tv, here.

Shaftesbury Avenue, 20m from Piccadilly Circus in TBB – While investigating in Chinatown, Sherlock and John bump into each other at what used to be a cruising spot for gay men in London. Source: @the-signs-of-two, here.

Archer the American in ASIB – In the scene where the American CIA agents try to get Sherlock to open Irene’s safe, the head CIA agent pressures Sherlock by threatening to have one of his men shoot John. The agent says: “Mr. Archer, on the count of three, shoot Dr. Watson.” Ordering someone named “Archer” to shoot John could be a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle’s poem “The Blind Archer,” which is about Cupid and describes Cupid shooting two men who sound an awful lot like Sherlock and John. Source: couldntpossiblycomment, here.

“¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” in TEH – The song that plays during the scene with John and Sherlock’s disastrous reunion at the Landmark restaurant is a cover of the song “¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” performed by the band Pink Martini. The Spanish lyrics to this song are about searching for a long-lost lover, which is fitting for the scene where John sees Sherlock again for the first time since his fall. Notably, the creators didn’t use the first of the two versions of this song that Pink Martini has released. The band’s first version appears on their 1997 studio album Sympathique and features a man singing about a woman. Instead of using that version, the creators used the version from Pink Martini’s 2011 compilation album A Retrospective, in which China Forbes performs most of the vocals. So, the creators deliberately chose a remade version of the song in which a woman sings about a woman. They chose a gay song about searching for a long-lost lover for Sherlock and John’s reunion. abrae (@tea-and-liminality on tumblr) has a meta with more to say about the use of this song here.

John’s “oscillation on the pavement” in TEH – In TSOT, John observes a potential client standing outside 221B and trying to make up her mind as to whether to come in. Sherlock tells John “I’ve seen those symptoms before. Oscillation on the pavement always means there’s a love affair.” In the previous episode, John came to visit Sherlock at 221B but hesitated on the pavement outside, staring at the door and trying to decide whether to go in. Sherlock’s comment, “I’ve seen those symptoms before,” is a hint that we, the audience, have also seen those symptoms before—with John in the previous episode. Source: @bidoctor, here. (I saw someone else point out that last part about Sherlock’s hint to the audience, but I can’t find that post, sorry!)

Lilac dresses in TSOT – While planning John and Mary’s wedding, Sherlock chooses lilac-colored dresses for the bridesmaids. When John tells Sherlock that he likes the bridesmaids in purple, Sherlock pointedly corrects him by stating that the dresses are lilac. Apparently, “In Victorian times, giving a lilac meant that the giver is trying to remind the receiver of a first love.” So by dressing the bridesmaids in lilac, Sherlock is trying to remind John of his first love: himself, Sherlock. My heart breaks. Source: @asherlockstudy, here.

Putting the horns on Mary and Janine in TSOT and HLV – In TSOT, there’s a shot where Mary gives Sherlock and John a thumbs up before they head out on a case. The way Mary is standing, the horns on Sherlock’s cow skull thing on the wall behind her are placed right over her head. (I always thought this shot looked pretty weird, but now I see that it must have been intentional!) In the HLV scene with Janine at 221B, there’s a moment when Janine steps in front of John in the frame to kiss Sherlock, and her movement positions the horns right over her head. “Putting the horns” on someone means cheating on them. So in both cases, placing the horns right above Mary’s and Janine’s heads indicates to the audience that Sherlock and John are the real relationship in this show. Source: this post from multiple users on the @sherlockmeta blog.

The architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace in HLV – In the mind palace scene after Mary shoots Sherlock, the architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace is based on locations from ASIP. Sherlock literally built his mind palace out of places from his first case with John, illustrating that his relationship with John is what grounds him and that it means everything to him. abrae has some very helpful screencaps of this here (and I would recommend that whole meta, btw!)

The glasshouse scene in TAB – In TAB, the Victorian John tries to ask Sherlock about his sexuality and sexual history while they’re sitting in a glasshouse. In Victorian Britain, “glasshouse” was another term for a military prison. So John, a military veteran, asks Sherlock about his sexuality in a setting that represents where he would have been sent if he had acted upon his homosexual desires at a time when homosexuality was criminalized. Source: @haffieliesel, here.

What do we say about coincidences? The universe is rarely so lazy.

[charcubed]

wait I'm sorry I just got kicked in the face. There's gonna be more sherlock?

LMFAAAOOO

Okay so. Yes because real ones know that that's always been the case!!

Here's a list of some of the ancient lore quotes from Mofftiss about the 5 season arc:

"instant series commission, a guaranteed 2nd series, a cuddle, a guaranteed 3rd series, and a whispered invitation back to 'my place' (where I'll explain that really I've got a 5-series arc in mind, & a spin-off)" –Moffat, 2009 (one year before Sherlock)

"Having started off with Sherlock and John much younger men than they are usually presented, it would be rather lovely to keep going. I love the idea of them being in their 50's and still doing it." Mark Gatiss, 2013

“…we just got out of the rain and sat at the top of the [Sherlock] production bus… and we just started plotting out what we could do in the future. And we plotted out the whole of series four and five.” –Moffat, 2014

Moffat: "We've had the most sketchy discussions on what we'd do." Mark: "We have an idea for season five on a Post-it note. That's as far as we've got. Unless I'm lying?" –2016

Moffat: "Thank you for showing more patience than any other fandom in history." Mark: "Stay tuned!" 2020, celebrating the 10-year anniversary

Those are just the quotes I have on hand right now, of course, but I do enjoy trotting them out lmao.

And yeah, after s4, basically Moffat or Mark or Sue Vertue all pop up in press every now and then to essentially publicly say "yeah we'd love to make more Sherlock but it's so hard to get ahold of Benedict and Martin :/ someday!" and everyone on the internet goes "OH MY GOD SHERLOCK IS COMING BACK???" and those of us who have been here the entire time are like "yes. it's a matter of when, not if" looollll. (There was an article with quotes by Sue a few days ago so that's why everyone is discussing it again.)

Of course, quotes by the creators (who are also notorious liars) are arguably not what matters most. The biggest evidence that there will be more Sherlock is the fact that the show indicates a 5-season arc and always has. Lowest hanging fruit: "The Five Pips" of The Great Game, for example.

But! Required reading: I humbly direct you to this post by the brilliant @devoursjohnlock. It continues to be my favorite summary about what this show is doing, as a queer story that acts as a queer adaptation/interpretation of Arthur Conan Doyle's work to bring the subtext of the original stories to light as text – amongst other things. And it talks about how/why the story remains unresolved.

Aaaaand I also direct you to this post by @bisexualmindcabin explaining how/why there may be a 10 year gap before s5 – a.k.a. just like Arthur Conan Doyle brought Sherlock Holmes back 10 years after killing him, if Mofftiss wanted to recreate that, they'd possibly aim to bring the show back 10 years after "killing" it.

SO YEAH

TL;DR: THERE'S GONNA BE MORE SHERLOCK

eventually

[buckingham-ashtray]

Hello just a friendly reminder that Eurus used a bomb to make Sherlock say “I love you” to a John mirror and Sherlock also using a bomb to make John “say something nice”.

have a wonderful day xx

[dareduffie]

talking to someone (in the wild) about TJLC (in 2024) makes me feel like old lady rose from titanic (1997) staring at the waterlogged naked drawings of herself. that will always be me, in a sense, but it's been 84 years...... i hardly recognize her now..........

[asherlockstudy]

What do you think of the line "I imagine John Watson thinks love’s a mystery to me, but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very destructive." Particularly the first half-

The following metas provide the context for an easier interpretation of this scene.

Why was Sherlock so emotional in the last scene with Irene? Why Sherlock isn't really sexually oblivious What did Sherlock feel for Irene?

With this phrase Sherlock sort of provides the answer to the mystery: what made him miscalculate and fall for Irene's / Moriarty's trap. Throughout the whole episode, Sherlock was observing John and secondarily Mycroft worry about his emotional state. They both considered him an amateur victim of the very experienced dominatrix, who fell for her straight away. John was asking Mrs Hudson about his romantic history, then in his secret conversation with Irene he was worried that he was a person completely inexperienced in romantic matters who immediately fell in the deep waters and was tricked by Irene, he considered him oblivious about how others - such as Molly and himself - felt. He scanned the whole house to check for drugs in case Sherlock relapsed due to Irene's seeming death. John was not understanding Sherlock. He thought he was new to love and entirely vulnerable to it because of the Woman.

Sherlock, however, who is not anywhere near as amateurish or oblivious as John likes to think he is a) had picked on all the concerns John secretly had and b) had figured John had completely misunderstood how he felt.

His speculation "I imagine John Watson thinks love is a mystery for me..." is proven true a little later when John tells Mycroft he doesn't think "Sherlock feels things this way". John wavered between two interpretations; that Sherlock was vulnerable because of the Woman or that he didn't feel love at all in a conventional way.

We and Sherlock both knew that John was wrong either way. Sherlock WAS vulnerable but it was because of John. He unintentionally betrayed Mycroft's plans to Moriarty in his rush to impress John and not Irene.

(GIF Source: deducingbbcsherlock)

Sherlock, hurt due to another evidence of the danger of loving yet determined to not disclose his weakness to Mycroft and Irene, continues: "... but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very destructive." He is now the cold chemist again, breaking down emotions to their substantial fundamentals, the love hormones; dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins etc. But just like Irene couldn't resist the rush of excitement in keeping a Sherlock related password in her most prized object under Sherlock's nose, Sherlock could not resist the dopamine rush once he left John speechless with his skills and brilliance again. This is tragically totally a mystery to John and even to the two other people in the room. But we the viewers were told to look for the proof, when he brought up John seemingly out of nowhere:

"I imagine John Watson thinks love is a mystery to me but the chemistry is incredibly simple and very destructive" AKA

John thinks I don't understand love but I understand it all too well and it's because of it that I nearly destroyed my brother's career.

[7552locked]

Jeannette is a Sherlock mirror and she says "I don't have a dog" and "Jeannette" is a variation of the name John. So the "I don't have a dog" (Sherlock didn't have a dog friend, it was another child) narrative is a part of John's imagination.

[tjlc-hellven]

Johnny! There is no baby!

[coffeeteaitsallfine]

Appointment in Samsara Part 2: Secret Twins, Through the Looking-Glass

A re-examination of the show within the context of fatalism, the Ghost Driver, and Secret Twins.

Preview:

In order to know what our Storyteller has gotten up to and what it means, we have to look back at all the many examples of the Car and Driver metaphor throughout the show. You likely already have an interpretation for a lot of these examples. However, in many if not all, there exist double readings — secret twins. Let us begin with an honorable mention: The Gay Pilot, the gift that keeps on giving.

John: You haven’t eaten today? For God’s sake, you need to eat. Sherlock: No, you need to eat. I need to think. The brain’s what counts. Everything else is transport. John: You might consider refueling. … John: So, you don’t…do…anything. Sherlock: Everything else is transport.

The body is transport. We also learn throughout the show that food is sex, refueling the body like you refuel your car to keep it running. Similar to Julian English in Appointment in Samarra, one’s sexuality is one’s vitality.

There are cars that pass like ghosts, unseen, unremembered. There are people we trust, always, when we’re alone, when we’re lost, when we’re drunk. We never see their faces, but every day we disappear into their cars and let the trap close around us. I give you the perfect murder weapon of the modern age: the invisible car.

Read the rest on Medium

Need to read Part 1? Find that here.

[all-heartsarebroken]

Hello I'm just here to remind you the flash drive Mary gave to John wasn't the one he threw into the fire

[inevitably-johnlocked]

HELP STEPH!!

I’M STARTING TO DOUBT TJLC??!?! (is that even possible?? Shame on me my parents are starting to contaminate me with their heteronormativity)

Anyway,

I KNOW that you can put faith in me again and remind me that it’s there so idk could you pls pls, anything, something… I need some good proof of Johnlock that would even make the straightest most boring person ever believe in it.

<3

Hey Lovely!

OH GOSH, I'm probably the worst to restore faith since I have maintained some skepticism since S4 aired myself, HAHAH. A lot of people have left me because of it, sadly misunderstanding that my skepticism comes from other external factors rather than JUST the show. Because I do genuinely believe that it WAS supposed to be a Johnlock ending but then ~~THINGS~~ happened, lies were told, and shit was stirred behind the scenes. Just various happenings OUTSIDE of JUST the show made me skeptical, is all. If you're only looking at JUST the show, I can see how one remains hopeful (minus S4, but that's a personal opinion, LOL)

I do, though, have some posts made after S4 that I have either written or compiled here:

S4 Meta Masterpost (Aug. 3, 2018)

Convincing a Friend of TJLC

Is There a Difference Between TJLC and Johnlock?

Johnlock Isn’t Just a Coincidence

Is Johnlock Canon After S4?

Do I Still Believe in Johnlock After S4?

ASK: I’ve Been Away for Awhile; Do You Think Johnlock Will Happen?

ASK: Do you think S4 was Queerbaiting?

General Meta On S4 Masterpost (Feb 2020)

Johnlock / TJLC Meta (All the Gay Subtext Masterlist June 24/19)

TJLC Analysis of ACD Canon?

The last link has lots of amazing links to other meta that should help restore your faith :)

Sorry I'm not much help otherwise, Lovely! <3 I have tried my best, because I just want you happy <3

[stilldisqualified]

You know your Sherlock obsession is back when you’re reading meta for fun

[winterdaphne2]

I think a lot about the fact that Sherlock looks so much older in S3 than he did in S1-S2. Even if it's just Benedict Cumberbatch aging naturally, within the universe of the show it's really like Sherlock aged so much during those two years away from John. He would have missed John so much and endured so much while he was gone. And visually, it's like we can even see in Sherlock's face that when he returns to London and to John, he's a different person. He's more willing to show the parts of himself that are gentle and wise, and he's finally ready to reveal a little more of his heart. If only John had been ready, too.