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Sherlock 4.02 The Lying Detective (meta)
So, I tend to say that I don't write Sherlock meta. But um, this happened. I'm only skating over the surface, touching on the things that stood out for me, and I quite simply couldn't help myself. I am leaving out SO MUCH, but it is what it is.
First a few of points from last week:
- There were three women who fitted the profile of ‘The English Woman’, all of whom were in such a position of power/authority to make that call. This is nice.
- The episode goes out of its way to highlight the similarities between Mary and Sherlock. Even in the promo images we have John as the one holding the baby, and he is literally left holding it on several occasions in the story. The assassin and the detective think alike, the doctor is a little on the backfoot. Loved by both, but not quite in the same league. We see it most clearly (obviously) when Mary takes off to ‘deal with her troubled past’ (usually the prerogative of men) leaving everyone else behind to ‘keep them safe’. It makes for an interesting realignment of gender roles.
- I like the story of The Appointment in Samarra. I’ve not properly rewatched, but I’ve seen the start which retells the story over a backdrop of the London Aquarium. I wish the episode had been better written, because it could have been even more powerful.
But onto the meat of the story. I finally managed to re-watch it last night and it’s honestly just an astonishing thing. I defy anyone to create a better written, more innovative and straight-up clever piece of television in the next year at least. And it wears its cleverness on its sleeve - it’s a bit like Torville and Dean? Or Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. They made it look effortless, thus hiding how fiendishly clever it is.
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sueworld2003 posted this video which delves into one portion - it’s well worth watching, and deconstruct part of it:
Another thing is the way it plays with narrative, it hops-skips through places and times, but does it so well that we are never lost. The best and most easily traced demonstration of this ability is probably The S5 finale of Doctor Who, The Big Bang, specifically the part with the Doctor jumping through time and making the overall thread easy to follow through the use of the fez and the mop. The Lying Detective does not employ actual time travel, but it does rely on many different time settings (flashbacks and flashforwards galore etc) and manages to tie them together so cohesively and fluently that attempting to unravel it makes you sit back and marvel, and has - like The Big Bang - certain physical clues (Mary’s letter, the paper that ‘Faith’ brought) which the viewer can track and thus keep the crazy amounts of information more straight.
The Lying Detective
‘cereal killer’
First up - I was not expecting Sherlock to do an episode about Jimmy Savile. For those who are not British, here’s a quick summary, lifted from Wikipedia:
Especially the scene at the hospital* (both with the children and in the morgue), and Culverton’s general chummy creepiness. *shivers* it was very very unsettling, and making him a serial killer was making him LESS unappealing. Think on that.
There was also the brief moment with the young female worker on the set where they are shooting the cereal advert:
SMITH: We should bag that up, sell it. (He spits a last bit of cereal into the bin.) Make money for that on eBay.
(She chuckles nervously. He looks up at her again and nods towards the bin.)
SMITH (quietly): I could make more if you like. Any time you like.
(Her smile becomes rather fixed and she turns and walks away. He straightens up and grimly watches her go.)
Those tiny touches is part of what makes it. ‘Mirco-harassment’ that never gets reported. What would she say? She will just swallow it and try to move on (and maybe bitch about men later with her girlfriends) like millions of women do every day. Privilege is a very hard thing to fight and the power dynamics on show are very unsettling, partly because they are so familiar.
Because he’s rich and famous...
CULVERTON: I have made millions, for myself, for the people round this table, for millions of people I’ve never even met. There are charities that I support who wouldn’t exist without me. If life is a balance sheet – and I think it is – well, I believe I’m in credit!
It’s an interesting line - an attempt at trying to understand how someone like that might think. A way to justify the unjustifiable.
And the confession with the opt-in ignorance is also very fitting. Culverton voices what others do not:
CULVERTON: Money, power, fame - some things make you untouchable.
Sherlock has used Jimmy Savile before - way back in the S1 finale in 2010, before Jimmy died, and he was still just a famous celebrity. From the scene at the swimming pool:
JIM: I’ve given you a glimpse, Sherlock, just a teensy glimpse of what I’ve got going on out there in the big bad world. I’m a specialist, you see... like you!
SHERLOCK: “Dear Jim. Please will you fix it for me to get rid of my lover’s nasty sister?”
(Starting to walk forward again, Jim grins as he recognises the TV show and catchphrase that Sherlock is quoting.)
SHERLOCK: “Dear Jim. Please will you fix it for me to disappear to South America?”
JIM (stopping again): Just so.
SHERLOCK: Consulting criminal. (softly) Brilliant.
Jim’ll Fix It was one of the most popular television shows of its day, with people writing in and Jim making their dreams come true (‘fixing it' for them). Every British viewer would have gotten the reference immediately.
I remember watching the episode some years later, when all the allegations had come to light, and thinking to myself how what had been a tongue-in-cheek reference was suddenly so much darker.
So yeah. This was a very very British episode in every way, especially in how it denigrated the worship and untouchable status of the famous. (Particularly the white, straight and male.) And I’m sure the whole country had unpleasant flash-backs.
‘your life is not your own’
This was a very interesting part:
SHERLOCK: Taking your own life. Interesting expression - taking it from who? Once it's over, it's not you who'll miss it. Your own death is something that happens to everybody else. Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.
The evolution of Sherlock is fascinating. This story would not have been possible with S1 or S2 Sherlock. Friendship has changed him. And here it is the bonds between Mary and Sherlock, and their shared love of John, which drives the plot. Although of course it works in all ways:
MARY: He is the cleverest man in the world, but he's not a monster.
JOHN: Yeah, he is.
MARY: Yeah, OK, all right, he is. Agh! But he's our monster.
Your life is not your own… You belong to those you love and who love you back.
Sherlock learned that when he faked his own death. And now he tries to do the best he can after Mary’s very real death:
SHERLOCK: In saving my life, she conferred a value on it. It is a currency I do not know how to spend.
This is one of the most interesting lines in the whole episode, and I wish I knew how to delve into it more.
‘texting’
I know Sherlock is chock-full of ‘teh gay’. (So many jokes…) And (according those who know about such things) it is also queer coded. But I can’t see it. (ETA: The coding, I mean. I can see how they play with it, but I am not familiar with how fiction is 'queer coded' and thus can't really weigh in on it. The Bromance is obvious. But romance does not automatically follow from that.) And if Moffat and Gatiss wanted to do a queer Sherlock, I don’t think they’d be coy about it. Instead I think owls is right - they are basically writing fanfic of their own friendship.
When watching [most especially] the final Sherlock/John scene what struck me (both on first watch, and again upon re-watch) that this is the straightest show ever. I mean, Moffat is one of the straightest writers ever just by nature (although he does try to be inclusive - see Jenny & Vastra f.ex., but by inclination he loves to examine the m/f relationship dynamics) and this was a textbook example:
JOHN:I mean, how does it work?
SHERLOCK: How does what work?
JOHN: You and The Woman. Do you go to a discreet Harvester sometimes? Is there nights of passion in High Wycombe?
SHERLOCK Oh, for God's sakes, I don't text her back!
JOHN: Why not?
[...]
SHERLOCK: As I think I have explained to you many times before, romantic entanglement, while fulfilling for other people...
JOHN: Would complete you as a human being.
SHERLOCK: That doesn't even mean anything.
JOHN: Just text her, phone her, do something while there's still a chance, because that chance doesn't last forever. Trust me, Sherlock, it's gone before you know it. Before you know it!
One man who has just lost his wife giving advice to another not to let his chance slip away. I’m not sure how that could be misinterpreted. ‘I lost my woman, please don’t lose yours’. (Please don’t yell at me for how I view the show and what I take from it. I love the John/Sherlock friendship dynamic, I just can't see that it'll ever end up being a ship. If I'm wrong - well I won't complain. ;) I'll just be surprised.)
See I remember an interview with Moffat. From around S2, as Irene Adler had made her appearance. And the interviewer asked him if Sherlock was gay or not (since they obviously played on how two bachelors living together gave a different impression than it used to). His reply made such good sense, that I have remembered it ever since. This was the gist:
Moffat had given this some thought himself (which goes to show that this wasn’t actually something they had decided on, or written specifically into the show), and eventually tried to work it out logically. His conclusion was that Irene was a distraction (for Sherlock), she unsettled him and unnerved him, caused him make mistakes, and overall set his pulse racing (quite literally). Because he is attracted to her.
Watson does not have that effect. Their friendship (in Moffat’s opinion) could not endure if Sherlock was constantly having to fight unwanted impulses whenever John was around. Being attracted to John would be counter-productive to John’s purpose in Sherlock’s life.
Ergo, Sherlock is straight. (In as much as he is anything. I'd put him as demi-sexual too. Maybe his sexuality is just ‘Irene Adler’. Mary: Oh, the posh boy loves the dominatrix. He's never knowingly under-cliched, is he? Mary <333333)
(ETA2: Tumblr thread on the topic, which includes a lot of Moffat & Gatiss quotes. Surprisingly evenhanded considering the topic.)
But that’s not really what I meant. The following is where Moffat is at his Moffatest:
JOHN: She was wrong about me.
SHERLOCK: Mary? How so?
JOHN: She thought that if you put yourself in harm's way, I'd...I'd rescue you, or something. But I didn't, not till she told me to. And that's how this works, that's what you're missing. She taught me to be the man she already thought I was.
[confession of cheating with texts]
JOHN (to Mary): I'm not the man you thought I was, I'm not that guy. I never could be. But that's the point. (Voice breaks): That's the whole point. Who you thought I was... is the man who I want to be.
Moffat generally writes men as a bit rubbish and not good enough for the (smart, capable) women who love them/happen to be in their lives. But they try to be better, to live up to the person their women think they are. We see it demonstrated not just in Mary (I love her ghostly asides, so many delightful echoes of River in every way - the women aren’t saints on pedestals), but also Mrs Hudson, who BAMFs her way through the episode, outsmarting Sherlock in order to overpower him (which Sherlock of course relied on) and taking him to see John, and continually upending people’s perceptions and putting them in their place:
JOHN: How can that be your car?!
MRS HUDSON: Oh, for God's sake! I'm the widow of a drug dealer, I own property in central London, and for the last bloody time, John, I'm not your housekeeper!
~
MRS HUDSON (to Mycroft): He thinks you're clever, poor old Sherlock. Always going on about you. (to John) I mean, he knows you're an idiot, but that's OK, cos you're a lovely doctor. (to Mycroft) But he has no idea what an idiot you are!
MYCROFT: Is this merely stream-of-consciousness abuse, or are you attempting to make a point?
MRS HUDSON: You want to know what's bothering Sherlock? Easiest thing in the world, anyone can do it.
MYCROFT: I know his thought processes better than any other human being, so, please, try to understand.
MRS HUDSON: He's not about thinking. Not Sherlock. Of course he is. No, no. He's more emotional, isn't he? Unsolved case, shoot the wall! Boom, boom!
Mrs Hudson has Sherlock’s number. And Lady Smallwood is not letting Mycroft getting away with accusing her of treason with only circumstantial evidence (could it be that he too will manage a relationship? The girls remarked that she was older than him(!) - or at least looks older - which IMHO is a very good thing).
And there’s Molly, who has a small, but significant role, and has her powers of understanding praised:
JOHN: I need the one person who, unlike me, learned to see through your bullshit long ago.
Mary is also on the same page:
MARY: You found four men and one woman [therapist]. And you are done with the world being explained to you by a man. Well, who isn't?
We also have John admitting to facts:
JOHN: You didn't kill Mary. Mary died saving your life. It was her choice, no-one made her do it.
She has been held hostage by John/the narrative, stripped of her agency. Giving it back to her is very very important, in a world where narratives often love nothing more than stealing women's agency.
And at the very end, we get yet another damning indictment of the self-centeredness of men:
Euros: Amazing the times a man doesn't really look at your face. Oh, you can hide behind a sexy smile or a walking cane, or just be a therapist, talking about *you*... ALL the time.
The sad, undeniable truth of this statement is one I hope they explore further. It also echoes Vivian in the previous episode:
SHERLOCK: Can’t have been easy all those years, sitting in the back keeping your mouth shut when you knew you were cleverer than most of the people in the room.
Because who takes note of the secretary?
Re. Euros, then I found this Radio Times article which tells how they they have been planning her arrival.
There are also unanswered questions. Is the paper real? Did Faith actually write it, and if so how did Euros get hold of it? How/why did she decide to ‘help’ Sherlock with the Culverton ‘case’? Was it all a snare with which to draw him in - after all, she also set herself up as John’s therapist and texting cheat… What are her plans? She is employing a lot of Moriarty’s tricks, and doing so extraordinary well. (Not surprisingly.)
There is also the question of who Sherrinford is, although s/he could be a red herring of course.
~~
Assorted delightful touches:
- Sherlock walking around so as to spell out ‘Fuck Off’
- Sherlock’s drug addled mind and his whole performance
- This exchange:
FAITH: Amazing
SHERLOCK: I know
FAITH: I meant the chips
- “Anyone”
- The 221B Baker Street interior falling down like a theatre backdrop
- The fact that the first time we hear the Sherlock theme (apart from the credits) is this moment:
CULVERTON: I've sent a car, should be outside. Mr Holmes gave me an address.
JOHN: Well, he couldn't have given you this one... (Doorbell rings)
CULVERTON: When you're ready.
JOHN: When did Sherlock give you this address?
CULVERTON: Two weeks ago.
JOHN: Two weeks?
- This exchange:
JOHN: She's my therapist.
SHERLOCK: Awesome! Do you do block bookings?
- “This is not a trick, it's a plan.”
- The walking stick
- The confrontation between Culverson and Sherlock, which is one of the most unsettling and unpleasant scenes ever. But very very well done.
- SHERLOCK: Must be something comforting about the number three, people always give up after three.
And just the look on his face. A sort of benign bewilderment at the folly of other humans.
- “You cock.”
- “Happy birthday.”
- MARY: Well, then... John Watson... get the hell on with it.
With the most delightful echoes of:
DANNY: You can miss me for five minutes a day. And you'd better do it properly. You'd better be sad. I expect my five. But all the rest of the time, Clara, all the rest of the time, every single second, you just get the hell on with it. Clear?
Last Christmas
- This exchange:
SHERLOCK: Right then. You know, it's not my place to say, but...it was just texting. People text. Even I text. Her, I mean. Woman. Bad idea. Try not to, but, you know, sometimes... 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.
- And finally: “I'm Sherlock Holmes - I wear the damn hat! Isn't that right, Mary?
All dialogue from here
*Feel free to go look up Jimmy Savile and hospitals. You won’t like what you find.
First a few of points from last week:
- There were three women who fitted the profile of ‘The English Woman’, all of whom were in such a position of power/authority to make that call. This is nice.
- The episode goes out of its way to highlight the similarities between Mary and Sherlock. Even in the promo images we have John as the one holding the baby, and he is literally left holding it on several occasions in the story. The assassin and the detective think alike, the doctor is a little on the backfoot. Loved by both, but not quite in the same league. We see it most clearly (obviously) when Mary takes off to ‘deal with her troubled past’ (usually the prerogative of men) leaving everyone else behind to ‘keep them safe’. It makes for an interesting realignment of gender roles.
- I like the story of The Appointment in Samarra. I’ve not properly rewatched, but I’ve seen the start which retells the story over a backdrop of the London Aquarium. I wish the episode had been better written, because it could have been even more powerful.
But onto the meat of the story. I finally managed to re-watch it last night and it’s honestly just an astonishing thing. I defy anyone to create a better written, more innovative and straight-up clever piece of television in the next year at least. And it wears its cleverness on its sleeve - it’s a bit like Torville and Dean? Or Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. They made it look effortless, thus hiding how fiendishly clever it is.
sueworld2003 posted this video which delves into one portion - it’s well worth watching, and deconstruct part of it:Another thing is the way it plays with narrative, it hops-skips through places and times, but does it so well that we are never lost. The best and most easily traced demonstration of this ability is probably The S5 finale of Doctor Who, The Big Bang, specifically the part with the Doctor jumping through time and making the overall thread easy to follow through the use of the fez and the mop. The Lying Detective does not employ actual time travel, but it does rely on many different time settings (flashbacks and flashforwards galore etc) and manages to tie them together so cohesively and fluently that attempting to unravel it makes you sit back and marvel, and has - like The Big Bang - certain physical clues (Mary’s letter, the paper that ‘Faith’ brought) which the viewer can track and thus keep the crazy amounts of information more straight.
‘cereal killer’
First up - I was not expecting Sherlock to do an episode about Jimmy Savile. For those who are not British, here’s a quick summary, lifted from Wikipedia:
Sir James Wilson Vincent "Jimmy" Savile, OBE, KCSG (31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality, dance hall manager, and charity fundraiser. He hosted the BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, was the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops, and raised an estimated £40 million for charities. At the time of his death he was widely praised for his personal qualities and as a fund-raiser. After his death, hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse were made against him, leading the police to believe that Savile had been a predatory sex offender—possibly one of Britain's most prolific.There had been allegations during his lifetime, but they were dismissed and accusers ignored or disbelieved; Savile took legal action against some accusers.
(x)
Especially the scene at the hospital* (both with the children and in the morgue), and Culverton’s general chummy creepiness. *shivers* it was very very unsettling, and making him a serial killer was making him LESS unappealing. Think on that.
There was also the brief moment with the young female worker on the set where they are shooting the cereal advert:
SMITH: We should bag that up, sell it. (He spits a last bit of cereal into the bin.) Make money for that on eBay.
(She chuckles nervously. He looks up at her again and nods towards the bin.)
SMITH (quietly): I could make more if you like. Any time you like.
(Her smile becomes rather fixed and she turns and walks away. He straightens up and grimly watches her go.)
Those tiny touches is part of what makes it. ‘Mirco-harassment’ that never gets reported. What would she say? She will just swallow it and try to move on (and maybe bitch about men later with her girlfriends) like millions of women do every day. Privilege is a very hard thing to fight and the power dynamics on show are very unsettling, partly because they are so familiar.
Because he’s rich and famous...
CULVERTON: I have made millions, for myself, for the people round this table, for millions of people I’ve never even met. There are charities that I support who wouldn’t exist without me. If life is a balance sheet – and I think it is – well, I believe I’m in credit!
It’s an interesting line - an attempt at trying to understand how someone like that might think. A way to justify the unjustifiable.
And the confession with the opt-in ignorance is also very fitting. Culverton voices what others do not:
CULVERTON: Money, power, fame - some things make you untouchable.
Sherlock has used Jimmy Savile before - way back in the S1 finale in 2010, before Jimmy died, and he was still just a famous celebrity. From the scene at the swimming pool:
JIM: I’ve given you a glimpse, Sherlock, just a teensy glimpse of what I’ve got going on out there in the big bad world. I’m a specialist, you see... like you!
SHERLOCK: “Dear Jim. Please will you fix it for me to get rid of my lover’s nasty sister?”
(Starting to walk forward again, Jim grins as he recognises the TV show and catchphrase that Sherlock is quoting.)
SHERLOCK: “Dear Jim. Please will you fix it for me to disappear to South America?”
JIM (stopping again): Just so.
SHERLOCK: Consulting criminal. (softly) Brilliant.
Jim’ll Fix It was one of the most popular television shows of its day, with people writing in and Jim making their dreams come true (‘fixing it' for them). Every British viewer would have gotten the reference immediately.
I remember watching the episode some years later, when all the allegations had come to light, and thinking to myself how what had been a tongue-in-cheek reference was suddenly so much darker.
So yeah. This was a very very British episode in every way, especially in how it denigrated the worship and untouchable status of the famous. (Particularly the white, straight and male.) And I’m sure the whole country had unpleasant flash-backs.
‘your life is not your own’
This was a very interesting part:
SHERLOCK: Taking your own life. Interesting expression - taking it from who? Once it's over, it's not you who'll miss it. Your own death is something that happens to everybody else. Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.
The evolution of Sherlock is fascinating. This story would not have been possible with S1 or S2 Sherlock. Friendship has changed him. And here it is the bonds between Mary and Sherlock, and their shared love of John, which drives the plot. Although of course it works in all ways:
MARY: He is the cleverest man in the world, but he's not a monster.
JOHN: Yeah, he is.
MARY: Yeah, OK, all right, he is. Agh! But he's our monster.
Your life is not your own… You belong to those you love and who love you back.
Sherlock learned that when he faked his own death. And now he tries to do the best he can after Mary’s very real death:
SHERLOCK: In saving my life, she conferred a value on it. It is a currency I do not know how to spend.
This is one of the most interesting lines in the whole episode, and I wish I knew how to delve into it more.
‘texting’
I know Sherlock is chock-full of ‘teh gay’. (So many jokes…) And (according those who know about such things) it is also queer coded. But I can’t see it. (ETA: The coding, I mean. I can see how they play with it, but I am not familiar with how fiction is 'queer coded' and thus can't really weigh in on it. The Bromance is obvious. But romance does not automatically follow from that.) And if Moffat and Gatiss wanted to do a queer Sherlock, I don’t think they’d be coy about it. Instead I think owls is right - they are basically writing fanfic of their own friendship.
When watching [most especially] the final Sherlock/John scene what struck me (both on first watch, and again upon re-watch) that this is the straightest show ever. I mean, Moffat is one of the straightest writers ever just by nature (although he does try to be inclusive - see Jenny & Vastra f.ex., but by inclination he loves to examine the m/f relationship dynamics) and this was a textbook example:
JOHN:I mean, how does it work?
SHERLOCK: How does what work?
JOHN: You and The Woman. Do you go to a discreet Harvester sometimes? Is there nights of passion in High Wycombe?
SHERLOCK Oh, for God's sakes, I don't text her back!
JOHN: Why not?
[...]
SHERLOCK: As I think I have explained to you many times before, romantic entanglement, while fulfilling for other people...
JOHN: Would complete you as a human being.
SHERLOCK: That doesn't even mean anything.
JOHN: Just text her, phone her, do something while there's still a chance, because that chance doesn't last forever. Trust me, Sherlock, it's gone before you know it. Before you know it!
One man who has just lost his wife giving advice to another not to let his chance slip away. I’m not sure how that could be misinterpreted. ‘I lost my woman, please don’t lose yours’. (Please don’t yell at me for how I view the show and what I take from it. I love the John/Sherlock friendship dynamic, I just can't see that it'll ever end up being a ship. If I'm wrong - well I won't complain. ;) I'll just be surprised.)
See I remember an interview with Moffat. From around S2, as Irene Adler had made her appearance. And the interviewer asked him if Sherlock was gay or not (since they obviously played on how two bachelors living together gave a different impression than it used to). His reply made such good sense, that I have remembered it ever since. This was the gist:
Moffat had given this some thought himself (which goes to show that this wasn’t actually something they had decided on, or written specifically into the show), and eventually tried to work it out logically. His conclusion was that Irene was a distraction (for Sherlock), she unsettled him and unnerved him, caused him make mistakes, and overall set his pulse racing (quite literally). Because he is attracted to her.
Watson does not have that effect. Their friendship (in Moffat’s opinion) could not endure if Sherlock was constantly having to fight unwanted impulses whenever John was around. Being attracted to John would be counter-productive to John’s purpose in Sherlock’s life.
Ergo, Sherlock is straight. (In as much as he is anything. I'd put him as demi-sexual too. Maybe his sexuality is just ‘Irene Adler’. Mary: Oh, the posh boy loves the dominatrix. He's never knowingly under-cliched, is he? Mary <333333)
(ETA2: Tumblr thread on the topic, which includes a lot of Moffat & Gatiss quotes. Surprisingly evenhanded considering the topic.)
But that’s not really what I meant. The following is where Moffat is at his Moffatest:
JOHN: She was wrong about me.
SHERLOCK: Mary? How so?
JOHN: She thought that if you put yourself in harm's way, I'd...I'd rescue you, or something. But I didn't, not till she told me to. And that's how this works, that's what you're missing. She taught me to be the man she already thought I was.
[confession of cheating with texts]
JOHN (to Mary): I'm not the man you thought I was, I'm not that guy. I never could be. But that's the point. (Voice breaks): That's the whole point. Who you thought I was... is the man who I want to be.
Moffat generally writes men as a bit rubbish and not good enough for the (smart, capable) women who love them/happen to be in their lives. But they try to be better, to live up to the person their women think they are. We see it demonstrated not just in Mary (I love her ghostly asides, so many delightful echoes of River in every way - the women aren’t saints on pedestals), but also Mrs Hudson, who BAMFs her way through the episode, outsmarting Sherlock in order to overpower him (which Sherlock of course relied on) and taking him to see John, and continually upending people’s perceptions and putting them in their place:
JOHN: How can that be your car?!
MRS HUDSON: Oh, for God's sake! I'm the widow of a drug dealer, I own property in central London, and for the last bloody time, John, I'm not your housekeeper!
~
MRS HUDSON (to Mycroft): He thinks you're clever, poor old Sherlock. Always going on about you. (to John) I mean, he knows you're an idiot, but that's OK, cos you're a lovely doctor. (to Mycroft) But he has no idea what an idiot you are!
MYCROFT: Is this merely stream-of-consciousness abuse, or are you attempting to make a point?
MRS HUDSON: You want to know what's bothering Sherlock? Easiest thing in the world, anyone can do it.
MYCROFT: I know his thought processes better than any other human being, so, please, try to understand.
MRS HUDSON: He's not about thinking. Not Sherlock. Of course he is. No, no. He's more emotional, isn't he? Unsolved case, shoot the wall! Boom, boom!
Mrs Hudson has Sherlock’s number. And Lady Smallwood is not letting Mycroft getting away with accusing her of treason with only circumstantial evidence (could it be that he too will manage a relationship? The girls remarked that she was older than him(!) - or at least looks older - which IMHO is a very good thing).
And there’s Molly, who has a small, but significant role, and has her powers of understanding praised:
JOHN: I need the one person who, unlike me, learned to see through your bullshit long ago.
Mary is also on the same page:
MARY: You found four men and one woman [therapist]. And you are done with the world being explained to you by a man. Well, who isn't?
We also have John admitting to facts:
JOHN: You didn't kill Mary. Mary died saving your life. It was her choice, no-one made her do it.
She has been held hostage by John/the narrative, stripped of her agency. Giving it back to her is very very important, in a world where narratives often love nothing more than stealing women's agency.
And at the very end, we get yet another damning indictment of the self-centeredness of men:
Euros: Amazing the times a man doesn't really look at your face. Oh, you can hide behind a sexy smile or a walking cane, or just be a therapist, talking about *you*... ALL the time.
The sad, undeniable truth of this statement is one I hope they explore further. It also echoes Vivian in the previous episode:
SHERLOCK: Can’t have been easy all those years, sitting in the back keeping your mouth shut when you knew you were cleverer than most of the people in the room.
Because who takes note of the secretary?
Re. Euros, then I found this Radio Times article which tells how they they have been planning her arrival.
There are also unanswered questions. Is the paper real? Did Faith actually write it, and if so how did Euros get hold of it? How/why did she decide to ‘help’ Sherlock with the Culverton ‘case’? Was it all a snare with which to draw him in - after all, she also set herself up as John’s therapist and texting cheat… What are her plans? She is employing a lot of Moriarty’s tricks, and doing so extraordinary well. (Not surprisingly.)
There is also the question of who Sherrinford is, although s/he could be a red herring of course.
Assorted delightful touches:
- Sherlock walking around so as to spell out ‘Fuck Off’
- Sherlock’s drug addled mind and his whole performance
- This exchange:
FAITH: Amazing
SHERLOCK: I know
FAITH: I meant the chips
- “Anyone”
- The 221B Baker Street interior falling down like a theatre backdrop
- The fact that the first time we hear the Sherlock theme (apart from the credits) is this moment:
CULVERTON: I've sent a car, should be outside. Mr Holmes gave me an address.
JOHN: Well, he couldn't have given you this one... (Doorbell rings)
CULVERTON: When you're ready.
JOHN: When did Sherlock give you this address?
CULVERTON: Two weeks ago.
JOHN: Two weeks?
- This exchange:
JOHN: She's my therapist.
SHERLOCK: Awesome! Do you do block bookings?
- “This is not a trick, it's a plan.”
- The walking stick
- The confrontation between Culverson and Sherlock, which is one of the most unsettling and unpleasant scenes ever. But very very well done.
- SHERLOCK: Must be something comforting about the number three, people always give up after three.
And just the look on his face. A sort of benign bewilderment at the folly of other humans.
- “You cock.”
- “Happy birthday.”
- MARY: Well, then... John Watson... get the hell on with it.
With the most delightful echoes of:
DANNY: You can miss me for five minutes a day. And you'd better do it properly. You'd better be sad. I expect my five. But all the rest of the time, Clara, all the rest of the time, every single second, you just get the hell on with it. Clear?
Last Christmas
- This exchange:
SHERLOCK: Right then. You know, it's not my place to say, but...it was just texting. People text. Even I text. Her, I mean. Woman. Bad idea. Try not to, but, you know, sometimes... 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.
- And finally: “I'm Sherlock Holmes - I wear the damn hat! Isn't that right, Mary?
All dialogue from here
*Feel free to go look up Jimmy Savile and hospitals. You won’t like what you find.
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I'm going to watch the season next week.
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Looking forward to your input when you get there. :)
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Well... It's Moffat, and Savile was a guy who used institutional power to abuse children. If Savile didn't exist, Moffat would invent him to be the villain in a story.
>> it is also queer coded. But I can’t see it.
I guess it depends on your definition of ''queer''. They're not gay but imo their relationship is definitely queer.
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Very true.
I guess it depends on your definition of ''queer''. They're not gay but imo their relationship is definitely queer.
See I don't know enough to be able to speak about it. Tumblr tells me that it's got a ton of symbolism etc etc, so I am hesitant to dismiss anything. I like your way of phrasing it, which is probably closer to what I meant?
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''Queer'' doesn't just mean gay, or bisexual, or whatever. It doesn't even imply romantic or sexual attraction. It's a very nebulous, broad term now that it's been re-claimed and broadened with fun sociological implications by academics.
When I say ''queer'', I'm talking about... the structure of their relationship, and social norms it defies. They are both totally heterosexual dudes, I think sincerely trying to prove they are secretly butt-banging is ridiculous and pointless, but their relationship is not heteronormative. They don't act like two straight guys who met at the pub and happen to appreciate each other's company. They are dedicated to and enamoured of each other far beyond that, in a way that starts to blur the lines between ''friendship'' and ''romantic love''. It's that kind of amibiguous, unconventional, quasi-platonic relationship that falls under the heading of ''queer''.
Irene was trying to explain that when she had an argument about it with John, and she would be the one to know, because she's a big ol kinky queer.
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I'm very much with you and you have described it far better than I ever could. ♥
ETA: Also some headline I saw saying 'Lots of people are shipping John and Sherlock after the last episode' and I sort of blinked and wondered what show they might be watching.
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I had another thought, but it disappeared. If I remember it, I'll be back. :)
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I think back to the writing of the first two seasons (although I still balk at calling three episodes a season. Here's where the British term "series" actually makes sense, because it doesn't suggest a length of time and I just wandered off the track, sorry) and this is, in my opinion, so. much. better. (You may remember what I said about the first two series.) And yet, plotwise, everything proceeds organically from what happened then.
It's interesting what the Radio Times piece says about Euros, the east wind, and how, apparently, Moffat and Gatiss and everyone in the world construes the east wind to be the bringer of bad luck. The very first place I landed on when I went to read a bit more about Euros was here, where they talk about it being the wind of the season of autumn, and of how Euros lives near the sun.
If Euros is the wind of autumn, surely it bring the news of the harvest? And does it need to be a bloody or horrible harvest? No ... that's just seeing it from the wrong perspective (and we're talking a lot about perspective here.) Humanity interprets Euros consistently as something bad, when the signs are right in front of us that it must be a warm wind - it lives next to the sun, for heaven's sake - and it brings with it the perfume of ripening apples and the loveliness of falling leaves.
So perhaps this Euros, while having many of the dark trappings that humanity (Oh, humanity, always willing to believe the worst of everything, even your demi-gods), will bring something good into the world.
Ahem.
You mentioned that you weren't certain how to parse this: SHERLOCK: In saving my life, she conferred a value on it. It is a currency I do not know how to spend.
I think it's inextricably knitted in with Sherlock's comments about how one's own life isn't one to "take" because it's other's lives that one impacts, ruins, whatever, when one dies.
In other words, Sherlock isn't aware that he already knows part of the truth - that his life has meaning because others love him. And because he loves others. He doesn't know how to spend it, not yet, because that's a great gift to have been given.
Augh. I have to go grocery shopping now, but I had to get these things out of my head.
And by the way, as I read what you had to say I was going, "Yes, yes, YES!!!, because it felt as if you'd been in my head, or I in yours. We were thinking so many of the same thoughts.
And Mrs. Hudson - damn fine woman. When she said what she said, I clapped.
One last little things: are Toby Jones' teeth really that disturbingly irregular? I've checked images, and he does seem to keep his mouth shut in publicity pictures, even when he smiles. Every time he smiled in this episode, I shuddered, because it seemed as if the cameras really focused on his mouth, and it felt like I was looking at a piranha, or a barracuda, which was, possibly, the whole idea.
Gah. Again, too much, all scattered.
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Yeah, it was one hell of a roller coaster. I all the best ways.
this is, in my opinion, so. much. better. (You may remember what I said about the first two series.)
If I read your entry back then, I had since forgotten it. It's an interesting counter point to all those who say it 'used to be good' but now it's just all about ~them~ rather than the detecting...
The very first place I landed on when I went to read a bit more about Euros was here, where they talk about it being the wind of the season of autumn, and of how Euros lives near the sun.
*bookmarks*
In other words, Sherlock isn't aware that he already knows part of the truth - that his life has meaning because others love him. And because he loves others. He doesn't know how to spend it, not yet, because that's a great gift to have been given.
*nods* It's all very complex, and I can't say much because I don't want to spoil the finale...
Augh. I have to go grocery shopping now, but I had to get these things out of my head.
*points to post* That took me all of Saturday morning...
And by the way, as I read what you had to say I was going, "Yes, yes, YES!!!, because it felt as if you'd been in my head, or I in yours. We were thinking so many of the same thoughts.
\o/ \o/ \o/ I love it when that happens.
And Mrs. Hudson - damn fine woman. When she said what she said, I clapped.
So did most of England I'm sure! :)
One last little things: are Toby Jones' teeth really that disturbingly irregular? I've checked images, and he does seem to keep his mouth shut in publicity pictures, even when he smiles. Every time he smiled in this episode, I shuddered, because it seemed as if the cameras really focused on his mouth, and it felt like I was looking at a piranha, or a barracuda, which was, possibly, the whole idea.
Yes, they did focus on them specifically. Again, see Jimmy Savile. :(
Gah. Again, too much, all scattered.
It's Moffat. There is too much.
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(And now? Back to work!)
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Clearly Moffat went into meta withdrawal and crammed it all into Sherlock. I have rarely seen two episodes so completely and utterly full of every single Moffat trademark...
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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).
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And it was a take a few steps removed - serial killer, not pedophile, and FAR better dressed. Although yeah, the teeth. Ugh. Excellent performance though.
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I suspect that Sherringford is a hospital or facility of some sort (put me through to Sherringford/Sherringford is secure/Sherringford 2PM, etc.) and I wonder if it was one of Culverton's pet projects away from London, which would put Euros and Culverton into proximity of each other. Unless we get an exposition/infodump in tomorrow's ep I doubt we'll get all the answers, though.
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And they... stood out. Literally.
It wouldn't surprise me if Toby Jones had known the man, though, or watched a bunch of footage to get the attitude so creepily right. Excellent performance that deserves ALL the awards.
That's it. It's all very recent.
I suspect that Sherringford is a hospital or facility of some sort (put me through to Sherringford/Sherringford is secure/Sherringford 2PM, etc.) and I wonder if it was one of Culverton's pet projects away from London, which would put Euros and Culverton into proximity of each other.
Oh, good thinking. That would make sense.
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Some of my American friends were like "Is he meant to be based on Trump?" and I had to 'enlighten' them... Associating Moriarty with Jimmy Savile wasn't just an in-joke, though. There were rumours about him being unsavoury for years. I remember when I was young that nobody I knew wanted to go on "Jim'll Fix It" because he creeped out everyone in my primary school. When the truth came out, that wasn't a surprise so much as the extent of the abuse. (Rolf Harris, otoh, was a total shock.)
I wonder if Euros was abused by Culverton. She seems to know an awful lot about him, even if she is a Holmes sibling.
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Oh I very much took that to be the case, yes! She did use to kill people for a living, which is easy to forget...
Some of my American friends were like "Is he meant to be based on Trump?" and I had to 'enlighten' them...
Yeah, I made that part quite substantive, as I didn't want to explain it repeatedly in comments. I figured those in the know could just skip that.
Associating Moriarty with Jimmy Savile wasn't just an in-joke, though. There were rumours about him being unsavoury for years.
Doesn't surprise me. And i can see them adding that very 'innocently'. Later on, with Rupert Murdoch, they weren't quite do subtle. >:)
When the truth came out, that wasn't a surprise so much as the extent of the abuse.
I remember Ian Hislop remarking that discovering that the guy who looked and behaved like a pedophile WAS a pedophile was not exactly a shock...
Rolf Harris, otoh, was a total shock.
Yeah... *shudders* And Bill Cosby. Male privilege + power is a bad thing.
I wonder if Euros was abused by Culverton. She seems to know an awful lot about him, even if she is a Holmes sibling.
As a motive to help Sherlock. Hmmm. I guess we'll find out!
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*HUGS*
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*HUGS BACK*
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Keeping off twitter as there's possibility of spoilers for tonight but I could not resist reading this. Thank you.
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Thank you!! it just consumed my brain so I spent all of yesterday morning getting it down.
Keeping off twitter as there's possibility of spoilers for tonight but I could not resist reading this. Thank you.
I am a spoiler-phobe, so yes, zero spoilers here. Not even any speculation. :)
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This season has even inspired me to make a wallpaper for Sherlock. I guess I'll start after tonight.
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Thank you! The more I thought about it, the more I liked that line and realised how very useful it is. (Say, the Sherlock/John friend/ship. It is what it is.) So I made an icon. Feel free to snag if you want.
This season has even inspired me to make a wallpaper for Sherlock. I guess I'll start after tonight.
Oooh, let me know when you're done. I wouldn't mind a Sherlock wallpaper.
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What resolution/size do you normally use?
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Shiny! And I'm sure it'll all come back to you.
What resolution/size do you normally use?
Um. My display is currently set to 1680x1050, if that means anything to you? I'm rubbish with these things. I tend to find pretty wallpapers and just make them fit.
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(Anonymous) 2017-01-15 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
Thank you! :)
I just want to point out that the car/address exchange is between John and Culverton not John and Mycroft.
Oh god, so it is! The transcript I found only had dialogue, no names... Thank you for catching that. :)
Also while Jimmy Savile was clearly the main inspirations, besides culverton smith in the dying detective, there definitely are some trump inflections, and Moffat has admitted to as much
Culverton struck me as about a million times more intelligent than Trump, but yes, I can definitely see it. However, I figured that non-UK viewers might not catch the Savile thing, so thought I'd focus on that.
as well as the whole H H Holmes thing, which I thought was pretty interesting.
Yes I loved that, but didn't know what to say about it.
Anyway, thank you for your comment.
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(Anonymous) 2017-01-15 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)I didn't make the Saville connection til someone British pointed it out to me. I did, however, pick up some serious Bill Cosby vibes. Thankfully, they managed to take him to trial while he's still alive.
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Mmmm. Yeah, it's a very particular creepiness, isn't it? Brrr
Thankfully, they managed to take him to trial while he's still alive.
This. And hopefully serve as an example and help more victims come forward (not just his, all victims of abuse).