Okay, so I understand why people think S4 sucks, and why TFP sucks in particular. I understand how people perceive John and Sherlock and Mary, and the issues people have with their characterization, ‘cause there’s plenty of posts about that. I suppose these are more analytical subjects. I understand why people are disappointed with the plot twists, or with Mary’s narration. I get there are many things that Sherlock fans wish would have happened differently, or just… not happened (say, the beating or Mary’s being rehabilitated by the narrative, etc).
What I’m not clear on, even all this time later, is what’s so *emotionally* painful specifically about TFP in particular (for TJLCers). It seems to go beyond a lack of explicitly canon Johnlock, though maybe I’m wrong. It seems people think TFP is somehow uniquely destructive of the queer reading in general (as well as plot continuity? I guess) in a way I’m not grasping intuitively, and that trumps the extensive levels of angst we’ve had in TST and TLD (not to mention Series 3). That’s what I’d like to have someone help me understand.
Like… TST was painful for me ‘cause Mary was there with them all the time and Sherlock seemed so oblivious to John’s discomfort, and Sherlock joked about how she’s a better partner than John, and then at the end, John told Sherlock to get lost. That’s not to mention Mary’s death scene and John’s growls and wails, which were painful to watch on several levels. John’s sudden rejection of Sherlock afterwards was naturally super painful, not to mention bewildering. Then TLD has John beat up a vulnerable and unresisting Sherlock, only to reject him yet *again* and return the cane as a symbol of how much he means it. TLD also had Sherlock POV angst big-time, with that awful scene where he remembers ASiP!John; then at the Thames with Eurus, he screams when she says ‘anyone’ and he remembers John’s rejection, and later where he says he doesn’t want to die. Then there’s that awful moment John tells Sherlock he only rescued him because of his inner Mary, and he pushes him at Irene with all sincerity, after bemoaning his own lost chances with Mary. Like… I’m traumatized even thinking of these things. The only happy or even private John and Sherlock moment in these two eps was the hug.
In terms of contrast, John and Sherlock get along for all of TFP, Sherlock calls John family and he smiles, they make plans together and basically act like a well-oiled machine. Yes, Sherlock still acts a bit ‘not good’, but again: this is normal for Sherlock, as opposed to walking on eggshells and *still* being brutally rejected, like in TLD. The worst thing I’ve seen people accuse Sherlock of is perhaps ignoring John’s ‘Vatican Cameos’ and/or prioritizing the case in a dangerous situation with Eurus, but that’s Sherlock being efficient and focused on the big picture or the plan, and he’s *always* been like that. Then we have an open ending where they solve cases and raise Rosie together, forever and ever. As opposed to the weirdness and unending emotional torture ever since TEH, it’s TFP that’s traumatized people the most? Why? Any insight appreciated.
I think there’s a different expectation of TFP because it’s the last episode of the series. There are things that people can see as transitory in episodes 1 and 2 of a series that seem a lot more final/shitty in the third episode. (Especially if this is possibly the last episode ever).
There was hype in the media surrounding the show and series 4 about it making history, etc. that set expectations high and so I think people feel a let down about the lack of that uhm climax?
I think there’s a tonal oddness about TFP that makes the whole universe feel like it’s not itself. I think that’s happened at other times but it’s felt by a lot of people more severely in TFP.
Re: the ending, the voiceover, I think for a lot of people, spoils whatever positive things appear onscreen. It creates, again, an odd tone that makes the ending not seem real, seem almost like a parody.
Overall, the plot, for me, was boring, it felt stilted. These set pieces where they go from one room to another just didn’t work for me. I didn’t feel like there was a real threat to them, I didn’t feel tension. Unlike Moriarty’s game in TGG, this game felt very low-stakes and just, fake.
Granted I didn’t love TST or TLD but I felt more invested, and I felt there was more suspense.
I think there’s tons of possible subtext for the idea that John and Sherlock became a couple at the end of TLD and are together in TFP (I first heard that from you, actually) but it just wasn’t what I wanted to see with regards to them being romantically involved. I thought that their romantic entanglement was becoming increasingly clear in the text by series 3 so to have it buried by the end of series 4, felt like an anti-climax.
I think from a Johnlock perspective it was pretty blah and from the perspective of the rest of the plot it felt pretty blah, too. I didn’t think there was enough realism or humanity to Eurus or to the Eurus plot to like grab onto, personally. I’ve felt more invested in like the old woman dying, and she’s a random person, than in what supposedly happened with the third Holmes sibling, unfortunately.
PS by, ‘a lot of people’, I mean me. This is just how I feel and I’m guessing others might feel this, too.
Thanks for this! This isn’t exactly an explanation for *trauma* (more feeling ‘blah’), but I imagine being disappointed or let down enough could itself be traumatizing? I have heard things about hating the voiceover, of course, it’s just… you know, like, of all the awful things that happened on the show (just in TLD and TST alone), that doesn’t really… rank in my mind? It’s not even, you know… angsty. Still, well, I get that it’s the last ep and that makes everything feel super important and final, I guess. So yeah, that helps.
@falsepremise said:
I think it is just because people kept thinking it’d be fixed in the final episode – that everything painful and wrong in the previous episodes wouldn’t be real or would be explained somehow – and then it wasn’t.
That’s probably a lot of it, definitely: people not taking all that stuff at face value and thinking it’d be made better. I myself did think that. I didn’t think it wouldn’t be real (that’s just… not a thought I have… ever), but I suppose I did think it’d be fixed. And of course that didn’t happen. But… I mean… John and Sherlock were ok, so on some level I was cheered up. John was himself again, so was Sherlock. It was over. The first ep in two seasons that they were a team. Anyway, we didn’t get the ‘how’, but I was pleased. Plus I enjoyed the plot and was at the edge of my seat with intense tension throughout. In any case, obviously I’m the weird one here, haha.
I don’t think that feeling blah about something that you’ve been passionate about for years ends up being a blah feeling about TFP. I mean, I’m unlikely to get colourful here but I was most definitely crushed by the end of TFP. To feel like this historical climax was a bland let down, was nothing if not devastating. I would think that the fact that I’m answering this question would imply that I was very upset with the episode without having to reveal any personal details. Please don’t dismiss my response as one of someone who is indifferent to this show or to series 4.
I definitely didn’t feel like John or Sherlock were themselves again by the end. It felt like they were destroyed by the end and its, ‘who you are doesn’t really matter’, theme. If the end shows these characters and they don’t seem like themselves then the effect is devastating. If that’s not really them then who cares if they look happy or not? If the end seems fake and the drama felt superficial then it’s worse than if they’d left us with TLD and its problems as the ending. It feels like there’s no cliffhanger not because everything is okay in the end but rather because everything feels fake by the end which is deeply unsatisfying and upsetting.
I was replying to your previous post as you were writing this, @just-sort-of-happened–yes to all of this as well.
TFP had baggage. The problem was MORE than the episode itself. Namely the BFI incident where Moffatt bullied a young fan for asking a ‘relationship’ question and then went on to insist that John DID NOT move back to Baker Street. This incident went online immediately and there was a Twitter reaction from LGBTQ viewers which lasted for several days. People who hadn’t seen the episode were outraged by the online video of Moffatt, some vulnerable LGBTQ fans were in deep distress that the representation they had been hoping for had not only been denied but ridiculed. In the midst of all this we had TFP ep leak. So many people viewed it early, and went into denial. They simply refused to believe an ep so strange was real. The leak felt staged, managed by TPTB, as the tweets to not watch it from Sue brought attention to the fact it existed. When the ep did air, and it was indeed the same as the leaked ep,it was inferior to TLD, and for all the reasons @just-sort-of-happened pointed out. It was even rejected by general viewers and had just over 5 million viewers versus the 8-12 million of other episode.
TJLC community were very attuned to the BFI feedback, the Twitter reaction and the details of the leak. Many tjlcers were banking on a kiss/confirmation since SDCC, as Ben, in his exuberance at working with Martin, was hinting at it, and Amanda had blurted out how groundbreaking and history making the episode was. TFP was just not either of those things and if there was a kiss filmed then they pulled it. Emotions ran very high over all of this, and many leading tjlcers left the fandom in anger and sadness. Many went into the tin-foil-hat battalion and dove into the episodes looking for clues that it was all not real and a Lost Special or s5 will redeem this AU. All in all a huge emotional knock for TJLC. Plus the ‘hate’ and ridicule sent to tjlcers post season end was huge and we felt as if the creators had thrown us to the wolves and then blamed us for putting ourselves in a vulnerable position.
SO when you wonder why TJLC folks were experiencing an emotionally painful reaction to TFP, you have to see the big picture and not just the episode itself. It’s many things, plus the loss of a dream held since TSoT aired.
Why TFP?
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