Most of the most successful BBC Sherlock fanfic uses a John that feels very pre-Reichenbach
and a Sherlock that feels distinctly post-Reichenbach. Or, to put it another way, it pairs Series 1-2 John with Series 3-4 Sherlock.
This actually makes a lot of sense, because Series 1-2 John is everything wonderful about John Watson. He’s loyal, funny, big-hearted, (relatively) friendly, devoted to Sherlock and the Work. He has friends, and a full, glorious life.
He is the right combination of domesticated and dangerous. He’s sweet, but still sexy. Someone Sherlock Holmes would absolutely fall in love with.
Series 3-4 John is… well, not. He has no close relationships, aside from Mary, after the Fall. He’s scarily violent with Sherlock, and deliberately oblivious with Mary. He forgives his wife’s immoral past AND her shooting of Sherlock, but doesn’t ever really forgive Sherlock for the Fall. He’s adulterous, an absent father, and he blames Sherlock unfairly for Mary’s death. His painful anger is a constant, unsettling presence that underscores every scene. Series 4, in particular, gave us a John we would actively dislike, were it not for our connection with him from series past.
In contrast, Series 1-2 Sherlock Holmes is the detective at his least human. Yes, he has swoon-worthy looks and intellect, but he’s also terribly cold and routinely cruel. He undervalues John repeatedly and lies to him in every single episode. He has no real friends, and respects no one but John (and only barely). He seems to mistreat his family. This is a man John Watson could fall in love with, but he isn’t one who could maintain a healthy romantic relationship with anyone. He wasn’t ready.
In Series 3-4, Sherlock returns to London a changed man. He’s kinder, more considerate, less likely to disregard the value of others. He actively maintains his friendships and his relationship with his family (until he relapses). He enjoys the company of babies and dogs. He plans a beautiful wedding. He gives and gives and gives, so much that it is painful to witness, and asks for nothing in return.
THIS IS WHY WE NEED SERIES 5. We need to bring together softer, smarter Sherlock with a John that feels more like himself, and less like an irredeemable ass. Please and thank you, BBC.
I was listening to a playlist of classical music when a certain piece caught my attention: Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. It immediately reminded me of Mary’s perfume, so i thought….why not? there’s always subtext and hidden messages in this show, let’s do some digging and see what we find out. Well, i’m pleased to say that after a brief research i was able to come up with some pretty interesting stuff.
Actually, this song was inspired by a poem named (guess what) ‘Clair de Lune’ written by Paul Verlaine. Originally in french, here is the english translation (not made by me):
“The poem Claire de Lune by Paul Verlaine consists of three stanzas where the poet takes the readers through a journey where he gets in touch his soul, with the hopes of finding himself. Translated to English, the name of the poem means ‘Moonlight’. The poet does an intense soul searching under the moonlight where he has created another superficial universe for himself where he associates his soul to a picturesque landscape. He invites all kinds of distractions to feed his soulin the form of masquerades, singing and dancing. The poet talks about his imaginative distractions, especially in lines 2-4, where he mentions ‘playing the lute’ and being ‘sad beneath their fanciful costume’.
In the second stanza the poet dedicates the whole to ease his soul with the sound of melody. The lines ‘singing together in a minor key’, and ‘their song melts into the lunar beam’ reflecthis soul connecting his imaginations under the moonlight with his aching for melody.”
The way i see it, this is totally John after Sherlock’s “death”. As we know, John was completely devastated. Understandable, since before meeting him, he was a loner with no purpose and, most likely, with suicidal tendencies, who didn’t have any kind of happiness. Sherlock gave him life again, and with that gone, John seemed to think he was back at stake zero.
Therefore, it is safe to assume that Mary was a safe scape, a “distraction to feed his soul” after his world had been torned apart. They explicitly acknowledge in the show that Mary was the best thing that could’ve happened to him in that time. Either you like her or not, it’s undeniable that she was vital for John’s sanity. He “created another superficial universe for himself” where he could get some joy despite the pain. Yes, of course he was in pain. Two years later and he still thought that it was only right to go to his dead friend gravestone to let him be the first to know of his engagement. And then and only then did he find the courage to go to their old flatand “move on”.
He was, after all, “sad beneath the fanciful costume”, because we all know that his soul was broken, so he tried to connect with his own self under the moonlight (Mary) while he was aching for melody (Sherlock).
~Please feel free to add and tell me your thoughts~
I’ve been obsessed with this All is Vanity meta since the start of my blog, and I’m excited cause you found something that pertains to it!
”Triumphant love, effective enterprise,
They have an air of knowing all is vain,-”
All is Vanity as a painting from The Abominable Bride episode (replacing Sherlock’s skull painting) seems like a direct connection to the poem:
All is Vanity is a reference to Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.“
It also has a connection to William Shakespeare’s sonnet 59.
If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil’d,
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss
The second burthen of a former child!
O, that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done!
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or whe’r better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
O! sure I am, the wits of former days
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.
Modern translation:
“If it’s true that there’s nothing new and everything that now exists existed in the past,
then we are really fooling ourselves when we struggle to write something new, winding up, after much exhausting, painful labor, with a tired imitation of an imitation!
If only I could look back into the records, even as far as five hundred years ago, and find a description of you in some old book,
written when people were just beginning to put their thoughts in writing, so I could see what the old world would say about your amazingly beautiful body.
Then I could see whether we’ve gotten better at writing or worse, or whether things have stayed the same as the world revolves.
Oh, I’m sure the witty writers of the past have devoted praise and admiration to worse subjects than you.“
(William’s sonnets are noted throughout the show. Perhaps as precursors to story similarities. Irene texts Sherlock 57 times, John misses Mary’s 59 emergency calls, Sherlock claims that he could have followed Mary to Serbia using 58 different tactics and calculations.)
Ecclesiastes 1:2-9:
“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens[c] to the place where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
William Sherlock Scott Holmes mutters in reference to William Shakespeare “The wheel turns, nothing is ever new.”
Mycroft’s/Sherlock’s warning of the east wind also (i’m not sure how loosely or directly) references numerous biblical passages regarding a terrible wind and rush of enemies coming from different directions, including the east. (The references including Ecclesiastes 1:6).
John’s depression and loss/renewal of purpose as op stated reminds me of sonnet 57, but more especially 58!
Sonnet 57:
“Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour
When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save, where you are how happy you make those.
So true a fool is love that in your will,
Though you do any thing, he thinks no ill.”
Sonnet 58 (pt. 2 of 57):
“That God forbid, that made me first your slave,
I should in thought control your times of pleasure,
Or at your hand th’ account of hours to crave,
Being your vassal, bound to stay your leisure!
O, let me suffer (being at your beck),
Th’ imprison’d absence of your liberty;
And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check,
Without accusing you of injury.
Be where you list, your charter is so strong
That you yourself may privilege your time
To what you will; to you it doth belong
Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime. I am to wait, though waiting so be hell;
This sonnet (historically known Shakespeare writing about a man) in the context of Sherlock, could be seen as John/Sherlock having one-sided views of their relationship. Unaware of their impacts on each other and need for each other.
Your finding of Claire de la lune explains so much in so many ways. It makes use and sense of Sherlock’s consistent noticing of the perfume, other than sniffing out Mary’s intentions.
It seems like it’s almost Sherlock understanding he and John’s situation (relationship-wise), but never being able to properly place the meaning or a face to what he’s noticing.
Your soul is a moonlit landscape fair,
Peopled with maskers delicate and dim,
That play on lutes and dance and have an air
Of being sad in their fantastic trim.
The while they celebrate in minor strain
Triumphant love, effective enterprise,
They have an air of knowing all is vain,-
And through the quiet moonlight their songs rise,
The melancholy moonlight, sweet and lone,
That makes to dream the birds upon the tree,
And in their polished basins of white stone
The fountains tall to sob with ecstasy.
“He’s writing sad music. Doesn’t eat, barely talks – only to correct the television. I’d say he was heartbroken but he’s Sherlock. He does all that anyway..” – John
Polished basins of white stone remind me of the Thatcher case.
And the poem’s mention of fountains remind me of @fandeadgloves ‘s lovely meta. Mofftiss is out here putting together all these lil hints!
Also, I’m in Europe and ngl, had no idea this was even an article up for debate let alone it being fucking passed.
Don’t panic! This was expected at this stage and it is only the beginning. If you are a European and feel passionate about this, please keep on reading and help!
So what has happened so far … the Commission has drafted up a long overdue copyright reform. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/procedure/EN/2016_280 It contains a lot of good, and some bad: mainly Article 11 and 13.
This was put forward as a whole to the European Parlament, where it was voted down on the 5th of July 2018
This meant, this will not go through the fast way, and will be subject to scrutiny and change.
The Commission made some alterations https://eur-lex.europa.eu/procedure/EN/2016_280 and put it forward again. If Parlament would have voted it down again, it probably would have meant back to the drawing board, but most people (including me) agree that Europe does need copyright reform, so on the second vote it passed the first step:
So what happens now?
This will now go into what is called the Trilogue, where Commission, Parlament and representatives of all national governments will sit together to make alterations until everybody is happy implementing the regulation.
This means we can now influence this via our MEPs and our National Government!
In countries that are red your government is likely to support Article 13.
What to do now?
There are a lot of organisations that organise actions against article 13. Check out their websites and get in touch with your MEP or local government and let them know you are unhappy about this.
… and many many more, just google to find one in your country.
Also, as @asthesea-breezehitsmylungs pointed out, a lot of people are not aware of this going on. So make them aware! Share the memes and point them to the petitions. And don’t just complain how shit this is, get in touch with your politicians!
Oh good.
Yo, everyone, EU or not, please at least signal boost this shit. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: those two articles will suck majorly for all of us.
Like dude, how much time do you spend enjoying various things that relate to, Idk, your favourite show or book series. It’ll probs be gone. Funny memes and shit? Nah our generation doesn’t fucking need to laugh, it’s not like half of us are already depressed or anything. And so many other things that are cool about the internet, I’m not even gonna mention how some big, cool places like YouTube and Tumblr will be fucked by this.
So seriously, there’s only so much a small bunch of people can do. We need some noise on this. As much as I hate to admit it, some things require some fat numbres to be paid attention to. So even if you’re not planning on taking any action yourself, the best thing to do would be to spread this to everyone you trust to either get involved or pay it forward like you did.
And seriously, every little thing helps, ok? We should have a say in how the laws that deeply affect us are made.
The laundry list of problems with Sherlock’s last two seasons is long and convoluted, but one person seems to crop up on it frequently: Mary.
Unfortunately, Mary’s character seems to be the wrench that first threw the show out of alignment in S3. It’s not that Mary Morstan shouldn’t have been introduced, or that Amanda’s performance wasn’t well done. It’s that Mary was inserted into the show and then manipulated in a way that broke the logic of the plot, not to mention the dynamic of the two leads. More than that, the writers used her repeatedly to bait-and-switch the audience, without ever following up on the ideas they planted.
For some reason this meta I wrote after S4 is going around again, and when I re-read it, I was reminded of a recent conversation that gave me some perspective on the Sherlock fandom experience. (@bendingsignpost, I hope you don’t mind if I paraphrase you here.)
When I was in full Sherlock-obsessed mode, I took Sherlock very seriously, because the show seemed to be a serious show. It sent out all the signals of a real-deal drama. The problem was, it turned out to be a farce – ultimately, it made no sense, especially from a character development perspective. I wrote dozens of metas like the one above, trying to work out how this could have happened.
When you are deeply invested in something, as I was, and then realize it wasn’t what you thought it was, you feel betrayed. Angry. Taken advantage of. And you feel like maybe you shouldn’t get so invested in something again.
But Ben and I were chatting recently, and he pointed out the value of finding a fandom that isn’t so serious. A fandom that recognizes that its canon is flawed from the outset. And you know, that sounds pretty damn fun.
Sherlock fandom has taught me this: question the source material.
As lovely as you made my “wisdom” sound, I think I should state for the record that I said something like “a fandom that recognizes the canon is a dumpster fire, and is rescuing the bits we liked from the flames.”
Yes. This. ^^^^^
The precise quote is even better. ❤
@marsdaydream, I can’t thank you with for all the meta and fic you have written… And the venting, which was therapeutic to me and for the writing of my meta article (which I link here in case it helps others like it did me–also I’m a writer who craves feedback): https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/1465 😀
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