Let me come back to TSoT. I know, it is painful but there are some thoughts I would like to share. Much has been said about the symbolism of dancing in this episode and I would like to take a closer look.
What is the meaning of dancing in the individual scenes and how does it symbolise Sherlock’s emotional development?
Mrs Hudson discovers Sherlock dancing alone to the waltz he has composed for John and Mary.
MRS HUDSON: You were dancing. SHERLOCK: I was road-testing.
He deflects. He feels caught in the act which has been foreshadowed by Lestrade repeatedly using these very words in the Waters gang story. And the fact that he deflects proves that Sherlock allowed himself to dream of dancing with John even before we learn that he gave John lessons. And what is also important: he is dancing a waltz which is meant to be danced by two people, not alone.
Then there is the scene with Janine. He teaches her how to waltz (like he did with John) and confesses that he loves dancing. This is something he has not even told Mrs Hudson, else she would not have been so surprised. So we have Sherlock who wants to dance with Janine even though she is just a substitute for John – now as a dance partner, later on in HLV as his love interest. But there ist more.
SHERLOCK: I love dancing. I’ve always loved it.
And then he does a pirouette, an element of classical ballet usually executed alone. There has never been any mention of Sherlock and ballet dancing so I suppose it is something he did in the past ⇒ “I’ve always loved it”. He loved to dance alone in the past and now wants to dance with another person. Dancing alone is a thing of the past for him. He has realised that he would prefer to dance with a partner, in this case Janine as a stand-in for John.
(As a little extra, here is the ballet scene from TPLoSH: X in which male ballet dancers are presented as gay and bi. Would anyone put it past Moftiss to play with this association?)
Sorry in advance to put you through this again, but after deflection and confession there is of course sacrifice.
SHERLOCK: Both of you, now, go dance. We can’t just stand here. People will wonder what we’re talking about. JOHN: Right. MARY: And what about you?
I have no idea if this is another dig at Sherlock or true compassion, but it boils down to this: clever Mary feels that something is off. This is not how such things are supposed to go, weddings, pregnancy announcements, etc. Because of his sadness Sherlock has become the spectre at the feast (no need for Mycroft here). And Sherlock’s sacrifice (not dancing/being with John) is paired with John’s rejection:
JOHN: Well, we can’t all three dance. There are limits!
Followed by the horrible “closed curtains” remark. But there is also hope if we take John’s “We can’t all three dance” not just as a rejection but also as foreshadowing.
There will be no crime-solving trio, there will be no happy family plus uncle in series 4. Because in this show only two can dance and we know who these will ultimately be.
What a nice post this is, @gosherlocked! Thanks for sharing your insight!
Also, to add onto the clues we have about ‘Sherlock + dancing’ in the past, remember how Moriarty taunted him, using the kidnapped old lady’s voice: “I like… to watch you… dance.”
And Sherlock GETS it, because at the pool, when he brings the memory stick for Moriarty, he tells him: “All your little puzzles, making me dance… all
to distract me from this.”
So this, imo, tells me that Moriarty knows
about a young Sherlock who used to dance. And Sherlock is aware of that, therefore his little quip there. Maybe this was among the things from Sherlock’s ‘life story’ that Mycroft ‘blabbed about’, or maybe because young Moriarty had seen him with his own eyes (…and that’s when Moriarty developed a crush on/started stalking him?). I favour the latter, because in TGG they took pains to tell us how this dates back to the Carl Powers case, and how that was young Moriarty’s first murder, and young Sherlock’s first case (”Started young, didn’t you?”). And they even made John be jealous of that fact for good measure. So, there’s that.
Even Mycroft inside the flight of the dead, when he calls Sherlock on deducing that e-mail and telling him that this was ‘text book’, says: “Give him a puzzle… and watch him dance.” And he moves his umbrella dramatically pointing it at Sherlock for emphasis.
So my bet is Sherlock danced most likely ballet, and of course, flawlessly. 😉 That’s my headcanon. I mean, look at that pirouette! ❤
i also love how chill modern john seems now like…he at least has a pretense of humility, you don’t see him dressing up much and such, but then shspesh john has his heavy lidded eyes and condescending eyebrow quirk and thumbs in pockets and pelvis thrusted forward, like we get it, your boyfriend is hot and so are you
The best thing about this is the anthropomorphizing of the bed AS John Watson, not like, “Sherlock’s new bedding seems kind of like a Freudian (pillow) slip.”
also guys i think it’s time to start spelling ‘small’ right again,, it’s been long enough
see the thing is, at this point, smol isn’t even a “mispelling” of small anymore; it has its own connotations. while small is a regular adjective, smol acts more like a diminutive marker, which English has been lacking
in essence, a smol dog will always be a small dog, but not all small dogs are smol.
what the fuck are you talking about
Linguistic evolution. Accept the smolness into your vocabulary and be cleansed.
@nentindo, assuming you’re asking in good faith & not just trying to dismiss a perfectly accurate analysis, here’s an elaboration of what @princeofdoomrps said:
small and smol mean different things, so they’re different words. smol means something like “small in a cute way” & not just like both small and cute but the two are related. This is what makes smol more like a diminutive marker (c.f. -tje in Dutch, or -let/-ling/-ie [like in kidlet/kidling/kiddie] in some forms of English*)
note that: 1. not all small things are smol. Microbes and electrons? Generally not considered smol.
2. similar-sized things in the same category can be smol or not depending on cuteness. So, a tiny cottage may be a smol house, but an equally tiny tenement room that is an awful place to live? Not smol.
3. smol can refer to youth (e.g. the people I call my “smol frens” are mostly taller than I am but much younger)
4. It also can have implications of fondness/emotional attachment, especially, from what I’ve seen, in fandoms where people call characters things like “my smol son”, which doesn’t have to mean someone who’s actually young, short, or cute at all. Like, IDK if anyone uses that to refer to Hannibal but I wouldn’t be surprised?
So! There are contexts where you could call something/someone small but not smol, and contexts where you could call something/someone smol but not small. This is the textbook definition of “different words”. They are no longer the same word and op, you are very welcome to only use one of them! Anyone is!
Just be aware that pretty much every part of your vocabulary, someone at some point has decried as “wrong” usage and complained about people mangling the language this way, and when you do this thing you’re carrying on a long tradition of pompous silliness.
–
*
English isn’t completely lacking in diminutive markers just kinda deficient.
And some of those markers have become derisive or dismissive in usage, which i hope never happens to my smol word-child, smol.
Benedict Cumberbatch attends Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Gala Evening at the SIHH 2018 at Pavillon Sicli on January 15, 2018 in Les Acacias, Switzerland. – Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris – Gala Evening at the SIHH 2018
BBC Sherlock Super-High-Quality Production Pictures by Arwel(x) – 221B S3 set – Note the speaker dock on the table, which Sherlock uses to play the Watson waltz on.
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