I never really believed that canon johnlock would happen–in spite of all the narrative cues/signs/clues in the show itself that pointed to it happening, and all the brilliant readings fans have given demonstrating its narrative inevitability–I just never trusted moftiss to do it, especially based on the tone of the show overall in regards to queer issues/identity politics/radical politics/representation. So I was always sadly doubtful. But even if I saw it coming, it was still so massively devastating to see them miss out on the chance they had to *actually* write something groundbreaking. And what’s worse–and I think more important–is seeing the reaction it’s having on so many fans who really hoped/believed/expected it would happen. This show is so important to so many of us and for so many people it was a catalyst for discovering their sexuality and also for finding a community of like-minded queer people in fandom. So to see such a huge group of vulnerable queer people have their hopes shattered like that… it’s awful. That’s what’s getting to me the most. It’s 2017, we should have SO MUCH MORE queer representation in media than we do and it’s heartbreaking to see so many people who actually believed that *something good* might happen have their expectations not only completely trampled on by the show runners, but taken advantage of. It makes me fucking furious.
Sadly though–none of that came as a shock to me. I had reservations about getting involved with this show from the moment I saw the first episode and they had their first NO HOMO conversation. I didn’t trust them to ever make a queer relationship anything but the butt of their jokes.
What DID come as a shock to me was how bad the episode was overall (and the entire season to be honest), canon johnlock aside.
What bothered me most was the invention of the Evil Crazy Holmes sister. Not only was it irritating because she literally came from NOWHERE after four seasons (which is really uninteresting as a viewer when it comes to watching a mystery show and trying to work out the puzzle), she wasn’t a real character. She was a Gothic trope, literally the Madwoman in the Attic stereotype (like have these ass-holes ever even HEARD of feminist criticism?????) completely empty of ANY kind of characterization or personality. She was just an Evil Crazy entity put in place so that they could force Sherlock through a series of impossible moral situations and torture him over the course of the episode. And not only is that SO UNINTERESTING, it is soooooooooooooooooo problematic when it comes to depictions of female characters!!!!
I’m so fucking DONE with the stereotype of the crazy woman. And I’m even more done with the stereotype of the crazy, serial-killer autistic person (or someone on the spectrum who has difficulty with emotions). Like FUCK THAT SHIT. That is not an interesting or empathetic or realistic portrayal of mental illness in any way.
It’s just not fucking realistic. What five year old child has EVER acted that way in the history of humanity? NONE. NONE FUCKING NONE.
Ugh.
And then there’s the issue of alllll the abandoned plot threads and holes. Like… I’m sorry, why did Euros randomly break out of her super fortified prison just to come and flirt with John Watson on a bus for a few months, pretend to be a random serial killer’s daughter to fuck with Sherlock, pretend to be John’s therapist and THEN GO BACK TO HER SUPER FORTIFIED PRISON??? Like why. What is even the motivation for any of that?
Oh, right. I remember. She’s “crazy”, so none of her actions have to make any narrative sense–right. How convenient.
The whole episode just felt so arbitrary and meaningless, and also, implausible.
Like, how did Sherlock, John and Mycroft all survive the fucking GRENADE that was sent to 221B??? And how did Euros transport Sherlock, John, and Mycroft off the island to set them up in her last little trick at the Holmes estate (what even happened to Mycroft btw?? Never explained), and like how could one person have the ability to mind control everyone she meets like????????? And why did they show us footage of the lost little girl on the plane if it wasn’t really happening and it was just Euros all along????
What’s more, this episode meant that NONE of the plot holes and dropped threads from the previous episodes were given any kind of resolution. There’s almost too many to name. But for instance, all that stuff with Culverton Smith’s memory drug was *never* used for any other purpose, after they made such a big deal of it! (And that could have been so interesting to explain so many things!!! Like throughout the series!) All of the paralleling between Mary and Moriarty never led anywhere (why did she keep saying Miss Me???? Why did she try to murder Sherlock TWICE throughout the series? Why did John forgive her so easily for that? Why isn’t the whole AGRA backstory more interesting???? If John was so fucking in love with her why did he cheat on her with random crazy sister on the bus???? Why did John and Mary have a conversation about how their child was Satan?? Why did Imaginary Mary keep acting all threatening and telling John not to tell anyone about her??)
Honestly, there are just too many to name. I really hated The Six Thatchers, liked a lot of The Lying Detective but now that I know so much of it was just Euros bullshit I like it a lot less, and although there *were* moments that I liked in this episode (Mrs. Hudson’s vacuuming scene for instance), overall, I thought it was over the top, self-indulgent, and just… so disappointing.
I did like that it ended with John and Sherlock back in Baker Street together solving cases, and was SO RELIEVED that they didn’t pair Sherlock off with any random female character (thank god). But that fucking scene with Molly omg what a fucking piece of patriarchal garbage. I’m pissed for her character that they did that to her. She deserved so much better than that.
I know there were other things I liked… but honestly I’m too pissed and disappointed right now to remember what they are.
i am on the plane and thinking about where my opinions lie with regards to whether or not i’m ever going to trust again when it comes to something like this
and i’ll tell you that last night felt terrible. it felt absolutely awful. everyone was crying (especially me), the mood was sour, and last night was the death of a fandom era as i had come to know it
but do you know what wasn’t terrible? the three years leading up to it. the creativity that blossomed from what we were watching. the friends that i made. the confidence that i was given and the skills that i learned as a result of this fandom are an absolute treasure to me, and even if i were to go back with the knowledge that this would be how it ended, if i were also told what i would gain, i’d do it all over again.
no matter what happens in the coming days, these past three years have been, without a single doubt or question, three of the best years of my entire life. i just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of my friends and all of the people who care about me. i want to say thank you to everyone who has stuck by me even if it wasn’t the popular thing to do. i want to say thank you to everyone who has created transformative content. i want to say thank you to the meta writers, the academics, and the plucky old birds who have been around since granada days or even earlier: still hoping, still wishing, still waiting.
and i want to say thank you to the creators who are going to make it happen. mofftiss didn’t manage, but we can, and we will. mofftiss had their turn to play with sherlock holmes, and now it’s ours. let’s really do it the right way this time.
I still can’t quite believe that they wrote the beautiful line ‘that is the version that I present to the public. The brain without a heart. The calculating machine. I write all of that, Holmes, and the readers lap it up, but I do not believe it’ and completely contradicted it in the final minutes of the Grand Finale with ‘who you really are, it doesn’t matter. It’s about the legend, the adventures.’
Yup. I also don’t get why they didn’t finish with a post from John’s blog. An edited version of Mary’s p.s without the junkie ref and the legend stuff but simply the bit about what 221b is as a last refuge. And read by John as he’s typing and picked up by Sherlock as he’s at his laptop or looking at his phone reading – man, it could have been a beautiful chapter close.
I could have been vaguely content with the ending if they did the above. But they went with hollowness.
No one who thinks about the world at all makes it through their lives without getting caught up in some kind of conspiracy. A lot of the people I grew up with believed vaccines caused autism. Some thought Obama was the antichrist, or at the very least in cahoots with jihadists. Most thought global warming was a communist plot, and evolution the absurd invention of evil scientists.
Conspiracies tend to help create the world they believe in. Fearful conspiracies make the world scarier. Paranoid ones create enemies. Apocalyptic ones end up experiencing their own apocalypse in miniature, sooner or later.
You were caught up in a kind conspiracy, and you made this space kinder. You believed the world was better than it is; and you made it better. You believed a love story was being told that had been waiting for ages; and you wrote and drew and dreamed it into being told. You created all this.
I needed this, unspeakably much. I felt alone. You made me stronger. I’m going to keep writing the things I’ve been writing, and fighting the fight we’ve been fighting; I’m going to keep telling this story, and all the stories, on every street corner and magazine page and indie publishing company and fanfic site that’ll have me. I’ll amplify your voices, too, whenever you have something to say; and when you’re tired and need to be quiet, I’ll sit with you here, or wherever I find you. We are still what we have been to each other.
Of all the conspiracies to be caught up in, I’m glad it was this one.
Do not call me fucking stupid for hating this episode when I have spent hours upon hours of my life thinking and theorising about your show trying to make sense of the overarching plot line whilst you spew out this nonsensical garbage that has less emotional and intellectual integrity than the theories, meta and fan fictions that have been produced by fans on this website
On January 20th, 2017, the citizens of the United Kingdom find themselves watching BBC Nightly News coverage of President Trump’s inauguration. A woman vacuums her flat and sighs at the television, overcome with dread. A man in a pub glances up at the screen before taking a much-needed gulp of beer. Without warning, the BBC channels freeze. Static snow, broadcast colors – an interruption of the feed. The men at the pub glance up at the screen. The woman turns off her vacuum. There in front of everyone, on every BBC Channel, is James Moriarty, flashing a threatening smile back at them.
“Peek-a-boo,” he says menacingly. The men at the pub look around at each other confused. Moriarty mumbles on.
“It’s doesn’t quite make sense, this doesn’t quite make sense.”
All people in the pub watch in silence as his voice sharpens.
“Of course it doesn’t make sense! It’s not real.”
“I mean, come on, be serious.”
“Is this silly enough for you yet?”
“Gothic enough?”
“Mad enough, even for you?”
“It doesn’t make sense because it’s not real.”
“None of it.”
The men in the pub are shocked. Could this mean what they think it means?
“You want to see the real series four of Sherlock? Surprise. “The Reigate Puzzle” airs Sunday night at nine. The real story will be told.”
“Shall we go over together?”
The feed cuts out. Back to the inauguration. However, no one in the United Kingdom could care less about that. The news spreads virally, every Sherlock fan finds out about this within hours. The fandom spirals into chaos.
On Sunday, January 22nd, Sherlock fans see what this story has been about from the beginning. The episode starts as Sherlock wakes in his hospital bed, John Watson right beside him. Mary’s gunshot was severe, he barely pulled through. It’s been a few weeks of a medically-induced coma, but he’s back now. Finally out of his mind and into the real world. John holds his hand, tearing as he watches his best friend wake up.
And from there we see the two of them take down the ruthless, smart, manipulative Mary Morstan, who was never an assassin, but something far, far worse. All of the extra filmed clips from the last years build to be a beautiful story of love, loss, and revenge. The theorized storyline of the episode can be found here.
Sherlock Fandom Archive 