here’s the problem with john and i think he knows it’s a problem: BECAUSE of the way things used to work before reichenbach like before sherlock left he could be like “don’t follow me!!!” and sherlock would follow him anyways or show up at his date or whatever like. he would tell sherlock not to come and sherlock wouldn’t listen. and even though he put up a fuss, john sort of loved it. so when sherlock came back, john said “fuck off” and he expected sherlock to show up at his surgery. he tells sherlock to leave him alone, and sherlock listens and john is like What Is This Fuckery because he never expected sherlock to listen
Like is it just me or are the red walls in the Garridebs room strangely reminiscent of the walls in the building where John and Sherlock solved their first case?
@jenna221b did a meta about Eurus’s cell looking like the morgue from TLD, but there is this element as well. The furniture is the same design as from Sherlock’s fight scene with Ajay.
There was foreshadowing about this in TBB.
The same visual memories are being recycled. So far, I’ve written or contributed to six metas on this topic, but it just keeps popping up. This links to a few of them. ( x ) @teaandqueerbaiting@may-shepard
yeah looks like watson getting fucken shot in the eye, please let this just be some kind of extra narrative clue, jesus christ
did mary ever wear a hat shaped like that in tab
That’s the one @teapotsubtext Regarding Mary, her only similar hat was flat on the top, with a wider brim. Hard to tell if Watson or Mary though, in marker.
Someone is bleeding out before we get to TFP, as the same imagery is used in TST. A bungalow within a palace is starting to seem possible.
@welovethebeekeeper Are you #*&$*îng kidding me!!! That’s in borough market, right?? Because I always thought that blood in the floor looked kinda funny and turns out it looks exactly like that rug soaked with blood would?? Great find, Bee! I’m reblogging it now because I’m in the middle of something else, I have to think it over later, but for now im just
Hello again!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for all the kind words and appreciation for my music meta for S4!
I’d like to mention a few more things in this post, as the analysis seems to be well-received. ❤ I am back after studying the soundtracks for series 1-3 (sans TAB- I don’t have the audio files and the episode itself’s music is hard to hear). It’s been enlightening to go back AFTER working on S4. These you may already know, but it’s sort of refreshing to revisit, I think.
I will start by saying that S4 by far has the most musically creative and diverse pieces out of them all; whereas series 1-3 are mainly recycled iconic materials, S4 is full of new motifs, techniques, instruments, orchestrations,… It’s very fun. Even TFP, which is basically a ~Theme & Variations on “Eurus.”~
Which brings to my main point: this simply cannot be trash. If the music was THIS carefully scripted and interwoven with multiple layers….. I think we can remain hopeful. This much engineering takes a lot of work. Also probably why it’s so fucky- there aren’t as many “Sherlock” and “John” themes as before. They’re either heavily doctored (hehe) or just really subtle.
S1: iconic.
S2-S3
TRF-“Prepared to do Anything” is the same theme as when HLV!Sherlock freaks the fuck out in his Mind Palace after being shot by Mary. (In fact, this is the “emergency/crisis” theme song.) But what do we hear as Sherlock literally comes back to life? What happens when he’s afraid that John Watson is “definitely in danger?” JOHN’S THEME. IN HIGH full STRINGS!!!!! He is prepared to do anything to come back for John Watson, and voila! He has come back. (How beautiful is this? Especially after having seen the script?)
TRF-One more thing about “Prepared to do anything.” John’s theme at the end of this track is EXACTLY the same as John’s very VERY first theme that we hear when he just wakes from a nightmare before meeting Sherlock. THE EXACT same instrumentation. Slightly slower OKAY BUT HE HAS LITERALLY REGRESSED TO PRE-SHERLOCK STATE UPON SEEING HIM DEAD!!! BLOODY FOKIN ELL. SAME THING HAPPENS LATER AT THE GRAVEYARD in “One more miracle” UGH PLEASE STOP
TRF-OK please bear with me. One more thing about this scene. “Blood on the Pavement”– as gory as it sounds- is the worst thing from S2, of course…But would you believe me if there’s something worse? It’s John’s theme in this particular scene. We hear his theme, but… it’s.. broken.It’s audibly, horribly dissonant. Jagged. Made of clashes. He’s in pieces. We’ve NEVER heard it this dissonantly, ever. Even when John was back from the war, he wasn’t this bad; this is some next-level disaster. John is literally and figuratively and in every way possible, broken. This theme plays as sherlock’s body is taken away from him and he finally swallows the horrible truth – that sherlock really died in front of him. I’m crying again
TEH-“God rest his soul”– Mustache!John visits Sherlock’s grave with Mary. It’s been 2 years. Notice that his theme is STILL in broken chords. THEY ARE NOT WHOLE CHORDS OKAY THEY ARE FUCKN BROKEN. He is still in pieces..
TEH-“Floating Dust”– materials from S4 foreshadowed. Namely the coffin smashing scene (“Pick Up”), and TLD’s Hug (same harmonic language!); this theme is shown at the same time that John revisits 221B after 2 years in TEH. (It can be distracting because young lads are asking for a penny for the Guy) THERE IT IS!! The pattern of high strings! This is the connection to Molly as John’s mirror. We know now that both Hug and the Coffin scene are about complicated feelings of love. Since this motif appeared prior to S4, I think it’s safe to say that this theme belongs to John and his (repressed/unsaid) romantic feelings. I really wish I could make a video or some audio collage or something to demonstrate but if it’s not hard to find because these must be deliberate….
HLV- “The Lie in Leinster Gardens” – John finds out about Mary’s true identity. Same harmonic language as “Floating Dust” bit and “Pick Up” AHHHH. Also “Mary’s theme (the waltz)” in minor key. Literally. Very gloomy. Also, @mercy-in-darkness just told me that she’s found the dark version of waltz when John says “YOU MADE A VOW” as Mary dies. This, to me, sounds like John has some unsaid issues about his marriage.
S4: all about John’s vulnerability.
TLD’s first track is called “Stopped Lying Down.” We see a smoking gun, then John lying down. We hear vocalisations. It’s safe to assume that these vocalisations are John’s raw emotions. We soon learn that John cannot talk about this with the therapist. I think it’s likely that it is John who shot Mary. This piece of music is what represents his pent up emotions: Guilt. Shame. Anger. Self Loathing. Grief. Pain. His shoulder pain is back (and so are nightmares, probably), he drinks again, and he doesn’t sleep. He just stops lying down. His soul cries out and we can actually hear it in music. And it’s painful. He’s been this vulnerable at least twice before, as far as we know: Post-War/Pre-ASiP, and Post-TRF. This vocal phrase happens three times.
The next time this theme shows up again is in “No Charges.” The corresponding scene: LITERALLY THE WORST SCENE.
“He’s entitled. I killed his wife.” “Yes you did.” <-cue vulnerable music. This is bad. They’ve both succumbed to the lowest possible state.
(Irrelevant Bonus: guess who else said “No charges”? Cabbie!MORIARTY)
TLD’s penultimate track is called “Who I want to be.” These vocalisations come back exactly when he says “I cheated on you, Mary,” followed by a whole speech that we very well know. He need to get the hell on with it.
May I also bring up the parallel between S2’s “The Woman” & “SHERlocked” to S4’s “Who I want to be” & “Pick up” ? We already know the Battersea scene by heart, which clarifies that both Irene “Well I am” Adler and John “Not Gay” Watson are both Sherlocked AF. But as if we don’t already have tons of evidence, they not-so-subtly inserted the motif from ‘Who I want to be” into the scene in which Sherlock is actually forced to say “I love you” first to an unmarried person who is practical about death, who’s always truly loved him. Just like The Woman who was Sherlocked – John wants to be that man to whom Sherlock says “I love you.”
John must be dying though. The musical moment that Sherlock’s hands curl into John’s trembling, sobbing body for a hug in TLD is the same moment that those hands destroy a John-sized coffin in TFP. Sherlock is probably whispering sweet nothings into comatose John’s ears. meow.
Wake up, John. Open your eyes. Somebody loves you.
I really hope that this reading of tfp, as John’s tab, which @the-7-percent-solution has been talking about since practically the moment the episode aired, and which has been expanded upon incredibly skillfully by @marcespot, gains the traction it deserves, because it results in some absolutely gorgeous textual call-and-response, and unfolds some truly beautiful johnlock dynamics.
Waterfall vs. Well
In TAB, Sherlock comes to the understanding that, no matter how brutally he feels he needs to wrestle with his inner demons, and no matter how brutally they beat him, with John by his side, everything is fine. John in Sherlock’s dream is a super manly man, with full control over his pistol (hur hur), and the ability to stand with Sherlock, even in this place where his inner Moriarty is beating the crap out of him, and his emotions are on full, gushing display.
John is all he needs, in order to take the leap at the end of dream. He does it willingly, joyfully, with complete confidence.
John, on the other hand, has not managed his emotions at all, which is abundantly clear from the entirety of s4, and I think, might account for a lot of the ooc stuff we see in tst and tld. He’s caught in a deep conflict, between the dissatisfaction of the hetero cover story life he’s chosen for himself, and the real connection he wants to have, with Sherlock. He isn’t the man he wants to be.
Rather than the free flow of emotion, potentially overwhelming, and powerful, that Sherlock experiences at the end of tab, John is deeply stuck. I know on a textual level everything about the well in tfp is dumb, but on the level of the dream, it’s incredibly profound.
This. All of this. The moment i realized this was what we were watching is when The Final Problem became one of my all time favorite episodes. I love everything about it. They love Garridebs so much they made a whole episode fit into it. This writing is masterful. It is the best of the series so far. But just like John said, all we’re missing is “context”.
“Emotionally, John needs to know that he is loved, that he is safe, before he can step forward” – absolutely! That’s why Molly (John’s mirror) asked Sherlock to say “I love you” first. John needs to hear these words from Sherlock. Sherlock is ready, Sherlock is full of love and desire, he allowed himself to make a step into a waterfall of his feelings and emotions for John. And John is the one in the “tower”. He’s afraid, he can’t land. He needs Sherlock’s help. Garridebs is coming, and it’ll be the most heartbreaking that we’ve ever seen!
@the-7-percent-solution I wrote a few days ago about how tfp might end up being one of my favourite pieces of media, ever. I am still marveling at how they managed to make such a textual level mess happen simultaneously with such a subtextual beauty. Each beat, each shot, the way it strings together moment to moment, it’s a masterpiece.
They love Garridebs so much they made a whole episode fit into it.
Yes! and doesn’t this square so much better with everything Moffat said, once upon a time, with the importance of Garridebs?
@mrskolesouniverse Thank you for this comment! What an amazing observation about the Molly scene. Of course! Beautiful.
Unanswered question? …He stabs it. | S04E03 The Final Problem
John is so interesting in this scene.
“Let me hold this thing that distresses you, so that you can stab a knife into it, inches from my hand.”
So much trust, not to mention how close they must be standing for this.
Certainly closer than the latter shots imply.
It’s surprisingly sweet, for a violent moment!
For an ex-Fusilier, this speaks volumes.
My husband is also an ex-Fusilier with major trust issues. I asked him who he’d trust to stab the knife in and he nodded and said “you”.
I cannot point out enough how huge that is.
Ahhhh! @madadhruadh thanks for this real-life perspective! There is one person that John Watson finally learned to trust this much. And of course it’s Sherlock. His wife, his sister, his therapist with a patient confidentiality agreement – none of them came even close. I don’t know what the creators intended
to communicate
with this blocking choice, but as always the actual meaning is clear. Guh.
Skully asked about this a while back, but people’s best efforts at
ENHANCE revealed only that it’s on official letterhead of some kind, and
signed “Sincerely”. So, definitely not legible, but not from John. Best guess was NSY or some other agency, IIRC. Unfortunately I can’t link the post anymore. 😦
But can we talk about the intensity of John’s looking at Sherlock?
As usual Martin’s expression says everything, but I am happy to talk about it, too! It was this look (landed on at random while seeking) that made me back up and start framing for a gif, and only then did I notice the hand placement. THESE TWO! You can’t put them in a room together without sparks flying, seriously. That look definitely affects my head-canon for the letter, too: it’s clearly something important to make John look at Sherlock with so much concern.
I’m trying to think of a single television moment when any character, let alone a male character, cried as honestly and humanly as John Watson in TLD, and I can’t. Not only did Freeman show raw emotion, he showed it as a vulnerable, broken, quiet release that his character has been physically repressing since episode one. While talking about his need to be the man that people expect him to be. This is so important.
Watch every Watson moment leading up to this scene, watch for him pursing/flinching his lips and thrusting his chin upward. This is a man who has been trying not to cry his whole life.
I just can’t get over the fact that John can’t stop visualizing Sherlock holding his daughter like that. I mean, did you guys pick up on this little lovely detail:
EURUS (as the therapist): And Rosie? JOHN: Oh, beautiful, perfect… unprecedented in the history of children. That’s not my bias [I know, John, it’s Sherlock’s]; that’s scientific fact [yep,
you’re definitely quoting Sherlock here]. EURUS: Good. EURUS: And Sherlock Holmes? [LOL even the dialogue brings him up right after that thus confirming John was actually thinking of him!] JOHN: Back to normal.
LISTEN JOHN DROOLS OVER THE IMAGE OF SHERLOCK BEING ALL CUTE WITH ROSIE AND WANTS TO RAISE HER WITH HIM AND THAT’S CANON
I was thinking, what’s the point of having Eurus become unresponsive after she opened up to Sherlock and everything’s okay? What does that add to the plot? Ansolutely nothing. Not it you don’t add emotional context to it. Now, we know John is most probably hospitalized while dreaming up this story and that Eurus is John’s mirror (watch this if you didn’t already know all that). This is all in his head, mixed with his perception of what’s really happening around him. So, if we apply emotional context and change imaginary Eurus for the real John, we get this exchange about the condition he’s in at the end:
MYCROFT: There’s no possibility he’ll ever be able to leave the hospital. MR. HOLMES: When can we see him? MYCROFT: There’s no point. MRS. HOLMES: How dare you say that?! MYCROFT: He won’t talk. He won’t communicate with anyone in any way. He’s passed beyond our view. There are no words that can reach him now. MRS. HOLMES: Sherlock? [Montage of Sherlock taking his violin with him to hospital every single day, to play a special piece he composed for a comatose John, always hoping he can hear him, and that he’d eventually wake up.]
The shots and their order also drive home this idea. As soon as Eurus responds to Sherlock’s playing, she stands looking like a hospitalized patient
–white gown and all–
next to that bed, from which she grabs her own violin. Then they cut to John talking to Sherlock over the phone, asking him to come to where he is, to reach him, while literally looking at the words “Miss You”. And immediately after, we get a shot of Eurus, eyes closed, repeating the same melody Sherlock is playing; because John’s actually learned it by heart and re-playing it in his head. He’s in that hospital bed missing Sherlock and wishing he’d return soon to see him and play for him again.
He even imagines Sherlock’s parents and Mycroft giving him a visit, because of course they would support Sherlock in a time like this! And I do think Harry went as well–but they couldn’t possibly have shown us such a spoiler. Enough was with the “tell my sister I’m here” message in the sand!
I just think his interpretation is the only one that adds a logical, poignant meaning to this scene and the story. ‘No words can reach him now’ becomes a statement on the power of ‘words unspoken’ between Sherlock and John. And of course, not only means Sherlock can actually reach John’s ears–unlike what he may be told–, but that he could always reach John’s heart.
John eagerly waits for Sherlock’s visits, everyday.
Sherlock Fandom Archive 