Okay okay okay hold the phone. Slow down Steven. Did anyone pick this up after Moffat’s comment…..was it at the London Sherlocked?? And it was to a fan or something? He said that “Mary shot Sherlock nicely.”
Blink, DW season 3, 2007, written by Steven Moffat…
“DOCTOR: Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely….
….No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments. They’re creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy.”
THEY ZAP YOU INTO THE PAST (Forwards or backwards? Backwards! Into the past (symbolically i mean….the past where society required the platonic version of johnlock). Mary did that when she “shot him nicely”. THEY LET YOU LIVE TO DEATH. She sent him “back” to live out his days, like the final TFP montage shows. Stolen moments. That sounds familiar. The rest of Sherlock’s life, used up and blown away. Send help.
STEVEN.
Jesus.
Clues like this make me hope that the writers are really careless and not connecting things in their own writing. Because this would be a horrible thing to do to their own characters even metaphorically. And yet it seems that Sherlock and John are getting hit really hard both on the screen and beneath the surface. Free them!
I don’t know who is she communicating with or what, but I had this bad thought, that maybe this really is real and Mary just faked her own death or something, cause let’s also consider the fact that Norbury says “maybe I can still surprise you” and when she shoots Mary she doesn’t act like she didn’t expect it all.
And, there are other things to consider too: Both Sherlock and John can hear her talking and she knew exactly what would happen after she died. Either way, it’s bizarre
It always looked to me like she was signalling someone, too. If this is real, and she faked her death (though ugh, I dread hearing the John wank that he couldn’t tell she was faking since everyone LOVES to rag on him about the bones) does that mean she is fake haunting him, too?
Well, to be fair he couldn’t tell she was pregnant either. And like I said, Sherlock can hear her too but that makes me feel so uneasy cause the way he says “isn’t that right, Mary” is just so jovial like he didn’t find it weird at all, or, like he didn’t mind that she was haunting John.
I cut him slack on the pregnancy thing. I tend to believe she was ‘playing up’ her symptoms *cough* It’s fake *cough* for Sherlock but that’s just me, wishful thinking 😉 Even though I tend to believe this is in Sherlock’s head, I can see why they make it appear as if Sherlock doesn’t really ‘know’ that she is there, in John’s head. I think there are levels of Sherlock’s subconscious (represented by the different levels of mp) that really don’t know that this isn’t ‘real’. Watching that scene, I don’t think it’s so much Sherlock hears both sides of the convo. He watches John, looking at something (heyo, callback to Eurus as therapist calling him out for the same thing!) And speaking to that empty space. John even says her name. So Sherlock understands that John is speaking to ‘Mary’ in some fashion- spirit, ghost, memory. The bit about wearing the hat is the giveaway in that moment. Sherlock’s subconscious knows this is a dream and is aware of everything so yeah. That’s how I explain that to myself. As delusional as it may be 😔
I’ve a seen few people throw around the idea of Chekhov’s gun in reference to S4 (I think the first was @finalproblem) but I don’t think anyone has put this in one place yet, so here we go. Full disclosure: I’m a supporter of alibi theory (linking @inevitably-johnlocked‘s tag for this, because there’s a lot there).
We are first shown Sherlock’s knife in A Study in Pink, when Sherlock stabs his mail to the mantel. This is basically the first thing we see happen at 221B.
This knife remained on the mantel until the Watson Domestic in His Last Vow, when we saw it standing between John and Mary. @just-sort-of-happened noticed this years ago.
Next, we see a Victorian version of the knife in The Abominable Bride, when John and Sherlock arrive at the beginning of the episode, and John is narrating. He explains that there are truths that he can’t tell us.
“Over the many years it has been my privilege to
record the exploits of my remarkable friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes, it has
sometimes been difficult to choose which of his many cases to set before
my readers. Some are still too sensitive to recount.”
On that familiar theme, “Some are still too sensitive to recount”, we focus on the knife.
[During S4 setlock, Sherlockology posted a picture of the knife stabbing the deerstalker into the mantel. A problem that remains to be solved? I’m not keen on its reappearance in The Lying Detective, so I hope so. But I digress.]
In The Six Thatchers, the first thing that happens in 221B is again Sherlock plunging the knife into the mail on the mantel. But this time, it’s a new knife. (Yeah, it was in the setlock photo above, too.)
What happened to the old knife? Like Chekhov’s gun, it was sitting there all this time, quietly waiting to be used, and now it has been replaced.
The dominant theory about Mary’s death appears to be that it didn’t occur in the way that we were shown, but we all seem to agree that she was shot. We keep seeing that smoking gun, as a dream or in memory (check out @somedrunkpirate‘s gun meta if you haven’t).
Then why is the knife missing? And why does a missing knife sound familiar? In John’s The Six Thatchers blog post, a man kills his lover, and then hides the murder weapon, a knife, in a bust of Margaret Thatcher. John and Sherlock catch the killer, but the story still nags at Sherlock.
Sherlock has now had five years (since A Scandal in Belgravia) to figure out how to do that.
One way or another, the knife has to have been involved in Mary’s death, such that it had to be disposed of, and I think that means that Mary’s death probably occurred at 221B.
But who was wielding the knife, who did they stab, and how does the gun factor in? Did Mary threaten Sherlock with the knife, prompting John to shoot her? Was Mary even shot at all? Her body was cremated, so maybe she was stabbed. Maybe the gun is a red herring, after all.
Now that we’re dealing with multiple weapons, this really is beginning to sound like a game of Cluedo.
This is an amazing meta! The tie in with the six thatchers is a clever catch! Your point about that Sherlock had 5 years to think about how he would hide a weapon is great. It could be the missing knife, or maybe the knife is a stand in for the gun in our The Six Thatchers, where the main murder weapon seems to be a gun. There are theories that John shot someone (Mary) with the Walther and Sherlock hid it somewhere clever. For us, he seems to have hidden in in a story… One with enough truths that we will swallow the lie.
Subtextually the knife represents Sherlocks frustration and resort to emotion (aggression/anger) when he can’t solve something logically. As told by lovely Hudders. Is the missing knife a hint to us that he understands what is going on now? (or that emotional reactions could solve the problem too and he stabs Moriarty to death, I personally would be fine with that)
Besides, I agree with the Clue thing. As Clue the Movie says: It’s not a game anymore.
I was watching this earlier and it makes ZERO sense? Why tf did she throw out that ‘receptionist’ line? She isn’t a receptionist. Could this be Sherlock’s mind ‘foreshadowing’ that it will be ‘Norbury’ in the end? Just like it came as a ‘surprise’ to Sherlock that a ‘nurse’ knew a skip code on sight? Two different types of vinyl. James or John? Sherlock KNOWS how this is going to turn our already. Death can’t be avoided.
In TEH, she acts as John’s receptionist. She’s technically his nurse too, but he doesn’t seem to have anyone else. Could be foreshadowing of Norbury as well, but this is also the sequence where Sherlock and John are using their incorrect hand for their (heart) phones. It’s not to free their dominant hand up to do something else, it only happens when Lestrade is around, and only in this episode.
The interior of the house is somewhat outdated, and I almost got the impression through this whole sequence that they were trying to call attention to the architecture & state of the respective residences as hints to the hearts of the two families. Charlie’s family home is pristine, but they were happy until he died, while John and Mary’s house is a bit of a mess, and so are they, despite still having their child. @monikakrasnorada@smoljohnlock
It still bothers me, on the surface level, though. Is this a British thing? Nurses here in the US aren’t receptionists. But, still, why does being a receptionist mean she knows about 2 types of vinyl? She ‘picked it up’? From where? That is just THE oddest thing for her to say there. Why not ‘oh, John said’?? Was Norbury even considered a receptionist, really? For some reason, I always thought of her as an assistant, but maybe that is the same thing? All in all, it doesn’t make sense to me. I never thought much about the dichotomy of the two homes. That’s interesting.
I figured it was for financial reasons. Mary doing double-duty, so they could prevent having to hire someone. By TLD, he’s working so much he has to find a therapist close enough to visit at lunch. The two types of vinyl makes me think also of truth vs facade, and Mary’s stupid overlaps with villains, especially Ian of Janus (two face god) Cars. @monikakrasnorada@smoljohnlock
If Mary is referring to herself as a receptionist, I wonder if she’s making a dig at them for leaving her out of cases, if she feels like a receptionist or assistant when she wants to be more involved. Before Sherlock texted John to ask him to come on the case he apparently texted Mary to check his availability. John texting her details seems like a good way for her to stay involved but maybe he just wants her help taking notes.
I don’t know, it’s just making me think about her role in the Work and their personal lives and how many opportunities she would have to distort information being passed between them if she was in fact playing receptionist and facilitator. (John’s cursed note again, maybe she changed amo to ammo….)
I don’t know about the vinyl that’s too weird. I feel like it should represent Mary starting to pick up on their feelings for each other (two types of vinyl, one is a fake, a disguise, something is hidden underneath ready to come out) but I’m pretty sure she already knew that….
A few days ago I wrote a BBC Sherlock meta called “His Mind Created the Perfect Metaphor” which basically provides a symbolic look at series 3 and 4, and how they both could be mind palace extensions after Sherlock literally hit the pavement after the fall in episode 6. If you haven’t read that, this might not make as much sense, so I put the link up there in case anyone wants to take a look first.
This meta, however, extends on that theory, and on how the name “Mary Watson” fits with Sherlock’s characterization of her, by examining Lord Douglas’ Victorian poem “Two Loves”, and the homosexual love that dare not speak its name.
I made this to be used for my roleplay journal but changed my mind, and figured I’d share it here. I just wanted something with happy Mary, because I think that’s how we should remember her.
when Sherlock collapses in their living room and says ‘you may need to restart my heart’ John and Mary both go to help him but Sherlock like RECOILS FROM MARY’S TOUCH dESPITE BEING IN THE PROCESS OF CRUMPLING TILL IT’S JUST HIM AND JOHN HOLDING EACH OTHER WHILE THEY HAVE HTE MOST INTENSE EY E CONTACT HOLY SHIT
HIS ENTIRE BODY SHAKES ITS WAY OVER TO JOHN AND AWAY FROM HER HE !! HATES !!! HER ! ! !! !!AND LOVES !! JOHN! !!! (x)
Pretty much a definitive example of fans just seeing what they want to see – literally all Sherlock does is keel over, there is no “recoiling from Mary’s touch” here. You cannot read Sherlock as hating Mary without deliberately misreading what’s in front of you 🙃
sherlock: it’s not like it is in the movies. there’s no big spurt of blood and you go flying backwards
mary: big spurt of blood and she goes flying backwards
a character called the abominable bride introduced in the episode immediately after john’s new bride shoots the hero in the chest: “shoots” herself (and subsequently gets shot by some helper) and then haunts dudes via spectre while singing “do not forget me”
mary: gets shot by someone and then haunts john via spectre
also mary: i’m probably dead
also mary: when i’m gone, if i’m gone
me: alex i’ll take foreshadowing for a thousand please
there’s the argument that john is suicidal in s4 and there’s the argument that mary is actually alive and trying to kill him but i think it’s something along the lines of “i’m gonna talk to you and then you’re gonna kill yourself”
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