john has a blog, doesnt know what to write in it, finds his life boring until he meets sherlock. starts writing blog posts about his life with sherlock and the first case they have, a study in pink, john already redacts names from people working on the case, showing us already the difference between what we see in the show and what is presented as an official version of the case
moriarty who already knew about sherlock thanks to his website, gets more infos on sherlock thanks to john’s blog: sherlock already criticizes john’s blog for the way he writes about him (the great game), moriarty uses clues from john’s blog to get sherlock in the game
season 2:
sherlock gets more and more famous thanks to john’s blog: john’s blog become a real part of their jobs and twice in this season someone compliments john on his writing of a particular case: the aluminum crutch, a case about a man killing himself by accident while acting on stage, we also can see already how john distorts reality just by writing about The Woman. we also see more cases that aren’t truly talked about on the show or just referenced, full of subtext and codes. we also get multiple references to what is the truth, who is sherlock who is moriarty, the lie behind reichenbach fall and the destruction of sherlock’s reputation: a big lie wrapped up in truth
season 3:
season 3 starts with the presentation of multiple versions of the same story: the empty hearse gives us three theories about how sherlock survived, what sherlock accepts to tell us about it, we also have mary reading an excerpt of john’s blog that we never have heard before. john’s blog becomes active again, full of longing and again distortions of truth (the stag night???), tsot is about john’s blog and the story of sherlock and john seen through john’s blog and sherlock’s own memories: again we can see the difference between what is written from john’s pov and what sherlock tells us.
the main villain of this season is magnussen, controlling the media, publishing whatever he wants to pursue his own goals. we see how it doesnt matter to him if what he’s published is untrue, just the action of publishing it makes it true for the public.
tab:
john’s blog or should we say watson’s stories are part of the official narrative: sherlock in his drug mind palace is aware that what john’s writing is just an official version of the story, a public persona for sherlock that is not the truth, this episode finally makes a point of telling everyone that john’s blog is not telling the truth: it’s just something sold to the readers/audience
season 4:
finally john’s blog is the show. when before we had the line between reality and fiction, when before we could as the audience tell exactly where was the lie between what john wanted to present as the truth and what he experienced, now we have no idea: the blog has officially announced it wouldn’t be updated anymore (by the BBC) and gave a link to the actual show: the blog tells us that for more content of its nature, we had to watch the show. the promotion for season 4 was all about lie and distortion of the truth, from glitches during the relentless promo videos (an entire month before it premiered): all the videos we got from all the main characters were, in my opinion, a presentation of john’s version of these characters, hence the video glitches for each of them.
NURSE CORNISH: It’s gone downhill a bit, hasn’t it?
If Sherlock was the last person updating John’s blog, then who should we believe came up with all those unpublished blog posts?
Looks like Sherlock’s the storyteller to me now.
This is important and I really don’t want us to forget about that in our further analysis.
I was just re-watching that scene in TDL, trying to make sense of why does Nurse Cornish and apparently everyone else FIRMLY BELIEVES that John’s blog is actually Sherlock’s, like ???
Right, @marcespot?? Why else would they question whose blog it is?
I haven’t have time to read the thing yet, but I’m seeing a lot of people talking about the relationship between the blog and the show in S4, and I thought it might be a good time to mention that Culverton Smith’s hospital wing probably opened for business the day of or the day after John’s stag night.
I think there was a lot of discussion early on about this date being 20 July, 2044, but it’s really 20 July, 2014 (not enough room for two 4s there).
The following day, John wrote up the Mayfly Man case, describing his “quiet, civilised evening” with Sherlock.
So civilised that it led him to create a persona based his darkest vision of himself, I guess.
Theoretically, there may have been a lag between the courtroom deduction scene in TSOT and John writing this post, but he needed no additional information after that scene to do it, so I’m betting that stag night occurred 19 or 20 July, 2014. Whether or not “the show is the blog”, this is support for Culverton Smith being a creation of John’s mind.
Diagram from John Yorke’s ’Into the Woods’ (classic book about narrative structure).
I’ve read a lot of excellent analysis of Sherlock, but none that explicitly addresses narrative structure in terms of acts. If we assume each act is a series, and each episode is one step within each act, this does seem to fit with Sherlock falling in love with John. (The use of ‘problem’ is unfortunate terminology in this case, but if we consider that Sherlock sees emotion as abhorrent, then it is a ‘problem’ in that sense. Bear with me.) I’m not suggesting that the writers have deliberately explicitly followed this structure (Moffat has said he hates discussing structure and just tells the story), but that (as Yorke explains) good writers cannot help following this structure because THIS IS HOW STORIES WORK.
Anyway.
Act/series one: from no knowledge of what love feels like to a knowledge of it as he and John meet and become close, saving each other’s lives.
Act/series two: from a refusal to acknowledge that he loves John (separating himself from him physically frequently in ASiB, eg the hitchhiker scene, Battersea Power Station where he is present but unseen), to an acknowledgement of it (TRF).
Act/series three: Experimenting with the knowledge – testing out John’s feelings (eg in the tube carriage in TEH), key knowledge about John (take your pick from everything in TSoT), and experimenting with key knowledge of problem (making sacrifices for John and Mary).
Act/series four: Consequences. Fear. Anxiety. (All of which fits with what we’ve been told.) Full knowledge (an actual confession of love?). The worst point (Mary-related? Moriarty? Mycroft? All of them? Gaaaahh).
BUT…
Act/series five: Final choice (John vs some major aspect of The Work?), final battle (Moriarty/another antagonist kidnaps John, perhaps?), then mastery of knowledge (canon Johnlock relationship, throwing of confetti, uncorking of champagne, much merriment throughout the land).
If anyone has more on this idea I’d love to read it.
Tagging a couple of excellent people below for your thoughts if you’re interested.
Interesting additions, @ebaeschnbliah. There are so many fake things in this show. And the fact that Jim and Eurus are so closely associated confirms my belief that only Jim was real and Eurus is a part of Sherlock that is connected to him. Just think of all the video messages and both killing a boy by making him drown – so many coincidences …
Is there also something about the lens covering the eye, so not only does it contribute to the disguise (surface level) but also affects how the eye perceives (subtext, see/observe, interpretation)?
@sarahthecoat, I’m wild about the idea that it’s all about disguise and perception.
Isn’t this Anderson’s fantasy, in teh? Just to throw yet another wrench in the works?
Idk about the idea that it’s Sherlock’s, though, since he isn’t in the room when the confrontation with Eurus takes place, although who tf knows. (I mean, OR IS HE, if he is Eurus?) tfp Eurus seems too John-ish to me–I can’t get past baby Eurus’s John sweater…
@sarahthecoat@may-shepard I love that idea. I’ve been kicking around the idea that John having one eye covered is the same sort of thing – that he remains blind to one part of his dual nature, rather than a literal blindness.
Allow me to add little Victor to the mix!
One-eye John = Moriarty, Sherlock-in-exile, Eurus, and little Victor aka John-look-alike? In TGG, John was the voice of Jim Moriarty for a few minutes there…… and the voice of Jim Moriarty announced the arrival of TFP 👀
This episode was once again written by Steven Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay, who also directed Sherlock’s The Six Thatchers.
Missy and The Master circling The Doctor, asking how many times and ways he has died: “Have you burned?”= Moriarty saying “I will burn the heart out of you” in The Great Game. “I know you’ve fallen,” obviously ties into the title The Doctor Falls– and Sherlock of course has literally ‘fallen’ in The Reichenbach Fall. And The Master’s last quip:“Have you ever drowned?” makes me think of the original ACD canon, and Holmes and Moriarty plunging into The Reichenbach Falls. (And “drowned Redbeard” in The Final Problem…)
An even more explicit callback to The Reichenbach Fall and Sherlock falling off the roof of St Barts with Missy saying to The Doctor: “We might just chuck you off the roof.”
Missy says of The Doctor: “Love it when he’s Mr Volcano” when he is ‘internalising’ his emotions. See this quote by Steven Moffat:
“Sherlock Holmes, again, must have sexual impulses. (…) The fact is, he decides to put all that in an iron box to make his brain work better. He wants to rise above us like a snowcapped mountain, but he’s actually a volcano, and that’s where the story is. That’s where the story is.”
The Master asking the Doctor “What have we missed?”= Moriarty asking Sherlock “What have I missed?” in The Reichenbach Fall.
The Doctor saying that Bill’s mind is acting like a “perception filter”, and it’s so strong that it’s ‘built itself a castle.’= makes me think of the theories in The Final Problem of Sherrinford symbolising John’s mind in turmoil/lockdown as he lies there, shot.
“Where there’s tears, there’s hope….” [insert John crying in Sherlock’s arms in The Lying Detective]
Missy once more uses an umbrella as a weapon like Mycroft does in The Final Problem.
The Doctor saying “You can always fool a monkey brain with a little bit of theatre.”= there is a lot of misdirection in Sherlock, like sleight of hand in magic tricks, to distract the audience- and for a more literal take on ‘theatre’, see: Sherlock Series 4 as “Epic Theatre.” & this Moriarty ‘Applause’ addition.
A weapon used against the cybermen is an apple= Moriarty carving ‘IOU’ into an apple in The Reichenbach Fall.
Missy shaking hands with The Doctor even though she’s telling him she will not stand with him, but she’s disguising her true intentions… hello, Misleading Handshake Hell, WE HAVE A SHERLOCK COUNTERPART FOR YOU 😉 See this (pre-series 4) post by @waitedforgarridebs on a “deleted” handshake scene between Moriarty and Mycroft.
Missy and The Master killing each other in front of each other… ahem, to quote Steven Moffat on Sherlock and Moriarty: “Do you think they went up on that roof and faked suicide at each other?!” 😉
I’ve so enjoyed writing up all my posts for this series, and thank you all for reading, hope you’ve enjoyed them! I’ll still be doing the same for Christmas… once more unto the breach, dear friends. 😉 ❤
Here are some more connections about blue for you @ebaeschnbliah ……
In TGG, Professor Carin was actually looking at Neptune when Golem reached for her life (Neptune was discovered by Urbain Le Verrier in 1846).
Johann Gottfried Galle (German astronomer and the first person to view the planet based on the coordinates sent to him by Le Verrier) first proposed the name “Janus” for the newly discovered planet, likely because of its similarity in composition to the other ice giantUranus.
Neptune is the god of the sea, while Uranus is derived from the Latinised version of the Greek god of the sky Ouranos. Both ice giants, but their names represent the opposites of the horizon. A lot like Arctic and Antarctica, wouldn’t you say?
But more importantly, while other planets took Roman names, Uranus kept its Greek roots – it’d take a Greek interpreter to speak… Uranian. In Victorian London, there were many words used in describing gays and lesbians – and yes, Uranians was one of them:
It is believed to be an English adaptation of the German word Urning, which was first published by activist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–95) in a series of five booklets (1864–65) which were collected under the title Forschungen über das Räthsel der mannmännlichen Liebe (“Research into the Riddle of Man-Male Love”). [x] [x]
ACD wrote a short story named The Terror of Blue John Gap – it borders on the supernatural but reads like another piece of the puzzle to The Valley of Fear, The Blue Carbuncle, The Lost Special, and The Parasite.It reminded me a lot of The Eater of Light (Dr. Who)…… as It is sometimes said that Blue John (also known as Derbyshire Spar, a semi-precious mineral) was discovered by the Romans 2000 years ago [x].
As a side note, this is what Blue John looks like [x]:
“A form of fluorite with bands of a purple-blue or yellowish color”… as in the speckled band? Or Holme’s snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the centre of the lid which was a gift from the King of Bohemia?
At least we know lighting choice of ASiP was no accident:
This is great, @darlingtonsubstitution! I didn’t know about the connection between Blue John and the speckled band. Here’s the photograph of an Indian cobra (the “swamp adder” is a name Doyle made up) that accompanies the Wiki article on The Speckled Band:
It’s an interesting choice, because the cobra’s morphology varies, and this one matches the Blue John pattern.
I guess now we can tell the snake from the bell-pull in that darkened bedroom? 😉
😑 sometimes I really want to drop-kick Mofftiss I swear @devoursjohnlock…
Anyway, dick jokes aside, I was thinking about the bell-pull in SPEC when reading the missing ring and dumbbell bit in VALL. Because… the origin of “dumbbell” is an apparatus used to ring a church bell, but without the bell (hence dumb). So Holmes recovered the missing dumbbell by “replacing it”, baited Barker in order to reveal the “real husband” John Douglas and his not-missing-wedding “ring” – so two dumbbells, but only one ring, one… remained missing, then. Same in SPEC – Holmes gave the bell-pull a “brisk tug” to learn that it was a dummy, a bell-pull with a missing “ring”. However, the church bell did ring once already in ACD canon – in SCAN, Holmes in disguise as the best man in Irene Adler’s wedding; but it was… a replacement, orchestrated by Holmes in order to reveal the “real husband,” whose name is…… John.
So. Sherlock “pulled” in TSoT, just as Holmes did in SPEC; Mary later identified John as “a dummy” in HLV while Blue John = the speckled band. The wheel turns…… Sherlock was the best-man-in-battle and practically planned the entire wedding in TSoT but disguised as John for a bit and wrote the blog post; while Holmes was in disguise at the wedding in SCAN and Watson faithfully recorded the “replacement” story.
Still. The facts remain. One missing ring. A “real husband” named John.
We are so gonna get the Sherlock/John wedding. Chances are it’s been fucking filmed already and sitting in the vault somewhere all this time.
Apology for going off the topic on your post @ebaeschnbliah ……😅
Well you wouldn’t remember me, maybe. Like, we sort of sat side by side while Sherlock Holmes was giving testimony? You remember, the super super deliciously handsome–
Yeah I remember that but I don’t think I remember you?
Well maybe you wouldn’t. When the jury came back to deliver the verdict you kind of changed seats.
I did?
Yeah. You sat in front of me.
Seriously?
Yeah!
I’m sorry. I remember that trial but I was kind of wrapped up in what was happening? It was rather dramatic as I recall–
Yeah.
Well, Becky, here’s my point. See, I’m getting married soon.
Yeah?
Yeah!
Uh, congratulations?
Thanks! And see, the thing is, I don’t know anyone at all. I have no friends, except a couple of people who will be wanting to get very drunk and that handsome bloke and my landlady. So…
So?
My wife-to-be doesn’t know anyone either. Something about being an orphan? Or a compulsive liar. Or something.
Uh?
So since we sat together once for fifteen minutes, Becky, I have to ask you.
Yes?
Want to be a bridesmaid?
Hi, John.
Hi?
Hi. It’s me, the guy from the shops.
Who?
The guy behind you in the queue at the shop.
Wuh?
Yeah, we were in the queue together for the chip and pin.
We were?
Yeah, totally.
I’m sorry I don’t–
Well you wouldn’t remember me, maybe. Like, I stood behind you surreptitiously checking you out while you were typing in your pin? Something… 7–4–3–7–, wasn’t it? S–H–E–R–
Yeah I remember that but I don’t think I remember you?
Well maybe you wouldn’t. You shouted abuse and charged off to 221B Baker Street.
I did?
Yeah. You were in front of me, before you stormed off.
Seriously?
Yeah!
I’m sorry. I remember that day but I was kind of wrapped up in what was happening? It was rather dramatic as I recall–I got into a row with a machine.
Yeah.
Well, John, here’s my point. See, you know why I know you went back to 221B Baker Street?
Yeah?
Well, I went there too! In the next series, you see.
Uh, congratulations?
I had to go retrieve someone very important to my employer. It was quite the ordeal, as he was wearing only a sheet and my colleague and I had to transport him in just the…sheet. So…
So?
So I got an eyeful. Or something.
Uh?
So since we were in the shop’s queue together once for fifteen minutes, John, I have to ask you.
Yes?
You’re in love with him, aren’t you?
********************************************
I hope @may-shepard doesn’t mind 😉 maybe the bridesmaid knows this bloke
BRAVO 😂👏
Now either they’re recycling extras, or they are part of some bigger elaborate plot twist where they were keeping tabs on john in public for Moriarty or Mary
Exactly!
Could someone please do this with the little girl from ASiB and the girl on the plane from TFP?
And isn’t one of the female journalists in ASiP on the jury in TGG?
HOLY MOTHER OF– THIS IS TRUE. THESE ARE THE CLOSEST SCREENCAPS I COULD GET.
This is the most meta thing….someone’s hacking the doctored footage of the doctored footage… the episode itself has been tampered with, just like Mycroft’s film. “That’s not what happened at all.”
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