Hello again!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for all the kind words and appreciation for my music meta for S4!
Iâd 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 donât have the audio files and the episode itselfâs music is hard to hear). Itâs been enlightening to go back AFTER working on S4. These you may already know, but itâs 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,⌠ Itâs very fun. Even TFP, which is basically a ~Theme & Variations on âEurus.â~
Which brings to my main point: this simply cannot be trash. If the music was THIS carefully scripted and interwoven with multiple layersâŚ.. I think we can remain hopeful. This much engineering takes a lot of work. Also probably why itâs so fucky- there arenât as many âSherlockâ and âJohnâ themes as before. Theyâre either heavily doctored (hehe) or just really subtle.
S1: iconic.
S2-S3
TRF-âPrepared to do Anythingâ 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 âemergency/crisisâ theme song.) But what do we hear as Sherlock literally comes back to life? What happens when heâs afraid that John Watson is âdefinitely in danger?â JOHNâS 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 âPrepared to do anything.â Johnâs theme at the end of this track is EXACTLY the same as Johnâs 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 âOne more miracleâ UGH PLEASE STOP
TRF-OK please bear with me. One more thing about this scene. âBlood on the Pavementâ– as gory as it sounds- is the worst thing from S2, of courseâŚBut would you believe me if thereâs something worse? Itâs Johnâs theme in this particular scene. We hear his theme, but⌠itâs.. broken.Itâs audibly, horribly dissonant. Jagged. Made of clashes. Heâs in pieces. Weâve NEVER heard it this dissonantly, ever. Even when John was back from the war, he wasnât this bad; this is some next-level disaster. John is literally and figuratively and in every way possible, broken. This theme plays as sherlockâs body is taken away from him and he finally swallows the horrible truth – that sherlock really died in front of him. Iâm crying again
TEH-âGod rest his soulâ– Mustache!John visits Sherlockâs grave with Mary. Itâs 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..Â
TEH-âFloating Dustâ– materials from S4 foreshadowed. Namely the coffin smashing scene (âPick Upâ), and TLDâs 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 Johnâs 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 itâs 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 itâs not hard to find because these must be deliberateâŚ.
HLV- âThe Lie in Leinster Gardensâ – John finds out about Maryâs true identity. Same harmonic language as âFloating Dustâ bit and âPick Upâ AHHHH. Also âMaryâs theme (the waltz)â in minor key. Literally. Very gloomy. Also, @mercy-in-darkness just told me that sheâs found the dark version of waltz when John says âYOU MADE A VOWâ as Mary dies. This, to me, sounds like John has some unsaid issues about his marriage.
S4: all about Johnâs vulnerability.Â
TLDâs first track is called âStopped Lying Down.â We see a smoking gun, then John lying down. We hear vocalisations. Itâs safe to assume that these vocalisations are Johnâs raw emotions. We soon learn that John cannot talk about this with the therapist. I think itâs 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 doesnât sleep. He just stops lying down. His soul cries out and we can actually hear it in music. And itâs painful. Heâs 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 âNo Charges.â The corresponding scene: LITERALLY THE WORST SCENE.
âHeâs entitled. I killed his wife.â âYes you did.â <-cue vulnerable music. This is bad. Theyâve both succumbed to the lowest possible state. Â
(Irrelevant Bonus: guess who else said âNo chargesâ? Cabbie!MORIARTY)
TLDâs penultimate track is called âWho I want to be.â These vocalisations come back exactly when he says âI cheated on you, Mary,â 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 S2âs âThe Womanâ & âSHERlockedâ to S4âs âWho I want to beâ & âPick upâ ? We already know the Battersea scene by heart, which clarifies that both Irene âWell I amâ Adler and John âNot Gayâ Watson are both Sherlocked AF.  But as if we donât already have tons of evidence, they not-so-subtly inserted the motif from âWho I want to beâ into the scene in which Sherlock is actually forced to say âI love youâ first to an unmarried person who is practical about death, whoâs always truly loved him. Just like The Woman who was Sherlocked – John wants to be that man to whom Sherlock says âI love you.âÂ
John must be dying though. The musical moment that Sherlockâs hands curl into Johnâs 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 Johnâs ears. meow.Â
Wake up, John. Open your eyes. Somebody loves you.
I really hope that this reading of tfp, as Johnâs 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.Â
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 Sherlockâs 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. Heâs caught in a deep conflict, between the dissatisfaction of the hetero cover story life heâs chosen for himself, and the real connection he wants to have, with Sherlock. He isnât the man he wants to be.Â
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, itâs 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 weâre missing is âcontextâ.
âEmotionally, John needs to know that he is loved, that he is safe, before he can step forwardâ – absolutely! Thatâs why Molly (Johnâs mirror) asked Sherlock to say âI love youâ 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 âtowerâ. Heâs afraid, he canât land. He needs Sherlockâs help. Garridebs is coming, and itâll be the most heartbreaking that weâve 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, itâs a masterpiece.Â
They love Garridebs so much they made a whole episode fit into it.
Yes! and doesnât this square so much better with everything Moffat said, once upon a time, with the importance of Garridebs?Â
@mrskolesouniverse Thank you for this comment! What an amazing observation about the Molly scene. Of course! Beautiful.Â
Unanswered question? âŚHe stabs it. | S04E03 The Final Problem
John is so interesting in this scene.
âLet me hold this thing that distresses you, so that you can stab a knife into it, inches from my hand.âÂ
So much trust, not to mention how close they must be standing for this.
Certainly closer than the latter shots imply.Â
Itâs 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 heâd trust to stab the knife in and he nodded and said âyouâ.
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 itâs Sherlock. His wife, his sister, his therapist with a patient confidentiality agreement – none of them came even close. I donât 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 peopleâs best efforts at
ENHANCE revealed only that itâs on official letterhead of some kind, and
signed âSincerelyâ.  So, definitely not legible, but not from John. Best guess was NSY or some other agency, IIRC. Unfortunately I canât link the post anymore. đŚ
But can we talk about the intensity of Johnâs looking at Sherlock?
As usual Martinâs 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 canât put them in a room together without sparks flying, seriously. That look definitely affects my head-canon for the letter, too: itâs clearly something important to make John look at Sherlock with so much concern.
(For the purpose of this post, Iâm going to focus on Gore Verbinskiâs 2002 film, rather than the Japanese source film Ringu / Ring,because the former is much better known in the West, and I think itâs more likely that itâs The Ring, and not Ringu, that Moffat is talking about in this interview, where he mentions watching it. However, since the broad strokes plot outline of both The Ring and Ringu are very similar / the same wrt the idea of the false climax, the argument Iâm making holds either way.)
The Ring is well known for being a really beautifully done horror film. It looks incredible, for one thingâitâs visually gorgeous and thematically dense. But mostly, it does something with the concept of hauntings, ghostly origin stories, and the standard horror plot that, at the time of its release, was incredibly stunning and exciting.
In short, The Ring fakes out its audience by presenting a false climax that appears to resolve the story, in a way that is emotionally nice, if a little unsatisfying, before pulling the rug out from under its own plot.
Because The Ring is such a standout intertext for TFP, i.e., TFP not only draws on it, but resonates with it in multiple ways, via names, repeated motifs, the framing of certain shots, as well as relying on it for nearly its entire climax, I really think the story of s4 and the series as a whole is not over. Even if you think there arenât any further episodes coming down the pipe, Iâm hoping this discussion might help people understand why the story feels incomplete. (Because it is).
If youâve been trying to sit with the idea that the Redbeard reveal / presentation of Eurusâ backstory / resolution of Sherlockâs story is real / supposed to be taken at face value, but that reading isnât working for you, maybe this will help.
Basic premises: the reading Iâm doing here is a mind bungalow reading. The rationale for The Ring as a major intertext of TFP is that John has been shot, and TFP is the content of his hallucination as heâs bleeding out, which offers an understanding of why itâs so bizarre and tonally shifted from everything else weâve seen in Sherlock. This reading pulls on the newly revealed information, in TST, that John is a horror movie buffâenough so that he feels the need to correct Mary on the difference between The Omen and The Exorcist. Johnâs proclivity for horror films offers one justification for why they not only seem to inform TFP, but practically take it over.
Iâm hoping to show, for people who arenât familiar with The Ring, exactly how wildly it dominates TFP, and to talk about how we can use this fact to make some sense of the episode, and possibly the future of the show.
So when the flat is apparently destroyed everything except their chairs and that rug and everything else, Sherlock replaces a lot of the âcorneredâ furniture with rounded furniture:
A. Thatâs not their original breakfast table and chairs. Theyâre now a rounded set with a little shelf under them.
B, C, and D. Same with the long table, the chair at the end of the couch, and the stack of magazines. The sitting room table is now a small rounded one, the chair now has fully padded arms, and the stack of magazines have been replaced with rounded dressers, which Sherlock probably now keeps his military porn stash the magazines:
(E) used to be a hard-edged metal table, and (F) used to be a shelf with a lot of breakables on it.
And (G) used to be a very wobbly-looking side table. Itâs been replaced with the sturdy one we see in TFP:
Plus, I believe the bookshelves are also less-cluttered as well, and those glass cases we see in the above image no longer have breakables in them
Sherlock literally changed the common area of the flat so he could be a better parent for Rosie.
Stab me.
Look, Iâm not a fan of parentlock in this arc, but good god this is EXACTLY how I imagined Sherlock as a parent. And if weâre going with the Johnâs TAB theory, this is exactly how John imagines Sherlock as a parent too.
Johnâs words have power. John misreads Sherlock and it shapes the text, it shapes how Sherlock sees himself, it shapes how he behaves.
HOLMES: [âŚ] all emotion is abhorrent to me. It is the grit in a sensitive instrument ⌠HOLMES and WATSON (almost simultaneously): ⌠the crack in the lens. WATSON: Yes. HOLMES: Well, there you are, you see? Iâve said it all before. WATSON: No, I wrote all that. Youâre quoting yourself from The Strand Magazine.
I love this meta, and I love this show.
John criticizes Sherlock carelessly on the presumption that heâs incapable of being hurt by it. Sherlock takes in all of Johnâs criticisms, strips them of all their context, and uses them to punish himself.Â
Sherlock
Holmes has become such a beautiful, strong man.
Look how
he patiently listens to John Watson telling him to make a move on a woman he
has zero interest in.
Oh, he
tries to tell John: âAs I think I have explained beforeâŚâ he starts, but John
interrupts him. John knows him better now. Romantic entanglement would complete
Sherlock as a human being, he thinks, and John Watson is right, heâs always
right, itâs boring, isnât it?
It doesnât matter if you think that
John is talking about himself and Mary
John is talking about himself and the bus lady
John is talking about himself and Sherlock (âŚobviouslyâŚ)
Sherlock thinks John is talking about himself and Mary, whom he lost
The point
that comes out clearly in this gif-set, is that whatever we or anyone else
thinks either of them is thinking about, Sherlock is clearly reacting to one
thing.
That
chance doesnât last forever. Trust me, Sherlock, itâs gone before you know it.
Before you know it!
This is
what Sherlock reacts to, with a face so heartbroken it chokes me up, becauseâŚ
This is
the same face. That chance doesnât last forever. Trust me, Sherlock, itâs
gone before you know it. Before you know it!
John,
Sherlock knows that very well. He has lost you so many times over and over
again, and heâs let you go each time because he thought youâd be happier that
way. He let you go to Mary, because you chose her. He let you go at the tarmac,
because he knew his death would destroy your life, just like what he wanted to
say wasnât âSherlock is actually a girlâs name,â but very probably, âIâm in
love you, thank you for all youâve done for me.â But he didnât.
Because
he knows if you knew that chance would have been thereâonly to see it
irrevocably go this time, to Serbia, to deathâthis would have broken you, too.
So he
chose to be kind instead. He may have left you, first, but he paid the price.
Multiple times. You probably began thinking this up there after his fallâŚ
You said
it now. You said it years later; youâve been thinking it the entire time. It
has haunted you.
Donât you
think itâs haunted Sherlock, too, once he realised he had been in love with you
all this time? The self-loathing, John, that you have not been privy to
in TAB, must have been intense. Gone before you know it. Yes,
Sherlock has been there, too.
But heâs
been kind to you, and he is being again, now. Oh, he tries to tell youâŚ
âForgive me, but you are doing yourself a disservice,â he starts, and is about
to tell you that it is you, that it has only ever been you, who
is his fulfillment of âromantic entanglement,â but just like before at the
tarmac and at your wedding, he lets you go. He lets you choose. You interrupt
him by confessing âI cheated on her,â because itâs something you need to get
out. Itâs something you need to resolve, and this is the right moment for you.
âForgive
me but you are doing yourself a disservice. I have known many people in this
world but made few friends, and I can safely sayââ
So he
lets you speak. He lets you interrupt. He lets you, once again, not let him say
it. He lets you once again silence him.
He is
being kind. He knows you need this. He knows this is the wrong moment. He lets
you. He allows it.
He wants
you to know, I think. He is so ready to say it here. But his last face in that
gif-set? He may not know where he is standing with youâdo you hate him? are you
okay to be friends with him again? you said he didnât kill your wife but you
still harboured strong resentment towards him for various reasonsâbut he will
will not allow you to belittle yourself, because you are so much more, to him.
Youâre human, even you, and he is done letting you beat yourself
up. Youâre doing yourself a disservice. Out of all the people in this world,
there has ever been you. Youâre human, and youâre imperfect, but youâre
perfect for me.
He wants
you to know that. And, wanting that, he makes that face in the last gif-set,
listening patiently to you telling him to make a move on a woman he has zero
interest in. Maybe heâs thinking about how little you realise things, still,
even though youâre so clever. Youâre an idiot, after all.
He is
hurting, he is resigned. This pains him. He wants you to stop talking about it.
âIt was just texting.â Texting means nothing. Texting Irene is your bus lady
moment. Itâs nice to know you are being wanted. Itâs nice to allow yourself to
feel wanted, sometimes, to try it out, even if you may not want that person
back.
But this
isnât it. This isnât âmore.â You wanted more, and you still do.
Now look
at Sherlock in this gif-set and tell me he hasnât wanted more, for years, and still does.
Please,
let him speak, next time, John. Let him speak. You will want to hear what he
has to say.
Try not
to beat yourself up too much after that though: you could have had it long ago.
I scream every time the moaning text alert goes off because
John goes absolutely still while his subconscious walks around saying
things like, âposh boy and dominatrix,â taunting and provoking him while he walks towards Sherlock
like a fucking predator totally intent onâ?? on what?? I donât even know.
Everything vanishes from Johnâs head when he hears that noise, and it isnât curiosity.
If you were curious about this youâd stop, maybe turn around and say,
âOh, so youâre still on with her, then?â Throw in an impish grin or two,
give a thumbs up. Good on you, mate. Go for it! Itâs time.
What does John do? Heâs going stupid on the inside while trying to keep it cool. But heâs going around the bend.
And, âSeriously, weâre not going to talk about it?â ??? What is there
to talk about, John? Why are you so intent on this? Youâre even worse
than TAB Watson, and he already was⌠you know. Quite intent. Thereâs nothing to talk about⌠but that doesnât stop him.
He
canât believe Sherlock doesnât text her back. Sheâs alive, for one.
Everyone else seems to be dying these days, but the Woman is alive,
right? And sheâs good for Sherlock. Beats him professionally, not
when she has psychotic breakdowns. Theyâre the same level of weird.
Sheâs just as clever as he is, heâd never call her an idiot, would he?
Not like John. With his psychotic breakdowns, his stupidity, his
constant trying to be normal; God, no, not like John, with all his bloody
issues. (Quite literally bloody, too. Like Sherlock on the floor in a morgue.)
Irene
is better for Sherlock. Could maybe be the only one for himâthere
arenât many psychopaths around, though John has met quite a number of
themâso why doesnât Sherlock go for it?
Johnâs self-loathing is
incredibly strong here. Letâs throw in a âmate,â there, he has the
necessary distance now. Itâs not weird if he rants about her now, is it?
He is pushing Sherlock towards her, right? No one can make this
into anything it isnât, becauseâwell, it isnât anything else. John just
dislikes the noise. He canât stand it. Had to listen to it 57 times, Christ, andâ
no. No, thatâs not good. It doesnât matter. The point is Irene is good for Sherlock, even if sheâs Irene Adler.
Anyone but John.
If
only Sherlock werenât staring up at him with his eyesâwet? are they
wet?âlike they are, silent, just letting John go on. When he wants to say something, itâs good that John can just cut him off. Isnât it?
Iâm fascinated by the aggression and danger of the Baker Street confrontation in HLV.
I think everything that Sherlock does in this scene with regards to John is for Johnâs immediate safety. Â In the long term, too, but at that moment, Mary is armed, dangerous and backed into a corner, they cannot afford to have John antagonise her. Â Thereâs a possibility that Maryâs mission protocol after being caught is to terminate them both and flee.
I think that, with this in mind, we could see Sherlock speaking to Mrs Hudson as he walks through the door as an attempt to immediately get rid of her, for her own safety. Â If Mary were to suddenly abort the mission and shoot John and Sherlock in the head, Mrs Hudson would also be a target because she would be a witness. Â IÂ donât think Mary would want to leave any loose ends if this were the case.
So, when they come home and Mrs Hudson happens to be there in the flat, Sherlock immediately tells her to leave, specifically to go to her kitchen.  Sherlock knows about Mrs Hudsonâs drug habits: the line, âisnât it time for your evening soother?â, is, after all, from ASiP, the first episode,
Bonus: Sherlock says this to get rid of her.  This line means, âIsnât it time for you to go?â.  Here a reference to Mrs Hudson going to get drugs means, âget out of here, immediately!â.  Also, note the similarity in his facial expression as he says, âwhat exactly in the point of you?â, in HLV and here, in ASiP, as he encourages her to leave his flat. Â
Mrs Hudsonâs specific drug habits are reinforced via Magnussenâs earlier assesment: Marijuana and alcohol,
This is a reminder to the audience about Mrs Hudsonâs backstory: it does not include using morphine. Â In fact, thatâs one of Sherlockâs pressure points according to Magnussen (upon seeing his behaviour when they meet at the restaurant) but not one of Mrs Hudsonâs.
Later at the Baker Street Confrontation, Mrs Hudson reminds us that it was not she who was the drug dealer, it was her husband,
Sherlock brings up her past as an exotic dancer, reinforcing the idea that Sherlock knows a version of the facts that Magnussen showed us earlier,
Again, no references to morphine in sight.
Sherlock must know that Mrs Hudson does not have morphine in her kitchen or anywhere else in her flat and yet he asks her to fetch him some.  I think this is Sherlockâs veiled attempt at getting her to safety.  In this scene I think heâs trying very painfully to get John to understand that theyâre in grave danger.  He canât come right out and say it precisely because they are in great danger.  He tries to redirect Johnâs anger at himself even as he tries to give John hints of how much danger theyâre really in.
I think itâs worth noting that Sherlock avoids eye contact with Mrs Hudson as he requests morphine from her and immediately after as he yells at her. Â I think that when Sherlock lies he often fails to make eye contact and I think here heâs hoping that sheâll just go away and be offended enough not to come back. Â We see how he protected her in ASiB, IÂ donât think heâs doing things any differently in this situation: heâs just doing it covertly.
Mary instantly heads to a defensible position when they enter 221B.
She stands with her back to the wall, within easy reach of the knife in the mantelpiece.
Whatever her intentions, sheâs definitely prepared for a fight. I think sheâs not convinced that John wonât go for the knife to use against her.
Bless whoever has started circulating all of my old Mary hate posts reflecting on Mary Morstan, lol. I ended up trying to find one of my older ones and then it occurred to me that maybe I should make a master list, though Iâm still searching for half of them! Here are some of the highlights, in chronological order of posting. There were many (MANY) others, but these are some of the more notable ones.Â
1. Reasons I didnât like Mary even before she shot Sherlock. The original, haha. (Iâm just talking about my own posts.) Posted on February 26th, 2014, this post lost me about 50 followers in one day. Everyone loved Mary back then! Not me. Lol.Â
9. Every title I could think of was too long, too. Posted January 16th, 2017. Reflections on series 4 and BBC Sherlock as a whole, much of which centres around the character of Mary Morstan.Â