Below is all just my opinion, so please take it as such.
I think it’s no secret that I am very angry and bitter about S4 of BBC Sherlock. I think that although I do not believe in a S5 that I have been accommodating to friends that do and supportive of those who still wish to write meta and look for clues in the show. Most of the posts I’ve seen from non believes have been of the same mindset, they don’t believe there’s more, but more power to those that do. So I’m really not sure why those of us that salt get so looked down upon, we keep our feelings to our own posts. I have never once gone on someone’s meta and written that I do not agree and think they’re crazy, BUT I’ve had tin hatters come on MY posts to tell me how wrong I am.
So, let me explain why I feel this way. And if anyone other than @lediona25 reads this, then I’ll be surprised 😉
I’ll say right off the bat, who fucking knows what Moffitss plan. Do they want to do more Sherlock? Fuck if I know. If there really is some secret plan, their two main actors don’t seem that into it. Two men who used to love to talk about the show now either brush off questions, or in Martin’s case I’m not even sure I’ve heard him say a word about S4 after it aired. That all looks REALLY BAD for the future of the show.
Now Dracula flops and Mofftiss come running back to do S5 of Sherlock sometime in the next 5 years, I see one of two things happening:
1. We leave from where we left off or sometime in the near future. The boys don’t live together. John is raising Rosie but we never see her. They solve crimes. John still has that stupid wedding ring on. RIP in Mary you asshole. With or without more gay subtext, who knows?!
2. The whole thing (S4, since TAB, before that??) is a gosh darn dream or coma or whatever, SURPRISE Moffitss think they’re so clever. And actors who have aged (Martin quite like a fine wine, damn boy) try to play themselves 5 years ago, lots of heavy make up to cover laughter lines etc. We get stuck seeing Mary again as she comes back for The Past. Still no guarantee of Johnlock bliss. Probably more subtext and mirrors *heavy sigh*
NOW if the whole mind palace/dream/blog theory happen I’ll be super happy for folks rooting for it. BUT for me, and a lot of other folks, that’s just really bad writing/story telling. Like, that’s not a win to me. The time to end all this subtext bullshit was now not 5 years from now. To come back years later and all of S4 was a dream, god what a waste. Why not just write a good S4? Why the need for all the subtext and mirrors? Why not just write something GOOD for fucks sake???
And, for me, it’s important to actually enjoy what I’m watching. TAB was all MP and I loved it, it was entertaining, it was about John and Sherlock, no stupid fucking separation, minimal Mary, it felt like it had a point. S4 was awful to watch. It was not enjoyable. You can load up all the subtext and mirrors you want, but if your shit isn’t entertaining/interesting to watch, all that shit doesn’t matter. Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of S3 either, but I THOUGHT S4 would explain it all. Which we all know now, it didn’t. More questions no answers. That’s not entertaining television. That’s Mofftiss wanting to have All The Cliffhangers and give none of the resolution.
So, in conclusion: I again say meta away if you want. But don’t talk shit/down to those of us who are mad. We are more than allowed to be pissed and to say we’re pissed. I gave years and my heart to this mess only to have Mofftiss stomp on it with glee. They can kiss my pug’s ass.
Let’s get this straight; Mofftiss came to the project as experts in Sherlock Holmes history. They knew all the components of Doyle’s Holmesian universe plus the subsequent myths, theories and pastiche that grew from the original stories. They came to their BBC project fully aware that for decades there had been a reading of canon in which Holmes and Watson were in love. They spoke openly about TPLoSH as one pastiche that covered this topic. The ‘famous desperately unspoken’ comment referred ONLY to that issue, for what else was ‘desperately unspoken’? Holmes is known for being outspoken, blurting out facts, secrets and deductions all over canon. Ejaculations all over the fucking place. So his ‘desperately unspoken’ can and does refer to his romantic feelings for his Watson. Mark means exactly that when he used this phrase about Sherlock in TPLOSH. In my opinion it is Mark’s KINK, his tie in to a trope in the gay community of longing and unrequited love that is so painful it’s delicious. He wanted that in his Holmes AU. [On a side note, I think Steven has wet dreams over Gabrielle Valladon, and wanted her in the AU, morphing from naked seductress Irene into covert operator Mary] Mofftiss were using their Holmesian knowledge to make their AU at the same time as writing their Holmesian fantasies into the vehicle. They KNEW what they were doing from day one, following Doyle with the hook of all hooks: SEX.
Johnlock HAD to go into the AU. It was started not by Mofftiss but by Doyle himself. It IS the hook in the stories that captivates and holds the reader/viewer enthralled. But in this modern era, any story with an element of gay love should have that element upfront and played out on screen. Not used as Victorian subtext or modern queer bait. It was the most obvious modernisation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Fuck the mobile/cell phones, texts, messages on screen, and all the other clutter the writers go on about in their ‘genius’ updating, it was the John and Sherlock relationship that had the most traction, the most lure, the most pull, for an audience. Just look at the reaction, even in non johnlock fandom, the casual viewers all picked up on it; in jokes, in skits, in polls, in teasing. They all knew it was there. Where do you all think the bromance trope originated? Two buddies solving crimes but on the verge of sexual attraction/love? It started with Holmes and Watson. Why was this not updated to be a true romance?
Mark and Steven had an opportunity that they let slip away. Instead of making history they had taken Victorian subtext to an absurd level with the use of mirror characters, which ceased to be clever after s2 and became just sloppy and easy writing of the gay romance. ‘Let the mirrors have all the fun’. Ending with the last straw of Sherlock telling mirror-John-Molly ‘I love you’. They crossed the line in s4 in so many ways, it was like watching a clever theory combust into insanity. All the hubris and nepotism exploding back into their faces. Separation of Holmes and Watson never works, and violent estrangement was a stupid way to go, especially over the ridiculous death of Mary. Wasted opportunity on a grand scale.
We didn’t start johnlock, neither did Mofftiss. Doyle did. For those people on here who came to the party later, I just ask that you respect johnlockers who have predated BBC Sherlock. They cared just as much about this love affair as you do. Don’t attribute to Mofftiss this glorious century old gay romance, they just used it to pull in viewing figures as a tease.
episodes of s4 are literally like holmes siblings. tst is weird, unreliable, and the moment it gets emotional it becomes Superrr awkward. tld is just,, The Best. yeah, a bit dark, kinda cruel, but full of fantastic cinematography, great jokes, genuine emotions, is generally Soft. and then we have tfp…. the complete and utter Fuck Fest™. nothing you were prepared for, nothing you wanted, and definitely something you want to forget entirely.
Raise your hand if you’ve adopted a unappreciated character that the writers clearly didn’t love and decided to love them with all your heart because they deserve more than what they fucking got in canon.
Did you mean: all of the characters in BBC Sherlock
It’s fair to say I have made my peace with series four. I didn’t like it, although some scenes were clever. Visually it was often beautiful, although that mawkish scene when John and Sherlock were blown nicely out a window was cringeworthy.
I’ve read lots (LOTS) of different views here, and all of them have informed me one way or another. I appreciate the varied views and opinions. There isn’t any one way to enjoy or loathe a program, although usually there are firm underlying reasons that will support your like or dislike.
It has taken me ages to work out why I didn’t like series four. I had my secret head canons, but no expectations that the writers would uphold them. I felt I had a good handle on the characters, and felt I had paid attention to the plots. Indeed, Moffit insisted that we must pay attention to the plots and clues, or heaven help us.
Bleeding obvious, isn’t it? Viewers have to pay attention, because that’s how they claim their the payoff, and satisfaction from the stories. So if we’d been told in ASIB that Holmes was besotted with Irene Alder, if we knew somewhere (anywhere) in series three that he was still texting with her, it would have made sense when we John made his furious directions (for Sherlock to make himself complete and pursue her) in series four. But series three was a train of events wherein Sherlock acted only in the service of John.
Same with Mary. If I knew that the writers were intending to create this platonic threesome with Mary at the core, calling the shots, I would never have watched, because that kind of tedious soapsuds narrative bores me.
And that’s why I hate series four. I like to follow clues and suggestions in a program. I like to have the rug pulled, I like to see how the clues are interpreted or tipped over. I expect good stories to do that. The Sopranos is a masterclass in that skill – you know about the mafia, you get to know the characters, but even after six series, the program can still shock or stun. Swathes of dream sequences that are not only brilliantly connected wit the story, they are also pinnacles of program making. Hugely ambiguous ending, yet utterly in keeping with the story we’d been told. Series one and two of Sherlock lured me into the same (false) sense of security. I expected a payoff, a resolution, some confirmation and some rug pulling.
Instead, with the final series, I got pails of garbage thrown at me from all directions: the murder sister (incarcerated at the age of four contrary to all British laws) who Sherlock thought was a dog. The assassin who was stupid enough to store their identity on a usb key and then hide it in a plaster vase. The other assassin who shot Sherlock and then – well, nothing happened. She just did it and then everyone forgot about it, and then she became some kind of Angel who shops at Next. The great advocate, John Watson himself, kicking and striking Sherlock in an assault that would score at least a couple of GBH charges and two years minimum. Another frigging serial killer who wants to kill Sherlock for no adequately explored reason. Moriarty unable to actually die. Mycroft thinking it would be a good course of action to introduce Moriarty to the murder sister. The murder sister who didn’t actually have to stay in the prison but just did. Her mind powers. All these tails of thread that were supposed to make a story and ended up being a a mess of tangles that, no matter how carefully you try to unpick them, won’t form a coherent pattern or even a serviceable mat.
The writers had no concern for the people whose investment made their product globally famous and hugely profitable. To be sure, they have no obligation to do that, but isn’t that what writers do? Tell a story that makes sense, or is at least consistent? Well, that’s what the ones I like do for me. The story doesn’t have to take the path I thought, and I am more than happy to suspend my belief to see a character turn bad or redeemed. I just like to see it supported by the narrative.
Anyway, I’m not trying to start a fight or cause distress. I’ve just realised that Sherlock made me feel duped, and that’s something I expect from face creams, not the world’s only consulting detective.
Why was s4 like that. It could have been gay and beautiful with good storyline and would win every award. If not explicitly gay, at least a decent storyline. Something which everyone understands. Don’t get me wrong. I love and adore all the metas my friends here have come up with. But we could have clean text. That would benefit all.
Totally agree. It’s sad that when TAB won I screamed and started jumping for joy and tonight I didn’t care it lost.
It’s sad to think that it could have been so different if they had made subtext text and or even had come up with decent storylines. What a wasted opportunity.
Me: “Of course it doesn’t make sense. 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.”
Not only was Sherlock’s the only vow we’ve seen on the show, but it seems like Sherlock was the only one to do everything in his power to keep the vow he made the day of the wedding.
Mary lied and manipulated John from day one, so she’s right out. And then John had his little text fling, so there he goes.
Sherlock on the other hand, put his life on the line, and was willing to sacrifice everything to keep the vow he made (to John).
Sherlock really IS the best man
Sherlock honestly deserves everything, more so than anyone else, even John.
Like, Sherlock is single handedly the only one trying to do literally everything to make everyone else happy. Consider: everything he did for John even when it was at the expense of himself, everything he did for Mary despite her shooting him (and then not hesitate that she’ll do it again) and then also drug him when he was trying to help her, Sherlock still trying to help eurus despite her killing his childhood best friend and then again trying to kill him and his current best friend or his brother. Everything he’d done was for very selfless reasons, he did it for the sake of the people he cared about no matter how difficult or unfair the situation was against him.
This is why I honestly just wish to see Sherlock be happy, be loved and appreciated and cherished. And having John come back to baker street and assume that role isn’t enough for me. After everything Sherlock has done for John, I honestly think Sherlock deserves much more than just “having John back”. John must apologize to him, take care of him, be protective of him without being selfishly possessive, be loyal and trustworthy to him. Coz Sherlock deserves it all
I fully agree with all of this! Literally all of series 3 was about nothing but Sherlock doing everything in his power to make John happy, literally without limit, up to and including throwing his own life away so that John could be happy with a woman who hadn’t even been honest enough with him to tell him her real name. Sherlock has spent all of his time since the return trying to apologize to John, even though he was literally saving John’s life then, too, and all he gets in return is unfair blame, John going back to Mary, he’s constantly assumed the worst of, gets beaten nearly to death while already near death – AGAIN for the sake of saving John- and an acknowledgement – not even an apology – that Mary’s death was in no way his fault. He deserves so much better.
Don’t get me wrong; I still ship them absolutely. But there are reparations that need making here.
There’s some great replies to that thread about John “choosing Mary” and whether it holds up to scrutiny or represents a inherent contradiction in the narrative.
As an aside, for me the Mary arc drives home for me that ACD dispatching Mary was a mark of realizing (even if out of something we might less generously call laziness or a lack of imagination) that he had created such a tight formula with his protagonists that Mary was a disruption that was easier doing away with than having to constantly accommodate.
It was easy for Moffat and Gatiss to characterize this as sexist and then “fix” it. But that remains for me itself not half as cut n dried as one might think.
I’ll not rehash old territory but: Moffat and Gatiss didn’t pick up on a very appealing feature of the stories – some seriously kick ass women clients and their parts in a series of gothic horrors. Who for their time were daily fighting to survive independently in a system built to ensure they didn’t have independence. There are some truly heroic women despite their victimization. COPP remains for me a marvel in this respect – I still feel a thrill of admiration every time she chooses to take the position even though she knows something weird is afoot. She has courage. She is not fearless. But she acts anyway. And she’s not the only one.
Kitty in the illustrious client is another personal favorite. These women feature throughout the short stories – SOLI and SPEC too: you are a woman, you know something is wrong and have reason to fear for your safety or even your life and you choose to walk back into the “lion’s den” despite your fear. For these women the danger of the domestic realm is a key element in the gothic sensibility of the canon.
The women in Mofftiss collective imagination are there all right but to my mind there is a quintessential “Gibson girl” spunk missing that ACD for all his era-conforming faults captures so brilliantly and often with incredible economy.
I remain resolute that they made a massive error in trying to redeem Mary. They didn’t earn it.
And I know this will probably make me a huge outlier but the more time passes the more I find their evolving backstory for Mrs Hudson ridiculous. Their version of her shifts from being a truth teller into something she doesn’t need to be and with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The idea that ACD didn’t think Mrs H. had the capacity for bravery is ridiculous- had they not read EMPT? She becomes in BBC Sherlock then a parody. Her best lines are when she is pointing out the emotionally obvious. Why is her ability to care and forgive and always speak her own mind not enough? She’s like a mirror to Norbury. And alongside Mary and Eurus I can’t help but think they really just don’t get something about writing women. (A charge often made about Moffat I have in the past resisted.)
I love the canon because its 2 protagonists are amazing. The stories don’t need more heroes. But they are there. Women bucking against a system. Surviving.
In a contemporary setting so many of the women get pushed into extremes rather than sharing that same basic resilience. Molly in TAB is a shining but perhaps (because it’s set back in ACD’s era) telling exception to the rule. It was a stroke of genius to have her disguise herself as a man to reach her potential.
By having in Eurus their actual “Moriarty” [big bad] be a woman, Mary had then, I presume, in their mind to be a mere decoy villain, along too with Moriarty. (Despite him being such a cleverly drawn character that far exceeds his canon incarnation.)
Had they not created Eurus they could have followed through with Villian!Mary. And I stand by my longstanding pun:
John Watson was literally “sleeping with the enemy” and didn’t know it.
And that is where the perils faced by the canon heroines and the gothic aesthetic of fear become ripe for mining:
His domestic world away from 221b was primed for the deep gothic terror of the canon: you are not safe in the house that circumstances have made your home. You are trapped by circumstance in the place you *should* be safest. That is the scariest thing to Sherlock Holmes of canon. [See his incredible speech in COPP. TLDR: At least in the darkened foggy alleys of London someone might hear you scream.]
And in that “home” you will slowly realize something is wrong. The particular uncanny sensation of “unheimlich” is all through the canon. The veiled “sister” in SHOS or the absolute horrifying terror of DEVI, which is the terror captured in SPEC turned up to ninety.
What a missed opportunity. For John to slowly sense something is wrong but not understand why but separated from Sherlock realize he is isolated. For he and Sherlock to keep secrets from each other. For the audience to know Mary is dangerous and for there to be a cat and mouse game. To make John the Violet Hunter who despite fear walks into danger – a quality they share. THAT was the twist I wanted.
The Empty Hearse appeared it would deliver it and immediately snatched it away.
She was the domestic facade. What an incredibly clever piece of symbolism. But they didn’t follow through. They didn’t let John’s bravery run its course, only his loyalty to her which turns out to apparently not be misplaced at all. Confusing characterization of a man who doesn’t like his wife one minute and lifts her up as he one who taught him who he is is the next aside, why does that feel like a betrayal of canon and its women heroines?
Because in the world of ACD the home you find yourself in can be just as, if not more, scary than meeting a lunatic psychopath in an asylum. What thrills the reader is the idea that you are a prisoner in your own home and don’t realize the windows are locked not to keep out predators but to so as to keep you in until it’s all too late.
They missed one of the most deliciously satisfying threads of the canon. That deep unsettling and incredibly Victorian threat: that the truly ghastly is hidden in something as innocuous as some simple modifications to the ventilation. Or to put it in modern parlance: the call is coming from inside the house.
They had John right there with her and they missed it.
And so too lost is that Villain!Mary could have been meted justice by her own machinations (like being bitten by your own snake. Or mauled by your dog. Or attacked with oil of vitriol. Or trapped by the closing of a heavy stone trap door to a cellar.) What a thoroughly wasted opportunity.
God, you paint such a beautifully chilling picture of a suffocating, perilous chamber drama. This could have been so good if they’d just stuck to what they had set up – and what ACD had provided them with: an intense, intimate triangle. Even Lady Di has said that three make a marriage a bit crowded – so, there’s your suspense and tension. But instead of exploiting this menage a trois, they branched out with Eurus, Moriarty, Sherlock’s back story, Victor… it really got too crowded to keep up the excitement.
Sherlock Fandom Archive 