imagine being sister edgelord’s IT guy like, “you want HOW many projectors WHERe?”
dude hanging on a scaffolding over the well attempting to install a Dropcam like “it’s a good thing this chick’s mind-programming is so compelling because this gig doesn’t even include dental”
lmao omg
How about the beta testing. “How emotionally challenging was your experience in test number 3. Did you just piss your pants from fear or laughter. Wrong answer and you can be Alex Garridebs in the next run-through.”
“bob, listen, the moriarty clips aren’t syncing with audio and the boss just threatened to strangle me with my own intestines, how good are you with Final Cut Pro?”
“So who’s going to tell her that retro-fitting the high-security cells on level -7 with automatic sliding secret doors linked to the main console will take 18 months?”
“Hey I have a newborn, guys, give me a break.”
“Alright, Fred, rock-paper-scissors?”
“Has anyone seen Joe? I thought he was on A/V for the Gun Room rehearsal”
“Dude, he failed the loudspeaker test-run, she mind-controlled him off the edge of the south wing during our last performance review.”
“That asshole owed me ten quid. Pass me a Rockstar?”
“So who wants to help me haul a grown man into a small fake room?”
“Who’s got the family pictures we need to put on the walls? Also we need glue, stat”
“I’ve only got scotch tape. I think the boss didn’t program me sufficiently”
“Someone needs to get me out of the well after I chain this guy to the bottom of it.”
“I can’t, I’m already lugging the water.”
“Damn it, Jack.”
“What are these boxes doing in my office? And what’s in them?”
“Oh, yeah, those. These are the flat screens.”
“Flat screens?”
“Yeah, on wheels and everything.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know, six, I think.”
“Jesus Christ, Brian. This is getting out of hand.”
“Well, if a certain someone had just refrained from going down there to speak to her in person that first time, we wouldn’t be in this mess, now would we?”
“I’m sorry if I have a thing for creepy horror film chicks. Don’t kinkshame me!”
TFP The Final Production (Team).
“Listen, I thought it was bad when she told me to start painting the walls red, but now I have to go find a custom dog bowl. Do you KNOW how long it takes to find those?”
“Joe, just go on eBay or something–”
“Yeah, fine. But what about the light-up coffin?”
“Light-up coffin?”
“Yeah, Euros Dementia Dark’ness Holmes wants a coffin that looks like it’s glowing form the inside when you open it up.”
“idk man, try Etsy.”
“Euros Dementia Dark’ness Holmes”!
I LOST IT at that lol!
Hello Hiatus!
This may be my favorite post of all about that episode.
if that’s the exit from regression then maybe this is the entrance
#backwards = regression. Bonus points for Sherlock making a **choice** (forwards or backwards)
“The crisis occurs when the hero’s final dilemma is crystallized, the moment they are faced with the most important question of the story – just what kind of person are they? Finding themselves in a seemingly inescapable hole, the protagonist is presented with a choice.” (That’s John Yorke, my bolding)
Moftiss had to go all literal with it, didn’t they?? “Sherlock….you erm….need to choose which “””direction””” you’re going to ““fall””. No no no, forwards or backwards is absolutely not a metaphor, don’t be silly LOL”
“Their choice is to deny change and return to their former selves [BACKWARDS] or confront their innermost fears, overcome them and be rewarded [FORWARDS].” (That;s John Yorke except for the bits in square brackets, that’s me)
really puts a pin on this here emotional decision:
(I would do anything to keep you safe, including leave you)
and the swan dive from tab:
(there’s always two of us)
these are two moments in which sherlock moves forward but doesn’t resolve fully, imo because he needs john in order to do that. and if sherlock left regression station in 1895 and john left regression central in rathbone place, when will the two collide?
Indeed. When I first saw this scene, yes, it was kind of funny, but all in all I felt really sorry for him. They break into his house, change his movies, terrorise him in his own home… All of this because they want Mycroft to say it, and instead of, say, snooping in his documents (which is something much more easier to make, and doesn’t instantly give away anything), they decide to go to his own house, interrupt the only leisure moment we see him have in the show, and scare him until he admits it, even reaching to the point of disarming him, leaving him with no bullets, for him to lose almost all of his dignity, and then proceed to laugh about it. And then, instead of listening to his “it’s dangerous, so don’t do anything stupid” advice, they decide to bully him until he admits to ask help from them. And I’ll repeat it. Ask. It’s not like “hey, you’re my big bro, and this is a problem that affects us all, so let’s figure it out”. It’s more of a “hey, you secret keeper, ask us help, and then we’ll help you out.”
So yes, it might seem like a funny scene. But it really isn’t, for me at least.
But what I find interesting is that Sherlock’s charade is a smaller version of Eurus’ head games later in the episode. They both indulge in the idea of terrifying people – family members even – until they reveal the truth to you. (Which makes me think there were some understandable reasons for Mycroft keeping Eurus and Sherlock separated.)
I chose to believe that Sherlock recognised those similarities as he got to experience it from the other side, and it made him regret how he treated Mycroft. (It makes sense given the uncharacteristic concern shown by asking Greg to look after Mycroft and defending Mycroft to their parents.)
“But what I find interesting is that Sherlock’s charade is a smaller version of Eurus’ head games later in the episode.”
I.. I.. I never thought of this way and now I can’t think of it in any other way holy fuck…
This gets really interesting if you accept the mind-bungalow concept that TFP is playing out in John’s subconscious as he lays dying on his therapist’s oddly-striking rug. Because this is the Sherlock John thought he saw after the old woman’s murder in TGG: someone driven by the Game until he’s just plain cruel. And there’s John right behind him, all smug (and uncaring) smiles.
This is John’s nightmare, both of Sherlock and himself.
The thing I really like about TFP, especially working within an EMP theory of some sort, is that Sherlock becomes so human. He is shaken. He struggles, is sometimes wrong. He refuses to make a calculating decision by shooting Mycroft or John. And he’s so empathetic toward Eurus (and if anyone has a right to simply hate her, maybe even more than Mycroft, I think it’s Sherlock.
Here’s the beautiful bit: if this is all in John’s mind, this isn’t about the audience learning Sherlock isn’t some kind of ubermensch who transcends the mere mortals around him.We already know that. It’s about John learning that. It’s in many ways the Garridebs revelation, slightly inverted. And a lot of the time I’m too scared and jaded to really believe in overarching purpose and details that mean that, but when I’m brave enough to go there, this is the bit I love.
For those who allege that Sherlock doesn’t care about his clients, look at that third gif. There’s real sadness and compassion there. During this scene, Henry is actively suicidal and keeps putting a gun in his mouth, but it’s Sherlock – not John, the soldier and doctor – who talks Henry down.
“Someone needed to keep you quiet; needed to keep you as a child to reassert the dream that you’d both clung on to, because you had started to remember…You couldn’t cope. You were just a child, so you rationalized it into something very different. But then you started to remember, so you had to be stopped; driven out of your mind so that no one would believe a word that you said.”
Does Sherlock only care about the mysteries? At this point in the episode, he already had the solution. He knew the workings behind H.O.U.N.D. and the poisonous gas. He could have left. But he wanted to make Henry understand, to alleviate some of the grief he’d carried since his father’s death. Sherlock even forces Henry to look at the dead dog to drive the point home. “You couldn’t cope. You were just a child.“
It’s a remarkable display of empathy on Sherlock’s part.
I had to go back and find and reblog this meta from four years ago because it’s taken on new poignancy in light of The Final Problem. Now we know that Sherlock, too, had conjured a hound of his own.
“Now we know that Sherlock, too, had conjured a hound of his own.”
I wish I had a screenshot for this post but anyway…
at the end of TAB, just before John shows up with his gun and Sherlock realizes John will always be there to save him, he is battling Moriarty (his inner demons) at a Waterfall
at the end of TLD, just before the Hug when John realizes Sherlock will be there for him emotionally, he is talking to Mary (himself) and we actually see him crying, that’s the Falling Water
And it starts in TRF with the rainfall outside. (Because everything after TRF is the scenarios and consequences.)
ugh, YES, the rain… if the waterfall in TAB is Sherlock re-doing the Fall correctly by letting John save him, the hug is John re-doing this, dealing with the emotional fall-out correctly this time, by opening up about how upset he is, crying, and letting himself be comforted. I have hopes that they have both completed their emotional arc now….
yes, time to blast the doors off the closets, cupboards, coffins, elevators, etc.
I saw a post saying that if Sherlock didn’t mean the ILY, the scene loses all its significance. So here’s the thing: The tests Eurus put them through were supposed to be psychologically traumatizing.
There’s no way this applies if Sherlock really did mean the ILY. Sherlock telling the woman he loves that he loves her is as horrible as being forced to kill someone? Sherlock telling the woman loves that he loves her makes him furious enough to smash a coffin to bits? No.
The whole point of the test was that he didn’t reciprocate her feelings. And realizing that really only takes common sense:
PART 1: CONTEXT
Sherlock knows she has feelings for him. At first he was cruel to her, but around S3, he started being nicer- no longer shutting her down and instead politely ignoring her feelings because she’s useful to him and he owes her after the fall. Over time, he has grown to appreciate her as a trusted friend.
So when Sherlock forces out an ‘I love you’ to save her from being blown up, it hurts. She doesn’t know he’s trying to save her. She probably thinks that this is the only way she’ll ever be able to hear those words from him. Or maybe she thinks he means it, but he knows he’ll have to break her heart later for the umpteenth time. And the worst part is… it was all for nothing. There were no bombs. Sherlock is so furious that he smashes a coffin.
Those aren’t the actions of someone who realized in that moment that he loved Molly. That’s someone who’s had to reject her time and time again, but over the years grew to be kinder, and now just had to throw away all that progress and manipulate her in the most horrible way he ever has.
This even shows in his facial expressions. That first pathetic attempt is not the face of someone who’s going to realize he loves her 2 seconds later. She told him to say it like he meant it. The clock was ticking down and she wasn’t responding, so he ups his game and says it normally.
PART 2: AFTERMATH
As soon as it’s over, he’s relieved he saved her. The aftermath is the coffin smashing, because he’s furious he had to hurt her again when he’s grown from doing that… and it was all for nothing. I’d be pissed too.
Where’s the aftermath in his facial expressions or actions if he just realized he loved her? It’s not there. But all we get with Molly in terms of resolution is a split second of her in an ending montage where everyone is back to normal doing their thing. I really don’t think there’s any significance in the fact that she’s smiling. I suppose it just means we can assume she and Sherlock made up off-screen (which I think is an injustice to her.)
All the main characters were in the montage, that includes Molly. I mean, what were they going to do? Close the show with everyone else happy, but she’s over in a corner sobbing? If her importance was bumped up to that of a love interest for Sherlock, they easily could’ve shown that by having her do more than just standing there and walking in.
PART 3: MEANING
So no, if Sherlock didn’t mean the ILY, the scene does not lose all its significance. In fact, I think if meant it, the scene becomes cheap and senseless, and his actions before, during, and afterwards don’t make sense.
It’s because he didn’t mean it the scene is so emotional and heavy. It’s a cruel play on how much he’s manipulated her in the past and how he’s changed, but now had to do it again for no reason.
It’s powerful because at one point in time, Sherlock wouldn’t have cared if he hurt someone as a means to an ends. But he’s grown. He cared when he realized John was hurt by him faking his death. From that, he learned he can’t just fuck with people’s feelings, that includes Molly. And that’s why it hurts so much when he’s forced to play with her heart again.
I find this way more powerful than if he meant it.
This context and meaning is completely lost on Sherl0lly shippers who block everything else out and only focus on the fact that he said ‘I love you’ and she said it back. They believe it made their ship canon, even though if a ship is canon, it would be clear to every viewer, not just shippers on tumblr. And the creators would likely acknowledge it as well, not suggest Molly went and shagged someone.
Part 4: WAS IT WORTH IT?
While it is powerful and tragic and all, all this scene did was hurt Molly for no reason other than to show us that (as we’ve seen before) Sherlock has grown emotionally since S1.
On a totally surface level (which is how most viewers watch the show) Molly only existed in this scene to be a prop for a man’s emotional pain. On a surface level, she wasn’t treated with respect by the writers. The fact that Moftiss went in a room and whipped this out when they were told to change the scene should tell you that. I really feel like they didn’t give two second’s thought to what this would do to Molly.
The problem is that for 4 seasons, Molly’s most definable character trait has been her crush. Yes, we know she’s a pathologist, but she is still known first and foremost as the girl who likes Sherlock. They took that concept, dragged it out for way too long, and then threw it in her face by making her cry into the phone and admit something she wasn’t ready to admit.
I, for one, don’t think showing us Sherlock has grown up was worth emotionally destroying Molly. Especially since we’ve seen his growth demonstrated before, and she didn’t even get a resolution.
Even minor characters don’t deserve to be used as props so blatantly at their expense.
Oh, I can’t believe it! This is amazing, @ebaeschnbliah. You surely remember how I kept going on about the changed layout of the Watson flat which drove me crazy. And now this!
And then of course the box falling open – this is a wonderful discovery.
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