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.
I would like to issue a correction to everybody who says that Mary dies in the novels. There is no reference to what happens to her. There is only a reference to Dr. Watson’s sad loss. It doesn’t say she dies. Nowhere in those books does it say that Mary Morstan dies. So there.
reading more and more about “theatre of the absurd” and how waiting for godot is meant to represent how the audience feels while watching the play, waiting for something to happen but no one knows what, the questions the characters ask put words to the questions the audience has… thanks rachel for the tip
Plot and Structure
anti-realistic, going against many of the accepted norms of conventional theatre
labeled by some critics as ‘anti-theatre’
often characterised by a deliberate absence of the cause and effect relationship between scenes
non-linear plot developments, sometimes cyclical – ending where they began
occasionally appearing as though there is no plot at all to speak of
deliberate lack of conflict
this is just…….. especially the idea of absurdist theatre “ending where it began,” making no progress, etc. and how that relates to the “only the cases matter” ending of tfp, rebuilding the set and the freeze-frame at rathbone place and how that directly conflicts with moffat’s “only do something if you’re going to fix it” maxim
what i find really intesting about this is I was so perplexed and thought it didn’t make sense in show like, if these people love the blog so much then they would know that john writes it?? i mean it says his name right on there?
and then i realized alskdfkl this is a drag of people who claim to love things but don’t actually pay attention to them, like, idk saying something is your favorite tv show but hardly knowing anything about it, and despite not even following along with it, purporting that it’s gotten worse like
re this post. Wow, anon. I’m. I’ll just leave this standing like this so everyone else can be blown away like I just was but yeah, if you look at it like this. Just, wow. Also, what a vile thing to do. But good that we finally know their true colours now.
I was thinking yesterday and I realised I never questioned how well Moriarty was able to sell his fake actor persona. Sherlock thought it was because of the key that’s able to break into every computer, but we know that that key doesn’t exist, so how was moriarty able to do it?
I definitely hated the reporter chick, but are you telling me she didn’t at least check out these shows and see if he was actually in them? And it took the police over two years to prove Moriarty was actually real. If all of these were fake I’m sure it would only have took them a couple of days. Or what Moriarty was actually an actor on the side in case this situation ever came up?
No, I think Richard Brooke got the same deal as the cabbie. Maybe he was dying as well and in exchange for money he took up the persona of Moriarty.
So, who’s behind Moriarty? Mary, of course. She’s been orchestrating all of this from the beginning. Remember in the blind banker just before Shan was killed, she got a message from M and we assumed it meant Moriarty? Well, what if it was actually Mary?
It was Mary all along who wanted to burn Sherlock’s heart out. She made him into a fake and got him to take his own life. I do think that for a while there she actually believed that he was dead, but if Anderson could figure out he wasn’t dead then so could she. She called Mycroft and got him to tell the police and media that Moriarty was real and Sherlock is innocent, so he could come back.
So, I think she realised that killing him wasn’t the best idea anyway and decided to take something way more important from him, John. And boy did she try to break them up. Marrying him, then getting pregnant all that just to chain John to herself.
Shooting Sherlock in HLV was a mistake, because she didn’t plan on him interrupting her. What Magnussen knew could have blown her whole operation apart and she had to stop him, but also couldn’t let Sherlock stop her.
And then in s4 we really saw her evil side. Saving Sherlock from a bullet and making John lash out at him trying to drive a wedge between them. Sending Sherlock to hell was just a little bonus.
This is it though. She ruined him and the possibility of John and Sherlock ever getting together. I mean look at her evil face. This was her plan all along.
But yet again she underestimated the love John and Sherlock have for each other and that they can always find their way back to one another.
So, I think she was done waiting and just ended up shooting John. There’s no Eurus, it’s always been her and she put a bullet through John’s eye and Sherlock is the only one who can save him.
So yeah this is my theory, on the one hand i hate it cause it would mean moriarty is not real but i love him so much, but on the other hand it would reveal mary to be even more of despicable human being than we could have ever anticipated.
Sorry if this has been talked about before, please do link me to other metas on this if you have any.
Tags under the cut (if you want me to untag you please let me know, i just don’t have too many followers but am excited about this)
Ok. So up until this point I haven’t really participated too much with meta creation simply because I struggle with subtext and I always thought myself too slow to find anything. Anyway I was singing the first part to Eurus’ song today and it occurred to me that the song may or may not have clues for us to find.
“I that am lost, oh who will find me?”
The lost special is the speaker,
“deep down below the old beech tree”
Beech trees are generally symbolic for the written word, so perhaps a link to the original story or something else (?)
“come succour me the east wind blows”
succour means ‘to give aid or assistance to’ so if this could refer to either the lost special itself or John and Sherlock. I favour John (”John Watson definitely in danger”) the threat being the east wind (Mary or Euros depending on your favoured theory)
“sixteen by six brother and under we go.”
This line is what got me. I thought that perhaps sixteen by six couldiI be a date. sixteenth of June. And then I remembered the tweet regarding Fireworks and Guy Fawkes day. Now I’ m an aussie so I have no idea what or when it is. So anyway that added up to nothing (its in November) anyway I did another search ‘sixteenth June Sherlock” to see what would come up. Lo and behold the first thing that comes up was John’s blog. The entry you ask?
Fucky??? I thought so too. I’m going to track down the rest of the song see what I can find. I haven’t seen anything like this so far, if you have any thoughts feel free to add them.
#norbury
I can’t believe there’s legitimate meta about how Eurus’s song could actually be helpful
This lovely blog post (Watch the eyes…) by
@hubblegleeflower rolled across my dash today and I had to chime in on the five
minutes!
I too believe that this scene is incredibly important for Sherlock and
John (and us too) because we hear about the “five minutes” one other time that I can think
of in Season 4, back during The Six Thatchers.
When Sherlock is entering the aquarium for his meeting with “Vivian.”
A voice comes over the loudspeaker: (transcript courtesy of Ariane Devere)
NIGHT TIME. COUNTY HALL, SOUTH BANK. Inside the Sea Life
London Aquarium housed inside County Hall, Sherlock makes his way along the
blue-lit corridors and through the glass tunnels under the water.
TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT: Ladies and gentlemen, the Aquarium will
be closing in five minutes. Please make your way to the exit. Thank you.
SO:
What REALLY occurs in the aquarium takes just five
minutes.
What Mary does to Sherlock and John in the aquarium takes
just five minutes.
Those five minutes serve to knock the entirety of Season 4 out of whack.
Important, indeed.
As always, apologies for tagging the unwilling or missing a
tag! Please share with whoever may be interested. Thank you!!
So I headed over to Ariane DeVere’s transcript of TLD and searched for “five,” and HOLY shit…
It took five minutes to kill Mary and wrench John and Sherlock apart. Five minutes to erase our memories. Five minutes to reprogram us and launch us into TFP hell.
Sooo… I decided to quickly do a search through the entire show, and I found a couple of interesting things.
Most notably:
Sherlock and John met Moriarty for five
minutes at the pool in TGG
It took five minutes for the TEH train car
to “disappear”
David always responds to Mary’s tweets within five minutes
Bainbridge *died* five minutes after coming off duty
John didn’t find Sherlock until five minutes after Mary shot him
TAB takes five minutes in real time
There’s also some interesting mentions of “five years;” Lestrade has known Sherlock for five years as of ASIP, and Mary has had her present identity for the past five years as of HLV.
After hours of discussion with @posh-boy-clever-boy, we have a theory on this East Wind/Redbeard musical theme and its occurrences in S3-S4. This is a joint effort – thanks again so much for theorising with me! You rock!! ❤ ❤ ❤
Okay. I will start by stating again that the East Wind/ Redbeard Theme is one and the same, and I’ve been wondering forever why this is the case. I thought it may have to do with Eurus specifically because Eurus’ name literally means East Wind. Then, I’ve realised that I have made a grave miscalculation in one aspect. All this time, I was comparing Redbeard theme to the “East Wind” track, not with the matching scene; I had been thinking that this will correspond to the mentioning of East Wind on the tarmac. Well, damn. It wasn’t the case. The track is titled “East Wind” but the scene on screen at this point is MYCROFT in a helicopter. I wrote this bit in the Villain meta that I wrote earlier, but this is an extension from that bit. Mycroft has the Redbeard/East Wind theme, not the mentioning of “East Wind” on the tarmac.
Mycroft is, after all, who brought up both concepts to us. Mycroft is also who gives us the insight.
TSoT: when Sherlock is audibly distressed on the phone, Mycroft brings up Redbeard, to which Sherlock petulantly answers, “I’m not a child anymore.”
HLV: Surgery!Sherlock hears Mycroft telling him to “find something to calm him down,” because “East Wind is coming, Sherlock. It’s coming to get you.” He finds Redbeard. He “comes back to life” eventually.
Later we find out that this is a story that Mycroft used to tell young Sherlock. A Cautionary tale. Cause and effect. When East Wind happens, you find Redbeard. East Wind is what takes us all in the end— the terrifying force that lays waste to all in its path.
If TFP was to be taken at face value, Redbeard is Sherlock’s disappeared childhood friend whom he has forgotten for decades, and East Wind is another name for Sherlock’s disappeared sister whom he has forgotten for decades.
Cause and effect. Lost and found. Attack and Defense. East Wind and Redbeard.
Somehow, this is all about pressure points. Magnussen says it himself. Mycroft’s pressure point is Sherlock. Sherlock’s pressure point is John.
The following are the moments in which East Wind/ Redbeard musical theme take place. Music SAVES US ALL!!!!
1. HLV: Sherlock is losing his life. He has been attacked. He climbs his way back, and finds the one thing that will calm him down & help him survive. He finds that one thing that he needs to defend and protect. Thinking of Redbeard, to save John. Cue Redbeard / John’s theme.
2. HLV: Mycroft’s pressure point is attacked when Sherlock is threatened by Magnussen. Mycroft came in a helicopter and brings dozens of armed soldiers. Mycroft was ready to kill if need had arisen. The one thing he needs to protect was threatened. He loves his brother more than he lets on, and he already does a lot (I mean, have you heard “Brother Mine”?!??!!??!?! THE MOST HEARTBREAKING and BROTHERLY!! ULTIMATE SACRIFICE). Cue East Wind / Redbeard theme.
3. TFP: Sherlock is lost in a room with faux walls. John is lost in a well. Eurus is lost, wondering who will find her. Sherlock finds a dog bowl that has Redbeard’s name on it. John finds bones. Sherlock’s pressure point has been found, and it is his childhood and the trauma (whether it was a dog or a child) that changed his once emotional self entirely. He needs to solve the riddle to defend it. Cue East Wind / Redbeard theme.
4. TFP: The mystery to Sherlock’s emotional childhood / pressure point is “solved” by remembering Victor Trevor, his childhood best friend who drowned. This is distinctly redolent of his first case, Carl Powers, who was also drowned by Moriarty. Meanwhile, his current best friend is still lost and is about to drown in a well. No one is happy. In fact, everyone is very unhappy. Sherlock had no one before John, and no one else since. and he can’t lose him. Cue East Wind /Redbeard theme.
5. TFP: Eurus is found. She confesses: “Every time I close my eyes, I’m on the plane. I’m lost in the sky and no one can hear me.” This is Eurus’ pressure point: being alone, being abandoned, not knowing how to land, not knowing if anyone understands her. Cue East Wind/Redbeard Theme.
Read 1: If Eurus is fake and is a part of Sherlock’s brain or imagination, this could be interpreted as his constant self-identification as a “sociopath,” trying to stay closed off (“Alone protects me”), trying not to get involved, but he needs to be more grounded emotionally. As if everyone is “asleep,” everyone is dull and slow and mundane, and he is alone, high above in the sky; but he is terrified because at some point he has to land. His pressure point is his emotions. This is his Final Problem: embracing that he is, after all, the most human human being.
Read 2: If this is taken as John’s TAB, this could be interpreted as being trapped within his feeble consciousness while losing blood, very alone, with no one to hear his screaming. He wants to be heard. He wants to be found. He wants to land. He wants to come home. He needs to be saved. For Sherlock, if John dies like this, his heart will be burned out. He won’t survive this blow. Saving John Watson is his Final Problem.
If anyone would like to posit with us as to why Mycroft would have this musical theme – or what else this theme could mean – please feel free to add!
I cannot thank the composers enough. These are incredible pieces of music.
Thank you for reading! Tagging some people who might be interested.
Sincerely, these music metas are amazing. Thank you for writing this, and thanks to your collaborator @posh-boy-clever-boy!
*raise hand* I have a theory! In TFP, Mycroft let slipped how he use Redbeard to check up on Sherlock:
Redbeard, a trigger word – I think Mycroft taught Sherlock how to build a mind palace to lock away his memory of love (caring is not an advantage); the reason Mycroft asked about Redbeard when Sherlock called at John’s wedding 😭 Mycroft knew all of this from personal experience – because he had to do the same when he lost his best friend: Carl Powers. Remember the serial suicide of the 18-yr-old boy at the sports center in ASiP? Pretty sure that’s a parallel, the boy was soaked from the rain = Carl Powers “drowned.” Sherlock didn’t solve the case completely at TGG though, I think the other part of the case has to do with the Moriarty/Mary mystery.
p.s. Here’s my take on Eurus if you’re all interested
p.p.s. I think east wind = love (conquers all), and Mycroft found his goldfish 😉
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