I feel like I had an “aha!” moment. I might just be saying something everyone else has, and forgive me if that’s the case, but hear me out.
Prior to January 15th, we all thought Sherlock would confess his love to John during The Final Problem.
However, Sherlock couldn’t have. He still wasn’t ready for romance. How do I know this? The Abominable Bride told us so.
This postby jon-lox pointed out that the line “romantic entanglement” is very specific, and it occurs twice, first in the greenhouse scene from TAB:
John: Why do you need to be alone?
Sherlock: If you are referring to romantic entanglement, as I have often explained before, all emotion is abhorrent to me.
And then in TLD:
Sherlock: As I think I have explained to you many times before, romantic entanglement, while fulfilling for other people–
John: Would complete you as a human being.
Jon-lox’s post concludes that since these two big scenes were interrupted, since this entire conversation was aborted twice, it has to happen again, and on the third time, it will be resolved. I agree. It’s significant that those two scenes had very similar dialogue and neither conversation brought about any real change in Sherlock and John’s relationship. It leaves the audience yearning for something substantial to come out of Sherlock and John’s exchange, or else it feels kind of pointless.
But, I think a lot of us forgot about how the greenhouse scene concluded, and I believe it’s crucial. After going back and forth, Mind Palace John askes, “What made you like this?”
Sherlock responds, “Oh, Watson. Nothing made me…I made me.” Then, a dog barks, and he goes, “Redbeard?” But, the case picks up, and Redbeard isn’t mentioned again for the rest of the episode.
I think it is so important that Redbeard was included in this specific scene. The scene, of course, tells us that, although Sherlock is unable to recognize this on a conscious level, whatever happened with Redbeard is responsible for who he is today, which is later confirmed in TFP. This scene could have been placed anywhere in the episode, but Mofftiss chose to conclude the conversation about Sherlock’s love life in this way. Why?
The greenhouse scene, in its entirety, told us that Sherlock could not open himself up to emotion and romantic entanglement until he confronted the trauma that forced him to emotionally shut down in the first place.
Again, Sherlock could not make this conclusion about himself because the pieces were still missing with Redbeard, which is why the conversation is left hanging again in real time with John. I remember when TLD aired, I thought, “Why did Sherlock deny feeling romance again? What about the scene in TAB?”
Now, I realize that Sherlock actually couldn’t progress on this matter while there were still unanswered questions so deep in his mind that even his drug-induced dream in TAB couldn’t get to the heart of the problem.
Personally, I don’t have strong feelings about whether TFP is real or fake. I’m keeping an open mind to everything. But, whether Sherlock found out about Victor Trevor/Redbeard in real time or in his mind doesn’t matter. What matters is that Sherlock confronted his childhood trauma which made him (at least attempt to) divorce himself from all emotion. He confronted it, and he overcame it.
Where does this leave us? It’s simple: Sherlock’s ready now. When the third version of this conversation occurs, it will not be left hanging anymore. It will resolve.
I’m pretty new to the meta world and I would really love to get some opinions on this. I’m going to tag a couple blogs which immediately come to mind, and I hope I’m not bothering anyone! Everyone is free to comment on this, though. @inevitably-johnlocked, @tjlc
With us delving deeper into the ‘narrator’ issue and fourth wall break, plus who is the ‘author’/ACD in all this mess of TFP. I want to bring up a Holmesian secret society game. It’s not the Great Game, the one people know about where-by the players [readers] think the characters are real. If this was a video game today, the first level would be the Great Game/characters are real, and the next level down would be the one that was a fraternal Holmesian Society game. Neither game really has a goal, or a finishing point, they just continue, much like our fan fictions and metas, more a way to engage as a group and delight others with insights and things picked up from the stories. Anyway, my Dads use to play this secret game back in the 1960s, but it gets dark, so they quit. It’s how I know about it.
In this game all the characters EXCEPT Sherlock, know that they are characters in a fiction. Sherlock has no idea, he thinks it’s real life. The narrator/controller/author god will continue the story until Sherlock becomes self aware of the fact that he is a character in a story. The author/authors repeats the stories with subtle variations trying to get Sherlock to realise his truth. All the other characters are forbidden to tell Sherlock within the text and are doomed to their fates once each story starts unless Sherlock can become self aware. Nobody can die. They get reincarnated in the next story, or even in the next chapter. So you can see how this game perpetuates itself in the pastiche. The game players use ALL pastiche as the game board. Remember that Sherlock cannot be told of his status, he has to discover it. The players are really the authors of any Sherlock Holmes story, but readers can play too by looking to see subtle clues that Sherlock is moving towards enlightenment. This is mostly done by reading works where it is apparent that the author does not know about the game and thus will stumble into giving Sherlock clues without realising they are doing so.
It’s a metafiction game. The whole aim is to break the fourth wall and have Sherlock realise he is locked into the fictional world.
There is nothing written about the game, like the secrets of the Masons, this was/is a fraternal game done in societies. A few years back I told LSiT and skully about it, and they couldn’t find any info on it at all on the web. The only thing we had was that about 4 years ago, a game player had a Tumblr, and was trying to play this game on here, leading people through it with questions about the show. They deleted. Back in 2012 I asked Mark Gatiss if he and Steven knew about it or were playing it, [at the Criterion afternoon event and at a Crimefest Bristol appearance] and they refused to answer. I think they did know about it, and looking back after viewing s4, I think they may be playing it.
Moriarty, Irene, Sherlock never really die in BBC Sherlock, I doubt Mary is dead. Or if they do die they reincarnate, no questions asked. @isitandwonder you brought this up in your meta this weekend, Sherlock actually died in TRF, yet he resurrected and was at his own gravesite. [I think Eurus could be a vehicle to help Sherlock discover his truth, but I am not sure] The ending of TFP was very ‘game’ like. It disavowed the previous work, reset the game back to the canon parameters, and left the board with the two protagonists unchanged. And I think Mark and Steven used the character of Mary to attempt to enlighten Sherlock, that to my knowledge had not been done before. It makes sense of her weird about face in the redemption arc and also the ghost Mary and DVDs. Especially her luring Sherlock to his death in order to save John.
I hate the fucking game. So I won’t go on about it but I wanted you to know that it is a ‘thing’, has been since the 1930′s. It leads into the Wold Newton Family Tree [now there is a rabbit hole] and Baring Gould’s crapola. As someone who wants John and Sherlock to be happy, out and representing a marginalised group, this game detracts from that, it’s boys playing secret societies. Plus the game players get mean. Sound like anyone we know?
I know this idea has come up more than once. In this post I will try to collect as much evidence, mostly from TFP, as possible – visual, textual, and narrational.
Visual
In this first scene together their hands seem to melt into each other. Sherlock does not expect to be able to touch his sister, and then their fingers interlace just like that. In the second picture both have become one. Sherlock is shining through Eurus’s reflection, her hear roughly being place where his heart is (head/brain and heart becoming one).
Additional note: If we assume that this is her real hair as opposed to the wigs she wore in TST and TLD, they both have dark curly hair.
Narrational
Sherlock and Eurus are very close in age. True, it’s never twins. But at least Irish twins, it seems. (Or just one person after all?)
Sherlock has been deemed a genius from the beginning. Eurus “was described as an era-defining genius, beyond Newton.”
Both play the violin. Eurus even plays a Stradivariusas does Holmes in ACD Canon.
Sherlock had no friends before John. “I had no one.”
Both love to be dramatic.
Both are prone to violence: Sherlock torturing the cabbie / throwing a man out the window / shooting Magnussen. / Eurus’s violent behaviour in TLD and TFP.
Both are seen in a cell of some kind: the padded cell in Sherlock’s HLV mind palace / the Sherrinford cell (All places from the HLV mind palace have real counterparts – so what about the cell? And how probable is it that two siblings both have been inmates of a cell in a mental hospital/prison at some time?)
Both are in a way attracted to Moriarty and are willing to play games with him.
Sherlock experiments on John in ThoB. Eurus experiments on Sherlock in TFP.
Both are very focussed on knowledge: “I don’t like not knowing.” / “She knew things she should never have known …”
Both are disguising themselves / hiding in plain sight.
Both are being used by Mycroft for matters of state security and intelligence.
Both are believed to be dead for years. Both times Mycroft is involved in the plots to fake their deaths.
Textual
“She was different from the beginning.”/”Because he attacks people who are different and preys on their secrets.” (Why Sherlock hates Magnussen)
“Listen. This is my hard drive and it only makes sense to put things in there that are useful.” / “I remember everything; every single thing. You just need a big enough hard drive.”
Sherlock being involved in the flight of the dead/saving Irene from terrorists/revealing the terrorist plot in TEH/ “She predicted the exact dates of the last three terrorist attacks on the British mainland after an hour on Twitter.”
“In any event, there is no prison in which we could incarcerate Sherlock without causing a riot on a daily basis.” / “The depth of Eurus’s psychosis and the extent of her abilities couldn’t hope to be contained in any ordinary institution.“
“That in your case, solitary confinement is locking you up with your worst enemy.” This can also be applied to Eurus’s imprisonment in Sherrinford.
Conclusion
These are a lot of similarities. Too much for coincidence, if you ask me. To me, Eurus is an exaggerated, overdramatic version of Sherlock himself. What he could have become without John’s friendship and Mycroft’s support, without the friends he has found quite late in life.
Drugged by Ninjas?? Like Ninjas with Secret Tattoos????
😱👀 Re: the ninja thing, we have that deleted HLV deduction in the final shooting script where Sherlock makes a “secret gymnast” deduction when looking for “Lady Smallwood” in CAM’s office but then he dismisses that as “stupid”! Sherlock! 🙃 TD12 is the devils foot= drug of the devil= Mary’s drug! http://jenna221b.tumblr.com/post/156910936655/its-only-going-to-upset-you-mary-took-johns
“Dressed up in the same fabric as the chair…”
Like the son in the power ranger car?!
oh my god! that level of foreshadowing is Extreme!
@badsnowfo said: This would make sense of why there is a six Thatchers case in the blog and again this season…
RIGHT?! I’m going to kick myself if the reason the blog “has gone downhill a bit” is because there’s nothing to update it with because we’re still in Dream World aaaaaah 😉
yeah looks like watson getting fucken shot in the eye, please let this just be some kind of extra narrative clue, jesus christ
did mary ever wear a hat shaped like that in tab
That’s the one @teapotsubtext Regarding Mary, her only similar hat was flat on the top, with a wider brim. Hard to tell if Watson or Mary though, in marker.
I was thinking, what’s the point of having Eurus become unresponsive after she opened up to Sherlock and everything’s okay? What does that add to the plot? Ansolutely nothing. Not it you don’t add emotional context to it. Now, we know John is most probably hospitalized while dreaming up this story and that Eurus is John’s mirror (watch this if you didn’t already know all that). This is all in his head, mixed with his perception of what’s really happening around him. So, if we apply emotional context and change imaginary Eurus for the real John, we get this exchange about the condition he’s in at the end:
MYCROFT: There’s no possibility he’ll ever be able to leave the hospital. MR. HOLMES: When can we see him? MYCROFT: There’s no point. MRS. HOLMES: How dare you say that?! MYCROFT: He won’t talk. He won’t communicate with anyone in any way. He’s passed beyond our view. There are no words that can reach him now. MRS. HOLMES: Sherlock? [Montage of Sherlock taking his violin with him to hospital every single day, to play a special piece he composed for a comatose John, always hoping he can hear him, and that he’d eventually wake up.]
The shots and their order also drive home this idea. As soon as Eurus responds to Sherlock’s playing, she stands looking like a hospitalized patient
–white gown and all–
next to that bed, from which she grabs her own violin. Then they cut to John talking to Sherlock over the phone, asking him to come to where he is, to reach him, while literally looking at the words “Miss You”. And immediately after, we get a shot of Eurus, eyes closed, repeating the same melody Sherlock is playing; because John’s actually learned it by heart and re-playing it in his head. He’s in that hospital bed missing Sherlock and wishing he’d return soon to see him and play for him again.
He even imagines Sherlock’s parents and Mycroft giving him a visit, because of course they would support Sherlock in a time like this! And I do think Harry went as well–but they couldn’t possibly have shown us such a spoiler. Enough was with the “tell my sister I’m here” message in the sand!
I just think his interpretation is the only one that adds a logical, poignant meaning to this scene and the story. ‘No words can reach him now’ becomes a statement on the power of ‘words unspoken’ between Sherlock and John. And of course, not only means Sherlock can actually reach John’s ears–unlike what he may be told–, but that he could always reach John’s heart.
John eagerly waits for Sherlock’s visits, everyday.
Did you see how both TAB and TFP began with a close-up shot of John’s and little Eurus’ (Mirror-John’s) left eye, respectively? They’re letting us appreciate that precious thing from up close, because we’re not gonna be able to see it anymore. Yes, you can start mourning it.
Remember how we thought Sherlock was gonna be the one going blind thanks to Skully’s brilliant theory? Well, I guess we got many of the hints at ‘blindness’ happening at some point, only that it wasn’t Sherlock’s, but John’s in one eye.
Yes! I speculated this in another post that cannot find at the moment, but I agree, especially with how often the focus on John’s eyes is brought to light. You CAN survive a gunshot to the head – in fact I watch a documentary recently about a man who was shot in the face and recovered for many months but lost one of his eyes – And a parallel to Sherlock coming back to life for John, John may will himself back to life for Sherlock, realizing how much Sherlock loves him.
Why DID they have all the dark allusions? Nothing in the episodes really were that dark (aside from a few poignant scenes in TLD). Those allusions are WHY the blind theory came up in the first place.
Okay, the Jane Eyre connection. I thought from Day One that the child being named Rosemonde was so interesting. This is the name of St. John’s love in Jane Eyre, the one that he gives up so that he can be a missionary. Was the child’s name an allusion to this character? The point of Jane Eyre, of course, being a repudiation of St. John’s renunciation of love. In the same way, Sherlock is a repudiation of the renunciation of love that took place in the original Canon.
Ooh this is brilliant. Plus Mofftiss kept saying we were missing something that was “blindingly obvious” or something like that, as I recall.
Brilliant additions, everyone! And don’t even get me started with Jane Eyre because it’s too trmojas. Seriously read that classic if you haven’t yet. The parallels between Edward/Jane and John/Sherlock are outstanding even in the smallest of details.
And omg yes, Mark did try to call our attention to something ‘blindingly obvious’ last September for Radio Times:
“There are things that come to fruition in this series which we’ve been planning for years. But people also find things that aren’t there. Which is my favourite. And then miss the blindingly obvious things that are there. People read an awful lot into it.”
Okay but even after watching this episode multiple times and seeing Mary disappear in and out of shots (and acknowledging that she’s definitely in his head in some bits), I have to admit that this first scene still reads to me like Mary is pressuring John into pretending that she’s dead.
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