"The Six Thatchers" Reaction Post
Sep. 4th, 2017 12:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
earlgreytea68This actually all went up on Tumblr last night but I figured I should post it here, too. I actually really enjoyed the episode, except for when it was All About Mary. But the relationship between Sherlock and Mycrof remains the absolute best.
--LOVE. The whole series is about LOVE. It’s the code name, it’s the code word, and it’s the trailer. IT’S A SHOW ABOUT LOVE. Mycroft’s love for his brother; Sherlock’s intense, intense love for John Watson; John’s very confused feelings about love. Oh, and everyone’s love for Little Rosie, the baby that is sometimes remembered by some of the people on the show every once in a while.
--Sherlock tweets. SHERLOCK LOVES TO TWEET. I CALLED THAT YEARS AGO. (Please see “Adventures of a Single Girl in London (Plus a Consulting Detective).)
--When they were showing the video of Sherlock shooting CAM but he wasn’t shooting him anymore, before they explained they’d doctored it, I was like, “IS THIS SHOW JUST GOING TO IGNORE ALL OF ITS CANON. OF COURSE IT IS.” Lolololol, this is what I expect now.
--So here is what I want: I want Moriarty’s long game to be *nothing.* Like, Sherlock is so sure that Moriarty is playing some kind of posthumous game with him. What I want is for Moriarty to have planned that “did you miss me?” stunt entirely so that Sherlock would spend the rest of his life looking for some genius plot to fall into place. BUT THERE IS NO PLAN. THE WHOLE PLAN IS JUST TORTURING SHERLOCK WITH THE ANTICIPATION THAT THERE IS A PLAN. I think *that* would be true genius on Moriarty’s plot, and I love for that to be what’s going on. Nothing is coming, but Sherlock Holmes will spend the rest of his life trigger-happy, sure that something is coming. Moriarty’s ultimate revenge.
--I assume the aquarium fixation is a James Bond homage. James Bond villains are always crazy about sea creatures.
--Me: MAYBE THE SHARK WILL KILL MARY. My friend L: …Those sharks aren’t man-eating. Me: …So?
--On the subject of aquariums: I have always loved aquariums—this is why I wrote a whole fic called “Connoisseur of Aquariums”—and now I don’t know how to feel about them. On the one hand, Mary died in one. On the other hand, what the hell with that death. (So much more on that later.)
--Me: WHY IS MARY IN EVERY SINGLE SCENE. MARY. MARY. MARY. GO AWAY.
--Also me: SHUT UP, MARY.
--“It’s never twins.” LAUGHED SO HARD.
--Still me: STILL SHUT UP, MARY.
--And again me: MARY, WHY ARE YOU STILL TALKING.
--The Sherlock spinning plates thing. Like, John and Mary seem very worried that he’s “spinning plates” or whatever. They seemed to think it’s about the Moriarty thing, but Sherlock wasn’t in good shape long before the Moriarty thing. Is it not that he’s, like, unhappy? Is it not that the love of his life married a woman who then tried to murder him, and no one seemed to care? Is that not the reason Sherlock is desperately spinning plates? He’s lonely and sad and trying to run very hard to stay in the same place. At least, that’s what I assumed.
--Still me: OH, GOD, MARY IS STILL TALKING.
--If Mrs. Hudson takes such horrible pictures, why doesn’t Molly take the picture?????
-- Does Mary even let John have a say in naming the child? Oh, wait, no, because she wants to SECRETLY NAME THE CHILD AFTER HERSELF. THE NAME JOHN ISN’T SUPPOSED TO KNOW. THE LIFE SHE IS SUPPOSEDLY SO ANXIOUS TO LEAVE BEHIND. Actually, in retrospect, SUCH A MARY MOVE. UGH, MARY.
--“Delete any text that begins ‘hi.’” Love.
--Ha, Sherlock with the baby rattle. I talk to my niblings like that, too. My favorite is when they cry when they’re tired and I’m just like, “Close your eyes! You are causing your own problem!” They always look very unimpressed when I tell them that.
--Sooooo John’s weird mistress storyline is clearly a Moriarty mistress, right? Like, there’s got to be something sketchy going on there, right?
--Everything with Lestrade was golden. Like, the whole scene where Sherlock mouths, “What’s his name?” and John mouths back, “Greg,” and then Lestrade is all pleased he got his name right. Love. Love love love. (Then again: note Mary wasn’t in that scene.)
--What is that conversation with Mary (who manages to be in scenes EVEN WHEN SHE SHOULDN’T BE IN THE SCENE) about “receptionists know everything”? What receptionist? Didn’t John text her the details? (BECAUSE THIS SHOW IS ALL ABOUT JOHN AND SHERLOCK AND MARY BEING A CRIME-FIGHTING TRIO TOGETHER.)
--So it was just an incredible coincidence that brought Sherlock to the house of the first Thatcher statue? This kind of supports my desire for Moriarty’s long game to be nothing at all, just making Sherlock suspicious of EVERYTHING. Of course, then it all turned out to be about ~Mary, the central character of the show~ so I guess that undercuts my Moriarty theory. But I really would seriously love for there to be no long game, just slowly driving Sherlock insane by there being no long game.
--That kid had the most elaborate plan for surprising his dad, like, ever. And his whole death was also so coincidental. Much like Sherlock showing up there to discover the Thatcher statute occurrence in the first place. Coincidence: but the universe is rarely so lazy.
--“Rather arrogant, I thought.” “*You* thought that?” “I know.” I LOVE MYCROFT SO MUCH.
--MYCROFT IS THE BEST. “Looks very…fully functional.” Also, WHAT IS HIS CREEPY OFFICE? WHAT IS HIS KITCHEN????? I seriously adore Mycroft. Let us all recall he was the first Sherlock character I ever wrote, and he’s still my favorite.
--Sherlock wrote little fix-it fic about pirates. SHERLOCK, MY BABY. I love Mycroft, but I also still love Sherlock. I love him and his self-destructive, undying devotion to John Watson.
--“Keep me informed.” “Of what?” “Absolutely no idea.” THOSE TWO. In the wake of whatever mess this show has made of the Sherlock/John relationship, at least it still gives me the Sherlock/Mycroft relationship, in all of its prickly (but definitely affectionate) glory.
--Ha, the little tease about how Sherlock and Lestrade met.
--I don’t get the balloon thing. I mean, it was a funny gag, but I thought John *liked* doing the cases with Sherlock. Why would he rather be off doing Sudoku than listening to the clients?
--LOVED the “oh, I thought you did something clever, but now you explained it so it’s not.” And I also loved how Sherlock’s reaction to it was to make the man’s wife into Mary: a murdering super-spy who’s been lying about her identity to her husband for their entire relationship. But then there’s, like…no reaction from John. He just laughs, like, “Ha ha, hilarious, I also have a murdering super-spy wife who lied about her identity for our entire relationship, ha ha ha. Then she killed you, remember that? That was good times!” ANYWAY I love that Sherlock just had this whole scenario in his brain ready to be rattled off. I love how quick on his feet Sherlock is to fit the mold people think he should fit. Like, when he tells Mary he tracked her down by eliminating possibilities or whatever. It’s clear that he knows exactly what people expect out of him and he rattles it off so easily, because he’s just that good at playing the role people expect and hiding who he really is underneath it all. Sherlock is so very good at spinning the plates people think he ought to be spinning.
--So Lestrade isn’t dating The One, huh? Interesting. BECAUSE THE ONE IS MYCROFT. (Yes. Sherlock’s just making up the problem with Lestrade’s girlfriend to help his brother out. He will hold this over his head later. “Mycroft, I GAVE YOU YOUR BOYFRIEND.”)
--Me: OH, LOOK, MARY HAS DECIDED TO SHOW UP AGAIN. AND NOW THEY ARE ALL GOING TO BE INEXPLICABLY RUDE TO JOHN. Like, Oh, look, Mary is better than John Watson, THE LEGENDARY EXAMPLE OF RIGHT-HAND-MANSHIP IN ALL OF DETECTIVE LITERATURE. MARY IS BETTER THAN HIM. OF COURSE SHE IS.
--I loved the Toby thing, although I’m not really sure what was going on with that. Like, was there a reason Sherlock couldn’t, like, scientifically analyze the blood in some way? Rather than just turning a dog randomly loose in London and hoping for the best?
--I loved the red herring of the black pearl. I also loved the comment about how Thatcher is the new Napoleon. Canon reference ahoy!
--I still like to believe that John was really having an affair with Sherlock. Like, we don’t know yet that he wasn’t.
--“They’re from Georgia.” Me: “Makes sense. Sketchy stuff happens in the South.”
--Way to be as creepy as possible, Sherlock. Hang out in a darkened swimming pool area secretly watching a little girl swim.
--Other friend L during the very long fight scene: “Benedict did all that fight training for Dr. Strange. They were like, ‘We can use this.’”
--My friend S during the very long fight scene: “WHERE IS JOHN. WHY IS JOHN NOT THERE. JOHN SHOULD BE THERE.” (Of course, John Watson can no longer be with Sherlock Holmes on this show, because ~Mary.~ This show has literally succeeded in separating a duo that has spent well over a century being completely inseparable in anyone’s brain. Including, no matter how much he tried otherwise, Arthur Conan Doyle’s.)
--So did John and Sherlock really never look at the original AGRA thumb drive? I always assumed that was a lie, but I was probably assuming that based on the fact that I always assumed Mary was evil. Like, when A.J. was telling the story about Mary’s betrayal, I was like, “I KNEW IT. I KNEW SHE WAS SKETCHY.” And then when the show went about making Mary the hero (as usual), I was like, “…Wait—So she…didn’t betray those people? I assumed she did. Huh.” But when A.J. was like, “I AM GOING TO KILL HER,” I was like, “HE IS MY NEW FAVORITE CHARACTER.” Poor A.J. (Btw, part of my issue with Yuri on Ice, I think, is connected with this issue with Sherlock. I thought Character A was the main character, but it turned out Character B was, and then I got all kerfuffled. I am, at heart, not a plot twist person, it turns out.)
--A.J. Googling “Sherlock Holmes:” Wow, Tumblr. Oooh, AO3. Ah, Omegaverse. Marked for later.
--Again I say: Poor A.J. All that torture. L
--Okay, what is that sketchy place Sherlock meets Mary? I assume he borrowed it from Mycroft, right? It went like this: “Hey, brother, I need to hang out with John’s assassin wife somewhere suitably atmospheric.” And Mycroft was like, “What about your fake house?” And Sherlock was like, “Ugh, I’ve already used it, I can’t repeat the same dramatic meeting place. I’d like something with, like, candles and random dripping noises, you know?” Mycroft: “I do know. In fact, I have just the place. But don’t make a mess of it, okay? I hate having to send Anthea to clean up after your messes. And the candles are in VERY STRATEGIC places to achieve the MOODIEST lighting, DO NOT MOVE THEM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.” (Mycroft. My love. ::cuddles him::)
--“I’ll know the truth when I hear it.” My friend S: “Will you, though?”
--Me during the whole conversation Mary had with Sherlock: “Watch out, Sherlock, she might shoot you again. We all know how Mary reacts when you find things out about her.” And I was kind of sort of only joking (although WHO KNOWS on this show), and then Mary drugged him and I was like, “MARY. WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU. ARGH.” And notice she showed up to a meeting with Sherlock just assuming she was probably going to have to drug him. OF COURSE. I love that Sherlock assumed she’d be sketchy and steal the thumb drive. Like, that’s you learning, Sherlock, love. You cannot trust that woman an inch.
--“What are you? Wikipedia?” “Yes.” Seriously, all the best lines were in the Sherlock/Mycroft conversations.
--I cannot decide if Mycroft knew Mary shot Sherlock or not. I assume he knew, so then I have to assume that he was okay with Mary’s behavior the way everyone else on this show is? Which is my basic issue. But then I’m kind of like, “Oh, maybe he just assumed Mary’s past would catch up to her sooner or later and that would take care of her for him.” I mean, he didn’t seem too overly concerned about the threat to Mary. I like to think that Mycroft is busy enough keeping Sherlock safe…and hopefully realizing that Mary is literally one of the greatest threats to Sherlock’s life because of the lengths he will go to to protect her on John’s behalf. After all, I thought in TAB it was clear that Mycroft thought Sherlock’s fixation with John was dangerous. I think Mycroft is watching the conflagration of the Watson marriage and just hoping he can get Sherlock out of it halfway-intact. “Is that sentiment talking?” Mycroft asks, worrying. Because Mycroft knows the lengths you go to when you love someone. And Mycroft knows very much what it’s like to have to keep trying to save someone who makes things difficult for you.
--How come nobody’s ever sitting in the middle seat on the planes on this show? Is that a European thing? Are middle seats frequently empty? (This is to distract me from that really long horrible scene I had to watch with Mary on the plane.)
--Mary vows to eventually come back. Why don’t they just…wait for her to come back? It’s not like she’s like, “For your own good, I must leave you forever.”
--I liked that Sherlock surprised Mary by tracking her down. At least the show gave me that much.
--Ah, although, yes, then it turns out the memory stick trace was John’s idea. Meaning that Sherlock told John about the Mary thing before he talked to Mary about it. And they clearly came up with the plan that Sherlock would talk to Mary about it alone? And they clearly assumed that Mary would do something sketchy to escape Sherlock with the thumb drive? Wouldn’t it be awesome if that had all been a set-up for John and Sherlock to get Mary out of the picture, ahahahahah? “We will tell her all these things, and then she will run away, and we will be freeeeeeeee.”
--“I think I’m a better man than you give me credit for.” Which makes me assume he wasn’t cheating on her. But I’m not sure that I’m not overthinking what the show wants me to think about that whole thing?
--Convenient red lasers on guns save the day again!
--WHO IS WATCHING ROSIE? I assume Mrs. Hudson, Molly, and Lestrade are all watching Rosie. And, tbh, I would pay money to see that show. Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson is one of my favorite scene-sharing couples.
--Look at that gorgeous tea service that boy put together. How tragic that it fell!
--Sherlock is always standing in front of windows. If I had Sherlock’s life, I would never be in front of a window.
--That scene with the Moriarty Mistress is the obligatory “John Watson Likes the Ladies” scene. Even after he gets married, we need to have one of those scenes, lololol. WE GET IT. JOHN WATSON LIKES LADIES.
--Yup, totally assume John is texting with Sherlock. They miss each other. John sends him little smiley face texts and Sherlock rolls his eyes and pretends to delete them.
--How did Mary know to come to the aquarium? Her text from Sherlock didn’t say aquarium, did it?
--So I assume that Sherlock goads Vivian about the jealousy thing because Sherlock’s really the jealous one? I think jealousy motivates Sherlock in every way. He wants to prove how good he is: to his brother; to the classmates who mocked him; to John, who he has always wanted so desperately to impress; even to Mary, who he is so insistent should stick close to him so he can keep her safe. Sherlock doesn’t know how to be valuable to people as himself, he just knows how to make them impressed. But he’s jealous, of the attention of others, of the relationships that others have. Look at the face of the man at the end of TSoT and tell me he’s not jealous, of this life he thinks he will never get to have. Mary is another character who also thought she’d never have an ordinary life, and Sherlock was so determined to give it to her, so determined to give her the man he couldn’t have, the happy family. “You think you can just keep on saving her?” Mycroft asks him, and yes, that’s exactly what he thinks; he wants one of them to get the ordinary life. But it’s so much—so very much—for a man who must be so tired of being jealous all the time.
--“I’m sorry for shooting you that time. I’m really sorry.” Wow, Mary, thanks so much for FINALLY SAYING THAT. THANK YOU. But the rest of this scene I was just like, “OF COURSE. OF COURSE MARY IS GOING TO TAKE THE BULLET AND JOHN IS GOING TO BLAME SHERLOCK FOR IT AND WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT. I KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.” Mary actually literally shot and tried to kill Sherlock, nobody ever seemed to blame her for it. But Sherlock *gets shot at* by someone else, and oh, yeah, the resulting death suddenly becomes his fault. Ugh, Mary. EVEN IN DEATH YOU ARE CAUSING ME PROBLEMS, MARY.
--LITTLE MYSTRADE MOMENT in the glance after Mary’s death when John is so angry with Sherlock. Also, Mycroft’s little worried look there. So sad and tragic. Mycroft knows the importance to Sherlock of the relationship with John. Sherlock has been tying himself up in knots trying to keep John Watson happy and Mary Watson safe. Sherlock’s been chasing John’s troublesome wife all over the world, while Mycroft has been dubious and worried. This might not be the way Mycroft predicted it was going to happen, but Mycroft saw this coming from miles away. Talk about premonitions.
--I want Sherlock to have been like, “Sooooo this might not be the right time, but…I have, like, a cemetery plot I’m not using anymore. If you want it. We can even, like, cross my name off the gravestone and write Mary’s in. Should we put ‘beloved wife’…?”
--SHERLOCK IN THERAPY. BECAUSE SHERLOCK FEELS HE’S FAILED JOHN SO BADLY HE GOES TO THERAPY. THANK YOU, MARY.
--MYCROFT’S KITCHEN. MYCROFT’S EMPTY FRIDGE. ALL HIS TAKEAWAY MENUS. CALL GREG, MYCROFT. YOU REALLY NEED GREG.
--Hoping hoping hoping Sherringford is not another brother. ::fingers crossed::
--“Nothing will ever be the same again.” I’m like, Really, Mrs. Hudson? I’m thinking maybe we finally have a chance of getting things back to normal on this show. MAYBE. (Probably not.)
--AND THEN MARY COMES BACK. SHE IS DEAD AND SHE IS STILL ON THIS SHOW. WHYYYYYYYY.
--“Might be the hardest case of your career.” Saving John Watson? The hardest case of his career? Listen, Mary. He already saved John Watson, k? So don’t you worry about the ability of Sherlock Holmes to save John Watson. Just get out of his way.
--MOLLY. You can’t make up a lie about what John said? You had to give *those exact words*? Sigh. Molly.
--I like to think that this was an elaborate plot between John and Sherlock to get rid of Mary. Like, the reason John can’t talk to Sherlock yet is because he’s scared he’ll laugh with glee over how well they pulled it off and he’s supposed to be grieving. Like, clearly the note John gives Sherlock through Molly is like, “Miss you, babe. Can’t wait till we make out again.”
--My friend S: “She’s not saying ‘save.’ She’s saying the Latin word ‘sah-vay,’ which a verb meaning ‘to make out.’ She’s saying ‘Make out with John Watson.’”
--“Go to Hell, Sherlock.” I have, like, no actual opinion on that, lolololol. Whatevs, Mary.
--LOVE. The whole series is about LOVE. It’s the code name, it’s the code word, and it’s the trailer. IT’S A SHOW ABOUT LOVE. Mycroft’s love for his brother; Sherlock’s intense, intense love for John Watson; John’s very confused feelings about love. Oh, and everyone’s love for Little Rosie, the baby that is sometimes remembered by some of the people on the show every once in a while.
--Sherlock tweets. SHERLOCK LOVES TO TWEET. I CALLED THAT YEARS AGO. (Please see “Adventures of a Single Girl in London (Plus a Consulting Detective).)
--When they were showing the video of Sherlock shooting CAM but he wasn’t shooting him anymore, before they explained they’d doctored it, I was like, “IS THIS SHOW JUST GOING TO IGNORE ALL OF ITS CANON. OF COURSE IT IS.” Lolololol, this is what I expect now.
--So here is what I want: I want Moriarty’s long game to be *nothing.* Like, Sherlock is so sure that Moriarty is playing some kind of posthumous game with him. What I want is for Moriarty to have planned that “did you miss me?” stunt entirely so that Sherlock would spend the rest of his life looking for some genius plot to fall into place. BUT THERE IS NO PLAN. THE WHOLE PLAN IS JUST TORTURING SHERLOCK WITH THE ANTICIPATION THAT THERE IS A PLAN. I think *that* would be true genius on Moriarty’s plot, and I love for that to be what’s going on. Nothing is coming, but Sherlock Holmes will spend the rest of his life trigger-happy, sure that something is coming. Moriarty’s ultimate revenge.
--I assume the aquarium fixation is a James Bond homage. James Bond villains are always crazy about sea creatures.
--Me: MAYBE THE SHARK WILL KILL MARY. My friend L: …Those sharks aren’t man-eating. Me: …So?
--On the subject of aquariums: I have always loved aquariums—this is why I wrote a whole fic called “Connoisseur of Aquariums”—and now I don’t know how to feel about them. On the one hand, Mary died in one. On the other hand, what the hell with that death. (So much more on that later.)
--Me: WHY IS MARY IN EVERY SINGLE SCENE. MARY. MARY. MARY. GO AWAY.
--Also me: SHUT UP, MARY.
--“It’s never twins.” LAUGHED SO HARD.
--Still me: STILL SHUT UP, MARY.
--And again me: MARY, WHY ARE YOU STILL TALKING.
--The Sherlock spinning plates thing. Like, John and Mary seem very worried that he’s “spinning plates” or whatever. They seemed to think it’s about the Moriarty thing, but Sherlock wasn’t in good shape long before the Moriarty thing. Is it not that he’s, like, unhappy? Is it not that the love of his life married a woman who then tried to murder him, and no one seemed to care? Is that not the reason Sherlock is desperately spinning plates? He’s lonely and sad and trying to run very hard to stay in the same place. At least, that’s what I assumed.
--Still me: OH, GOD, MARY IS STILL TALKING.
--If Mrs. Hudson takes such horrible pictures, why doesn’t Molly take the picture?????
-- Does Mary even let John have a say in naming the child? Oh, wait, no, because she wants to SECRETLY NAME THE CHILD AFTER HERSELF. THE NAME JOHN ISN’T SUPPOSED TO KNOW. THE LIFE SHE IS SUPPOSEDLY SO ANXIOUS TO LEAVE BEHIND. Actually, in retrospect, SUCH A MARY MOVE. UGH, MARY.
--“Delete any text that begins ‘hi.’” Love.
--Ha, Sherlock with the baby rattle. I talk to my niblings like that, too. My favorite is when they cry when they’re tired and I’m just like, “Close your eyes! You are causing your own problem!” They always look very unimpressed when I tell them that.
--Sooooo John’s weird mistress storyline is clearly a Moriarty mistress, right? Like, there’s got to be something sketchy going on there, right?
--Everything with Lestrade was golden. Like, the whole scene where Sherlock mouths, “What’s his name?” and John mouths back, “Greg,” and then Lestrade is all pleased he got his name right. Love. Love love love. (Then again: note Mary wasn’t in that scene.)
--What is that conversation with Mary (who manages to be in scenes EVEN WHEN SHE SHOULDN’T BE IN THE SCENE) about “receptionists know everything”? What receptionist? Didn’t John text her the details? (BECAUSE THIS SHOW IS ALL ABOUT JOHN AND SHERLOCK AND MARY BEING A CRIME-FIGHTING TRIO TOGETHER.)
--So it was just an incredible coincidence that brought Sherlock to the house of the first Thatcher statue? This kind of supports my desire for Moriarty’s long game to be nothing at all, just making Sherlock suspicious of EVERYTHING. Of course, then it all turned out to be about ~Mary, the central character of the show~ so I guess that undercuts my Moriarty theory. But I really would seriously love for there to be no long game, just slowly driving Sherlock insane by there being no long game.
--That kid had the most elaborate plan for surprising his dad, like, ever. And his whole death was also so coincidental. Much like Sherlock showing up there to discover the Thatcher statute occurrence in the first place. Coincidence: but the universe is rarely so lazy.
--“Rather arrogant, I thought.” “*You* thought that?” “I know.” I LOVE MYCROFT SO MUCH.
--MYCROFT IS THE BEST. “Looks very…fully functional.” Also, WHAT IS HIS CREEPY OFFICE? WHAT IS HIS KITCHEN????? I seriously adore Mycroft. Let us all recall he was the first Sherlock character I ever wrote, and he’s still my favorite.
--Sherlock wrote little fix-it fic about pirates. SHERLOCK, MY BABY. I love Mycroft, but I also still love Sherlock. I love him and his self-destructive, undying devotion to John Watson.
--“Keep me informed.” “Of what?” “Absolutely no idea.” THOSE TWO. In the wake of whatever mess this show has made of the Sherlock/John relationship, at least it still gives me the Sherlock/Mycroft relationship, in all of its prickly (but definitely affectionate) glory.
--Ha, the little tease about how Sherlock and Lestrade met.
--I don’t get the balloon thing. I mean, it was a funny gag, but I thought John *liked* doing the cases with Sherlock. Why would he rather be off doing Sudoku than listening to the clients?
--LOVED the “oh, I thought you did something clever, but now you explained it so it’s not.” And I also loved how Sherlock’s reaction to it was to make the man’s wife into Mary: a murdering super-spy who’s been lying about her identity to her husband for their entire relationship. But then there’s, like…no reaction from John. He just laughs, like, “Ha ha, hilarious, I also have a murdering super-spy wife who lied about her identity for our entire relationship, ha ha ha. Then she killed you, remember that? That was good times!” ANYWAY I love that Sherlock just had this whole scenario in his brain ready to be rattled off. I love how quick on his feet Sherlock is to fit the mold people think he should fit. Like, when he tells Mary he tracked her down by eliminating possibilities or whatever. It’s clear that he knows exactly what people expect out of him and he rattles it off so easily, because he’s just that good at playing the role people expect and hiding who he really is underneath it all. Sherlock is so very good at spinning the plates people think he ought to be spinning.
--So Lestrade isn’t dating The One, huh? Interesting. BECAUSE THE ONE IS MYCROFT. (Yes. Sherlock’s just making up the problem with Lestrade’s girlfriend to help his brother out. He will hold this over his head later. “Mycroft, I GAVE YOU YOUR BOYFRIEND.”)
--Me: OH, LOOK, MARY HAS DECIDED TO SHOW UP AGAIN. AND NOW THEY ARE ALL GOING TO BE INEXPLICABLY RUDE TO JOHN. Like, Oh, look, Mary is better than John Watson, THE LEGENDARY EXAMPLE OF RIGHT-HAND-MANSHIP IN ALL OF DETECTIVE LITERATURE. MARY IS BETTER THAN HIM. OF COURSE SHE IS.
--I loved the Toby thing, although I’m not really sure what was going on with that. Like, was there a reason Sherlock couldn’t, like, scientifically analyze the blood in some way? Rather than just turning a dog randomly loose in London and hoping for the best?
--I loved the red herring of the black pearl. I also loved the comment about how Thatcher is the new Napoleon. Canon reference ahoy!
--I still like to believe that John was really having an affair with Sherlock. Like, we don’t know yet that he wasn’t.
--“They’re from Georgia.” Me: “Makes sense. Sketchy stuff happens in the South.”
--Way to be as creepy as possible, Sherlock. Hang out in a darkened swimming pool area secretly watching a little girl swim.
--Other friend L during the very long fight scene: “Benedict did all that fight training for Dr. Strange. They were like, ‘We can use this.’”
--My friend S during the very long fight scene: “WHERE IS JOHN. WHY IS JOHN NOT THERE. JOHN SHOULD BE THERE.” (Of course, John Watson can no longer be with Sherlock Holmes on this show, because ~Mary.~ This show has literally succeeded in separating a duo that has spent well over a century being completely inseparable in anyone’s brain. Including, no matter how much he tried otherwise, Arthur Conan Doyle’s.)
--So did John and Sherlock really never look at the original AGRA thumb drive? I always assumed that was a lie, but I was probably assuming that based on the fact that I always assumed Mary was evil. Like, when A.J. was telling the story about Mary’s betrayal, I was like, “I KNEW IT. I KNEW SHE WAS SKETCHY.” And then when the show went about making Mary the hero (as usual), I was like, “…Wait—So she…didn’t betray those people? I assumed she did. Huh.” But when A.J. was like, “I AM GOING TO KILL HER,” I was like, “HE IS MY NEW FAVORITE CHARACTER.” Poor A.J. (Btw, part of my issue with Yuri on Ice, I think, is connected with this issue with Sherlock. I thought Character A was the main character, but it turned out Character B was, and then I got all kerfuffled. I am, at heart, not a plot twist person, it turns out.)
--A.J. Googling “Sherlock Holmes:” Wow, Tumblr. Oooh, AO3. Ah, Omegaverse. Marked for later.
--Again I say: Poor A.J. All that torture. L
--Okay, what is that sketchy place Sherlock meets Mary? I assume he borrowed it from Mycroft, right? It went like this: “Hey, brother, I need to hang out with John’s assassin wife somewhere suitably atmospheric.” And Mycroft was like, “What about your fake house?” And Sherlock was like, “Ugh, I’ve already used it, I can’t repeat the same dramatic meeting place. I’d like something with, like, candles and random dripping noises, you know?” Mycroft: “I do know. In fact, I have just the place. But don’t make a mess of it, okay? I hate having to send Anthea to clean up after your messes. And the candles are in VERY STRATEGIC places to achieve the MOODIEST lighting, DO NOT MOVE THEM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.” (Mycroft. My love. ::cuddles him::)
--“I’ll know the truth when I hear it.” My friend S: “Will you, though?”
--Me during the whole conversation Mary had with Sherlock: “Watch out, Sherlock, she might shoot you again. We all know how Mary reacts when you find things out about her.” And I was kind of sort of only joking (although WHO KNOWS on this show), and then Mary drugged him and I was like, “MARY. WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU. ARGH.” And notice she showed up to a meeting with Sherlock just assuming she was probably going to have to drug him. OF COURSE. I love that Sherlock assumed she’d be sketchy and steal the thumb drive. Like, that’s you learning, Sherlock, love. You cannot trust that woman an inch.
--“What are you? Wikipedia?” “Yes.” Seriously, all the best lines were in the Sherlock/Mycroft conversations.
--I cannot decide if Mycroft knew Mary shot Sherlock or not. I assume he knew, so then I have to assume that he was okay with Mary’s behavior the way everyone else on this show is? Which is my basic issue. But then I’m kind of like, “Oh, maybe he just assumed Mary’s past would catch up to her sooner or later and that would take care of her for him.” I mean, he didn’t seem too overly concerned about the threat to Mary. I like to think that Mycroft is busy enough keeping Sherlock safe…and hopefully realizing that Mary is literally one of the greatest threats to Sherlock’s life because of the lengths he will go to to protect her on John’s behalf. After all, I thought in TAB it was clear that Mycroft thought Sherlock’s fixation with John was dangerous. I think Mycroft is watching the conflagration of the Watson marriage and just hoping he can get Sherlock out of it halfway-intact. “Is that sentiment talking?” Mycroft asks, worrying. Because Mycroft knows the lengths you go to when you love someone. And Mycroft knows very much what it’s like to have to keep trying to save someone who makes things difficult for you.
--How come nobody’s ever sitting in the middle seat on the planes on this show? Is that a European thing? Are middle seats frequently empty? (This is to distract me from that really long horrible scene I had to watch with Mary on the plane.)
--Mary vows to eventually come back. Why don’t they just…wait for her to come back? It’s not like she’s like, “For your own good, I must leave you forever.”
--I liked that Sherlock surprised Mary by tracking her down. At least the show gave me that much.
--Ah, although, yes, then it turns out the memory stick trace was John’s idea. Meaning that Sherlock told John about the Mary thing before he talked to Mary about it. And they clearly came up with the plan that Sherlock would talk to Mary about it alone? And they clearly assumed that Mary would do something sketchy to escape Sherlock with the thumb drive? Wouldn’t it be awesome if that had all been a set-up for John and Sherlock to get Mary out of the picture, ahahahahah? “We will tell her all these things, and then she will run away, and we will be freeeeeeeee.”
--“I think I’m a better man than you give me credit for.” Which makes me assume he wasn’t cheating on her. But I’m not sure that I’m not overthinking what the show wants me to think about that whole thing?
--Convenient red lasers on guns save the day again!
--WHO IS WATCHING ROSIE? I assume Mrs. Hudson, Molly, and Lestrade are all watching Rosie. And, tbh, I would pay money to see that show. Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson is one of my favorite scene-sharing couples.
--Look at that gorgeous tea service that boy put together. How tragic that it fell!
--Sherlock is always standing in front of windows. If I had Sherlock’s life, I would never be in front of a window.
--That scene with the Moriarty Mistress is the obligatory “John Watson Likes the Ladies” scene. Even after he gets married, we need to have one of those scenes, lololol. WE GET IT. JOHN WATSON LIKES LADIES.
--Yup, totally assume John is texting with Sherlock. They miss each other. John sends him little smiley face texts and Sherlock rolls his eyes and pretends to delete them.
--How did Mary know to come to the aquarium? Her text from Sherlock didn’t say aquarium, did it?
--So I assume that Sherlock goads Vivian about the jealousy thing because Sherlock’s really the jealous one? I think jealousy motivates Sherlock in every way. He wants to prove how good he is: to his brother; to the classmates who mocked him; to John, who he has always wanted so desperately to impress; even to Mary, who he is so insistent should stick close to him so he can keep her safe. Sherlock doesn’t know how to be valuable to people as himself, he just knows how to make them impressed. But he’s jealous, of the attention of others, of the relationships that others have. Look at the face of the man at the end of TSoT and tell me he’s not jealous, of this life he thinks he will never get to have. Mary is another character who also thought she’d never have an ordinary life, and Sherlock was so determined to give it to her, so determined to give her the man he couldn’t have, the happy family. “You think you can just keep on saving her?” Mycroft asks him, and yes, that’s exactly what he thinks; he wants one of them to get the ordinary life. But it’s so much—so very much—for a man who must be so tired of being jealous all the time.
--“I’m sorry for shooting you that time. I’m really sorry.” Wow, Mary, thanks so much for FINALLY SAYING THAT. THANK YOU. But the rest of this scene I was just like, “OF COURSE. OF COURSE MARY IS GOING TO TAKE THE BULLET AND JOHN IS GOING TO BLAME SHERLOCK FOR IT AND WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT. I KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.” Mary actually literally shot and tried to kill Sherlock, nobody ever seemed to blame her for it. But Sherlock *gets shot at* by someone else, and oh, yeah, the resulting death suddenly becomes his fault. Ugh, Mary. EVEN IN DEATH YOU ARE CAUSING ME PROBLEMS, MARY.
--LITTLE MYSTRADE MOMENT in the glance after Mary’s death when John is so angry with Sherlock. Also, Mycroft’s little worried look there. So sad and tragic. Mycroft knows the importance to Sherlock of the relationship with John. Sherlock has been tying himself up in knots trying to keep John Watson happy and Mary Watson safe. Sherlock’s been chasing John’s troublesome wife all over the world, while Mycroft has been dubious and worried. This might not be the way Mycroft predicted it was going to happen, but Mycroft saw this coming from miles away. Talk about premonitions.
--I want Sherlock to have been like, “Sooooo this might not be the right time, but…I have, like, a cemetery plot I’m not using anymore. If you want it. We can even, like, cross my name off the gravestone and write Mary’s in. Should we put ‘beloved wife’…?”
--SHERLOCK IN THERAPY. BECAUSE SHERLOCK FEELS HE’S FAILED JOHN SO BADLY HE GOES TO THERAPY. THANK YOU, MARY.
--MYCROFT’S KITCHEN. MYCROFT’S EMPTY FRIDGE. ALL HIS TAKEAWAY MENUS. CALL GREG, MYCROFT. YOU REALLY NEED GREG.
--Hoping hoping hoping Sherringford is not another brother. ::fingers crossed::
--“Nothing will ever be the same again.” I’m like, Really, Mrs. Hudson? I’m thinking maybe we finally have a chance of getting things back to normal on this show. MAYBE. (Probably not.)
--AND THEN MARY COMES BACK. SHE IS DEAD AND SHE IS STILL ON THIS SHOW. WHYYYYYYYY.
--“Might be the hardest case of your career.” Saving John Watson? The hardest case of his career? Listen, Mary. He already saved John Watson, k? So don’t you worry about the ability of Sherlock Holmes to save John Watson. Just get out of his way.
--MOLLY. You can’t make up a lie about what John said? You had to give *those exact words*? Sigh. Molly.
--I like to think that this was an elaborate plot between John and Sherlock to get rid of Mary. Like, the reason John can’t talk to Sherlock yet is because he’s scared he’ll laugh with glee over how well they pulled it off and he’s supposed to be grieving. Like, clearly the note John gives Sherlock through Molly is like, “Miss you, babe. Can’t wait till we make out again.”
--My friend S: “She’s not saying ‘save.’ She’s saying the Latin word ‘sah-vay,’ which a verb meaning ‘to make out.’ She’s saying ‘Make out with John Watson.’”
--“Go to Hell, Sherlock.” I have, like, no actual opinion on that, lolololol. Whatevs, Mary.
