Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia
Well. It's the episode we've been waiting for. And it lived up to my every expectation! :D
There will probably be more than one post about this episode, because ... well. Because there was just so much stuff in there. I can't express my many and various thoughts in this slap-dash just-before-bed working-on-memory manner. Definitely it needs a re-watch, and a proper thinky post. This, though? This is for the squee.
WARNING: SPOILERS AND INCOHERENCY below the cut.
OK, the swimming pool. I've been waiting to see how Messers Moffat and Gatiss were going to get them out of that one. And really? I have to say, I wasn't expecting it.
Oh, Jim. You delightfully unstable bastard.
Generally speaking? I like a bad-boy. (I do; I have a type, it's written all across my favourite fictional characters.) But not Jim Moriarty. The bastard just creeps me out. (And also, he killed an old lady for no readily discernible reason other than 'because he could'. Don't tell me it was because she was going to tell Sherlock about his voice - that was a bit irrelevant, since he was filly intending to reveal himself to Sherlock anyway and a voice-description wouldn't have got even the great Sherlock Holmes far.)
But. But. He is just so well written. He makes me shiver. He walks that knife-edge between brilliance and insanity, and it's done so well. He could be over-the-top. He could come across as a moustache-twirling caricature. But no. A mix of excellent writing and superb acting pulls off this incredible character, this character whose brain I want to dissect.
Jim Moriarty is fascinating.
O-kay, wasn't really expecting to fangirl over Moriarty tonight, but there you go.
Back to my proper favourites. Sherlock and John.
OH GOD SHERLOCK AND JOHN.
I was kind of concerned that, given the (fan) reception, they might pull a Merlin on us and attempt to sweep all the gay under the carpet. (Which would've been slightly hyprocritical, given that they shoved it in our face what with virtually every character assuming they're a couple ... And also, I should've had more faith, given that this is Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, but hey. We all have irrational fears from time to time.) My fears were happily unfounded and unnecessary.
John. When even your girlfriend thinks that you and Sherlock are a couple (or may as well be) ... you might as well just give in, dear. :P Denial is not flattering.
That poor women. Those poor women. John's girlfriends really do get a raw deal when even he can't be arsed remembering that this one isn't the one with the dog. :/ (I love that John is now turning to Mrs Hudson to tell him that things are a bit not good. Which is exactly what Sherlock was doing ... oh, this time last series. XD)
Speaking of Sherlock: DEER STALKER! DEER STALKER! OH MY GOD DEER STALKER WITH A GOOD, LOGICAL EXPLANATION FOR HIM TO BE WEARING SUCH RIDICULOUS HEADGEAR!!!!
I laughed solidly for about five minutes. I love those photos. *draws little hearts all over them* Seriously, one of the things I truly adore about this show is the little homages to previous protrayals and the originals. (The Speckled Blonde! The Speckled Blonde!!)
I also love that, basically, John's blog is the only thing getting them work. And how much it pisses Sherlock off. :P
*ahem* On a slightly more serious note:
The scene where John gets carted off somewhere on New Year's Eve by a pretty woman. I didn't think for a minute it'd be Mycroft. I thought it would be Moriarty. I wasn't expecting Miss Adler.
This bit broke my heart:
John: If anyone out there is still listening, I'm not actually gay.
Irene: Well, I am!
I'm quoting from memory here, sorry if it's a bit off. My first reaction was to laugh at what John said. (And wonder if that line was put in there for all the fangirls to studiously ignore.)
And then Sherlock's phone went off. Which means he heard all that. And my broke a bit, because here are the two people - possibly the only two people - who Sherlock has shown any interest in, and according to what they just said, he can't have either of them.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but ... I think that's maybe why Irene stops John from going after him. Because neither one of them can make it OK, now.
It's making me wibbly just thinking about it.
Of course, as it turns out, Sherlock Holmes is an exception to Irene Adler's sexuality. (As proved by the man himself.) Which doesn't rule out the idea of him being the one exception to John's as well. :P
Speaking of: I AM SHER-LOCKED. So obvious, and yet hidden. So hilarious. So fucking brilliant.
Marry me now Steven Moffat, right now, I WANT YOUR BRAAAAAIN.(It's the little things. And OK the big things. But as I've said before and I'll say again, I like a man who can make me laugh. AND HOW I LAUGHED.)
And at this point, I really ought to mention Mycroft. Myyyyyycroooooooft. The Ice-Man. (Or the Queen, depending on who you talk to. :P Gear throwaway line there, by the way.)
Oh. Oh, and sitting in Buck House stark naked under a sheet. I LOVE YOU SHERLOCK HOLMES, HOW I LOVE YOU. (And you, John Watson, because you take it in your stride and just ask if he's wearing pants. XD <3)
Mycroft is delicious. I don't think series one really brought out how similar the Holmes brothers are. For me, this one did. They are mirror images of one another, but ... it's a distorted mirror. I don't mean that it a bad way, though.
I'm not sure what exactly I mean, so I'll have a ponder and say whatever I come up with in another post.
Anyway. Mycroft. He manages to simultaneously be kind and cruel to Sherlock, I think. Really, he deserves his own post. His motivations are so screwy, and his sense of loyalty, and ... well, everything. He's just ... Mycroft. (And I really need to re-watch this episode.)
One of my favourite things in this episode was all the twisting and turning of the plot. Just when I felt like I had a handle on who was on whose side and what was going on ... the rug was pulled. Everything changed. And it was marvellous.
I was honestly, heart-breakingly disappointed when Irene texted Moriarty.
I was ... also strangely disappointed when we were told that Irene was dead at the end.
Now, I have issues with Irene Adler. For one things, she's threatening my God-damned OTP! :P
No, but really. I don't trust her. I don't like her. (She's a fantastically written character, don't get me wrong. I love her on that level.) She screwed up Sherlock's head, which was disquieting, and she betrayed him. She pretends and lies, and she calls what she does 'insurance' even though it is, essentially, blackmail.
Oh, and she nearly won.
But I didn't want her dead.
So it was bloody brilliant at the end. I was thinking/hoping that Mycroft had told John that she was dead in the same way he told him that she was in America - that it was all a lie, and they just didn't know where she was.
The way it actually went was far better than that. I loved it. Oh, Sherlock.
He definitely likes her. :P
Well, it's good for him to have people on his own mental level to play with. You know, ones who aren't going to attempt to blow him up in a swimming pool (probably).
Speaking of people Sherlock likes, and conversely people who like Sherlock: WHY, MOLLY, WHY?! ; _ ;
I could honestly cry for that poor girl. She has a really shit job for ever getting a date, and the only young(ish) good-looking(ish) man she ever gets to see on a semi-regular basis is Sherlock and he's a shitbag towards her but she gets her hopes up anyway and OH GOD THAT SCENE WAS MORTIFYING. Bastard. Utter. Bastard.
Sometimes, I really don't like Sherlock. But at least he has the decency to apologise, I guess, not that it makes it any better.
Stomach-churningly awful, that scene. :/ I really feel for Molly. She falls in love with Sherlock Holmes, which is a tragedy in itself. Then she kind-of lets herself get over him for another guy, but that guy turns out to be a fucking psychopath. And then she tries for Sherlock's attention again, and he literally throws it back in her face.
... I do sometimes wonder why I even like Sherlock, he can be such a dick. :(
Also, I would not be at all surprised if Molly ends up on Jim's side later on. To get back at Sherlock. For being an utter arse. Because he is. I mean, really.
Also, he IDs Irene Adler by - and I quote Molly here - "not her face". Molly. Please. Please for the love of all that is good in the world let that be enough of a warning to you, sweetheart! *hugs her close*
Molly needs more awesome. (Hey, maybe she could get with Lestrade, that would be fun, right? And Lestrade is nice, and he's not that much older, and he's also kind and ... well, his marriage is in the toilet, so there you go. PERFECT. But really, anyone who isn't Sherlock would be perfect, right? >.>;; Ugh. Sherlock. You inspire in me such love, and sometimes such utter loathing.)
Anyway. Can' finish on a low, so have some more squee. That line, when Sherlock and Irene meet for the first time and she says: "Well, someone loves you. If I was going to punch you in the face, I'd avoid the nose and teeth, too." (Or something.)
John, your bluff has officially been called. You can protest all you like, but everybody knows. Everybody.
:P
Yeah, my slash goggles are welded to my face, I'm not even trying to get them off at this point.
And also, I've read A Scandal In Bohemia. I looooved all the little bits of the original short story that were in there. (Like Sherlock attempting to masquerade as a man of the cloth, among others.) So. Much. Love.
Anyway. It's late and I think I'll go to bed. In summary: IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME, I neeeeeeed 'The Hounds of the Baskerville' right freaking now!
I hope it has more Mycroft in it. And we definitely need more Lestrade, I missed him! Though the bits he was in were ace. God, I love Lestrade in Sherlock, he's just so put-upon and fun!
Because I forgot and it's important ...
MRS. HUDSON.
I loved the bit when Mycroft told her to shut up and Sherlock just sounded so ... so affronted! And the look on his and John's faces. You just do not speak to Mrs Hudson like that!
I especially loved that, right after Mycroft apologised, Sherlock told her to shut up, too. XD
She is so much more than their landlady. <3
Ohh, and the bit where she was dragged upstairs (forcefully enough to rip out a fingernail, ohGod, I felt a bit sick)! I was literally chanting to myself, "Please no, please no, please not Mrs Hudson!" Because I thought she'd be dead already. Honestly, I did.
I was so relieved to be wrong.
Ohhhh, and Sherlock, being all businesslike until the exact moment he had all the American dimwits incapacitated/out of the way, and then going to check she was OK. *melts* See, he does care about people!
I also loved that John completely ignored the tied-up and obviously beaten American in favour of fussing over Mrs H. Like that sort of thing happens all the time, yes. <3
OH AND THROWING HIM OUT OF THE WINDOOOOOW! <3 <3 <3 He deserved it. :P And then this:
Lestrade: How many times did he fall out of the window?
Sherlock (basically) Oh, I lost count in the heat of the moment.
Lestrade, I love you and your complete inability to be flustered by anything whatsoever to do with the Life of Sherlock. And your amazing ability to turn a blind eye to things like this. :P
And Mrs H putting the phone in her bra. Excellent. Silly Sherlock, leaving it somewhere to obvious. Silly boy! Mrs H, you give him a stern talking to about hiding places.
... Typing this up has reminded me of at least three other things, but I don't have the energy to go into them now. Next time I post about this ep. I promise.
.
There will probably be more than one post about this episode, because ... well. Because there was just so much stuff in there. I can't express my many and various thoughts in this slap-dash just-before-bed working-on-memory manner. Definitely it needs a re-watch, and a proper thinky post. This, though? This is for the squee.
WARNING: SPOILERS AND INCOHERENCY below the cut.
OK, the swimming pool. I've been waiting to see how Messers Moffat and Gatiss were going to get them out of that one. And really? I have to say, I wasn't expecting it.
Oh, Jim. You delightfully unstable bastard.
Generally speaking? I like a bad-boy. (I do; I have a type, it's written all across my favourite fictional characters.) But not Jim Moriarty. The bastard just creeps me out. (And also, he killed an old lady for no readily discernible reason other than 'because he could'. Don't tell me it was because she was going to tell Sherlock about his voice - that was a bit irrelevant, since he was filly intending to reveal himself to Sherlock anyway and a voice-description wouldn't have got even the great Sherlock Holmes far.)
But. But. He is just so well written. He makes me shiver. He walks that knife-edge between brilliance and insanity, and it's done so well. He could be over-the-top. He could come across as a moustache-twirling caricature. But no. A mix of excellent writing and superb acting pulls off this incredible character, this character whose brain I want to dissect.
Jim Moriarty is fascinating.
O-kay, wasn't really expecting to fangirl over Moriarty tonight, but there you go.
Back to my proper favourites. Sherlock and John.
OH GOD SHERLOCK AND JOHN.
I was kind of concerned that, given the (fan) reception, they might pull a Merlin on us and attempt to sweep all the gay under the carpet. (Which would've been slightly hyprocritical, given that they shoved it in our face what with virtually every character assuming they're a couple ... And also, I should've had more faith, given that this is Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, but hey. We all have irrational fears from time to time.) My fears were happily unfounded and unnecessary.
John. When even your girlfriend thinks that you and Sherlock are a couple (or may as well be) ... you might as well just give in, dear. :P Denial is not flattering.
That poor women. Those poor women. John's girlfriends really do get a raw deal when even he can't be arsed remembering that this one isn't the one with the dog. :/ (I love that John is now turning to Mrs Hudson to tell him that things are a bit not good. Which is exactly what Sherlock was doing ... oh, this time last series. XD)
Speaking of Sherlock: DEER STALKER! DEER STALKER! OH MY GOD DEER STALKER WITH A GOOD, LOGICAL EXPLANATION FOR HIM TO BE WEARING SUCH RIDICULOUS HEADGEAR!!!!
I laughed solidly for about five minutes. I love those photos. *draws little hearts all over them* Seriously, one of the things I truly adore about this show is the little homages to previous protrayals and the originals. (The Speckled Blonde! The Speckled Blonde!!)
I also love that, basically, John's blog is the only thing getting them work. And how much it pisses Sherlock off. :P
*ahem* On a slightly more serious note:
The scene where John gets carted off somewhere on New Year's Eve by a pretty woman. I didn't think for a minute it'd be Mycroft. I thought it would be Moriarty. I wasn't expecting Miss Adler.
This bit broke my heart:
John: If anyone out there is still listening, I'm not actually gay.
Irene: Well, I am!
I'm quoting from memory here, sorry if it's a bit off. My first reaction was to laugh at what John said. (And wonder if that line was put in there for all the fangirls to studiously ignore.)
And then Sherlock's phone went off. Which means he heard all that. And my broke a bit, because here are the two people - possibly the only two people - who Sherlock has shown any interest in, and according to what they just said, he can't have either of them.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but ... I think that's maybe why Irene stops John from going after him. Because neither one of them can make it OK, now.
It's making me wibbly just thinking about it.
Of course, as it turns out, Sherlock Holmes is an exception to Irene Adler's sexuality. (As proved by the man himself.) Which doesn't rule out the idea of him being the one exception to John's as well. :P
Speaking of: I AM SHER-LOCKED. So obvious, and yet hidden. So hilarious. So fucking brilliant.
Marry me now Steven Moffat, right now, I WANT YOUR BRAAAAAIN.(It's the little things. And OK the big things. But as I've said before and I'll say again, I like a man who can make me laugh. AND HOW I LAUGHED.)
And at this point, I really ought to mention Mycroft. Myyyyyycroooooooft. The Ice-Man. (Or the Queen, depending on who you talk to. :P Gear throwaway line there, by the way.)
Oh. Oh, and sitting in Buck House stark naked under a sheet. I LOVE YOU SHERLOCK HOLMES, HOW I LOVE YOU. (And you, John Watson, because you take it in your stride and just ask if he's wearing pants. XD <3)
Mycroft is delicious. I don't think series one really brought out how similar the Holmes brothers are. For me, this one did. They are mirror images of one another, but ... it's a distorted mirror. I don't mean that it a bad way, though.
I'm not sure what exactly I mean, so I'll have a ponder and say whatever I come up with in another post.
Anyway. Mycroft. He manages to simultaneously be kind and cruel to Sherlock, I think. Really, he deserves his own post. His motivations are so screwy, and his sense of loyalty, and ... well, everything. He's just ... Mycroft. (And I really need to re-watch this episode.)
One of my favourite things in this episode was all the twisting and turning of the plot. Just when I felt like I had a handle on who was on whose side and what was going on ... the rug was pulled. Everything changed. And it was marvellous.
I was honestly, heart-breakingly disappointed when Irene texted Moriarty.
I was ... also strangely disappointed when we were told that Irene was dead at the end.
Now, I have issues with Irene Adler. For one things, she's threatening my God-damned OTP! :P
No, but really. I don't trust her. I don't like her. (She's a fantastically written character, don't get me wrong. I love her on that level.) She screwed up Sherlock's head, which was disquieting, and she betrayed him. She pretends and lies, and she calls what she does 'insurance' even though it is, essentially, blackmail.
Oh, and she nearly won.
But I didn't want her dead.
So it was bloody brilliant at the end. I was thinking/hoping that Mycroft had told John that she was dead in the same way he told him that she was in America - that it was all a lie, and they just didn't know where she was.
The way it actually went was far better than that. I loved it. Oh, Sherlock.
He definitely likes her. :P
Well, it's good for him to have people on his own mental level to play with. You know, ones who aren't going to attempt to blow him up in a swimming pool (probably).
Speaking of people Sherlock likes, and conversely people who like Sherlock: WHY, MOLLY, WHY?! ; _ ;
I could honestly cry for that poor girl. She has a really shit job for ever getting a date, and the only young(ish) good-looking(ish) man she ever gets to see on a semi-regular basis is Sherlock and he's a shitbag towards her but she gets her hopes up anyway and OH GOD THAT SCENE WAS MORTIFYING. Bastard. Utter. Bastard.
Sometimes, I really don't like Sherlock. But at least he has the decency to apologise, I guess, not that it makes it any better.
Stomach-churningly awful, that scene. :/ I really feel for Molly. She falls in love with Sherlock Holmes, which is a tragedy in itself. Then she kind-of lets herself get over him for another guy, but that guy turns out to be a fucking psychopath. And then she tries for Sherlock's attention again, and he literally throws it back in her face.
... I do sometimes wonder why I even like Sherlock, he can be such a dick. :(
Also, I would not be at all surprised if Molly ends up on Jim's side later on. To get back at Sherlock. For being an utter arse. Because he is. I mean, really.
Also, he IDs Irene Adler by - and I quote Molly here - "not her face". Molly. Please. Please for the love of all that is good in the world let that be enough of a warning to you, sweetheart! *hugs her close*
Molly needs more awesome. (Hey, maybe she could get with Lestrade, that would be fun, right? And Lestrade is nice, and he's not that much older, and he's also kind and ... well, his marriage is in the toilet, so there you go. PERFECT. But really, anyone who isn't Sherlock would be perfect, right? >.>;; Ugh. Sherlock. You inspire in me such love, and sometimes such utter loathing.)
Anyway. Can' finish on a low, so have some more squee. That line, when Sherlock and Irene meet for the first time and she says: "Well, someone loves you. If I was going to punch you in the face, I'd avoid the nose and teeth, too." (Or something.)
John, your bluff has officially been called. You can protest all you like, but everybody knows. Everybody.
:P
Yeah, my slash goggles are welded to my face, I'm not even trying to get them off at this point.
And also, I've read A Scandal In Bohemia. I looooved all the little bits of the original short story that were in there. (Like Sherlock attempting to masquerade as a man of the cloth, among others.) So. Much. Love.
Anyway. It's late and I think I'll go to bed. In summary: IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME, I neeeeeeed 'The Hounds of the Baskerville' right freaking now!
I hope it has more Mycroft in it. And we definitely need more Lestrade, I missed him! Though the bits he was in were ace. God, I love Lestrade in Sherlock, he's just so put-upon and fun!
Because I forgot and it's important ...
MRS. HUDSON.
I loved the bit when Mycroft told her to shut up and Sherlock just sounded so ... so affronted! And the look on his and John's faces. You just do not speak to Mrs Hudson like that!
I especially loved that, right after Mycroft apologised, Sherlock told her to shut up, too. XD
She is so much more than their landlady. <3
Ohh, and the bit where she was dragged upstairs (forcefully enough to rip out a fingernail, ohGod, I felt a bit sick)! I was literally chanting to myself, "Please no, please no, please not Mrs Hudson!" Because I thought she'd be dead already. Honestly, I did.
I was so relieved to be wrong.
Ohhhh, and Sherlock, being all businesslike until the exact moment he had all the American dimwits incapacitated/out of the way, and then going to check she was OK. *melts* See, he does care about people!
I also loved that John completely ignored the tied-up and obviously beaten American in favour of fussing over Mrs H. Like that sort of thing happens all the time, yes. <3
OH AND THROWING HIM OUT OF THE WINDOOOOOW! <3 <3 <3 He deserved it. :P And then this:
Lestrade: How many times did he fall out of the window?
Sherlock (basically) Oh, I lost count in the heat of the moment.
Lestrade, I love you and your complete inability to be flustered by anything whatsoever to do with the Life of Sherlock. And your amazing ability to turn a blind eye to things like this. :P
And Mrs H putting the phone in her bra. Excellent. Silly Sherlock, leaving it somewhere to obvious. Silly boy! Mrs H, you give him a stern talking to about hiding places.
... Typing this up has reminded me of at least three other things, but I don't have the energy to go into them now. Next time I post about this ep. I promise.
.