one thing about Sherlock S4
I just finished watching it yesterday, and there were some things I really liked, some things I thought were just strange, and one thing that irritated me enormously. Guess what I'm going to talk about?
Did Mycroft really have to be straight (or straight enough to decide he might take Lady Whatsername up on her offer, anyway)? A character with no canonical sexual history either in Doyle or in earlier seasons of Sherlock, a character whose revelation as gay would come as no shock to anyone in the audience, a character played by a gay actor, and Moffat decided it was necessary to make him straight. Gatiss presumably went along with it, although I think Moffat has the real decision-making power. I am frustrated, but not surprised, and in good measure frustrated with myself for hoping, even the tiniest bit, that a show run by Steven Moffat might ever make a major male character gay. (Then of course there's Irene Adler's continuing fixation on Sherlock--this would be Irene Adler the lesbian, remember?--and also the insistence that a relationship with Irene Adler is necessary for Sherlock to be a Real Boy and find happiness, but all this comes under one heading, namely Steven Moffat's Intolerable and Suffocating Heteronormativity.)
Of course, for my own purposes I've decided that Mycroft picks up that card because he's chosen to ignore the implications and take her invitation to go out for drinks literally; he's looking for someone to talk to and maybe be friends with, not for romance or sex with her. But I'm tired of having to do that.
/belated rant about something I should have known would happen, because Moffat
Crossposted at Dreamwidth (
comments); you can comment here or there.
Did Mycroft really have to be straight (or straight enough to decide he might take Lady Whatsername up on her offer, anyway)? A character with no canonical sexual history either in Doyle or in earlier seasons of Sherlock, a character whose revelation as gay would come as no shock to anyone in the audience, a character played by a gay actor, and Moffat decided it was necessary to make him straight. Gatiss presumably went along with it, although I think Moffat has the real decision-making power. I am frustrated, but not surprised, and in good measure frustrated with myself for hoping, even the tiniest bit, that a show run by Steven Moffat might ever make a major male character gay. (Then of course there's Irene Adler's continuing fixation on Sherlock--this would be Irene Adler the lesbian, remember?--and also the insistence that a relationship with Irene Adler is necessary for Sherlock to be a Real Boy and find happiness, but all this comes under one heading, namely Steven Moffat's Intolerable and Suffocating Heteronormativity.)
Of course, for my own purposes I've decided that Mycroft picks up that card because he's chosen to ignore the implications and take her invitation to go out for drinks literally; he's looking for someone to talk to and maybe be friends with, not for romance or sex with her. But I'm tired of having to do that.
/belated rant about something I should have known would happen, because Moffat
Crossposted at Dreamwidth (
comments); you can comment here or there.