Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia
So I realize that this post is going to be irrelevant in like 2 hours, once everyone has seen Hounds, BUT I still have a lot of feelings and I never got to type them out. I have been sick... thinking about things like this is hard!
So, I have seen a LOT of meta about the first Sherlock s2 episode and a lot of things that I totally disagree with.. to the point of wondering if I was watching the same show.
So here is the thing, I loved the entire episode. Not just the first 20 minutes, 40 minutes, etc. I mean the full 90 minutes.
First and foremost, for me, the whole episode was ENTIRELY about Sherlock and his relationships with everyone he surrounds himself with. We go from the end of season 1 at the pool where Moriarty talks about Sherlock's heart and Sherlock merely looks confused.... to this first episode of season 2 where all you see is Sherlock's heart and how he shows his affection. He may not claim to know a lot about love, but I think it's clear from his actions that he does at some level.
...I think the easiest way to do this will be to go in episode order.
The pool scene! It was perfect for me, if only because it totally drove home HOW INSANE Moriarty is. Skinning people? Shoes?! HIS FACE. He is a creepy man and I kind-of adore him. And of course this was followed by the case montage, which was just like the best crack-fic written.. The Geek Interpreter! The Speckled Blonde! Don't tell them about the failed cases! THE HAT!!!!
I also love that EVERYONE reads John's blog. If you check their blogs, you see that Sherlock actually deleted the tobacco entry.
....Ok actually. Going through this scene by scene is not working for me. Maybe I will just let all my feelings out in whatever order they occur to me in. Sorry for any incoherency, and hopefully you (...all 2 of you) will keep reading.
Sherlock and his feelings. He is not good at them. He doesn't think he has them. And yet they he does things like act towards Mrs. Hudson the way he does. When John is threatened, he is instantly worried and wants to save him. He surrounds himself with people that he does care about and in return, they take care of him. And honestly, I think that's the most important thing we see.
The three most important moments for me are:
1- Sherlock and Mycroft talking after Irene is "dead". Both the Holmes brothers are so very broken in their own ways and they take this to mean that feelings are useless. But it is very clear that Mycroft worries about his brother (constantly) and for all that they fight, I think Sherlock acknowledges that fact.
2- Danger Nights. They actively watch out for Sherlock to keep him clean. I mean, Mycroft CALLS JOHN and tells him to keep an eye on him. And John just.. does it. And Mrs Hudson helps.. and I don't doubt that Lestrade is in on this too. I think it's wonderful. This is only compounded by the fact that Sherlock knows this is the case... and doesn't seem to actively be bothered by it.
3- John and Irene in the power plant.
Let's talk about Irene. I see SO MANY people talking about how she is an anti-feminist character and how she gets shown and just a helpless girl at the end who falls prey to her ~girly emotions~. And honestly? I don't actually see it. And a lot of it comes back to the scene with John. She self-identifies as gay, John self-identifies as straight, but they are both very much in love with Sherlock. THAT IS NOT A WEAKNESS. If Irene is weak by loving Sherlock, then John must be too, and I do not follow any of that. What I see from that moment is how Irene and John basically mirror each other in their love for Sherlock.. and they show that love differently and receive different things from Sherlock in return. And really.. that is how relationships work, isn't it?
At it's core, I think that Irene and Sherlock's relationship is ENTIRELY about the game. They are playing off each other to try and win. The nature of the game is going to lead to some form of emotional attachment at both ends. They are both passionate and dedicated people; I don't think that Sherlock could engage in this game without developing SOME emotion and vice versa. I think that implying that this is a weakness on either end is doing a disservice to the characters tbh.
As for the ending scene, I mostly see it as Sherlock being a bit selfish in addition to saving Irene. Which... since when is it shameful or weak or anti-feminist to need saving sometimes? In my head, this is still part of their game for him. Their entire relationship has been built on this game they play and Sherlock would not like the idea of her losing to anyone but him. By saving her.. he is not saving the damsel in distress; he is saving their relationship and game. In doing so, he does beat her (until the next time?) AND as a bonus, he has beat Mycroft again too. Ultimately, none of these things have anything to do with Irene being weak.
I feel like there were more things I had feelings about....
Ok, the Christmas scene. I LOVE that they all got together. It makes sense to me that they would, actually. None of them really have a family they are close to (that we know of), so where else would they go? Lestrade with his rocky marriage, John with his alcoholic sister, Molly with her cat. They are an odd bunch to be sure, but they all clearly care about each other. Also... Molly and Lestrade clearly need to hook up and adopt a million cats.
Now let's talk about poor jealous John. I can't read his actions as anything but that. But he also obviously only wants what is best for Sherlock (all while being scared of becoming like him). In the scene with Irene, his FIRST reaction is "tell him" because he knows that it will help Sherlock through his feelings. For all that he complains, he wants to see Sherlock happy. It is absolutely a relationship. A different one from what Irene and Sherlock have, but it is there. (OH GOD HI ALL THE FEELINGS).
Ugh, I dunno. I think I am all feeling-ed out. And I guarantee that I will have like a million more things I wanted to say that I will remember as soon as I hit post, but I think I will just got sit and wait until we get a Hounds download instead.
If anyone wants to discuss, have at it in the comments. :)
EDIT: AKA I KNEW I WAS GOING TO FORGET SOMETHING
Here is my "john watson is a time lord" theory, which @manderkat gets half credit for:
When that dude with the car shows up at their flat, John is shown sitting on the couch in the background. We then flashback to "14 hours earlier" when the crime happens. Then we cut to John on the scene with Sherlock in the sheet. And yet, somehow he was also in Dublin "yesterday". I can't imagine that THAT much time would pass before an official investigation. What is the timeline here?
Conclusion: John is a time lord. *bows*
This entry was originally posted at http://fiarra.dreamwidth.org/332876.html. Feel free to comment in either space. :)
So, I have seen a LOT of meta about the first Sherlock s2 episode and a lot of things that I totally disagree with.. to the point of wondering if I was watching the same show.
So here is the thing, I loved the entire episode. Not just the first 20 minutes, 40 minutes, etc. I mean the full 90 minutes.
First and foremost, for me, the whole episode was ENTIRELY about Sherlock and his relationships with everyone he surrounds himself with. We go from the end of season 1 at the pool where Moriarty talks about Sherlock's heart and Sherlock merely looks confused.... to this first episode of season 2 where all you see is Sherlock's heart and how he shows his affection. He may not claim to know a lot about love, but I think it's clear from his actions that he does at some level.
...I think the easiest way to do this will be to go in episode order.
The pool scene! It was perfect for me, if only because it totally drove home HOW INSANE Moriarty is. Skinning people? Shoes?! HIS FACE. He is a creepy man and I kind-of adore him. And of course this was followed by the case montage, which was just like the best crack-fic written.. The Geek Interpreter! The Speckled Blonde! Don't tell them about the failed cases! THE HAT!!!!
I also love that EVERYONE reads John's blog. If you check their blogs, you see that Sherlock actually deleted the tobacco entry.
....Ok actually. Going through this scene by scene is not working for me. Maybe I will just let all my feelings out in whatever order they occur to me in. Sorry for any incoherency, and hopefully you (...all 2 of you) will keep reading.
Sherlock and his feelings. He is not good at them. He doesn't think he has them. And yet they he does things like act towards Mrs. Hudson the way he does. When John is threatened, he is instantly worried and wants to save him. He surrounds himself with people that he does care about and in return, they take care of him. And honestly, I think that's the most important thing we see.
The three most important moments for me are:
1- Sherlock and Mycroft talking after Irene is "dead". Both the Holmes brothers are so very broken in their own ways and they take this to mean that feelings are useless. But it is very clear that Mycroft worries about his brother (constantly) and for all that they fight, I think Sherlock acknowledges that fact.
2- Danger Nights. They actively watch out for Sherlock to keep him clean. I mean, Mycroft CALLS JOHN and tells him to keep an eye on him. And John just.. does it. And Mrs Hudson helps.. and I don't doubt that Lestrade is in on this too. I think it's wonderful. This is only compounded by the fact that Sherlock knows this is the case... and doesn't seem to actively be bothered by it.
3- John and Irene in the power plant.
Let's talk about Irene. I see SO MANY people talking about how she is an anti-feminist character and how she gets shown and just a helpless girl at the end who falls prey to her ~girly emotions~. And honestly? I don't actually see it. And a lot of it comes back to the scene with John. She self-identifies as gay, John self-identifies as straight, but they are both very much in love with Sherlock. THAT IS NOT A WEAKNESS. If Irene is weak by loving Sherlock, then John must be too, and I do not follow any of that. What I see from that moment is how Irene and John basically mirror each other in their love for Sherlock.. and they show that love differently and receive different things from Sherlock in return. And really.. that is how relationships work, isn't it?
At it's core, I think that Irene and Sherlock's relationship is ENTIRELY about the game. They are playing off each other to try and win. The nature of the game is going to lead to some form of emotional attachment at both ends. They are both passionate and dedicated people; I don't think that Sherlock could engage in this game without developing SOME emotion and vice versa. I think that implying that this is a weakness on either end is doing a disservice to the characters tbh.
As for the ending scene, I mostly see it as Sherlock being a bit selfish in addition to saving Irene. Which... since when is it shameful or weak or anti-feminist to need saving sometimes? In my head, this is still part of their game for him. Their entire relationship has been built on this game they play and Sherlock would not like the idea of her losing to anyone but him. By saving her.. he is not saving the damsel in distress; he is saving their relationship and game. In doing so, he does beat her (until the next time?) AND as a bonus, he has beat Mycroft again too. Ultimately, none of these things have anything to do with Irene being weak.
I feel like there were more things I had feelings about....
Ok, the Christmas scene. I LOVE that they all got together. It makes sense to me that they would, actually. None of them really have a family they are close to (that we know of), so where else would they go? Lestrade with his rocky marriage, John with his alcoholic sister, Molly with her cat. They are an odd bunch to be sure, but they all clearly care about each other. Also... Molly and Lestrade clearly need to hook up and adopt a million cats.
Now let's talk about poor jealous John. I can't read his actions as anything but that. But he also obviously only wants what is best for Sherlock (all while being scared of becoming like him). In the scene with Irene, his FIRST reaction is "tell him" because he knows that it will help Sherlock through his feelings. For all that he complains, he wants to see Sherlock happy. It is absolutely a relationship. A different one from what Irene and Sherlock have, but it is there. (OH GOD HI ALL THE FEELINGS).
Ugh, I dunno. I think I am all feeling-ed out. And I guarantee that I will have like a million more things I wanted to say that I will remember as soon as I hit post, but I think I will just got sit and wait until we get a Hounds download instead.
If anyone wants to discuss, have at it in the comments. :)
EDIT: AKA I KNEW I WAS GOING TO FORGET SOMETHING
Here is my "john watson is a time lord" theory, which @manderkat gets half credit for:
When that dude with the car shows up at their flat, John is shown sitting on the couch in the background. We then flashback to "14 hours earlier" when the crime happens. Then we cut to John on the scene with Sherlock in the sheet. And yet, somehow he was also in Dublin "yesterday". I can't imagine that THAT much time would pass before an official investigation. What is the timeline here?
Conclusion: John is a time lord. *bows*
This entry was originally posted at http://fiarra.dreamwidth.org/332876.html. Feel free to comment in either space. :)