at some point i WILL be able to talk about other things; not today

[allthingsholy]

TO ANYONE WHO'S NOT TIRED OF TALKING ABOUT SHERLOCK YET:

Comments

[goodmenfall]

The thing with Sherlock and Mycroft that I struggle with is the gulf between ASiB (Mycroft giving Sherlock a ciggie and being there for him the only messed up way he knows how) and TRF (where he has to enlist John's help because they are barely speaking). What happened in between, or is this just a continuity thing? Because I can't see episode 1 Mycroft having a particular problem with warning Sherlock about the danger he's in. Unless Mycroft's afraid that Sherlock will see what he's done?

[allthingsholy]

I think that's exactly what Mycroft's afraid of: that he can't say to him, "You're in trouble, you need to watch out" without exposing his part in it. And I think Mycroft had to know that at some point, once the information came out, Sherlock would know exactly where it came from. (I'm assuming Mycroft also picked up on the Rich Brook/Reichenbach thing.) So I think it was partly out of self-preservation; he knows Sherlock's going to be livid about what he did (and if not livid then hurt, which is far worse for Mycroft to deal with, I think) and by telling John that things are going to get hairy, he still gets he wants. He knows John's going to look out for Sherlock because of course he is and he gets to delay the moment when Sherlock finds out how much he sold him out. (The moment when Mycroft stumbles over his words with John ("I never thought ... I never dreamt") is what I keep coming back to. Oh, Mycroft.) Plus, Mycroft's always gone around Sherlock when it comes to trying to help him, so I don't take his going to John as anything

[damalur]

ALL THE MYCROFT WORDS

I didn't know the bit about Sherlock and his dad and the affair, but that works beautifully with my addiction headcanon. I think there's just so much resentment between the two of them, but only Sherlock is willing to display his outright. And I mean, Sherlock can be ridiculously self-contained, but Mycroft is a wall - of course he's not going to sink to acting like a child or give in to what I think is a very potent mix of that resentment, familial love, and something I think grows out of an "us against the world" mentality. Not, you know, that they think of themselves as partners, but because of their intellects and interests I think they've been isolated from the rest of the world and they have to recognize each other as similar in ability, if nothing else.

wrt to delusion: OH YES

[allthingsholy]

Not, you know, that they think of themselves as partners...

I love that scene in ASiB where it's just the two of them outside the morgue, and for absolutely all the reasons you listed. It seems so ... intimate, almost. Like, it's the first time you ever see them alone together and they're very at ease with each other in such a familial way. I'm super interested in whether they were close when they were both younger and then something happened to split them up or if they were always a little bit distant with each other. I tend to think of the former, but I don't know if that's based on anything in particular.

GIVE ME YOUR ADDICTION HEADCANON! I want them to reintroduce the idea of his father's affair so badly because it's got its teeth in me but good. I just want to know more about their family life in general, tbh.

[damalur]

I totally believe that at some point Sherlock's addiction got out of hand (not in a languishing-in-a-crackhouse kind of way, though) and (possibly after he OD'd) Mycroft bundled him up, locked him in a room, forced him to sweat it out, and thereafter ran roughshod over Sherlock's life. The level of control he tried to exert is what tipped Sherlock over the edge into occasional loathing.

It'd be super interesting if Mycroft went to all those lengths for Sherlock when he was still harboring childish resentment over Sherlock "breaking up the family" - which, if the affair thing is canon, isn't even true, but I can see how a young'n might take that view. Even Mycroft.