Rewatch: Sherlock - The Great Game (Part 1)

[hells_half_acre]

Back to awesomeness...as we conclude the first series of Sherlock :)

Standard "Love" Disclaimer: I talk about "love" and being "in love" in this rewatch, but I don't actually mean romantic-love - though, you are free to interpret it that way if it makes you happier. :)

Warning: Although this is a rewatch of 1x03, I DO make passing references to

Comments

[et_tu_lj]

Unaired pilot? Is it good? I hadn't heard of it before this.

Oooh, I hadn't picked up on hearing John come in before he starts shooting the smiley face. That's fantastic.

John's little helpless noise is the most endearing fucking thing. And yes, it is so endearing that I needed to swear there. And this sentiment is one of the endearing things about you, imo. (plus the grammar rant.)

how Sherlock walks over the coffee table to get to the window - and does so with his robe half off his shoulder...and I love how he watches John walk away with a pout.This is one of those moments where I am completely in love with Sherlock. With Snape, it's an identification, because of how similar we are, but with Sherlock it's a bit of that and a whole lot of something else too. I have trouble explaining it, but this is one of the tiny moments that seals the deal

[hells_half_acre]

Unaired pilot? Is it good? I hadn't heard of it before this.

It's on the DVD as a special feature. Basically, when they first pitched the show, they pitched it as six 60 minute episodes. So, the first pilot they did was only an hour long - still the cabby story-line, but no Mycroft and no mention of Moriarty. The BBC liked the pilot, but they wanted it to be three 90 minute episodes instead - which meant that they had to rewrite and refilm everything. In my opinion, it was the best thing they could have possibly done. The pilot is amusing and good, but the change basically brought the show from "good" to EPIC AWESOME.

There are SOME things about the pilot that I like better, but overall, what aired is far superior. If you do a search on youtube of "Sherlock unaired pilot" you can find bits and pieces of it. It used to be ALL up there somewhere, but it's probably been taken down by now.

And this sentiment is one of the endearing things about you, imo. (plus the grammar rant.)

Aww, shucks. Thanks.

I have trouble explaining it, but

[et_tu_lj]

I have the DVD - how on earth did I miss that? *headdesk*

[hells_half_acre]

Haha! Disc 2, my friend. ;)

[hells_half_acre]

And later leads to the newspapers/tabloids picking up on what's going on in the blogosphere and starting to cash in on the excitement what then leads directly to the whole TRF disaster, where John tells Sherlock to keep a low profile.... ^^ Rather contradictory, imo.

Very true. Geez, John....

Perhaps he suffers from the same problem I do. I really honestly never see that telling the truth is an insult to anyone. I don't want to insult you when I just tell you that you have gained weight, I'm just stating a fact without any bad intentions whatsoever. I cannot for the life of me understand why someone would be insulted by facts. I personally am insulted when someone tells lies about me, not when what they are saying is true.

Good point. That's probably it. I used to be the same way when I was younger, actually. Then I eventually learned that some people don't like facts. Actually, these days, my strategy is usually "don't mention anything you notice to anybody, because they might not like it."

I'm sure Mrs Hudson wouldn't want an

[hells_half_acre]

Very true.

Back when people actually tried to have conversations about me about why it was that I didn't date - I used to try to explain that it was because I needed to find a guy who wouldn't fall over when I pushed him. No one really understood what I meant by that...but basically, it's what you just said. If you can't survive the bandaid being ripped off in one go, then you can't survive my partnership. :P

[frozen_delight]

I like your initial question of what the grammar-confounded murderer was doing in Minsk - if it hadn't been for the girlfriend, I would have said: sextourism.

He's not going to get a guilty man off a murder charge.
Sherlock isn't like those hateful lawyers of defense who know that there is nothing that they can do for their client as they know that he is guilty and therefore try to boost their ego by trying to make the trial as complex and long as possible, shaming everybody involved. Ultimately, Sherlock's interest always lies with the truth and not with showing off.

This is another instance, though, where it's evident that Mycroft has a relatively low opinion of Sherlock.He's got a low opinion of Sherlock's life in general: the flat (too bohemian), the job (clearly he doesn't take Sherlock's detecting business seriously, since he feels free to command him around) and of course the friend (the way he says 'pals' is in my opinion not confusion on Sherlock's sexual orientation but pure disdain for Sherlock's choice of a companion who

[hells_half_acre]

He's got a low opinion of Sherlock's life in general: the flat (too bohemian), the job (clearly he doesn't take Sherlock's detecting business seriously, since he feels free to command him around) and of course the friend (the way he says 'pals' is in my opinion not confusion on Sherlock's sexual orientation but pure disdain for Sherlock's choice of a companion who isn't his intellectual equal). Basically, that's because he doesn't understand Sherlock's longing for love and happiness.

Completely agree. Well said.

But he has been able to form meaningful relationships to other people before he met John and his face is just so emotional all the time that I'm amazed how other people could possibly miss this! So what John changes is other people's opinions of Sherlock because he sees what's always been there. Mostly, anyway. Sometimes he's too determined to view Sherlock as this robotic, alien genius himself.Exactly. The whole reason John even becomes Sherlock's friend is because Sherlock WANTED him to... It's not a one-sided friendship

[marlowe78]

e. Even professional writers, journalists, and (obviously) editors seem to forget the proper use of the subjunctive case these days. It's a sad world. /rant

Ha!
I'm much prouder than I should be, probably, that I can do it right just by the odd school-English and picking up things via books and movies later.

I'm awesome! ;-)

-Also, why don't any of the neighbours call the cops? The walls can't be THAT thick in those old row houses. Geez.

Maybe because they died when he shot through the wall? Probably not, but... it's severely possible. British walls are atrocious!

I mean, you could pass off the 'hellish' comment as a joke, but there's always truth in jokes.Well, for someone like Mycroft, with his carefully ordered world... it WOULD be hellish. He might not mean it as anything worse than how he'd perceive living with his brother and having his mood-swings around and all that. If - as you theorized and I agree - he is the more psychotic of the two and by that, formed Sherlock's character through his detachment when they were

[marlowe78]

I actually think he's a hero to a lot of people...just not to himself. But really, who would be, when you've been called a freak and hated your whole life? When your own brother thinks so poorly of you? When you've had a miserable youth? When you emotionally manipulate people to get what you want? When you've taught yourself to repress everything that humanizes you?

Fits the Winchesters, too, doesn't it? I know, I know... not everything should be compared to Supernatural - but it's so much FUN! :-D

Sherlock really can order him to do things that John is wildly uncomfortable with, but he'll still do it if he believes that he's helping. It's an easy thing to abuse - the fact that John's basically Sherlock's foot-soldier - but despite the silliness of not answering his own phone, I don't think Sherlock ever abuses John, which, again, just proves to me how much Sherlock cares for him.Which is really surprising if Watson actually has trust-issues. I wonder how the psychologist came to that conclusion, because John Watson trusted

[hells_half_acre]

Firstly - I agree with everything that you hypothesis about Mycroft and Sherlock's relationship growing up and today. There was a great meta on it recently by... wellingtongoose, I believe, over on one of the bbc sherlock communities. Anyway, yeah, basically, Mycroft and Sherlock developed two different coping mechanisms when it came to emotions in their youth.

I know... not everything should be compared to Supernatural - but it's so much FUN! :-D

Ha! Hey, no argument here.

Either John never met someone who COULD be trusted after his retirement, or the psychologist was not very good, or his issues are that he trusts too much :-D

I think John's psychologist is not very good. I mean, even in the very first episode, Sherlock tells John to fire her because she's diagnosed him wrong. :P

Course, the foreshadowing might be intended as well, but I think that it's a very real sentiment from the train-workers.Poor train-workers. :( I ran over a turtle once - I'm still sad about it. I mean, granted, the turtle hadn't decided to die,

[ext_5426633]

> Obviously, this is a British citizen who was in Minsk when he murdered his partner...my question is: Who the hell vacations in Minsk