Fic: The Descent of Man [Sherlock]

[jjpor]

Fic: The Descent of Man, Pt. 3

(I hadn’t forgotten about this one, honest! I’ve already edited the previous parts because I’ve realised that Trevor Bennett’s phone was unlikely to still be in his pocket if Lestrade really had “pulled his phone records” as formerly claimed…Now, Lestrade somehow “checked his email” instead…)

Title: The Descent of Man

Comments

[persiflage_1]

LOL at Sherlock and Mycroft squabbling via comments on John's blog.

It's a wonder no one's murdered Sherlock yet for his crass insensitivity!

[jjpor]

Thanks! It amused me, anyway... ;D

It is, actually - I don't know if I make him a bit too horrible in this bit, but well, he kind of was in the TV eps I thought.

[persiflage_1]

I think he's perfectly in character in his nastiness...

[jjpor]

Glad you thought so - sometimes it seemed to go beyond just lack of empathy/sympathy into outright taunting people for his own amusement. I don't think the Holmes of the stories was ever quite that bad, although I do find Sherlock's attitude highly amusing/entertaining so I'm not complaining. ;D

[john_amend_all]

LOL at "secret volcano base". He would, if there was a volcano near enough.

[jjpor]

He would, manned by a private army of henchmen in colour-coordinated boiler suits and hard hats, driving around in little electric buggy things...

[john_amend_all]

And a big red button marked "Total Destruct" that kills whoever's stupid enough to press it.

Of course, in the Roger Moore era, "M" did have a network of secret underground bases all over the world (and would always be in whichever one Bond happened to be visiting), so it would be quite in character for this version of Mycroft to do likewise.

[jjpor]

Heh, yeah - I also seem to remember him making use of Royal Navy submarines on at least a couple of occasions (with little replicas of his office on board, naturally). I think that might prove to be a little impractical in the middle of London, though... ;D

[velvet_mace]

Ha, loved Mycroft.

I'm riveted to the plot. Looking forward to the next part.

[jjpor]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked him, and I hope the other characterisations passed muster too (is Sherlock too cruel in this part? I wasn't sure if I was pitching that part of his personality correctly).

And well, it all owes a big debt to old ACD (the truly cracktastic bit in the next part is his not mine! ;D). Next and final part should be ready soonish...

[velvet_mace]

Well, for one thing, this is John's impression of Sherlock, which means all cruelty will be highlighted or glossed over depending on John's mood. But I didn't think it was out of line. Sherlock can be a very cold fish.

[jjpor]

Yes, I suppose he can (especially so in this version), and as you say all of this is through John's filter anyway, so parts of it could perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt... :D

[akashasheiress]

I'd comment but I've never seen a single episode of Sherlock. Y'know, my brain is sort of Holmesian in that it's so full of Stuff that it sort of blocks off some other things. Except I'm sort of in the other extreme on the genius-to-idiot scale.

[jjpor]

It's a pretty good series, actually. I certainly was entertained by it, and I think it does okay by the original source material, all things considered. It probably has the same failings people have identified in Moffat's and Gatiss's other work, but well, we're used to that, right? Heh - the famous thing about Holmes not knowing or caring about the planets going around the sun... (I think that's referenced in the series too). And that's not true - we're none of us bright as Holmes, but that doesn't make us idiots - ask poor old much-underestimated Dr Watson! ;D

[akashasheiress]

Well, I do know about the planets going around the sun, but I have no sense of direction, can only do child level's maths and I sometimes have trouble telling left from right!

[jjpor]

Well, see, you're one up on Holmes. I'm not exactly a maths whizz either (a bit of a drawback when you do a job involving lots of numbers), but that's what they invented calculators, spreadsheets etc for! :D

[junalele]

Really love the idea to actually have John blog this. The comments are golden, the plot is brilliant and I love your Sherlock.

[jjpor]

Thank you very much indeed! And thanks for reading! I think having John blogging it is then only way to go really - in keeping with the first-person narration of the original ACD stories. The plot is about 3/4 ACD and 1/4 unnecessary complications from me... I'm glad you liked the comments - everyone seems to think those were a good idea - and I'm glad my Sherlock passed muster, because I was worried about him... :)

[junalele]

Yes. I mean, first person narration is hard to do in movie-form as voice-overs wouldn't quite work here. But it is just an essential part of the original Holmes that we only ever see him through Watson's eyes.

And yes, I think your Sherlock is very much the BBC-Sherlock who is a bit more three-dimensional than ACD's. To me. And thus a bit crueler as he doesn't seem to know how to only somewhat react. So either he ignores you for an insult or he cuts you down.

[jjpor]

Oh yeah, I think voiceovers in TV or film are just clunky and distracting most of the time (but not always), but as far as the original print stories go, I think Watson's narration is a big part of what makes them so good.

Yes, I think he's less empathetic than the written version of Holmes. Or the written version could feign empathy better, maybe. Moffat-Sherlock just doesn't care, really. I think the reactions he gets probably confuse him sometimes as he doesn't see anything wrong in his words/actions (although sometimes he does definitely seem to be deriving amusement from his mockery of, for example, Anderson).