XistentialAngst's Blog, page 11
January 18, 2017
Things that are clear about Moffits
- they hate overinvested fans
- they think of themselves as literary geniuses who can break narrative rules (sorry to break it to them but you’re not Laurence Sterne, you’re not James Joyce, you’re not Samuel Beckett)
- they are sloppy writers who rely on sychopants to stroke their over inflated ego
- they queerbait, they get on a pedestal telling a portion of theirs fans that it’s all in their heads and then procede to queer bait even more
- they can’t listen and learn from criticism to save their lives
- they are mysognists who depower women and make them into plot devices (I’m not even, strictly speaking a feminist, but WTF)
- they have zero respect for their characters.
want to add some more?
- they think they are the ultimate sherlock holmes connoiseurs who know everything about Holmes and the Holmesian game only to then ill-use every canon case ever in tfp (well, i suppose they only borrowed names)
- they think they are intellectually superior and deride fans by telling them to go read children’s books
- they like to pose as progressive and revolutionary only to then ret-con everything and rewrite it in the most conservative and traditional values ever
January 17, 2017
The Problem with BBC Sherlock – of Terrible Themes, Abuse, and Tragic Gays
Here’s my first essay on my thoughts on S4.
I’ve been digesting the shock and sense of “wrongness” after
THE FINAL PROBLEM, and I’ve come up with some ideas on why it bothers me so
deeply. It has to do with themes. Every good story has a theme. It might be “love
conquers all” or “the bad guys always lose” or “truth always comes out”. The
themes of the show after S4 are truly repellent.
1.
The THEMES after S4:
a.
No matter what you do or sacrifice, it’s never
good enough and you won’t win your heart’s desire in the end.
b.
It’s okay to abuse to your loved ones, it’s
completely forgiveable, and, in fact, the most abusive people win.
c.
Lying and killing people is okay and you can
still be a good person.
HOW THIS IS DEMONSTRATED:
2.
SHERLOCK sacrifices himself over and over for very
little reward and a lot of abuse.
a.
First, Reichenbach Falls. He jumps in order to
save John, Lestrade, and Mrs. Hudson from snipers. He goes off to dismantle Moriarty’s network,
in part to keep them safe. Yes, he hurts John terribly. And yes, it was a
mistake. But ultimately, Sherlock still did it for his friends. This is never explicitly discussed or acknowledged
in the show between John and Sherlock after Sherlock returns. John never learns
what Sherlock went through or says thank you. In fact, the “bomb” scene in S3.E1,
Sherlock tricks John into forgiving him only to make a joke out of the whole
thing. This is too serious a situation to joke about, yet a real resolution of this conflict is
never shown. By S4.E2, it’s clear John still harbors anger over it. Never
resolved.
b.
Sherlock plans John’s wedding and is his best
man. If you read that Sherlock is gay and in unrequited love with John, this is
a tremendous self-sacrifice. Even if you don’t, it’s still a sacrifice—Sherlock
is not a party type. He hates social gatherings. Yet he does this for John.
John never appears grateful. At the end of the wedding, we have Sherlock
walking away alone and (probably) heartbroken.
c.
Sherlock is shot by Mary—and then forgives her,
for John. This is almost incomprehensible, but nevertheless, Sherlock catches John’s wife, Mary, in a lie, offers
to help her, and she shoots him in the chest. He dies on the operating table.
He comes back through superhuman effort. Mary threatens him again, twice. Yet
he forgives her and tries to patch things up between her and John. Why? Because
that’s what self-sacrificing friends do? Is this Stockholm Syndrome?
Self-loathing? Never explained.
d.
Sherlock kills Magnussen to protect Mary. This
was basically an act of suicide. But he did it – for his friends. Neither John
nor Mary ever acknowledge this. In fact, in S4.E2, John tells Greg they should have
known Sherlock was psycho because “he shot a man in the face” (yes, John, to
save you. asshole)
e.
Sherlock again tries to help Mary when her past
comes after her (S4.E1), and in the end, Mary throws herself in front of a
bullet for him. Ok. Weird but OK. Afterwards, John blames Sherlock for it and
casts Sherlock out of his life in a hateful way (again, breaking Sherlock’s
heart when Sherlock did nothing wrong).
f.
Sherlock goes back on drugs and nearly dies
confronting serial killer Culverton in S4.E2. At the end we find out it was all
done to “save John Watson” from his grief. So once again, Sherlock nearly dies
for John. And during E2 John treats Sherlock horribly, even going so far as to
beat and kick him in a brutal attack.
g.
S4.E3 – Sherlock battles with Euros to save John. There’s really no appreciation or recognition of this in the end.
SO – what does Sherlock ever get for his repeated sacrifice and pain? For
getting shot, tortured, and beaten? For having his heart ripped out and
watching the man he loves choose someone else? He gets a John Watson who seems oblivious to
what Sherlock does for him, is in love with his wife and cheating with another
woman, is furious with Sherlock and treats him like shit after his assassin
wife dies, and beats Sherlock. John finally does come back to Sherlock, but only in the
capacity of a friend. More on this below.
3.
MARY – the lying assassin gets all the rewards
and a Mary Sue make-over
a.
She pretends to be a nurse at a clinic,
befriends John Watson at his lowest point after Sherlock’s death, and he
marries her. Given what he know about
her past, surely she didn’t’ just coincidentally end up in John Watson’s path,
yet it’s never explained by what deceit and plotting she found him.
b.
She has a secret past as a freelance assassin.
Though it’s played up that her past was “very naughty” (Magnussen S3.E3), later
in the show she’s whitewashed as being part of a mercenary team that did things
like extract hostages. She lied to John about who she was and used a fake name.
c.
She shoots and murders Sherlock – and gets away
with it completely. Both John and Sherlock forgive her! She faces no prosecution and no penalty even from Mycroft or Lestrade, two of Sherlock’s protectes. This is never explained. She never even says “I’m sorry” or justifies the shooting, not until long after she’s been forgiven and everything’s been swell for her.
d.
Sherlock remains “bffs” with her after this, calling her “his family” and trying to help her when her past comes back to haunt her.
e.
Even in her best moments, she’s manipulative and
selfish. For example, she insults John’s value to Sherlock and refuses to let her husband have any say in naming the
baby. In fact, she names the baby after herself and announces the name to a
room full of friends without discussing it with her husband first. There are a lot of instances like this.
f.
She has an extremely implausible redemption arc
when she throws herself into a bullet for Sherlock. Not only does it defy all logic and physics, it’s just dumb and corny.
g.
John is grief stricken for a whole episode. Mary
constantly appears as a sort of “Yoda” ghost, uttering words of wisdom and
continuing to be whitewashed as some sort of wise woman who retains the role of arbitrator over John and Sherlock’s relationship, as if it’s up to
her to validate it.
h.
SHE NEVER PAYS FOR HER ASSASSIN PAST, LYING TO JOHN, OR
KILLING SHERLOCK. The audience is expected to continue to welcome the cloying presence
of this killer. And so much about her remains unexplained.
4.
JOHN WATSON LOSES HIS CHARACTER ARC AND HIS AGENCY
a.
Despite the promising claims that “he’s smarter
than he looks” in TAB, John Watson in S4 continues to be clueless. He keeps
refusing to see how good Sherlock is and how much Sherlock is trying to help
him and Mary.
b.
John’s wife shoots Sherlock in S3 and John
forgives her? How is this possible for a “strong moral principle” man who shot
a stranger to save Sherlock in S1.E1? Who punched a police chief who insulted
Sherlock in S2.E3? He’s a doctor, he knew Sherlock’s wound from Mary was
basically fatal! On top of this, we have a man who goes to a therapist for “trust
issues” who forgives his wife for lying to him from day 1, and he’s okay
with not ever knowing her real name? Honestly?
c.
John is bored but seems complacent in his marriage
to Mary in S4.E1. But it’s not clear. Does he not notice the way she manipulates
him, such as with the baby’s name? He
certainly seems grief-stricken after her death. If he’s really not happy in his
marriage, why not make that explicit? Or vice versa? He never says “I love you”
to Mary and yet, there’s no reason to withhold it since he never ends up saying
it to Sherlock either. It’s just super confusing what he feels for her or for
Sherlock. Basically, he seems grief-stricken. Mostly.
d.
Trashcan John. The first time another woman flirts
with him, he begins a sexting affair, despite having a wife and infant at home. This is John who is “unfailingly loyal?” If it would have been a plot point, such as him being miserable with Mary, it would have been more justified. But he did it and then he’s also grief-stricken when Mary dies. Inconsistent.
e.
After Mary dies, John treats Sherlock abysmally, shuts him out, insults him,
calls him a monster, accuses him of tricks, etc. to the point of physically
beating Sherlock when Sherlock is drugged up and ill. This is the man who has
repeatedly sacrificed himself for John. And Sherlock did nothing to deserve
this abuse since he was not responsible for Mary’s death.
f.
In S4. E3, The Final Problem, John is used as
more of a set piece than anything real. He helps solve the “puzzles” at the
fortress, but on an emotional level there doesn’t seem to be much there.
g.
A real arc for this story would be that John
finally sees/ acknowledges all that Sherlock had done for him, and/or sacrifices
himself in return (like a 3 Garridebs moment). But this never happens. There is
no satisfying resolution to this relationship plotline. Yes, at the end of S4.E2 John and Sherlock finally talk, John seems to forgive Sherlock, and there’s a hug. But that’s pretty minor stuff compared to all that Sherlock has done for John and feels for John and all John and Mary did to hurt Sherlock.
h.
Even though John is technically “back at Baker
Street” at the end of S4, it’s only in the capacity of a friend. In addition,
John basically “defaults back” to Sherlock because he no longer has Mary. There is no moment where John has to actively “choose”
Sherlock, over Mary or even at all. THIS IS LAZY WRITING, NOT A SATISFYING
RESOLUTION.
5.
GAYNESS REMAINS “TERRIBLY UNSPOKEN”
a.
This is one of the biggest crimes of the show. What
we get in the end of S4 is a gay Sherlock in unrequited (desperately unspoken)
love with John, a love that will seemingly never be returned. Is this 1998? Why
do we have a tragic anti-gay ending like this in 2017?? It’s nearly as bad as
just killing off all the gays. (Or making them all villains, which the show has
also done – Irene, Moriarty, Magnussen in the hospital, and Euros).
b.
It could be argued that Sherlock is not gay, that
he’s asexual, or even in love with Irene. Yet the show planted many, many clues
that Sherlock is gay and in love with
John.
i.
In ASiB, Sherlock repeatedly ignores or pushes
off Irenes heavy advances. When he ‘wakes up’ at one point when she’s sitting across
from him, his first words are “Where’s John?”
ii.
Janine says several times “I know what kind of
man you are”. Even in “faking” a relationship with her, Sherlock never had sex
with her (he jokes “I was waiting until we were married.”)
iii.
Sherlock’s horribly pained look at John after
the wedding , and then he leaves the wedding early.
iv.
TAB, in which Sherlock confronts very gay-acting
mind-palace Moriarty, facing his own homosexuality.
v.
See Sherlock’s many sacrifices for John. If that
isn’t love, nothing is.
vi.
Sherlock spirals into despair and drugs whenever
John abandons him.
vii.
Mary says on the DVD in S4.E2 that John is “the
man we both love”.
viii.
Many, many other instances.
c.
John is ambiguously bisexual earlier in the
show then becomes strictly hetero. He flirts with Sherlock in ASiP, is horribly jealous of Irene and Janine
in ASiB and HLV. Irene, whose specialty is “knowing what people like” tells
John he and Sherlock are a couple. John has an implied intimate relationship
with his former male commander, Sholto. In a deleted scene, he flirts with a
soldier at Baskerville. There’s some drunken knee-groping during the bachelor
party in TSoS. However, during all of S4, any sign of this flirty and
possibly-bi John has been removed and his heterosexuality is “doubled down”. Why?
To avoid any hint that he might get together with Sherlock at the end?
d.
Sherlock never even admits outloud that he’s
gay, not even obliquely. Why? Is it something to be ashamed about? Do we not
deserve a gay hero? If they really intended to leave it open-ended what
Sherlock was, why did they plant so much of the above evidence that he was gay?
If he is gay, why not have him admit it!
e. This all amounts to a huge queerbaiting exercise, given how many subtextural and textural clues we were given in S1-S3 that this was ulimately a romance.
These are my thoughts on the story so far. I’ll try to update this with some pics later.
XA
miadifferent:
miadifferent:
cupidford:
the b&w film does not exist??? it was of their own...
the b&w film does not exist??? it was of their own making??? FUCKERYFUCKERYFUCKERYFUCKERY what the fuck I’M SO confused
I don’t understand why they didn’t choose any classic film. But I also don’t want to rewatch the episode, although I’m interested, who the actors in that scene were and what dialogue was about…
I think it was the start of some vintage porn:
You know, I could arrest you.’
What for?
Wearing a dress like that.
Would you like me to take it off?
Then I’d really have to press charges.‘
Press away.
Isn’t that how they got started?’
Who?‘
Adam and Eve.
Oh, them.
And that turned out OK.
You think so?
I thought it was supposed to be the beginning of all human misery.
Now, what was all that about arresting me?
Well, maybe not arresting you.
No? ’
I could just keep you under close watch.
'Very close?
A-huh.
Shame, I was looking forward to putting myself into the hands of the authorities.
You were?
Finger-printing, being searched… thoroughly.’
(http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=30584)
It came off to me as Mycroft’s guilty (dirty) pleasure. It sounded like it was going to become at least softcore very quickly. Basically, Mycroft Holmes’ spankbank material.
More fucky things...
Where was Ben’s 20 page monologue they were so excited for during comicon?
Where was the scene Martin was uncomfortable to film, and had to do it alone? (it wasn’t Mary’s death scene cause other actors were present)
Why was John typing into a jpg file about a baby that wasn’t born yet?
Why did Lady Smallwood’s name change from Elizabeth to Alicia?
Why in the hell did Mycroft let his sister who he KNOWS is a manipulative genius psychopath talk to another manipulative genius psychopath?
Why all the water imagery that was never followed up on?
Why the glowing, sometimes black, skull painting?
Why constantly build Mary up as a villain, then have a half-arsed redemption arch?
Why WHY do that Molly Hooper?
Why think a secret sibling would be ‘history making’ when it’s an over used, soap opera level trope?
Why would Amanda say an actor playing more than one character would be ‘ground breaking’ when orphan black, vampire dairies, Tyler Perry’s movies and soooo many others do the same thing?
WHY??
Something has to be up, this makes NO sense.
Edit: ALSO why this: “
Doesn’t matter who you really are” and “I know who you are” and “its about the legend and stories” When they’ve said OVER AND OVER it’s not a detective show, it’s a show about a detective???@abouthetwofthem added some great points, so I’ll add them here so we can see!
Also, WHY don’t we know anything about John’s letter, or Sherlock’s recurring dream yet?
WHY did they introduce Hopkins, if she only had a secondary role in the first episode?
WHY did they make a reference to Irene Adler in TLD?
WHY did they credit Henry Knight’s actor and Irene’s actress if the first didn’t appear at all and the second was just mentioned?
WHY did they spread fake rumors about Colin Morgan being in the show and fake pictures of “young Mycroft” ’s actor (don’t know if you remember this, he was thin and had big ears)?
WHY did they use Eurus’ metaphor of the “little girl on the plane” in such a twisted way? How could she be the little girl and herself at the same time?
And WHY “it’s all about the wallpaper”?
More from
astudyinkink
Who built the fake 4 walls?
Who bought and painted the dog bowl?
Who painted the walls red in Sherringford?
Who was doing the little girl’s voice
Who was pouring water down John’s well on command?
Who built the fake entrance/exits inside a maximum-security cell?
Who custom ordered a coffing with I Love You on it and had it delivered to a prison that no one knows exist
Who printed and pasted all the pictures inside of Fake Room?
Who sat down and actually edited the Moriarty video into reaction gifts
Who made a button to turn the lights red in various rooms for no reasonFrom @consultingcaitlin
So Moriarty didn’t start messing with Sherlock’s life until five years ago, at Eurus’ behest.
So who the hell killed Carl Powers?
And if it wasn’t Moriarty, how did he get hold of a pair of shoes that would have otherwise been thrown out twenty five years ago?
What about the caves they built / filmed for setlock E3 that they were so proud of?
What about the Mint and Mustard filming from E1?
Why introduce Culverton at all if he’s not even going to be a threat for all three episodes, like CAM and Moriarty were?
Why introduce and exposit the importance of a memory drug if they weren’t going to do anything with it?
WHAT ABOUT JOHN BEING CHAINED IN THE WELL BUT CAN APPARENTLY CLIMB A ROPE?!
John’s general OOC-ness the entire season.
The ridiculous Hollywood-esque gunshot for Mary
“Vatican Cameos” and Sherlock just ignores it?
WHY EURUS IN THE FIRST PLACE WHEN THEY HAD ESTABLISHED MARY AS A VILLIAN IN S3?
Why is Mycroft not wondering why the fuck there’s a clown in his house?
Why is EVERYONE so OOC??
Why the HELL does Mary get the last word in the entire thing?!?! That’s bullshit.
How did everyone and everything survive the explosion??My head hurts.
WTF IS WRONG WITH THE GLASS PANEL OF EURUS’ CELL??!!
also wtf is wrong with the whole episode
Where is that scene in the disco hall?
Why mention multiple times that marrying off watson to mary was acd’s biggest mistake and then give her such a huge part?
Why does Sherrinford have secret doors like the HH Holmes Murder Hospital?
Where is amanda’s scene with lady smallwood?
Why did they film that car scene in the tunnel with Sherlock at the wheel when you can see in the bts that they filmed the car ride in a studio?
What about the shark graffiti?
What about Ben and Martin’s MI6 building scene?
Why did we never even see the Ring of Mary’s past?
Where is the cab scene they filmed next to North Gower street?
Where is the 125 year old spoiler?
Why add the line about loving acronyms?
Why make Smallcroft a thing and not mentioning it again at all?Oh, Also:
Why “I will burn the heart out of you” and then make the entire series about Sherlock’s pining for John, when in the end it didn’t even fucking matter?
And why all the repeating scenes and recycled music and lines from past episodes?
And why the post-it note with “John’s alibi?” on it?
Why characterise Mary as a villain since her introduction and link her to Moriarty if you’re just going to fuck over her character development?
Why even develop the characters at all, in that case??
Why stop the blog completely? Because they knew that the last episode was going to be a wash.I’m just so confused.
What was the point for Eurus to flirt with John and do nothing with it ever again?
Why did she shot him with a tranquillizer just to let him go instantly?
How the hell Sherlock thought building up a scenery and hiring actors was more effective than just say “I know I have a secret sister because she shot John, now explain”?
How did Eurus know about Sherlock’s dreams?
How can Mary send dvds from the grave so Sherlock and John receive them at very convenient moment?
Why were the dvds titled “Miss me” and “Miss you”, which is Moriarty’s and Eurus’ brand?
How the fuck Eurus could move three unconscious men from an isolated island to their old family mall - two places obviously not geographically close one from the other? And then place each of them in separate places?
How did she chained John? Did she carried unconscious John down the well and chained him herself? And if so, why isn’t she wet?
How can Sherlock forgive her so easily for the murder of his childhood friend and for having traumatized him? Just because she needed a hug? wtf?
How does Greg could find Mycroft? Eurus is so clever and angry about Mycroft because he’s the one who locked her up, but she didn’t thought of making him unfindable?
Why is Molly crying and pissed before she answer Sherlock’s phonecall? What did he do to her to make her so sad and angry?
And why all of this don’t matter as soon as she hanged up the phone?
How can she hear Sherlock force her to reveal her secret and tell her that he doesn’t love her, and then come back with a bright smile because hey, being treated like shit isn’t such a big deal in the end? Does she have zero self-esteem?
And that after the promo pics and the cast hinted at the fact she’ll grow up as a character and be more strong?
Where the fuck was Rosie this whole time?
How does Mrs Hudson survived the explosion? How the fuck isn’t she at least injured? For a reminder: the explosion in TGG, in the old lady’s apartment, blew up several floors.
Do all the cast and crew don’t know how an explosion actually works?Overall: WHY. HOW. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
isitandwonder:
You know what pisses me so immensely off about this whole Eurus stuff? It has nothing...
You know what pisses me so immensely off about this whole Eurus stuff? It has nothing to do with how a Sherlock Holmes story works and it’s an affront to say TFP was adapted from the works of ACD. because it wasn’t.
No, this is not about canonical purity (like “She wasn’t in the books!” whining). It’s about the structure of the narrative that makes a Holmes story.
Sherlock Holmes is not a magic wizard - he operates by logic. Therefore, his deductions are comprehensible and reasonable. When he explains them, people can follow through (even saying that it sounds easy when explained), they follow logical rules to determine the truth.
Now, by introducing an omnipotent, superintelligent, crazy and therefore unpredictable previously unknown factor like Eurus
into the above equation, who, because she’s mentally ill and a genius, is motivated by inexplicable and irrational impulses, Mofftiss literally threw over the board. It’s not a game anymore, indeed, because this is not the Holmesian game as it has been played for decades. And perhaps therefore the chess picture was very revealing and had to be removed? Because it showed exactly this: They broke the rules (that weren’t wrong in this case because they were shown as being right and the basis of everything previously to TFP), they revoked the contract they had with the audience, that when a Holmes story is adapted, the viewer/reader has a chance to solve the puzzle.
We hadn’t a chance. And this means there’s no reason at all to write meta anymore. What is there to analyse if they can randomly introduce factors that turn everything we thought we knew upside down? Omnipotent factors, illogical factors… Unreliable narrator indeed!
They not only didn’t give us Johnlock, they also took the game away from us. They reduced that beautifully crafted, exciting show to a pile of senseless rug pulls just for the sake of it. There is nothing to analyse, no motivation to look into, no making sense of it. And that is not only true for TFP, because by carelessly interlocking the Eurus factor with previous episodes, they even destroyed the frame of reference we thought we knew and had established. Even the puzzlesolving we so loved, the cueing for looks, was reduced to an insulting rick roll with a badly done dancing men cipher! They told us to look deeper, for subtext, only to fuck us over twice.
They took everything we loved about the show and destroyed it. Why? Because a bunch of mostly female queer teens and neurodivergent adults came up with better ideas, more progressive readings and intelligent explanations. It seems Mofftiss couldn’t deal with that.
At least now no-one will accuse them of fan service. They killed their amazing show out of vain pettiness. Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, how dare you call this last episode a Sherlock Holmes adaption? Just never touch Sherlock Holmes and John Watson again!
I agree with all this.
who edited eurus and victor out of the home movies?
i can’t stop picturing 14 year old Mycroft with scissors and tape sat on his bedroom floor doing retcon arts and crafts
did he photoshop in a fake dog to old birthday photos too or
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