XistentialAngst's Blog, page 112
July 13, 2016
watsonsdick:
Sony streaming network Crackle has set Tuesday,...
thesetison:
Ben and Martin at Cardiff Bay Barrage (x)
So...
notfspurejam:
Ian means “SEE...
July 12, 2016
thesetison:
Setlock Recap, 7.10.16We got the news we were hoping for–there will be a Sherlock panel...
Setlock Recap, 7.10.16We got the news we were hoping for–there will be a Sherlock panel at San Diego Comic Con on Sunday, July 24 at 10 a.m. PST. Mark, Steven, Sue, and Amanda are all confirmed as guests.
We found out that supporting actor Andrew Bone plays Jake Sandeford in episode 1, which is a potential Six Napoleons reference.Setlock Recap, 7.12.16Benjamin Caron gave us a warning about a tripping hazard. He also posted a picture later in the day of a power line junction, but as the picture was untagged and uncaptioned, it’s unclear if it relates to filming (perhaps today’s location) or not.
Nic Pringle also gave us an unconfirmed setlock pic of a warehouse-type building that could have been from today’s filming location.We got a brief quote from Toby Jones, saying “About the only thing I’m allowed to reveal is that I’m indeed a baddie… I think that even, I’d say, I’m really bad.”
Richard Crehan, one of the supporting actors playing a fisherman in Tenby, said he was headed back to Cardiff, but it’s unclear if that’s for more Sherlock filming or not.Supporting actor David Kirkbride’s CV updated to list him as playing a policeman in episode 2.
How HLV Hides John's Feelings
Okay! So I wrote in the tags of this post by rebootingcheesecake that I really think John’s emotions were deliberately obscured in HLV. I thought I’d mentioned it before in my HLV breakdown, but apparently not. So I thought hey, why not write a post just about that.
To clarify, here’s what I think: Martin Freeman played John as being desperately in love with and protective of Sherlock, but the director, DP, and writers (mostly Moffat, but he says Gatiss always has a hand in writing) made sure we saw as little of that as possible. From a writing perspective, this meant leaving out scenes that would be pretty standard in an episode that includes a main character who gets gravely injured, e.g. the scene in which John finds out that Sherlock will be okay (replaced by the scene where he transmutes his feelings for Sherlock into feelings for his wife), and the scene in which he spends time at Sherlock’s bedside. These would be normal for any depiction of platonic friendship, yet we don’t get so much as a second of this. There’s also the several months between confrontation and Christmas, which could have been a gold mine of characterization, and yet there’s nothing. No John helping Sherlock in his recovery (which almost certainly happened). No Mary asking after Sherlock and being apologetic about his condition (inconsistent with rest of episode, but would make the reconciliation more plausible). No John twisting his wedding ring between his fingers while watching Sherlock sleep. No John contemplating his choice (which absolutely should have happened if the reconciliation is real — it’d be a narrative crime not to). No John trying to play the Rizla game with Sherlock in the hospital while Sherlock tries to remind John of what he loves about Mary. Nothing. Then, from a production standpoint, when John is in a situation to show serious concern it’s filmed either from a distance or a weird angle, or with a shaky camera, or with John obscured in some way by the lighting. Every. Single. Time. Images behind the cut. Lots of them.
Thanks for all the visual reference. It’s been a big frustration of mine ever since HLV how much of John’s POV they left out, which I ranted about in this meta here after S3 aired.
So many missing scenes! As you say – John at Sherlock’s bedside, John at 221B during Sherlock’s recover, helping him bathe, dress, eat, heal. John’s decision to go back to Mary (agnoizing over it). After the “Mary as client” scene, we get basically nothing from John until his “forgive Mary” scene at Christmas. That was a huge decision!
And yes, the way they obscured him in all those shots was a deliberate choice NOT to show John’s feelings. In THIS story, these are such critical moments, it’s a crime of storytelling to not show them. And one reason why so many people got upset at S3.
So… why did they do it this way? Why obscure all this?
My gut sense is that they did it in order for John to be able to go back to Mary, and to put Mary back into a ‘morally gray’ position. so that they could draw out her arc over S4. Give it longer play. If they showed any of that stuff from John, they’d have to either make him OOC or reveal too much. If they showed John caring for Sherlock after the gunshot wound, they probably could not hide his emotion at this point. Maybe they wanted to reserve those quieter/tender moments for S4.
I also think part of the ‘longer play ARC’ is John hasn’t really forgiven Mary and has his own game in play. And they can’t show us that because that would ruin the surprise in S4. Probably they want that moment that John turns against her to be a shocker. I’m reminded of the old saw that “John can’t lie worth shit”. They obscure John in HLV and keep him intentionally blank on the tarmac and in the plane on TAB because otherwise he’d reveal his true feelings. They can’t have him all happy and giggly with Mary, but they can’t show him in love with Sherlock either or hating Mary. So he’s forced to stay as neutral as possible and the camera stays back.
Frankly, I don’t think it entirely works. Going from Mary-the-assassin shooting Sherlock and the confrontation scene in 221B to the Christmas scene is jarring and horrible. It mystifies me that so many people ‘bought it’ and think everything’s a-okay with Mary now. To me it doesn’t work at all. However, if they do have John turn and had a secret agenda all alon in S4, it will have been worth it in the end, I think. Just the bloody hiatus always makes these things so fucking dragged out before we get any resolution/satisfaction.
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