XistentialAngst's Blog, page 23

constancecream:[x][x][x][x][x][x][x]“IT WILL BE DIVISIVE. NO...

constancecream:

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“IT WILL BE DIVISIVE. NO ONE WILL E ABLE TO DENY JUST HOW GOOD CUMBERBATCH AND FREEMAN ARE THOUGH.”

OK, so this could mean anything really, including tons of angst, anger, hurt, etc. HOWEVER, “divisive” is interesting and could well point to a kiss or love confession. And if it does, then it’s heartening to hear that, however you want to react to the gay thing, people won’t be able to deny how good and how convincing Ben and Martin are. Awesome.

constancecream:[x][x][x][x][x][x][x]CAN’T WAIT!

constancecream:

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CAN’T WAIT!

Is there some reason why I can't post something that has gifs I saved to my computer? The minute I put a gif in a post, my post button becomes grayed out and I can't submit the post? Help?

Is there some reason why I can't post something that has gifs I saved to my computer? The minute I put a gif in a post, my post button becomes grayed out and I can't submit the post? Help?

I've been thinking about the "tst is a dream and Sherlock is still in the hospital" and the fact that we had the birth announcement in the Telegraph and now I'm really confused (help bus lady)

im all in with alibi theory and once my brain is in it i cant get back out 

Miss M.E.

heimishtheidealhusband:

I got a brainwave Sunday night and I think I’ve seen people talking about bits and pieces of this so I want to get this down in one place.

@welovethebeekeeper brilliantly pointed out, what if “miss me” isn’t a phrase, but an acronym? Miss Mary Elizabeth? We know this is her name from the wedding invitations in TSOT.

This is brilliant and totally something the writers would do, and yet another nail in the “Mary is Moriarty” coffin, so I’m officially cosigning and getting on board with this theory. It 100% ties in with the “names are important” stuff that I’ve been harping on for years now. It also seamlessly ties in with the idea the writers have been pushing in their scripts for ages that viewers and characters tend to overlook - miss - female characters. But wait, there’s more.

Remember what the bus lady, Elizabeth, says when she gives John her phone number? “This is me.” I’m speculating that it’s not me, it’s M.E. So here’s a quick rundown of what that would mean:

John is texting with Mary.

As in, this would be a brilliant way for Mary to monitor John’s investment in the marriage. Essentially she’s now got it set up so that she gets a personalized text alert the minute John is feeling seriously dissatisfied in the marriage. When John sends that “hey” off into the ether, Mary now knows she has the green light to really amp up her sweetness and light, to start manipulating John into heightening his guilt. And that’s exactly what she does, amping up the saccharine until we get that death speech. The intent here would be to have “Mary” die a martyr in John’s eyes so that Sherlock can never fully redeem himself, or convince John that Mary was actually a villain. After all, once an idea is planted, it can never be killed. I would go as far as to speculate that John’s text - “hey” is the catalyst that spins everything else regarding Mary’s posthumous case into action. (Whether or not John knows that he’s texting with a potential villain is another matter entirely though.)

And then there’s that late night text chat. Did you notice that the text from the other person mysteriously appears the second that Mary leaves the room to deal with the baby? Interesting. She also refers to herself as a vampire. Which firstly, explains the whole mirror thing. Secondly, it really leaves the door open to Sussex Vampire tie ins in TLD. As I talk about here, in the ACD canon, the mother is framed as being a vampire and sucking the blood out of her newborn baby’s neck, when actually it’s the jealous step-son that is framing her and trying to poison his brother; while the mother is actually trying to save the infant’s life and keeping quiet about it out of love for her husband. This leaves us ready for a huge twist on that where Sherlock is framed for harming baby Rosie in some way, when really it’s Mary/Elizabeth/Culverton Smith/someone in that network.

Alternatively, John is texting with “E”, or Elizabeth.

Assuming that Mary and Elizabeth are in on this together, in a lot of ways this is the same thing, but it also highlights the point that Mary has a confidante. Someone who is very much not dead and is able to help to carry out Mary’s posthumous case that she’s sending to Sherlock. Someone who we strongly suspect (bordering on flat out knowing) is going to be involved in the Culverton Smith case, and is likely Smith’s actual daughter. If Mary is sending Sherlock a case, and then the daughter of Culverton Smith shows up at his door, this is a no brainer.

Mary Elizabeth Morstan = M., E., ….M?

Furthermore, it would also mean that M.E. isn’t Mary’s initials, it’s her team’s initials. Mary and Elizabeth. The exact same set-up as AGRA. For bonus points: Mary’s assumed name when we meet her is Mary Elizabeth Morstan. If that last initial means that there’s another M in the team who we haven’t linked to them yet, this could get really fun. Moriarty? Moran? Plug in anyone here from M-Theory, and it would be awesome.

Interesting.

inevitably-johnlocked:deducingbbcsherlock:joolabee:sherlock’s...

inevitably-johnlocked:

deducingbbcsherlock:

joolabee:

sherlock’s not in this establishing shot? and check out that mirror

He’s….not in the chair….

Yeah. Okay. File this under “fish tale.”

OH!! Good catch! (hur dur)

Holy shit! Good catch.

benaddictmindpalace:John doesn’t trust Mary. He had the idea to track the USB. He knew she would...

benaddictmindpalace:

John doesn’t trust Mary. He had the idea to track the USB. He knew she would leave. How do you love someone you can’t trust.

swoopyswish:The “fresh paint to disguise another smell” text appearing over a newborn baby being...

swoopyswish:

The “fresh paint to disguise another smell” text appearing over a newborn baby being held by her lying, murderous mother…

loudest-subtext-in-tv:grumpybisexual-tm:Watching TST again and noticed the interaction between...

loudest-subtext-in-tv:

grumpybisexual-tm:

Watching TST again and noticed the interaction between Sherlock and Lestrade when Sherlock is back at 221B waiting with the flash drive after fighting Ajay.

[Lestrade walks in]

Sherlock: Well?

[Lestrade shakes his head]

Lestrade: He can’t have got far. We’ll have him in a bit.

Sherlock: I very much doubt it.

Lestrade: Why?

Sherlock: Because I think he used to work with Mary.

So…who all is aware of Mary/Rosamund’s past? Does this mean that Lestrade is in on whatever the plan is?

Anyone else talking about this yet?

@quietlyprim @loudest-subtext-in-tv

Yeah, honestly, Lestrade apparently being aware of Mary’s past was weird to me.

Similarly, I can’t believe we still don’t know if Sherlock told Mycroft that Mary shot him. Either Sherlock told Mycroft and Mycroft just let it slide, which is weird (but explained by M-theory), or Sherlock didn’t tell Mycroft. If Sherlock didn’t tell Mycroft, then Mycroft either doesn’t know who shot him, which isn’t very feasible and his seeming indifference is very strange, or else he knows Mary did it and continues to do nothing (which is explained by M-theory). But why does Sherlock wait SO LONG to press Mycroft about A.G.R.A.?

If Sherlock apparently told Lestrade about Mary then probably he told Mycroft *something* at some
point. But like… why tell Lestrade? It doesn’t seem necessary. Telling Mycroft makes sense. But Lestrade? If Mary’s trying to stay hidden, telling Lestrade isn’t very useful and it’s potentially counterproductive. What’s Lestrade going to be able to do? Sherlock and Mary both are more able to protect Mary, Lestrade is bound by legalities the rest of them feel free to disregard, it’s weird ethical territory for Lestrade to protect Mary given what he knows about her, etc.

And why all the hidden stuff between Sherlock and Mycroft? Mycroft doesn’t admit he employed Mary until this episode, apparently months after the baby is born. If he’s allowed to admit that, then why doesn’t he say so when Sherlock (probably) told him that Mary shot him?

Furthermore: Why is Mary elated when John destroys the flash drive when it’s allegedly her protection? If the answer is that she truly believes the rest of A.G.R.A. is dead and she no longer needs protection, then why not destroy it herself earlier than carry around something so incriminating that contains all the things she never wants anyone to know about her?

Everything stops making sense after Sherlock gets shot.

I guess one reason I like EMP theory is it explains why nothing makes total sense, only hazy dream sense where you can’t question much; why John and Mycroft don’t seem too upset over the shooting and are weirdly forgiving of Mary; why conversations don’t happen when they’d make more sense to have happened and instead seem to arrive in response to Sherlock changing theories and trains of thought, etc.

I can’t find any other explanation so far. Drugs and dreams and M-theory alone don’t explain why Mycroft and Sherlock have such a baffling inertia to exchanging info about Mary until it’s expedient for Sherlock’s thought processes. And if it weren’t for stuff like the increasingly glowing skull showing up next to “The Cardiac Arrest” case, or Ella’s office having Sherlock’s chairs and looking totally different, I’d find the theories about Sherlock intentionally creating a false narrative more compelling.

Again: a lot of stuff just quits making sense after Mary shoots Sherlock, whereas things seemed to hold up better before that. When I was writing M-theory the whole question of why Mary wasn’t being punished for nearly killing Sherlock by either Mycroft *or* Moriarty was hard to figure out, as was the question of whether Mycroft knows Mary shot Sherlock. Then TAB just brought a whole new slew of questions: if Mycroft is employing Mary then why does he allow her to keep working for him after she almost kills his brother (Moriarty won’t let him do otherwise, maybe?), if Sherlock thinks Mary works for Mycroft then how the hell can he believe that Mary really loves John instead of believing she’s just been assigned to him by Mycroft, why does he never ask Mycroft WHY he assigned Mary to John, etc.

Instead, we get the ROSIEST picture of Mary’s past EVER. CAM made it sound like the shit Mary’s done would make you ill, yet all we hear from the show *once Sherlock thinks John is stuck with her* is that she was heroically fighting terrorists, then chose to give up her past life and be good, then was only being persued by people who want to kill her because it was a *misunderstanding.* What?

Sherlock’s knowledge of Mary and how she relates back to Mycroft and John just seems very confused and disjointed, even and especially if we’re supposed to take what we see at face value. If Sherlock thinks Mary’s life is in danger and is desperate for information, why not be very direct with Mycroft about everything? Why not MUCH earlier?

Or if the theories that Sherlock is forming some alibi for John killing Mary are correct, then why make Mary appear heroic and undeserving of death? He could have just as easily painted it like Mary provoked Norbury into shooting her because she deserved it. Or even not because she deserved it, simply because Norbury wanted her dead for knowing Norbury’s secrets. That’s the far simpler alibi. Why cover up the worst parts of Mary’s past? Why make a new mother sacrifice herself for Sherlock, which is totally implausible, instead of merely getting shot?

Why make John look worse by saying he was cheating, when that would invite some people to wonder if John had a motive to kill his own wife? Why does Sherlock make himself look so awful, and in such an unfair way that makes the story less believable? Why go to John’s therapist, instead of telling the story to MI6 or the cops? What’s John’s therapist going to be able to do about anything? Why does Ella’s set-up look fake and have Sherlock’s chairs if that’s supposed to be the one real part of the story? Wouldn’t MI6 be able to resolve everything themselves without Sherlock’s convoluted version of events? It’d be simple: a traitor killed a loose end, and they stick the traitor with a murder charge on top of everything else. John and Sherlock didn’t even need to be there in the story.

The idea that nothing makes sense because it’s all Sherlock sifting through different takes on Mary, grappling with his own pain at being betrayed by Mary, wanting to be fair to John and not letting his feelings for John get in the way of what John wants, desperately trying to believe John isn’t in danger but always coming back to that because nothing else makes sense and his subconscious knows the truth, letting his fears and insecurities alter his judgment about how people would actually react to him and different scenarios, etc, at least explains all the above. It explains how Sherlock ran the most sympathetic simulation of Mary ever and still couldn’t end up with a version of events where John truly loves her. It explains that Sherlock thought it all through and upon reflection (post-credits) couldn’t believe in the end that Mary truly liked him, either. He gave it his most sympathetic approach and still ended up with John doesn’t love Mary, and Mary can’t possibly be his friend. He can’t escape the truth in the end because his brain can only twist reality so far. Even if he can’t yet convince himself that John and Mycroft care for him as much as they do, he sees the rest of it.

If EMP theory *isn’t* what’s going on, there’s a lot more tangled explanations of how, like, Lestrade might have been told more than Mycroft, why Sherlock doesn’t find it weirder that Mycroft won’t fess up to employing Mary, why Mycroft offers only token resistance to confessing to employing Mary (why resist at all if it’s not a big deal in the end? but if it’s a dreamlike state it makes sense because the conversations turn based on Sherlock drawing new conclusions as he deliberates and tests how they’d play out), why people are so harsh on Sherlock even when it would play no role in anything, etc. What that explanation might be, I have no clue. Explaining the skull and Ella’s office seems especially difficult.

Great points here re the Johns alibi theory. You’re right that it doesn’t make sense for him to be telling this story to Ella. Also, I didn’t see how ANY of the events after Mary is shot tie into it. Like, if Mary was actually shot by John, why does Sherlock tell Hudders to remind him of Norbury, as if Norbury were a failing of Sherlock’s? Why the scene with Molly telling Sherlock John doesn’t want to see him? If John shot Mary he doesn’t have a reason to be that angry with Sherlock. Also, the DVD from Mary makes less sense in the Johns alibi theory. If Mary was killed by John why would she send a posthumous DVD to Sherlock asking him to save John? I still really like the johns alibi theory, but it has problems.

However, I also have issues with EMP. As a writer, I’m very conscious of POV in a story. If everything from Mary shooting Sherlock on is a dream Sherlock is having, then that means everything is 100% Sherlock’s POV. Like TAB!John is Sherlocks projection of John. It works in TAB but less so in T6T. While I can accept that Sherlock would imagine scenes he’s not in as part of his brain running scenarios, there are scenes in T6T that feel very OOC for Sherlock to even imagine.

Specifically: the scene where John and Mary are discussing the baby and 666. Is is a convo that is about how exhausting it is to be a new parent, so exhausting and messy they joke about the baby being satanic. This is the kind of humor only actual new parents would relate to. I can’t see this being Sherlocks projection. I can see Sherlock projecting that John would be bored and tempted to have an affair. But the bit with the flower in Jonn’s hair being why he thinks a pretty woman is looking at him and being embarrassed about that… Thats is such a real new parent kind of moment, it’s hard to imagine Sherlock would come up with that. Or the convo between John and Lestrade about the baby where Sherlock seems clueless. Or the rivalry between Hopkins and lestrade. Those just don’t feel like Sherlock POV to me. In fact those scenes are pointless in a scenario Sherlock is running in his head.

But as you point out, there are holes in all the theories at this point. Probably because we just don’t have all the facts yet. I agree with you that the entire Mycroft/Mary thing is hugely suspicious and I’ve been writing about that since HLV. Surely Mycroft would hunt down his brother’s shooter like an angry bear. Even Mummy Holmes threatened to turn monstrous. Yet Mycroft does nothing. The only thing I can figure, if it’s not EMP, is that Mary or Moriarty has something over Mycroft and he can’t act. Maybe we’ll be “retconned” past scenes where Mycroft threatens Mary or something. But right now it makes no sense.

I’m not personally 100% convinced by any theory yet, but pretty much any of them would be more welcome than Mary being redeemed.its fun to think about though!

thepineapplering:beardchr:updog87:Toby is a metaphor for...

thepineapplering:

beardchr:

updog87:

Toby is a metaphor for John. Mary is holding the leash, keeping John on a leash, holding him captive. Mary is unimpressed by Toby’s efforts, he’s useless, boring. She doesn’t give him any slack on the leash, its reigned right up to her side, he hardly has room to breath much less to explore.

Sherlock stands in the background, apparently not allowed too close to Toby despite being the one who wanted to bring him along. Sherlock looks jealous as hell that Mary is the one who gets to walk Toby - why does she get to play with my pupper? Sherlock showers Toby with praise and affection, has total faith in Toby’s abilities, doesn’t blame Toby at all when the plan doesn’t work in their favor. States he likes Toby (And John). Is happy just to spend time with Toby, even if its not actually helping to solve the case.

I love this^^^^

Toby smells haemoglobin (blood), caffeine (coffee/tea) and whisky. That sounds like John Watson to me.