XistentialAngst's Blog, page 4

Every time I see Mary's face I feel like slamming it into a wall. I never thought I could HATE a character this much. The fact that she somehow became the One True Voice of Reason in the eleventh hour just makes it worse. The moment where she died was the

Hey Nonny,

Yeah, I agree with you there on Mary being a smug asshole. I hate what they did to her character; they were building her up to be an exciting and interesting villain, the next Moriarty, and she could have had an epic showdown between John and Sherlock. Her death could have been spectacular… not… whatever the hell fuckery her death was after establishing IN UNIVERSE that her death couldn’t happen the way it did.

She could have been great, and Mofftiss could have really let Amanda shine. Instead, they gave her a terribly dull backstory episode, replaced John with her, and just… really turfed her rather than the opposite of what I think Mofftiss were trying to achieve with her character.

Hi Ankita! Could you please tell me which are the MUST READ Johnlock fics of this fandom??the most famous, Possibly not AU.. thank you very much!!

No AU leaves out quite a number of must read fics. But still, as you wish. 

Long post alert!

The Progress of Sherlock Holmes by ivyblossom (62k, Explicit) : A beautiful, beautiful fic from Sherlock POV. Difficult relationship issues, miscommunication. Ohh what a fic.

A Cure For Boredom by emmagrant01 (81k, Explicit) :

They’d never talked about sex in the year they’d known each other. Well, that wasn’t quite correct: Sherlock had never said a word about sex; John had bemoaned his personal dearth of it on many occasions.  One hell of a sexy fic. 

and stand there at the edge of my affection by coloredink (2.6k, General) : Sherlock asks for John’s expertise on writing a love letter. Who is it for? You have no points for guessing it right. But John is an idiot.

A Quiet Murmuration by cathedral_carver (4.6k words, Teen) : 

Just pay me back with one thousand kisses. My go to fic whenever I am feeling down. Fluff, fluff and more fluff. Did i mention fluff?

Alone On the Water by Mad_Lori (7.7k, General) :

Sherlock Holmes never expected to live a long life, but he never imagined that it would end like this. Fair warning, look at the tags and think for at least 10 times before reading this okay.

State of Flux by Atiki  (24k, Explicit) : John’s marriage is over and he is finally back home (i.e. at Baker Street, where he belongs). Sherlock is awfully insecure and John is awfully hesitant, and they’re both awkward idiots, of course, but they figure it out. Many First Times happen. Ever wonder what a no-angst perfect johnlock fic looks like?This is it. Series 3 fix-it fic.

Hitting the Water at Sixty Miles an Hour by what_alchemy (30k words, Explicit) : “You love your mother, Sherlock?”John watched the muscles in Sherlock’s jaw jump. He nodded in one sharp jerk.“Then we’re going to her party and making her happy.” John let out a resigned sigh. “As a ruddy couple, you bastard.” Fake/pretend relationship. Thank me later.

Electric Pink Hand Grenade by BeautifulFiction


“If Sherlock’s brain is a hard drive, then these attacks are an electro-magnetic pulse.” Sherlock Holmes does not do anything by half, not even a migraine. It falls to John to witness one of the greatest minds he has ever known tear itself apart, and he must do his best to help Sherlock pick up the pieces. I’ve got one word to describe this. “Sickfic”. You are welcome.

A Waste of Breath by Chryse (95k, Explicit) : John had always assumed Sherlock was uninterested, untouchable, married to his work. He was wrong on all counts. But when Sherlock embarks on a relationship, John worries that he is in over his head…and this time he might be right. Sherlock picks up Sebastian Moran as a fuck buddy and things go kinda wrong.

The Quiet Man by ivyblossom (157k words, Explicit) : “Do you just carry on talking when I’m away?” What can I say about this one? Post reichenbach fic in John POV. You can guess how it is.

A Study in Intimacy by doodle (5k words, Teen) : People don’t touch Sherlock Holmes, not like they touch other people.Then he meets John Watson. I won’t say anything else.

The Important Bit by Solshine (9.9k. General) :  Just where exactly is the line between “to love” and “to be in love”? What difference is required between “flatmate” and “husband”? (Besides the rings, obviously.) No, the important bit is that they have each other. Thirty years, give or take, in an atypical marriage. Basically a long bit of platonic domestic fluff. 

The Whore of Babylon Was a Perfectly Nice Girl by out_there (32k words, Explicit) : Sherlock walks into a room and takes all the space right out of it. He does the same inside John’s head. This is the fic where John finds out Sherlock has slept with four-hundred people. 

Dear John by wendymarlowe (23k words, Explicit) : With Sherlock dead, John eventually (under duress) makes a profile on an online dating site. And falls into a long-distance relationship with an enigmatic partner who reminds him of Sherlock in all the right ways.Post-reichenbach epistolary fic. Online romance? Check. Cybersex? Check. Sherlock is so screwed. 

Curious Case by Cleo2010 (44k words, Explicit) : After burning his hands, Sherlock’s unable to release his ‘tension’ in the usual manner. Who should he turn to? His totally, completely straight friend and flatmate who’s totally not into Sherlock or his boy parts at all. Definitely. Basically a PWP. Oh my.

echoes through time by chellefic (21k words, Explicit) : Mummy sends a trunk from the Holmes cottage in Sussex to 221B. Its contents alter the way John and Sherlock see themselves and one another. What’s in the trunk you ask? A diary written by a John Watson about the adventures of Sherlock’s great grandfather. Another Sherlock Holmes. The diary is quite explicit in nature.

Applied Linguistics by what_alchemy (4.8k, Mature) :“He wants to shake John by the shoulders, wants to open his mouth and swallow John whole. Wants to marry him.” Sherlock searches for the right words.

To Light Another’s Path by BeautifulFiction (128k, Explicit) : Teaching John to observe seems to be a losing battle, but when Sherlock falls ill and submits himself to John’s care, will he realise that there is more to life than the science of deduction? Meanwhile, there is a murder to solve, and John must try and convince Sherlock not to sacrifice his own health for the sake of the case. Eventual John/Sherlock Hurt/Comfort case fic. Post the Great Game . Sickfic. Yay!

Acceptable Behaviour by bbcatemysoul (3.4k, Mature): Sherlock isn’t really sure why John wants to shag him, but he’s certain that if he’s careful to behave properly about it, John can be persuaded to keep doing it.In other news, John is a good boyfriend and Sherlock is an idiot. When aren’t they idiots?

Midnight Blue Serenity by BeautifulFiction (151k, Explicit) : “This was like nothing John had ever thought to associate with Sherlock: stubble, skin-tight jeans and three small silver rings gleaming at the crest of one ear. It was unbelievable, like stepping into an alternative universe, and John couldn’t stop staring.” Sherlock working undercover as a sexy-bartender. Not just John, I died too. Did I mention eyeliner?

Corpus Hominis by mycapeisplaid (47k, Explicit) : John knows the human body intimately. He’s had plenty of opportunity for study as a doctor, soldier, and lover. There’s one particular body, however, he knows very little about. When Sherlock launches himself head-first into a new obsession and they get sent on a case in an unlikely location, the pair discovers each other’s bodies with confusing yet delightful (and sometimes hilarious) results. 

Nothing to Make a Song About by emmagrant01 (36k, Explicit) :

When Sherlock returned from his faked death, John could not forgive him for the deception and broke off their friendship. Ten years later, John returns to London in search of yet another new beginning. Sherlock, not surprisingly, is waiting. This was the first johnlock fic I read. So this has a pretty special place in my heart.

Best of Three by SilentAuror (17.4k, Explicit) : “You want to have sex with me,” Sherlock announces one evening about a year after John’s divorce. John’s vigorous denial sparks a three-day wager wherein Sherlock is determined to prove his point, and John is determined to hold onto his heterosexuality. Set well after HLV. And as the author states it “Porn. With feels”. Hot. Very hot.

Let’s Make a Bed Out in the Rain by theimprobable1 (17k, Mature) : John is devastated after his long-term girlfriend leaves him. Sherlock helps him through it. Pining, Angst, unrequited love, first kiss. Yeah the package. 

Just a Kiss by emmagrant01 (19k, Explicit) : Five times John and Sherlock kissed because of a case and one time they kissed for real. 

To Sleep, Perchance to Smother Your Flatmate with a Pillow by Linpatootie (5k words, General) : Sherlock wants to conduct a sleep study of sorts. John contemplates smothering him with a pillow. One word. Fluff.

Evening Ride by LapisLazuli (8.6k, Explicit) : John has a series of unexpected meetings with a stranger on the Tube. Not an AU. Just alternative meeting. And one of the hottest fic I have ever read. Keyword? Public sex. Thank me later.

I Just Had Sex by pennydreadful (916 words, Teen) : Sherlock just had sex and he’s going to make sure everyone knows. One of my favourite crack fics.

The Great Sex Olympics of 221B by XistentialAngst (58k, Explicit) : John Watson thinks Sherlock Holmes should admit that he, Watson, is more of an expert on sex than Sherlock is. But Sherlock refuses to concede the point. He comes up with an experiment plan that will resolve the issue. The results will determine who wins the prize. But sometimes even the best thought-out scientific study has unexpected consequences. Lots of sexual experimentation.

Praise Me by testosterone_tea (11k, Explicit) : In which Sherlock has an interesting physical reaction to compliments and John discovers it. Praise kink!

Sink Like a Stone by pennydreadful (4k, Teen) : After defeating Moriarty at the pool, life isn’t quite the same around 221B Baker Street…it’s more peaceful. And stranger. 

What to do When Your Flatmate is Homicidal by hyacinth_sky747 (58k, Explicit) :

Molly gave me a magazine. It has one hundred tips for figuring out your man. She said it is a bible amongst women. I will use it to solve the mystery that is John, or, as I like to refer to him, that mad-hatter who sits on my Union Jack cushion until it is flat.

I can’t actually describe this one.You need to read it.

The Norwood Love Builders by flawedamythyst (47k, Teen) : Sherlock and John go undercover to solve the murder of Joanna Oldacre, but things are complicated by the many feelings John has been repressing in the wake of Sherlock’s faked death and return. Fake/Pretend relationship.ahahahaha.

The Detective and the Pin-Up by XistentialAngst (15k, Teen) : Sally Donovan discovers an old secret John Watson considered long buried - a ten-year old “Men of the Armed Forces” calendar, which has John as a very enticing pin-up for August. The image of John might just change the way everyone sees the unassuming sidekick, even Sherlock Holmes. 

Thirst by bittergreens (122k, Explicit) : When John realizes he has feelings for Sherlock and decides he must keep those feelings secret at all costs, the resulting tension might bring Baker Street to the ground. Check the tags. Every element possible to be in a fic.

On the Losing Side by missselene (8k, Explicit) : After Mary’s death, John moves back into Baker Street, but is still upset at the loss of his wife and child. Eventually, he and Sherlock stumble into a sort of relationship, but it’s more physical than anything and they don’t talk about it.They especially don’t talk during sex.

If they are going to have sex, Sherlock notices the signs hours beforehand, and he prepares carefully. The lights are off, they’re under the covers, he prepares himself using lots of lube so he can make it feel as much like a woman as he can, and he doesn’t let himself make any noise so that, if John wishes, he can pretend that he’s still with Mary.

Misunderstanding, Pining. *sigh*

And if you say the word, I could stay with you by CaitlinFairchild (12k, Explicit) : What Sherlock thinks is, On the day I die, be it in a dirty alley at forty or in my bed at eighty, the last thing I will remember is tonight, the way you looked at at me on the snowy pavement, cheeks pink with the cold, breath puffing in frosty white clouds, your heart in your eyes and snowflakes in your hair. I will remember that single perfect moment in my life, that moment I knew I had everything I ever wanted, and whatever happens next, I will die content.What he says is simply, “Marry me.“ 

That’s it for now. But it doesn’t mean these are the only Must-read fics.It means the list got quite long already. Guess I will make a separate post for those then.

Bill Paxton

Very sad to hear the news that Bill Paxton has died today at only 61 years old. I loved Big Love, Twister, A Simple Plan, and many of Bill’s other movies. He was still so young really,. Also sad for James Paxton, Bill’s son, whom I adored in Eyewitness.  

Recently seen some fans are running with the "abuser John" theme they perceive in the ghastly TFP, writing memes and fan-fic based on this. I can't say how angry this makes me with Moftiss, supposedly great upholders of ACD's Holmes & Watson as historical

Moffat and Gatiss did ghastly things with the canon they supposedly adored (remember Garridebs?), but the worst thing was the total destruction of John Watson in s4. They were so focused on keeping the two friends apart, so intent on telling another story except the one that matters, which is the immortal partnership of those two men, they just turned John into another man to justify the fact that he’s no longer by Sherlock’s side. John Watson can be violent, yes, he sure has anger management issues and is shit at verbal communication. Probably he still suffers from PTSD, like many army vets. I personally think he comes from an abusive home. But John Watson is the most loyal and faithful man in the world. He’s a good man. He has done bad things, but he’s inherently good and loyal and loving. And if Mofftiss can forget big parts of their narrative and do a 180 turn, so can I, thus I choose to forget what they did to John in s4. They don’t owe Sherlock and John, they’re ours, and it’s obvious we love them more than they do.

byebyefrost:sussexbound:You know, I should probably clear something up. When I am saying that...

byebyefrost:

sussexbound:

You know, I should probably clear something up.  When I am saying that Mofftiss, and Gatiss, in particular, MAY have been partially motivated to write parts of Season 4 the way they/he did, to completely eradicate a johnlock reading (and believe me it was a choice, because you could tell they had to work hard narratively, and erase a ton of prior characterisation just to ensure Sherlock and John were torn apart, and got almost no screen time with just the two of them), I’m not saying that I think that Moffat or Gatiss personally stroll through tumblr reading our blogs, and hating us personally, or even that they give a shit about TJLC specifically.  I’m not that self-centered and delusional, and I don’t even identify as a TJLCer, so I have no personal investment in that sense.  

What I’m saying is that johnlock shipping became a big thing.  It became such a big thing that the press picked up on it, and creators and the show’s leads were having erotic fan art shoved in their faces on every talk show appearance for awhile post S3, and were even asked to read mildly erotic fanfic aloud during S3 promotional events (which was even less fun for fandom creators than it was for anyone involved in the show, let me tell you; there is a special place in hell for people who break the 4th wall by forcing fan-created content on show creators, uncredited and without the fan artist’s permission).  There were aslo people associated with the show who also had very personal issues with this, and chose to engage in very public run-ins with fans on Twitter surrounding the topic (Amanda, for instance, who started conflating johnlock and freebatch for reasons wholly her own).  Further more, when Benedict was doing his TIG Oscar run, a big part of the press strategy to paint him as a family man and serious actor, was to throw his Sherlock fandom under the bus as a bunch of horny, teenage girls, or ridiculous middle-aged women who were out of control, and deserved censure.

So when I say that Mofftiss may have chosen to tone johnlock way down, and no-homo almost all of Season 4 as a means of pushing back against a johnlock reading, that is what I’m talking about.  And when I talk about Gatiss having an impression of johnlock shippers being a bunch of horny, straight girls/women who simply want to objectify gay men, that’s where I think he got it from.  Yes you don’t write to fandom expectation (though it isn’t unheard of), but if you see a segment of your fandom as distasteful, and the press has glommed onto that segment, and that segment alone, and keeps shoving it in your face, and making people involved with the show uncomfortable as a result, you probably do have it in the back of your mind, at the very least, when you are planning and writing.  And I’ll add here that I am absolutely NOT throwing fandom under the bus for this.  This was almost entirely a press issue (though certain cast member’s personal issues, which played out very publicly, and stans running to cast/creators on tumblr to tattle about tumblr fandom goings on, certainly contributed to the problem)

And yeah, I do think Mofftiss thought they were being very clever, or at the very least self-indulgent with TFP.  Moffat admitted as much when he said that this season was just insane wish fulfilment for them.  I do think that stuff about Sherlock’s childhood and backstory was in the back of their minds since the beginning, and that thoughts about introducing a secret, third sibling had been there since Season 3.  I don’t think that they would write something they utterly hated, and put it out there just to spite a few thousand fans on the internet (though there are way more viewers who shipped johnlock on some level than just TJLCers on tumblr, fyi).  They need to make money, and they have multiple international audiences to please.  

So I think they had a lot of goals they wanted to reach this season.  I think that they were afraid they wouldn’t get the chance to make a 5th season.  Many people associated with the show voiced that concern.  So, I think they tried to cram all the ideas they originally had for 6 episodes into 3.  As a result, nothing was really handled with the skill and delicacy it deserved, and nothing was given the time it deserved.  I also think they just got too confident and lazy with their writing (all the scripts came late, which suggests they left them to the last minute).  I feel like they decided to retool the Mary character at the last moment, for some reason (I’ll leave everyone to their own deductions there), and what they ended up with was a bloody mess.

So anyway, yes, there were a myriad of factors at play, but I do think that one of those factors was a desire to damp down johnlock shipping, and I think that was for many reasons, one of those being the creator’s perception of and distaste for johnlock shipping fans, due to press coverage and interaction with creators and cast during the post-S3 period.

Thanks for writing this @sussexbound

This is really very important to understanding what is right now going on in the White House and the...

This is really very important to understanding what is right now going on in the White House and the world. Everyone needs to read this.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/18/1601406/-Everything-You-Need-to-Know-About-Steve-Bannon-Breitbart-Russia

kimbiablue:valeria2067:rominatrix:jenna221b:Can we all...

kimbiablue:

valeria2067:

rominatrix:

jenna221b:

Can we all just appreciate Sherlock’s stunned inner “oh my god”, he’s fallen hard

FROM THE FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT OF A STUDY IN PINK (x)

Not for nothing, but that is the twinkiest, thirstiest gaze this side of the adult film industry. Are we supposed to believe it was a deliberate acting choice or some real-life feelings seeping through?

I will continue to be slain by that look they share until something kills me for real one day

How Mary Morstan destroyed the moral centre of BBC Sherlock

silentauroriamthereal:

So let me just start by saying that no one wants
two-dimensional, black-and-white characters. Flawed people are normal,
believable, more interesting, more relatable. That’s all fine. What the first
two series of Sherlock gave us was:

1. Sherlock Holmes: A self-appointed detective, occasional (mostly past,
seemingly) drug user who solves crimes as a puzzle to keep his overactive mind
occupied. Rude to people, a trait born more out of impatience to get on with
saving lives without being hampered by other people’s relative slowness, and
possible also because he falls somewhere on the autism spectrum and struggles
with social skills. Tries to believe that he is cold, emotionless, but the
opposite is palpably true: his facial reaction when Moriarty destroys the old woman
in The Great Game. This line: “This hospital’s full of people dying, Doctor.
Why don’t you go and cry by their bedside and see what good it does
them?” (Read: wasting time wringing our hands won’t save this person’s life.) This
exchange:

John: Charming. Well done. 

Sherlock: Just saving her time. Isn’t that kinder? (Read: He attempts to
be kind, successful or otherwise.

Sherlock’s face when he sees John wearing the bomb jacket in
The Great Game. Sherlock admitting his fear in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Sherlock showing compassion by rescuing Irene in A Scandal in Belgravia.
Sherlock’s tear as he was saying goodbye to John in The Reichenbach Fall. These
two series are full of evidence that Sherlock absolutely does care about
people, so much so that his brother reminds him to be wary of sentiment as
though it’s an old refrain, routinely repeated. And the final touch: “I may be
on the side of the angels, but don’t think for one second that I am one of
them.” That’s it in a nutshell: Sherlock is no angel – but he is indubitably on
their side. He solves crimes. He stops criminals from their actions. He saves
lives. He is, despite his surface rudeness, a good person.

2. John Watson: An ex-army captain and doctor with an appetite for
adrenaline, an inability to settle into civilian life, post-traumatic shock
nightmares, and a dangerous violent streak. A man with a “strong moral centre”
who waits until he believes it absolutely necessary to kill, then does it
cleanly, quickly, humanely when he thinks he must. John is such an interesting
mix. In one way of looking at it, there’s a lot more dark in him than there is in
Sherlock. Something obviously went wrong in his family, too, as not one of his
immediate family attended his wedding. There’s some resentment there, some
thirst to prove his worth – and a corresponding hyper-willingness to assume
that people doubt it, that people place blame on him, that they find him
wanting in some way. Trust issues, indeed.

And yet he’s the one who’s mindful of when Sherlock is
stepping on toes and hurting feelings, the first to pull him into line, to make
sure he doesn’t go too far. They’re such a good team this way: John came back
from the war with a hand tremor that made it impossible for him to practise
medicine and a psychosomatic limp and blasted-up shoulder that made it
impossible for him to be the “war hero” Sherlock describes him as during their
first cab ride. They fit each other perfectly: Sherlock gives John a safe
outlet to let out his demons and channel them into being a hero again, cures
him of his impediments almost just by believing him unshakably, always,
without one shred of doubt, no matter what his sharp-edged humour might
suggest, even giving him back the ability to practise medicine again, and in
turn John provides Sherlock with equanimity: someone to come home to, eat with,
be normal with, someone who will save him from going too far either verbally or
into the deeps to search out a criminal there, who will follow him down and
shoot the criminals off his back. They save each other. They do good work: they’re
good people.

And then series 3 gave us Mary. Mary the former secret agent
gone rogue, Mary who kills for the highest bidder (confirmed in The Six Thatchers), Mary who
scales a building pregnant to intimidate or kill a man who is blackmailing her.
Mary who shoots a friend in the heart rather than accept his help and request
his secrecy, or his help in breaking the truth to John. Mary the pathological
liar, who layers lie upon lie upon lie, and feels that she should never have to
apologise for anything, including all of these lies. Mary, who got snippy and
resentful over John’s “months of silence” after she tried to murder his best
friend, as though he had no right to his anger. Mary, who denied John the right
to have a say in naming his own child after she put him through all of that.
Mary, who would rather drug her friend and abandon her family rather than
accept help. Mary, who abandoned her team without confirming that they were beyond
rescue and started a new life with a marriage and a baby and not a second
thought for the people she’d left behind. Mary, who never for a second left her
profession, keeping her guns and her outfits and her secret info stashed in
random walls in Norway,
her vast collection of wigs and offensive accents.

This might have worked if the show had seen her arc through
as the villain she clearly was. Mary was decidedly NOT on the “side of the
angels”. Mary was not saving lives. Mary was taking them. Mary was a person
whose life choices, past and present, clearly put her on the other side from
Sherlock and John – two flawed, yet ultimately good men who do good work. Mary’s
work was, in a word, bad. She was the opposite, really: an inherently bad
person with a cute façade, who could giggle and make little jokes (that
frequently had a sting buried within), who could roll up her pants instead of
just getting them hemmed, who could tease and banter, but as soon as the
pressure came back on, her real self came out again. The old habits came back:
drug a friend, shoot them in the heart, run away without looking back, kill
anyone who gets in your way. The fact is that the show did NOT see this arc
through. The writers tried to spoon-feed us the façade, and it didn’t work,
because the truth was so very visible: Mary was not a good person, and trying
to pretend that she was is either completely unbelievable, or else destroys the
entire point of who Sherlock and John are, in their essence. To have them take
Mary on board without question, without her actual redemption by having felt or
demonstrated remorse of any kind at any point for any of the very many terrible
things she did, does not work! This is tantamount to Sherlock and John teaming
up with Moriarty! Even if they’d needed information from Moriarty or something,
it would have been a necessarily temporary arrangement, because they are not on
the same team and never have been!

So, tl;dr version: we want characters who are nuanced, who have
grey area, who are three-dimensional: but not characters who betray their own
moral code by associating themselves willingly with someone they would normally
oppose with all of their combined might. Writing their acceptance of Mary
Morstan destroyed their moral centre. In a way, it made them no better than she
was, and we know from the first two series that this just isn’t who Sherlock
and John are. They’re good people. Mary wasn’t.

Mary was clearly set as a villain in HLV with all those parallels to Moriarty. Why do you think they abandoned that and went for a cheesy redemption in series 4?

Because they still plan a fix? Because they completely lost their minds? Because they hate us and resented that we figured out their show? Just because they’re assholes? Because they wanted us to suffer so had to make it all as senseless and bizarro-world as possible? Your guess is as good as mine. That she was intended as a villain is as clear as the romance itself was. Can’t see why the BBC would even want to force that change though. Or Amanda. Surely it would have been more fun to keep playing the villain she was. Maybe it was easier to fuck over the romance if they bizarrely redeemed her. I’m not one to give answers. I am completely baffled. And betrayed. And heartbroken.

shawleyleres:keepsherlockright:Ladies and gentlemen, the...

shawleyleres:

keepsherlockright:

Ladies and gentlemen, the season four we deserved

I’m clapping until my arms fall off. This is glorious.