the apple meta 2.0

welovethebeekeeper:

consultingwives:

So the first apple meta that I wrote I actually started very shortly after series three aired and didn’t publish until a couple of weeks ago. A lot of people had some really awesome ideas about what other ways the apples could be symbolic in terms of tjlc. And then I kind of got thinking about Appledore and how that fits in. 

So I present to you: the apple meta 2.0, a slightly more coherent synthesis of ideas. I’m going to go through the chronological appearances of apples, and credit the people who tacked onto my meta and noticed things that I didn’t. 

First though, let’s agree that the apples are capable of representing two things: sex, and temptation. They’re really intricately tied together and I don’t think they’re at all two separate symbols, I think both meanings can get lumped together.

One (@madfoxx)

John places an apple next to his army mug, which has a snake on it. As madfoxx pointed out, this is pretty blatant symbolism that John’s about to experience temptation via his sexual attraction to Sherlock. I also would add that the position of the two objects next to each other shows us how he’s already experienced gay temptation in the army, through his relationship with Sholto. Jolto is #confirmed. 

Two 

The basket of apples starts showing up in series 2, when John and Sherlock have found level of comfort with each other that makes their relationship imminent. The amount of love and sexual attraction between the two is at its peak, as John reveals the amount of jealously that he really harbors towards Irene, as the gay innkeepers apologize for not giving them a double room, and as John learns about his tabloid nickname and accusations start flying (”You and John Watson, just platonic?!”). I don’t doubt that if Sherlock hadn’t faked his death, that they eventually would have resolved the tension. It’s a common thread through each episode of this series, and shows up in some of the promo pictures. 

Three (@ebaeschnbliah and @madfoxx)

Moriarty bites the apple (he “croque”s the “pomme”, which is slang for having sex in French) and carves the letters “I” and “U” around the “O” created by the bite. So he’s sexually propositioning him, trying to tempt him. “U” and “I” is also very telling. This apple also comes from Sherlock and John’s basket, showing that Moriarty is ready to mess with their apples; he’s meddling in their relationship, and it ends with the apples going away altogether at the beginning of series 3.

Four (@may-shepard, @isitandwonder, @ebaeschnbliah and @just-sort-of-happened)

Here’s the culmination: both Appledore and an actual physical apple show up in the same scene. I already looked it up, “dore” is essentially meaningless unless we interpret it as “door”. It’s the last checkpoint, or door, that Sherlock and John have to pass through in order to realize their relationship. Or the last season finale, perhaps. It’s a key to getting to the apples, their sexual relationship, and the apex of the temptation that both have experienced towards each other. (Thanks @may-shepard for asking about Appledore!) 

There’s also a decorative apple present in the scene, as @ebaeschnbliah pointed out. I see this as being representative of the perceived sexual/romantic relationship between Sherlock and John, as most people in the series (i.e. Angelo, Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft at the beginning of series one, etc) perceive them as being a couple. They’re not, however; the apple is fake, no one is biting into it. It is, however, flanked by cupids as ebaeschnbilah pointed out. So there’s potential there. It could become real. 

Five (@isitandwonder)

Finally, as many people, including @may-shepard have pointed out, the maid in tab is a mirror for Sherlock, and as she sasses John, there’s an apple between them. She points out that his relationship with Mary seems strained, as the fruit basket shows us that the potential for his and Sherlock’s sexual relationship has truly blossomed for the first time since series 2, due to the tense relationship between John and Mary and the ways in which their marriage seems to be falling apart. Namely, they spend no time together, and John’s obsessed with Sherlock (the maid is reading his latest story, whereas the same maid in the canon is distracted by reading a love story). So they’ve crossed the last border, the “apple door”, and they’re finally on their way to croquer la pomme, bite the apple, to yield to temptation. The stage is set, the curtain rises. We are ready to begin. 

Great meta!