As You Are Me And We Are All Together

inevitably-johnlocked:

overlyanalyticalboswell:

Yes, the title is a line from the Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus”. But unlike that song, this meta’s actually going to make sense ;)

It’s no secret that Arthur Conan Doyle hated Sherlock Holmes by the time of “The Final Problem”. He tried to kill off the world’s most famous detective (suck it, Batman) but he just couldn’t be stopped. Victorian audiences rioted in the street, wore black armbands in mourning, and beseeched Doyle to continue the consulting detective’s adventures, and finally, Doyle brought Holmes back to life in “The Empty House” to reunite with his flatmate and Boswell to save the day once again.

But what Doyle – or even Holmes’s devoted fans – couldn’t know at the time was that Doyle had created a formula for fiction to follow even in modern day. Since Sherlock Holmes is the hero, there would be no story without him, but Doctor Watson is what brings color, romance, and warmth to the tale. The chronicles of Sherlock Holmes were the first buddy cop story. Regardless of how you view slash, Holmes and Watson are, by any definition of the word, soulmates. Every Holmes needs a Watson; the esoteric genius needs the personable straight man to balance out his eccentricity. Where would House be without Wilson? Where would Basil be without Dawson? Where would Phil Lester be without Dan Howell?!

In BBC Sherlock, there is a subtle continuing motif of John and Sherlock being not just being two components of a whole (“there’s always of two of us”, anyone?), but actually being the same person. There is an ancient belief that humans once had two heads, four legs, and four arms, but at some point were cleaved in two, and that’s how soulmates came to being. Finding your literal other half. When we first meet Sherlock and John, while they are drastically different characters, they’re in similar position: both lonely, both without hope, both suicidal (John’s loaded gun in his desk drawer, Sherlock willing to take the cabbie’s killing pill – and it’s not because he wants to prove that he’s a genius). In “The Blind Banker”, John is confused for Sherlock by Chan and the Black Lotus clan. In “The Sign Of Three”, Sherlock, drunk, is trying to guess himself for Rizlets, but thinks that he’s John instead (“I know who I am; I’m you, aren’t I?”).

But to fully explain this concept, we need…eh-heh-heh. A Greek Interpretation. XD

In not only the title card of the Gay Pilot, but also very briefly in “The Blind Banker”, a fountain in London bearing a statue of not Cupid, but actually Anteros, features in Sherlock. Anteros is the son of Ares and Aphrodite in Greek mythology; he’s the avenger of requited love. Clearly, Moftiss decided that the idea of love being reciprocated and justice for denied love was important to the central theme of the show…for some reason. Then there’s Anthea, Mycroft’s assistant. Mycroft Holmes is played by writer/showrunner Mark Gatiss; Anthea is literally a writer’s tool. Anthea is the Roman name of the Greek mythology character Antheia, a goddess of flowers and flowery wreaths, also the goddess of human love. In “A Study In Pink”, when John tries to hit on Anthea in the car, she reminds him of his sexuality: “Bye.” (Bi.)

The idea of two lovers/soulmates being so connected that they are the same person comes from the philosophy of Plato. But firstly, I want to say: Johnlock/TJLC rejecters will describe the relationship between Sherlock and John (as well as most other slash ships, such as Merlin/Arthur from Merlin or Destiel from Supernatural) as “platonic”, but the irony of it is that Plato actually spoke quite widely about homosexual love. So when you call a friendship between two males (or females) as “platonic”, you might actually secretly be calling them gay without realizing it.

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates’ second speech talks for a good bit about the deep, spiritual love between two people (read: men), and boy, if that dialogue doesn’t describe John and Sherlock’s emotional journey to a tee. But in 255, it reads, “[the beloved] sees himself in his lover as in a mirror”. In Symposium, Aristophanes’ section elaborates a lot on finding one’s other half and feeling “whole” when a lover find his counterpart. These ideals are still reflected today in our modern marriage rituals: union. Two individuals joining as one. And it all began with Plato.

In the season 4 teaser trailer, and in the brand new promo pic, we’ve seen John slowly becoming aesthetically closer to Sherlock: dressing nicer, copious product in his hair. From what we’ve seen in the trailer, it seems that John may have to step up and take over some of Sherlock’s responsibilities. Certainly in “The Dying Detective” episode, in which Sherlock will be either ill or feigning illness. And for one last connection, Sherlock and John take a case in which the clients own a website where they explain the true meaning of comic books, when suddenly their explanations start coming true – bit like the TJLCers dissecting Sherlock. This case was called “The Geek Interpreter” on John’s blog, which is a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Greek Interpreter” (now you understand my pun from earlier, lol).

And if you think I’m just imagining all this, just remember that the writers have told us point blank: there are no coincidences on this show. Steven and Mark are rarely so lazy.

My information about Anthea and Anteros came from some posts by @inevitably-johnlocked, who is brill and you should check out their blog.

Oh Lovely, I don’t recall ever writing posts about those, but I do reblog them!! But thank you for tagging me, this is SO GREAT!!! I LOVE IT!!!