More than one hiatus: death, a land of dreams and the magnum opus

welovethebeekeeper:

Given Benedict’s words on the ending of series 4 and the very strange hint at a ‘reason’ why the writers could leave John and Sherlock there for a while, I think as always we look at canon. A few things first:

Steven and Mark have made sure they covered the most polar stories; The Hound, The Woman, The Fall, The Return, The Entrance of Mary Morstan and The Master Blackmailer, plus The Meeting which they actually covered 3 times if we include the unaired pilot. The writers wanted to get their version filmed incase the show was ever cancelled. [It won’t be]

The main theme of their work is twofold, FIX canon and get the real story correct; it’s a LOVE STORY.
The writers also want to make sure that the public know the real Sherlock and John, the men the writers know from canon, not the iconic caricatures that have evolved in pastiche and Holmesian theory or the cultural hive mind. It’s a story about a detective and the man who loves him, it’s not a detective story.

So we stand looking at series 4 with the history of 3 series, a special and a mini episode in our vault of knowledge; all of which have proven the above to be true. Also we have confirmation that John and Sherlock are in love, Sherlock is gay, John is bisexual, Mary is not a wife she is a client/assassin, Moriarty has become the embodiment of Sherlock’s darkest fears about his own nature, and there is NO future for Holmes and Watson without each other. These facts are canon in BBC Sherlock, for me no longer up for debate.

So onto the point of this post; where could John and Sherlock’s story be if we can step away for a spell?

In canon there were three times that Holmes left the work and his home for an extended period; The Final Problem - fake death and hiatus of 3 years, The Devil’s Foot -  convalescence  of 1 year, and His Last Bow - undercover work for the British Government of 2 years. As we have already covered one of these events in BBC Sherlock we can rule the faked death hiatus out. Let us look at the other two.

The Devil’s Foot

The most pivotal tale of the Holmes and Watson relationship in canon, they almost came out of the subtextual closet in this story. It’s just the two of them, alone in an isolated cottage and although a case does come up, it never takes away from the domestic bliss of the two of them just playing house. The reason for the break in routine is Sherlock’s health. He’s overworked, stressed, run down and his drug use is taking it’s toll.

It was, then, in the spring of the year 1897 that Holmes’s iron constitution showed some symptoms of giving way in the face of constant hard work of a most exacting kind, aggravated, perhaps, by occasional indiscretions of his own. In March of that year Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may some day recount, gave positive injunctions that the famous private agent lay aside all his cases and surrender himself to complete rest if he wished to avert an absolute breakdown.

Although the reason for the trip was convalescence Watson refers to the cottage/their solitude as ‘that land of dreams’. It’s so damn romantic. It’s why we all love this story. And there is a huge FIX required in this story. Holmes proclaims: ‘I have never loved, Watson’. [Mark and Steven must be chomping at the bit to fix that fucker] Let’s face it they already have fixed that statement, but they need to complete the fix with the solidification of who it is Sherlock loves and have there be consummation of that love so casuals see it.

We know from setlock:

Coastal locations

Farm house, isolated, at least a week’s filming in a secluded location with Benedict and Martin
Martin had a difficult scene to film at this time [SDCC time] Martin hinted that it was emotional and involved crying
Episode 2 has a very ill Sherlock

Conclusion: I think it fits with what we know about series 4, it also fits with the arc of the main story. The Devil’s Foot is not one of the very famous stories but within fandom it is very ‘special’. There was a year hiatus between Devil’s Foot and The Dancing Men, the following story [not published dates but timeline of the stories] so it could be a safe place to leave John and Sherlock for a time.

His Last Bow

We open this story in canon with Sherlock undercover as Altamont after being sent on a 2 year assignment to America.

‘Things were going
wrong, and no one could understand why they
were going wrong. Agents were suspected or even
caught, but there was evidence of some strong and
secret central force. It was absolutely necessary to
expose it. Strong pressure was brought upon me
to look into the matter. It has cost me two years,
Watson, but they have not been devoid of excitement.’

That sounds a great deal like the plot for series 4 to me. And there is a fix required; Sherlock went on the 2 year mission in His Last Bow, alone, we know from TRF/TEH that it would be a mistake for Sherlock to leave John behind again. Hell the writers told us that the key to the success of these two men is  ‘The two of us, against the rest of the world’. So the FIX is to have John accompany Sherlock on this mission. 

We know from setlock:

MI5 and MI6 agents are in this series

Holmes has an undercover name, Altamont. We have a clue of a name Sherrinford. Sherrinford was one of the original names for Sherlock, i.e Sherrinford is Sherlock
A ‘secret central force’ could be the Moriarty web
Mycroft is The British Government and we know that he is apparently a ‘reptile’, therefore he could be bringing pressure on to his little brother

Conclusion: I think this fits in with a great deal of what has been said about series 4 and also what we observed during setlock. However it would be far more of a cliff hanger to have them leave on a mission. Which is good…I’d expect a 2 hour special of the mission. After all in His Last Bow Sherlock refers to this undercover work as ‘the magnum opus of my latter years’. It was evidently exciting and fulfilling, all he needed for perfection was John at his side.

………..

The writer’s may of course combine the two events together, they have a way of condensing stories effectively in this regard. Yesterday, I mentioned in a comment that the baby could be a reason for letting events marinate for a while, however I was only chucking ideas around. In reality we have zero evidence from setlock of a baby in episode 3 [only evidence of a mind palace baby in ep 2] so I feel that Mary and baby are dispatched in ep 1 and that’s presuming baby is real in the first place. I also hasten to add that Benedict’s comments may be totally off base, but then again if I believe his hints at the johnlock kiss [’things are going very well’ kissy face expression] I can’t just pick and choose which of his comments are rubbish. I do think he ‘bleeds’ secrets. Now his interpretation may not always be the same as ours, nor for that matter the same as Steven and Mark’s, but they do deserve consideration. I firmly believe that the BBC will require another outing of Sherlock for New Years Day 2019. I do think Mark and Steven will be writing more Sherlock by the end of 2017. I also think both Benedict and Martin will be onboard. 

Good stuff here. Thanks for the canon references! These both look possible to me.

I agree that they will be left in a fairly good state at the end of S4, whether it’s ‘consulting husbands off on a mission’ or just a resolution and seeming end ala johnlock and villains vanquished, 

I did have one thought last night – we know that at the end of S3, Mark let out that he and Moffat had planned out S4 and S5. So that leads fans to expect a S5. HOWEVER, that was well before they wrote a word and also before S3 aired.

S4 and S5 Combined into S5? 

WHAT IF, based on the lackluster critical reception of S3, the increasing pressure on/lengthening of production times and schedules, and just a general sense that their denouement was dragging out too long, they ended up combining the best of their S4 and S5 plans into a single S4?

There are a few reasons this might be the case.  If they had orignally planned johnlock for S5, they might have decided it was too long to wait another 4-5 years for that. (and I agree) Not only do they risk losing the opportunity to be first with someone else getting there before them (perhaps in a film version), but they would risk more and more casuals just going WTF? like they did after S3. They don’t see the romantic arc, and therefore it seems like the “detective show” has jumped the shark. Also, LGBT issues are changing so rapidly, they need to get this out before it’s either old hat or the tide has swung strongly back the other way again. Timing is everything. Add in Martin and Ben’s schedule– maybe they couldn’t depend on being able to get another 7 episodes out of them in an expedient manner (including TAB at that point). These are all good reasons to go ahead and resolve the romantic arc ASAP.

Furthermore, we have Moffat at SDCC saying “you never know when you’ll be cancelled” and “to hell with delayed gratification”, which to me is very leading that they’d originally planned something for later on that they moved up to S4. Yes, I know the arguments that they wouldn’t REALLY be cancelled, and I agree. But I think what he’s saying there is that shit happens and you can’t DEPEND on another season (for all the reasons above), so it’s best to act like it might be your last and do all the big stuff you want to do now.

Add to that BC’s comments that the main story arcs are completed at the end of S4–which I would take to mean both Moriarty/villain arc and the romantic arc. Then yeah, maybe they originally planned to drag it out longer and ended up packing it all into S4. 

If that’s what they did, I’m glad. The long long hiatus’ are so frustrating from a story POV. I will be thrilled if they finally resolve johnlock (and the villain stuff too, though I care less about that).