just-sort-of-happened:Several months ago, like when I started...

just-sort-of-happened:

Several months ago, like when I started this blog, I found something that made me think of Mary as a replicant. In Blade Runner, a replicant is a type of humanoid robot who can pass for human but they can be interrogated in such a sway as to reveal their true nature.

Especially telling is their lack of life story. They have no families and were not born of a mother. One replicant during an interrogation is asked, ‘tell me about your mother’, and he, very famously, says, ‘let me tell you about my mother’, flips the table and proceeds to shoot his captor. (A sample of this phrase is used by Tricky in his song, “aftermath”.)

If, in series 4, Mary ever says, ‘let me tell you about my mother’, literally everybody needs to dive for cover.

A replicant’s life is supposed to last four years, after which they would face elimination. Mary’s new life as Mary Morstan began five years before HLV. The protagonist of Blade runner has been given the task of eliminating some rogue replicants who are avoiding elimination and attempting to live longer. Theirs is a desperate fight for survival; they’re living on borrowed time. Mary, as well, could be seen as a person desperate to extent her life, fake as it may be, and to stay alive.

couldntpossiblycomment’s fantastic find of Sherlock and Mary nodding an apology in the exact same way, brought back this idea for me. Mary is, in every way, a replica. She is a synthetic persona based on what John likes. Since what John likes is, greatly in part, Sherlock, she is, therefore, a facsimile of him.

In TGG we see Moriarty compete with John for Sherlock’s attention by using a lesser version of Baker St. With a replica of the phone from ASiP, aka a fake heart, he sends a picture of the first clue: 221C Baker St, the moody, unlovable version of 221B. Moriarty is to John what 221C is to 221B. One is an unrentable health hazard, the other is your home and refuge.

Mary is to John what Moriarty is to Sherlock. We see this in all kinds of ways. With Mary we are given all these hints of the synthetic nature of her persona, even while it appears so spontaneous and genuine.

I like the analogy metaphorically if not literally.