i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

Thing is, John had a hand tremor before meeting Sherlock (that crops up on occasion after). Also, he's later shown to drink when depressed... Who is to say that Sherlock didn't get that detail wrong as well?

It traumatized an entire generation… (BBC Sherlock: A study in pink, 2010.)

✧GIFTOBER 2022 | Day 19: Quote.

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

This just gave me an idea... So, it took Sherlock so long to guess Irene's phone password because he couldn't fathom it was him - him holding the key to her phone/heart. The perfect S4 or S5 mirror would have been a moment where John is desperately trying to get into Sherlock's phone [maybe to track him because he's with a killer - Jennifer Wilson (pink lady) call back, anyone?] and it's him - it's John - his name is the password (maybe even his secret name, Hamish?). That is the the PW that unlocks Sherlock's phone/heart - and he finally gets it...

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

You all don't recognise how hard it is for John to jump with that 'tyre iron' in his trousers all the time (and especially after Sherlock's swanning)? He has a difficult enough time always walking around that way - 'chaffing' from jumping in that condition could kill a lesser man.

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

“The man with the key is king”, ~ Moriarty.

After asking Mrs Hudson if Sherlock’s ever, ‘had anyone’, i.e., ‘has he ever had any kind of a girlfriend, boyfriend, a relationship, ever?’, her answer, is, ‘I don’t know…  How will we ever know…?’  Then we see John smile and throw his key up in the air.  In an episode full of symbolic twirling, I think this is significant.  We see Sherlock twirl Irene’s phone because he’s toying with her heart.  Here we see John not know about Sherlock’s heart, even while he himself is the king of it.

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

I had a sponsored ad (a video) follow me as I scrolled down in this app today, like it's stalking me.

No escaping its harassment.

I hate it.

I hate capitalism and the need to make the world more unpleasant in a relentless bid to turn my attention into a commodity that can be bought and sold.

@staff - ads like this don't sell stuff they make us hate the app (stop using it) as well as resent any company that would pay money to chase after us, attempting to shove their product in our face when we happen to scroll by.

I vow to never buy from any vendor I see running a stalking ad like this. Who is with me?

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

Happy last birthday in the closet, Mr. Holmes.

Not me/mine but I liked this and had to share.

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

I am honestly laughing so hard right now thinking about the utterly ridiculous events that unfolded at Sherlock’s family’s house at the end of The Final Problem. Like I cannot stop laughing just imagining some cartoon cronies hammering that 10 x 10 room together in the front yard and stapling pictures to the walls for dramatic effect while Sherlock just lies like a dead-ass tuna in the middle of it. You know those minions were watching from the bushes with binoculars like, “Damn good touch with the dog bowl, Stanley.” That entire scene was so ludicrously implausible that I cannot stop laughing at the absurdity of it all. Like did Euros shout commands at a team of stage hands with a megaphone to set that all up before she had her level ten psychotic break? Did they all zip-line from the walls of Sherrinford and barrel-roll right into the front yard with the stage props in their hands? How did they transport two grown-ass male bodies to the yard in that amount of time? Is Euros a licensed pilot as well as a criminal mastermind and movie director? Where were all of the cronies that helped her set it all up? Were they all posted up in Mr. and Mrs. Holmes’ bedroom watching The Great British Bake Off while Sherlock ran screaming through the yard? Did anyone think to go back for John’s feet in the well? The whole thing is such a fever-fuck, I’m wasted. 

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

Just another dream-tell

Just now it occurred to me that CAM’s face-flicking is a weirdly specific inclusion that might come from something else in the real world and be able to tell us something or another. So I googled it because I’m great fun and this is how I spend my time. And yes, it does. And it can.

Face flicking is a test for unconsciousness, used by doctors and medics. I feel like I already knew this fact but hadn’t connected it to the scene. Taking an index or middle finger and flicking the unconscious patient’s face on the upper part of the cheek hits the corneal reflex, which is primed to flinch at the sensation of an impact so close to the eye. It’s an extremely irritating sensation, irritating enough to wake someone up if they’re not fully unconscious, or expose someone who is faking unconsciousness. However if you can flick the face one or two times like this with NO reaction, the patient is properly unconscious. 

What’s really nice and EMP-relevant here is that CAM decides to flick his face after John comments for a second time how he “doesn’t understand”. John being uncharacteristically slow on the uptake in this scene was one of the original and most significant “dream-tells” I listed in John’s Choice. So we get John demonstrating how OOC he is, then CAM deciding to perform on him a test for unconsciousness. And by unconscious, I mean dreaming, or at least, part of somebody else’s dream. 

[It’s also similar poking someone as a test consciousness, like Mrs Holmes suggests a few minutes earlier]

@isitandwonder @gosherlocked @ebaeschnbliah @monikakrasnorada 

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

BBC SHERLOCK RESOURCES

The best places to go for Sherlock canon:

John Watson's Blog

Moved to Tumblr when the real site was deactivated this year (find it here on waybackmachine)

Sherlock Holmes' Blog

The Science of Deduction blog also moved to Tumblr when the real site was deactivated (waybackmachine)

Molly Hooper's Blog

All of Molly's comments on John's blog (wayback machine).

Arwel Wyn Jones' Blog

Seems suspiciously limited for being an actual industry portfolio (wayback machine).

Connie Prince's Blog

Television personality from Sherlock episode. Also had a real live blog online (wayback machine).

Ariane DeVere's Show Transcripts

Amazing, amazing resource for any Sherlock writer!!! I guarantee you – that materials will be found resulting in your immediate ability to find the required line of dialogue. Don’t reply – just look delighted and flail wildly. (Downloadable Copies)

Sherlock Promo Image Galleries

I'm sure they've all been shared somewhere before. Just linking them in one place for quick reference.

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

*Am now thinking about how Moriarty already brought up the Daddy angle with the "Daddy's done playing now" but that was a dead end as far as replacing John/the dad figure... He can't be like John - he can't be the counterpart - Sherlock's "heart" to balance his brilliant "brain". He is Sherlock's mirror. He's like him in every way except in expression. A consulting criminal rather than a consulting detective. A real sociopath rather than a fake one. Expressed rather than repressed sexuality. All this culminates on the rooftop when Moriarty goes through a process of making Sherlock aknowledge and express that they are in fact the same. It's only then that he kills himself but leaves Sherlock knowing that it's too late to prevent the destruction.

To me, that ending has always had a feeling like the movie "Fight Club". If you've seen it you know what I mean.

this might get buried so deep among all your other asks but I just had to say in TGG Jim came back and decided to kill Sherlock right after he and John inappropriately flirting in a pool talking about stripping and people might talk. Jealous much?

Yessssss! I never noticed that until loudest-subtext pointed it out and now every time I watch this scene I crack up when I see that mic still hooked on John’s jacket.

“Ciao, Sherlock Holmes.“ piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimp omg

now watch me walk away that’s right honey you had no idea what you’ve been missing but now you know

yeah i bet you will catch me later but only when i want you to

alright speak into the mic now baby tell me what you thought

*heavy breathing* “Are you alright?!”

*heavy breathing intensifies* “Sh-Sherlock!”

the FUCK is going on in there

*groaning* “Oh, christ…”

*gasping for air* “Are you okay?”

WHO FUCKING CARES JUST FUCKING SAY SOMETHING ABOUT MY SUIT

*seriously labored panting* “Yeah, me, I’m fine…that thing you did, that was…good.”

THING? WHAT THING? 

“I’m glad no one saw that…you ripping my clothes off in a darkened swimming pool. People might talk.”

OH HELL NO 

“People do little else.”

SORRY BOYS I’M SO FUCKING CHANGEABLE PUT IT BACK IN YOUR PANTS “DOCTOR”

YOU CAN’T ACTUALLY BE INTO THAT JUMPER WEARING MOTHERFUCKER I PULLED OUT THE WESTWOOD FOR YOU I’M A GODDAMN SEX GOD LOOK AT MY EYEBROWS DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THIS SHIT COST AND THAT’S NOT ALL THAT’S BEEN WAXED I KNOW YOU LIKE YOUR CRIMINALS CLEAN SHAVEN SO LET’S FUCKING DO THIS

TAKE ME

TURN AROUND AND LOOK AT ME ASSHOLE JESUS CHRIST THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU

oh my fucking god you’re still into Doctor Wankshit.

well then you can’t be allowed to continue because it’s Mr. Sex or no one i mean i fucking strapped bombs to people for your virgin ass what else does a boy have to do to get some fucking attention besides dress like your fucking DAD i mean do i need to go shopping for flannel or something?

omg lol flannel. as if.

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

How much else has he thought he has said out loud only to have found it was stuck in his head.

I'll point out that the first instance we (as viewers) are introduced to the fact that Sherlock is unable to distinguish when he is saying things to MindPalace John or real life John is the second episode when Sherlock notes that he'd asked John for a pen. John thinks that this means that Sherlock doesn't notice his absence but it's actually that Sherlock was talking to his MindPalace John and didn't realise it until that John couldn't perform a function in the real world.

Sherlock’s response to John asking him to be the best man

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

Just a little heartache for your Tuesday 😭

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

you’re not haunted by bbc sherlock

you miss it

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

Oh no! RIP, Una. You were a brilliant actress and a superb Mrs Hudson 💔

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

@possiblyimbiassed great analysis. I will add (and I am certainly not the first to say this) but death is a metaphor for sex (rather than love). There's great meta out there both about the ACD Victorian era notion that each time a man climaxes it is a 'little death' (at the time, they actually believed he died a little) along with the fact that sex among gay men has a history of being a death sentence [from the illegality of it in the Victorian era up to the AIDs epidemic (which would have happened in this modern Sherlock's childhood)].

This adds a new dimension to the confrontation with Culvertson where Sherlock admits he's scared but also, with Culvertson's urging, asks to be killed by Culvertson. It also makes it a little less absurd that John's wife (his symbol of heteronormativity) was the one to make John stop his dark mirror from killing (having sex with) Sherlock.

The entire Sherrinford death maze seems to be Sherlock trying to work out of there's any context in which he and John can be together. As @lukessense says, this is about deconstructing love and sexuality - how they tie together when it comes to a John - when Sherlock is terrified of both. Remember that leading up to this scene with Molly we had two scenarios where there was no escaping death.

So, in this, the third scenario, the room they enter has a coffin (a symbol of death and therefore a symbol of sex). We are told that the coffin is intended for a short, unmarried (widowed), and practical about death person. Sherlock (echoing the mistake he'd made by misidentifying the gender of John's sibling) assumes it's a woman. Also, instead of a name on the coffin there is the phrase 'I love you.' This phrase is supposed to be the 'release key' (to avoid death of the John mirror) but it turns out that the love confession only hurts them both. This is the only scenario where someone doesn't die irregardless of what is done. Sherlock had no reason to believe going through with the confession wouldn't lead to Molly's death anyways - the Governor and his wife + the Garridebs should have meant Molly died no matter what they did. Instead, Eurus implies that actually preparing to kill Molly (by rigging the place with explosives) would have been 'clumsy.' Therefore, the threat that Sherlock believed she was under was never real but it's clear that the confession caused needless emotional suffering for both parties.

Okay, this is super long, but please please please bear with me, because I think this is a really good Johnlock theory, and if you ship it, I’m pretty sure you will like this.

I’ve talked about this so many times (and I probably will continue to lol) but Y’ALL, the coffin scene from The Final problem (AKA the scene that everyone in the fandom agrees should have canonized Johnlock).

To me, Sherlock’s interaction with Molly in this scene never made any sense. Like let’s say that you were in Molly’s position. You’re crush of years and years, who you know doesn’t reciprocate your feelings, calls you and tells you that  (for no apparent reason) they need you to tell them that you love them. How would you react? Personally, I would be angry, just like Molly was. But I would either refuse, or just do it and then find some way to punish them after, I wouldn’t make them say it to me first. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like that would just be more painful. Like, you love this guy who doesn’t think of you that way. He tells you that he loves you even though you know he doesn’t mean it. To me, that would sting so much. Molly makes him do it as punishment, but that’s illogical. It’s already hard for Sherlock to put her through this, and wouldn’t it only make it painful for him to say “I love you,” if it was going to hurt her more? If Sherlock saying that he loves Molly is punishment because that means he’s hurting her more, Molly is just punishing herself. What I think is that Molly is punishing him in a different way. Mofftiss makes it pretty clear that everyone thinks John and Sherlock are in love but they just don’t know/acknowledge it, and most of the fandom agrees that even if John doesn’t think of Sherlock that way, Sherlock is definitely in love with John. Also, it seems as if Moftiss are implying that Sherlock is gay with the whole “You don’t have a girl friend, then?” “Girlfriend? No, not really my area.” “Do you have a boyfriend?” “No.” I think that Molly is punishing Sherlock by making him do exactly what he’s trying to get her to do, admit his love his unrequited love (or requited but he just doesn’t know it). 

As I said, everyone around them has observed to some extent that they are in love, or at least that Sherlock is in love with John. Molly must have noticed this, but she thinks that Sherlock has deduced that John must not reciprocate, because otherwise he would have confessed his feelings, and they would be together already.

In short, Molly is hurting Sherlock the same way that he is hurting her. When she says 

“Say it like you mean it.“ 

she’s implying that he has to say it not as if he means it, but as if he’s saying it to the person he loves. Sherlock realizes this, and it’s painful for him to say it. Afterwards, when Eurus tells him that the threat wasn’t real, he loses it, and destroys the coffin. He’s angry and hurt because he had to hurt his friend and admit the feelings that he has suppressed for so long, and in the end it was for no reason at all.

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

My head canon remains that it was very much a date - Sherlock's version of a date (which amounts to: let me invite you into my obsession). Sherlock had even reserved the table for them (you can see the waiter take the reserved sign off the table when they are being seated).

I think Sherlock was testing the waters up until this point - he didn't respond to Ms Hudson's or Angelo's innuendos because he was observing how John reacted - but once Sherlock saw John's reaction to Angelo (combined with John's alarm and firm denial to Mrs. Hudson about them sharing a room) he realises that John is still firmly closeted about his bi-ness and if anything intimate happened between them it'd go poorly because John is still reflexively rejecting that part of himself. Even him putting John's advances off by saying he's married to his work was a way to confront John on his flirting and test how he dealt with being outed. How did John react? Not just retreat but full out denial it ever happened. If they'd got together Sherlock could safely assumed It would destroy everything because John would react the same way the morning after.

Sherlock continues to test the possibility in the next episode when he outright asks John on a date - even clarifying that he very much considers it a date. John is disparaging towards the idea and sends the clear message he dates women. Even Sherlock doing the hero entrance to save John (and Sara) from the Chinese gang ends with John pledging a second date to Sara.

It's also my head canon that at the end of the TBB episode when John says "it bothers you, doesn't it?" The flicker of alarm on Sherlock's face is because he thinks that John realises that him continuing to date Sara bothers him and he is relieved when he realises John is instead talking about the leader of the Chinese gang getting away.

A concept I find quite funny:

So, we all remember the part in A Study In Pink, where Sherlock and John are in the restaurant; cue the “I’m not gay” shenanigans, right?

BUT, what if, after Angelo put the candle down and John said “I’m not his date!” He turns to Sherlock and does the whole “God, I cannot believe that guy? You get this often?”

And Sherlock’s just looking at him awkwardly, debating on whether or not to tell him that this is where he’s brought any previous dates to as well. 😂😂

[i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes]

Good point, @devoursjohnlock. If John was misinterpreting things that he saw Sherlock doing, like not talking and playing sad music, as due to his feelings for Irene (rather than because he was actually coming to terms with his feelings for John) then he could have also been the one referring to her as The Woman (because she appeared to be special) and putting words in Sherlock's mouth. It's completely in line with previous scenes for there to have been a conversation to the effect of...

JOHN (mustering his courage and bracing himself): Do you want to talk about it?

SHERLOCK (slightly alarmed and stalling, thinking that John finally caught up and they're going to have 'the conservation'): It?

JOHN: Her. Her death?

SHERLOCK (less alarmed but very confused): Her?

JOHN (irritated and showing it): Her. The Woman.

SHERLOCK: The Woman? [Rising and briskly exiting the situation because he was actually lamenting John's 'not gay'ness] Don't be ridiculous, John. I've got to go to Barts-

So, if Sherlock didn't actually call her The Woman but John did, that gives a new context to this moment...

Now, consider how Mycroft's meeting with John at the cafe to hand over Irene's file is similar to their first meeting and how it may have served a similar function. Their first meeting was a test - offering John money to spy on Sherlock tested John's loyalty and his character (Mycroft later hints that John passed this test when he notes that he doesn't trust the secret service because 'they're paid to spy on people'). It also allowed Mycroft to give John a nudge, pushing him to commit to protecting Sherlock. He acted threatening and framed himself as Sherlock's greatest nemesis - this worked like a charm on John who only stopped to pick up his gun at his bedsit as he rushed back to Sherlock's side. In this second meeting at the cafe, it's possible that Mycroft really knows what happened to Irene but, by asking John to lie to Sherlock, Mycroft is setting up a test that will be revealing. John's lie (saying she's alive and in America when, as far as John knows, she's dead) would have been an obvious lie for Sherlock to spot since he knows what really happened to her and also what the official story is (what Mycroft should think happened). That John lies, reveals that his desire to protect Sherlock extends to trying to protect his heart too. In fact, I think that was Mycroft's main objective with the meeting, he was trying to nudge John towards making that deeper commitment to Sherlock. He challenges John's perceptions when he says that Sherlock 'doesn't feel things that way' and asks John to consider what Sherlock's chosen profession 'says about his heart.' All and all, I think from these two meetings you can make the case that Mycroft ships Johnlock about as much as Mrs. Hudson does ('should I expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?' he said) and he's working to make it happen in his own way.

So, when Sherlock calls her The Woman in that moment, he may be reflecting on what she represented to John and how she revealed John's deeper feelings.

Place your bets at what point will Holmes adapters realise that his calling Irene Adler ‘the woman’ is not a romantic gesture?

Like in the BBC version you have Sherlock forlornly looking out the window and going ‘the woman’ in a sad voice, which implies he means it in a ‘she’s the only one I’ll ever love’ kinda way. And I mean if you wanna interpret the canon in that sense then more power to you, you don’t need me or anyone else to tell you that’s ofc completely fine.

But for me personally, i way prefer the idea that the monicker has dual and almost contrasting purposes. Because on the one hand it serves to elevate Irene and her ability - since i’m assuming she’s the first woman Holmes has encountered to ever have outwitted him? - but on the other it makes her (in a way) anonymous. The point being that she could be any woman, that her same talents/intelligence could be found in any woman, and that is what makes Holmes reframe his opinion and challenge his own misogyny. I saw someone describe it in some yt comments a while back as making her ‘at once more exceptional and less’, and I think that’s a great way of explaining it.