sarahthecoat reblogged
sarahthecoat reblogged
The Five Orange Pips
The opening to this one is just *chef's kiss*. It's classic Watson. Slipping in complements about Holmes every other word. Apologising that the story doesn't have a satisfying conclusion right out the gate. Rattling off a bunch of cases with fascinating names that he will never ever refer to ever again. Overwrought description of the weather.
"My wife was on a visit to her mother's,"
Watson you wrote an entire novel making it very clear that your wife does not have a mother, you adorable goose.
yes, this story opens with at least a half dozen writing prompts! :D
sarahthecoat reblogged
Boltholes
ˈbōltˌhōl/
noun
plural noun:
boltholes
a place where a person can escape and hide.“he thought of Antwerp as a possible bolthole” BRITISHa hole or burrow by which a rabbit or other wild animal can escape.
In HLV, we learn of Sherlock’s boltholes for the first time. I don’t think any of us were surprised to learn that Sherlock had places no one knew about, where he could hide, lay low, whatever. But, that’s the interesting bit right there: apparently everyone knew about them?
What’s the point of having a hiding place that’s not secret?
The thing is, I think they are secret. Even still. How?
Because they are all in his mind palace. Because I believe they are all part of his mind palace.
Where has Sherlock been in his mind palace?
- The Underground (TEH)
- The Courtroom (TSoT)
- Baker Street (TSoT)
- A Morgue (TSoT)
- Mycroft’s Office (HLV)
- Roland-Kerr Further Education College (HLV)
- A Padded Cell (HLV)
*I’m sure I’m missing some there, and if I am, please, let me know. :)
Then we get the mention of all of Sherlock’s boltholes after he’s escaped hospital (improbable). That everyone, right down to Mrs Hudson, knows about these places where Sherlock can hide, just seems to defeat the purpose for me. Unless…these are all mentioned after Sherlock has been shot and in a time where I believe that Sherlock is indeed unconscious and this is all taking place in his mind palace anyway.
Is it possible- or even plausible- that these ‘boltholes’ are still more areas of Sherlock’s mind palace?
- Parliament Hill- an area of open parkland in the south-east corner of Hampstead Heath in north-west London. The hill, which is 98 metres (322 ft) high, is notable for its views of the capital’s skyline. Many landmarks can be seen from its summit such as Canary Wharf, the Gherkin, the Shard and St Paul’s Cathedral. This hardly seems appropriate for a ‘bolthole’ or place to hide, quite the contrary. It’s a place that would allow Sherlock ‘to see’, London: to observe. You know, like maybe, try to get the ‘big picture’ in his mind?
- Camden Lock- or Hampstead Road Locks is a twin manually operated lock on the Regent’s Canal in Camden Town, London Borough of Camden. The twin locks together are “Hampstead Road Lock 1”; each bears a sign so marked. Hawley Lock andKentish Town Lock are a short distance away to the east; there are no nearby locks to the west. Again, not much of a place ‘to hide’. But, the added water metaphor here is interesting.
*ETA: this post by @longsnowsmoon5 and further amazing input by @tjlcisthenewsexy regarding water and ‘two’ rivers and the Camden Lock.
- Dagmar Court -Housing association block built on the site of the Dagmar Arms (Public House) I suppose it’s possible that he owns one of the flats here? A simple flat seems to be so mundane in this list, though.
- The Blind Greenhouse in Kew Gardens -a glass building in which plants are grown that need protection from cold weather. I searched the Kew Gardens website and found nothing about ‘the blind greenhouse (if anyone has this info, please tag me or send me a link?) but there are loads of greenhouses on the property. Again, a greenshouse seems a terrible place to hide out???
- The Leaning Tomb in Hampstead Cemetery -the place for eternal rest, usually gated off because the ground has been consecrated. Again, I searched the Hampstead Cemetery site for any mention of a ‘leaning tomb’ and came up with nothing. Would Sherlock literally desecrate someone’s resting place, to hide from anything? Perhaps this is Sherlock’s ‘burial ground’ for those things he deletes.
- Molly’s bedroom- again, what kind of sense does this make as a bolthole? It’s possible he stayed with her directly after the fall, but when would he need to go there again?
- Behind the Clock Face of Big Ben- “I think he was probably joking.” I think so, too, because JOHN IS PRETTY DAMN SMART.
- Leinster Gardens- The empty houses that were demolished years ago to make way for the London Underground, a vent for the old steam trains. “That’s his number one bolt hole. It’s top-top secret.” And, we’re to believe ANDERSON, of all people, knows about this?? That Sherlock Holmes, as clever as they come, allowed Anderson to follow him and find out about this bolthole? Of all the boltholes mentioned in this episode, this is the only one that comes close to actually being what it says it is, imo. I can imagine Sherlock hiding out here, no one knowing about it. Hell, there’s even a lab set up you can see in the background. The thing is, there was no reason to have this confrontation. Sherlock could have just as easily (and more comfortably) had Mary come to Baker Street. Sherlock took all that time to set up the Leinster Gardens face-off, when he could just as easily have set something similarly up in Baker Street. John could have listened in over the phone from 221C. I’m sure they could have used the same sort of camera the assassins used in TRF. There was no need for it to have happened like that in Leinster Gardens (yes, I know, it goes with how the Moran deal went down) but still. Could Leinster Gardens be Sherlock’s mind palace where he goes to face the hard truths?
I understand the thought that this is ‘too much’, but it is Sherlock, and he is a drama queen.
Because of this post by @sherlock-little-weed. I’ve got boltholes on the brain again.
@monikakrasnorada, the boltholes have been bugging me for a long time and your analysis is on spot. I made a post here X about how we get a greenhouse (glasshouse) and a tomb in TAB which is clearly MP. And the whole Leinster Gardens layout is an impossibility X which would be no problem had they had not used a real structure everyone can research online or visit in London. There is no house, no hallway, no rooms, nothing but a wall.
tendergingergirl
I went looking for this Blind Greenhouse and came across a remark in Sherlock forum about it. I found this quote: “Blind Greenhouse – I would assume the word “blind” in this case refers to a greenhouse where the glass is covered with curtains to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the plants – which would also make the interior fairly private (unlike most greenhouses)“
’‘Blind’ has several meanings including “having or causing a lack of discernment or awareness.”
Looking over the buildings I came across the Orangery. Built in 1761, it was originally meant to house Oranges and other Citrus trees…but they made it too dark, so the trees were taken out.
ooh, thanks for bringing this back. in the notes, yan-yae mentions the idea that sherlock had particular places to hide depending on who he wanted teso find him, so maybe look into the metaphorical readings on those connections too.
and as always any mention of glass says glass closet to me, and the orangery is such a perfect example. was there a single person present for that best man speech who didn’t pick up on sherlock’s Big Secret?
reviewing the lists of locations in the op, they are each a range of sites, from underground to way up high (stairs code by @just-sort-of-happened ) private to public, if that matters. interesting that only some of them seem to exist in our world, i wonder if any of the ones that don’t are references to other adaptations in the Giant Lego Set Of Canon ™. i love that camden lock is all about controlling the flow of water=emotions! and the giant clock face, after TAB, we associate the pocket watch with the modern phone=heart.
testing whether there is a matching between the two lists, just in case that twigs anything.
the underground, and leinster gardens
the courtroom, and dagmar court?
baker st, and molly’s bedroom (since molly is a john mirror, and there’s that indication in ASIB that both boys were up in john’s room)
the morgue, and the tomb
mycroft’s bunker, and parliament hill?
roland kerr college and the padded cell don’t immediately suggest connections (to me) to any of the others, camden lock, the greenhouse, or big ben… i would be interested in anyone else’s thoughts!
@sarahthecoat I haven’t given the boltholes much thought yet but to me they are all to be understood metaphorically on the map of London, all as places inside of Sherlock’s mind.
First of all it’s interesting to note how the boltholes are presented and by whom:
- Lestrade knows about Parliament Hill, Camden Lock and Dagmar Court and he seems to be talking over his phone to Mycroft (?) as Mycroft is picking up the conversation in the next scene.
- Mycroft names the Blind Greenhouse and the leaning tomb in Hampstead Cemetery while observing over his laptop and talking to Lestrade in person.
- Molly is speaking directly into the camera as if she was interviewed and she is talking about a “spare bedroom” which turns out to be her bedroom.
- Mrs. Hudson is talking to John and knows about the bolthole behind the clock face of Big Ben.
- Lestrade’s sniffer-dog Anderson knows about the number one bolthole Leinster Gardens and is talking to Mary.
Some extra notes that could be of relevance:
Dagmar Court is located on the Isle of Dogs in London. The Blind Greenhouse seems like a foreshadowing for TAB. Hampstead Cemetery seems to be the location that inspired scenes on Bram Stoker’s Dracula (x). Cemeteries and tombstones were also featured on BBC Sherlock a couple of times (THoB, TRF, TEH, TAB, TST and TFP of course). But the way I understand it a tomb is not exactly a tombstone but a crypt? There don’t seem to be any crypts of relevance on Hampstead Cemetery, especially no leaning ones. Maybe this is to be understood metaphorically as well, as a grave that is ”wrong” somehow. And Hampstead Cemetery seems to be a victorian cemetery (x). Molly’s bedroom is also very interesting with Molly being a mirror for John and a “heterosexual cover” of sorts. And she seems to be talking to the audience here which is…funny considering S4 and TFP especially. Big Ben was featured both on ASiB (Moriarty standing in front of the clocktower while receiving the flight details from Irene and informing Mycroft) and TEH (exploding Palace of Westminster). Clocks are also very interesting as time seems to be ticking throughout BBC Sherlock as if something was coming. But we’re also frozen in time a couple of times, for example at the end of TFP. Then on Leinster Gardens are the empty houses Mary’s face is projected on, the facade for the London Underground.
I guess the boltholes are worthy a whole analysis, maybe somebody has already done that with the additional information given in S4.
@ebaeschnbliah Look, Dagmar Court is on the Isle of Dogs. 😉
Great comments, everyone. A metaphorical reading of those boltholes seems to be the most plausible explanation to me as well. Interesting that the Orangery at Mangham Park - a former greenhouse - has been chosen as set for the wedding reception, @tendergingergirl A greehouse that lacks sunlight as location for a wedding with a facade … a cover. Fits suspiciously well in my opinion. And the greenhous talk in TAB revolves around the same topic … romantic entanglements, impulses, mingling. :)
Five boltholes, says Mycroft. But then there are two more. Of course, the mention of the number five at once brings the possibility of five series to mind. Including TAB into that count … the blind greenhouse would represent the Special Christmas episode and the leaning tomb would refer to S4 … a sister turned into a ghost story and a tomb brought off balance, because of demons below the surface, can be easily connected. This would indicate that Molly’s bedroom and Big Ben’s clock face are references for a fifth series. Two for one? Maybe … in case Molly and Big Ben are mirrors for John and Jim … love and sex. Sherlock’s final challenge. That works nicely for the way I read the story … as does the involvement of the Isle of Dogs, @gosherlocked. :)))
rb for even more discussion.
also, i want to correct myself way up above, @the-7-percent-solution wrote stairs code, i just associate it with JSOH because she reblogged nearly all the meta in s3 semester, so i just read the whole blog back when i was a lurker.
sarahthecoat reblogged
Ok so basically they said to us WE’RE GOING TO GET WHAT WE WANT BUT IT WON’T BE AT ALL WHAT WE EXPECTED
Here’s what I’m talking about.
I started to go over the pre-S4 bliss era. So I go deep into december and find the PBS Q&A thing they did, and find THIS POST where someone asks them if THEY’RE GONNA MAKE IT GAY. Their answer? To mention Steven King’s IT and Five children and It by E. Nesbit.
Steven King’s It reference we saw in TFP.
And the Five children and It? It started as a series of stories first published in the fucken STRAND MAGAZINE (why are they so extra…) Check the wikipedia article, and this analysis in online-literature.com. The big feature of the story? “ If you wish for something, you certainly get it, but it is not at all what you expected”
Fucken bastardés.
According to the wikipedia article and the analysis of the story from the link you provided, there is also the fact that the five children always make selfish wishes. I wonder if there are several growth points, five of them perhaps, that John and Sherlock must overcome.
Part of me thinks the show’s creator’s enjoys taking the viewers on a twisted, chill-filled ride in which there are never any easy solutions. Once again, I’m going to avoid the gordian knot of figuring out the motivations of the show’s creator’s and just go with what they gave the characters to say and how they respond to in one another.
If there is a season 5, the missing ingredient, for me is John having increasingly, emotionally trusting Sherlock. In every fanfic that I’ve read, and I’ve read quite a few, there is always a leap of logic to John and Sherlock moving out of their own ways to learn from misperceptions and miscommunication to move forward in the arc of the relationship. If the going theory is that Season 4 is influenced by Mary’s POV or influence, then we’ve seen the range and expansion of Sherlock’s growth. John is still largely quiet and is the good soldier. What’s up with that?
HMMMMMM, five growth points, yes...
sarahthecoat reblogged
Silly Meta, the Thatcher’s busts and their connection BBC Sherlock
We begin with one bust missing. It was a bust once proudly at the front. It was on a shrine, never meant to be touched or handled, only there to collect dust and perhaps get cleaned once in a while but otherwise? Nothing was ever going to happen to it, it’s static.
And yet, someone decided it was their duty to smash it, to discover the secret hidden and reveal it to the world. The statut quo couldn’t stay.
After that beginning that chocked Sherlock because it’s him who noticed the change by the absence of Thatcher, two busts fall to their death. Different owners, same modus operandi. Bust Two and Bust Three fell, Bust two’s braking was linked with Mycroft after he mentionned a fic where Sherlock avoided death. So, bust 2, avoiding an appointment with death, a fall… hmmm…
As Lestrade shows Sherlock Bust Three, Sherlock’s face and Thatcher’s are mixed, showing their fate are one and the same. Both fell and got broken because of it.
Because of the third statue, we finally have enough evidence the culprits left behind to track the one responsible. We are like hounds after the one responsible for that mess. Unfortunately, the one responsible for this hid his traces too well. He’s decided to hide his tree in a forest. No choice but to wait.
Fourth try, we think we’ve got it. Except it’s murder this time, something horrible happened, something wrong happened and we know there is something wrong with the modus operandi. Plus, there was not one but to busts and both met a hammer.
So far, each owner had one bust, but ower four? He had two.
The process of elimination is finally at work. We know we’ll get the answer with the fifth burglary. It’s just time to wait now and catch them IN THE ACT. Like Lestrade, we’ll have to catch them IN. THE. ACT. and like him, the fifth time will be the charm.
This isn’t silly at all, @fellshish , this is fucking me up.
Miss Orrie Harker? I what sort of name is that. Has a ring of Ormand Sacker about it.
Wait, you’re right! That awfully looks a lot like the name Doyle first gave to John Watson.
But that means, if the murderer, who I strongly suspected based on evidence within TST to be Mary, killed the victim whose name was a reference to John Wtason… then that means…
Oh boy.
John Watson is definitely in danger.
The doubling up of the busts in owner #4 / Act 4 / s4 is messing me up! Two busts = two busted stories? The real plot and the one that we saw onscreen? Idk idk??
This is a meta that I’ve put on the back burner for a while, but in Doyle’s story, this bust owner is Horace Harker. Orrie Harker is a woman, according to the blog account. So, Mofftiss pulled a gender reversal with this character for TST, as they definitely did with Stanley/Stella Hopkins, maybe did with Norbury, and probably did with the faux AGRA team.
hi @devoursjohnlock this is the meta police. Release all of your nearly done, underdone, and backburnered meta immediately
*grabs half-filled notebooks, charts, and hard drives, dyes hair, changes name, and loudly proclaims self an Elementary fan*
LOL! But this is excellent, it's another set of five that corresponds to the five series! also, didnt the person who killed harker and broke open her two busts, have black gloves on, which ajay never did? IIRC, the speculation was that it was "mary" who did that one, not ajay.
sarahthecoat reblogged
A series of five(s): ASIP is the whole show.
As I have said before (and quite often, sorry), I have this nerdy believe that the show’s arc is sort of included/hinted (as text, subtext) in ASIP, or in a broader sense, in the first season. We have these five suicide/murders stagings, sort of the rehersal for the five pips. Five seasons. Which will end with them together. And they have said this from the start.
Every single ‘suicide’ is a mirror not only for Sherlock and John, but for the things they go through in a season. I know those murders have already been meta’ed brilliantly by LSiT, and many more. I’m not going to add anything new regarding those exact readings.
But remember we are dealing with a subtext junkie in this episode (well, not just this episode but in all the show). Moffat loves to squeeze in whatever subtext he can. @heimishtheidealhusband in her awesome Courtroom Women & Mayfly man meta series (If you haven’t read it then hell mend you) showed us how there are different levels of subtext, so let’s make that exercise to see what other mirroring we can find in this SIX YEARS OLD EPISODE.
First victim/season: Jeff Patterson.
I know the mirroring of this scene was read with Sherlock as the woman in the purple blouse (obvious) and John as the married bussinessman with the checked shirt, as a mirror of their situation in S3. If you haven’t you can watch the TJLCE video about mirrors and I’m sure there must be meta on that particular mirror, but I can’t find any atm.
Why don’t we make the P.A. John, and the married-but-not-happily bussinessman Sherlock?
What do we have here? A married man (Sherlock, married to his work), being compelled by his blonde gorgeous P. A. to “get a cab” (upcoming meta on that expression) which can be read as “get your arse over here, with me” . The victim says “I never get cabs”/(I don’t ‘commit’ to people). The P.A. boldly confesses her love (the pool scene?), getting no explicit answer from him, just a lame ‘when?’ and the very fact that he ended up taking a damn cab.
This could sum up S1 for Sherlock. Married to his work, being tempted out of ‘wedlock’, holding himself from including John in his work/life and hiding/trying to repress the way he feels. But at the end he does feel that way, he finds himself in sort of a relationship with John; the mirror does take that cab and dies/falls in love.
No need for much mirroring here, after all THIS IS S1. This bit just sets a pattern. So, first murder/suicide foreshadows the first season. Ok, that’s nice. What do we have for S2? (It gets way more interesting under the cut)
happy to rb this now that I have a tumblr. I know there was renewed discussion about sets of five recently.