A Study in Pink sets the stage for all of our future expectations. Nothing in this show is done by accident, and the way it is all handled is masterful. Seeds are sewn in this first episode that will never cease to matter throughout the duration of the show.

Take the first meal Sherlock and John share together at Angelo’s, where Angelo insists that the pair must have a candle for their table:

It seems like sort of a “joke” in a way–something that could easily be brushed off if we didn’t all know that TJLC is real. And the candle thing continues to be a theme. Illumination itself is a subtle theme throughout the show, with all the color-coded lights and the fact that Sherlock dubs John his “conductor of light” in “The Hounds of Baskerville.”

I noticed something recently when watching what is surely one of the favorite scenes of all Johnlockers: the reunion of Sherlock and John at The Landmark in the episode “The Empty Hearse.” This is the night Sherlock returns, supposedly from the dead, and interrupts John’s (rather lackluster) attempt to propose to his girlfriend Mary in a rather half-hearted effort to, in his own words, “move on” from Sherlock.

Notice anything missing from John and Mary’s table?

There’s a lamp, sure, but no candle. Maybe that isn’t terribly unusual. But look at the other tables in the restaurant:

Most have candles.

It doesn’t stop there. When Sherlock catches his first (heart-stopping; you can clearly see that in his face, just as it has been pointed out that if you isolate certain audio tracks in this part here you can hear Sherlock’s thudding pulse) glimpse of John after two years away…

how does he see him?

There is a candle placed strategically between them, clearly visible from Sherlock’s vantage point.

This isn’t the only throwback to Angelo’s on this night. If more is needed, I’m including this little bonus below. The writers have done this *so many times,* where certain words and phrases come back again. It isn’t an accident and it isn’t lazy writing. We’re talking about the combined efforts of two very good writers here, and though John’s nerves on this night aren’t exactly hard to pick up on, we get this cherry strategically placed on top:

I SUGGEST YOU DON’T MARRY MARY. 

How could you do that? Hmm? ;)

That’s spectacular!

How To Fake Your Death by Mary Watson

this is another of the nonsense of the plot (I’m collecting them with a glacial advance). Why the hell would she have to fake his death on the plane. Surely she was already embarked on a false identity, the issue of dying in a real world would only draw attention to someone who could easily disappear after the landing (not that I’m an escape master, maybe I’m missing something).

Surely yet another reference to Sherlock Holmes and his false death, which was followed by a period of identity change.

Assuming that even the canonical “death” was a consequence (in addition to the author’s boredom and / or fear) of having to escape Moriarty, still trapped in the allegorical role of homophobia, we have in Sherlock that stages on his Mind Theater his disappearance. The character threatened, forced by homophobia is deleted from the story, and Heteronormativity takes over. Which is what happened in 99% of the subsequent adaptations of the Canon and that aniway continued to dominate the textual plot of the Canon itself. And the we have the growing disaster from S3 onwards.

Now as an exercise in style, Heteronormativity is removed, following the same procedure, false death and distant travel.

But without Moriarty freed, without a correct homosexual reading, the story is still nowhere to go. Not that a story without romanticism is not possible of course, but the Canon in the Platonic version still loses part of its soul. John is a mess, soulless and Sherlock a wreck.

@possiblyimbiassed @gosherlocked @ebaeschnbliah @sarahthecoat @sagerstreet

Yes, @raggedyblue , the story feels very much unsolved by the end of series four. TST looks like a repetition of events in prior episodes in which Mary takes on Sherlock’s part. But it’s not just a repetition, it’s also a rewriting. 

Sherlock comes back to life. Mary’s coffin burns in blue flames. As I read it, emotions finally burn away Sherlock’s facade. Then Eurus, the East Wind, becomes the ‘therapist’ (who ‘got on with Jim like a house on fire’) and the facade turns into memory (DVD). TFP returns the story - with Musgrave and Victor Trevor - to a time where in canon Sherlock Holmes hadn’t met John Watson yet. Before the beginning, one might say. An interesting concept although quite open-ended …. just like the ‘unfinished melody’ in Jim’s story about Bach in TRF:

@possiblyimbiassed @gosherlocked @sarahthecoat @sagestreet @lukessense 

love love love the metaphorical reading!

there's also maybe an echo of mycroft's "overeager squaddie" line from the opening of TST, in the "nameless policeman" who shoots ajay. (and then in TLD, john himself appears to get shot, so, sherlock is running scenarios about john being in danger, too)

You ever think about how the candles closest to Sherlock while he played the violin for John and Mary were all the way down here:

So someone had to physically move them to create this shot?

mmhm, although, maybe not a lot, since the three frames are all at different angles, and the third one is a bit low. but yeah, the candles are probably standing on a box.

cool! and i love the ask, thinking about temperature! after all, if fire=passion, then yeah, there's a bit of that going into tea and coffee!

“Good luck boys” |  The Final Problem

metaphorically, fire=passion, this is the big gay "bomb" that didn't go off in TGG or TEH. sherlock actually looks exuberant coming through the window, ie, out of the glass closet. john is coming out at the same time, too. this was the scene where mycroit accepted that "john stays because he is family", ie, mind, heart and body/self, all together. sherlock is saying he Does have a Heart, to "caring is not an advantage" brain.

The bonfire as a metaphor for the closet (‘Sherlock’)

I had promised @ebaeschnbliah to write this meta sometime before Christmas when we were chatting about a few more of the infamous rainbows we had discovered on the show. So here goes…

Is there a metaphor for the closet on the show that’s more excruciatingly painful to watch than the bonfire scene in TEH? I don’t think so.

Because that bonfire is a giant closet metaphor: The whole thing goes up in flames (=John’s in love), John is writhing in pain (=heartbreak) and yet he just can’t speak out, no matter how hard he tries.

It’s very painful to watch. 

And it’s more than just a metaphor for the closet; it’s a metaphor for what it’s like to FALL IN LOVE while you’re still in the closet.

Because being deeply in love while still trapped in the closet is absolutely horrible, and Gatiss knows exactly what he’s talking about in this episode here.

Wanna take a look at the bonfire (=closet) scene step by step? Come along.

The whole scene starts by giving us…the moon. The ‘moon’ is Mary, remember (x)?

The moon is watching the bonfire scene from above right from the start.

This tells us…

The ‘moon’ (=Mary) is watching all of what’s going on. (And you will see in a minute that that moon shot is no coincidence and not just an establishing shot to tell us what time of day the scene is taking place at. The whole scene is perfectly framed between the moon at the beginning and the sun at the end. So, the moon here is definitely a metaphor, ie, subtext.)

Then we see John coming to. He is trapped (literally and subtextually). Because subtextually John is trapped in the closet now that he is about to marry a woman:

And surprise, surprise…John looks miserable about the whole situation he is trapped in.

How do we know, though, that this bonfire is supposed to be read as a metaphor for the closet? Well…I give you…THE RAINBOW!

So, a situation in which you’re trapped and that’s tagged with a rainbow for our subtextual-interpretation-convenience…Yep, that’s the closet.

Wanna see how horrible it is to be trapped in something like this. Here have a close-up of John trying to scream in horror.

Then we get a shot of Mary which again (visually) connects her to the moon (remember that this happens just a few seconds after the moon shot I showed you above): Over Mary’s right shoulder, there’s a light that’s perfectly round and has the size of the moon as if it were supposed to remind us of that celestial body.

I don’t want to repeat myself, but this tells us that Mary knows that the man she’s about to marry is in the closet.

(Also, note the black gloves that mark her out as a Sherlock!mirror, albeit a quite dark and distorted one. We will see Sherlock wear those same gloves just a few moments later in a rather prominent scene.)

Let’s skip the next part because I’m not too keen on Mary pretending to be innocent, Mrs Hudson pretending to like the idea that John has a female fiancée and Sherlock pretending that he isn’t totally freaking out about John being in danger.

Also, people have already written lots and lots of metas about the John/James distinction, so no need to go into that here.

Here comes the really horrifying part: John’s not only trapped in the closet; he’s trapped in the closet and IN LOVE! Remember how ‘fire’ is a metaphor for love on the show?

This ‘Guy Fawkes’ (who’s dressed exactly like John with his chequered shirt) is being set on fire:

And if ‘burning’ is a metaphor for being in love…look what kind of love John is experiencing right now. Look how huuuuge that fire (=love) is:

And the crowd (=the audience watching this TV show) doesn’t understand what’s going on and is cheering this ‘bonfire’ on. 

Yeah, man, just one episode later, the TV audience of this show absolutely did cheer for Mary and John’s wedding, not understanding John’s situation.

In the bonfire (=closet), right at the centre of the metaphorical ‘fire’, John is trying, he is trying so, so hard to speak out, to scream…but he can’t. Because when you’re trapped in a loveless straight relationship with a woman, while actually being in love (=ablaze) with your same-sex best friend, you just CAN’T SPEAK OUT.

Try as he might, he can’t make a move (both literally and figuratively with Sherlock):

John’s in pain (heartbreak), he’s paralyzed, and he’s trapped (in a loveless relationship). But no sound escapes his open mouth…

It’s excruciating to watch. And I betcha Gatiss knew exactly what he was writing about here. Because let me tell you that’s what being in love while also being paralyzed, scared and ‘mute’ in the closet feels like.

Remember that subtextually it’s no coincidence that this bonfire incident happens right after Sherlock returned to John in TEH:

The moment Sherlock returned, John was basically trapped in his loveless relationship with Mary (=the bonfire-closet) while at the same time absolutely burning up because of his love for Sherlock. 

Let’s get back to our bonfire. 

The only one who can save John Watson from the horrible pain (=heartbreak) of burning alive (=being in love while being trapped, paralyzed and mute in the closet)…the only one who can save John from that horrible fate is Sherlock. 

And Sherlock does. As others have pointed out long before me, the little-girl-Sherlock!mirror (with a hat similar to the train-guy!hat Sherlock wore earlier in this episode)…this Sherlock!mirror is the only one who can hear John’s muted screams in the bonfire (=closet). And she’s horrified by it.

And Sherlock (as Sherlock himself) is the one who can bodily drag John out of the bonfire (=closet). They will both get pretty singed doing that, though…because they’re both metaphorically ‘on fire’ for each other.:)

As I pointed out above, the two pairs of black gloves highlight the difference between Sherlock and his dark!mirror Mary in this shot: Sherlock’s gloved hands are tenderly cupping John’s face. Mary’s gloved hands seem to be holding John down (=Sherlock loves John; Mary is just controlling him).

And because John is Sherlock’s metaphorical ‘sun’ (while Mary, as shown above, is nothing but a cold moon watching on), John’s face here morphs into the sun shining above Baker Street (the metaphorical residence of Sherlock’s ‘soul’):

Aaaand…scene!

(There’s a little bonus scene under the cut…)

Remember who else is watching all of this whilst fully knowing what is going on? Magnussen! 

Magnussen represents the media, right? That’s TV stations, filmmakers, producers, journalists publishing books about Sherlock Holmes for over 120 years, authors writing articles, etc.

So, for more than 120 years, the media have known exactly what was going on (with our heroes having to fight the burning horrible bonfire-closet in which they were trapped, paralyzed and mute). The media have known…and done nothing about it. They have enjoyed watching our heroes suffer:

And the media are even worse than that. 

Remember that, on the show, fireplaces are metaphors for passion and love in a relationship (as per TAB where John pretty much complains that his and Mary’s, ahem, ‘fireplace’ is always cold and unlit).

So, Magnussen (=the media) goes and has a piss in John and Sherlock’s fireplace.

Read: The media have been pissing all over the ‘fireplace’ (=Johnlock romance) for more than 120 years.

And that’s probably why Mofftiss decided Sherlock (=their show BBC ‘Sherlock’) had to shoot the media in the face:

After more than 120 years of bad press for a potential Johnlock romance (that hadn’t even been attempted by anyone) that’s more than deserved, in my opinion. And my guess is Moffat had a lot of fun writing this scene.

All screencaps were taken from here.

More of my ‘Sherlock’ meta HERE.

Tags: @ebaeschnbliah @the-7-percent-solution @gosherlocked @tjlcisthenewsexy @fellshish @monikakrasnorada @sarahthecoat @88thparallel @possiblyimbiassed @sherlockshadow @spenglernot @raggedyblue @marcespot

Thought I’d bring this back, seeing as it’s November 5th and all…:D

good one to re read!

 Some assorted stills from the s4 credits that are driving me bananas

Thatcher watching over London

John with the gun that isn’t a gun but also is very much a gun layered over a very cozy Baker Street

John walking towards 221b and staring at the burning AGRA flash drive

Tea spilling onto a slowly drowning John

wow, every one of these images is so rich, especially in the "love and/or sex" metaphors.

if thatcher=institutionalized homophobia, and london=all the sherlocks ever (i'm extending the metaphor of a house standing for not just the body but the life, an identity, so a city=the many holmes adaptations and pastiches, etc), then that's a central issue.

Baker st is a symbol of john and sherlock's life together, and i note there is a fire in the grate. here there is real passion. gun=dick metaphor, so to me this image is saying, combine those.

(john himself is a richly layered image as well. himself, sherlock's heart, his love-object, etc)

fire=passion, fire exposes our priorities. depending on how closely we identify AGRA with "mary" and "mary" with sherlock, this could be an image about that facade being shed. john putting it in the fire could be his message to sherlock, that he's not just here for the "danger addiction". sherlock running the scenario could be his willingness to accept that.

memory stick=repressed memory, or something from the past anyway. it keeps coming back though, in ASIP it went into the pool, in HLV it went into the fire, but in TST it comes back once the last thatcher is smashed.

I LOVE the tea=gay love spilling onto john in the well of depression. feeling chained to the bottom of a hole with no way out is exactly how depression feels. i know, recovery is more complicated than just "throw him a rope" but wow just that there is a rope to be thrown down by someone who cares enough to bring it, really does break the chain. plus water=emotions and closet metaphor and the teacup has England on it and mrs hudson drops it and sherlock catches it before it's too late and <3<3<3<3<3

remember how Jim threw the flash drive with the Bruce-Partington plans in the pool because he could get that information anywhere

remember how John threw the flash drive with AGRA’s files in the fireplace because

jim=mr sex, (also homosexuality, homophobia, internalized homophobia, a dark sherlock mirror, etc) memory stick=memories, water=emotions. the original ACD bruce partington plans were for a submarine, ie a way to go deep into water/emotions. also in that scene, a bit of phone=heart, gun=dick, bomb=coming out, etc. metaphors galore, without even getting into a building = the concept of self.

memory stick=memories again, fire=passion, mary=heteronormativity, as well as a kind of shadow john, or a shadow sherlock, or a facade, etc. very different setting, sherlock's parents' home, so maybe a callback to ACD times.

hmm, now i wonder if the third memory stick coming out of a plaster bust, a kind of earth, will be followed up by an air reference. or has been, and i'm just not thinking of it at the moment.

The bonfire as a metaphor for the closet (‘Sherlock’)

I had promised @ebaeschnbliah to write this meta sometime before Christmas when we were chatting about a few more of the infamous rainbows we had discovered on the show. So here goes…

Is there a metaphor for the closet on the show that’s more excruciatingly painful to watch than the bonfire scene in TEH? I don’t think so.

Because that bonfire is a giant closet metaphor: The whole thing goes up in flames (=John’s in love), John is writhing in pain (=heartbreak) and yet he just can’t speak out, no matter how hard he tries.

It’s very painful to watch. 

And it’s more than just a metaphor for the closet; it’s a metaphor for what it’s like to FALL IN LOVE while you’re still in the closet.

Because being deeply in love while still trapped in the closet is absolutely horrible, and Gatiss knows exactly what he’s talking about in this episode here.

Wanna take a look at the bonfire (=closet) scene step by step? Come along.

The whole scene starts by giving us…the moon. The ‘moon’ is Mary, remember (x)?

The moon is watching the bonfire scene from above right from the start.

This tells us…

The ‘moon’ (=Mary) is watching all of what’s going on. (And you will see in a minute that that moon shot is no coincidence and not just an establishing shot to tell us what time of day the scene is taking place at. The whole scene is perfectly framed between the moon at the beginning and the sun at the end. So, the moon here is definitely a metaphor, ie, subtext.)

Then we see John coming to. He is trapped (literally and subtextually). Because subtextually John is trapped in the closet now that he is about to marry a woman:

And surprise, surprise…John looks miserable about the whole situation he is trapped in.

How do we know, though, that this bonfire is supposed to be read as a metaphor for the closet? Well…I give you…THE RAINBOW!

So, a situation in which you’re trapped and that’s tagged with a rainbow for our subtextual-interpretation-convenience…Yep, that’s the closet.

Wanna see how horrible it is to be trapped in something like this. Here have a close-up of John trying to scream in horror.

Then we get a shot of Mary which again (visually) connects her to the moon (remember that this happens just a few seconds after the moon shot I showed you above): Over Mary’s right shoulder, there’s a light that’s perfectly round and has the size of the moon as if it were supposed to remind us of that celestial body.

I don’t want to repeat myself, but this tells us that Mary knows that the man she’s about to marry is in the closet.

(Also, note the black gloves that mark her out as a Sherlock!mirror, albeit a quite dark and distorted one. We will see Sherlock wear those same gloves just a few moments later in a rather prominent scene.)

Let’s skip the next part because I’m not too keen on Mary pretending to be innocent, Mrs Hudson pretending to like the idea that John has a female fiancée and Sherlock pretending that he isn’t totally freaking out about John being in danger.

Also, people have already written lots and lots of metas about the John/James distinction, so no need to go into that here.

Here comes the really horrifying part: John’s not only trapped in the closet; he’s trapped in the closet and IN LOVE! Remember how ‘fire’ is a metaphor for love on the show?

This ‘Guy Fawkes’ (who’s dressed exactly like John with his chequered shirt) is being set on fire:

And if ‘burning’ is a metaphor for being in love…look what kind of love John is experiencing right now. Look how huuuuge that fire (=love) is:

And the crowd (=the audience watching this TV show) doesn’t understand what’s going on and is cheering this ‘bonfire’ on. 

Yeah, man, just one episode later, the TV audience of this show absolutely did cheer for Mary and John’s wedding, not understanding John’s situation.

In the bonfire (=closet), right at the centre of the metaphorical ‘fire’, John is trying, he is trying so, so hard to speak out, to scream…but he can’t. Because when you’re trapped in a loveless straight relationship with a woman, while actually being in love (=ablaze) with your same-sex best friend, you just CAN’T SPEAK OUT.

Try as he might, he can’t make a move (both literally and figuratively with Sherlock):

John’s in pain (heartbreak), he’s paralyzed, and he’s trapped (in a loveless relationship). But no sound escapes his open mouth…

It’s excruciating to watch. And I betcha Gatiss knew exactly what he was writing about here. Because let me tell you that’s what being in love while also being paralyzed, scared and ‘mute’ in the closet feels like.

Remember that subtextually it’s no coincidence that this bonfire incident happens right after Sherlock returned to John in TEH:

The moment Sherlock returned, John was basically trapped in his loveless relationship with Mary (=the bonfire-closet) while at the same time absolutely burning up because of his love for Sherlock. 

Let’s get back to our bonfire. 

The only one who can save John Watson from the horrible pain (=heartbreak) of burning alive (=being in love while being trapped, paralyzed and mute in the closet)…the only one who can save John from that horrible fate is Sherlock. 

And Sherlock does. As others have pointed out long before me, the little-girl-Sherlock!mirror (with a hat similar to the train-guy!hat Sherlock wore earlier in this episode)…this Sherlock!mirror is the only one who can hear John’s muted screams in the bonfire (=closet). And she’s horrified by it.

And Sherlock (as Sherlock himself) is the one who can bodily drag John out of the bonfire (=closet). They will both get pretty singed doing that, though…because they’re both metaphorically ‘on fire’ for each other.:)

As I pointed out above, the two pairs of black gloves highlight the difference between Sherlock and his dark!mirror Mary in this shot: Sherlock’s gloved hands are tenderly cupping John’s face. Mary’s gloved hands seem to be holding John down (=Sherlock loves John; Mary is just controlling him).

And because John is Sherlock’s metaphorical ‘sun’ (while Mary, as shown above, is nothing but a cold moon watching on), John’s face here morphs into the sun shining above Baker Street (the metaphorical residence of Sherlock’s ‘soul’):

Aaaand…scene!

(There’s a little bonus scene under the cut…)

Weiterlesen

Ahhhhhhh, the bonfire rainbow! And what a wonderful meta again, @sagestreet ! Fire definitely exposes Sherlock’s priorities. I love your interpretation of the bonfire as a metaphor tor the burning closet where Sherlock’s heart is trapped. ‘I’ll burn the heart out of you’ ….. but not on this day …. this day John is saved by Sherlock. And the next day as well … when Sherlock is able to find the off switch of the giant bomb just in time.  :)))

Brilliant as always, @sagestreet. What a thoughtful reading of the scene and I love the framing with sun and moon. And as @ebaeschnbliah said, fire always exposes our priorities. Bombs, bonfires, gunfire - Sherlock is always there to save John in these crucial moments. 

As for the closet reading - wow. This is very convincing. And one last thought about Magnussen, media, and closets - I have always been sure that it is no coincidence that Magnussen uses as sort of closet for entering his MP. ;)

Ohhhhh! *makes Sherlock’s epiphany face* 

You’re absolutely right, @gosherlocked. 

(x)

Of course, the media have known for decades what’s up with the whole johnlock romance, but they have kept all that information (‘archives’) in a literal closet. 

Brilliant!

A rainbow for the guy …

Impressions from Sherlock BBC,  The Empty Hearse

Bonfire meta by @sagestreet

May, 2019

circles=emotions, rainbows=gay, and fire=passion. i think i read about this in @just-sort-of-happened 's archive too!

MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS IS WAR

Remember remember, or….. do not forget me?

What does it take to affect a change? To challenge the ingrained heteronormative version of the Holmes and Watson relationship? It takes an equal and opposing force. Revolution, war.

But this is a fairytale where love defeats evil.

Which is why fire = love in Sherlock, as it means that love itself IS that equal and opposing force against the establishment.

Keep reading

BOOM! Love this!

@longsnowsmoon5 omg your tags!

so maybe love = fire and truth = fire, because love = truth :)

john can’t put out the little fire he set in ASiB, Sherlock doesn’t know how to turn off the bomb

sherlocks #1 disguise is a fireman coat because he’s trying to protect himself from a dangerous truth

great discussion in the notes. also i miss longsnowsmoon and i hope they are ok.

Sherlock is always so distracting.

@thewatsonbeekeepers especially considering what John and Sherlock are watching here and what it means on the subtextual level: Moriarty taking a fire extinguisher and a diamond to break not only into the Tower of London, but to shatter glass to claim the throne and steal the crown jewels. Bye bye Mycroft, hello Mr. Sex :)

@lukessense yet another shatter!!

@thewatsonbeekeepers well John coming into Sherlock‘s life must’ve been pretty earth-shattering :)

and vice versa! truly, the subtext comes first in this show. and, as others have pointed out, martin i can do that with a look freeman, making sure we dont miss it. also the delicious complexity of using a fire EXTINGUISHER as a metaphorical dick, breaking through the glass closet. classic i want/i dont want.

Mrs. Hudson is John’s Alibi

Why would John ever need an alibi? (x)

By Royal Appointment (x)

Let me introduce you to the Alibi-Dress:

1) THoB

As @raggedyblue​ pointed out “Sherlock is clearly angry and agitated … more precisely he wags a long long harpoon” while deducing Mrs. Hudsons new dress that he directly connects to her affair. Since “Mrs. Hudson represents Sherlock’s heart […] it would make sense [that it] was full with flowers for (fleeting) happiness” (x). Moreover Sherlock practically begs John to “get [him] some”, while John explains that Sherlock just ‘solved a case’ this morning by harpooning a pig. So was it that good Sherlock?

Later Sherlock will be introduced to the H.O.U.N.D, a big scary monster-dog that generates emotions in Sherlock that frighten him. Good thing the inn-keepers are good at taming a dog and caring for him so the dog doesn’t have to be put down (Yes, please think about Redbeard and the general premise of @sagestreet​ ‘Follow the dog’ meta (x) here). Time to ask for some advice about sentiment and caring for a dog right Sherlock? Oh and ask John to fetch you your revolver please (x).

2) ASiB

Where Sherlock gets to know Irene Adler (=his sexuality) “at the very heart of the British nation” (=John’s heart) while being covered in only a bedsheet so that he can later fall into bed and, I wanna say, scream (?) John’s name. Interesting. Makes you wonder about the big breakfast the next morning. And all the texts Sherlock receives. And his heart (=Irene’s phone) at Christmas. And all this talk about revolvers and brunch on the blog (x). But don’t think about the conversation at Battersea where John says he and Sherlock “are not a couple” and he is “not gay”. And how John thinks this is all just a game to Irene (=Sherlock) (x). Ouch.

3) TSoT

Mrs. Hudson’s sudden change of clothes during the stag night that made the wheels inside my head start turning (x). Good thing the Alibi-Dress is mostly covered up here so nobody starts suspecting that John might need an alibi. Especially not the nurse.

4) HLV

Of course Mrs. Hudson is wearing the dress as CAM (=the media) scans her while visiting Baker Street. Interesting choice of pressure point: marijuana. Something that makes you high, sometimes anxious, but mostly calm, satisfied and hungry. Very interesting. But CAM classifies Mrs. Hudson as irrelevant. Big mistake.

I’ll leave you to your own deductions now.

Keep reading

hmm, this is interesting! I remember in s3 semester, it was john’s outfit, and specifically some sudden changes to it, that tipped off meta writers to how MUCH of TSOT was in sherlock’s mind palace. so why shouldn’t we be looking at mrs hudson’s clothing for important clues? she’s a very important character. Especially in scenes that may very well be in sherlock’s Mind Theater, where wardrobe changes can happen in the blink of an eye. If this floral dress is associated with having an affair with a married man back in ASIB and THOB, then it makes sense for it to recur in TSOT on the stag night, or at least in sherlock’s reconstruction of it.

i am also trying to remember where i read meta about the metaphorical meaning of various meals. if “dinner”=a proposition, then breakfast (and lunch) probably mean something too. im not even sure if this was a s3 or s4 semester meta. hmm.

I love the idea of Mrs. Hudson as the alibi because it contextualizes the character of John’s maid in TAB.

She’s a mirror for Mrs. Hudson- she’s literally John’s housekeeper who spends more time reading about Sherlock and John’s adventures than she does doing her job, and John “never mentions [her].” We only see this character 2 times in the episode (and in the entire series): in the scene where John gets a telegram, and, more importantly, at the heart of the conspiracy. In the heart of the conspiracy scene, it even flashes back to her saying this:

in the very same episode that Mrs. Hudson complains she doesn’t say anything in John’s stories. SO, John’s maid=Mrs. Hudson is at the heart of the conspiracy.

AND one of the main themes in TAB is that friends are necessary to pull off crimes deserved to be committed.

@disfictional very nice addition! And it is indeed John‘s housekeeper that‘s part of the conspiracy and not Mrs. Hudson, because once again she is considered to be irrelevant. Just as CAM declared her to be in HLV. It‘s telling that both John and CAM decide ‚the housekeepers‘ to be irrelevant, because it was always John who was so concerned about how the media perceive both him and Sherlock. And we know that the media turned on Sherlock before (even in the metatext). So it makes sense that John is trying to create an alibi with Mrs. Hudson being a part of it while at the same time declaring her to be irrelevant to…hide her? She is still hidden in a mirror (the maid) here. And with John (his blog) being stuck in 1895 it makes sense that he keeps hiding her whereas Sherlock gives her more lines in S4 when he takes over the blog. And we know that Sherlock considers himself to be a man out of his time whereas John is still wearing his moustache at the end of TAB.

@sarahthecoat @raggedyblue @possiblyimbiassed

Brilliant @disfictional, I had never made the maid / housekeeper connection (it is plausible that John Watson, doctor, has a maid and not a housekeeper and Mrs. Hudson is the landlady, not the housekeeper, but by and large the shallow concept is that). And if Mrs. Hudson represents Sherlock’s heart (I didn’t quite understand her concept as Alibi, but surely in this story hearts are the first to have Alibi, they pretend to be in one place - Sherlock’s does not exist, John’s to belong to Mary - but actually they belong and mirror each other), it makes absolutely sense that Jane is John’s. And John’s heart in the shared house with Mary, in their love story, does nothing. Don’t light the fire - welcome passion metaphor - don’t bring food - welcome sex metaphor. Theoretically it would be Mary’s job to talk to John’s maid / heart, but Mary not only doesn’t do that but she herself is always absent. It has already been pointed out that this neglect could indicate a house without love, but it is even more evident when one thinks of a heart without love. The only thing that Jane, sweet but cheeky as it is easy to imagine is John Watson’s heart, does good is to read the stories about Sherlock Holmes, that is to constantly think about him …. certainly she would like to have more say. The only thing she can do is join the conspiracy. And so she did. John’s heart may not be explicit, but his love for Sherlock Holes is visible to those who want to see it also in the Canon. I have to come up with a deeper thought about conspiracy as a subtext, but it seems to make sense at first glance. All those elements ignored, patronized, disregarded, not allowed so much as a vote.

@sarahthecoat @possiblyimbiassed @gosherlocked @ebaeschnbliah @lukessense @sagestreet

@raggedyblue I wouldn’t say that Mrs. Hudson alone is John’s alibi. I bet it’s more of an underground network or “a group of seemingly random people, all connected online”(x) who write on a blog that’s forever stuck in 1895. And as soon as we arrive in Sumatra Road, between Westminster and St. James, Lord Moran Mary Morstan is going to vanish, because we know that she’s a liar. But where would that leave us? Do we end up in Sumatra Road where a ‘bomb’, somewhere stuck between 1:28 and 1:29, is about to go off? Or do we end up on the metaphorical roof in TRF, where Sherlock finally chooses John over James? Or really in a hospital, where Sherlock has to wake up to save John? Hard to tell atm. I just hope that Sherlock finally confesses his love for John.

But it is again a maid that reminds us of the following:

right @lukessense, the maid of the Mins Palace declared. After all we have the brain, why shouldn’t we have the heart? we have the nurse, who could represent the part of Sherlock who feels deceived by the doctor (many btilliant metas have focused on doctor / heterosexuality, soldier / homosexuality … it is then very clear that John is an army doctor, the perfect synthesis of both). We have the cook who could stand for chemistry. We have the security guard who might be staying for Work. We have the Gardener …. a premonition of Sussex. Waitress / heart, cook / chemist, gardener / future prospect, security guard / Work …. John / mayfaly man seduced all aspects of Sherlock, but the incompleteness of the thing, due to heteronormativity, left someone hurt. The nurse who is the cause of the fact that now all the others are resentful too. Seen this way Sherlock is really resentful, but at the same time he has noticed that he is screwed in every single aspect. He is in love. Could it be not like this? As for Moran, I don’t think he represents Mary, but that part of Sherlock that is in league with Moriarty (which is Homophobia only because he is still trapped, he is Homosexuality), that ambiguous part that plays the double game between control and “you can be what you want ”, whose purpose is to blow up the parliament and for this he is stopped. (x) No villain is really bad in Sherlock, even Mary, she’s bad just because she’s been put in a certain position. The only villain is Sherlock himself (the Moffits have said so too). His worst enemy ….

@possiblyimbiassed @sarahthecoat @disfictional

yes!

i really like the idea that it's their hearts that want alibis!

[M-Theory] Skeletons, fires and the question of John and Mary’s relationship in The Empty Hearse (“why would anyone bother?”)

tl:dr what if the ‘Jack the Ripper’ case in The Empty Hearse was a hint about Mary’s past that Sherlock, distracted and upset from his homecoming, simply missed?

A FEW DISCLAIMERS: I’m not a native English speaker and this wasn’t betad, so excuse the less-than-perfect English. Additionally, this is my first ever piece of meta so excuse the amateurism. Lastly, this may have been picked up before by other meta writers and if so - I’m not aware of it, as I’m quite new to this fandom.

As I was rewatching The Empty Hearse last night, researching for my newest fic, the Jack the Ripper scene/case stood out to me yet again. This is the first time I’ve watched the episode with such attention since reading @loudest-subtext-in-tv​ M-Theory in full, and since then I’ve been watching the episodes far more critically.

This case/scene always stood out as very strange to me. It’s the first official case Sherlock accepts with NSY immediately after his return, while he’s supposed to beworking to stop a devastating terrorist plot.

My funny little theory is that this case is actually subtext/hint/metaphor for fans who are questioning Mary’s background and the motivation behind her attachment to John. More importantly, to those who wonder how Sherlock could have possibly missed out on the hints that Mary was not who she said was.

The case, such as it is, would not even be a ‘1’ in Sherlock’s eyes, but as others have said before, the cases featured in episodes are supposed to say something about the show - subtext, essentially. And one of the biggest suggestions in M-Theory is that Mary was planted as John’s partner by Moriarty for a number of reasons: in the short run, to be able to get a sense about Sherlock and his status (is he actually dead? is he communicating with John?) and in the long run, to ‘burn Sherlock’s heart’ by having him find out hat John had moved on.

My rewatch last night suddenly made the scene seem a bit different than before. Let me guide you through it (transcription with credits to Ariane DeVere): 

Sherlock and Molly (a John mirror and a de-facto replacement of John in this episode) are shown into a crypt that houses a skeleton. This is a NSY case, since Lestarde is the one bringing them into the crypt. LESTRADE: This one’s got us all baffled.

SHERLOCK: Mmm. I don’t doubt it.

This skeleton is the same ‘skeleton mystery’ that Sherlock was reading about earlier in the episode. The skeleton is surrounded by an empty carafe and wine glass on one side and a syringe on another. I read that some fans seem to think the skeleton is wearing Sherlock’s clothes (which made me laugh as I remembered this scene from The X-Files).

Now, let’s start with the obvious. We have a skeleton in a discussion about Mary’s secret past life. Mary literally has skeletons in her closet, skeletons that Sherlock has to pick up on in order to question who and what she is. In a way, if this is supposed to be subtext, it’s fairly on the nose.

Sherlock begins deducing immediately using his sense of smell, represented by writing on the screen:

PINE?

SPRUCE?

CEDAR

NEW MOTHBALLS

…

Fire Damage

So in my reading of this, Sherlock sniffs for and maybe expects ‘old-timey’ smells - pine, spruce, cedar. @loudest-subtext-in-tv​, in a post that no longer exists, pointed out that this is a hint to Sherlock’s state of mind - he spruced up for meeting John, and was instead met violence and rejection, leaving him pining. Hmmm. Instead what he actually smells are new mothballs and fire damage. 

The new mothballs smell seems to be his first hint that something is off - a skeleton in this stage of decay should indicate a long period of time in this condition, but instead that new mothballs suggest that the timing is off.

Let’s not ignore the ‘fire damage’ smell as well. Something was burning. Is it Sherlock’s heart?

MOLLY: What is it?

(Sherlock gets out his phone and holds it up high to try and get a signal.)

MOLLY: You’re on to something, aren’t you?

SHERLOCK: Mm, maybe.

(John’s voice sounds in his head and the words he speaks appear in Sherlock’s mind.

SHOW OFF

Sherlock senses that something is off, that it doesn’t add up, but something stops him.

It’s John berating voice, telling him off in a way that’s very similar to the night of their reunion.

MOLLY: Trains?

SHERLOCK: Trains.

What a weird exchange for two Londoners in a crypt, wouldn’t you say? We’re being called out about the trains. Here’s what LSiT writes about trains in this episode: We then get a lot of trains and tunnels imagery, which carries both sexual connotations, and the idea of twists and turns and paths intersecting at various places. If this is meant to be a visual metaphor for Moriarty’s plot and the involvement of Mary, Mycroft, and Magnussen, it certainly works. We got train track imagery two episodes in a row during John and Sherlock’s investigations in the The Blind Banker and The Great Game, after all, both of which revolved around Mycroft’s involvement with Moriarty. It visually suggests the idea of connections.

John’s breathing of Sherlock in his mind continues throughout the scene. 

MOLLY: Male, forty to fifty.

(She looks round at Sherlock.)

MOLLY: Ooh, sorry, did you want to be …?

SHERLOCK: Er, no, please. Be my guest.

(John’s voice sounds in his mind again.)

JOHN (voiceover): You jealous?

(His second word appears simultaneously in front of Sherlock’s mind’s eye.)

JEALOUS?

SHERLOCK (angrily, through gritted teeth): Shut up!

Sherlock is distracted by none other than John accusing him of being jealous when Molly (John?) approaches the skeleton and asks if he wants to inspect it - to look into it, to see what mysteries it’s hiding.

MOLLY: Doesn’t make sense.

LESTRADE: What doesn’t?

(Sherlock gently blows away the dust around the hand and continues blowing towards the edge of the table.)

MOLLY: This skeleton – it’s … it can’t be any more than …

SHERLOCK and MOLLY (simultaneously): … six months old.

This six months hint, I think, was the thing that made me think of this scene in the context of John and Mary’s relationship. I think by this point it’s agreed upon in fanlore that John and Mary have known each other and/or dated for six months when Sherlock returns. John is probably already living in Mary’s flat in October, about a month before Sherlock comes back - so much so that Lestrade comes over there to give him the DVD containing Sherlock’s video message. This, despite the fact Mary’s first comment on John’s blog is left on April (prompting Harry to ask ‘Who’s Mary?’), so that could roughly suggest the ~six months timeline is correct.

So we have Sherlock confused - we have a case of a skeleton (some secret) that’s not as old as it’s supposed to be (Mary’s identity as Mary Morstan) and something significant happened to it around six months ago.

Sherlock pulls out a book from the drawer in the table -

How I Did It

By

Jack the Ripper

And, after being berated by John inside his head yet again, Sherlock explains:

The-the-the corpse is-is six months old; it’s dressed in a shoddy Victorian outfit from a museum. It’s been displayed on a dummy for many years in a case facing south-east judging from the fading of the fabric. It was sold off in a fire-damage sale … (he gets out his phone and shows the screen to Greg) … a week ago.

LESTRADE: So the whole thing was a fake.

SHERLOCK: Yes.

(He turns and heads out of the room.)

LESTRADE: Looked so promising.

SHERLOCK (already out of sight): Facile.

So here we have a few more things that points in the direction of hints we’ll hear and see again S3 and M-Theory: a shoddy victorian outfit, like Mary in TAB, a dummy, like in His Last Vow, and of course the fire, burning and even ripping Sherlock’s heart out (Mary shooting Sherlock in the heart).

Would this be Moriarty, playing a game of clue with Sherlock, telling him ‘this is how I’m going to burn your heart’? By planting a dummy, displayed for many years, on a corpse that’s six months old?

Lestrade, who - let’s remember - opened this scene by telling Sherlock ‘this one’s got us all baffled’, announces it was all a fake, having looked so promising. Is Lestrade mirroring Mrs. Hudson’s words earlier in the episode? Surprised that John had moved on and was somewhat baffled by John and Mary’s relationship?

Also, a note about Jack the Ripper and Moriarty from Baker Street wikia: “Due to the very nature of [the Jack the Ripper] case, it has proven to be very popular to pit [Sherlock] against one of history’s most infamous killers. The sheer amount of times these two have clashed through various media rivals that of Sherlock and Moriarty.”

And then Molly, John’s mirror, wonders out loud:

MOLLY: Why would someone go to all that trouble?

SHERLOCK (offscreen): Why indeed, John?

Dear Molly here is actually asking the right question - why would anyone go through all that trouble?

Sherlock, distracted and confused and even somewhat disappointed seems to be missing out on the clue entirely, even when Molly raises this very obvious question herself. Is it Sherlock’s fear of upsetting John further that prevents him from looking more deeply into this?

Is this Moftiss’ explanation for how Sherlock missed out on such a huge clue, as it was standing right in front of his eyes?

Of course, later in the episode we discover that sometime during this scene Sherlock figured out who actually placed that skeleton there - it was Anderson, in what others note as an attempt to convince Sherlock to come out of his hiding after his return.

Anderson represents the show’s fans in this episode, and when Sherlock berates Anderson for wasting NSY’s time by staging a fake crime scene it almost seems as if Moftiss are berating the fans for asking stupid questions about Mary and her relationship with John.

In a way, they sort of rule out this entire post - it was Anderson, not Moriarty. But let’s not forget that according to M-Theory (and in general) Moriarty works via proxy. It was Anderson and Donovan who fell for Moriarty’s trap of suspicion in TRF. How difficult would it be for Moriarty to push Anderson to do something like setting up a fake crime scene?

Also let’s not forget that while Anderson is ridiculed in TEH, he’s the one who knows where to find Sherlock in HLV (either because Sherlock wants him to find him in his bolthole, or because Moftiss are saying the fans are right and are on track).

Tagging other meta readers/writers who I think might enjoy this (apologies if you don’t - I won’t tag you again): @sarahthecoat​, @devoursjohnlock​ @inevitably-johnlocked​ @possiblyimbiassed​ @waitedforgarridebs​ @tjlcisthenewsexy​

love it! i also love how m theory, mirroring, and metaphorical reading are all in complete harmony here. Moriarty(=internalized homophobia) put "mary"(=heteronormativity) with john(=heart/love interest). the skeleton has an empty wine glass (wine=romance, so no wine=no romance) and empty syringe (drugs=chemistry of love, so none of that either) and sherlock's phone (=heart) is getting no signal (SADFACE).

Anderson is a fan mirror and also a john mirror, so looking back at TRF, moriarty (internalised homophobia) made both anderson (john, fans) and donovan (sherlock mirror) doubt sherlock's ability to solve cases (do the work/personal integration, solve the three patch problem/his feelings for john).

i also just twigged on, there are "crypt" settings in several other episodes as well... probably all having to do with the "basement" level of stairs code.

[M-Theory] Skeletons, fires and the question of John and Mary’s relationship in The Empty Hearse (“why would anyone bother?”)

tl:dr what if the ‘Jack the Ripper’ case in The Empty Hearse was a hint about Mary’s past that Sherlock, distracted and upset from his homecoming, simply missed?

A FEW DISCLAIMERS: I’m not a native English speaker and this wasn’t betad, so excuse the less-than-perfect English. Additionally, this is my first ever piece of meta so excuse the amateurism. Lastly, this may have been picked up before by other meta writers and if so - I’m not aware of it, as I’m quite new to this fandom.

As I was rewatching The Empty Hearse last night, researching for my newest fic, the Jack the Ripper scene/case stood out to me yet again. This is the first time I’ve watched the episode with such attention since reading @loudest-subtext-in-tv​ M-Theory in full, and since then I’ve been watching the episodes far more critically.

This case/scene always stood out as very strange to me. It’s the first official case Sherlock accepts with NSY immediately after his return, while he’s supposed to beworking to stop a devastating terrorist plot.

My funny little theory is that this case is actually subtext/hint/metaphor for fans who are questioning Mary’s background and the motivation behind her attachment to John. More importantly, to those who wonder how Sherlock could have possibly missed out on the hints that Mary was not who she said was.

The case, such as it is, would not even be a ‘1’ in Sherlock’s eyes, but as others have said before, the cases featured in episodes are supposed to say something about the show - subtext, essentially. And one of the biggest suggestions in M-Theory is that Mary was planted as John’s partner by Moriarty for a number of reasons: in the short run, to be able to get a sense about Sherlock and his status (is he actually dead? is he communicating with John?) and in the long run, to ‘burn Sherlock’s heart’ by having him find out hat John had moved on.

My rewatch last night suddenly made the scene seem a bit different than before. Let me guide you through it (transcription with credits to Ariane DeVere): 

Sherlock and Molly (a John mirror and a de-facto replacement of John in this episode) are shown into a crypt that houses a skeleton. This is a NSY case, since Lestarde is the one bringing them into the crypt. LESTRADE: This one’s got us all baffled.

SHERLOCK: Mmm. I don’t doubt it.

This skeleton is the same ‘skeleton mystery’ that Sherlock was reading about earlier in the episode. The skeleton is surrounded by an empty carafe and wine glass on one side and a syringe on another. I read that some fans seem to think the skeleton is wearing Sherlock’s clothes (which made me laugh as I remembered this scene from The X-Files).

Now, let’s start with the obvious. We have a skeleton in a discussion about Mary’s secret past life. Mary literally has skeletons in her closet, skeletons that Sherlock has to pick up on in order to question who and what she is. In a way, if this is supposed to be subtext, it’s fairly on the nose.

Sherlock begins deducing immediately using his sense of smell, represented by writing on the screen:

PINE?

SPRUCE?

CEDAR

NEW MOTHBALLS

…

Fire Damage

So in my reading of this, Sherlock sniffs for and maybe expects ‘old-timey’ smells - pine, spruce, cedar. @loudest-subtext-in-tv​, in a post that no longer exists, pointed out that this is a hint to Sherlock’s state of mind - he spruced up for meeting John, and was instead met violence and rejection, leaving him pining. Hmmm. Instead what he actually smells are new mothballs and fire damage. 

The new mothballs smell seems to be his first hint that something is off - a skeleton in this stage of decay should indicate a long period of time in this condition, but instead that new mothballs suggest that the timing is off.

Let’s not ignore the ‘fire damage’ smell as well. Something was burning. Is it Sherlock’s heart?

MOLLY: What is it?

(Sherlock gets out his phone and holds it up high to try and get a signal.)

MOLLY: You’re on to something, aren’t you?

SHERLOCK: Mm, maybe.

(John’s voice sounds in his head and the words he speaks appear in Sherlock’s mind.

SHOW OFF

Sherlock senses that something is off, that it doesn’t add up, but something stops him.

It’s John berating voice, telling him off in a way that’s very similar to the night of their reunion.

MOLLY: Trains?

SHERLOCK: Trains.

What a weird exchange for two Londoners in a crypt, wouldn’t you say? We’re being called out about the trains. Here’s what LSiT writes about trains in this episode: We then get a lot of trains and tunnels imagery, which carries both sexual connotations, and the idea of twists and turns and paths intersecting at various places. If this is meant to be a visual metaphor for Moriarty’s plot and the involvement of Mary, Mycroft, and Magnussen, it certainly works. We got train track imagery two episodes in a row during John and Sherlock’s investigations in the The Blind Banker and The Great Game, after all, both of which revolved around Mycroft’s involvement with Moriarty. It visually suggests the idea of connections.

John’s breathing of Sherlock in his mind continues throughout the scene. 

MOLLY: Male, forty to fifty.

(She looks round at Sherlock.)

MOLLY: Ooh, sorry, did you want to be …?

SHERLOCK: Er, no, please. Be my guest.

(John’s voice sounds in his mind again.)

JOHN (voiceover): You jealous?

(His second word appears simultaneously in front of Sherlock’s mind’s eye.)

JEALOUS?

SHERLOCK (angrily, through gritted teeth): Shut up!

Sherlock is distracted by none other than John accusing him of being jealous when Molly (John?) approaches the skeleton and asks if he wants to inspect it - to look into it, to see what mysteries it’s hiding.

MOLLY: Doesn’t make sense.

LESTRADE: What doesn’t?

(Sherlock gently blows away the dust around the hand and continues blowing towards the edge of the table.)

MOLLY: This skeleton – it’s … it can’t be any more than …

SHERLOCK and MOLLY (simultaneously): … six months old.

This six months hint, I think, was the thing that made me think of this scene in the context of John and Mary’s relationship. I think by this point it’s agreed upon in fanlore that John and Mary have known each other and/or dated for six months when Sherlock returns. John is probably already living in Mary’s flat in October, about a month before Sherlock comes back - so much so that Lestrade comes over there to give him the DVD containing Sherlock’s video message. This, despite the fact Mary’s first comment on John’s blog is left on April (prompting Harry to ask ‘Who’s Mary?’), so that could roughly suggest the ~six months timeline is correct.

So we have Sherlock confused - we have a case of a skeleton (some secret) that’s not as old as it’s supposed to be (Mary’s identity as Mary Morstan) and something significant happened to it around six months ago.

Sherlock pulls out a book from the drawer in the table -

How I Did It

By

Jack the Ripper

And, after being berated by John inside his head yet again, Sherlock explains:

The-the-the corpse is-is six months old; it’s dressed in a shoddy Victorian outfit from a museum. It’s been displayed on a dummy for many years in a case facing south-east judging from the fading of the fabric. It was sold off in a fire-damage sale … (he gets out his phone and shows the screen to Greg) … a week ago.

LESTRADE: So the whole thing was a fake.

SHERLOCK: Yes.

(He turns and heads out of the room.)

LESTRADE: Looked so promising.

SHERLOCK (already out of sight): Facile.

So here we have a few more things that points in the direction of hints we’ll hear and see again S3 and M-Theory: a shoddy victorian outfit, like Mary in TAB, a dummy, like in His Last Vow, and of course the fire, burning and even ripping Sherlock’s heart out (Mary shooting Sherlock in the heart).

Would this be Moriarty, playing a game of clue with Sherlock, telling him ‘this is how I’m going to burn your heart’? By planting a dummy, displayed for many years, on a corpse that’s six months old?

Lestrade, who - let’s remember - opened this scene by telling Sherlock ‘this one’s got us all baffled’, announces it was all a fake, having looked so promising. Is Lestrade mirroring Mrs. Hudson’s words earlier in the episode? Surprised that John had moved on and was somewhat baffled by John and Mary’s relationship?

Also, a note about Jack the Ripper and Moriarty from Baker Street wikia: “Due to the very nature of [the Jack the Ripper] case, it has proven to be very popular to pit [Sherlock] against one of history’s most infamous killers. The sheer amount of times these two have clashed through various media rivals that of Sherlock and Moriarty.”

And then Molly, John’s mirror, wonders out loud:

MOLLY: Why would someone go to all that trouble?

SHERLOCK (offscreen): Why indeed, John?

Dear Molly here is actually asking the right question - why would anyone go through all that trouble?

Sherlock, distracted and confused and even somewhat disappointed seems to be missing out on the clue entirely, even when Molly raises this very obvious question herself. Is it Sherlock’s fear of upsetting John further that prevents him from looking more deeply into this?

Is this Moftiss’ explanation for how Sherlock missed out on such a huge clue, as it was standing right in front of his eyes?

Of course, later in the episode we discover that sometime during this scene Sherlock figured out who actually placed that skeleton there - it was Anderson, in what others note as an attempt to convince Sherlock to come out of his hiding after his return.

Anderson represents the show’s fans in this episode, and when Sherlock berates Anderson for wasting NSY’s time by staging a fake crime scene it almost seems as if Moftiss are berating the fans for asking stupid questions about Mary and her relationship with John.

In a way, they sort of rule out this entire post - it was Anderson, not Moriarty. But let’s not forget that according to M-Theory (and in general) Moriarty works via proxy. It was Anderson and Donovan who fell for Moriarty’s trap of suspicion in TRF. How difficult would it be for Moriarty to push Anderson to do something like setting up a fake crime scene?

Also let’s not forget that while Anderson is ridiculed in TEH, he’s the one who knows where to find Sherlock in HLV (either because Sherlock wants him to find him in his bolthole, or because Moftiss are saying the fans are right and are on track).

Tagging other meta readers/writers who I think might enjoy this (apologies if you don’t - I won’t tag you again): @sarahthecoat​, @devoursjohnlock​ @inevitably-johnlocked​ @possiblyimbiassed​ @waitedforgarridebs​ @tjlcisthenewsexy​

love it! i also love how m theory, mirroring, and metaphorical reading are all in complete harmony here. Moriarty(=internalized homophobia) put "mary"(=heteronormativity) with john(=heart/love interest). the skeleton has an empty wine glass (wine=romance, so no wine=no romance) and empty syringe (drugs=chemistry of love, so none of that either) and sherlock's phone (=heart) is getting no signal (SADFACE).

Anderson is a fan mirror and also a john mirror, so looking back at TRF, moriarty (internalised homophobia) made both anderson (john, fans) and donovan (sherlock mirror) doubt sherlock's ability to solve cases (do the work/personal integration, solve the three patch problem/his feelings for john).

i also just twigged on, there are "crypt" settings in several other episodes as well... probably all having to do with the "basement" level of stairs code.