irene's definition of a "battle" is to be naked - her "battle dress". in sherlock's case, he sees going to john's wedding as "into battle" - because he, too, will be naked. his feelings will be laid out naked for everyone else to observe. im logging off
yep.
Impressions from Sherlock BBC, His Last Vow
THE ‘LIAR’ SERIES ……. Just a big old liar - Who are you? - The lie of Leinster Gardens - My lying wife - You lied and lied - The version of you I present to the public - You lie all the time
A stand-off between the three Sherlocks? @ebaeschnbliah
Yes, @lukessense Over the course of the last years I’ve come to the conclusion that the story told in Sherlock BBC happens entirely inside Sherlock’s mind. In a way I see it as a conversation that Sherlock holds with himself, while he investigates, deduces and evaluates his own persona. A process that is necessary for a change. Different aspects of his persona, different viewpoints, are represented by different characters and Sherlock lets them act on a mind stage to solve the problem … his own case, the pink one. Maybe with this adaptation the creators tell TILOSH (the inner life) instead of TPLOSH (the private life) of Sherlock Holmes.
Regarding the scene above: the house is the body (Sherlock’s property), the picture on its facade is the mask he wears. The reason for its existance, the marriage to John, is to cover and guard Sherlock’s emotions, especially the ones related to his (eternal) ‘best friend’.
@ebaeschnbliah and if you consider the framing of the shots here, the camera angles, the way the shots are established…is looks like we have an actual stand-off (a bit western-like) between Sherlock and two alter egos of sorts. Yes John and Sherlock are working together here but they’re still on different sides and all three characters are presented as shadows and/or hidden inside of them. Sherlock at war with himself?
(I gotta rewatch that scene, it’s been a while)
Absolutely, @lukessense It’s also an interesting (and amusing) thought that the scene above happens at a location which doesn’t exist in real life. The Empty Houses of Leinster Gardens are entirely empty. There is no place at all for anything or anyone to stand or act. By blending reality and fantasy into each other though, the scene would take place exactly on the ‘hidden’ (steam) train tracks, right? :)))
rb for MIND BLOWING discussion. omg i love the metaphorical mind palace reading.
also the “western standoff” setup is riffed on in ASIB at battersea, and in TST in the morocco scene. maybe also in the other shootings? verging on free associating here, well past lights out time.
@ebaeschnbliah sounds like a perfect place to have an internal battle about your desires for your eternal ‚best friend‘ right?
@sarahthecoat you‘re absolutely right, we do have this standoff-scenario several times and I‘d say that each time it could portray an internal battle of Sherlock? Battersea definitely feels like that. And when I think about battles I immediately have to think about battle stations and the war and both being a metaphor for emotional turmoil and Sherlock‘s war against his emotions.
yes, and then look at the buildings themselves, since in a mind theater reading, they represent the conception of the self. ASIP, two twin buildings; TBB, a big old museum, with multiple levels. ASIB, a decomissioned power station; THOB, henry's home and dewar's hollow. HLV, this hollow shell, a high rise with a lot of glass, and a patio. and so on. in a way, every structure chosen for a setting is illuminating sherlock's concept of himself at the moment.
“In 1865, Johann Herbeck, choirmaster of the Vienna Men’s Choral Society, commissioned Johann Strauss the Younger to write a choral work; due to the composer’s other commitments the piece wasn’t even started. The following year, Austria was defeated by Prussia in the Seven Weeks’ War. Aggravated by post-war economic depression, Viennese morale was at a low and so Strauss was encouraged to revisit his commission and write a joyful waltz song to lift the country’s spirit.”
Several poets, including one Josef Weyl attempted to add humorous lyrics to the piece early on, making light of the war, and mocking Vienna. It was only after removing the words that the piece later became popular.
In an episode where Sherlock explicitly refers to the attending of the wedding of his best friend, John Watson, as going ‘into battle’, he proceeds later in the evening to dance with a woman to The Blue Danube, originally written for men to sing, to mask the pain of loss, and give a joyful, brave front in the face of defeat.
Oh, Sherlock.
ouch.
honestly the best? worst? thing about tsot is that we’re all expecting the person who’s about to die as a result of john and mary’s wedding to be a sherlock mirror.. sholto is so clearly set up as a former sherlock figure in john’s life, and the “into battle” dressing scene is almost too blatant, so we all know right away that this wedding is killing sherlock. it’s so clear that you almost forget that sholto is a military man, fair, broken by the war, and only made it through the day because of sherlock’s (and mary’s to a lesser extent) help. sherlock warns sholto that “it’s you” right after telling john “it’s always you” in an attempt to keep them safe, but when he realizes that sholto had been dying of his wound the whole time, he sees only himself reflected back, not realizing that john is suffering too :)
God DAMN it.
John being killed at his own wedding, and the damage being invisible to anyone until such time as he takes of his armour heterosexuality uniform, and desperately wanting Sherlock to figure it out, despite locking himself away in a closet small hotel room, saying, “You’re the great Sherlock Holmes. Solve the case and I’ll open the door.”
Did I ask for this? Did anyone?
It’s worth noting that Sherlock does solve it, though, and saves the life. So hopefully we have that to look forward to.
Yikes, yes. So, there's a kind of suggestion in s4 that john is in even more danger in TLD/TFP than he was in TST/HLV.
i got to the crooked man episode of granada yesterday and i’m still amazed i didn’t know the canon significance of the name “david” until now……… biblical king david lusts after (already married) bathsheba, gets her pregnant, and sends her husband to the front lines of battle so that he’ll be more likely to die?? like holy shit, “into battle” indeed
@thewarriorprincesinthefield ok so first, in the story The Crooked Man
in terms of BBC, this all makes
which is wild because we have Sherlock going “into battle” in TSOT, Mary’s ex David in TSOT, Mary killing Sherlock in various literal/symbolic ways all throughout S3/TAB/S4 (the whole “go to hell, Sherlock Holmes” video message??) and their fake friend Beth in TSOT too??????? Beth/Bathsheba??? i mean that would really solidify the name Beth, (Beth Davenport, Elizabeth Smallwood, etc.) as a john mirror, jeez… how deep does this rabbit hole go…
aaahhh this is brilliant!!
Sherlock, in a life-and-death situation:
Sherlock, about to attend his best friend’s wedding:
hmmm.
The four glass screens at John’s wedding make me think of the idea of the, ‘glass closet’. If you’re in the glass closet everybody knows you’re queer but you still haven’t come out. In light of how romantic Sherlock’s speech and behaviour is at the wedding, to have these four transparent screens is very evocative of his relationship with John.
In TBB when Sherlock is attacked at Soon Yin’s flat he thinks that the acrobat is hiding behind a screen. The acrobat is a foil for John with his, 'small strong hands’, athletic build and size 8 feet. As Sherlock attempts to look behind the screen, he is attacked from behind by his assailant. John is not hiding his feelings but he’s not exactly in view either. He sneaks up on Sherlock from behind. I think this is kind of like how Sherlock’s feelings for John sneak up behind him.
Each time that Sherlock has said, 'into battle’, it has been while standing in front of his armoire. An armoire or wardrobe is the precursor of the contemporary closet. Every time Sherlocks goes, 'into battle’, he is putting on a costume that will help him hide who he really is. In ASiB he is pretending to be straight and not in love with John, The Woman sees right through this. In TSoT he is pretending to be a happy, platonic, supportive friend when really he is heartbroken and in love with the groom of the wedding he’s about to attend.
The closet is where it is said we hide our queerness. The closet is where we get our clothes, the place from which we draw our armour, the place from where we choose and attempt to control how we appear to others.
We can change our clothes behind a screen and we can see how this particular piece of furniture can relate to our closets. It relates to dressing and to the image we portray once we’re dressed.
During the story of the stag night Sherlock tells of going to visit Molly and asking her for advice about drinking with John. During this scene I believe that it is finally crystal clear to Molly that Shelrock is gay and in love with John. She sees his collage of John as the Vitruvian Man and understands the truth. She shows her understanding of the nature of Sherlock’s conundrum when she says, 'Urinating in wardrobes, bad’. Sherlock is, 'in the wardrobe’, and doesn’t want to lose control of his penis while intoxicated.
Those screens at the wedding are so unsightly, why are they there if not to symbolise something? If Sherlock planned the whole wedding and he’s a consummate sophisticate with impeccable taste then why these cheesy, horrible screens? They are transparent. They are super dated and look out of place. Maybe Sherlock is transparent in wanted to subtly sabotage the wedding with a passive aggressive move to decorate it poorly? Could be.
I like the idea that they’re the transparent doors to his closet. He’s not admitting anything but not hiding anything. He’s never come out and said, 'John, I’m in love with you’, but, yet, here, at John’s wedding, he’s gushing about how amazing John is after having spent the last several months living just to plan his wedding. Those screen doors, like Sherlock, hide absolutely nothing. But, they’re still there, they’re still screens, meant to obscure something at least in theory. It’s just that his secret is becoming increasingly easy to see.
here's the other glass closet meta i remember from when i was a lurker.
