Ah @sagestreet, and you didn’t even want to write this meta! Fortunately then you did it because as usual you dug deeper, you’re a bit the archaeologist of this fandom, all excavations and pieces of art ;-P
All always super interesting. The memory stick thing is always very sensible when read this way. And as I already mentioned it is interesting that these memory sticks are never actually read by anyone. The first is drowned by Moriarty, the second is burned.
But perhaps we can find differences between them. The first contains secret plans (if I can, I will focus on the contents of these plans, are missile plans … among all the available weapons, if the gun already seems to have a phallic connotation, I do not even want to dwell on what looks like a missile ) which as you say brilliantly can refer to Sherlock’s homosexual memory. I must say that I am not entirely convinced of the motivations of Moriarty. Always read as homophobia, correctly in my opinion, contains in itself however the pure and simple suffix homo. It is homophobia as long as it is not accepted. It is homophobia as long as it is not free (i want to be free, i want to be …. god). He takes the memory of Sherlock, who already knows, because it is that who created him, and throws it away just because he already owns it. He makes it go back where it was, drowned deep, like it happened at Carl Powers … now here I’m shooting blind, so of pure instinct. If I think better about it, maybe it does not hold water. But Carl Powers was drowned because he laughed at Moriarty. Because he laughed about the homosexual side of Sherlock. And Moriarty / Sherlock drowned him, which is similar to holding in a well, which makes a lot of thinking about the removal. And it is since then that Moriarty has become bad, from homosexual to homophobia.
And now he threatens to blow up, burn John, but Sherlock is not ready, his memory is buried, the bomb is taken from John and Sherlock’s sexuality, Irene, draws attention to herself. It is something that must be resolved first.
A before and after. The same scene re-reads as prediction tells, as you and @ebaeschnbliah said, a story with a different outcome.
The second stick has a different content, contains AGRA that I had already thought (X)could be a representation of Sherlock. A more recent memory, a memory that refers to John, to the love that Sherlock feels for him and to the things what he has done for him. In fact, someone reads that key, Sherlock does it, it is John who refuses to do it, who does not want to see all that is evident. He throws it into the fire, but it stubbornly reappears. The attempt to deny, the memory stick, is hidden in the bust of the Tacher, an irreproachable and homophobic facade, but this ends up shattering. At that point it is likely that John has read it, it is never said, but it is he who suggests to us a locator, so it is likely that he has deepened his knowledge. And the further heteronormative facade that tries to take possession of information, to hide the evidence, is hunted down.
I apologize for all this digression, maybe a little shaky on the memory stick.
As far as your Bruce-Partington case analysis is concerned, it’s so beautiful! On the second level, the reading of Mycrof as a thief of Sherlock’s homosexual identity, in order to protect him, caring is not an advantage, alone protects me …. it’s clear (the mirror Mycroft / Joe through the outfit is rather cheeky). I would read Mycroft as the rational part of Sherlock who does everything to protect himself, but also to see him as Author is very interesting. And above all, what I love in your meta is how, despite the subtext is laid bare, you can also keep the focus on potential literal development.
There are so many possible levels of reading that I continue to think that it is also possible one in which John and Sherlock replace Joe and Westie. You can see it here too, these three screencaps are in sequence.
The first and third are mirrored, in the middle we have the double mirror, John, the military bag at his feet, the bicycle chain, and Mycroft.
The atmosphere, very similar to the stag nigth (we never see Lucy) and the alcoholic inebriation.
But while in this case the murder happens, let’s say that finally they end up in bed, in the stag night they are interrupted by a nurse ….
But of course with the third one you’ve made sparks. The trio Mummy, Dad and Rudy is perfect. And also the fact that once he’s killed (fucked) Westie is put on a train is interesting.
