sarahthecoat reblogged
Getting my mom’s one-hundred-year-old piano repaired. This old thing has some miles on it.
sarahthecoat reblogged
Part 2
- John crestfallen at what looks like another sign of Sherlock not caring. Except Sherlock obviously sees it differently, time is of the essence and this is probably not the first kidnapping case he’s seen.
- He looked through the fairy tale book probably because it was noticably out of place.
- “Anyone can walk in anywhere if they pick the right moment”. So close to Jim’s method.
- Oh God. Sherlock telling the John mirror that they’re better off avoiding relationships since at least one attempt involved a master criminal. At this point John is avoiding relationships but will soon enough meet “Mary”. Also worried about his interest in Sherlock who has the air of menace drawn thickly around him.
- Did that sentence even make sense?
- The modern equivalence to ACD Sherlock knowing the origin of soil samples.
- “Thank you John” “Actually I’m just his mirror”
- Keeping a sharp eye on John so the mistake seems more psychological than visual.
- He looks upset when she says she doesn’t count. Just because he doesn’t like her romantically it doesn’t mean he doesn’t value her as a friend. He’s just really bad at valuing his friends. But also she might be so long gone on him that his lack of reciprocation is seen as an all out rejection.
- Oh God the quick shots of the kids eating the poisoned chocolate. That’s my fill of horror for the holiday.
- “Not be myself.”
- Collar goes down.
- I wonder how Jim faked a Sherlock to traumatize the girl.
- We know Anderson’s theory on that from TEH, latex perfection.
- Sherlock being subjected to the “they’ll think you’re crazy or lying if you say anything” quick show of “I O U”. Also known as the dancing frog effect.
- Sally fishing for a reaction because she needs a bit more than a hunch and a screaming child to go on. But keeping it subtle enough that you have to be Sherlock Holmes to fully pick up on it and deduce what she might be thinking.
- John being snubbed but it’s like other times. Sherlock is going into danger and needs to keep John out of the firing line. Not the first or last time he pulls this stunt.
- Next on fairy tales with Richard Brook: The Story of Sherlock and His Very Bad and Downright Awful Evening.
- Wonder if being found with a dead body is going to compound his situation? I mean, obviously he didn’t have a gun and the guy was shot from a distance, but at this point it’s the rumors that matter not the facts.
- Been a while since I saw TPLoSH, but wasn’t that the one where dust was part of his filing system?
- “Can’t kill an idea”
- The breaking point. The wrong conclusion I wrote in the last post. Here it is.
- He thinks what would upset John is being duped by Sherlock into liking/praising/admiring him.
- I want to write a bigger thing about it, although I can’t imagine that the subject has gone unexplored in the fandom.
- Sherlock is the one doubting in this scene. Doubting that John sees him for more than the Persona.
- Remove the Persona, and John’s affection goes with it.
- But John isn’t just there for the clever man in The Hat. Coat collar up or down, he cares for Sherlock.
- The doubt will unfortunately not die here, or The Hat wouldn’t have such a pronounced presence in future episodes.
- Are English gingerbread men always that thick? Then again it’s possible we just generally bake them thinner in Sweden, judging from a couple of German cookie cutters I have that doesn’t quite work on the level of thin we usually bake.
- John standing up for him throughout this scene while Sherlock just quietly accepts it.
- Am I even going to make it to the rooftop?
- Both John and Sherlock get such good smash cut scenes in this episode.
- “A good friend bails you out of jail, a best friend sits next to you and say ‘We fucked up.’”
- The way Lestrade underreacts to the situation is amazing.
- Once again on Gun Safety with Sherlock Holmes.
- Lestrade’s face in his hands. Sherlock’s very tired dad/babysitter.
- “Now people will definitely talk”
- Priorities, John!
- They’re going to need to coordinate. Good thing that they at least can do that in life or death situations, because they’re terrible with it otherwise.
- “A lie that is preferable to the truth.” Also known as every straight Sherlock reading, because people can’t deal with their hero being gay.
- Interesting that the guy got shot just as Sherlock lowered his gun. As in after he got the information. He wasn’t shot by one of the others. This is the work of Moriarty’s shooter.
- I thought from the look on Sherlock’s face when John mentioned Brook that he had an idea who it was. But apparently not.
- So the money was good enough that he’d risk jail time but still not enough that he wouldn’t risk the wrath of his ex-employer, the master criminal, for what she could get him? Sherlock was right on the money in his analysis of her. Not smart or trustworthy, just hungry.
- Oh her look of pity to John. Like he’s the one that was duped.
- A folder with printouts. That’s her big cache of evidence?
- For Christ’s sake, her character in The IT Club is smarter than this!
- And to top off her character she does a pathetic repeat of Sherlock’s insult to her and then John brushes her aside.
- Wrap up a lie in the truth. There are way too many good lines in this episode.
- “If I wasn’t everything that you think I am, that I think I am, would you still help me?”
- So close to the actual question he has for John but will never ask.
- Mycroft doesn’t actually believe in the key code nonsense, does he? Both Holmes brothers can’t be this blind on matters of cyber security.
- This scene was at the end of THoB, which doesn’t have to mean anything timewise, granted. But I sincerely doubt a hypothetical key code was of concern.
- Are there any updated versions of M theory around? I think I saw some new idea about Mycroft being in charge rather than Moriarty, but I still get the impression that these scenes happened even if no key code was involved. So why did he really have Moriarty slapped around?
- “Moriarty wanted Sherlock destroyed, and you have given him the perfect ammunition.”
- Wasn’t there a theory that Mycroft manipulated John into Sherlock’s path because he thought the doctor could save his brother?
- Jim used the code to change his identity in the records. You seriously think Kitty checked the records, rather than taking him at his word and printouts?
- Even then, Jim has worked with someone who knows what the record keepers like. No need for a magical key code.
- Ah yes, about ten characters of binary. The ultimate key code!
- “No. Friends protect people.”
- People is John.
- I personally love coming up with names with hidden meanings, so that’s probably what I would have picked too.
- On the one hand he brought back the scary SUDDEN SHOUT he terrified me with in TGG, but on the other hand he used it to say “doofus”.
- “Ordinary Sherlock”. This scene must have been fun to act.
- Mrs Hudson assuming that John’s back because Sherlock did something clever and made it alright.
- “Police! ...sorta”
- Sherlock has already set Lazarus in motion, but the possibility of not having to leave John if he can get to Jim has to be explored.
- Faked suicide like the bride. I don’t blame Sherlock for not seeing it. He’s running on no sleep, more adrenaline than blood in his veins and someone just seemingly shot himself in front of him. Not to mention the overall pressure he’s under.
- The little laugh when he can’t make John doubt him.
- Everything’s blurry.
- “I researched you”. Subtle slam at Elementary?
- Oh God their hands reaching.
- “He’s my friend” with his voice breaking
- “Say it now.” “I can’t.”
- Mrs Hudson outangering John is the levity needed now.
- “Stop this.”
- Things are blurry again.
- Risked being seen just to see John one last time and hear his words.
- And I need to wash my face.
- I also remembered that Sherlock talked of a lookalike in TEH, but I’m keeping my musing on Sherlock faking for transparency. Also I’m too lazy to go back and edit.
i have a feeling "key code" is one of those snags telling us to look for subtext. especially since the "key code" as presented on the surface is obviously bs, jim even #confirmed, it was just ordinary bribery. the next most obvious snag scene with a key is the beginning of TEH, but there is also the LACK of a "key" or even a lockpick, when john & sherlock are sitting in the dark handcuffed together. (cf. TAB, john's line about not sitting in the dark, it's the 19th c., and lighting the candle)
sarahthecoat reblogged
Key
(Also on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/13276041 if you prefer)
It started out simply enough.
When he had been four, a rainy, cold afternoon had forced him to stay inside. He tried to divert himself from the boredom that plagued him even then by pestering Mycroft, asking questions and demanding riddles. Finally, a frustrated Mycroft had handed him a small brass key and told him that it would unlock something somewhere in their huge summer estate.
It had taken him hours to find the door that matched the key and when he finally did, his eagerness and excitement had made it hard to fit the key into the lock. The chocolate bar Mycroft left as his reward should have been a disappointment, but it wasn’t. The thrill of the pursuit and of uncovering a hidden treasure, no matter how prosaic, was all the reward he could want.
It became a regular game whenever Mycroft came home from boarding school; he would present a new key to Sherlock and set him loose. Keys to doors, to cabinets, to boxes. Keys to locked diaries and to padlocks hidden in the wood around their manor. Everytime Sherlock found the right lock, the quiet click of tumblers falling into place was his victory call.
Sometimes, he would turn his key and find a treat or a book, and sometimes Mycroft would leave a code to unravel or a clue to lead him further on in his chase. Once he had opened a jewelry box to find another key hidden under the felt lining the lid, and that had been the best prize he could imagine.
He loved the keys, loved the power they had to both expose things long forgotten and to hide inconvenient things away forever. He wanted to have that power too, wanted to unlock the most difficult puzzles and reveal great secrets and also wanted to be able to lock that knowledge away again so it would be his alone.
Then the summer after Mycroft graduated college he didn’t come home, and the keys stopped. Sherlock hid his disappointment even from himself, telling anyone who would listen that it had been a game for babies and that he was too mature and too clever for it anymore anyway. But when he saw a steel key, battered with age, in an antique shop Mummy dragged him to a few weeks later, he’d had to have it.
Thus began his collection of keys, all sorts of keys. He found them in shops and he bought them from online auction sites. He kept them from his rooms at boarding school and uni, and he found them laying in the street when he moved to London. He picked them from the pockets of orderlies when he was in rehab, and he stole them from crime scenes after he began assisting the Met.
By the time he moved into the rooms at Baker Street he had a banker’s box full of keys of all shapes and sizes, all of them waiting for him to find the right lock to make them useful again. As he bounced from case to case and cheap flat to downright hovel, he could sympathize with their need to find their purpose.
Then he met John Watson.
Looking at the short, commanding man that day in the lab at St. Bart’s had been like finding a keyhole just the same shape and metal as the key in your hand. The next night, when John had pushed him up against the wall of the flat they now shared and kissed him with all the frenzy of their chase through London, he felt something open in his chest. Warmth, joy, and what could only be love flooded through him and he was helpless against its pull. All he could do was lace his fingers in John’s short hair and kiss him back.
In that blinding moment, he knew that he’d never been a key after all. All these years he had been a lock, fastened tight against the world and rusted shut from disuse. He had just never realized it until he had found the key he hadn’t even know he was looking for.
The End