Musings on A Study in Pink (3)

Part 3: ‘Who’d be a fan of Sherlock Holmes?’ – The biggest obstacle to Johnlock

TRIGGER WARNING: discussions of homophobia, including negative stereotypes of gay people; passing mention of suicide

ASiP Recap: the Cabbie’s sponsor

During the confrontation, the Cabbie informs Sherlock that he has a ‘sponsor’: 

In ASiP, we find out that ‘Moriarty’, whoever that is/they are, is a sponsor of a serial killer, a fan of Sherlock Holmes, and could be more than one single man. 

Keep reading

If my love of M-Theory makes me s h e r i a r t y adjacent, so be it

hmm, as you say in tags, moriarty ships it! and for once the surface reading is in the same ballpark with the subtext/metaphorical elements. as the consulting criminal, he's sherlock's dark mirror, by contrast we see that sherlock DOES care. as "mr sexy" the whole complex bundle of sherlock's repressed but very real sexuality. the speech on the cliffside in TAB is his domination of all previous adaptations, "it has to be this way" (sherlock/john: no it doesn't) and there sure is some kind of link between moriarty and mycroft, whether it's ever expressed on the surface more than it has been, it's absolutely there in the metaphor and symbolism.

While we’re on the subject of M Theory, I have to show you all one of my most prized possessions! This print copy was a gift from my wonderful @teledild0nix and is without a doubt my favorite book that I own

I started annotating it with additions from my M Theory+ reading back in 2016 and I’d actually like to go back and finish now. It’s like a little physical manifestation of the very best parts of my time in TJLC

that is so cool!

Ok hear me out re that last gifst

I have a theory. A wee baby theory. About Molly. Who has been shown time and again to be more important to the story than she first appears. Who has been used as a mirror. Who is the one Sherlock goes to in times of trouble.

Now, I look at these scenes again and I do see the flirtatious villian, but it's not Jim. It's someone who blends in too well, somone who knows more about the Boys than they relaise, someone who has access to a medical facility and THROUGH "Jim from IT" also has access to tech. Someone who ALSO flirts with Sherlock and is unsuccessful.

It's Molly.

It's that unassuming brunette in the corner who dresses up quite well with that bright red lipstick. I'm just saying, I've always been bothered by where "Moriarty" got the pills.

I'm just putting that lil thought out there. For fun.

yeah, back in the run up to s4 when they were saying "expect the unexpected", one idea that got discussed was maybe molly would be a Big Bad. on the level of something like m theory, it could happen, but on the level of all the character mirroring and coding and stuff, it doesn't make as much sense.

her function in the narrative seems to be the john mirror that expresses what john himself can't or won't (yet). her dating jim on that level is a mirror of john NOT being all "i'm not gay!" While still a little bit in denial... like, what we learn later about john and sholto, another james. clearly something was going on there, maybe not much, and it got broken off, but they were more than just army buddies.

on the other hand, there are folks who watched s4 and felt that john did kinda go over to the villain side just a bit.

Just a quick reminder that Lady Carmichael (a John mirror) was actually the one who killed her husband (Sir Eustace, a Mary mirror) because of his many past mistakes and wrong doings. So while she accuses Sherlock of being responsible for not keeping Sir Eustace safe it was her plan all along.

These scenes seem quite similar don’t they?

Hmm, I wonder why…

i've always wondered though, did she? that's what sherlock thinks, but then moriarty is the one under the veil at the reveal. it's one of those little snags that doesn't quite add up and so makes me go looking for the subtext.

TAB is sherlock running scenarios in his mind theater, and TST may be as well. certainly "you promised" is something sherlock is thinking about, he made a promise to both john and "mary", but then how does he keep it if they are going in essentially opposite directions?

metaphorically, if john=sherlock's heart, and "mary"=sherlock's "sociopath" facade, then he can't possibly be true to both, ultimately. the attempt brings him face to face with his internalised homophobia (moriarty, miss me?)

apologies to @cheeloveseds if i took this in a direction you didn't want to go!

Sherlock Protecting John

When people complain about Sherlock shutting John out and lying to him to protect him and how this is so problematic, I really think they’re missing the point. It’s supposed to be problematic. It’s not supposed to be ideal. This is a weakness Sherlock is overcoming. Or alternatively, when people say that Sherlock has given John everything in S3 so John should be with him, I think they’re missing the point there, too. Sherlock has been very selfless about John in S3, but it hasn’t stopped him lying to John to protect him, and that isn’t good or even okay.

It’s most notable when Sherlock deals with Jim (or Mary - as she’s Moran, that’s connected to Jim). He lies to John in TGG so he can meet Jim alone so John won’t be in danger; he lies to John in TRF so John won’t be sniped; he lies to John in HLV about Mary so John will go back to Mary and she won’t kill him.

There’s a very common romantic trope about the Hero protecting the Beloved. Not letting the Beloved be an equal partner who takes equal risks. There’s obviously a big problem with this - and instead of embracing this trope, as apparently most people think, I think Mofftisson have taken this trope and turned it on its head and said “This doesn’t work. You can’t do this.”

Every time Sherlock lies to protect John, leaves him out, etc., it works for the immediate moment: John doesn’t die. But it invariably leads to something else worse happening. Not that this new bad thing is Sherlock’s fault - it’s always the villains’ fault - but that it probably wouldn’t have happened if Sherlock hadn’t left John out:

Sherlock lies and does these things to protect John - and they do protect John, which is good - but they always also backfire into something worse. This is a story. Mofftisson have complete control over what happens. If they wanted to show Sherlock lying to John to protect him as a good trait of Sherlock’s, they wouldn’t have it consistently result in bad things.

And Sherlock leaving him out is what John is really upset about from Reichenbach - even after he knows it was to protect him:

“Not sure I’ll ever truly forgive him for that.” John doesn’t say “he left me to grieve;” he doesn’t say “he thought Moriarty’s network was more important than his friends;” he says “he didn’t trust me.” John would rather have had Sherlock risk his (John’s) life by telling him Sherlock was still alive than protect him by leaving him out. Which is exactly what I’ve always thought John thinks because otherwise they’re not partners; John is just Sherlock’s sidekick.

Lying to John, leaving him out, etc. is a weakness Sherlock is overcoming. He’s improving. In HLV, he’s already done more than he did in TRF to bring John in. Sherlock’s taking steps, not going cold-turkey - which makes perfect sense. He did the Empty House Reveal after he realized Mary was Moran. He told John some things, which was more than he did in TRF: in TRF, when John would ask him things, Sherlock would just tell him he wasn’t going to tell him:

Now, in HLV, he’s telling John a minimum of information - but still certainly not even close to everything. Sherlock didn’t tell John that Mary worked for Jim, that she meant to kill him, or that he doesn’t trust her. He had an opportunity to after the Empty House Reveal, but he didn’t.

I cannot possibly imagine that lying to John about John’s own wife will play out well for Sherlock. And in my opinion, these consequences are going to be one of the last things that makes Sherlock realize that he can’t shut John out anymore.

I think some of these long-term consequences of lying about Mary to John will include: John being shot and seriously injured by Mary; John temporarily leaving Sherlock; and the baby being killed.

I also think that Sherlock is going to finally understand this lying-to-someone-to-protect-them situation from the other side (John’s side) when he finds out Mycroft has been under Jim’s thumb the whole time.

By the time that we come to the end of the show and the final showdown with Jim, I believe that John and Sherlock will be completely working together. In fact, I believe that Mofftisson have set up the story so that Sherlock cannot defeat Jim until he stops leaving John out or lying to protect him.

(Please don’t write to me about how John is responsible for these bad things; of course he is also responsible and of course he makes bad decisions, too. This post is about Sherlock.)

i remember this from when i was a lurker. this crucial story arc is not finished yet!

‘Something’s fucky’ observations, HLV version

[Reminder: if you like me, but not my tjlc-related posts, you can block tag ‘johnlockendgame’ to avoid them]

This was originally posted in response to another post, but I decided to post it separately for posterity.

- Sherlock’s suspicions about Mary and Mycroft - My current reading of HLV-TAB, based on M-Theory, is that both Mycroft and Mary are double agents and are aware of each other’s actions. They have an unspoken agreement to not expose each other’s status as such. Mary, who noticed that Magnussen began harming Mycroft’s colleagues, realized that if Sherlock ever exposes Mycroft he will discover the truth about her too and/or that Mycroft is sending Sherlock towards CAM so he finds the truth about her. Either way, she doesn’t trust Mycroft and goes rogue (planning to shoot CAM but ends up shooting Sherlock), determined to defend herself, Mycroft be damned.

- Sherlock getting John’s attention in HLV (waiting in the dosshouse next to Isaac Whitney) - we see in TLD that Sherlock knows where to find John two weeks in advance. If this is an EMP situation TLD happens in his head, but I suggest that this happens in TLD because Sherlock had done it HLV. I wouldn’t find it far fetched that Sherlock, expecting John to look for some excitement, knew Isaac Whitney is a neighbour and plants himself right next to him in a dosshouse - he knew John would be there.

- Others have pointed out before that CAM is the personification of an Appointment in Samarra when he visits Sherlock he visits him at Baker Street instead of meeting up in his office. That would make CAM the grim reaper who came to collect Sherlock’s soul, but I argue that Mary is the grim reaper.

- It’s interesting that Sherlock uses Molly, Anderson and Mycroft to survive the shooting, but not John. These are people he’s supposed to be ambivelant about - why not figure out how to survive using John, whom he fully trusts?

- Sherlock actually saw John, Mary and Janine at the hospital - he may not have spoken much, but he did hear and see them. Mary wears the butterfly scarf when she threatens him at the hospital, and I believe this is why she wears the scarf in the tarmac scene (the butterflies become omnious when you notice her wearing  the black butterflies dress in T6T). It’s after Janine leaves the room that things get REALLY fucky - she may have played with his medicine, as LSiT suggested.

- I think certain situations after Mary’s shot, like the conversation with CAM in the restaurant, are happening when Sherlock is still in control of his MP; he’s running a controlled scenario at Appledore and on Christmas (the wall clock at his parents’ kitchen seems to be keeping perfect time considering), Mary’s pregnancy duration makes sense if she’s around 7-8is months pregnant on New Year’s (Sherlock would know when the baby is due). He doesn’t ‘lose his mind’  (like John wonders at his parents’ house), or if you will, a grasp on reality, until the plane takes off.

- Papa Holmes doesn’t seem to lose his glasses anymore, even when unconcious. Nice touch ;)

- AGRA is Sherlock’s invention, it’s an idea Sherlock creates and explores later in T6T when he can’t find answers in the Appledore and TAB scenarios. 

- Appledore is the Garden of Eden, the place that houses the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Appledore means ‘Apple tree’, Sherlock describes what’s inside it as ‘forbidden knowledge’ earlier in the episode, it’s white and heavenly and angelic, there are some bird of paradise looking plants there, and Sherlock is determined to go there in order to learn about good and evil and ‘make a deal with the devil’, CAM - the snake/satan. Sherlock falls from from grace after learning about the truth of Appledore and CAM’s vaults.

I was surprised by the religious imagery here - Sherlock isn’t religious, but going further in these posts I’ll point out signs of religious imagery filtering through to Sherlock.

There’s some weird ass technology at Appledore, like a disappearing TV screen CAM vanishes with a hand gesture (seriously, there’s nothing there. Give it a rewatch, gif is mine).

By the way, who’s POV is it in this video CAM is showing them? Mary’s? It’s not Sherlock’s - we can see Sherlock’s back.

Update: I’ve received comments about that screen, claiming it’s a holographic screen, but look at this gif - John watches it (the screen is there), turns around (the screen disappears), asks ‘you put me in a fire for leverage?’, CAM speaks and moves towards the screen that is no longer there and supposedly removes it again.

There are two interesting items on CAM’s table: one lonely, tempting Apple (well, it is the Garden of Eden) and Sherlock’s mirror thingy. Yes, the same one that will be heavily featured on T6T.

- CAM mentions Mary’s wet jobs for the CIA - this isn’t the last time Sherlock explicitly considers Mary has an American connection/is an American. Think about Mary with American accent after running away in T6T .

- I wonder if Sherlock telling John that the mission to Eastern Europe is six months long, as Mycroft estimates (and Mycroft is never wrong), is bleeding from ‘real life’ in which Mycroft and John discuss Sherlock’s survival chances/expectancy. If it is, perhaps that’s why the airplane takes off - Sherlock decides to go up to a higher level and explore his situation (he takes drugs, supposedly, but perhaps he actually moves from Mind Palace to Dream Manor).

- I wonder if Sherlock comes up with Rosie in his mind and symbolized it with Mary wearing a Rose brooch.

- What if ‘Miss Me’ doesn’t actually mean what we think it does, in the context of  “notice or feel the loss or absence of ”, but is actually supposed to be the opposite - did you miss me, did you fail to notice me, to connect the dots about me.

Think about who asks that question throughout S3 and S4 (arguably, all in Sherlock’s Mind Palace) - Moriarty, Mary (in her posthumous video messages) and even Mycroft in TAB (’so, did you?’).“Missing” is a contranym, after all, one word with two opposite meanings.

- “Who needs me now?” “England”, is Sherlock in his scenario exploration assuming Mycroft (=“England”) is behind bringing Sherlock back. This is being called back in TAB when Mycroft summons Mary, who tells Mrs. Hudson “England” needs her.

- The East Wind is Coming - 1) If the East Wind is indeed the end of the official ACD canon, in which Sherlock’s saying to Watson that the world is about to change, I sort of admire Moftiss for using this as the bookend, a tell, to tell us that this is where thing will stop making sense in ACD terms. From that point on, they break out of canon and arguably the story into their own ‘canon’ - the final problem of Sherlock becoming ‘human’ (I’m grossly oversimplifying it). We’re propelled immediately from the airport to Theatre of Absurd we’ll see in S4, because Sherlock is breaking the rules of the story (by shooting CAM, instead of Mary shooting CAM like in canon) - the East Wind is coming, and now we’re heading slowly into post-canon. 2) I love that I’m getting the sense that Sherlock’s brain makes John low-key threaten Mary by saying the East Wind is coming in an ominous tone. Translation: ‘Hey, wife, Sherlock is about to realize just how super gay he is for me and I for him so wrap up warm’.

Thoughts? I’m sure I’m not the first one to find some of these things, let me know if you deserve credits. Screengrabs are from here and CAM’s gifs at Appledore are mine.

some of these ideas i remember being discussed before, or variations on them, but it's always very interesting to have a fresh take on an episode. both for the "i noticed that too" bits, and the "ah, a different perspective" bits.

[TJLC] Distracted by AGRA (or the many hints about personification of death in The Six Thatchers)

A FEW DISCLAIMERS: - I’m not a native English speaker and this wasn’t betad, so excuse the less-than-perfect English (although you’re about to find out what native language actually is). - I’m very new in the fandom and in reading/writing meta, this would be my second meta post tbh, so excuse the amateurism. - Everything I’m about to write here is based on very quick and easy Google searches. I’m BY NO MEANS AN ACADEMIC! I’m not well versed enough in any form of literary analysis to claim more than that, but perhaps this post will be a breeding ground for new ideas. If you are an academic and you find these interesting - please go ahead and expand on them. - 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.

tl;dr: The Six Thatchers seems to be full of hints about the personification of death and cultural/religious representations of it, in a way that may even hint that that Mary = death, and/or that Moftiss were very preoccupied with the idea while writing it. It should be noted that I find these tidbits interesting in the context of well-established TJLC theories I’ve been reading up on a lot lately, namely EMP and M-Theory. I found these details interesting in the context of reading TST as something that’s happening in Sherlock’s MP as he’s dying and suspecting that Mary is dangerous and perhaps even linked to Moriarty.

AGRA > Samarra > The Four Angels of Death

As these things always go, I’ve been re-watching episodes while researching my WIP fic ‘Turned’. I have this new habit these days of only listening, instead of actually watching the episode in search of a fresh perspective. This time I was blown away, once again, by Sherlock and Mycroft’s conversation about AGRA. It’s a VERY odd conversation considering the topic, and what caught my ear this time was Mycroft mechanically reciting facts about the city of Agra. Why Agra, I asked? What’s so important about it? Nothing, the way I see it. One search led to another and I looked up Samarra, thinking perhaps I’ll find some connection between the two cities, but couldn’t.

The search for Samarra and the parable about it led me to the Appointment in Samarra wiki page, which mentions that the title of the book comes from a retelling of an ancient Mesopotamian tale by W. Somerset Maugham (the source of the next quote is here):

There is also a very interesting study guide link from this website, which asks some very interesting questions about tale, such as Maugham’s decision to make Death a non-omniscient narrator of this tale, as well as a woman. I’ll return to Death being referred to as a woman later. However, since I have no expertise in literary readings, I’ll leave it to others who might be to add some more here.

More below the cut:

Keep reading

wow, interesting!! I love the set of questions at the end, those definitely sound like the kind of things Sherlock could be asking himself at this point.

m-theory was one of the very first things i read after watching s1-3 in 2014, before i had developed not just my own understanding of the show but any proficiency at analyzing media generally. it undoubtedly had an influence on my understanding of the show it was just SO long ago and my understanding of the show changed so much after s4 anyway that i just really have no sense of what aspects of m-theory are still consistent with that and which aren't

it's been a while since i read it too, but my recollection is that it mainly addresses the surface level of the story? like, mycroft and moriarty as actual people doing stuff on or off screen to influence events.

while most post s4 meta has moved on to the structure and subtext. which was also happening in s3 hiatus, and even in s2 hiatus, but not as much.

hey I had unshared the TJLC archive folder but I just put it back up

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-R0-ikRKha4Si1rUnF6WHBmRG8

@loudest-subtext-in-tv

thank you!

[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​

Interesting meta @therealsaintscully - thanks for tagging me! :) Yes; it would make sense to me too that the skeleton case should basically be about John’s new relationship - why otherwise would John’s voice in Sherlock’s head talk about jealousy? In the middle of a case that supposedly has nothing to do with jealousy? The “show off” accusation seems right, because this is Sherlock’s usual behaviour, and John has always criticized it, like he does in THoB:

He might have commented on Sherlock showing off his powers of deduction many times, so it’s logical that Sherlock should hear him say that in his head too. But the “Are you jealous?” line doesn’t make sense; why would Sherlock be jealous of anyone in this case, and of whom? Of Molly doing her actual forensic job? Nah. And why would John call him out on it? We’ve never heard John call Sherlock out on being jealous - ever. John doesn’t even seem to believe Sherlock can “feel things that way”, and he would probably never assume that Sherlock could be jealous of someone, least of all him. If he hadn’t spotted it with Sherlock’s reactions to his ‘serial dating’, John wouldn’t likely spot it now either. Molly herself says it directly after Sherlock tells his MindPalace!John to shut up: It doesn’t make sense.

But Sherlock’s subconscious - if we assume he has a heartbreak - might very well beat himself over the head with this accusation in John’s voice. Maybe Sherlock tries to reason with himself, pointing out how ridiculous he is to be jealous of John’s fiancée. But then the ‘culprit’ shows up on the cover of a book: the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. I believe that whenever serial killers or ‘serial adulterers’ show up in this show, they’re always John mirrors: the cabbie and Jennifer Wilson in ASiP, the Mayfly man in TSoT, Culverton Smith in TLD. Sherlock tries to rid himself of Sentiment, but it gets to him every time, through his subconscious. ;) 

I also do agree that Mary might be planted by Moriarty to burn Sherlock’s heart out; how else would Moriarty keep his ‘promise’ from TGG otherwise? But I might be biased here, since I already believe that Mary did not shoot Sherlock in the heart with a gun in HLV. :) To me this (and the whole of HLV) happens entirely inside Sherlock’s head, and the bullet to his heart symbolises his heartbreak caused by Mary. MindPalace!Moriarty even confirms this when he talks about “pain, heartbreak, loss” rather than just “pain”, which would be more logical after having been shot with a bullet.

[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.

Part 2

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)