Saving John Watson

What a funny coincidence, right? Exactly the same wording. And there is more. We do not know for sure who sends the skip code. We assume it is Magnussen but the first message is addressed to Mary whereas the following are directed at Sherlock. Anyway, Mary is involved. It is her decision to turn to Sherlock - something she is not told to do by the sender. Which is strange if we remember her skills. She could have driven the motorbike herself. 

And in TLD it is Mary herself who sends the message, a video presciently recorded before her death. At least we are meant to believe this. But it happens in an episode that is full of prescience if not clairvoyance. 

Strangely enough, in TEH the immediate danger to John is far greater than in TLD. Sure, he seems depressed but he is not drugged and put into a fire, right? 

Another thought: In TEH Mary is leading Sherlock into danger in order to save John. In TLD Mary is leading Sherlock into danger in order to save John. 

But how can we interpret this on a symbolic level? Well, it is Mary (whatever she may represent here) who is sort of uniting Sherlock with John. In both episodes Sherlock and John have been estranged and in both episodes it is Mary who brings them together again. Which is remarkable since we usually tend to see her as divisive where the two men are concerned. 

This is quite a jumble of thoughts and I would love to hear your ideas.     

@ebaeschnbliah, @sagestreet, @sarahthecoat, @tjlcisthenewsexy,  @possiblyimbiassed, @raggedyblue, @someovermind, @shylockgnomes, @sherlockshadow, @hemlock-her-loss, @devoursjohnlock, @loveismyrevolution, @beingallmysterious, @i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes, @sherlock-overflow-error

I love these thoughts @gosherlocked !!

Especially as there’s still a draft waiting in my metas with the exact same name! And it’s waiting there since before shooting s4 even started!! So it didn’t even involve teh!! And still I concluded back then that “save John Watson” is the main theme of the show! All that shown and explained by the score/soundtrack/music (as was to be expected with me 😆) and you know what?? It all already started in tbb - the episode which gave us codes to decipher problems/the show! Coincidence?

Maybe this meta will eventually be finished… 😬

But back to your post. Nice observation with Mary being the connecting factor when the boys are estranged. Not exactly sure what to make of that… but I was thinking if maybe her being a Sherlock mirror had anything to do with it?! Same as Eurus connecting them being a mirror, mirroring them both actually… connecting link?! The two psychopath ladies being matchmakers? Maybe even unwillingly, unintended? Hmm… just rambling here…

And the two times Mary sends Sherlock into danger to rescue John… I actually see development here… One time Sherlock has to actively rescue John himself, the second time it’s more indirect as John’s reactions on Sherlock being in danger are rescuing him. He’s also rescuing Sherlock here… (#sherlockholmeslives = #johnwatsonlives)

And also here Eurus combines and comes into the game… because she puts both of them in danger for both to be rescued….. Again without intending to do so imo…

There are more thoughts, but they’re even more a mess than these already written out… maybe I’ll add them later.

But well, let me just say it again… definitely SAVE JOHN WATSON !

@ebaeschnbliah @possiblyimbiassed @devoursjohnlock @sagestreet @sarahthecoat @sherlockshadow @shylockgnomes @raggedyblue

Good points, @loveismyrevolution  I haven’t seen your comment in time to add to it. Just this …. the music emphasises the idea that Mary represents a certain aspect of Sherlock. It’s definitely not the sound for a villain. Would love to read another music meta of yours. :))))s 

yes, me too! I don't pick up on the music very easily, so music meta is very helpful!

Saving John Watson

What a funny coincidence, right? Exactly the same wording. And there is more. We do not know for sure who sends the skip code. We assume it is Magnussen but the first message is addressed to Mary whereas the following are directed at Sherlock. Anyway, Mary is involved. It is her decision to turn to Sherlock - something she is not told to do by the sender. Which is strange if we remember her skills. She could have driven the motorbike herself. 

And in TLD it is Mary herself who sends the message, a video presciently recorded before her death. At least we are meant to believe this. But it happens in an episode that is full of prescience if not clairvoyance. 

Strangely enough, in TEH the immediate danger to John is far greater than in TLD. Sure, he seems depressed but he is not drugged and put into a fire, right? 

Another thought: In TEH Mary is leading Sherlock into danger in order to save John. In TLD Mary is leading Sherlock into danger in order to save John. 

But how can we interpret this on a symbolic level? Well, it is Mary (whatever she may represent here) who is sort of uniting Sherlock with John. In both episodes Sherlock and John have been estranged and in both episodes it is Mary who brings them together again. Which is remarkable since we usually tend to see her as divisive where the two men are concerned. 

This is quite a jumble of thoughts and I would love to hear your ideas.     

@ebaeschnbliah, @sagestreet, @sarahthecoat, @tjlcisthenewsexy,  @possiblyimbiassed, @raggedyblue, @someovermind, @shylockgnomes, @sherlockshadow, @hemlock-her-loss, @devoursjohnlock, @loveismyrevolution, @beingallmysterious, @i-believe-n-sherlock-holmes, @sherlock-overflow-error

Yes, @gosherlocked  It’s quite strange how the character of Mary Morstan/Watson is presented. As you say, on both occasions she acts as an intermediary between John and Sherlock to reunite them. This doesn’t make the least sense for a supposedly jealous wife. But it doesn’ t make sense either that Sherlock seems jealous as hell of Major James Sholto, a man who clearly belongs to John’s past, instead of Mary, the woman John is about to marry. That’s neither a common nor a realistic behaviour in a situation like this. 

Even before S4 aired, I had started to view Mary in a different way, on a different level and the new series only encouraged my considerations. Especially the promo pics for TFP show Mary (and most of the other main characters) in an outfit similar to Sherlock himself. And I guess the reason for this - and for quite a lot of similarities Mary shares with Sherlock - is, that she is not an autonomous character but represents, like Eurus, a very important part of Sherlock himself.  Mary is not the woman who comes between two men, she is Sherlock’s facade which - up to a certain point - Sherlock wants to keep for protection. And only when he is finally ready to part from his facade, emotions and memories (Eurus) start welling to the surface of his mind.

Source of pics  x

I really really like this shortcut to Mary=Sherlock’s facade @ebaeschnbliah !! You know I love your Mary=Sherlock mirror meta. But this sums it up and narrows it down rather perfectly!

yes! I'm just starting to catch up with this discussion, wow.

SAVING  JOHN  WATSON

________________________________________________________________

ONCE AGAIN PLAYING WITH MIRRORS ON THE BASIS OF SYMBOLISM

GOING TO DINNER TO CATCH A KILLER

Keep reading

This is truly brilliant - I think you’re on to something very interesting here, @ebaeschnbliah! Because there are indeed lots and lots of parallels between the Pilot/ASiP and TLD, and indeed the show seems to go round in circles - or “round and round the garden like a teddy bear”. Which according to Sherlock doesn’t matter. :) All that matters to him is the work = the case he’s figuring out at the moment = how to save John Watson. He’s usually completely focused on the mission at hand, and isn’t interested in anything else just out of curiosity; it has to be useful for his case. 

But there are also differences between these three episodes, enhanced by the contrasts of the likenesses. The whole story of TLD seems to be some kind of re-hashing of the Pilot/ASiP story; it’s like Sherlock is running scenarios in his Mind Theatre, based on the same questions, but with the ‘actors’ a bit altered each time, which gives a slightly different outcome. Like in data-modeling, when you change some of the parameters, you can get a slightly or a completely different outcome from the next run, depending on which parameters you change and how much. 

Let’s say, like you do in this meta, that Sherlock’s initial quest is to ‘save John Watson’. Now the question is: why is Sherlock doing this several times? What did Sherlock want to find out in TLD, that he didn’t manage to figure out in the Pilot or in ASiP (or any other scenario)? And was he more successful in TLD? 

You suggest ‘Mary’ is an avatar for Sherlock, which could very well be true in my opinion - at least after TSoT, because I don’t think Sherlock is a cat lover, like he deduces ‘Mary’ to be in TEH (I’m going by @sagestreet‘s cats and dogs metaphors in his Follow-the-dogs meta series here). But ‘Mary’ shoots Sherlock in HLV, so if she is Sherlock, that means he makes an attempt on his own life - a suicide attempt. And then he claims that it isn’t actually a killing; it’s “surgery” which actually saves his life. As if it were somehow necessary.

But isn’t that exactly what he did in TRF; killing himself to save John Watson (or at least trying to make it look that way)? And in the Pilot and in ASiP and in TLD, where he goes to pick a fight with a bad guy, a serial killer, putting his own life in danger so that John will save him, thereby saving himself? Somehow, it always seems to come down to this: Sherlock thinks he needs to attempt to kill himself in order to save John, as if his own life weren’t important as such. 

But in TLD he actually admits it: “I don’t want to die”. And then John tells him that the plan didn’t work; he’s never gonna be OK, and he didn’t go after Sherlock to rescue him because Sherlock’s life was in danger, but because ‘Mary’ told him to. And John (=Sherlocks heart) tells him to contact Irene (his Libido), because that will make him completely human - completely alive. So maybe the new factor in this scenario is Sherlock’s insight that it doesn’t work to put himself in danger; he has to actually stay alive and be human to save John Watson, which is the Final Problem. In other words: Sherlock needs to wake up from his coma - stop dying - and admit having feelings to John, show that he’s truly human. 

@gosherlocked @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @loveismyrevolution @tjlcisthenewsexy

Thanks @possiblyimbiassed  for your wonderful comment on this old post of mine. You are completely right, there is a pattern that runs throughout the whole story and it repeats itself over and over … every time disguised in a different ‘outfit’. Like the creators say and Always said: It’s not about the cases. That’s just smoke and mirrors. There is only one case Sherlock is working on …. at first. Then he realizes that he has to go deeper to solve another case first if he wants to conclude the first one. And this old case is - at its root - also about himself. 

I guess the main questions Sherlock mulls over are: What made me? and What to do about John? To understand his investigations, his deductions and his conclusions, we propably have to translate the language of his mind, in which they are told. :)

@gosherlocked @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @loveismyrevolution @tjlcisthenewsexy @sherlockshadow

Oh I love when old metas come back @ebaeschnbliah!! 

and all you’ve said in the OP and also @possiblyimbiassed ‘s additions are saying much eloquenter and much more to the point (and much more understandble) what I wanted to say in the comment on your own meta @possiblyimbiassed Terror By Night !!

In that comment I tried to explain why I think BBC Sherlock is also “A case of an alumium crutch” and this is exactly what I meant! Getting rid of the crutch as symbol of “saving John Watson”!! The crutch as symbol of being suicidal! And there I also took the turn to Sherlock realising that he doesn’t want to die as you pointed out in your comment now, too. 

Because -  and here I come back to an old comment of myself to the this very post - saving John Watson means also saving Sherlock Holmes. This always goes both ways, forward and backward, round and round like a teddy bear…

#Sherlockholmeslives = #Johnwatsonlives = #Sherlockholmeslives = #Johnwatsonlives = ……

I have the feeling I still don’t make sense… :’’’-)

(sidenote: this reminds me of a music-meta to prove exactly this point still waiting in my drafts for years now with this very same title! Thank you for reminding me ;-)… This asks for a TLD rewatch very soon!!)

@gosherlocked @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat

Oh but I totally agree @loveismyrevolution - #sherlockholmeslives = #johnwatsonlives! This show totally goes round and round like a teddy bear. :))) I just hope for S5 that the circle will be broken, even if John and Sherlock will always keep on saving each other in some way. The thing is, I want the suicidal theme to be done and over with; ”your life is not your own - take your hands off it!” If they can openly be together, they can finally stop the viscious circle of rescuing each other from heartbreak- and loneliness-induced suicide. John can stop trying to fit into a heteronormative suburban life with wife, car, two-and-half-kids and an ’ordinary’ job that bores him to death. He can reconcile with his gay side sister. Rather than having a clinic, John can try publishing his works about him and Sherlock for a living (that’s what ACD did, after all :) ). And Sherlock can stop smoking and escaping his repressed feelings with drugs, stop wearing the ’funny hat’ which he hates, and stop playing martyr once and for all. But I also think this has to do with the meta level: the old stereotyped character of Sherlock Holmes needs to come truly alive, because the alternative is tragedy, that these two fantastic characters would be frozen in a kind of Limbo, and who on earth would benefit from that?

@raggedyblue @sarahthecoat

yes! OK i gotta rb another from avalera about TLD.

SAVING  JOHN  WATSON

________________________________________________________________

ONCE AGAIN PLAYING WITH MIRRORS ON THE BASIS OF SYMBOLISM

GOING TO DINNER TO CATCH A KILLER

Keep reading

This is truly brilliant - I think you’re on to something very interesting here, @ebaeschnbliah! Because there are indeed lots and lots of parallels between the Pilot/ASiP and TLD, and indeed the show seems to go round in circles - or “round and round the garden like a teddy bear”. Which according to Sherlock doesn’t matter. :) All that matters to him is the work = the case he’s figuring out at the moment = how to save John Watson. He’s usually completely focused on the mission at hand, and isn’t interested in anything else just out of curiosity; it has to be useful for his case. 

But there are also differences between these three episodes, enhanced by the contrasts of the likenesses. The whole story of TLD seems to be some kind of re-hashing of the Pilot/ASiP story; it’s like Sherlock is running scenarios in his Mind Theatre, based on the same questions, but with the ‘actors’ a bit altered each time, which gives a slightly different outcome. Like in data-modeling, when you change some of the parameters, you can get a slightly or a completely different outcome from the next run, depending on which parameters you change and how much. 

Let’s say, like you do in this meta, that Sherlock’s initial quest is to ‘save John Watson’. Now the question is: why is Sherlock doing this several times? What did Sherlock want to find out in TLD, that he didn’t manage to figure out in the Pilot or in ASiP (or any other scenario)? And was he more successful in TLD? 

You suggest ‘Mary’ is an avatar for Sherlock, which could very well be true in my opinion - at least after TSoT, because I don’t think Sherlock is a cat lover, like he deduces ‘Mary’ to be in TEH (I’m going by @sagestreet‘s cats and dogs metaphors in his Follow-the-dogs meta series here). But ‘Mary’ shoots Sherlock in HLV, so if she is Sherlock, that means he makes an attempt on his own life - a suicide attempt. And then he claims that it isn’t actually a killing; it’s “surgery” which actually saves his life. As if it were somehow necessary.

But isn’t that exactly what he did in TRF; killing himself to save John Watson (or at least trying to make it look that way)? And in the Pilot and in ASiP and in TLD, where he goes to pick a fight with a bad guy, a serial killer, putting his own life in danger so that John will save him, thereby saving himself? Somehow, it always seems to come down to this: Sherlock thinks he needs to attempt to kill himself in order to save John, as if his own life weren’t important as such. 

But in TLD he actually admits it: “I don’t want to die”. And then John tells him that the plan didn’t work; he’s never gonna be OK, and he didn’t go after Sherlock to rescue him because Sherlock’s life was in danger, but because ‘Mary’ told him to. And John (=Sherlocks heart) tells him to contact Irene (his Libido), because that will make him completely human - completely alive. So maybe the new factor in this scenario is Sherlock’s insight that it doesn’t work to put himself in danger; he has to actually stay alive and be human to save John Watson, which is the Final Problem. In other words: Sherlock needs to wake up from his coma - stop dying - and admit having feelings to John, show that he’s truly human. 

@gosherlocked @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @loveismyrevolution @tjlcisthenewsexy

Thanks @possiblyimbiassed  for your wonderful comment on this old post of mine. You are completely right, there is a pattern that runs throughout the whole story and it repeats itself over and over … every time disguised in a different ‘outfit’. Like the creators say and Always said: It’s not about the cases. That’s just smoke and mirrors. There is only one case Sherlock is working on …. at first. Then he realizes that he has to go deeper to solve another case first if he wants to conclude the first one. And this old case is - at its root - also about himself. 

I guess the main questions Sherlock mulls over are: What made me? and What to do about John? To understand his investigations, his deductions and his conclusions, we propably have to translate the language of his mind, in which they are told. :)

@gosherlocked @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @loveismyrevolution @tjlcisthenewsexy @sherlockshadow

yes!