Closet Metaphors in Sherlock Series 4

We’ve made a lot of posts about potential closet metaphors in Series 4–like John Watson, trapped in a well, or Eurus, trapped on a plane. But we’ve mostly focused on individual instances. My question was: What do the trends among all the closet metaphors in Series 4 tell us?

So, I made a list of every potential closet metaphor I could find in Series 4. And it turns out that they all share 5 unifying factors: the victim, 1) a Sherlock or John mirror, is 2) trapped, 3) harmed, and 4) unrecognized for 5) far too long. They all reveal the harm that comes from keeping them in the closet. But they also suggest that once we know that they’re trapped, it won’t be too hard to make their relationship clear for all to see.

How does this play out in Series 4?

=== THE CLOSET METAPHORS ===

1. Charlie Wellsborough (TST)

Charlie, a Sherlock mirror, dies hidden behind the seat in TST but remains trapped there until a week later.

2. The circus case (TST)

We see this post from John’s blog:

A limbless body found decomposing inside a trunk in left luggage office in Waterloo station couldn’t be identified…

An unidentified body is found murdered and locked in a trunk. It’s been there so long that it’s already decomposing.

3. Vivian Norbury (TST)

Norbury is a John mirror. She’s a widow with a drinking problem; Sherlock even asks her, “Widowed or divorced?” in the same way that he asked John, “Afghanistan or Iraq?”. She’s trapped in a physically small apartment and at a desk job that doesn’t recognize her abilities, ending up lonely and arguably insane.

4. Sherlock in the trunk (TLD)

Sherlock is literally trapped in the trunk of the car wearing painfully tight of the handcuffs.The whole charade was planned two weeks ago, and John doesn’t understand how Sherlock could have planned something that occurred so much later.

5. Faith Smith (TLD)

Faith is an almost offensively obvious John mirror. She inflicts self-harm and lives trapped “in isolation” and hidden from others (she has “no human contact, no visitors”).

Bonus metaphor:

Look at the size of your kitchen: teeny-tiny…Must be a bit annoying when you’re such a keen cook.

Combination food and closet metaphor! John wants to express his love (wants to cook), but trapped in the closet (small kitchen), he can’t express his feelings (cook).

6. Culverton’s attempted murder (TLD)

Culverton chokes Sherlock, simultaneously trapping him in his grip and forcing him to stay silent. Culverton points out that no one will realize that Sherlock’s being murdered, because “no-one wants to suspect murder if it’s easier to suspect something else“. Sherlock’s room is locked, and he nearly dies because John doesn’t realize that Sherlock’s in danger and almost gets there too late.

7. The therapist in the closet (TLD)

Eurus kills a therapist (Sherlock mirror) and hides her trapped inside the closet. She’s been there since John changed therapists. My eternal thanks to @gosherlocked and @sagestreet for pointing this out and inspiring this meta.

8. The girl on the plane (TFP)

The girl, a Sherlock or John mirror (depends on your interpretation), is trapped on a plane that will crash and kill her but nobody realizes that it’s actually Eurus, trapped in a “plane” since childhood.

and on a metaphorical level

9. Sherrinford (TFP)

Eurus, a Sherlock or John mirror (depending on interpretation), is trapped in a prison. Sherlock and John denied or didn’t know she existed for years. She feels lonely and unhappy. However, the prison is glass and she is ready to escape at any time.

10. “I Want to Break Free” (TFP)

Self-explanatory.

11. The governor’s wife’s murder (TFP)

Sherlock and John are both trapped behind glass as they take too long to decide whether to shoot the governor. The governor’s gagged wife dies, and so does the governor.

12. Garridebs (TFP)

Howard Garridebs, like John, has a drinking problem and a tremor in his hands. He’s tied up and gagged, and he dies because Sherlock doesn’t realize that Eurus will kill him even though he’s innocent.

(I’m sure there’s a meta on this and on mirroring with the other Garridebs, but I can’t find it for the life of me.)

13. The coffin scene (TFP)

The coffin, which would contain a dead person, belongs to Molly, a John mirror. Sherlock nearly takes too long to get her to say “I love you” because she doesn’t realize that her life is in danger. Bonus mirroring: Sherlock smashes the coffin and saves Molly from the threat of death, just as John and Sherlock’s love would free John from the harmful effects of the closet.

14. Sherlock’s entrapment (TFP)

Sherlock is trapped in what he thinks is a prison cell. a room filled with memories of his childhood. He can’t get out immediately because he doesn’t realize that the walls are fake, and he can exit at any time.

15. Redbeard (TFP)

Victor Trevor, a John mirror, is killed and hidden in a well, where he remains for many years because Sherlock doesn’t know that he’s there.

16. The well (TFP)

John is trapped in a well that will slowly fill up with water and kill him. Sherlock nearly doesn’t find him in time because he doesn’t know where John is.

=== WHAT IT MEANS ===

In each of these cases, we see the harmful effect of being closeted (in the canon and in the audience’s mind) on John and Sherlock. The trapped people get hurt, often killed. Worse, just as the audience doesn’t know that John and Sherlock are in love, and John and Sherlock are unaware of each other’s affection, they can’t do anything about it. They’re trapped in the closet because nobody knows that they’re in there.

The length of time for which these people are imprisoned may reference the 130 years of closeted silence, but it might also be a nod to the fact that there was no canon Johnlock in S4. Alas, we have to keep waiting.

But there’s a spot of hope! Because there’s one more unifying factor that occurs only in examples from TFP: Once Sherlock or John knows that the person is trapped, it’s easy to free them.

The girl on the plane doesn’t crash because it’s just Eurus, who Sherlock can comfort. Eurus can exit her cell easily. Sherlock just pushes out the walls of the room. John magically escapes from the well. They don’t die because they escape–and it turns out that it’s not that hard to escape once you know you’re trapped.

Sherlock and John’s love won’t die, trapped in a metaphorical closet. Once they know that they love each other they can free themselves. And once the audience knows that they’re in the closet, they’ll have come out for the world to see.

Finally, their relationship will be free from silence.

Tags under the cut. I’d really appreciate it if anyone knows of other closet metaphors, or of meta on these that I didn’t see.

All direct quotes from episodes are from arianedevere’s transcripts.

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sarahthecoat

this is excellent! I just the other day rb a meta about the s4 promo photo of the “burned out flat” and the open cupboard/closet doors on either side of john & sherlock. Havent had my tea yet, or i’d go find it. This all makes me very hopeful!

Wasn’t the other term given to small food kitchens a cupboard, also?

@tendergingergirl True true!

@sarahthecoat @may-shepard I was referencing this post, but I see that you guys have already found it :)

@devoursjohnlock said:

With respect to the coffin scene, I kind of love that we’ve reached the point where they don’t have to go to the trouble of filming a scene for deletion anymore; they can just say, “this is the scene we wrote but shot something else”.

Being “trapped” is such a Doyle theme, too. The stories that I tend to classify under “this offer is too good to be true” usually have an element of being trapped and imprisoned, often by a family member or by a false or surrogate family member. Watson mirrors are imprisoned by mirrors for his stern military father – or by mirrors of the character we know as Mary. Holmes mirrors are usually imprisoned by Mycroft mirrors. I doubt the use of the closet as a metaphor extends back to the 19th century, but regardless, these are “closet” stories.

Yes, absolutely! The fact that Molly was originally locked in the coffin definitely adds to the closet metaphors. And yeah, the imprisonment theme is absolutely a trend in the stories and frankly in most queer gothic novels ~~which i need to write that meta about already~~

Thanks, everyone!

-soe

possiblyimbiassed

Excellent compilation @sherlock-overflow-error! I particularly like the hopeful prospect, that it’s quite easy for them to come out once they realise the possibility.

gosherlocked

@possiblyimbiassed: this is just brilliant, thank you so much for this meta. I will think about other possible metaphors but this is quite an impressive collection.

How about Ajay who was trapped in Tbilisi and later escaped? We also see him in a small room drinking alone.

Sorry, @sherlock-overflow-error, of course this is your meta. My mistake. 😊

@gosherlocked Ah yes, thank you! That one should definitely go on the list.

raggedyblue

Oh brilliant @sherlock-overflow-error!

Under duress of his emotions (Eurus), Sherlock confesses his love to Molly (John). It turns out that no one dies as result of that. That no one would ever die … Sherlock rightly resents the damn coffin / cabinet that made them waste so much time