Loonyloveslovegood

[fangirlsovertoomanythings]

The way that most of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories’ most horrible villains are rich dudes that are abusive to women, in a time such as the 1880’s, compels me.

[gardnerhill]

There’s a whole subset of Sherlock Holmes stories that could be labeled Asshole Guys Try to Control Women’s Money.

[three--rings]

Yup, there’s a huge number of times where Sherlock Holmes is the ONLY person to take a young woman’s complaint or worry seriously and finds out someone is up to some serious evil.  Holmes also shows a lot of compassion and empathy with the victims over and over again.  (This is why I find “Secretly a woman” or “Trans” Holmes headcanons much more convincing than “sociopath” Holmes.)

[waterhobbit]

I am never going to shut up about how much I specifically love The Adventure of The Copper Beeches because it is literally Sherlock Holmes listening to a young lady he does not know except as a potential client, agreeing with her that a potential job she has interviewed for that she thinks is SUPER SKETCHY is, indeed, sketchy as fuck and when she says she’s probably gonna take the job anyways because the money is good and she needs it going “OKAY I GUESS but for the love of god please write to us so we know you’re okay we will literally drop everything and jump on a train if you want us to”.

The job turns out to indeed be sketchy as fuck, she writes to them, Holmes and Watson drop everything and jump on a train when she asks them to. I read this story for the first time when I was twelve and it made a HUGE impression.

[three--rings]

This is also the basis for a lot of speculation about Holmes’ family life.  The idea that he has been a victim of abuse, or his mother was abused (or even murdered by his father.)  There’s definitely SOMETHING that makes him very aware of how dangerous isolated families can be, and the dark things that can happen behind closed doors.  Plus, of course, the motivation to devote himself to stopping crime.  And yes, so much of it is of the personal type. 

[volkswagonblues]

dude see this is one aspect of the original books i NEVER understand why modern remakes (cough cough) don’t go all in on. Like, in the 21th c we HAVE all the dumb forensic shit that made Victorian Holmes stand out, but we STILL DON’T HAVE uh….you know, compassion for women and minorities, or the willingness to believe them, adequate community support for domestic violence or hate crimes, etc. etc. which you’d think is exactly where a renegade consulting detective would come in handy. A good modern day Sherlock Holmes remake, instead of trying to convince us that Holmes is some super genius for being better than fingerprint analysis or whatever, could have him just be…a good person who helps out people the police can’t and won’t help. There you go. That’s how to write a relevant modern Holmes.

[fahbee]

One thing that annoys me is how much the BBC version of Sherlock (and the fandom around it) focus on police cases or cold cases.  In the stories, Holmes’ bread and butter cases had fuck-all to do with the police and in a few stories, he actively works around/against them, or outright lies to them.  Of the many, many things I wish that show had done differently, this is one is particularly obnoxious since it’s such a gimme.

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

There were very few actual murder cases in the Canon, and Holmes handled them either one of two ways:

Option one: The murder victim was innocent while the killer was an abusive bastard, see Speckled Band. Conclusion, arrest and have the killer charged (Or in the case of Speckled Band, indirectly murder him yourself then shrug and go home)

Option two: The victim was murdered to protect someone that the victim was abusing, or for vengeance, see Boscombe Valley, Devil’s Foot, Abbey Grange. Conclusion, Oops, I don’t know who the killer is, I am suddenly incompetent, oh look a pheasant.

[faejilly]

#my favorite murder in holmes canon#is when they straight up witness a lady murder her blackmailer#do nothing except destroy his other blackmail material#and then straight up lie to lestrade about it#sherlock holmes#more of this in modern adaptations pls (via @cactusspatz )

[muffinworry]

Let’s not forget the time Holmes helps a young woman who’s being catfished by her own stepfather to steal her inheritance, and when the villain sneers that the law can’t touch him, Holmes grabs a horsewhip out of sheerest chivalry.

[smokingtigerhiddengun]

So, the most canon-accurate iteration of Sherlock Holmes in the last few decades is actually Benoit Blanc….

[marzipanandminutiae]

I think it’s also important to note, and complicates our ideas about what the highly patriarchal/misogynistic society of 19th century England looked like, that these stories SOLD

they were POPULAR

the Victorians LIKED reading about women who won out over shitty men in their lives, even when that plotline reaffirmed a woman’s power and agency or put an active sexist in his place (ie Irene Adler besting Holmes)

which is fascinating in light of. you know. [gestures broadly at all of Victorian gender dynamics, laws, etc.]

[tiktoks-i-enjoyed]

[maidspare]

They need to make out sloppy style

[creepyalphabet]

Jesus/Judas

as it's white thurday (is is also called that in english?) I was watching the annual passion play that is televised, and every year i'm reminded of the ship potential between Jesus and Judas. They sing multiple breakup songs together and Judas marks Jesus by kissing him on the mouth. There is so much angst potential in that relationship and gay bible fanfic is fun, so does anyone have any fanfic recs for Jesus/Judas to read over easter.

[patronsaint-ofthedenial]

As a certified Twisted Understander I think the reason it works so, SO well as a subversion of a disney movie is because on the one hand, yeah, with enough creativity you can reimagine Jafar as a misunderstood antihero, but you don't even have to reimagine anything in order to be sold on the idea of Aladdin being an unreliable narrator who's actually a scumbag. That guy steals shit and causes mayhem in the process but justifies it because he's poor, but like how well-off are the people that he fucks over? He's not even upset at the fact that there's poverty and suffering, he's just upset that HE'S poor. Then when he gets lamp, he uses it to lie about being a prince so he can get with a girl he just met.

If I had only seen the movie, and someone said "hey, what if Jafar was actually the misunderstood hero all along and was just scapegoated by everyone else?" I would be like okay, sure, and Cruella wants a coat made out of puppies because dalmatians killed her mom. Movie Jafar is a villain, I guess you COULD reimagine the character and make him a good guy, but then you'd end up with a completely different story. Get outta here.

But in that same scenario, if they said "hey, what if Aladdin was actually a selfish and entitled asshole actively making things worse for everyone else, and was also a sex pest, and the movie is just his own fabricated retelling of the events where he paints himself as a sympathetic outcast?" I would believe that in a heartbeat. In that case you could tell me that Aladdin is the one painting Jafar as an evil scheming old man and I would be like actually that makes a lot of sense.

[creepyalphabet]

Table of the Pitt ship popularity

I was wondering when the robby/whitaker ship started to takeoff, because to me it seemed like it was suddenly everywhere, so I made a table about the popularity of several ships, I didn't include all, just those I thought might be relevant. I thought some other people might find it interesting so here it is. Also does anyone know why its popularity boomed so suddenly?

[purpleisdebeste]

I’m sorry Orpheus i was too harsh on you…

[purpleisdebeste]

i was in the physics lab today and we were working with lasers, so the Lab Freaks (legal name) were being very careful to stress that we Do Not Turn Around or Look Behind Us because we’ll get extremely blinded by the power of high strength lasers

and i’m not gonna lie it was actually extremely hard to resist turning around. i misjudged orpheus it turns out this isnt extremely easy actually

[purpleisdebeste]

okay i’ll be honest i 100% looked back at the lasers. actually multiple separate lasers multiple different times. they were pretty

and i didnt get blinded. so clearly lab safety isnt real and you should always risk it cus taking risks is awesome #gambling

but uh. my ass is NOT making it out of the underworld 🔥🔥🔥

[overnightshipping]

[wondersmith-and-sons]

foreman. babe. we’re at the bottom end of season 8. you have worked here for almost a decade. why are you still surprised there's medical malpractice going on at the medical malpractice department that you, personally, used to do medical malpractice at

[wondersmith-and-sons]

some of my fave tags on this post

god this show is truly bonkers isn’t it.

[purpldology]

I do think they took drugs while doing promo pics because WHAT IS THIS FOR?? PLANE EPISODE?!

[12doomed]

soliloquy of the hourglass

[creepyalphabet]

I Baked a cake today:

Meet Bert

[greghousebignaturals]

Okay back on my bullshit about episode 3x12.

The patient asks House, "has anything terrible ever happened to you?"

And House panics and sedates her when she says she's just trying to give him what he wants, a conversation that matters.

House goes to Wilson first and he's the only one who asks House, "has your life sucked?" Which is a completely different question than what his patient asked, but he at least asked instead of projecting. He gets to the heart of it, she wants House to be real, to tell the truth, and it scares House. Wilson wants him to tell the truth and overcome that fear and move beyond science, into the realm of emotions and feeling, a recurring theme in their relationship.

House goes to Cameron, "tell her your life has been good." House replies, "it hasn't been". "Tell her anyways, she wants hope, that what happened to her wasn't the norm, that things can be okay for her again." This is so inherent to who Cameron is, prioritizing false hope and comfort so people are buffered from reality for as long as possible. We see it in her patient this episode, the young woman she befriends who's going to die in an earlier season, her dead husband. Her life hasn't been bad, she's helped a lot of people, what's happened to her isn't normal, so at some point statistically things will get normal for her. She's fine (she's not), she'll be okay (she hopes).

House goes to Foreman, "tell her your life sucked." "It didn't." "Tell her anyway, she wants to know she's not alone, she wants to know she's going to survive this, that other people have been through this and worse and come out the other end. She wants to know she's going to heal. Act like you've healed." Again this is so indicative of Foreman's character. He's put up a lot of walls, and he's done whatever he's needed to and then some to get where he is today. Sometimes you've gotta lie to get ahead, it is what it is. He's self taught himself in order to get into college and med school, he's stolen people's articles, he's turned his back on his brother because if he turned his life around, why didn't his brother? It has to be inherent within himself. Sometimes things suck, but you pull yourself together and move on; if youre strong enough you can do this. People have gone through worse than him and come out the other side better than him. He's pretending this doesn't bother him. He does his best to pretend his feelings about this aren't complicated. He's fine (he's not), he's moved on (he hasn't).

House goes to Chase, "tell her...keep her asleep." Chase never got closure with his dad, never had a blow out argument about how shitty it was that his dad left him as a child in the care of his alcoholic mother. How damaging that was to him, and how it defined so much of his character. He now never will get the chance to talk with his dad, and his only option is to try to move on alone, truths unshed to the person he should have shared them with. Just...leave her asleep. He's fine, there's no other choice.

One truth, two lies, and an abstention as advice. There is no way for House to truly give a whole, complete, unbiased statement about the trauma he very much still has effects from so that this woman can extrapolate and apply it to her own life. As he tells Chase, there is a right answer, probably out there somewhere, but we just don't know what it is. House somehow wraps all of the advice he received into what he tells her. He initially tells most of the truth (Wilson), but he abstains from telling her it was his father (Chase). He admits that what happened to him, while it sucked, was not as bad as what he thinks happened to her - drawing from Foreman. He even tried giving her some hope if you squint - his parents never knew, and that's why they never stopped his grandmother. It's not like they're bad people (Cameron)! It's just so interesting to me how House decided to prioritize their advice into the answer he gave her but that's another post tbh.

Unlike his fellows House doesn't pretend to be okay, he's fundamentally not. He's not going to be okay, he can't pull himself together, he can't move on alone. His patient is the only one who doesn't let him slide, who doesn't take his lies, his deflections, his snide comments as an excuse to move on but continues to point blank ask him to be not okay with her. She doesn't want to be not okay alone, but then again neither does he. So he brings her to a jogging park where he watches people living a life he can no longer have so they can be not okay together - a jogging park that while both Wilson and Cuddy find him there, are willing to come to him in his solitude to be there for him, it's implied he's never mentioned it to them and he's never brought them there to share in his vulnerability.

Sometimes hope and healing looks like talking to a Dr. Stone in a hospital bed, and sometimes it looks like finding a person just as alone and sad as you, and him sharing a beautiful place he can no longer enjoy, where nobody is watching and there are no right or wrong answers because neither of you ask any questions.

[malcolm-f-tucker]

so maybe this was obvious to people with more media literacy than me but. house in the burning building is really house md's version of the reichenbach falls, right. right?

in the original canon, holmes fakes his death and goes on the run for three years, alone, because it's the only way that he can guarantee that he and watson will not be hunted down by moriarty's surviving agents. he deliberately chooses to keep watson out of the loop, deciding that it's in his best interests to believe that holmes is dead. by holmes's own account, the three years he spent apart from watson were quite enjoyable -- he travelled the world, and got to spend time on one of his favourite hobbies, chemistry research. the way he tells it, he barely misses him. the crucial thing is that this sequence of events happens relatively early on in the sherlock holmes canon. holmes is still young and closed off and unable to acknowledge the depth of his relationship with watson.

contrast this with house, whose reichenbach comes at the very, very end of the show. we hit the bottom of the eighth season with a character who has suffered misery and cruelty and addiction and is stuck in this cycle of depression because he's convinced that people don't change, that he can't change. when he did try to change, it worked, until it didn't, until someone he loved fell ill and his new coping mechanisms were not entrenched enough to prevent a relapse into the drug use that throughout the show has threatened to destroy his life and relationships.

then, he's confronted with his reichenbach. whilst holmes faced a physical battle with his nemesis, house fights a mental battle against his own worst enemy -- himself. the advantage that house has over holmes is that by this point he truly knows and understands the value of his relationship with wilson. they have had many long years together that holmes and watson could only dream of at this point. and so when house fakes his own death, it's not to save wilson, like in the holmes canon -- it's to save their relationship. to give the two of them, together, just that little bit more time.

there's something to be said here also about how water merely cleans whilst fire purifies and makes anew, but maybe that's a post for another time.

[cannibalgender]

2025 House MD Chase is a transgender woman. The whole team argues about whether or not it’s appropriate for House to perform her bottom surgery. Wilson is against it and Chase CLAIMS she’s against it but secretly she’s interpreting him doing it as approval from her dad boss for her transition. Taub doesn’t gaf, he’s just pushing Chase to get a boob job and leaving the cards of surgeons who will do that on her work area. 13 finds herself attracted to Chase now that she’s presenting fem and has a whole crisis where she sleeps with 12 blonde women in one week. Wilson and Chase make a bingo card of transmisogynistic jokes and tells House if he doesn’t get a bingo by the end of the week he can do the bottom surgery. He gets 3 bingos but all the jokes are about Cuddy so he argues it shouldn’t count.

[abstractfrog]

THE GLORIA SCOTT - now all in one place ! once again thank you to candy and also owl for yelling at me 💛

[creepyalphabet]

Ok, so I need to rant about Oogappels. Its a dutch drama tv series that follows multiple families with teenage children that to me, is the show that most accurately depicts a ton of different family dynamics. I am currently watching it with my family, we are on season 6 and there was a scene that made my father who I have never seen cry at any tv show or movie shed actual tears. It is an amazing show and also has good casual queer representation.

I am not sure whether it is available anywhere with english subtitles but I would love for it to gain some more international recognition because I want to obsess over it online. I need more than just the two fanfics that are currently on ao3

[ariemfox]

james wilson is so autistic to me. like look at this bit:

like what do you mean you follow a social contract, wilson. wdym you spend all your time ruthlessly analysing/scripting people's potential responses and reactions beforehand. wdym your entire life is a compromise to social expectations and arbitrary rules. wdym that you can't even pick furniture that you like because you are so far-removed from yourself that you don't fucking know what you like. wdym that house is the only person you can unmask with, wilson. wilson, tell me, what do you mean.

[helianthus-hellion]

modern-day house m.d. episode where the patient is transmasc and on T, and after house reads his file he goes in and is reading off prescriptions like "estradiol cream, finasteride, prescription face wash, prescription deodorant... god, it's like you don't even want to be a man!" and the patient says "just because i wanna be a man doesn't mean i have to suffer all the shitty side effects" and house goes "it's all shitty side effects! being a man sucks!" before tossing the file down on the little tray table thing and leaving.

chase and cameron exchange A Look in the room and then while they're walking down the hall cameron's like "we should talk to him about it - maybe he'd be... happier? if he transitioned?" and chase rolls his eyes and is like "just because he thinks being a man sucks doesn't mean he's trans, every guy hates being a man at least some of the time" and then cameron gives him Another, Slightly Alarmed Look

we cut to house and wilson and wilson's looking at him like he's insane, going "so you... told the patient that being a man sucks?" and house laughs and says "sure did! i wanna know which will take longer - cameron coming to me concerned about my gender, or chase realizing he should be concerned about his gender. her gender? eh, probably easier to just stick with 'his' for now." wilson accuses him of being a sociopath and house looks fake-wounded and says "you know, if i am a sociopath, you're being ableist by attributing my cruel actions to my sociopathy, and if i'm not a sociopath then it's even worse that you're accusing me of being one just because i'm mean."

cuddy approaches house later and tells him that she heard about what he told the patient, and she is required both to make him take sensitivity training and also to provide him resources on transitioning if he wants to pursue that. house asks if him being a woman would make cuddy bisexual, and she raises and eyebrow and says "that ship sailed long ago" and doesn't elaborate on whether she means she isn't into house anymore so it doesn't matter or that she already is bi. house starts cyberstalking her to try to figure out if she slept with any of the women she's friends with on facebook. the team comes in to tell him about a new symptom and he shows them a photo of cuddy from college with a hot girl at a halloween party and is like "do you think they ever fucked? i think they fucked. even if they didn't, i'm gonna imagine they did." foreman tries to get them back on track but chase leans in to get a better look at the photo and it turns out to be wilson in a costume. there's an awkward beat of silence before cameron goes "SO, back to the patient!" and house makes a sort of dismissive "huh? oh, yeah, go test him for [whatever]" while staring intently at the photo.

he confronts wilson about the photo, wilson admits it's him, house starts by going "oh, yeah, but i'm the one having a gender crisis" but accidentally says "sexuality crisis" instead and wilson is like "house do you... do you think i'm hot in that photo?" and then we cut to chase asking cameron if she thinks he could pull off an outfit like that and they discuss it a little while doing a blood draw or LP or whatever. the patient gives them both A Look and is like "you know, you can get wigs and breast forms pretty cheap these days..." and chase is like "hm? oh, yeah i guess one of those costume supply sites would probably have stuff like that huh," and the patient raises his eyebrows at cameron who just shakes her head a tiny bit.

house accuses cuddy of sleeping with his best friend in the clinic lobby and she drags him into her office to ask what the hell he's talking about and he shows her the photo. she's like "yeah, we were at a halloween party together in college, so what?" and house says that wilson makes a really hot chick and asks if that's what awakened cuddy's "bi side," and cuddy just rolls her eyes and tells him to stop projecting his sexuality crisis onto her just because he thinks his best friend is hot. house asks if wilson was at least a good lay and cuddy says "find out for yourself!" before kicking him out of her office again.

house goes back to his office and cameron is pacing outside the door, and she looks nervous when he walks up to her. she follows him into his office and she has clearly prepared A Speech about how if he doesn't like being a man he doesn't have to be, and he doesn't even have to be a woman either, there's options, and it's never too late to transition no matter what people say, and he cuts her off like "yes yes you're very supportive, you clearly aced sensitivity training" and then he has the episode's Epiphany and it turns out that the patient transitioned too early and there was some (largely made-up and not actually backed by irl medical science) complication from starting his transition as a teenager, and the patient is like "oh so you're saying i did this to myself?" and house says "well legally at least, either your parents or the governor of new jersey did it to you - depends on who approved the hormones."

wilson comes up to him at the end and is like "you know, it's okay if you think i'm hot. and it's also okay if you're a woman. if you... ever need any tips on passing as one, i'm happy to help."

the ending is left ambiguous as to house's actual gender identity and, much like the autism episode, it kinda feels like the writers' room was full of heavy debate about whether house should be trans or not. we also never actually circle back to the fact that chase is definitely trans, it never comes up again, and this move pisses off both trans people and allies who wanted it to become A Story Arc and anti-trans people who are mad it even came up in a single episode, absolutely nobody is happy about how they handled that subplot.