Irene Adler & Mary Morstan
In my previous meta, I found several common characteristics between Casmir (Irene’s perfume) and the perfumes named in Sherlock’s deduction as he recognizes Claire-de-la-Lune.
I find this connection between Irene and Mary quite meaningful. On the surface, these two characters share some characteristics, but they are in fact two formidable opposites.
Irene & Mary: two similar characters
To this day, Irene and Mary are the only women who managed to avoid Sherlock’s powers of deduction. Actually, in both cases, Sherlock realizes he’s facing a disguise, but fails to fully understand the person in front of him. Sherlock recognizes both characters as clever.
Irene and Mary both beat Sherlock, following the same steps: 1) fool his powers of deduction, 2) shooting him (Irene drugs him, Mary fires a gun at him). After hurting Sherlock, the two women are self-satisfied and gloat.
Irene is a very sensual and seductive woman, sure of herself, her intelligence and assets. She is a woman of power, she likes to be free and doing exactly what she wants. She doesn’t actively choose/defend a side: she follows people she’s interested in (Moriarty, then Sherlock).
Mary possesses most of these characteristics. She is a woman of power, using her job (assassin) and seduction/playfulness to dominate people. She sure likes having an ascendant on people (we see it through her relationship with John and Sherlock throughout series 3). She shows herself as being very self-confident too, borderline (!) arrogant, like Irene. She is very sure of her skills, especially when she shows Sherlock (and John, oops) her gun-aiming skills.
It is also interesting to note how Mary’s character is associated with mischief, playfulness and wickedness. Similarly, Irene says it herself: she likes to misbehave.
Irene associated with Moriarty to play a nice trick to the Holmes brothers. However, she commited herself far too much into the play and ended up falling in love with Sherlock.
Mary is clearly associated with Moriarty in the show, even if we don’t know explicitly about their relationship or where she stands now. Most likely, Moriarty’s plan was to put Mary on John’s path after a traumatic event and make him fall in love with her (like he put Irene on Sherlock’s path after a traumatic event - the pool - to make him fall in love with her). However, I believe Mary definitively fell in love with John (in a selfish way) and it screws up Jim’s plan.
Irene looks a lot like Sherlock and shares his best assets and weapons/tricks (brilliant mind, faking her death, riding crop). Like him, she uses her powerful brain to do something that she likes (dominating people vs him helping people).
Mary looks a bit like John and shares his best assets/weapons/tricks (witty, feeling responsible of other human beings, medical knowledge, gun skills, posing as an inoffensive person while being a dangerous alpha). However, she uses her skills in a wicked/”dark” way (she is destructive while John tries to help people and do good).
On the surface, Irene and Mary seem to be very similar characters.
Irene and Mary: a study in opposition
It is interesting to note that, when we look at their character’s arcs, Irene and Mary follow two very different paths.
Indeed, at first, Irene appears as a threat, a dangerous force working against Sherlock. She drugs him, hits him with a riding crop, taunts him, is sexually aggressive… If we’re attentive, we can see subtle clues of her real intentions behind the cold mask.
However, as time passes, her character takes a softer tone and she becomes an ally. Her presence helps Johnlock, and she actively tries to make both boys realize their feelings for each other and stop them from hiding their sexual orientation and impulses.
Irene protects Sherlock and his secret (his sexuality and love for John) and, in the end, isn’t shown as a bad character. Sherlock obviously likes and respect her, as a person. He recognizes Irene is on his side and has helped him tremendously. He is ready to help her if needed in return.
Interestingly, Mary takes the exact opposite path.
She is introduced as an ally (of John, Sherlock and their relationship), a person willing to help Sherlock. Sherlock respects her as a person, he respects her relationship with John. If we look close enough though, we can see clues of her real intentions.
However, we end up discovering Mary’s true nature: a dangerous force working against Sherlock. She hurts him with words and uses violence against him. In the end, the show clearly associates her with words like wicked and bad (from one of the most disgusting characters, aka Magnussen!).
I don’t think John likes Mary very much after discovering she shot Sherlock, and he clearly disrespects the fact that she is an assassin. He also knows Mary isn’t good for him and actively threatens Sherlock; he most likely is planning to destroy her as soon as he sees the opportunity.
Mary and Irene have opposite roles regarding the reationship between John & Sherlock.
Irene seeks to push the boys together and make them understand their own feelings. She makes John face his true sexual desires and forces him out of his straight fake persona. She protects Sherlock’s heart.
Mary actively tries to keep John and Sherlock apart and positions herself as the center of a love triangle. She forces John and Sherlock to repress their feelings and attraction for each other, forces John back in his straight fake persona. She hurts Sherlock’s heart.
While appearing as an obstacle, Irene greatly helps John and Sherlock’s relationship, whereas Mary, while playing cool and posing as the link between the two forces them apart.
I see another symbolic opposition between Mary and Irene. Irene is a brunette who likes to misbehave, she is very free in her sexuality. She technically makes people pay to have sexual favors from her. Mary is the image of the luminous blond bride with child. We could see Mary as a twisted representation of a Madonna (/Virgin Mary) (and there is a direct reference to “Madonna” in TSOT, the episode where Mary marries and Sherlock discovers her pregnancy ; plus, Mary’s a dark mirror for John and John wears the bristol with “Madonna” written by Sherlock) and Irene as a twisted representation of a whore.
The Madonna and the whore is the classic dichotomy between two schematic representations of women. We can thus see a great symbolic opposition between Mary and Irene.
Also, funnily enough, the Madonna-whore complex is namely the inability to maintain sexual arousal within a committed, loving relationship. OH MY GOD, JOHN! Tbh, it really looks like an accurate description of Mary and John’s marriage to me, but I could be wrong (or not).
Speculation related to this opposition: Mary’s end
In the end, Irene almost gets killed but is saved by Sherlock. After that, she leaves and hides (most likely in the US?). However, we’ve seen Irene and Mary are shown as two opposites, both from a symbolic point of view and from Johnlock’s narrative arc.
Therefore, I believe Mary’s end will happen the exact opposite from Irene’s almost-death.
See, Irene was on her knees threatened by a man standing behind her (btw, the man behind her was Sherlock, a traitor to the group). She chooses to send a message to Sherlock before accepting her fate… But: big twist! We hear Sherlock’s characteristic ringtone and Irene is saved at the last minute.
Knowing Mary, the opposite works quite well. It is easy to picture Mary standing in front of a kneeling man, threatening him (as we discovered her assassin identity as she was threatening a kneeling Magnussen at gunpoint).
Most likely, by the well-known laws of opposition, the threatened man would be Sherlock (another possibility is John, but less likely). Mary, the standing woman, is a traitor. Two possibilities: the kneeling man or Mary send a message to their beloved (John). Following the message: big twist! We hear a ringtone. The kneeling man is saved at the last minute and the recipient of the message kills the people threatening them.
To me, it makes more sense to have Sherlock as the kneeling man. Indeed, if Mary is to be killed, it must be John’s choice, and it’s his turn to take a dramatic action to save Sherlock.
Hence => Mary threatening a kneeling Sherlock at gunpoint (most likely gloating), one of them sends a message to John Watson. As Mary is ready to kill Sherlock, we hear the ringtone. BIG REVEAL, John was there the whole time (like Sherlock was there for the whole “I’m not gay/Well I am, look at us both” discussion between John & Irene). Sherlock opens in eyes and realizes John (the man he loves) is here. Then,we have a shot of John’s face as he speaks shortly to one of them (likely Sherlock? … But the two work: Sherlock speaks to a woman he doesn’t love but who loves him before killing the threatening people; so John could speak to the woman who loves him but whom he doesn’t love, aka Mary) before killing (most likely shooting) Mary.
A dramatic end for an amazing opponent.
I can’t wait to see Janine’s arc, as she seems to be another strong woman working with Moriarty most likely to hurt Sherlock.
This opposition between Mary and Irene strenghtens my belief that we’ll see Irene come back in the show.
