Sherlock Meta Collection

A place to share and collect meta ideas for Sherlock. I believe in EMP!   hemlock-her-loss meta side blog. Check out my own personal meta under the "My Meta Ideas" link. Enjoy :)

[sherlock-meta-collection]

William Sherlock Scott Holmes

Ok, so maybe someone else has brought this up already and I have just missed it or forgotten, but I'm watching Sherlock Holmes in New York at the moment (wiki link), and here he gives his full name as William Sherlock Scott Holmes!

[sherlock-meta-collection]

Mini-meta: You, Me, and I

Name code in BBC Sherlock.

You - Sherlock

Me - Mary (actually Sherlock's twin sister, still need to write this meta.. anyway, Mary Elizabeth - ME)

I - Mycroft (think Eye, like the all seeing eye, Big Brother)

Also: Someone, Nobody, and Anyone

Got this clue from Nemo Holmes. In the Odyssey, Odysseus shoots the Cyclops' eye out, and when the Cyclops' asks who has done this to him, Odysseus answers "Nemo", which means no one (or nobody) in Greek.

Still trying to sort out who is who, definitely sure Anyone is Mycroft because of the association with Culverton Smith (I think Mycroft is the actual big brother baddie of BBC Sherlock, again, still need to write this meta properly..). And when Molly says John would rather have "Anyone, but You" it means he would rather have Mycroft's help than Sherlock's (and we all know how much John looooves Mycroft's shenanigans). I thought Someone was Sherlock, but considering Someone and Me were both on Faith's list in TLD, I'm not sure. Although, in a way, Someone (You, Sherlock) did kill Me (Mary), so maybe I'm right.

I think that Sherlock and Mary developed this code when they were children in order to be able to talk about Mycroft without him knowing (I think he was a ln eavesdropper, even as a child).

Will expand later. But go back and watch at least S4 with that code in mind and you'll see there is even more going on than it seems (and S4 is already a ducky pile of spaghetti if there was one).

[sherlock-meta-collection]

Just to add some support for my conclusions, here is a previous gif set I created, which I admit now, even though I didn't fully understand the double (triple, quadruple??) entendres going on here. This show is a multidimensional onion, too many layers!

@raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @ebaeschnbliah @gosherlocked @possiblyimbiassed

Not sure if anyone is still meta-ing along. I've been out of the game for quite some time myself, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

Happy New Year!

[sherlock-meta-collection]

Actually, just had a thought: Nemo must be Mary, since she shoots the Cyclops' EYE out. Anyone might actually be Sherlock since I have the feeling there is also a code to do with the Anemoi (Greek wind gods, of which Eurus is one). I think Sherlock is Boreas, the north wind, which is sometimes considered the NE wind (NE1, anyone). Mycroft is actually Eurus, TFP is about him, not the secret sister (well, it's that as well, but Eurus in TFP is all Mycroft's doing). Mary is Zephyrus, the west wind. And as a little bonus I think Mummy Holmes is Notus, the southern wind. Notus is both warm and stormy, and we know that Mummy Holmes can get "absolutely monstrous" and she is obviously a lady that likes a little danger considering she wrote her thesis on the Thermodynamics of Combustion (Mummy likes bombs).

Anywho, think that's all for now. Hopefully I can use all those codes and write a bigger meta later, but who am I kidding, I most likely won't...

@ebaeschnbliah @possiblyimbiassed @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @gosherlocked

[sherlock-meta-collection]

Mini-meta: You, Me, and I

Name code in BBC Sherlock.

You - Sherlock

Me - Mary (actually Sherlock's twin sister, still need to write this meta.. anyway, Mary Elizabeth - ME)

I - Mycroft (think Eye, like the all seeing eye, Big Brother)

Also: Someone, Nobody, and Anyone

Got this clue from Nemo Holmes. In the Odyssey, Odysseus shoots the Cyclops' eye out, and when the Cyclops' asks who has done this to him, Odysseus answers "Nemo", which means no one (or nobody) in Greek.

Still trying to sort out who is who, definitely sure Anyone is Mycroft because of the association with Culverton Smith (I think Mycroft is the actual big brother baddie of BBC Sherlock, again, still need to write this meta properly..). And when Molly says John would rather have "Anyone, but You" it means he would rather have Mycroft's help than Sherlock's (and we all know how much John looooves Mycroft's shenanigans). I thought Someone was Sherlock, but considering Someone and Me were both on Faith's list in TLD, I'm not sure. Although, in a way, Someone (You, Sherlock) did kill Me (Mary), so maybe I'm right.

I think that Sherlock and Mary developed this code when they were children in order to be able to talk about Mycroft without him knowing (I think he was a ln eavesdropper, even as a child).

Will expand later. But go back and watch at least S4 with that code in mind and you'll see there is even more going on than it seems (and S4 is already a ducky pile of spaghetti if there was one).

[sherlock-meta-collection]

Just to add some support for my conclusions, here is a previous gif set I created, which I admit now, even though I didn't fully understand the double (triple, quadruple??) entendres going on here. This show is a multidimensional onion, too many layers!

@raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @ebaeschnbliah @gosherlocked @possiblyimbiassed

Not sure if anyone is still meta-ing along. I've been out of the game for quite some time myself, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

Happy New Year!

[sherlock-meta-collection]

Mini-meta: You, Me, and I

Name code in BBC Sherlock.

You - Sherlock

Me - Mary (actually Sherlock's twin sister, still need to write this meta.. anyway, Mary Elizabeth - ME)

I - Mycroft (think Eye, like the all seeing eye, Big Brother)

Also: Someone, Nobody, and Anyone

Got this clue from Nemo Holmes. In the Odyssey, Odysseus shoots the Cyclops' eye out, and when the Cyclops' asks who has done this to him, Odysseus answers "Nemo", which means no one (or nobody) in Greek.

Still trying to sort out who is who, definitely sure Anyone is Mycroft because of the association with Culverton Smith (I think Mycroft is the actual big brother baddie of BBC Sherlock, again, still need to write this meta properly..). And when Molly says John would rather have "Anyone, but You" it means he would rather have Mycroft's help than Sherlock's (and we all know how much John looooves Mycroft's shenanigans). I thought Someone was Sherlock, but considering Someone and Me were both on Faith's list in TLD, I'm not sure. Although, in a way, Someone (You, Sherlock) did kill Me (Mary), so maybe I'm right.

I think that Sherlock and Mary developed this code when they were children in order to be able to talk about Mycroft without him knowing (I think he was a ln eavesdropper, even as a child).

Will expand later. But go back and watch at least S4 with that code in mind and you'll see there is even more going on than it seems (and S4 is already a ducky pile of spaghetti if there was one).

[sherlock-meta-collection]

arianedevere

arianedevere - the new blog in LiveJournal. There should be new interesting records soon.

I often forget to link back, so I thought I would give a PSA and a shout-out. Anyone wanting really accurate and well done Sherlock transcripts, check out arianedevere on livejournal (yeah this site is still alive somehow).

[coffeeteaitsallfine]

TFP is impossible to watch or post about in a normal way! it’ll just be like:

welcome…to the final problem. Who was it said, truth is rarely pure, and never simple. the patience grenade. MAINTAIN DISTANCE OF THREE FEET Good and bad are fairytales. We have evolved to attach an emotional significance to what is nothing more than the survival strategy of the pack animal. We are conditioned to invest divinity in utility. Good isn’t really good, evil isn’t really wrong, and bottoms aren’t really pretty. You are a prisoner of your own meat.  Did you bring it? My hairband. Did you bring it like I asked? My special hairband. The one I made you steal, from Mummy. Smiling is advertising. Why was I your favourite? ’Cause I could make you laugh. I loved it when you laughed. Once I made you laugh all night. I thought you were going to burst. I was so happy. Then Mummy and Daddy had to stop me, of course. I want to BREAK FREE! I’m falling in L-  Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tock, tick-tock Howard’s a lifelong drunk. Pallor of his skin, terminal gin blossoms on his red nose and terror notwithstanding a bad case of the DTs. Mind the gap. I LOVE YOU So, it’s for somebody who loves somebody. It’s for somebody who loves Sherlock. This is all about you. Everything here. So who loves you? I’m assuming it’s not a long list. Look at the coffin. Unmarried, practical about death, alone  Why are you doing this to me? Why are you making fun of me? Molly, this is for a case. It’s…it’s a sort of experiment. I’m not an experiment, Sherlock.  Please, just say it. I can’t. Not to you. Because…because it’s true. It’s always been true.  You say it. Go on. You say it first. I love you. I love you.  Hey, sis, don’t mean to complain but this one’s empty. What happened? Did you run out of ideas?  I’m in a well. That’s where I am; I’m in the bottom of a well. I am lost help me brother save my life before my doom I am lost without your love save me soul seek my room. Every time I close my eyes, I’m on the plane. I’m lost. Lost in the sky and no one can hear me. Open your eyes. I’m here. You’re not lost any more. Help me save John Watson. I̴t̷’̵s̸ ̴n̴o̷t̶ ̶g̶o̸o̶d̶,̴ ̷i̴t̴’̶s̷ ̸n̷o̸t̸ ̴b̶a̶d̴.̵ ̴I̴t̴’̵s̴ ̴-̶-̴ ̸I̷t̵ ̴i̵s̵ ̴w̶h̶a̸t̶ ̷i̶t̶ ̸i̸s̵.̴ ̵I̵t̵’̸s̴ ̴a̸l̶l̵ ̵a̸b̷o̵u̷t̷ ̵t̶h̴e̸ ̵l̶e̸g̵e̸n̸d̶,̶ ̵t̸h̸e̷ ̴s̸t̷o̶r̴i̶e̵s̸,̵ ̴t̶h̵e̸ ̸a̸d̵v̴e̷n̷t̵u̶r̶e̵s̸.̶ ̶t̷h̵e̵r̴e̶ ̵a̷r̴e̵ ̴t̶w̸o̶ ̴m̶e̵n̶ ̸s̷i̸t̶t̸i̸n̸g̶ ̴a̸r̸g̴u̵i̷n̵g̵ ̴i̴n̸ ̸a̸ ̵s̸c̸r̷u̶f̴f̴y̸ ̶f̷l̶a̸t̴ ̸l̸i̵k̶e̸ ̸t̶h̴e̷y̴’̷v̸e̸ ̴a̵l̴w̵a̵y̴s̶ ̷b̷e̶e̷n̸ ̷t̶h̸e̸r̴e̴ ̸a̴n̷d̵ ̶t̶h̴e̴y̴ ̸a̷l̶w̶a̶y̴s̴ ̵w̸i̴l̷l̸.̷ ̶F̷̲͙͑̂͌͆̀͂̊̐̇̚̚̚R̸͔̩̤̘̩̭̥̭̹̩͎̫̘͙͍̓͋̈̋͊̊͑̓̈́͑̐͝͝͝ͅE̵̢̧̨̱̫͔͔͉͈̞̯̪͇͚͌͌̽͌̆̑͋̊̈̽́͐̀E̷̢̛̦̯̰̩͌̉͑Z̶̡̹͇̤̝̟͚̻̖͗̎E̴͚͖̥̳̍̒̊̊̉̾͋̽͌̾̂̽̅͝͝ ̶̹̭͈͍͔̟͊̇̈́̓̂͆͛̀̈͜͠F̸̧̝̘͈̲̠̞̥͓̝̓̉̒̀̒̿͝͠Ṙ̶̡͒͝A̸̧̭̜͒͌̈́̈́̊̂̐̌̈̔̎̉̕̕̚͝ͅṀ̸̧̻̤̭̙̙̈E̷̡̨̩͈̘͇̭̹̺̼͌̀!̴̨̛͖̪̝̭͈͕̦͙̺̟̆̒̓͋

[love-y-o-u-3000]

Mary’s death was beyond unrealistic: a short summary

Quotes in the second pic, taken from here.

[sherlock-meta-collection]

SHERLOCK S5 IS ALREADY OUT!

I don’t have time to explain everything right now, and I don’t think you guys want me to, because that’s half the fun.

Season 5 of Sherlock hasn’t been released in the way that we were all expecting, the usual three episode run with Ben and Martin, but if you’ll let me explain, you’ll see it’s something even cooler.

I know we have all been sitting here losing hope that S5 will ever come out. But a few of us obsessives are still here kicking around with meta, hoping to find some clue or cipher that will finally make sense of all the symbolism and strange coincidences that just don’t make any sense in Sherlock.

Well, I have the cipher for you guys, watch The Devil’s Hour.

When you do it, pretend as if you are Lucy and Moffat is speaking to you through Peter Capaldi’s character, Gideon Shepard. I’ve pieced together the conversation over two episodes from transcripts. This isn’t the complete story, just a teaser to get you to see for yourself.

A Conversation between You and Steven Moffat

Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: The things I'm gonna tell you tonight... are going to sound unlikely. I'd like very much for you to listen and then I want you to lie to me, I want you to tell me, convince me that you don't believe me.

Lucy [You]: Why?

Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: If he thinks you believe what I'm about to tell you, he'll decide that you're unstable. If you say you don't believe me, he can't prove that you're lying. Look at me, look. He can't prove that you're crazy.

Lucy [You]: But what if I am? Crazy? ....

Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: You're not crazy. You must never think that. I know it's hard. I know that everything seems irrational. Impossible. But you're completely sane. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. ...

Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: I can help you understand.

Lucy [You]: You're just playing games.

Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: No, this is not a game. What we're doing here is more important than you know.

Lucy [You]: What I know is they're gonna lock you away. And we are never gonna speak again.

Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: Please don't do this. What about your son? Isaac [Sherlock]. That's why you're here. You still have questions. I can help you answer them.

... Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: I can't imagine how you must have felt. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that you had to go through it.

Lucy [You]: Shut up!

Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: All right.

Lucy [You]: Just tell me why.

Gideon Shepard [Moffat]: 'Cause it's, it's, it's not... it's not what you think.

The Devil’s Hour is teaching you how exactly to understand the world and mind of Steven Moffat and how he thinks about symbols and stories. He is also explaining to you his larger plan for the Sherlock stories.

All the things we have been discussing over the past 5-6 years are completely spot on, but we didn’t have quite enough information or hope that what we were talking about was true. I’m not just referring to Johnlock in this case (which is part of the story for sure), but a much larger story going on beneath the surface narrative. It involves Mycroft and “Moriarty” largely in a way that some have already discussed with M Theory and The Game Theory. But it’s even bigger than that, and even more exciting.

Season 5 of Sherlock hasn’t been released in the way that we were all expecting, but Season 5 of Sherlock is being released RIGHT NOW and it has been going on since at least Dracula. Start with the media that Hartswood Films have produced following S4 and you’ll see.

The big important ones for S5 alone are Dracula, it starts out by explaining what happened to Sherlock after he jumped from Bart’s and goes up until the present day.

Then comes Inside Man, it is hard to explain why, but this is Mycroft’s “confession” to Sherlock. Sherlock is Jefferson Grieff and Mycroft is the vicar character Harry Wattling. The show is so bullshit and eye rolling, because we are hearing the story from the perspective of the criminal, of course nothing makes sense, because they are lying to make themselves look good.

Finally comes The Devil’s Hour, which tells you not to give up and makes the symbolism and message clear as to what Moffat is trying to accomplish.

I think the story actually started with Jekyll. All of these stories are actually telling one great story, inside what is essentially Steven Moffat’s marvel universe!! He is being Alan Moore and playing with all the Victorian superheros (in addition to Doctor Who), just in a slightly different way. Instead of telling one story where all the characters are in the same world together, you tell one story which takes place across the different worlds of the characters.

He has been teasing us about it for a long time with Doctor Who and Sherlock crossover references. Well, those weren’t references my friends, THAT’S THE SHOW.

I only realized all of this after watching The Devil’s Hour a few days ago, so I don’t have all the details to prove it. For now, it all sounds like crazy nonsense, but if you are still here reading, you must be convinced at some level. Give me a chance. We really weren’t crazy after all guys, just didn’t quite get as far as we needed to go.

[hemlock-her-loss]

Sherlock Meta - The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain

Whelp, I’m writing meta when I should be finishing my master’s thesis, so not much has changed in my life… Anyway, I delved back into TAB, because I still feel like understanding TAB is the key to making sense of S4.  I was reading about the Pepper’s Ghost illusion, and I stumbled upon a story by Charles Dickens, called: The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, the connection being that: 

Pepper first showed the effect [Pepper’s Ghost] during a scene of Charles Dickens’s The Haunted Man¹.

The story is the fifth and final of Dickens’ Christmas stories, the first and most famous being A Christmas Carol. Of course my interest was immediately piqued, because we know that Mark Gatiss has a great fascination (or obsession) with ghost stories, and particularly Christmas ghost stories. I haven’t yet read the story, so the following information is what I’ve gathered from different articles, which I’ve included links to at the end.

The protagonist of The Haunted Man is Redlaw: 

a brilliant teacher of chemistry…whose lonely existence is oppressed by a host of gloomy memories…Redlaw broods in solitude upon the pall of his misfortunes, summoning a desire to be rid of every recollection of suffering, unhappiness, and wrong that he has ever known².

Already the Sherlock similarities are pretty intense: a brooding, brilliant individual who has studied chemistry, lives a relatively solitary existence, and is haunted by memories from his past. And what exactly is the past event that so haunts Redlaw? The death of his sister in his youth.

Keep reading

[hemlock-her-loss]

Wildean Epigrams

I was reading an article about metaphor analysis in The Importance of Being Earnest and the closing section was on Wildean epigrams:

“An epigram is a short, ingenious, and witty poem or prose statement. Wilde evolved his own style of epigram, which has come to be known as the Wildean epigram. The Wildean epigram consists of a short, witty, and outrageous statement, which is then expanded upon in an even more outrageous statement. Often, these statements are inversions of some cliché or truism, but they touch on some unexpected truth.”

They go on to use the famous epigram from Importance of Being Earnest as an example, the first half of which the Sherlock fandom will know from TFP. However, the epigram in its entirety is actually:

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!” 

I admit that I’ve only read synopsis and analysis of The Importance of Being Earnest, so I didn’t know the quote was incomplete, personally. I don’t have much to add other than the fact that I feel like this points even more to the possibility that, at least TFP was some kind of fanciful fever-dream on the part of god knows who. Sort of like the magician that tells you exactly what they are about to do before their trick, and yet they still pull off the illusion.

[misseddagger]

Given that the entirety of the Importance pretty much is; ‘who cares if you make up stuff or lie - so long as it’s *entertaining*!’ 

Or, perhaps more to the point; ‘if you’re dissatisfied with life, make shit up that makes it better.’ 

It’s really taking the narrator to extremes. 

So in terms of Sherlock it could be someone’s making shit up about Mary dying. Someone could be making shit up about baby Rosie. Someone might be inventing shit about a beating in a hospital mortuary. And someone may be free-associating an escape-room Bond/horror movie. There’s a lot of shit being made up in s4. There’s no shortage of options… 

[raggedyblue]

I think it is more something that has to do, as in Wilde too I belive, with the question of what the truth it is, that is something verifiable, otherwise we could even speak of faith. And we know how the verifiability of data and events is important for Holmes. But not everything can be verified, and although we can verify a result, we can not always verify every single passage that led to that conclusion. The motivations behind the truths are what make the truths not simple and not pure as well. The intrinsic subjectivity behind some truths, and in Sherlock we are analyzing a type of truth, which with his regret, is intimate and emotional and escapes the scientific method to which he is used.

[hemlock-her-loss]

(This got long, but I promise it ties back to the original quote… eventually)

So, I know that there is a lot of discussion about TFP being in John’s “mind bungalow” due to all the horror film and Bond references, which also appear in John’s blog posts. However, in TFP I have always had the feeling that we are actually in Mycroft’s mind palace (or Mind Plane as I’ll explain later*).

Some initial clues in TFP that led me to believe this:

1.      We see Mycroft in his home watching a noir style detective film on a projector (notice he also has a thing for femme fatales), after consuming alcohol, the projector begins to flash shots of childhood videos (btw, who filmed those damn shots??? Little Eurus??). So, this tells us that he is a film buff, and he likes older style films (also plays on Mycroft’s rather old school style). Additionally, think back to ASiB, Mycroft is the one that called the mission “Bond Air” (assuming he named it), so that tells us he is also a Bond fan, and hello Irene Adler 19th century femme fatale original.

2.      When they are supposedly breaking into Sherrinford, Sir Edwin tells the Governor that Mycroft is in a coma. I think this is a further clue that we are in a dream/coma world. Also, notice the strange appearance of Sir Edwin’s beard. I’m not sure how much time has elapsed since TST and TFP, but the beard seems like an intentional sore thumb.

3.      Finally, I wish I had a complete meta on this, but in S4 there is always one character either eating or consuming alcohol within the first few minutes. I thinks this points to whose mind we are in, so to speak. TAB was meant to show us the general pattern of S4: that each episode is inside someone’s mind. In TST, Sherlock eats ginger cookies in the opening shot. In TLD, we see a flashback of John drinking alcohol in his hallway in the opening shot. And in TFP we see Mycroft drinking and smoking** in the first scene following the opening credits. Therefore, I think that TST is in Sherlock’s mind (or Mary’s I’ll have to write a meta on it later, sorry), TLD is in John’s mind and TFP is in Mycroft’s mind.

One note, notice that Mycroft is also smoking? 

I think smoking in this show is, on the one hand side linked with Sherlock’s drug addiction (smoking = danger night), but on the other hand, it means lying. ASiB is where smoking starts to play a big role: Sherlock first smokes in the morgue after Irene dies and he is pretending not to care while smoking a cigarette his brother gave him (when we all know he was a little sad at least). Smoking = danger night definitely starts here, but I would also say that smoking = lying starts as well. Smoking = lying plays a big role in the final scene where Mycroft is smoking outside the café, extra attention is drawn to the fact that he is smoking (“You don’t smoke”) and the following scene is about whether or not to tell Sherlock the truth about Irene Adler’s death (i.e., is it okay to lie if the truth is too painful?). When Sherlock and John are in the rigged up bomb train in TEH, there is a prominent “No Smoking” sign throughout the scene, where a fine line between truth and lie is being walked: Sherlock is lying about deactivating the bomb, but he is not lying about being sorry and all the hurt he put John through, while John is also not lying about all the nice things he says about Sherlock. It was a “No Smoking” scene, prompted by a lie on Sherlock’s part.

Anyway, these are a few examples to show the smoking = lying theme that also appears in the series. Therefore, the fact that Mycroft is drinking (can’t talk about emotions) and smoking (lying) at the beginning of TFP, combined with the quote we were originally discussing “The truth is rarely pure…”, sets the stage for us as the audience to be weary of what we are watching (modern literature is impossible without lying, more or less). So, whereas the previous episodes starting at TAB gave us a coded but rather stripped bare representation of the character’s psyche and internal struggle, Mycroft’s story, as ever, is shrouded in mystery and half-truths.

[hemlock-her-loss]

Oh, and I nearly forgot! I

*think that the plane in TFP is actually a symbol for Mycroft’s mind palace. He is the one who imagines himself high above all others (”living in a world of gold fish”). I think Mycroft Holmes has screwed up really badly somehow, and TFP is his coma/fever dream attempt to come up with a solution. Plus, the flight of the damned is already linked with Mycroft and this whole episode has really strong echos of ASiB. I’m trying desperately to finish my meta on Mycroft Holmes which will go more into detail about his “mind plane”.

[hemlock-her-loss]

Wildean Epigrams

I was reading an article about metaphor analysis in The Importance of Being Earnest and the closing section was on Wildean epigrams:

“An epigram is a short, ingenious, and witty poem or prose statement. Wilde evolved his own style of epigram, which has come to be known as the Wildean epigram. The Wildean epigram consists of a short, witty, and outrageous statement, which is then expanded upon in an even more outrageous statement. Often, these statements are inversions of some cliché or truism, but they touch on some unexpected truth.”

They go on to use the famous epigram from Importance of Being Earnest as an example, the first half of which the Sherlock fandom will know from TFP. However, the epigram in its entirety is actually:

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!” 

I admit that I’ve only read synopsis and analysis of The Importance of Being Earnest, so I didn’t know the quote was incomplete, personally. I don’t have much to add other than the fact that I feel like this points even more to the possibility that, at least TFP was some kind of fanciful fever-dream on the part of god knows who. Sort of like the magician that tells you exactly what they are about to do before their trick, and yet they still pull off the illusion.

[misseddagger]

Given that the entirety of the Importance pretty much is; ‘who cares if you make up stuff or lie - so long as it’s *entertaining*!’ 

Or, perhaps more to the point; ‘if you’re dissatisfied with life, make shit up that makes it better.’ 

It’s really taking the narrator to extremes. 

So in terms of Sherlock it could be someone’s making shit up about Mary dying. Someone could be making shit up about baby Rosie. Someone might be inventing shit about a beating in a hospital mortuary. And someone may be free-associating an escape-room Bond/horror movie. There’s a lot of shit being made up in s4. There’s no shortage of options… 

[raggedyblue]

I think it is more something that has to do, as in Wilde too I belive, with the question of what the truth it is, that is something verifiable, otherwise we could even speak of faith. And we know how the verifiability of data and events is important for Holmes. But not everything can be verified, and although we can verify a result, we can not always verify every single passage that led to that conclusion. The motivations behind the truths are what make the truths not simple and not pure as well. The intrinsic subjectivity behind some truths, and in Sherlock we are analyzing a type of truth, which with his regret, is intimate and emotional and escapes the scientific method to which he is used.

[hemlock-her-loss]

(This got long, but I promise it ties back to the original quote… eventually)

So, I know that there is a lot of discussion about TFP being in John’s “mind bungalow” due to all the horror film and Bond references, which also appear in John’s blog posts. However, in TFP I have always had the feeling that we are actually in Mycroft’s mind palace (or Mind Plane as I’ll explain later*).

Some initial clues in TFP that led me to believe this:

1.      We see Mycroft in his home watching a noir style detective film on a projector (notice he also has a thing for femme fatales), after consuming alcohol, the projector begins to flash shots of childhood videos (btw, who filmed those damn shots??? Little Eurus??). So, this tells us that he is a film buff, and he likes older style films (also plays on Mycroft’s rather old school style). Additionally, think back to ASiB, Mycroft is the one that called the mission “Bond Air” (assuming he named it), so that tells us he is also a Bond fan, and hello Irene Adler 19th century femme fatale original.

2.      When they are supposedly breaking into Sherrinford, Sir Edwin tells the Governor that Mycroft is in a coma. I think this is a further clue that we are in a dream/coma world. Also, notice the strange appearance of Sir Edwin’s beard. I’m not sure how much time has elapsed since TST and TFP, but the beard seems like an intentional sore thumb.

3.      Finally, I wish I had a complete meta on this, but in S4 there is always one character either eating or consuming alcohol within the first few minutes. I thinks this points to whose mind we are in, so to speak. TAB was meant to show us the general pattern of S4: that each episode is inside someone’s mind. In TST, Sherlock eats ginger cookies in the opening shot. In TLD, we see a flashback of John drinking alcohol in his hallway in the opening shot. And in TFP we see Mycroft drinking and smoking** in the first scene following the opening credits. Therefore, I think that TST is in Sherlock’s mind (or Mary’s I’ll have to write a meta on it later, sorry), TLD is in John’s mind and TFP is in Mycroft’s mind.

One note, notice that Mycroft is also smoking? 

I think smoking in this show is, on the one hand side linked with Sherlock’s drug addiction (smoking = danger night), but on the other hand, it means lying. ASiB is where smoking starts to play a big role: Sherlock first smokes in the morgue after Irene dies and he is pretending not to care while smoking a cigarette his brother gave him (when we all know he was a little sad at least). Smoking = danger night definitely starts here, but I would also say that smoking = lying starts as well. Smoking = lying plays a big role in the final scene where Mycroft is smoking outside the café, extra attention is drawn to the fact that he is smoking (“You don’t smoke”) and the following scene is about whether or not to tell Sherlock the truth about Irene Adler’s death (i.e., is it okay to lie if the truth is too painful?). When Sherlock and John are in the rigged up bomb train in TEH, there is a prominent “No Smoking” sign throughout the scene, where a fine line between truth and lie is being walked: Sherlock is lying about deactivating the bomb, but he is not lying about being sorry and all the hurt he put John through, while John is also not lying about all the nice things he says about Sherlock. It was a “No Smoking” scene, prompted by a lie on Sherlock’s part.

Anyway, these are a few examples to show the smoking = lying theme that also appears in the series. Therefore, the fact that Mycroft is drinking (can’t talk about emotions) and smoking (lying) at the beginning of TFP, combined with the quote we were originally discussing “The truth is rarely pure…”, sets the stage for us as the audience to be weary of what we are watching (modern literature is impossible without lying, more or less). So, whereas the previous episodes starting at TAB gave us a coded but rather stripped bare representation of the character’s psyche and internal struggle, Mycroft’s story, as ever, is shrouded in mystery and half-truths.

[hemlock-her-loss]

Wildean Epigrams

I was reading an article about metaphor analysis in The Importance of Being Earnest and the closing section was on Wildean epigrams:

“An epigram is a short, ingenious, and witty poem or prose statement. Wilde evolved his own style of epigram, which has come to be known as the Wildean epigram. The Wildean epigram consists of a short, witty, and outrageous statement, which is then expanded upon in an even more outrageous statement. Often, these statements are inversions of some cliché or truism, but they touch on some unexpected truth.”

They go on to use the famous epigram from Importance of Being Earnest as an example, the first half of which the Sherlock fandom will know from TFP. However, the epigram in its entirety is actually:

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!” 

I admit that I’ve only read synopsis and analysis of The Importance of Being Earnest, so I didn’t know the quote was incomplete, personally. I don’t have much to add other than the fact that I feel like this points even more to the possibility that, at least TFP was some kind of fanciful fever-dream on the part of god knows who. Sort of like the magician that tells you exactly what they are about to do before their trick, and yet they still pull off the illusion.

[love-in-mind-palace]

Remember that one time John thought Sherlock was trying to sell him p*rn.

[no-depression-for-vampires]

*Sherlock stupid little moustache and crap French accent*- John 😐

*A Few hours Later*

John at everyone who talks to him-

[love-in-mind-palace]

He had reasons 😂

[afishlearningpoetry]

10 Revealing Things From Series 4′s The Final Problem That Haunt You Late At Night

See also: 10 Revealing Things From Series 4′s The Six Thatchers That Haunt You Late At Night, 10 Revealing Things From Series 4′s The Lying Detective That Haunt You Late At Night, The Unfinished Act of Series 4, How The Abominable Bride Foreshadowed and Can Be Used to Chronologically Decode Series 4, and this transition shot.

[all-is-v-57]

If Season four is all symbolic, and Eurus isn’t really Sherlock’s sister, then the song she sings better suits Mycroft.

I that am lost, oh who will find me?

Deep down below the old beech tree

Help succour me now the east winds blow

Sixteen by six, brother, and under we go!

Be not afraid to walk in the shade

Save one save all, come try

(Couldn’t find the right gif. “Save John Watson, save him.”)

My steps five by seven

(sonnet 57)

Life is closer to heaven

Look down with dark gaze, from on high

Before he was gone, right back over my hill

Who now will find him?

Why, nobody will

Doom shall I bring to him, that am queen

(Painting of Queen Elizabeth behind him. Jokes that he is the Queen and that he also is the British government prevail through the series. ASIB for example, John and Sherlock chuckle when Mycroft comes through the door at Buckingham Palace moments after they mention the Queen. And Culverton’s emphasis that the Queen could kill anyone she wanted.)

Lost forever, nine by nineteen

Without your love, he’ll be gone before

Save pity for strangers, show love the door.

(“Feeling is not an advantage, Sherlock”)

My soul seek the shade of my Willow’s bloom

Inside, brother mine 

(A willow represents water, healing, moon, grief, and everlasting life. The moon is a symbol in the show [many posts have been made about it already.] Water is the main background of Sherlock’s mind palace through S3-4. “Deep waters.” Grief and healing goes without saying. Everlasting lifeis the joy of redemption.)

Let death make a room.

[devoursjohnlock]

We usually talk about the yellow smiley as representing Moriarty or John in the show… it’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone link the Sherlock smiley to ACD’s V.R. (maybe not since TAB?).

V.R. is Victoria Regina, or the Queen. The smiley is Mycroft (so “Moriarty”).

[inevitably-johnlocked]

So my school's doing Oklahoma for the spring musical and one of the songs is People Will Say We're in Love and holy crap those lyrics reek of johnlockery. They'd definitely sing that together. Just wanted to share that haha

Why do they think up stories that link my name with yours?Why do the neighbors gossip all day behind their doors?I know a way to prove what they say is quite untrueHere is the gist, a practical list of dont’s for youDon’t throw bouquets at meDon’t please my folks too muchDon’t laugh at my jokes too muchPeople will say we’re in love

Don’t sigh and gaze at meYour sighs are so like mineYour eyes mustn’t glow like minePeople will say we’re in love

Don’t start collecting thingsGive me my rose and my gloveSweetheart, they’re suspecting thingsPeople will say we’re in love

Some people claim that you are to blame as much as IWhy do you take the trouble to bake my favorite pie?Grantin’ your wish I carved our initials on that treeJust keep a slice of all the advice ya give so free

Don’t praise my charm too muchDon’t look so vain with meDon’t stand in the rain with mePeople will say we’re in love

Don’t take my arm too muchDon’t keep your hand in mineYour hand feels so grand in minePeople will say we’re in love

Don’t dance all night with me‘Til the stars fade from aboveThey’ll see it’s all right with mePeople will say we’re in love

Hey! If there’s anybody out and around this yard that can hear my voiceI want ‘em to know that Miss Laurey Williams is my girl!

Curly!Hah-ha! And she went and got me to ask her to marry me!They’ll hear you all the way to Catoosie!Let ‘em!Let people say we’re in loveWho cares what happens now?Just keep your hand in mineYour hand feels so grand in mine

Let people say we’re in loveStarlight looks well on usLet the stars beam from aboveWho cares if they tell on usLet people say we’re in love

(Lyrics from Google)

Do you think when Sherlock’s parents went to see Oklahoma! they were silently screaming that “OMG this is our son and his boyfriend?”

Because I do.

Great song choice Lovely!

[hotshoeagain]

I think it’s important to add that toxicsemicolon made several long posts connecting Gatiss, the musical Oklahoma!, Green Grow the Lilacs (the play which was the basis for Oklahoma!), and of course, Sherlock TV.

I think this is the first post starting to make those connections:

http://toxicsemicolon.tumblr.com/post/155535888568/oh-what-a-beautiful-mornin

… You can see Sherlock and John’s stubborn, teasing banter in Laurey and Curly from the first scene, as well as Mrs. Hudson’s blithe encouragement of their relationship; John’s “people will talk” line gets its own musical number in “People Will Say We’re In Love”; food-sex metaphor is fully integrated into the plot; Curly threatens Jud and proves his sharp-shooting ability by shooting through a knothole in a wooden post “the size of a dime”. The entirety of The Abominable Bride is a visual and structural homage to Oklahoma!’s fifteen-minute opium-induced dream ballet …

AND 

what makes even more sense (and is ultimately far more poignant) in explaining why Sherlock fits so well as Laurey and why Sherlock seems to borrow so much from Oklahoma! is that Laurey’s character was intended to be read subtextually as a gay man from the very first draft.

(emphasis mine) So, the “People Will Say We’re in Love” duet should indeed be seen as a gay duet – which makes it perfect for Sherlock and John. 

There is no way to prove that Gatiss had Laurey and Curly in mind while writing Sherlock – altho we know he had the musical in mind at least when he referenced the parents line-dancing in Oklahoma – but if you see the resemblance it’s hard to believe it’s all just coincidence.  

sorry @toxicsemicolon tumblr won’t let me tag you; if you somehow see this, thank you for your insight! 

[amethystineprose]

Thank you for reviving @toxicsemicolon ’s Oklahoma thread! I need to look up the rest.

[garkgatiss]

!!! you’re very welcome! the tag is oklahoma!lock if you’re looking for more of me yelling about this