#appledore climax

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Sherlock asip: You didn't kill four people because you were bitter, bitterness is a paralytic, love is a much more vicious motivator Sherlock hlv (after shooting Magnussen): Give my love to Mary

Hey Lovely!

Not sure if you’re interpreting this as Sherlock killing Mags for Mary, but I don’t actually read that scene that way. Sherlock did it for John – all the events prior to the shooting as well as the camerawork suggests that he DOES IT ONLY FOR JOHN – and I think John knows Sherlock did it for John, once they’re on the Tarmac. Sherlock believes he is saving John by saving Mary, and since we now know in S4 that the event was recorded in some capacity, Sherlock may have also said this for Mary’s benefit, to protect John should she ever get a hold of the videos, which I completely believe she would have.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Do you ever just think about how CAM told Sherlock he couldn't be a hero this time and yet after Sherlock shoots CAM and falls to his knees on the steps with his coat blowing like a cape and all the lights shining on him, Sherlock has never looked more like a superhero

“One day just showing up won’t be enough. One day we’ll be standing round a body and Sherlock Holmes’ll be the one that put it there.” - Sally Donovan, ASiP

Such is the Tragedy of Sherlock Holmes – In the end, the hero gives up his life and freedom for the one he loves the most. THIS was his "great to good man" resolution, not whatever the hell TFP was. This was Sherlock wearing his heart on his sleeve, purposely waiting until there were witnesses so that John would never ever be blamed for anything.

The whole scene breaks my heart so much.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Please may I ask again about S4 - you have such great insight in this chaos ! When Mycroft says the official version is some trigger-itchy squaddie shot CAM - what about all the dozens of witnesses (all those squaddies)? They can still talk, right? Or has Mycroft bought everyone off or threatened them to silence or sent them all far away? I thought the trouble with Sherlock shooting CAM was the exposure - the fact that there were too many witnesses for Mycroft to just sweep it under the rug?

Hey Lovely!

Yeah, well, I imagine all of them are Mycroft’s people, and at the beginning of T6T, a D-Notice was apparently slapped across the whole thing (which John apparently didn’t get the memo on since he’s talking to Lestrade about it only an episode later). Maybe they were ALL injected with TD-12 prior to the mission, or shortly after? Either way, I suppose if they were all government-affiliated, they HAVE to maintain a level of secrecy on the whole thing if there was a D-Notice slapped on it. But if I recall, there’s also police officers there too, so I’m not sure how they would ensure those ones wouldn’t talk. 

I know I’m thinking too hard about this, especially for a piece of fiction (you can’t really bring real world things into fiction, though Sherlock’s universe is mostly based on reality rules until S4). Let’s say Myc probably bought off people; he is government after all, and as such, it always has the implication of shadiness and assumptions to it.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey I was wondering if you could link me to that meta that says that at the end of HLV Sherlock didn't shoot CAM but shot himself in the head? I remember reading it ages ago and I can't find it

Hey Nonny!

Oh, I have no idea, never read it! I’ve written my own meta about absolutely why it’s not OOC for Sherlock to shoot Magnussen in the head, because it’s not, but I’m drawing a blank on this theory. Anyone aware of this one?

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Steph, there is just one thing still bothering me and I've yet to see anyone write any meta on it. Sherlock's line; "Give my love to Mary." Why say that? Surely he can't still like her, right? Why pretend that he did that for her, not John?

Hi Nonny!

You know, I’m still a bit confused about this myself. Here’s my interpretation, and I welcome others’ as well.

I feel like Sherlock thinks himself unworthy of John’s love, and he wants John to essentially “forget” about him since he knows the outcome of him killing Magnussen will entail. He doesn’t want John to suffer his loss again.

OR – and this is the most likely one – he wants John to give Mary a message: “Look Mary: everything I did was for John, and I love him so much that I am willing to give him up to you indefinitely.” Mary knows Sherlock loves John. And she would KNOW that the gesture was absolutely NOT for her, but to rub it in her face just how far he is willing to go to lose him. I do believe that John knows it was not for Mary, I really really do. I have faith in John’s intelligence in that aspect, anyway.

EITHER WAY, both scenarios unfortunately cater to John’s possible belief that Sherlock has feelings for Mary. I personally don’t believe this theory for a second – John just is NOT that clueless – but I do concede that the possibility is there since in one of the new clips, John show blatant jealousy over Mary and Sherlock. I personally think John KNEW HLV’s message was for him, and he KNEW that Sherlock believed that John would be safer with Mary than without her.

I actually think there is a greater plan going on, that John may have been staging since the domestic, and unfortunately Sherlock killing Magnussen for John was NOT factored into the plan, and the “Miss Me” message had to be staged to keep Sherlock in England and be granted a pardon. And no, I don’t think Sherlock knows at all about any of it – I think he figured it out in TAB and it will be explained in T6T (though this is giving Mofftiss way too much credit). What gives me hope about this is the fact that a disc with “miss me?” was shown in the Czech trailer, so I do think it will be explained eventually.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hey bud! in HLV, when magnussen is flicking John, he says "Janine liked it" or something? I may be wrong, but I know he mentions Janine? why is that? thankya xx

Hi Nonny!

It’s implying that Magnussen also had some blackmail material on Janine, and he threatened her in the same way that he was threatening John, by flicking her in the face. I personally think that this is why Janine goes along with the farce of a relationship with Sherlock; I think he promised to get her out but he needs to get in to Magnussen’s office, so a mutual deal was made... I’m hoping we find out more in S4.

But yeah, “Janine makes the funniest noises” probably implied that she absolutely did not enjoy it.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

I'm not sure if this was addressed but when Mycroft comes up with the helicopter, John keeps looking directly at him. Not the snipers, but Mycrfot. He glances towards CAM and Sherlock a few times but his eyes are fixed on Mycroft and it's almost like he's communicating in code. Nearly every time the camera cuts to him, he blinks twice at Mycroft. In rapid succession. It seems very deliberate considering neither Sherlock nor CAM blink that much despite being exposed to the same amount of light.

Hey Lovely!

It does seem like that absolutely – I went back and checked – and I think this is a very good theory... The only thing that’s niggling at my brain with this is that how can Mycroft see John’s eyes from the helicopter? THOUGH, some helicopters do have cameras (or at least movie / TV show versions of heli’s do) so it’s possibly Myc could still see John. 

And given that I think Sherlock can read morse code (I believe John was signalling Sherlock at the pool [not my OP, just my additions, I don’t know why it’s formatted the way it is..]) and he was too busy paying attention to his inner turmoil, I don’t think he would have noticed it. 

Any one who knows morse – Is John signalling something to Myc? Honestly I think it would have been something someone would have picked up already if this was the case <3

[inevitably-johnlocked]

(1)I thought of looking it up but I think I'll ask you as well because you give nice answers. I was talking with someone about Sherlock and she said she didn't like the third season. After questioning her it turned out she didn't like HLV (that's the

third episode, right? She didn’t like the third one) and specifically she didn’t like that Sherlock killed Magnussen because she thinks it’s completely out of character because Sherlock’s supposed to be moral and smart enough to think of a better way. So I wanted to ask you why Sherlock killed Magnussen and couldn’t think of a better way to deal with him. Also I’m probably gonna see her again in August, so no pressure in answering soon (since you said you’re under pressure with your meta). Thank you in advance!

Hi lovely!

This is as a general whole and not directed specifically to your friend, spoken from someone who studies Sherlock’s character FAR too much. 

Firstly, yes, it was HLV, the episode that won the series seven Emmys, one of them being for Outstanding Writing. Obviously they’re doing something right that a lot of people are failing to see. 

Secondly, there’s a huge chunk of time missing in HLV which covers at LEAST six months. We know NOTHING about what happened in those six months except that John presumedly wasn’t staying with Mary and Sherlock was either at home or the hospital recovering. I think during that time some side plan was coming to fruition behind the scenes (my thought is between John and Mycroft); everything at Appledore went TOO smoothly so I suspect there’s something else going on in the background with Mycroft and Sherlock, at least until Sherlock went and flubbed it up. In light of TAB, I now truly don’t think Sherlock and John have or had something planned TOGETHER to flush Mary out, since it was in TAB that Sherlock realized he needs to work with John and then they will be unstoppable. BUT, I do think John himself may have, in the 6 months away from Mary, secretly had a “plan B” in the works: he’s a soldier at his core, and a captain at that, so I don’t know why people think it’s so beyond John’s capabilities for him to actually think ahead on this stuff… pretty damned smart, after all. 

Next, here’s what I don’t get about people who think it’s OOC for Sherlock to have killed Magnussen (and it’s not, btw… I believe he does kill people in canon even): What exactly do they think Sherlock did for 2 years “taking down Moriarty’s network”? That phrase alone holds a lot of weight as to what it implies. It’s clear he was at least tortured and held captive for extended periods of time, and the subdued nature of his S3 character suggests that he wasn’t having tea and crumpets with the Queen everyday nor was he on holidays in Hawaii. It’s hinted at by Mycroft that Sherlock had literally been on non-stop missions for the past two years, and none of them were fun, and I highly doubt Sherlock just… didn’t NOT kill people while on those missions; while it’s not explicitly stated that he did, it’s hinted at throughout the exchange between he and his brother:

MYCROFT: You have been busy, haven’t you? […]MYCROFT: Quite the busy little bee. (He chuckles.)SHERLOCK: Moriarty’s network – took me two years to dismantle it.MYCROFT: And you’re confident you have?SHERLOCK: The Serbian side was the last piece of the puzzle.MYCROFT: Yes. You got yourself in deep there … (he checks his report) … with Baron Maupertuis. Quite a scheme.SHERLOCK: Colossal.MYCROFT (shutting the file): Anyway, you’re safe now.SHERLOCK: Hmm.MYCROFT: A small ‘thank you’ wouldn’t go amiss.SHERLOCK: What for?MYCROFT: For wading in.(Sherlock raises a hand to the barber to make him stop shaving him. The man steps back a little.)MYCROFT: In case you’d forgotten, fieldwork is not my natural milieu.

The reason Sherlock’s killing is not spoken out directly is because then murder of Magnussen wouldn’t have been as shocking; IT LESSENS THE IMPACT OF THE ACT. If it was explicitly stated “I killed people” then Sherlock killing Magnussen is just another day in the park for Sherlock. BUT, relegating it to an unspoken act, one that Sherlock does SELFLESSLY to save a life, well then, that makes it mean so much more. We see that he isn’t doing it for funsies: he’s doing it because he wants to protect John (and it WAS for John, not Mary; they made it clear on the importance of pressure points and the chains in them, so by protecting Mary, Sherlock saves John’s life). 

It’s like one of the many reasons I think why the deleted scene was been removed – the cruelty in the scene makes Magnussen’s shooting seem personal to Sherlock, rather than a selfless act done for John.

As long as Magnussen was alive, he was never going to let up on threatening Mary and by extension John; Sherlock tried going the Mycroft route and it failed. He tried gaining Mary’s information manually, and it failed. So Sherlock thought John would not be safe unless Magnussen was gone for good, so he did what he felt he had to when the person he loved was threatened; he killed a man.

As I mentioned earlier, being able to commit this act is suspicious as well… how did John get into C.A.M.’s private home without being searched when back at Baker Street he was patted down before C.A.M. even stepped into the common area of the flat? It’s very suspect that there is something else at work, and someone higher than Mycroft may have wanted C.A.M. gone for good and was counting on Sherlock’s unpredictable nature. Hopefully this will be touched upon in S4.

Look, Sherlock HAS been violent before with people who threatened people he cares about – Mrs Hudson in ASiB with the CIA agents – so imagine what Sherlock could possibly do when he actually LOVES someone, KNOWS he’s in love, and wants to keep them safe? He’ll kill himself (TRF), he’ll sacrifice his happiness for that person (all of S3), he’ll risk getting killed again (HLV), he’ll kill someone for flicking his love in the face.

It’s a common trope in romantic storytelling – the hero does something dramatic and selfless, sacrificing his life or freedom to save the one they love. Everything Sherlock has ever done was for John, and always will be for John.

As for season three seeming completely different, this is because we are watching the season from Sherlock’s eyes; people are upset because Sherlock views the world differently than people had envisioned him to being: he’s actually a very sad, lonely man who is very soft, cares deeply for his family and friends, loves his best friend but doesn’t know how to cope with that, and all he wants is to have his life that he fucked up back to what it was before. NOTHING CHANGED except maybe Sherlock’s character growth from a great man to a good man and Sherlock coming to accept sentiment as part of that character.