Have I allready said how much I love Elementary? Things like that scene above are not special or groundbreaking, they don’t even have to, they are just human and down to earth and most shows to not archieve even that. I am sick and tierd of shows who completly ignore LGBTQ topics (Scorpion) and I love shows with well written LGBTQ reprsentation who are loud and proud and feature amazing queer love storys. But sometimes I just want a show like Elementary, who treats LGBTQ like everything else, just as something ordinary, something that does not need special treatment or celebration, that just needs one thing: The same respect as everything and everyone else. The same treatment.
For some this might be a very small thing, and i understand that but many shows I watch do not even achieve that. And sometimes if you have enough of those little things they eventually become a big important thing which can be truely special for you. Without being an amazing queer love story or poc representation.
After watching 5x16, I can’t help but love Sherlock even more. He’s just so sincere, in everything he does. He loves so soundly and feels so deeply for Kitty and Joan.
The writers could have taken his character in a way that, I feel, most writers have taken the character of Sherlock in recent years. Rather than characterize him as a hyper intelligent asshole who fails to make realistic relationships with the people around him, they’ve flipped that on its head.
Yes, he IS hyper intelligent, and yes, he IS a bit of an ass, two traits that I would be loath to see removed from his character. But those arn’t his ONLY characteristics.
He displays a deep love for his friends. He supports the Captain in his want for marriage, he gives Markus a way to continue the work he loves, he knows Watson’s likes and dislikes so well that he can seemlessly purchase entire outfits for her on his own, and he deeply wishes the best for Kitty, regardless for what that means for his own life.
Watching him become her child’s Godfather proved this point to me so clearly. Here is a character that, by all other writers accounts, would never be a good godfather, let alone want to be one. And while the question of whether OUR Sherlock will be a good one is still undecided, his WANT to be a godfather is palpable. This deep want to be involved in this child’s life, in Kitty’s life, it feels integral to his character. Our Sherlock craves companionship, he craves a family, he craves love. He shares his intelligence and his general demeanor with many other Sherlocks. But his capacity for love is unparalleled.
here’s a draft I’m not going to finish that’s an alternate universe where Sherlock did email Kitty about 6 months after she left, inspired by my irritation with the scene in 5x16 when he puts all the blame on her for not getting in touch. That whole argument was bullshit: he was her mentor, not to mention older, more experienced, with financial security, a roof over his head, and a solid support system. Anyway, here’s another way those 2 years could have played out.
Chimney Sweep
“Husband, father, devoted chimney sweep.”
Joan asked Sherlock multiple times for news in the months after Kitty left; eventually she said that if he didn’t check in, she would. He tried the excuse that he didn’t have means to contact her — Kitty told him she was getting rid of her phone — and Joan just stared him down, not even bothering to roll her eyes.
The next six months brought a cascade of personal failures culminating with the unbearable morass that was Morland Holmes seeping and settling into the cracks and crevices of his life. He hid behind them all until he couldn’t stand it any more and managed to finally overcome his infuriating reluctance, the long, drawn out hesitation and avoidance he couldn’t make neither heads nor tails. It came all at once in a rush, send the email now, and he did, and immediately felt lighter. It was a relief, and it was absurd, and then the niggling anxiety seeped in, that it was too little too late, that Kitty would feel compromised, that he put her at risk. He snapped at Watson for the entire drive to Quebec.
As it happened, Kitty got the email the day she learned she was pregnant. She could barely deal with herself and what she had to decide, and there was no way she could handle Sherlock’s stilted attempt to be nonchalant with the anecdote about the acquaintance who actually imagined he’d acquiesce to her reproductive machinations, what could be more ridiculous? She replied “I’m fine,” which he took as a rebuke to back off and as vindication that he was right all along. But he spared Watson his “I told you so” and kept it to himself, because Kitty’s rebuttal, such as it was, confused him even as he expected it from the start. He didn’t know how to behave with someone who said “I love you” and meant it in such a non-manipulative way. He couldn’t say it back. He didn’t understand his feelings at the time and no better now: part pride, part worry - it reminded him a bit of what he said about Lestrade back in London, which Watson said was what it was like caring for an addict. Now he wondered if her somewhat flippant tone back then had covered up other feelings he was too self-obsessed to observe at the time.
Joan accepted Kitty’s “fine” when he passed it along, and took the opportunity to send her own greeting. Kitty by this point had decided she wanted the baby. She was almost able to accept being herself again, being happy. And she couldn’t bring that up with the people who last saw her at such a low, fraught point. Didn’t want to. Partly because she was afraid they’d think she was irresponsible and flighty; Sherlock obviously wouldn’t approve. Partly because she knew neither of them were happy or really wanted to be, not the way she did now, and she just couldn’t figure out how to express any of it. She didn’t want to expose her baby to the harsh truths of her life. She remembered what she told the runaway, that her mum had chosen her, wanted to move forward with the good she had and not live in the painful past. Sherlock and Watson were now, suddenly and unexpectedly, her past. She had to take care of herself, and her child. Child—! So she let them go, and didn’t reply to Watson, and accepted the sharp sliver of guilt as fair payment for her choice.
Sherlock emailed once again after six more months had passed, asking if she might be able to follow up on something for him related to one of Morland’s businesses in London. Archie was five weeks old, and Kitty forgot the email through lack of sleep, finding it again three months later and was too embarrassed to reply given how long it’d been and how much she had to say. She had often thought of writing to him, to them, not just now but the whole time, but never did.
Sherlock noted that they had reached out three times, while Kitty hadn’t initiated conversation at all. He knew he could investigate further; he could learn everything she’d been up to. Watson mentioned her in conversation at least once a month. He was tempted. But Kitty had said “I love you,” and he thought it was a thank you for helping her find her way out of the dark place she’d been when they met. He worried still she might have gotten stuck there again but believed he — they — taught her good means to help herself out. His worry wasn’t stronger than his faith. He didn’t know what happened, but he observed and then he deduced, and he didn’t reach out again.
I am super sad that we never saw Sherlock at the pride parade, but I think this show doesn’t have enough money for such a scene!
Anyway, I am still really happy to see how this show treats homosexuality. Yeah, none of the main characters is LGBT but especially in the fifth season LGBT is allways a topic in the story. marriage equality, homophobia, pride parades, girls who don’t want to date a character because they have a girlfriend etc.
That’s what I love so much about elementary! LGBT topics are allways there, they just... happen! Like in real life! Maybe you are straight and maybe MAYBE none of your close friends is LGBT but you cannot walk through your life without having any contact with LGBT topics!
(And sherlock has contacts to LGBT people. His mentor was gay, Mrs Hudson is transgender etc)
