#elementary meta

[variousqueerthings]

smthinsmthin this not long after the whole "oh noooooo i simply cannot be in relationships because uh.. the Work! it is bad for relationships for Reasons. danger Reasons. this is very well-reasoned (ofc it is, Joan is nothing if not reasonable at all times), but also it lets me off the hook for more romantic relationships. oh drat. I guess."

and me linking the growing wardrobe switch from "I am a professional but very attractive, conventional (promise), yet highly tasteful dresser who thinks very much about how I come off to others as a woman in this kind of field who doesn't want to close off my Prospects, because I know it seems flighty (as she says to Andrew's father), but I swear I'm a well put-together person! look how beautifully this dress drapes!" to "actually I wear ties a lot now. I like ties. I like shirts. (when she gets braver she's in all-suit outfits)." (also if I were more observant/had energy I'd make a spreadsheet of all the clothes she wears to see signs of these more "considered masculine" forms of dress as early as s1, because I think they were there... but alas, not this time)

it's such a subtle gender shift in her from performing some kind of Womanhood that balances out the "oddness" of her life, with embracing what this life means for her as an individual who doesn't have to perform the role of traditional Womanhood at the same time (similar to how she wants a child, but doesn't feel the need to have a partner to do so -- s1 Joan would never have been able to do that), and I was wondering how soon after Andrew's death we'd start seeing wardrobe shifting clues... turns out within the very same season

interesting

like she is going from Woman (performative/uncomfortable in her skin/unsure how to balance the paradoxes within herself/wishing to please her mother/trying to be what a woman Should Be) to woman (tailored suits)

and from what I remember this shift simply happens gradually, it's never commented on how dramatically and eventually permanently (if I remember correctly) her wardrobe changes. it's such a Choice and I don't know if it was meant to link to this "embracing the person she actually is (a detective aromantic)" but it certainly does in the timeline...

[starstruckpurpledragon]

Joan realizing she's not in love with her boyfriend is such an aro moment. And Sherlock gives her some very good advice.

(Clyde's painting is actually pretty neat looking. I love that turtle.)

[kitkatt0430]

So S3 of Elementary is often disliked because Joan's moved out, Sherlock ran away for... almost a year as a result of Joan unwittingly triggering his insecurities, and Sherlock has taken on Kitty as his apprentice - but I actually really enjoy the way Sherlock and Joan basically 'coparent' Kitty in teaching her to become a detective like them throughout the season.

During season two, Joan slowly came to realize she needed a space that was entirely her own. She needed a place that was hers, not Sherlock's, to control. The answer that Joan arrived at - assisted no doubt by the social expectation that an independent person should live alone - was that she needed to move out. Which didn't have to change her working relationship with Sherlock.

Except... Sherlock panicked. He doesn't handle change well - honestly, he's probably autistic or some other kind of ND and I know my own ADHD makes grappling with change difficult sometimes - and he definitely has shades of RSD where Joan and a handful of others are concerned. He takes Joan leaving the brownstone as the same thing as Joan leaving their partnership - the incorrect conclusion but in keeping with his character for why he would jump to it. Fearing that their partnership is poised to dissolve, Sherlock ran away. Better to push everyone away - like ripping a bandage off quickly - than watch his most important relationship fall apart slowly, right?

Sherlock then attempted to replicate his relationship with Joan when he realized how much he missed her. And what he winds up with is a new dynamic with Kitty and quite likely he realizes the same thing Kitty does. He needs Joan's help to teach Kitty. Joan was singularly unique and her apprenticeship was so successful because Joan was Joan. Which is where the season begins with him. And the time apart, I would argue, has actually been a good thing for Sherlock and Joan. Did he absolutely screw up? Yes. But Joan's spent the time working on her own and establishing herself as capable of doing the work on her own. So Sherlock's return helps them to re-establish their relationship now as one of equals. She's not his sober companion or his apprentice - she's a detective in her own right with the confidence to do the job without Sherlock's mentorship and Sherlock respects that.

They have to relearn their dynamic and discard what no longer works. Their relationship as partners is, by the end of the season, stronger than it was before. It's a learning experience - so when Joan does end up moving back in with Sherlock, Sherlock realizes her need for a space under her control where she sets the boundaries has not changed. Which is why he initially kept her apartment for her, inspiring Joan to turn the basement as her own separate space and office.

[nofearofwaves]

Summary: A collection of short essays examining female characters in media and literature, with frequent asides discussing modern fandom, intersectional feminism, and real-life inspirational women. Subjects chosen by author, but requests are welcome!

Discussion the reinvention of a reinvented classic character and how returning to the source material can sometimes feel fresher than any ‘hot take’.

[althusserarien]

“You say that I'm using my gifts. I say I'm just treating them.”

it always kinda bothered me how Sherlock BBC is such a *~*~*good judge of people*~*~*. in the canon, we only ever really see Holmes being wise to people in a laborious and experiential way, and it's mostly to do with criminality. most of the time, you get the feeling that, to Holmes, people are more than a little opaque. his genius is for minutiae, for detail, not necessarily clever headgames.

when Holmes bestows his elaborate courtesy on someone, Watson is sure to mention it as if it's an exception to a rule. Watson is indulgent when relating Holmes' eccentricities to the audience. I love it when Victorian-era adaptations and fic put Watson's patience/tolerance toward Holmes' shit in contrast with the way he's regarded in polite society, not least because it's this sense of acceptance and unconventionality that makes the Watson/Holmes relationship seem queer in more sense than one.

compared with BBC Sherlock, Elementary makes Sherlock Holmes a lot more vulnerable and flawed, even in the absence of a concrete diagnosis for Sherlock. he has limits. he's neuro-atypical. he's made a sort of intellectial "pet" out of a bunch of conspiracy theorists, and he relates this fact gleefully to Joan. he's a true eccentric. he's frequently rude, often bizarre, sometimes clumsly in his social interactions. yet his elaborate and studied tenderness toward Joan is no less genuine just because he doesn't like to shake hands.

in Elementary, this inarguably brilliant Criminal Detection Expert was hoodwinked/manipulated/abused by Irene/Moriarty, while in BBC Sherlock Adler was just another silly dupe who quailed before Holmes both intellectually and psychologically. the latter interpretation just doesn't ring true to me.

[straycatwandering]

Getting into Elementary lately

and massively bugged by how Season 1 treats women in authority. Like, so far the Venn diagram between female police officers and corrupt police officers has been a perfect circle. 

Given that we’ve had 3 corrupt cop episodes and 1 corrupt other public servant episode out of 20 episodes so far this is kinda very not impressive.

Is it even worth carrying on to Season 2? Enquiring minds want to know.

[shegiles]

been rewatching elementary. i usually skip the oscar rankin episodes, especially 'a controlled descent' because it makes me sad, but i didn't this time. even though sherlock extends an olive branch of sorts to oscar in "for all you know," by offering to pay for his rehab, the way he did it reeks of his own superiority that sherlock put a tragedy in motion at that point. sherlock has so much disdain and hatred for himself during that period in his life that when confronted by oscar, he has to come to terms with how much he hated himself when he was on drugs.

every time i've seen this arc i always approached it from sherlock's pov, and even though he calls oscar dumb and stupid, he's actually quite smart and cunning. it wasn't like he was devoid of human emotion either. the way he talks about his sister makes me feel like he has some remorse for how olivia turned out and he takes some responsibility for that. if sherlock and oscar met under different circumstances, could they have been friends?

no doubt, oscar is a pos for what he did to sherlock and to alfredo. he obviously had no interest in getting clean, but i wonder if sherlock had extended a courtesy to oscar in "for all you know," would the outcome in "a controlled descent" even happen...

[birdkeeperklink]

Okay, Joan's turn for "The Red Team" thoughts.

I. Love her part in this. I always love her, of course, but here we really see how well she understands Sherlock already. She is so perceptive, and it's also a great contrast with how little she seems to understand her own feelings.

But okay, this episode is full of people telling Joan to give up on Sherlock - Gregson tells her Sherlock is broken, and her therapist tells her that she has no obligation to Sherlock. Granted, Gregson is rightfully pissed off at Sherlock currently, and Joan's therapist is concerned with what she believes is best for Joan's mental health, not Sherlock's, and what seems to her to be a growing attachment to someone who should only be a former client, so one is biased and the other lacks complete information, but Joan rebuffs both of them. She speaks to Gregson on Sherlock's behalf anyway, and encourages Sherlock to apologise to him, trying to help Sherlock preserve that relationship. She tells the therapist that she has to make sure Sherlock has this before she can leave, but it seems to be more to get the therapist to stop harping on the subject of her leaving Sherlock, as she only says it after the therapist pushes.

And Joan doesn't acknowledge Sherlock's defence mechanism. He goes full-bore arrogant to ward her off from talking about an emotional topic, and he claims she's uncomfortable with that - she is not. She's annoyed with it, but she drops it. She doesn't believe or acknowledge a word he just said - it's bullshit, and she knows it means he's not ready to talk about it, so she drops it. Sherlock doesn't even realise that she's worked this out about him and is no longer offended by it, unlike Gregson, who's known Sherlock longer, but who gets angrier with every word of it that Sherlock utters, because he takes it at face value. It fits what Gregson believes about Sherlock, so unlike Joan, he doesn't see beyond it.

In the end, she asks Sherlock if he wants to talk about what happened with Gregson in a more gentle and sincere way, responding to the upset he's failing miserably at hiding, and she respects his "no" just as much as she respected his smokescreen refusal earlier.

Anyway, I have a lot more thoughts because this episode is chock full of subtle moments and expressions, but I think I've jabbered about it plenty 😂 This was one of my least favourite season 1 episodes the first time around, but now I think it's one of my favourites.