#nnbb

[amindamazed]

oh, my angst-loving heart I don't entirely love the episode, and I don't trust that they'll follow through AT ALL. but the more I think about it, the more juicy tragic facets I find.

1. "I needed you." O. M. G. oh watson ymmv, but for me, this is the culmination of three years of Joan denying, refuting, burying, ignoring, and fearing the repercussions of dependency. This is being kidnapped and Mycroft and London and Andrew and the relapse and Shinwell, and her struggle not to feel responsible for every damn thing, and she was doing it, they stood together against Morland and Sherlock trusted her to take the lead even, he trusts her more than anyone, and then it started to crumble and she doesn't understand why so kept going on, it's the work that sustains, that will bring them together, it's the thing they share, the basis and foundation for everything.

She thought it was that all-too-familiar combination of his arrogance and insecurity prompting the self-centered questioning about her commitment [at the start of s5], again. And she thought she'd given him the answers he sought that time, reassured him she was where she wanted to be. But he kept on doubting. Doubting Shinwell, his determination, his ability and intelligence, and by extension hers. It never went away, even when he threw himself into the mix and took over. She let him, hoping he would see what she did, recognize Shinwell's determination and strength. His acts of penance. And none of it was enough. She didn't know if he believed her lie, that she didn’t feel responsible for Shinwell’s murder; at first she believed it herself: it wasn't her fault. She was angry. But of course it could be both, and she did do this, it was her mistake, and she needed him and he wasn't there. 2. That moment of bare vulnerability when he admits, "I forgot," and her wrath blisters the ground between them. I think this is the single most tragic moment between the two of them, in five years: how much they each need the other and are both utterly unable to perceive it, let alone bridge the chasm. They both made the same mistake. Er, not falling in love but of holding back, hiding their fears until they combusted. 3. "I'm the part of you that wants to get better. Who else would I look like?" WHO ELSE?!? WHO ELSE? "[People who love each other] make promises." I'm gonna make sure you're ready when the time comes. I promise. He wanted this to be Watson helping. Watson holding his hand when he's scared. Watson the person who knows him better than anyone, who wants him to be better, who makes him better. This is the most baldly romantic declaration since the proposal, and of course Doherty has to bury it underneath layers of distraction and deflection and disguise, but I don't care. For all his boring noromo protestations, he's totally a shipper. 4. I don't know if I can write this (feel free to use this as a prompt, anyone), but my headcanon is that Watson jumps to the conclusion that the wreck of Sherlock's room is evidence of Tyus Wilcox's final retaliation against her, and when she runs out of the kitchen, it's to track down the last remnants of SBK loyal to him and burn them to the ground and herself with them.

[amindamazed]

'You wanted to see me?' I’m not saying May is Sherlock’s hallucination of his mother sent to Fight Club him and throw a monkey wrench in our assessment of Sherlock’s well-being. What I am saying is I haven’t even bothered to worry about alternative explanations, because after the last few seasons I have absolutely zero trouble believing they would bring an imaginary woman back from the dead merely to give Sherlock another family member to be miserable about.

Genevieve Valentine, AV Club recap of “Scrambled”

[amindamazed]

On Elementary, Joan inherits a crusade

Joan and Sherlock finally decide to worry about that gang Shinwell was trying to take down all season.

“’In many respects he just didn’t try hard enough.‘ I recognize that Sherlock is speaking as the victim of a beating, and that at this point he’s projecting harder onto Shinwell than the Disney nighttime laser show onto the side of Cinderella’s Castle. But given that default POV, and the fact that nothing in the narrative has ever bothered to check similar observations when he’s made them, it just feels like another attempt to make us feel that Shinwell was a tragic character with fatal flaws instead of someone who risked (and lost!) his life trying to bring down an incredibly dangerous crime ring single-handed.” – Genevieve Valentine, AV Club

[amindamazed]

I came across a reference to the Portuguese word saudade in a writing newsletter today, and the definition given* pretty much encapsulates my response to excellent angsty fic: "sadness tinged with yearning and a deep, penetrating ache."

And then I realized it also describes how I feel about Elementary (the show) these days too, just not in a good way.

*I don’t know Portuguese and didn’t check the accuracy of this definition. correction welcome, though if it’s completely wrong then I’ll have that feeling over the fact that the word describing it doesn’t exist.

[blog-nhilya-ayni-stuff-blog]

Las "rodillas" duelen cuando tu orgullo no se doblega. ... ☺🤗😎!!! #NnBb

[amindamazed]

Those chips you showed me last night. You don't accept them for yourself. You accept them because you're part of a group. You accept them because...the work you did to stand up at a meeting inspires others.

It's bigger than you. Or us.

So you show up.

Watching this scene again, I was struck by the analogy Watson makes, comparing the Medal Day certificates to sobriety chips. What she doesn’t say, what she takes as understood, is the unequivocal value of the work underlying these moments of recognition: she’s obviously not doubting the importance of the years of effort at the heart of Sherlock’s recovery. Yes, accepting the chips in public is a way of giving back to the community that supported him up to that point. That doesn’t mean getting there in the first place is any less important. By making this comparison, she’s implying that their detective work, and the shared experience of doing it together, are also similarly essential and valued.

I’m not arguing that Sherlock necessarily understood that sentiment in what she didn’t say, but I don’t think her lack of a reciprocal statement to him meant she didn’t feel it. I’ve commented/ranted many, many, MANY times already about the Doylist problems with the way her character is written. It vexes, to say the least. But regardless of how else this could have been handled, I didn’t see her here as deliberately not responding in kind. Rather, she extended his point by reminding him that their partnership doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Just like his support groups, it’s important to their crime-solving community to occasionally join in recognition of everyone’s shared commitment. Even when it doesn’t hold that same meaning for him, personally. I’m reminded of Alfredo’s comment the first time this came up, “you gotta get over yourself.” I think Watson’s coming from a similar perspective here.

Of course the irony is that Watson is also just going through the motions herself; she’s still a bit lost in space and seeking validation. She wants to belong somewhere, but for whatever reason is unable or unwilling to rest in her place next to Sherlock the way he clearly finds comfort in his place next to her. [Head canon that her underlying ambivalence stems from her experience with Liam and the unresolved/unexamined emotions around Sherlock’s relapse. Her missing father would be a factor too. Bitter disappointment that the show will never go there.]

ETA: @nairobiwonders commented on the lack of satisfaction in the way Watson says, “so you show up,” and I agree - she sounds resigned. As if in trying to talk him into seeing its importance, she started to talk herself out of believing it herself. You show up because it’s important to someone else, but it’s still just a gesture, a kind of group-think activity, another way of being nice. Sherlock explained his reasons for being afraid of playing along, but as usual Watson’s feelings about being part of something “bigger than us” remain unclear, unstated, untested. 

[amindamazed]

how would you rank the elementary seasons in terms of giving attention/backstory/characterization to joan? i think s4 was a step up, with the whole feud with cortez and joan's geeky side showing through, but that might just be me forgettin s2/3.

oh anon, so very kind of you to ask me to talk about Joan!

tl;dr: I rank them 1, 2, 4, 3, but there’s a huge gap between 1 and the rest.

WAY more detail below the cut.

I assume we can all agree that s1 is in fact #1. I came up with over 100 details and examples. Here’s a selection from the first 6 episodes:

- might prefer to sleep in- runs- photo of her mother & father showing him to be a white man; reference to his infidelity & reconciliation w/ her mother- left medicine bc a patient died (implication that she was, as S said “forced out by the sin of malpractice” later corrected)- likes opera- likes baseball- meet ex, Ty, who her parents are still in touch with & who perhaps doesn’t want to be an ex?- feels judged & undervalued by family/friends for her career change- observes at crime scene (notices photo of armoire; tests for pseudocoma)- lived in Cobble Hill 7 years before meeting Sherlock- was valedictorian of her medical school class (and is still proud of that)- meet friend Emily: oldest friend who apparently keeps trying to set Joan up- meet Aaron, latest set-up who she sees a few times- knows some Mandarin (not as much as her mother would like)- meet former friend, co-worker Carrie- knows something about soccer- her choice to end medical career - not actually forced out- apparently qualified to apply for a cardio-thoracic specialty- falsifies medical records to save patient’s life/save friend’s career- Zadie Smith is one of her favorite authors- skilled interrogator - manipulates Alistar into telling her about Irene (uses the same technique with Edson in the following episode)

still, I would say that we started to get fewer moments with her own reactions and thoughts about things after about episode 10; I started using my “Watson what are you thinking?!?” tag after “Details” in February 2013: The show will break my heart if they don’t make the transition to addressing Watson’s layers of [self-]camouflage/denial/deferral soon, I said. and it did because it never has.

s2 had the stand-alone episode in which we finally got the story of what happened with her last patient. Emily gave her a membership to a dating site, and she gave it a try. She started writing The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. She had an uncle who works in construction and apparently did not have a sister (or else Sherlock would have slept with her). There was a certain regrettable retcon I chose to disregard. We met a former client and a few contacts she’s still in touch with at different hospitals. She’s quite comfortable committing perjury if the story’s good enough (and this actually speaks to the characterization we’ve seen in s4). She was kidnapped, volunteered to operate under duress, witnessed murder, was threatened with murder herself, witnessed more murder & betrayal at close quarters, none of which has ever been spoken of after the next day. And while she loves working with Sherlock, she’d rather not continue living with him.

s3 showed us a Joan who is still livid 8 months later over the way Sherlock broke their partnership. She started her own business, started dating Andrew, started mentoring Kitty, and accepted Sherlock’s non-apology though it’s not clear to me when she decided they were partners again, since she also decided to close her business in order to take a job with an insurance company, because she liked the people there (what?). That’s more an example of lack of lack of attention, which continued in this season: the casebook she finished writing (when?) and deleted (why?); her decision to stick with Andrew (and spend a week with him in Denmark) after Sherlock explained why he liked him. Her decision to break things off with Andrew after Sherlock pointed out that she didn’t like him enough. Her decision to go hang out with her boring[ly written] friends and their tedious wedding plans because Sherlock told her she should. Her half-answer when Sherlock asked if she planned to procreate. Her mother’s dementia scare was the only one that felt fully thought through, and yet it was Sherlock who brought resolution, disturbing though it was, in the end, not her.

s4 has been so lackluster that I haven’t watched most episodes more than once and consequently don’t have great recall. Still, the points you mention: her geekery, her conflicts with Cortes (the fact that she’s a pretty good boxer), and I’d add her suspicion about Morland, have been much less Sherlock-driven than what passed for attention in s3, and I do count that as improvement. However, the only backstory I can remember so far was an unnecessarily creepy step-father story, made worse by having Joan apologize to him for hating the way he wrote about her. The closest thing she has to a social life is teasing/encouraging Sherlock with his. I’m also worried that we’re going to find out that her biological father has died, without ever getting to meet him on screen or see him with Joan. There has been an increase in her willingness to bend the law and consider vigilante justice this season, which is really the only sustained character development I can think of for her since season one’s demonstration that she was drawn to investigation from the start. We’ll have to see if she gets to play a Joan-centric role in the events fo the finale, but I’m not very optimistic that s4 will end up focused on her at all. We’ll get another stand-alone Very Special Episode on April 10 and never hear about whatever it is again.