Subtext Interpretation... What Do You See?

[Arcadia]

Well, he's not going to want to seem vulnerable to Molly either. But she sees through him anyway. Better than John does, apparently. Interesting development, that. Wonder if they'll ever go anywhere with it.

[Inge l-w]

Wait, wait: there are also

Mycroft and John

Sally and Molly

Irene and Molly

Moriarty and John.

not to mention all the crossovers!

That's why fan fiction is so pleasant: you pass your time in complete suspension of disbelief, and if the writer is half -decent in constructing a plot (or not, as the case may be), in sufficiently adequate English (or German or French or Italian or Spanish etc. ) then it is eminently forgettable.

And our favourite detective may be slowly turning into a good man, but definitely not Jesus Christ: he can forgive Mary (apparently) for shooting him, but pairing off with his would-be assassin is a definite no-no!

[J.P.]

Re MG on Twitter.

 

The timing was a bit not good.

Then, seeing only his answer on my timeline I thought we have lost another important personality. I kind of expect such news every day...

[Boton]

 

 

And let me proudly point out that Jolie_Black and I shamelessly paired Mycroft and Anderson, in a pairing that Gyll_Wynn named Andercroft.   :D

 

You didn't. That's got to be the most unappealing couple ever...

 

 

 

 

Oh, we most certainly did!  Mine is the story, "Murder at the Ashram," and she did a follow-up piece.  And I think Mycroft and Anderson are a wonderful couple!  Philip provides the groundedness that Mycroft needs, and they have so many things (well, Sherlock) in common!  And there has to be a reason that Mycroft called Phillip and Benji to search Sherlock's flat in HLV.  

 

(Actual back story: Jolie and I were discussing the meaning of "canon compliance."  I was saying that I could write a story about Mycroft and Anderson spending their holiday together at an ashram in Cornwall and it would be technically canon compliant because nothing in  canon contradicts it.  Kind of like Mystrade, actually.  And so I had to prove it!)

 

 

I do too -- but she certainly is, as you say, not the sweet little Mary Morstan of canon!

 

I think this is what is easy to miss about Moftiss.  They are often canon compliant, but within their own definition of obeying ACD canon.  So, in their minds, it could be enough to say that ACD has a "Mary Morstan," and so do they, so that meets their own definition of providing the Sherlock Holmes experience for the modern viewer, but they are going to totally reinvent Mary in a way that serves their narrative purpose.  It is one of the traps (that I fall into, too) of saying that because ACD did it, Moftiss will do it; so, Mary dies in ACD canon, and so Mary will die in Sherlock.  That's not necessarily true.

[Arcadia]

It is supposed to be a "modern" update, after all. (In spite of Sherlock's rather Victorian fussiness. ) The likelihood that your wife will die at a young age is somewhat lower now than it was back then, one presumes. Unless she's an assassin on the run, of course. In which case I'm surprised she made it this far.

 

Are there really female assassins of the gun-toting variety in real life? This is old-fashioned and sexist, but it just seems so implausible to me. I think of women killers as going for the more personal approach; poison, suicide-bombing, neck-wringing, etc. Y'know, more genteel. :d

 

And are assassins really absolutely lovely people otherwise? Oh, wait, nevermind, I forget this show is written by men boys. Of course she's the perfect, er, playmate. Never mind.

[Boton]

 

 

Are there really female assassins of the gun-toting variety in real life? This is old-fashioned and sexist, but it just seems so implausible to me. I think of women killers as going for the more personal approach; poison, suicide-bombing, neck-wringing, etc. Y'know, more genteel. :D

 

And are assassins really absolutely lovely people otherwise? Oh, wait, nevermind, I forget this show is written by men boys. Of course she's the perfect, er, playmate. Never mind.

 

A friend and I were joking that now that we were technically middle-aged women, we should totally become CIA spies, because who would suspect us?  You could probably send me in to break up a drug cartel (you know, one of the ones that Frank Hudson left behind), and the dealers would be calling me ma'am and trying not to swear in front of me while I cased the joint, bugged it, and planted a tracking device under the kingpin's car.  (Yes, I've watched too much Burn Notice.)

 

I think this kind of gets at what I like about Mary, even if I don't like what she did to Sherlock:  She's certain of her actions, and she gets the job done.  There's something that I can enjoy about a character who, unrealistic as it probably is, protects her marriage with John with the same single-minded focus (and the same crack shot) that she probably used to do her job in the CIA.  

[Arcadia]

Yeah, I love her personality, even if it was invented by boys. :p

[Inge l-w]

Mary Dear protects her marriage and her entitlement to the detriment of anyone or anything in her path! She is not a lady, she's an ex-assassin, revealed as such, and should get her comeuppance sooner or later, in the interests of justice. You cannot have a double standard: Sherlock being sent off to an extremely dodgy mission for killing one person in what was almost his defending Dr Watson and the infamous wife, and the multiple-killer being allowed to have a family and continue living as Mary Watson just because she's a woman.

[Shadow Dweller]

It is supposed to be a "modern" update, after all. (In spite of Sherlock's rather Victorian fussiness. ) The likelihood that your wife will die at a young age is somewhat lower now than it was back then, one presumes. Unless she's an assassin on the run, of course. In which case I'm surprised she made it this far.

 

Are there really female assassins of the gun-toting variety in real life? This is old-fashioned and sexist, but it just seems so implausible to me. I think of women killers as going for the more personal approach; poison, suicide-bombing, neck-wringing, etc. Y'know, more genteel. :d

 

And are assassins really absolutely lovely people otherwise? Oh, wait, nevermind, I forget this show is written by men boys. Of course she's the perfect, er, playmate. Never mind.

Funny you asked that, this name had appeared on my radar again yesterday: Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko.

[Arcadia]

Okay then, that answers my first question! :d

 

And I suspect this may answer my second question: a quote from the lady herself.

 

“The only feeling I have is the great satisfaction a hunter feels who has killed a beast of prey.”

[Carol the Dabbler]

Interesting. According to Wikipedia (where she is listed as just Lyudmila Pavlichenko), she was "merely" the best of two thousand female snipers in the Red Army. So not even particularly uncommon.

 

And she retired after the war was over, to become an administrator and historian.

 

All of which reminds me of the Cyrillic writing in CAM's file on Mary....

[Arcadia]

You mean ... she didn't become a nurse? <_<

[Carol the Dabbler]

Well actually, according to the Wikipedia article, she had the option of becoming an army nurse, but preferred a more aggressive role. Hmmm....

[Arcadia]

Lol. "Poor b*****d, he's not going to make it..." !POW! "No need to amputate, I'll just shoot the leg off..."

 

Sorry. Current events have done something weird to my humor.

[Shadow Dweller]

Okay then, that answers my first question! :d

 

And I suspect this may answer my second question: a quote from the lady herself.

 

“The only feeling I have is the great satisfaction a hunter feels who has killed a beast of prey.”

I wonder from what Sherlock actually draw the most satisfaction after closing a case (and leave it on poor Lestrade's hands to deal with the nitty-gritty of paperwork).

[Arcadia]

I think he draws the most satisfaction from outsmarting the other guy/gal. And maybe sometimes from seeing justice done; he does seem to have a well hidden streak of compassion for the victims.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Does he? I am trying to think of any.. what I remember is him thanking Henry Knight for a good case when that poor guy was driven half nuts.:p

 

But he was nice to the daughter of Mr. Windibank though, that complete and utter...

[Shadow Dweller]

Outsmarting the opponent, the same basic principle with defeating them. Is Mary the ex-assassin(?) a really absolutely lovely person? How about John the ex army-surgeon who already see a battlefield and might already scored a few kill on his belt? Or Sherlock and his quest to purge the remains of Moriarty's network, is it possible that he too had taken to himself to ensure that some of them cannot harm another again, permanently?

[Arcadia]

Does he? I am trying to think of any.. what I remember is him thanking Henry Knight for a good case when that poor guy was driven half nuts. :P

 

But he was nice to the daughter of Mr. Windibank though, that complete and utter...

I was thinking mostly of Sarah and Mrs. Hudson, I guess.

 

Outsmarting the opponent, the same basic principle with defeating them. Is Mary the ex-assassin(?) a really absolutely lovely person? How about John the ex army-surgeon who already see a battlefield and might already scored a few kill on his belt? Or Sherlock and his quest to purge the remains of Moriarty's network, is it possible that he too had taken to himself to ensure that some of them cannot harm another again, permanently?

Don't know. :p

 

But in general I have a hard time imagining an army surgeon/doctor being in battle, except to tend to the wounded.

 

And I share Anderson's view of how Sherlock took down Moriarty's network; by finding clues and getting those people convicted.Trickery, sleuthing and intelligence, not direct violence.

[Shadow Dweller]

John is a crackshot and we know that he took Jeff the cabbie's life, professional assassin-style.

[Inge l-w]

Being an armed forces sharpshooter, perhaps taught by Major Sholto, does not make Dr Watson a gun for hire, like Mary Dear!

And anyway, that whole sequence was The Empty Room sequence of Moran shooting the effigy in a twisted Moffat version. Nothing new about how the Abominable Scot likes to treat his puppets!

[Shadow Dweller]

That's splitting hair, Inge. The way John had choose to do it and the obvious calmness made it clear that it was not his first kill.

[Arcadia]

Oh, now that would be a twist! John was an army doctor who was also a sniper! No wonder he's drawn to Mary! :D

 

May I just say, as time goes by, I am being forced to conclude I would never want John Watson as my doctor ... he's more likely to kill me than heal me.....

[J.P.]

Well, he can break your bones while naming them!

 

[Arcadia]

Point well taken. (Hear that, Sherlock? )