Sunday 24 January 2016

re: Mary 
(Sherlock Meta by Ivy Blossom)

I find it’s getting easier and easier to forget that I have no idea who Mary is, and I have no idea why she’s doing what she’s doing. I’m not inclined to take much about Mary at face value, because everything she does has a question mark on the end of it. She has made a lot of choices, and at this point, we don’t know why she’s done any of it.

All we know for sure is that Mary popped into John’s life fairly recently, and they had a whirlwind romance that resulted in John attempting to propose to her.

We know that Mary likes Sherlock. She says so, and they do seem to get on quite well. At points they get on better than Sherlock and John do.

We know that Mary knows exactly how to manipulate John into doing what she wants him to, because she told Sherlock she’s capable of that, and she proves it. She’s also pretty adept at getting Sherlock to do what she wants him to, as it happens.

We know she doesn’t have a lot of friends.

We know that her Mary Morstan persona hasn’t been around for long, but it’s been around longer than her relationship with John has.

We know that she is, or at least has been, an assassin. She has killed a lot of people, on government payroll and “freelance.” She has done such terrible things that one of the big bads of the show considers her “wicked.” She tells us herself that her history would turn John against her. That it would keep her in jail for the rest of her life. That goes beyond “I was just doing my job,” obviously.

We know that Mary is an excellent shot. Better, perhaps, than John is.

We know she’s an amazing liar.

We know that she can tell when Sherlock is lying.

We know that Mary shot Sherlock. We know she shot him because she told him to stay put and he didn’t, not because killing him was part of some grand plan. Sherlock wildly underestimated her, and that was really dumb on his part. He wasn’t doing what he was told, so she shot him.

We know that if Mary threatens to kill you, she won’t be bluffing.

We know that Mary still has an arsenal of guns, bullets, and various other spy/assassin gear at the ready, and that she is still engaged in some below-the-radar activity (monitoring and threatening Magnussen).

We know she develops friendships with people who have the connections she needs, and is willing to hurt them (Janine) or sacrifice them (Sherlock) as the need arrises.

We know she is prepared to play a very long game.

We know that her affection for a person won’t get in the way of her trying to kill them.

We know that, like John, Mary can stay exceptionally calm under intense pressure.

We know that Mary is committed enough to her relationship with John that months of silence between them didn’t make her give up on him. She waited it out.

We know that Mary is pregnant. I realize some disagree that that’s a fact, but I figure the mention of a scan suggests that there is an actual verifiable baby.

Is Mary in love with John? Maybe. Is John Mary’s way out of a life she no longer wants? Could be. Is she still someone’s hired gun? Is her relationship with John some kind of job? Is she using John the way she used Janine, as a means to an end? Is John cover for something? Has she been directed to get close to him, to marry him, for some reason? Is her relationship with John her own idea, something that runs counter to her current job, if she has one? Maybe so, maybe not.

There’s certainly a story there. Mary’s doing things for a reason, and it’s interesting that the writers have worked so hard to ensure that we don’t know what that reason is, one way or another. She’a an intelligent, ruthless woman with a lot of history and skills. She certainly has a story. I bet it’s a great one. We just don’t know what it is yet.

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