Why on earth did Sherlock investigate Mary's guests and Mary's ex-boyfriend but not Mary herself?
Anonymous asked:
Why on earth did Sherlock investigate Mary's guests (I assume Archie was one of hers since John never acknowledged him) and Mary's ex-boyfriend but not Mary herself? He found out about her stolen identity and that she'd been on the run for five years pretty quickly after getting shot, so it must not have been that hard to find information on her. He plans every detail of the wedding and studies David's Twitter habits but doesn't once think of at least googling her like he did Sholto?
beejohnlocked:
Oh nonny, there are so many possible answers to this question. I’ll take a stab at it and give my personal reading of the situation.
I think Sherlock had a huge blind spot when it came to Mary for no other reason than she was John’s chosen person. Sherlock came back from a two year absence in John’s life, after killing himself in front of John, and Mary had already been in the picture for several months. To say Sherlock feels immense guilt over what he did I think is an understatement. You see it in the way that he goes above and beyond as John’s best man and in the way he treats everyone around him more kindly. When he left, he hurt John badly. It doesn’t matter if John forgives him or not because he isn’t over it and Sherlock knows this. In some ways, it’s a simple case of “shoot-the-messenger” syndrome. Look at what happens in TGG when Sherlock to deuces that Moriarty is gay. Molly blames SHERLOCK for spoiling everything. And keep in mind, Molly wasn’t even serious about Jim. Now let’s look at the situation in TEH. John is engaged to marry this woman. If Sherlock brings up the misgivings he has about her, it’s possible, (even likely given John’s state of mind at the time), that John will get angry at him about it, especially given Sherlock’s track record of rudely picking up on the personal business/flaws of others.
That being said, this idea that Sherlock was “slow” as Mary puts it, I don’t believe for a minute. Sherlock knew there was something off about Mary. But he didn’t know what it was, and John chose her to be with, and I think Sherlock decided to give her the benefit of whatever doubt he had for John’s sake. We saw Sherlock notice about the skip code, and we saw him notice about Mary knowing Sholto’s room. He knows that a lot of people don’t like her. He deduced that she is a liar. So this idea that Sherlock doesn’t realize that there’s something off about Mary is incorrect as far as I’m concerned. For example, if you look at something like the David situation, to me it shows that Sherlock doesn’t trust Mary either. If Mary had an ex-boyfriend hung up on her but had no interest in anything happening between them I think Sherlock could trust her to take care of herself where David is concerned. He certainly would not feel the need to downgrade David’s relationship with Mary and make it so that he can only see Mary when John is there to supervise. If Sherlock trusted Mary, he wouldn’t have to worry about what would happen with David and Mary alone, would he? But it is a concern for him, which means that Sherlock doesn’t completely trust her.
Sherlock is focusing on the things that he can control. He can’t control John and the fact that he’s chosen to marry this woman. But he CAN control David and get him to back the hell off.
As for why Sherlock didn’t investigate Mary, he knows that there is likely something to find, something less than good. Given that Sherlock just spent two years keeping something huge from John and feeling guilty about it, if he knew for sure that there was something bad about Mary he knows he would have to tell John. I think Sherlock is just hoping that whatever is in Mary’s past isn’t too bad and just leaving it as it is and choosing to believe that she loves John and will do right by him. Blissful ignorance as it were. Thanks!
If anyone has anything to add, or if you disagree, feel free to respond!!
ivyblossom:
Interesting. I think Mary was right; Sherlock was “slow” to figure her out.
Sherlock didn’t think there was anything off about Mary, as far as we can tell. He thinks he can see what she is, and he accepts the evidence of his senses. We see his deductions about her; they were overwhelmingly normal and upfront. The secret tattoo, her political leanings, the fact that she bakes. Public things, private things, all right there and obvious to Sherlock. Everything he sees is reasonable, rational, logical, and normal, making her seem to be exactly what she says she is.
He knows that she’s a liar. But what’s that mean? Everybody lies. Is that something to suggest that her whole identity is false? Everything Sherlock can see about her is 100% harmless and normal, even her secrets. Even the fact that she lies. John lies, too. What he doesn’t know is that the deductions he’s making about Mary are themselves based on lies.
Mary make herself appear to be exactly what she wants people to think she is, not only in what she says, but in the expression on her face, what she wears, how she holds herself, and what she chooses to say. She is a master actor, perfectly method. She is very good at taking on a new identity and making it so close to real that it nearly becomes so. She was good enough to fool Sherlock, and Sherlock was fooled.
I’m sure Sherlock did investigate Mary. He found out what everyone in John’s family thinks of her. He knows about her ex-boyfriend, their interactions. You don’t get to the ex-boyfriend without stalking Mary. To complicate things further, he likes her. He doesn’t like a lot of people, but he likes Mary. And she likes him. She’s a friend. He thought they understood each other and cared about each other. Liking her helped him to ignore things he shouldn’t have.
It wasn’t belated research that revealed Mary to Sherlock. It was new evidence.
Sherlock doesn’t know how wrong he is about Mary until the moment that she shoots him. He steps forward when she tells him not to; the person he’s certain Mary is wouldn’t pull the trigger when a friend is offering to help her. But he’s wrong. That bullet is the evidence that he doesn’t know Mary at all.
Understanding that resets Sherlock’s sensor. He combs back over his interactions with her to see what he’s missed. It’s inner research, not a google search.
If the internet could uncover Mary’s secrets, killing Magnussen wouldn’t have done much good. Sherlock only learns what he knows about Mary accidentally threatening her, and then by verifying what he guesses to be true through testing her and asking her directly. In other words, the “slow” way.
