Eurus and the Sherlock universe

 (Sherlock meta by marsdaydream)

So there are long posts flying around tumblr compiling questions about plot holes in TFP. Lots of them circle around Eurus: how did she control all the video clips, set up the Garridebs, get across to the mainland and put John in a well, escape her cell and then come back…? On and on.

You can answer these questions if you accept the character as described: She can control anyone by talking to them, so she had tons of people at her bidding, lots of little Eurus minions scuttling around like Oompa-Loompas setting up special tricks and games on her behalf. All plot hole / continuity questions that begin “How did Eurus…” can be answered by saying “She controlled lots of of people, because she can.”

The bigger question, though, is: Why did anyone think it was a good idea to write a character like this?

And what did they do to the rules of the Sherlock universe by creating Eurus?

S1 and S2 of Sherlock were set in a universe that was closely tethered to our own. Jefferson Hope was a smart villain who pulled off a somewhat believable crime. We had a murderous acrobat in TBB, fairly Holmesian in flavor. Moriarty’s games in TGG and TRF were verging on the fantastic, but this was Moriarty, and by reputation as the supervillian of the Holmes world, he should have been able to push the envelope a bit. Even the ridiculous case in Hounds with glowing animals had a pseudo-science explanation attached. It was heightened reality, but it still felt like Sherlock Holmes reality.

Now, somehow in S4, things have escalated to the point where the chosen villain can do anything she wants from an isolated cell on an island. And she can mind-control any human. If I was going to place this villain in a story universe, I would think she belonged in the X-Men, or Marvel – this is pushing it even for James Bond.

It seems to break the laws that these writers set up in the early seasons, with a world that was nearly recognizable as our own. After the first two seasons, for some reason, they decided to crash through that barrier and keep raising the stakes, until now we have something that feels far more like a comic book. And I like the comic book / superhero genre a lot? But that’s not why I loved BBC Sherlock when I first started watching it.

So for me, it’s not so much about the specific plot holes Eurus creates, but the fact that she has the set of abilities they gave her. Sherlock’s own ability is special because it’s always defined as something he worked very hard to achieve, and still works very hard at – but it’s something achievable by mortals. Having his sister be a natural-born supergenius undermines this entire aspect of his character, because it sets up a world where you can pop out of the womb WAY more intelligent than Sherlock Holmes. Way more intelligent than Mycroft Holmes, for that matter! In my personal headcanon, you really can’t up the ante, brain-wise, higher than Sherlock and Mycroft. In D&D terms, they rolled a 20. You shouldn’t be able to pull out new dice and yell “hey, this character is a 25!”

A lot of reconciling TFP, for me, is going to be accepting Eurus and the new rules of the Sherlock universe. It is more fantasy, more sci-fi, more Doctor Who. And I love all of those things, but I don’t know if I love them in Sherlock. Yet.