The Holmes siblings in TFP

 (Sherlock meta by sherlolly through mizjoely)

I was chatting with @sherlolly, who is using her phone, and since this was such a good analysis/discussion of Mycroft and Eurus in The Final Problem, I volunteered to transcribe her thoughts in a post (because we all know what a pain it is to do longish posts on a phone!). 

I hurt for Mycroft in this episode. My heart [aches] for all of them, that scene [when Eurus tries to force Sherlock to shoot either John or Mycroft] was essentially Mycroft saying, I love you enough to die so that you can stay with your friend. John loved Sherlock enough to be the one to die if he thought Sherlock would live. And ultimately, Sherlock loves both of them enough that he would have taken his own life so they could live.

Mycroft has always had his own way of doing what he thought was best, which usually involves doing things that no one sees in the same way that he does.

Sherlock understood that when he told their parents that Mycroft had done his best. For Mycroft, the things he did were his best. I’m not saying that they were THE best, that’s an important distinction. I am saying that with all of his understanding, Mycroft did what he thought was best.

To which I replied: Yup, I see it. But I’ve always been ambivalent about Myke and probably always will be. But I like him way better now than I used to. 

I’m not so sure I would want to tell my parents hey, guess what, my sister and your daughter is alive, but damn, she’s a bat shit crazy murderer. Because he doesn’t process emotions the same way that regular people do, Mycroft makes most of his decisions based on his brain. And what he rationally thinks is better. It’s like when Sherlock told Molly that Jim from IT was gay. He thought that he was "saving her some time", and "wasn’t that kinder". Mycroft however, has never believed that the truth is kinder.

I don’t think either one of them are completely right or completely wrong. For all of the things he has done, Mycroft has aspects of a moral code that Sherlock never has. And Sherlock has a code that Mycroft never has. And I’m not entirely sure if Eurus could have been saved even if 5 year old Sherlock could have figured out the code. Would she have gone as far into the Cuckoo’s Nest as she did? Maybe not. But it would always have been inside her, that desire to hurt, that wanting to kill.

See, Eurus knew that she was already too far gone. But Sherlock knew how to bring her back in a way that Mycroft would not have thought of. He showed her that he had not left her, maybe he couldn’t bring her home, but he could land the plane for her in a safe place. She absolutely freaked out that Sherlock was going to kill himself because if he had killed himself, who was going to land the plane for her?

That is the difference between her and Moriarty. Moriarty just kept wanting more and more and more thrills like a junkie. She had been desperately crying out for love and salvation. When she clings to Sherlock when he finds her, at that moment she is the little girl again, the one desperate for her brother’s love. This extraordinary genius, this ruthless killer, reduced to being a terrified little girl wanting her brother to rescue her. And Sherlock’s heart hurt for her, in spite of everything that she had done and I’m sure that although he realizes he could not have saved her ultimately, he probably also has guilt. She retreated into herself because she did not want to be lost again. Then Sherlock started visiting her regularly and playing the violin, showed her that he was there, and reawakened her.