Another reading on the Coffin Smashing Scene
Dads coffin smashing explanation: "The coffin is Molly's. And the words engraved on it... are Sherlock's. The reason he smashes it is because it's inevitable, her death... any way he may act on his newly discovereed feeling for her will always leave her to be targeted. To be killed by someone after Sherlock. The coffin bares truth. In the end, the coffin will be Molly's with Sherlock's "I love you" engraved on it if he ever chooses to 'be' with her. He can't explore this feeling for her because he knows, deep down, it will end with her dying because of him. Perhaps even FOR him. There will be no happy ending with them being together. This scene results in him learning two things. He loves her (differently from anyone else). And it won't change anything. Because he won't act on it. Even though he WANTS to. Sherlock doesn't like 'not knowing', right? This includes him not knowing how this feeling for Molly is somehow different from all the other feelings he has experienced. He WANTS to know more about this new feeling and what it 'is'. But he values her life more than he values exploring this feeling, however confusing to him it may be. And it tears him apart." X
sillier-things:
I like so much about this interpretation and if the show did have a season 5, I could see this.
However, if we take episode 3 by itself, there is a very important message about hiding things to protect people you love: don’t do it. Mary and her past, Mycroft and Eurus…they didn’t save their loved ones any pain. There is always going to be pain in love. Instead, they denied the others the joy of loving freely and openly despite the pain. Poor Mycroft…hiding Eurus from their parents, counseling Sherlock not to care, so cut off from his emotions himself.
So, no, now that Sherlock has learned this lesson, I tend to think he’s going to carpe that diem for though you cannot make the sun stand still, you can make him run!
bassfanimation:
This is a very valid reading, and an extremely angsty one, which we all tend to love here. It could definitely be an outcome, but I don’t think it’s the most likely for a few reasons.
Season 4 of Sherlock was very much about love, and loss of love. Sherlock experiences deep familial love, trust, and friendship, only to see what it does when it’s taken suddenly away. The loss of Mary…seeing what that loss does to John…seeing what the loss then forces John to do to him. Of course then we have Eurus and Mycroft, exposing Mycroft’s fear of loss. Loss of Sherlock just like he lost Eurus. It’s all about love and fear of losing love. That has already been what’s kept Sherlock as the “machine” all these years. He was already there…but Season 4 was about breaking that down, not reaffirming it.
Back to the coffin scene, remember that before Sherlock smashed the coffin, he carefully places the lid upon it, with the words “I love you” on the lid. I think, in that moment, he was thinking very much along the lines of “I can’t be with you, or this will happen, so I’m placing the lid upon your coffin because that’s what I know will come to you if I love you. I have to say goodbye to you.” But, as soon as we think he’s about to leave it that way, and continue onward with Eurus’s tests, he defies all of his reasoning, all of his logic, all of his own fears of loss and he smashes that coffin with his bare hands. In that moment, I think he chose to do as John suggested he do: stop running from this thing you’ve been running from, or you WILL lose her, and it’ll be too late. Even Eurus’s own words to him, “So many regrets, so [many] words unsaid, so many days not lived.” That’s what Sherlock would have chosen, and what he almost did choose.
The reason I think the angsty reading above isn’t the most likely one, is that I think Sherlock’s smashing of the coffin was him saying “No, I won’t be afraid of loss any longer. Being afraid of loss has been what has led me here. Being afraid of loss is what led me to believe alone protects me, that alone is better. No. I refuse to stay here, alone with my fear, any longer.”
One more thing to support this…in His Last Vow, the mind palace scene with Moriarty chained in what looks like Sherlock’s personal little insane asylum. I think Moriarty there is like a human embodiment of loneliness…and what it’s done to him. Remember Moriarty often lamenting how lonely he felt…that there was no one really on the same level as him. He seemed ok with it, but he wasn’t. He was actually more willing to die than to live being in a world full of ‘ordinary’ people. That’s the culmination of that loneliness…which is the one true thing he shared with Sherlock. I think that scares the hell out of Sherlock…hence how horrified he looked in his own mind palace, in that dank, padded room, facing the mirror of his own outcome if he chooses loneliness.
I truly think Season 4 was Sherlock facing that, yes, losses occur. But running away from that means you will deny yourself so much happiness, so much love, so much joy. Look at John Watson. He could have left Mary upon Sherlock’s return, due to fear for Mary’s safety. In fact I even talked to my hub about, how I felt if John truly wanted to keep Mary safe, he could have fled with her and his daughter, away from Sherlock and everyone they knew. But that would have left such a void for John, so he stayed. Mary stayed too, even knowing the dangers of staying. They gambled…and they still lost some…but they also gained so many amazing memories and experiences, not to mention a wonderful baby daughter.
After Mary died, John almost made the choice Sherlock did long ago…to shut himself away, to abandon his child…but he came back from the darkness because he knew the consequences if he didn’t. Even Mary herself tried to run away from those who loved her, and in the end, it did not prevent a single thing. Her staying with John though, and with Sherlock, brought her so, so much love.
The Final Problem (and Sherlock as a series) was Sherlock coming back from the darkness, just like John had (several times now). I think Sherlock finally chose not to go further into it, because that itself would have left him truly alone, forever. That, I believe, is and always has been his greatest fear: being alone. This fear was born out of the loss of his best friend as a small child. Now though, he has this whole new family, a chance to love someone who loves him unconditionally, he has a godchild, and so much more. S4 is totally about happy endings, in the fullest way. I really think that was the point…not for everyone to have a happy ending except Sherlock.
I like so much about this interpretation and if the show did have a season 5, I could see this.
However, if we take episode 3 by itself, there is a very important message about hiding things to protect people you love: don’t do it. Mary and her past, Mycroft and Eurus…they didn’t save their loved ones any pain. There is always going to be pain in love. Instead, they denied the others the joy of loving freely and openly despite the pain. Poor Mycroft…hiding Eurus from their parents, counseling Sherlock not to care, so cut off from his emotions himself.
So, no, now that Sherlock has learned this lesson, I tend to think he’s going to carpe that diem for though you cannot make the sun stand still, you can make him run!
bassfanimation:
This is a very valid reading, and an extremely angsty one, which we all tend to love here. It could definitely be an outcome, but I don’t think it’s the most likely for a few reasons.
Season 4 of Sherlock was very much about love, and loss of love. Sherlock experiences deep familial love, trust, and friendship, only to see what it does when it’s taken suddenly away. The loss of Mary…seeing what that loss does to John…seeing what the loss then forces John to do to him. Of course then we have Eurus and Mycroft, exposing Mycroft’s fear of loss. Loss of Sherlock just like he lost Eurus. It’s all about love and fear of losing love. That has already been what’s kept Sherlock as the “machine” all these years. He was already there…but Season 4 was about breaking that down, not reaffirming it.
Back to the coffin scene, remember that before Sherlock smashed the coffin, he carefully places the lid upon it, with the words “I love you” on the lid. I think, in that moment, he was thinking very much along the lines of “I can’t be with you, or this will happen, so I’m placing the lid upon your coffin because that’s what I know will come to you if I love you. I have to say goodbye to you.” But, as soon as we think he’s about to leave it that way, and continue onward with Eurus’s tests, he defies all of his reasoning, all of his logic, all of his own fears of loss and he smashes that coffin with his bare hands. In that moment, I think he chose to do as John suggested he do: stop running from this thing you’ve been running from, or you WILL lose her, and it’ll be too late. Even Eurus’s own words to him, “So many regrets, so [many] words unsaid, so many days not lived.” That’s what Sherlock would have chosen, and what he almost did choose.
The reason I think the angsty reading above isn’t the most likely one, is that I think Sherlock’s smashing of the coffin was him saying “No, I won’t be afraid of loss any longer. Being afraid of loss has been what has led me here. Being afraid of loss is what led me to believe alone protects me, that alone is better. No. I refuse to stay here, alone with my fear, any longer.”
One more thing to support this…in His Last Vow, the mind palace scene with Moriarty chained in what looks like Sherlock’s personal little insane asylum. I think Moriarty there is like a human embodiment of loneliness…and what it’s done to him. Remember Moriarty often lamenting how lonely he felt…that there was no one really on the same level as him. He seemed ok with it, but he wasn’t. He was actually more willing to die than to live being in a world full of ‘ordinary’ people. That’s the culmination of that loneliness…which is the one true thing he shared with Sherlock. I think that scares the hell out of Sherlock…hence how horrified he looked in his own mind palace, in that dank, padded room, facing the mirror of his own outcome if he chooses loneliness.
I truly think Season 4 was Sherlock facing that, yes, losses occur. But running away from that means you will deny yourself so much happiness, so much love, so much joy. Look at John Watson. He could have left Mary upon Sherlock’s return, due to fear for Mary’s safety. In fact I even talked to my hub about, how I felt if John truly wanted to keep Mary safe, he could have fled with her and his daughter, away from Sherlock and everyone they knew. But that would have left such a void for John, so he stayed. Mary stayed too, even knowing the dangers of staying. They gambled…and they still lost some…but they also gained so many amazing memories and experiences, not to mention a wonderful baby daughter.
After Mary died, John almost made the choice Sherlock did long ago…to shut himself away, to abandon his child…but he came back from the darkness because he knew the consequences if he didn’t. Even Mary herself tried to run away from those who loved her, and in the end, it did not prevent a single thing. Her staying with John though, and with Sherlock, brought her so, so much love.
The Final Problem (and Sherlock as a series) was Sherlock coming back from the darkness, just like John had (several times now). I think Sherlock finally chose not to go further into it, because that itself would have left him truly alone, forever. That, I believe, is and always has been his greatest fear: being alone. This fear was born out of the loss of his best friend as a small child. Now though, he has this whole new family, a chance to love someone who loves him unconditionally, he has a godchild, and so much more. S4 is totally about happy endings, in the fullest way. I really think that was the point…not for everyone to have a happy ending except Sherlock.
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