On Mycroft, Molly and Sherlock 

and the Christmas scene at Bart's

 (Sherlock meta by penelope1730 and theleftpill)

penelope1730:

How do Mycroft and Molly know one another? I understand this is Mycroft, who has greater vision than the All Seeing Eye of Sauron, but he seems rather comfortable – all things considered – in thanking Molly for her help. [...]

The Christmas scene from ASiB is the awkward gift that keeps on giving. Mycroft tells Sherlock he had Irene’s body brought to Bart’s, Sherlock’s “home away from home.” Molly is there to present the body for identification, with Sherlock telling her she didn’t have to come in.

Sherlock’s comment has always bothered me, though, beyond the lingering weirdness shared between he and Molly. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought it was a bit pretentious to tell Molly she didn’t have to come to work and, like, do her job. Although he’s self-employed, it’s doubtful Sherlock doesn’t understand that people actually have to show up for their employment when expected, even if he somehow feels entitled to tell them they don’t. Nice of him to want to spare her his presence, tho.

Molly’s reply also doesn’t make sense — “It’s okay, everyone else was busy with…Christmas” — if it’s actually her job to be there. Something along the lines of —- “Ummm, Sherlock, I’m not simply showing up for your convenience, especially as you were rude as fuck to me. This is my job and while it sucks to have to work on Christmas, it’s double-time with holiday bonus pay — cha ching! Let the other schmucks enjoy their turkey or goose – I’ll still be able to fit into my skinny jeans tomorrow.” would seem more appropriate.

Okay, so Molly probably wouldn’t say that – she hasn’t quite got her righteous snark down yet – but you get the drift.

Unless, of course, she wasn’t scheduled to work or on-call, which Sherlock might know, and someone (ahem, Mycroft) called her personally. Then Sherlock’s comment “You didn’t have to come in, Molly” makes sense, along with Molly’s “I don’t mind, everyone else is busy with…Christmas.”

So, if that’s what happened (and not saying it did), why would Mycroft call Molly, or have her on speed dial? Why not let the morgue attendant deal with the body, especially when one is always working? What difference would it make? It’s not like the morgue attendant would care. Was it about convenience? Mycroft circumventing normal channels? Moffat and Gatiss just wanted to give us one more angsty / awkward scene between Sherlock and Molly?

Or, did Molly decide, having just experienced the *worst Christmas party* in history, that going to work was like the best thing ever?

I gotta give Molly props for wanting to know who the dead, naked women was – and actually asked, without hesitation. She asked Mycroft, Mister Warm and Fuzzy, and people don’t think this chick has got a spine, or that she only grew one post Reichenbach. HA! And, then, later on – when she pumped Sherlock for info about whose phone he was x-raying. Seriously – how many people actually pump Sherlock for information, where he actually answers? This girl is far from spineless.

Any thoughts anyone???

theleftpill:

I think it’s clear from the context of this scene and the one before it that Molly’s presence in this scene is out of the ordinary - she’s not just “doing her job.” Since she was just at the party it’s clear that she had the night off, so simply fulfilling her duty isn’t at play here.

On a superficial, basic-viewer level, Molly’s there for subtle comic relief. She’s just been humiliated by her crush, (presumably) leaves the party when it breaks up with Sherlock’s departure, and takes a “hey can you come in to work, we’ve got a situation” call to get her mind off things. And is immediately confronted by same crush who identifies a woman by “not her face.” On the surface it’s another sucker-punch. But as I’ve asked before - Why Molly? Why is it Molly attending the viewing? Why not the on-duty attendant, or, given the political sensitivity of the matter, a government official? You’ve hit another key moment showing Molly’s importance, which I think goes deeper than quick comic relief.

I think you can safely draw the conclusion that Mycroft had Molly called in (I doubt he would have called her himself.) He’s working very hard to control the situation; he has control over the location and therefore would also have control of personnel. This is not just his brother’s conflict; it’s also a security risk. Mycroft trusts her with this rather delicate security situation - in a small way, she’s in the inner circle. He trusts her to be discreet and professional.

But the biggest reason, if you’re digging deep, is clear from Mycroft’s establishing line: “We had her brought here, your home [away] from home.” Mycroft understands that this moment is going to throw Sherlock. He’s trying to soften the blow as much as possible - putting him in a comfortable environment, surrounding him with people he trusts. Mycroft knows that Molly will handle the situation with delicacy and care. She can be trusted not only with the security risk but more importantly with Sherlock’s psyche. He must be aware of some emotional connection Sherlock has to Molly; in this delicate moment, if he’s controlling the environment, he’s not going to bring in someone who would upset Sherlock. He’s going to bring in someone who represents grounding and comfort: Molly.

And note who’s already present in the scene when Mycroft says “home (away] from home.” Home is not just a location, a structure. Home is where those you love reside. Home is where the heart is. Molly is the one who lives in that “home.”

And I love your points about Molly confronting both Mycroft and Sherlock in the following moments/scenes. I never gave much thought to this scene between Molly and Mycroft, but it goes so much further to prove Molly’s importance to Sherlock. Beautiful catch.

You Clearly Don’t Understand. Play You. 

(Or: Things That Everybody Thinks Make Sherlock Canonically Straight But They Really Really Don’t...)

 (Sherlock meta by moffat-rocks)

[...] I. Loved. Series. Four!!! In particular, I loved The Final Problem. I loved Sherlock calling John family, I loved the smashing of the casket, the touching of non-existent glass, the air plane metaphor, Mycroft outside his comfort zone, etcetera etcetera etcetera. I loved the whole bloody thing.

But my favourite, favourite moment was the one when Eurus asks Sherlock to “play you”. And he plays the theme of The Woman. 

Because it is the bravest thing Sherlock has ever done. And it makes this moment incredibly powerful. 

MIND OVER MATTER 

Irene Adler - “The Woman” - is, mildly put, a disputed character of the modern adaptation. Among other things, she is thought to be Moffat’s attempt to make Sherlock “ungay”.

But it really is quite the opposite. The Woman is not a love interest for Sherlock - she is a psychological interest, because she is everything that Sherlock is not. Or more precisely, she is everything Sherlock does not allow himself to be.

Sherlock is a man who suppresses his emotional and physical desires - not the sociopath he would like everyone to believe, but still someone who views emotional and physical desire as a distraction from the true power that is his mind.

Irene fundamentally challenges this belief by being all about desire and being extremely powerful because of it. If Sherlock cannot beat her, it would be an existential defeat to him, as it would question the very foundation of his self-imposed refrain and celibacy.

And so it is no coincidence that Irene is wearing Sherlock’s coat and that her dark hair and blue eyes mimic those of Sherlock. Irene Adler, in a way, is Sherlock. She is the human version of his desires. And A Scandal In Belgravia is entirely about Sherlock’s internal battle between his heart and his head. 

Let me make it very clear at this point that I she is not the human version of Sherlock’s wet dreams. This is an easy confusion to make, but Sherlock does not at any moment show any sign of sexual attraction towards her. (He really doesn’t. Go back and watch it again.)

He is mesmerised by her, yes, and flustered when she calls him sexy, yes, but when she flirts with him, he doesn’t flirt back, when she wants to have dinner, he is not hungry, when they spend a would-be intimate moment in the living room, Sherlock asks for John. Because that is who he really wants to see, as we can tell - not least by the fact that the human version of Sherlock’s desires is, very specifically: gay. 

But what is really interesting about A Scandal In Belgravia is, again, how incredibly powerful Irene is and how much Sherlock underestimates her. Because it shows us just how strong Sherlock’s emotions are and how hard he has to work to contain them. And now that we have seen The Final Problem, we can understand just how tragic Sherlock’s story really is. 

WHAT MIGHT WE DEDUCE ABOUT HIS HEART?

The moment when Mycroft tells the story of Redbeard, we finally learn really why Sherlock chooses to suppress his emotions:

Mycroft: “Sherlock was traumatised. Natural, I suppose. He was, in the early days, an emotional child. But after that he was different.” (The Final Problem) 

Sherlock, the child that is taunted for his lack of cleverness, is traumatised and blames himself for not solving the riddle that could have saved his friend. Sherlock blames himself for being too emotional. 

And from that moment on, he puts his entire existence into getting it right, into becoming a calculated, unattached, high-functioning sociopath, who is above all physical needs and the very best at solving crimes. Sherlock is a consulting detective - not out of vanity, but out of guilt. 

But his emotions, his desires, his yearning for affection - they have never left him. They distract him, they slow him down, they burst out of him. I think even Sherlock’s constant state of withdrawal is a conscious choice made by the writers to symbolise just how bad his mental state really is. Sherlock is forcing himself not to give in to any emotion or physical desire. And it is tormenting him. (Trust Moffat to make me tear up over a nicotine patch…)

In the form of Irene Adler, Sherlock’s emotions tease him, flirt with him, and frequently try to get his attention. But he never ever allows himself to act on it. He never texts back. Or almost never. Because sometimes, he can’t help it. Deep down, Sherlock wants to let his emotional side win.

PLAY YOU 

And then comes the moment when Sherlock finally faces the demons of his past; when he meets his long forgotten torturer, the sister who has forced him to incarcerate himself inside his own mind, the person who, according to Mycroft, has influenced Sherlock’s every choice ever made and every path ever taken. And she asks him to “play you”. 

And at first, Sherlock does put up a front and plays Bach. Look at me, sis, I play highly complex, mathematically structured pieces. Even the name, “Bach”, fits beautifully here: Water from the past creating Sherlock’s rational façade.

But Eurus interrupts him. No, you clearly don’t understand. Play you. 

And at that moment, Sherlock decides to play the theme of Irene Adler. 

The mastermind, the high-functioning sociopath, the consulting detective is told to “play you”. And his answer is: I am emotion. I am desire. I am love. 

He doesn’t know it at that moment, but Sherlock is standing in front of the person who has caused him the greatest damage of his entire life. But instead of hiding himself away as he has done all his life, Sherlock finally shows his true self. The man he wants to be. The man he really is.

Sherlock is coming out as a human being. And it is the bravest and most beautiful thing he has ever done.

Time for another speculative theory about the Christmas scene

 (Sherlock meta by kathleenkellly)

Time for another speculative theory… In A Scandal in Belgravia prior to the Christmas scene, suppose Sherlock had been mistakenly informed that Molly had a boyfriend. He was especially agitated during this scene. Now this was probably due to the fact that all these people were in his flat. But maybe there was more to it. Why did he go after Molly here unless there was something that we don’t know about. He seemed so determined to prove that Molly’s present was for her boyfriend that it completely blinded him from the fact that it could be for anyone else (or himself!).

Let’s work through the whole scene. It starts out with Sherlock playing the violin near the window. As others have pointed out, every time Sherlock is expecting Molly at Baker St., he is near or looking out the window prior to her arrival. In this scene, it cuts away right after he steps toward the window and shows the outside of the building just as a cab drives by. I watched this very closely and it appears that he looks out just as it cuts away. In the previous scene, Sherlock is playing the violin and watches out the window as Mycroft leaves so it would make sense that in this scene he would be playing as he watches for as someone arrives. Playing the violin would give him an excuse to casually walk around and look out the window for Molly without anyone noticing. I’m guessing this party is just a casual, drop-by-whenever type of get-together. We know that Molly was invited because no one was surprised to see her, so Sherlock would have known to expect her. He finishes playing his song and proceeds with trying to figure out Jeanette’s name in his slightly annoyed mood (which gets worse when Molly arrives), not caring about her or John’s feelings. In fact, he seems to want to ruin everyone’s relationships as he later informs Lestrade that his wife is sleeping with a p.e. teacher and that John’s sister is still drinking, again all without remorse.

Molly arrives all dressed up, bearing gifts. “Oh, dear Lord.” Now this comment can be taken different ways. I think it’s due to her fancy appearance. Look at his eyes when he sees her walk in. They’re wide open and he stares at her for a minute. He wasn’t expecting her to be so dressed up and he’s probably never seen her like this before, since he mostly sees her at work. He says it sarcastically, but I think he is hiding his genuine surprise. After Molly walks in, Sherlock avoids looking at her. She takes off her coat with everyone in awe. She tries to make eye contact with Sherlock, but he busies himself with the computer, deliberately trying to distract himself. He can’t help but listen to the conversation though and add his biting remarks.

Molly makes conversation with everyone. She makes the joke to Mrs. Hudson about doing post-mortems. “Don’t make jokes, Molly” Sherlock says almost affectionately. I think Sherlock liked this joke. He couldn’t help commenting. He has a morbid sense of humor just like Molly. To me the subtext here is “I appreciate the joke but these people don’t, so it’s probably not a good idea”. We find out that Sherlock chats with Molly, possibly as they work together at Barts, and has told her about everyone’s holiday plans. She finally gets Sherlock to look over at her briefly by teasing about his complaining.

Sherlock proceeds to get crankier until he finally can’t stand it anymore. He has to find out who Molly’s boyfriend is. He has been thinking about it since she walked in and has now reached the breaking point. He picks up the present to peek at the label, but not before showing off a little. His deductions seem like rather a stretch unless he had heard something about a possible boyfriend. He jumps to some pretty hasty conclusions (she’s serious about him? long-term hopes?… getting a little ahead of ourselves aren’t we, Sherlock?). He thinks the reason she’s dressed up is because she’s seeing him later. This would explain why he’s gotten more agitated since she’s arrived. His jealousy has manifested itself as annoyance with everyone and trying to prove he is right.

Sherlock has a reason to worry about Molly having a boyfriend. The last guy Molly dated was Moriarty so Sherlock is probably feeling protective of her knowing what he does now. I wonder if he’s told Molly who Jim from I.T. really is. Either way, he has now met Moriarty and knows this same man went out with Molly. It would seem natural that he would worry about her since they work together often.

Sherlock’s focus on Molly’s boyfriend causes him to be wrong. His jealousy has gotten in the way of his deductions and causes him to hurt her. For the first time we see his feelings get in the way of his reasoning, the very thing he tries to avoid.

Sherlock is shocked. You can see it on his face. Not only is he wrong, but even worse he has hurt Molly. What started out as friendly teasing ended up going horribly wrong. She calls him out on the awful things he says. He tries to walk away, but can’t. Whether he was aware of it before or not, Sherlock realizes now that he cares for Molly and that he really screwed up. He apologizes and kisses her on the cheek to the shock of everyone else. His phone goes off and he gets distracted with Irene’s present still feeling awful. John tries joking with him about about the number of texts he’s gotten, but he’s not in the mood. He sets Molly’s present on his desk and we are left to guess what it could be. I also wonder what would have happened had his phone not gone off…

Later on in the episode Molly asks him about Irene’s phone: “Is it your girlfriend’s?”. “You think she’s my girlfriend because I’m x-raying her possessions.” Molly says “well, we all do silly things”. I think Molly is referring to how he deduced she had a boyfriend because of how she wrapped a present. They were both trying to figure out if the other was seeing someone or not and made hasty deductions. They are both interested in each other’s relationship status.

This is all before the big breakthrough Sherlock has with Molly in TRF, but I think it’s where their relationship really starts to change. Sherlock, who has never cared about what he says to others, including everyone else he taunted at Christmas, realizes Molly is different. He didn’t like how he felt after he hurt Molly and I think at this moment he resolves to treat her better. And Molly knows that she can stand up for herself and challenges Sherlock to be the better man that she knows he can be.

The Virgin Genius and the Power of Molly’s Desire 

 (Sherlock meta by drinkingcocoa)

The first time I watched “A Scandal in Belgravia,” I was startled by Sherlock’s viciously personal putdowns of Molly Hooper. Who is he to comment on the size of her mouth and breasts? “Don’t make jokes, Molly”? It’s not as though dating or small talk are Sherlock’s forté, either.

Ah.

In a discussion on LiveJournal, dis_quiet commented about the Christmas party scene: “Sherlock got a little jealous, or in any case, left behind. He thought he could always rely on Molly, in a way she’d never know, but there she was, all dressed up, ready for a date. I think Sherlock felt, or wanted to think that there was a sort of kinship between him and Molly. How he loved emphasizing her awkwardness. All your future attempts at a relationship, Molly, should be nipped in the bud. For him she was that Other that he felt comfortable with as far as sexual inadequacies were concerned.”

This is one of the many instances of mirroring in Steven Moffat’s beautifully structured script. Having been bested, for the moment, by a far more sexually savvy opponent, the suddenly inadequate Sherlock is sensitized to Molly’s similar shortcomings. Sexual knowledge has been on Sherlock’s mind.

He learns so much from the ways in which Molly and Irene are doubles. Where Irene hides her heart behind a mirrored safe, elicits desire from people and reflects it back to them, Molly is the opposite: her Freudian slips and blunders are a constant betrayal of her desire. So that’s how desire looks when it’s real. The same red lipstick as Irene, the same small breasts, but with nothing hidden, from her bra straps to her stammers…and the same arousal at Sherlock’s touch.

Ah.

The wince of shame on Sherlock’s face when he realizes what he’s done to Molly at the party – it’s not unrelated to his shame when he’s disgraced in Mycroft’s office. His dismissal of the relevance of sexual knowledge has hurt people, perhaps destroyed them. Whether one reads this virginal Sherlock as sexual, asexual, or celibate, he has avoided sexual interaction at least in part because it involves interpersonal communication. That has always been a source of disconnection and torment for him, an area so fraught that it’s too stressful to bother.

And he thought himself detached from sex because the rest of the world had passed him by so long ago in this area, in all its irrational stupidity and mess, and none of this folly had anything to do with him…until it did. Molly’s desire implicates him and he hadn’t seen it and look how he brutalized her honest overture. She desired him as though he were…valid. A part of all this. She was inviting him into the dance. Whether he wanted the dance or not, he’d thought himself apart from it. And then he showed that we must not ever underestimate Sherlock Holmes; we must not think that just because sometimes he doesn’t understand sentiment, he is always incapable of it. He crossed over and apologized and kissed her. And if he overshot and the quality of that physical contact was more sexual than it should have been, well, he didn’t have much experience, did he? He didn’t know yet how it feels when the object of one’s fantasies comes close and touches lips to the face and speaks one’s name, close and low. He didn’t know he was being seductive. How was he to have known? He didn’t mean to be. He only felt dreadful, and sorry.

But he learns from Molly’s undone response to his inadvertent intimacy. He recalls it when he takes Irene’s pulse. He learns more, to his shame, when Irene kisses his left cheek as he spills state secrets. And in a glorious bit of actor improvisation, when it comes time to undo Irene, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock comes close to her in the same way he kissed Molly, on the right cheek, which is more emotional for most people than the left. But this time, the proximity is completely intentional in its intimacy: dangerous, fully knowing. He has learned Irene’s game.

It was not Irene, then, but Molly whose desire pulled him into mortality and sexual knowledge.

In “The Reichenbach Fall,” Molly asks what he needs and his answer, “You,” is laden with portentous meaning, verging on sexual. Whether this was intentional or appropriate, the intimacy seemed to acknowledge the sexual content of every anguished slip Molly has made over two seasons about her desire for him, amplifying and dignifying that desire. Molly sees Sherlock at his worst, sees him more clearly even than John Watson does, and still loves him. She sees him not as an overgrown child, a virgin to mock, or an unfeeling genius, but as a romantically valid adult. Whatever illusions she has about the kind of lover he’d be…oh, would you look at that. She doesn’t have any. She knows him.

That is what Moriarty cannot imagine even though he has played at romance with Molly. Nobody could see the true Moriarty and love him. The kind of sexual desire that can know the whole person and grow only stronger: Moriarty cannot see that at all. But now, Sherlock can. It is Molly’s desire that brings about Sherlock’s fall into sexual awareness, a fall in the most classic apple-of-knowledge cast-out-of-paradise sense, never again to be an angel. Not that he will necessarily desire Molly in return or be physically involved, but now he knows the thrilling humility of having been known truly and truly desired, not only in spite of but because. He’s part of the mortal world now.

A toast. To Molly Hooper.

The Point Of The Christmas In The Morgue Scene 

(Sherlock meta by mae-jones)

So what was the point of this scene? There was no character development or advancement for Sherlock. He had already had the big, “aha!” moment earlier in the episode when he realized he hurt Molly. Well, this wasn’t for Sherlock’s development, it was for Molly’s. The writers were meticulous with this. It was a bit of foreshadowing of her speach to Sherlock in the lab when she said she wasn’t important.

It gets me pondering. I mean, what if Sherlolly is a part of the end game? I know this sounds like wishful thinking but these two are mirrors of eachother in too many ways to count. There are so many parallels to their growth and development and no other characters, not even John, have changed as much as these two have from the beginning of the show (John has been kind of static since the first episode, has he not?). In fact, Sherlock has become softer while Molly has grown more fearsome. These two are practically colliding in orbit and all of it is deliberately written into the show.

Even without Sherlolly, I desperately want the writers to be frickin’ brave and keep writing her as she is. She’s interesting. She’s good enough. She doesn’t need to be a double agent, or killed off, or become a casualty of any other stupid, hackneyed, ‘gotcha’ trope.

Rewatching Sherlolly: A Scandal in Belgravia

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

I would be lying if I said I did not compare the scenes with Irene with that of Molly’s, but it was really hard not to. Because, and this may be biased, Sherlock was never more sincere, honest, or caring, as he was with Molly. It’s almost as if her vulnerability, kindness, and awkwardness bring out the exact same traits in him.

At the Christmas party, Sherlock was in a good mood, even playing the violin for Mrs. Hudson. He does not look uncomfortable when Lestrade, John, Jeannette and Mrs. Hudson were there. When Molly arrived, he suddenly became irritable; honestly, his oh, dear Lord, was an overreaction. No stopping them apparently – was that Sherlock trying to look cool, or at least too cool for Christmas drinkies? He even distracts himself with the computer, typing and then checking John’s blog and his picture there. Which I do not think he normally does. He seems unnerved by Molly’s presence yet does not leave his flat. I think he does want to be in that party but does not know how to socialize so he pretends to be busy. Molly made him self-conscious.

He does pretend to be busy, but he listens to Molly’s every comment and comments on that. The attention just had to be back to him. Interesting, this part. I read somewhere that Sherlock invited Molly rather than John. That is also what I believe. Molly said there was a note on the door saying to “just come up”, which was probably Sherlock rather than John, he’s more of the notes type (Crime in progress, please disturb) and John would have just texted or told her so. He was more involved in this party than I initially thought. And he was thoughtful of his two guests (3 if you count Jeanette, but John would have advised her) who would need that note. Molly also knew stuff about the guests which I think she got from Sherlock just because she did not seem to be in the gossiping stage with John – notice that the only interaction she had with John was when he took her coat, and that they had not been talking about where he would be at Christmas before this, which would have been brought up if he was the one who told her about Lestrade, or if he was the one who invited her.

There were moments that suggested a familiarity and closeness between Sherlock and Molly, almost as if they had their own language. Quite inevitable as they worked closely often. Him advising her social cues – 'Don’t make jokes, Molly'. She probably makes jokes with him and he was used to it. There may even be times that she successfully made him laugh. And he just knows that those jokes would only work on him and not on other people. There was also his quick glance at her when she revealed he has been complaining to her about John, which she had correctly translated as, I have NOT been complaining, and that was supposed to be our secret! That she had immediately changed, no he was not complaining – he was saying.

Finally Sherlock decided that it was Molly’s turn to be deduced. He is clearly not pleased that Molly has a boyfriend, she’s serious about him, and that this boyfriend’s present is prettily wrapped while his was slap dash at best. He is also not pleased that Molly had prettily wrapped herself for said boyfriend and adds that her long term hopes are probably forlorn. He is socially inept, but I think he is also jealous which would explain the out of proportion meanness even for Sherlock. (He is often mean, but almost always for a reason. Drugs John as an experiment, harasses an old lady for accurate information.)

Sherlock maintained his defenses, an armor of brilliant, but cold, calculating, and cruel deductions; that same armor breaking down as he read the words that Molly had filled with her hopes and love, complete with the words Dearest and Love and the 3 x’s to seal the deal. (Not that I was comparing, but Irene herself only gave him 2 x’s.) Leaving him fully exposed and unsure of what to do next. He wanted to run away from them, from her, but decides that she does not deserve this and that he would do anything, even something as taxing as to apologize, something as sentimental as to kiss her, just to show her that he cares enough for her to compromise himself. He did not look exactly pleased when his phone interrupted them, knowing fully well that it would hurt Molly’s feelings if she assumed that he had a girlfriend. I think he even hid in his room so people would not see Irene’s gift and make these assumptions. Sadly she assumes anyway.

The scene at the morgue was for me the most emotional scene of the episode. Still reeling from the realization that Molly was seriously in love with him all this time, and that he had hurt her feelings by being himself, he now had to be in the same room as her and identify the body of a woman whom Molly probably would be jealous of. It is very touching that he tries to be as gentle and considerate as possible to her. For a man who in ordinary situations is already rude and inconsiderate of other people, he had shown a superhuman ability to actually be nice, in a situation where a woman, who canonically is important to him, could be dead. It is also interesting that Mycroft refers to Bart’s as his home away from home, and as Molly is a consistent part of his life there, she is, in part, his home. Sherlock however does not appear to hear any of this, all of his attention is on Molly. He tells her she didn’t have to come in. Probably because he just now realized how he was always inconsiderate of Molly’s time when he makes her help him. I think he also doesn’t want Molly to see how, and when, he identifies the body because it would break her heart. The way his face becomes gentle, caring, and sympathetic when Molly says she had nothing better to do at Christmas, unlike everyone else, is perhaps the most emotional, honest, and human Sherlock had looked in this whole episode.

It has always been my headcanon that Sherlock had chosen Molly to be in his life, not only because she is smart and competent enough to help him, as I’m sure many others were. We don’t see him try to be nice to these other competent people, it was only ever Molly. What made her special I think was that he sees himself in her, that lonely, socially awkward, weird person who cares too much, that he constantly hides under his cold, brilliant exterior. He understand her in a level that most other people can’t. And so he feels he needed to protect her, even and especially from himself.

It is worth noting that Molly was the one who made the move to reveal the body, as Sherlock was still surprised, and concerned, and gazing at Molly intently, his curiosity over the identity of the body momentarily forgotten. Only then did he break away from looking at her. There was one moment of hesitation on his part when he asked her to show him the rest of the corpse’s body, knowing that she would assume they were together and it would break her heart. I noticed that he had avoided looking at Molly during and after he identified the body, only glancing at her for a millisecond and quickly looking away as if he cannot bear to see both the pain and the sympathy in her eyes, as if it physically hurt him.

We next see Molly in the lab. They are apparently back to normal, working together and talking comfortably again. Molly seems to be pretending she’s okay with him around, even with him having a girlfriend, to make him comfortable around her. I do think Molly somehow led him to believe that she isn’t that serious about him so that they would return to their status quo and that horrible party would be forgotten (deleted). So he becomes as oblivious as ever. That, or he was a bit disappointed and then proceeded to flaunt that he does have a woman acquaintance, who loves to play games, and neglected to say that he in fact doesn’t do girl- or boyfriends. And then goes on to distract himself with the puzzle and the game to avoid this girl who had made him feel, making himself believe that she means nothing to him. But then it’s not that surprising. We all do silly things, after all.

Irene has been completely discounted

 (Sherlock meta by elenarider)

It’s not that people dislike her, and they’re certainly not upset with her for breaking up their ship — if anything, most people are like, “AAAAH I LOVE HER, SHE SHIPS JOHNLOCK YAY!” — but it’s like she’s been completely discounted. Because practically everyone ships Sherlock and John. And it’s not that I don’t ship Johnlock. Because I do. I don’t think that they ever have or ever will have sex or get married to each other (not that it doesn’t make me grin madly when they do in fic), but they are, as I’ve said before, soulmates, and the love between them, platonic though it may be, is undeniably strong. But there’s no room in almost anybody’s head to think that Sherlock could possibly ever be attracted to anyone else. Like it or not, there is attraction between Sherlock and Irene, for their minds if not for their bodies.

It’s rather obvious that Irene loved Sherlock, since that was the entire point toward the end. I hate it that some people say that she’s weak and that her portrayal is sexist because of it though. Firstly, they say that she’s sexualized, but that’s part of modernizing the scandal. It’s hardly enough these days for her to just have one photograph of her standing with a male monarch. And yes, she showed up naked and she uses sex to get what she wants, but I don’t see how either of those are sexist. If anything, they’re empowering to women, especially since she’s not the typical ideal of beauty but is still so comfortable with herself. And there are male characters in the media that sleep around to get what they want, and they’re not called sluts for it, but that’s another story entirely. To get back on track, people also say that because she feels more deeply than Sherlock, it’s reinforcing the stereotype that women are more emotional than men. I don’t think that’s true at all. After all, Sherlock felt something too. It’s less defined, but it was definitely there. He was a little heartbroken when he thought she was dead. He definitely wasn’t getting over her death very quickly anyway. Even Mycroft could tell: “the promise of love, the pain of loss, etc.” He knew that Sherlock had developed feelings for Irene and that she used them. However, in the end, she ends up losing because of her own feelings. But is that really such a bad thing, to be able to feel sentiment? Moffat says in the commentary that the intention was for the viewer to start that scene hating Irene, but end it hating Sherlock because he really was cruel to her there. Obviously, she’d started it, but his revenge was still absolutely brutal. And it’s extremely hypocritical to say that Irene is weaker than Sherlock for loving him, but then say that Sherlock is stronger than Moriarty despite, or because of, his love for John. Plus, a recurring theme for Sherlock throughout all the episodes is for him to become almost mechanical and lash out when he’s at a low point, like a man cornered. When he was afraid at Baskerville, we got him telling John that he doesn’t have friends. When he was about to fake his death at Bart’s, he said that alone protects him. And here, he cuts down Irene. Sherlock’s “power” or “strength” in this situation is not that he doesn’t feel, but that he can act like he doesn’t feel, that he can turn it off when he chooses. Because, once again, he does feel something for Irene. Even after the excitement of the game, there was still that feeling between them. She texted him her last goodbyes before she thought she was going to die, and he went all the way to Karachi to save her life and help her escape for good. And then he asks, he pleads, for her camera phone from John to keep as a reminder of her. And I like to think that, tucked away with it in some drawer, is a hand-written violin piece titled, “The Woman”. Because Mycroft was right in the end: Irene is, to Sherlock, one of a kind, the one woman who matters. That’s not a discredit to Molly Hooper because Molly is a very, very good friend that Sherlock recognized in the end, but only Irene did he ever see as a woman.

Does Sherlock love Irene? 

(Sherlock meta by mollymatterrs)

Q: [...] Do you honestly believe that [Sherlock] felt love for Irene Adler? Moffat himself said that the episode was about "Sherlock /and/ love, not Sherlock /in/ love". Do you equate the sexual implications and mental manipulations (complete lack of trust) between Sherlock and Irene to "love"? Lust, I can understand. But I'd like to know why you think he felt love, and in a "large dose" too. Is being attracted equal to feeling love?


A: [...] First off, I’ll answer this plainly: I don’t ship Sherlock/Irene. I do not think Sherlock loved Irene, and I don’t think Irene loved Sherlock. They found one another intriguing, and they were both attracted to one another, but it wasn’t anything deeper than that.

So, with that in mind, do I equate the sexual implications and mental manipulations between Sherlock and Irene as “love”?

Evidently not.

[...] Sherlock—up until ASiB—had gone through much of his adult life in a very machine-like way. Indeed, [...] You cannot deny that Irene had a major effect on Sherlock. To be honest though, that was the whole point wasn’t it? Irene’s sexual confidence was a vehicle for Sherlock to realize that he isn’t the robot he has tried to be. [...]

Take the first time we meet Sherlock in ASiP. He is oblivious to everything except the case he’s currently working on and his experiment. Molly distracts him with her invitation to coffee, but he doesn’t register the subtext behind it, and as such, he continues on his merry way.

In my opinion, Sherlock meeting Irene in Series 2 was a catalyst. Irene, whilst being similar to him in terms of intellect and the way in which they both use emotions for their own gain, is vastly different in other ways. The most prominent is that she is sexually confident and isn’t afraid to show emotion; unlike Sherlock who prefers to lock it all away, deeming it distracting. (Example: His “don’t make people into heroes” speech from The Great Game.)

As such, it’s always struck me as quite odd that Sherlock only wanted Irene’s phone at the end of the case. That phone—whilst being a callback to the canon of Doyle’s books—is also the symbol of who Irene is; that’s a fact that is made plain throughout the episode. Sherlock even says, “This is your heart”. So why, when he’s of the belief that she is dead, does he request the phone? It is, as he said, her heart. Does that mean that Sherlock wants Irene’s heart?

My thoughts? Not really. It’s like I said [before]. Sherlock recognizes that meeting Irene has had a great effect on him: in a way, it changed his outlook on love, sex and relationships. But you’re right. How can Irene’s encounters with Sherlock possibly be considered as “large doses”?

I guess what I [mean] by “large doses” is the fact that Sherlock’s—for want of a better term—‘awakening’ comes at the hands of a woman who is overly sexual and doesn’t apologize for it. Just look at the sequence where Sherlock and Irene ‘prepare’ themselves for battle. When the camera focuses on Sherlock, it’s logical. But when the camera focuses on Irene, the focus is on her femininity. One could make an argument that this is over-sexualising a female character on television yet again, but the way I see it is that we are actually being shown just how out of his depth Sherlock is. He is wading into a territory he doesn’t fully understand (yet). This is emphasized with Irene’s nude scene, where Sherlock fails to deduce her because she is so upfront (“There. Now we’ve both been defrocked”). Sherlock’s deductive skills rely on seeking out hidden information. By putting everything out there—literally and figuratively—Irene gains the advantage. She continues this throughout until the very end where her explicit nature becomes her undoing (“I am SHERlocked”). Unlike the game played between Sherlock and Moriarty, the games and the mental manipulations played by Irene aren’t to do with the mind—they’re to do with the physical. (“He did know where to look.”)

As such, and for a man like Sherlock who was previously ignorant about such things, I’m pretty sure that his attraction to Irene could be considered a “large dose” of previously unknown emotion.

The experience he has with Irene continues to be built on in another “large dose” of emotion with HoB; this time though, it’s fear. Now Sherlock—within what I can only assume is a matter of months—has experienced the pain and europhia that comes with experiencing such large doses of two potent emotions such as attraction and fear. For a man who has basically been a walking computer for much of his life, that’s a lot to take in. So he of course reverts to type to prove that he is… working properly, let’s say.

But that still doesn’t answer the question of why he asked for the phone—could it be that he doesn’t want it as a souvenir his triumph over Irene? Could it perhaps be that he wants it a way to remind him that emotions aren’t as restrictive as he previously believed?

And by realizing that, he is able to open up to people he might not have before. People like… Molly Hooper. When we first meet Molly, she’s the archetypal girl-with-a-crush type, but throughout the events of Series 2, that changes and she eventually becomes the woman who can deduce the great Sherlock Holmes. (“You look sad… when you think he can’t see you.”)

Now, I’ll say this [...]: I ship Sherlolly. [...]

That’s why I appreciate the character of Irene Adler and the effect she had on Sherlock. His encounters with her were a stepping stone for his humanity to come through. Couple that with the events of HoB, and the result is a man who, in a moment of emotional turmoil, went to a woman he trusted: Molly. He bared himself to her, and told her that he was afraid, that he doubted himself. (“Molly, I think I’m going to die. […] If I wasn’t everything that you think I am—everything that I think I am…”) In that scene, Sherlock shows real fear and worry. But what does Molly do? She still wants to help him, no questions asked. Some people might call her a doormat for doing so, some might call her naive. I personally believe it shows an almighty amount of strength.

[...] Although Sherlock didn’t love Irene, he was attracted to her, and because of that, she did (inadvertently) start him on the journey to becoming human enough to love others—both platonically and/or romantically.

Is Irene Adler the only woman Sherlock will ever have romantic feelings for?

 (Sherlock meta by mollymatterrs)

Q:  [...] It is kind of obvious from season 2 that there may never be any romantic interest for Sherlock other than Irene Adler. In [ASiB] Sherlock ends the episode by saying ’ The Woman’ and then ‘THE Woman’ stressing on the ‘THE’ the second time. Do you think he is suggesting that she is the only woman he will ever have romantic feelings for?

A: Good question. [...] I think the end scene in ASiB can be interpreted in two ways. The first is that Sherlock has decided that he has experienced enough of love and relationships and has now filed the information away in his mind palace. (The brief reappearance of Irene in Sherlock’s mind palace during TSoT supports this theory.) The second however, is the interpretation I hold. When Sherlock refers to Irene as “The Woman”, I don’t believe he’s saying “this is the only woman I will ever have feelings for.” I actually think that’s his way of compartmentalizing her. Irene, with all of her feminine wiles and mystique and flirtatious nature, showed him that you can be clever and brilliant without sacrificing your capacity for either love or sexuality. I know he uses her tendency for sentiment to win one over on her in the end, but he did infiltrate a terrorist group to spare her from execution. What is that if not sentiment?

In my mind, Irene is “The Woman” in that she woke Sherlock up to the fact that you can indeed have the best of both worlds. (Which is a complete antithesis to Mycroft’s attitude which–as we were shown in series 3–he drove into Sherlock from a relatively young age.) Irene was, in essence, Sherlock’s first love. And you never forget your first love.

But that doesn’t mean they’ll always be your last too.

Two instances where Sherlock Holmes is confronted face to face with Molly’s love

 (Sherlock meta by sherlollysmooch)

There’s another instance in the series of Sherlock where Sherlock Holmes is confronted face to face with Molly’s love, and I think that’s the first time he ever realizes that she has more than just a crush on him, and feels more than just attraction for him.

I feel like his reaction to Molly stating that the fact she loves him has always been true in The Final Problem is a bit similar to his reaction to her Christmas gift in A Scandal in Belgravia.

He deduces her and her presents scathingly until he finally sees that the gift is actually for him after reading the sweet tag Molly has placed there on the bow. His deduction stops before he can even finish it, and he looks shocked, and he even paces a little since he isn’t at all sure how to go about the situation now. He royally fucked up, and he feels bad, so he apologizes. It’s the first apology we ever see out of him, and it appears as if he means it.

The level of shock that we see there in his face has always made me think that up until this point Sherlock never knew that Molly loved him. He knew she liked him and found him attractive, and in the first season he used that to his advantage, but this new revelation leaves him speechless until he finally pulls himself together and says he’s sorry for what he’s done.

Back to The Final Problem, at this point Sherlock knows that Molly loves him, but to hear her say that it’s always been true is still a breaking point for him. Like he said in his best man speech, he never expected to be anyone’s best friend, and I feel like he never expected to be loved so wholeheartedly by a brave, brilliant, and kindhearted woman such as Molly Hooper.

Sherlock's comment on Mollys body in ASiB

 (Sherlock meta by ladycumberbunny and mae-jones)

ladycumberbunny: 

S2E1 - A Scandal in Belgravia

Is no one going to mention the fact that Irene Adler and Molly Hooper have almost the same body type? And here Sherlock is verbally shredding Molly about certain aspects such as her “small” mouth and breasts.

I am a hardcore Sherlolly shipper, but you have to admit that Sherlock had at least some interest in Irene, and he can say it was her mind all he wants, because for all the “everything else is just transport” nonsense, he is still a man.

I’m just saying that I think he is so very defensive towards Molly in this scene, and it makes me wonder why.

mae-jones:

Ah, well, if you think about what Sherlock said, he did not say that ‘in his opinion’ her breasts and mouth were too small, but implied Molly might think this of herself.

If you further contemplate Sherlock being all Sherlock, his derision and scorn was not for her appearance but rather the concept that she felt this way about herself for no good reason. This is a prime example of his disdain being misread, in my mind. In fact, in his Sherlock-y kind of way, he might have thought he was communicating the opposite (in that Molly need not go to such great lengths with her appearance because it was unnecessary).

Now, if you think about how he pauses and muses for a second after she calls him out, yes, he is surprised that he hurt her but you gotta know in that moment, a million possibilities of what he should do next ran through his mind. It is OOC for Sherlock to NOT to give a rambling response. That is why the moment stands out, because he didn’t do that. If Molly wasn’t special to him in some manner, he would have rattled off something else as he has been known to do when he has insulted others. He gives about zero shits for anyone thinking he is a dick so we know the apology wasn’t to make him look better to bystanders. He has never been hesitant to explain or misdirect before. So why didn’t he do that? Why?

You can see the wheels grinding in his head. He wants to minimize the hurt, that part is obvious. However, there is a lot going on in his head. He probably ran the scenario of explaining himself to her but rejected it, perhaps because his first inclination is usually to say exactly what is in his thoughts. What was he thinking then? Maybe it was that he DOES find her attractive, not something I think he wanted to admit in front of this particular gathering. In fact, he decided anything and everything he actually thought was best left unsaid.

So absent an alternative, he deduced it was better to just apologize and leave it at that. What he didn’t say spoke louder than words.

How Christmas at the morgue is a mega game changer in terms of how Sherlock percieves Molly 

 (Sherlock meta by bloodysigils, mae-jones and sweet-sweet-escape)

bloodysigils:

I think that the Christmas party in ASIB is a mega game changer in terms of how Sherlock percieves Molly. I think once he full on realises that she likes him, and that may in part cause some of her awkwardness, his view of her kind of changes? He starts to see Molly the person rather than Molly the morgue and lab tech who gives him body parts and kind of annoys him a bit. I mean, just here, this bit where she she says that everyone else was busy with Christmas and he realises that that means that she’s actually alone at Christmas and really has nothing else better to do. And in some ways that’s a lot like Sherlock was before John arrived. And this is before the ‘I don’t count’ scene and that in itself is just… wow. I mean to hear from someone that they don’t think that they count / are worthy to you is in itself shocking, but I do think that Sherlock holds her in quite high regard and the searching sort of look that he gives her after she says that is like a ‘you really think that lowly of yourself?’. I think that that’s why Sherlock goes to her for help just before the roof scene because he knows that with Molly he can trust her implicitly, and that not only does he need someone after it, but that maybe she could do with a friend too and just ugh these two, they make my heart bleed.

mae-jones: 

You know what breaks my heart about this too? She’s still wearing the most cheerful f$%^ing Christmas sweater. She still finds joy in and celebrates the season even though it must be very hard to be without her dad/family.That’s like, the opposite of pathetic.

sweet-sweet-escape:

Sherlock: “You didn’t have to come in Molly.”

Molly: “It’s okay, everyone else was busy with,” pause, looks down uncomfortably, “Christmas.”

She means friends and family. When Molly Hooper says “I don’t count” to Sherlock, she means she doesn’t count to anyone.

My poor darling Molly. Sherlock is percieved to be alone when he’s surrounded. Molly however, Molly is truly all alone and yet she’s never bitter.

Irene Adler is Not a Loser - Part 1

 (Sherlock Meta by wellingtongoose)

I really love Irene Adler in BBC Sherlock, but even more I love the complex plot of A Scandal In Belgravia. This meta is dedicated to discussing the intrigues and deceptions that are only hinted at on screen and play out behind the scenes. I aim to show everyone why Irene is not a loser but an incredibly intelligent and ambitious woman. On the way I explore:

* Why dominatrix is not her only line of business
* Why Irene actually phoned Jim Moriarty – and what deal they came too
* Why Sherlock was just a pawn in a much bigger game

A Disclaimer before we start… 

This piece isn’t about sexism or the portrayal of women in the media. It’s much more focused on the plot of ASiB and analysis of Irene’s motives as if she was a real person, not an artificial construct presenting a particular literary troupe. Certainly, there are things that I would have changed about Irene if I had been one of the writers but then there are many things I want to change about myself and can’t. In this case I am going to think of Irene as person – not a representation of the female gender – and just accept that she has flaws but they do not make her any less brilliant.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles…



We can assume that before she made this phone call she had already obtained sensitive material on her phone. I had always assumed the sensitive information she had was the MOD email but there is no evidence at that time, Irene realised its importance or that she even possessed it. We do not know the timeframe over which she was being pursued by the Americans – it might have started just recently before Sherlock and John turned up (remember there is quite a long period of time between the pool scene and Sherlock meeting Irene).

At the time of the pool scene the MOD email could not have been the bait that Irene used to hook Moriarty because even if she had it she didn’t know why the email was important even or that it was important. The MOD man might just have been talking nonsense in an attempt to impress her and the code itself was a load of jumble even to a cryptographer. Moriarty certainly couldn’t figure out the information either because Irene had to manipulate Sherlock into given them both the answer when they realise it was important much later on.

So Irene couldn’t have got Jim Moriarty’s attention by saying “I have a nonsensical fragment of an MOD email that, according to the stupidly pathetic man who’s in love with me, is going to save the world.”

She must have had much more than just that email on her phone. As she suggests to Mycroft – she has all sorts of things on there and I certainly believe that she does.

The Americans were after her for one single email but it doesn’t mean that Mycroft and the British Government weren’t after her for much, much more.

The Economics of Being a Dominatrix 



From the clients she chooses to engage with (high ranking police officer, best cryptographer in the country, an official from the MOD), I think her line of business is more than just being a dominatrix. I think the most lucrative part of her business is actually the information she gets out of her clients. I’m sure the thrill of having power over powerful people was also very enjoyable but Irene is a very pragmatic, cunning person and she likes money. (I think people over look the fact that the entire point of her plot was to extort billions from the British Government)

If you think about it, all the clients she has picked are exactly the kind of people that actual spies want to get close to - people with access to classified and/or sensitive information. Irene has basically set up the ultimate honey trap and she makes Anna Chapman (professional Russian spy) look like a complete looser. ¨

Of course she’s not a professional spy –she doesn’t report what she finds back to some sinister foreign organisation. Irene is a freelance, independent stock broker in sensitive information and I think this definitely suites her personality.

However being a freelance information broker has its disadvantages

1. you don’t always have the right customers
2. you are dealing with some very dangerous, very ruthless people at both ends and there is no tag team of CIA agents to watch your back.

Customers for sensitive information do not appear like punters rolling up at the curb. Their reasons for wanting classified/sensitive information are definitely shady and as people they are probably even shadier. Her customers might work for a multitude of foreign intelligence services or be unofficial/commercial/terror organisations but these people are hard to find. This is why she needs Jim Moriarty. Not just to find these customers but also to make sure the deal is sealed without any of these people harming her. 

I think initially Irene did manage to build a small network of contacts to pass information onto. However like any shrewd businessman when there is more supply than demand, Irene wanted to expand her business. This is the second reason she comes to Moriarty – she must have hooked him with an immediately financially lucrative set of documents. Imagine what other classified documents the MOD man might have leaked to her before the Bond Air email? As Irene say she usually likes to visit her clients more than once.

Let us not forget that Moriarty is still a businessman despite being obsessed with Sherlock. He might have thrown £30 million away to get Sherlock to come out and play but it doesn’t mean he isn’t looking to recuperate that money elsewhere. What Irene proposes is simple: she’s provides the data, Moriarty is the middle man and gets his cut of the profit which can be substantial.

Irene also needs to find her own protection and that is where her celebrity clients and her camera phone come in. Firstly, celebrity clients get one some exposure/publicity within their circles – yes she is extremely controversial but she’s not anonymous anymore. You cannot just make her disappear overnight and not have people ask questions. Secondly, there is no reason to believe that all of her clients hate her guts, she doesn’t openly screw over everyone she meets – it’s not good for business. Some of her clients might actually think they are in love with her. Irene has the great power of making people “feel special”. She can make people love her and love is much more vicious motivator – perhaps enough for a motivator for them to protect her against enemies foreign and domestic?

When all else failed she had the material on her camera phone to fall back on. When clients became threatening or violent – she can always pull out that smart little device. However I doubt this happened very often because Irene is perfectly capable of keeping her clients sweet.

Before the Americans started turning up with their armed hit squads, I think Irene’s protection was perfectly adequate. She had Jim Moriarty for the information customers and her own resourcefulness for her clients. Irene is a small-timer compared to the huge network of spies and informers that nation states employ. MI6 might have been aware of her before she threatened the Royal family but just as likely, she managed to fly under the radar. She’s very intelligent and Irene would have known how important discretion is. As long as her clients never linked security leaks to their own blathering, there is no reason why anyone would suspect a lowly sex worker and even if they did – she had enough on her phone to ruin them.

It was only when she realised that there were trained killers out hunting her that she started to fear.

The Anatomy of a Royal Scandal 



 - -

Whether or not Irene actually demanded something from the Royal family, we don’t know. Mycroft claims she didn’t because Sherlock doesn’t do blackmail - he simply tells them to pay her off. Telling the Royal family that she has the photographs does sounds like a prelude to making some kind of request or demand in the future as well as a power play. I personally don’t subscribe to the idea that the Royal Family “have people whacked” – they are not that unrestricted or even that shady. They could easily provide her with enough money to get out of the country and change her identity but that’s not what Irene is aiming for. -

Irene is aiming to extort billions from the treasury before she leaves the country (and yes she was plotting this before she knew about Bond Air as explained in Part 2). -

Now that’s what I call ambition. -

However the Royal Family can provide a good second avenue of escape if her plot goes to pot but this is only one of the reasons she informed them about the pictures. -

There is no evidence at the beginning of ASiB that Mycroft sees Irene (and Moriarty) as anything more than mere insects – little conveniences compared to the broad power plays of entire nations. However both Irene and Moriarty desperately want his attention for very different reasons.

For Irene Mycroft is literally the key to the treasury. Her plot was never about Sherlock at all, he was at best a vital pawn and amusing distraction. Mycroft is probably the only man who has the power to authorise the transfer of such vast sums she’s demanding in one night. He has control over the spineless brainless government ministers and he can pull their strings like a master puppeteer. First she needs to get him to the negotiation table and there is no evidence that Mycroft took her at all seriously. He certainly doesn’t take her threat to national security seriously given he has real, highly trained operatives who could retrieve that cameraphone but he doesn’t use them. Instead he opts for his little brother, a civilian detective.

Moriarty obviously wants information on Sherlock but he’s perfectly willing to play along with Irene when they have the same goal in common.

When the Americans started chasing her – Irene must have realised she stumbled onto something really big this time – something utterly out of her league. It might have taken some time but she did eventually realise it was the MOD email. I think the first thing she did was use her own contacts and resources to try and crack it but when that failed she showed it to Moriarty. 

Obviously Moriarty couldn’t make heads or tails of it either but he suggests a solution that will kill two birds with one stone - getting Mycroft’s attention and cracking the code: GET SHERLOCK. The best way to get Sherlock was through his brother Mycroft who just happens to be very old acquaintance of the Queen.

Sherlock doesn’t get Irene’s camera phone and Irene learns to be careful what she wishes for because she really has attracted the attention of Mycroft Holmes with this shenanigan. I mean how forgiving is he going to be to someone who drugged his little brother? Now it’s personal.

From this point forwards the pair of them: Irene and Mycroft are locked in a ruthless game of chess Continued in Part 2

Other Parts in the Series: Hidden Heroines of Sherlock - Molly and Sally Why Molly and Sally are not just one dimensional characters but prime examples from strong, independent, professional women

For a List of Other Metas regarding Irene, Mycroft, Jim etc: Heroes and Villains series.

The significance of the heartbeat sound 

(mostly in A Scandal in Belgravia)

 (Sherlock Meta by Loudest Subtext In Television)

lindefishway asked:

hello!i love yor metas. can i ask you? during the series we can often hear some heartbeat. so...if s2 is from John's pov, does this mean that we hear his heart? a lot of it during sh+irene scenes. (I'm only on 56min, but I have already counted 46!+ don't forget music=heartbeat). Or are they belong to sh? it also a lot of it in s3 >.< what do you think? sorry for my english^^

Loudest Subtext In Television:

Thank you!

We get the heartbeat sound in the soundtrack a LOT starting from A Scandal in Belgravia forward. It might be in the soundtrack even before that, but I would need to rewatch.

The heartbeat sound is used for whatever character is on the screen. In ASiB we hear it for Sherlock, Irene, and John just off the top off my head, and possibly other people. It’s not exactly accurate to say that any episode is from any single character’s perspective, as they always jump around a bit. We get a lot of Sherlock’s perspective in all the episodes, for example, so we need to note the context and camera perspective every time.

 The heartbeat sound is used broadly to signify anything of significance, i.e. anything that would strike someone strongly. That makes it difficult to attribute special meaning to it in most circumstances. For example, Sherlock gets a heartbeat sometimes when he has an epiphany, Irene gets a heartbeat when Sherlock discovers her safe and her heart keeps pounding while he works out her code, there were heartbeats all over the place when the CIA had guns on people, the CIA guy’s heart beats a few times when Sherlock is telling Lestrade his (future) injuries over the phone, and so on.

The time we need to pay attention to the heartbeat is when there isn’t an obvious reason for it:

- In ASiB, Sherlock gets a few stray heartbeats over time when he’s deducing naked Irene and doesn’t know what she’s trying to pull… but also when he’s deducing familiar, comforting John – and then he gets three very close together. Why does Sherlock’s heart pound when he gives John a full body once-over?

- After John hauls Sherlock back to bed, John says he’ll be in the next room if Sherlock needs him. Sherlock says, “Why would I need you?” and John says, “No reason at all,” and shuts the door – and we get a huge heartbeat with the sound of the door closing. Both of them are on screen and it could apply to either or both of them: it’s either a blow to John that Sherlock doesn’t need him, or a blow to Sherlock that he needs John and John is leaving, or both.

- We get the heartbeat for John in moments that shouldn’t be anxious for him at all. Right after John figures out the text alert sound is Irene, Mycroft tells Sherlock he’s to stay away from Irene Adler. Sherlock says, “Will I?” and we get a big reaction shot of John with a heartbeat; he’s sitting, and behind Sherlock and Mycroft, so it’s not natural to cut to John and do this, but they did it.

- We get another heartbeat when Sherlock shuts his bedroom door in John’s face at Christmas, after John lets us know he’s been counting Irene’s texts and says, “Do you have a reply?” and tries to overhear Sherlock’s phone conversation.

- We get another out of place heartbeat from John after Sherlock says to Irene, “You’re rather good.” Why does that make John’s heart beat? A second later John gives them his hated middle name as a potential baby name. Hm.

- There is a HUGE heartbeat for John when Sherlock rattles off the first part of the Bond Air code and Sherlock looks at him. Oh, John. Those deductions really get your blood pumping, eh?

- We get a heartbeat for Mycroft after hanging up with Sherlock: Irene doesn’t matter to Mycroft, Mycroft is bothered that Sherlock is concerned about Irene Adler. We get another one at the morgue from Mycroft’s camera perspective when Mycroft is looking at Sherlock’s back before opening the door to go talk to him. We get another heartbeat for both of the Holmes brothers when Mycroft says, “Well. You barely knew her.”

- We also get a big heartbeat when Sherlock is casually talking about the hiker deduction and we see the hiker representing John’s heart. The hiker isn’t dead yet, so it seems to be a nod to the symbolism.

Worth noting: we don’t get a heartbeat when Irene kisses Sherlock on the cheek, and we don’t get a heartbeat when she tells Sherlock she’ll make him beg for mercy twice, even though we get other heartbeats in the same scene. (Some scenes are devoid of music and heartbeats both.) He stares her down so she doesn’t stab him with a syringe, but he’s apparently exactly as calm as he looks.

Irene Adler is Sherlock

 (Sherlock Meta by Ivy Blossom)

This Irene Adler is a female version of Sherlock, so it’s no wonder they’re fascinated with each other. She literally is, I’m not being metaphorical: look at her. She’s rail thin with high cheekbones. They’ve even styled her hair as an echo of Sherlock’s. She puts on his coat and deduces alongside him. Irene is Sherlock.

She’s got a live-in friend who loves her and does her errands for her and takes care of her, but isn’t, it seems, her girlfriend. Though you certainly get the impression that she’d like to be. They are both dangerously clever. They both take care with their appearance and their costumes in order to elicit the reaction they want in the people they meet. Their realms are different, but process and the goals are pretty much the same.

I grant you, dominatrix and consulting detective are a bit far off as professions, but they have some similar elements. Sherlock and Irene are both self-employed, for one. They peer into people’s souls and determine their motives for a living. They walk into a room and take control of it, and the people around them find that irresistibly attractive. People seek them out for their expertise. They are both expert manipulators with big egos and secret emotional lives. They both want you to think they are cold, calculating, brilliant and invulnerable, and they both want to be that, but they’re both lying.

They are both fascinated by Moriarty. And they’re both gay.

Initially I thought Irene was a version of Sherlock before he met John; she’s Sherlock in the past tense, colder, valuing only the game, willing to do more than just flirt with evil. But after series three, it’s clearer that Irene was a premonition of what was to come for Sherlock. She was a bright, blinking light that said: Sherlock will fall in love, and it will very nearly kill him, except that someone will intervene at the last possible moment.

I never thought Sherlock was romantically or sexually interested in Irene, but he is clearly fascinated and disturbed by her. But can you blame him? She’s him. He’s looking in a mirror, and not really sure what to make of what he sees. He loves his reflection and he loathes it at the same time. He rejects himself and all his worst fears about himself, condemns himself to death, but then gives himself another chance in the end. Live to love another day, Sherlock.