"How would you know?"

 (Sherlock Meta by ibelieveinmycroft)

sherlockcharacteranalysis asked you: I have a question about the scene in Scandal where Sherlock says “sex doesn’t alarm me” and Mycroft says “how would you know?” Every time I see that scene, my first thought is always, “but you do, Mycroft????” Mycroft seems even more devoid of actual relationships than Sherlock, so what do you think? Has Mycroft had sexual/romantic relations in his past?

ibelieveinmycroft: Hello dear! I had the exact same thought when Mycroft delivered that line. Oh Mycroft, you devil!

M: Don’t be alarmed. It’s to do with sex.
S: Sex doesn’t alarm me.
M: How would you know?

Sherlock had absolutely no comeback to Mycroft’s comment - he instead looked hurt, if not mortified. Evidentially, Sherlock knows that this is territory that his brother has explored, otherwise Mycroft’s snide remark would not have had this impact.

Some people have posited that Mycroft may use sex as a weapon or negotiating tool where the situation calls for it. While Mycroft can be a ruthless tactician, he is initially very dismissive of what Irene Adler does, which amounts to the same thing, so I’m not certain about that. Perhaps he does, perhaps he doesn’t. A more likely explanation would be that Mycroft has experimented with sex in order to fit in with his peers. Neither of the Holmes Brothers are particularly normal, but Mycroft is much better at sustaining the mask. Perhaps it was expected of him. However, the way that "How would you know?" was delivered hints at someone who is sexually experienced and is very comfortable with that side of himself.

The brothers do seem to know about each other’s sexual history - whether from deducing it about each other or whether they actually confide in each other. That this exchange comes right on the tail of the "Here to see the Queen?" jibe seems very telling. This may have been little more than an example of Sherlock’s quick, albeit cruel, wit, but the evidence seems to be mounting that Mycroft is indeed homosexual. Mycroft knows enough about Sherlock’s sexual experience (or lack thereof) to make unkind jokes about it - that Sherlock is able to do the same to Mycroft suggests to me that he has the same sort of knowledge about his brother.

Yet, as you point out, Mycroft does not seem to have any relationships to speak of, or any real ties to anyone, aside from his brother. In spite of what seems to be a long sexual history, it does not seem to have had any particular bearing on his personal life; his sexual relationships have not led to romantic ones.

And yet, Mycroft is prone to as much concealed sentiment as Sherlock. The brothers have a hard time with empathy, but that does not mean that they lack it. This is the troubling thing about Mycroft. Sometimes, especially when he is alone, he seems to be so like his brother - strange, vulnerable and very, very lonely. Though consistently even more brilliant than Sherlock, Mycroft also seems to lack his brother’s tacit ability to draw people towards him.The Christmas scene in Scandal was horribly illustrative of this - Sherlock was surrounded by people he considers his friends, in a room decorated with colourful Christmas lights, while Mycroft was alone in a dark house, staring into the fire. His genius doesn’t dazzle like Sherlock’s does, doesn’t draw people toward him. Instead, it thrums uncomfortably at the edge of a person’s consciousness, it chokes and intimidates, driving them away.

Mycroft does have relationships with a handful of people. I believe he is comparatively close to his brother, however complex that rivalry may be. He respects John. He is close enough to Anthea to muse aloud as to the dynamic of his brother’s new friendship with John. He is on first-name terms with Harry the Equerry. There is also his canonical friendship with his neighbour, Mr Melas, who may or may not show up in series. But, in spite of all that, Mycroft is still a man who is a member of (and, canonically, founder of) a club where the people not only are required to remain silent at all times, but are not permitted to take the slightest notice of one another. For a man who seems so lonely, he does elect to be alone a great deal.

In long and short, I really don’t know. It is one of the many unanswered questions about Mycroft. He knows more about people than Sherlock does - he understands their motivations and how to manipulate them - yet has far fewer people in his life. And I’m not entirely certain that this is by choice.

Why had Mycroft never met other children before Sherlock did? 

 (Sherlock Meta by ibelieveinmycroft)

Anonymous: Mycroft is supposedly about 7-8 years older than Sherlock. How come he never met other children before Sherlock grew up old enough to meet other children? Surely Mycroft had had experienced "other children"before Sherlock was born? Their parents seem "normal" so they would've introduced their first son to other kids as toddler, surely? Because if both never seen other kids for sometime-even thought "Sherlock is idiot"- then they did have unusual upbringing after all...

Answer: It would be, indeed, very unusual!

Assuming that the house that we saw in His Last Vow was where the boys grew up, their home was was quite rural and remote. This shot, when Sherlock and John leave after drugging everyone, shows what is immediately outside the front doors of the Holmes household:



There is nothing but green fields for miles around. There may be the odd house dotted in the distance, but otherwise that is idyllic, secluded countryside.

It is equally likely that the canonical Holmes grew up in such isolation too, as it does lend a certain slant to this famous line from The Copper Beeches:

"It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."

What little we know of Sherlock’s upbringing - a fondness for board games, pirates and a dog called Redbeard, alongside becoming obsessed with the Carl Powers story in the newspaper - seems to indicate that he was, in many ways, both a very normal and a very odd child all at once. This may be due to his parents attempting to normalise him and give him something more akin to a childhood, after Mycroft.

Seven years older, Mycroft was probably born just after his mother ended her academic career. A mathematician who, although a bit scatty, had a brilliant mind, likely chose to home-school her first born son - a step that would have kept Mycroft alone in that remote country house, nurturing an impossibly brilliant mind with mathematical equations and any book he could lay his hands on. This way, he could easily reach age seven without meeting another soul save for his parents.

Mrs Holmes probably home schooled Sherlock too - Mark Gatiss has said he thinks the Holmes brothers were brought up "like hothouse flowers" - and, after some years, she realised that he was gifted in similar ways to Mycroft. She will have wanted her younger boy to be better adjusted than her elder - so was probably the one to encourage him towards pirates and Operation and bought him the dog. But Mycroft will have held real sway over his younger brother’s forming intellect too, with Sherlock constant attempts to keep up with and surpass Mycroft’s unmatchable genius the foundation for more than a little sibling rivalry.

At some point, when Sherlock was old enough to remember, Mrs Holmes had taken the decision that both her sons needed to meet other children, likely realising, from the strange behaviour of her eldest son with his unwieldy genius that even her enormously intelligent second son could not parallel, that it was a mistake to have kept them so isolated and they should make some friends.

It went badly, of course. The realisation that the rest of the world were mostly unbearably ordinary cannot have been an easy revelation for the brothers, and especially not for Mycroft, who was much older and had been long working on the assumption that his incredible intellect was the norm.

I think this meeting, though, probably gave him a new found appreciation for his little brother, who could almost keep up with Mycroft and, compared to ordinary people was blindingly brilliant. It was this realisation that made Sherlock the single most important person to Mycroft in the world, and his only pressure point.

Can we talk about Mycroft Holmes?

 (Sherlock Meta from before S3 by ibelieveinmycroft)

As you may have gathered, I believe in Mycroft Holmes. Many do not. There has been a lot of hate towards the eldest Holmes brother since Reichenbach and I’m not of the opinion that any of it is deserved. While we may have a year to wait to discover the truth, and it is a capital offence for a Sherlockian to theorise without data, it is inconceivable to me that the events surrounding Mycroft during Reichenbach should be taken at face value.

I am slowly becoming aware that what I think occurred during The Fall is something of a marginal theory, (I don’t understand why, it makes perfect sense to me) so please allow me to detail the reasons why I believe Mycroft is in on The Fall.

It is quite long, and contains pictures and quotes, so see under the cut. Some of it is convoluted; some of it is pure speculation….enjoy!

First things first – the canon.

This should be the first clue to everyone. While Sherlock itself is, at times, lovingly irreverent, skewing with names and reversing deductions, Moffat and Gatiss always tell Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales and never stray too far from the canon. We’re all rather expecting an adaptation of The Empty House, the story that followed The Final Problem, when Sherlock returns in 2013. Mycroft is referred to in this tale – the final mention of him in the original canon – just after Holmes reveals himself to Watson:

“I had only one confidant — my brother Mycroft. I owe you many apologies, my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it should be thought I was dead, and it is quite certain that you would not have written so convincing an account of my unhappy end had you not yourself thought that it was true. […] As to Mycroft, I had to confide in him in order to obtain the money which I needed. […] I came over at once to London, called in my own person at Baker Street, threw Mrs. Hudson into violent hysterics, and found that Mycroft had preserved my rooms and my papers exactly as they had always been.”

While it would be quite a simple thing to leave out, should the writers want to go in a different direction and, say, cast Molly in the role of Sherlock’s confidant, in their version of Mycroft they have created a character with the infinite wealth, power and resources to be of assistance in a way that other characters cannot. Even if it transpires that all Sherlock asked of his brother is to maintain the flat and send him enough money, those small acts alone are more than Molly is capable of. Although the likelihood is Sherlock would need far more.

Mycroft vs. Moriarty

The main accusation laid at Mycroft’s door is that he sold out his younger brother to Moriarty. John charges Mycroft with giving Moriarty the “perfect ammunition” to destroy Sherlock.

I may have believed this, had they key code existed. Faced with a mad man with a weapon that could “blow up NATO in alphabetical order”, what is Mycroft prepared to sacrifice for the good of millions? But it didn’t – as many commentators on this episode have pointed out, computers do not work that way. Jim is clever enough to fool every criminal the world over into believing that he has the key to every locked door. And I agree with why Sherlock could fall for it, just wanting everything to be clever, instead of base and criminal and vulgar – it’s straight out of the canon, from Abbey Grange.

“Perhaps, when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.” - all thanks to the amazing I Bovary You for tracking this quote down for me. It was driving me crazy.

(The lovely A-Study-In-Teal tracked down a similar quote from The Woman in Green, the Rathbone film which provided a lot of inspiration to this episode, in which Moriarty remarks “Holmes has one weakness, his insatiable curiosity. If you can rouse that, you can lead him anywhere.”)

But how did it fool Mycroft? Particularly as this took place prior to Jim’s big stunt at the Tower. He had no proof that it worked.

I have little doubt that Jim Moriarty got himself locked up under his own terms – he was only in Mycroft’s prison because he wanted to get to Mycroft, to have a word, (can I just take a moment to say that goes a long way in confirming Mycroft’s standing…that the greatest criminal mind the world has ever seen had to get himself put in an interrogation room just to meet the minor government official…) to con the information he wanted out of him. Even if Mycroft hasn’t realised this, though, he is still too clever to just give information of any kind away. Although we know very little of Mycroft’s background and training, we must assume that he knows how to negotiate. Negotiation does not include telling your prisoner about your brother’s childhood.

And more to the point – why did Mycroft release him? A mad man who had scratched his brother’s name all over the cell.

That narrowing of the eyes – Mycroft’s plainly not happy about it. Although the mention of a cabinet reshuffle earlier in the episode is an almost-convincing explanation for the sudden release, I don’t see why that wouldn’t have been explained in the confrontation scene between Mycroft and John. I am of the opinion the release was at Sherlock’s request (see below…)

The Baskerville Conundrum

I keep coming back to Baskerville. There was an odd discussion about the basement in Baskerville near the beginning of the episode and it was never mentioned again. Sherlock noticed the lift goes all the way down, and then John asks about it, only to be told that’s where the bins are kept and…that’s it. That was weird.

Unless that’s where Mycroft was keeping Moriarty.

Sherlock only has to make a phone call to his brother to get himself let back into a top secret military base that he’d already broken into the previous day. We don’t get to hear the content of this phone call, or what makes Mycroft acquiesce to such a ludicrous demand so quickly, and then Sherlock is off screen for some time. Although Sherlock was conducting experiments on poor John, that doesn’t quite account for all the time he was offstage.

I am of the opinion that Mycroft came up from London at the same time as Lestrade (save your Mystrade giggling for later!) and invited his brother down to Baskerville’s basement, to show him where he was keeping the criminal mastermind. Mycroft may have been making plans to make Moriarty just disappear, but Sherlock is already aware of the criminal network Moriarty has spun around himself; killing him would only be the beginning. And so this is where the brothers cooked up something fiendishly clever to dismantle Moriarty’s web. Sherlock persuades his brother to release Moriarty, and the final game begins.

This is further borne out by Moriarty’s appearance to Sherlock in the woods. Drugged, and provoked by fear and stimulus, Sherlock hallucinates his nemesis’ face. But why? The drug works through suggestion:

Sherlock: I made up the bit about glowing. You saw what you expected to see because I told you.

So why would Sherlock see Moriarty out on the deserted moor, during a case that is entirely unrelated to him? Unless Sherlock had seen him earlier in the day, in that same place.

I think I’m going to die…

We mustn’t forget, in Reichenbach, Sherlock knew he might have to “die” before he went up to the roof, and so went to Molly.

Far earlier in the episode, during the case with the Ambassador’s children, Molly comments that Sherlock looks sad, like her dying father, when John isn’t looking – Sherlock already knows, even before the little girl screams, and Moriarty’s plan really begins to come to life, that he might have to die. His plan, to fake his own suicide, pre-dates Moriarty’s attempts to discredit and destroy him.

In addition, on the roof, Moriarty mentions Mycroft:

“Sherlock, your big brother and all the King’s horses couldn’t make me do a thing I didn’t want to.”

Sherlock isn’t surprised by the mention of his brother, even though we never saw John deliver the information that his brother made a terrible mistake that risked Sherlock’s life. It could feasibly have been done off screen, but I am of the opinion that Sherlock already knew. He had already planned for this.

Whenever the plan for surviving the fall was formulated, it was before this point and, for my money, before the episode itself, in Baskerville.

Faking a death in London in 2012 is much harder that faking a death in Switzerland in 1891.

Whatever Sherlock’s plan was, in getting from the roof to the pavement while remaining alive, it had to fool three people. Moriarty from the rooftop (Sherlock couldn’t have known he was about to shoot himself), John from the ground and the sniper (Moran? Please be Moran) from his vantage point opposite. So far, so simple (if you’re Sherlock) – an obscured field of vision here, a cyclist giving a blow to the head there and, hey presto. But if he was out to fool his brother too? Mycroft has a legion of CCTV cameras and a deductive ability that surpasses Sherlock’s own. I think it would be a near impossibility to fool Mycroft in this way. And while it’s entirely possible that Sherlock didn’t consult his brother before jumping, knowing Mycroft would work it out later, that seems a bit careless, even for Sherlock. Leaving incriminating CCTV footage outside of Mycroft’s capable hands, where any of Moriarty’s web might get hold of it, would be foolish and likely derail anything he was hoping to achieve
.
Not to mention the family connection. In cases like this, it is normal to get a family member - not a friend or colleague - in to identify the body, and Mycroft is the only blood relative that we know Sherlock to have. He would have to come in to identify his brother, and the ever-observant Mycroft would detect a fake in three seconds flat. He knows what his brother looks like.

As a quick aside, can we just quickly clear something up here – Molly is not a pathologist, she is not a doctor. Twice in the series she is referred to as Miss Hooper – and one of those times is by Mycroft, who is genteel enough to at least ensure he address her correctly. Molly may have been necessary for the initial cover-up, when Sherlock’s body is first pulled into the morgue, and perhaps she even provided a fake corpse, but that is as far as her influence goes. A death certificate would have to come from someone else. The British Government himself could easily pull some strings to obtain this.

He is the British Government

While we’re on the subject, Mycroft is essentially a deus ex machina in a suit. His levels of power, much less his job title, have never quite been clarified on screen, but what we do know is he can walk into a top-secret military base just by flashing his ID card, seems to be on personable terms with the Queen, handles cases involving MI6 and runs aeroplane-themed counter-intelligence operations despite claiming to work for the government (Whitehall and the Secret Service are quite separate operations…for people who aren’t Mycroft, anyway) and, also, is involved with the clandestine interrogations of criminal masterminds.

So, we’ve seen him do all that, and yet he couldn’t neutralise Kitty Riley, the failing tabloid hack? Without this story, Sherlock’s problem, of being accused of being a fake, unravels. Yet, Mycroft doesn’t stop it. Instead, he is seen reading it.

In fact, he is seen reading the tabloids twice in Reichenbach. While I believe that, were nothing more sinister afoot, he would probably read the press coverage on his brother, the focus of this episode on the press is quite telling. Sherlock, despite saying at the beginning of this series, in Scandal, that, being a private detective he “doesn’t need a public image,” is now seen in the opening of Reichenbach posing (grudgingly) for pictures with John. This courting of the press is, for my money, the ‘out of character’ thing Sherlock does. That Mycroft is keeping up with the press reports, and that he doesn’t kill Kitty’s story, for me, points to this forming a part of the brothers’ plan.

John…

Poor John. I feel so bad for John. So does Mycroft. He was collateral damage in the Holmes brothers war against Moriarty.

The scene is gut-wrenching….but if Sherlock can cry on cue, then Mycroft can act too. I am reminded of Mycroft’s brief appearance in The Final Problem:

“Did you recognize your coachman?”
“No.”
“It was my brother Mycroft. It is an advantage to get about in such a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence. But we must plan what we are to do about Moriarty now.”

Mycroft can play a role as well as his brother, and if this scene demands for him to play the villain, then he can. He slips momentarily, though - when Mycroft says “John, I’m sorry…” he’s not apologising to Sherlock. His apology is for John and what the brothers are about to do to him.

Silence is Golden

After two episodes exchanging insults, favours and one tender moment, suddenly the brothers are no longer on speaking terms. John actually draws attention to this repeatedly, questioning both brothers on this on separate occasions:

John: Why don’t you talk to Sherlock if you’re so concerned about him?… Oh God, don’t tell me.
Mycroft: Too much history between us, John. Old scores; resentments.
John: What about Mycroft? He could help us.
Sherlock: A big family reconciliation? Now’s not really the moment.

Mycroft’s presence at the Diogenes Club throughout this episode reinforces the mantra Silence is Golden. Of the three scenes Mycroft appears in, all of them are in his club. For a man facing the loss of his younger brother, for whom he cares deeply – this series went out of its way to confirm that – he seems decidedly static, sat in his silent club, reading the paper and drinking scotch and sharing nothing.

Staying away from each other, pretending to hate each other, reinforcing their perceived estrangement, keeps Mycroft out of Moriarty’s line of fire. I can’t help but think the writers had good reason to keep him off screen during the crucial moment, just as Molly – also unthreatened and indisputably involved somehow – was nowhere to be seen.

And finally…

The final scenes from Reichenbach do not show a Mycroft in anguish. We saw him upset, after Sherlock inadvertently grounded his flight of the dead in the opening episode of this series: in his shirt sleeves, with a glass of brandy and a look of horror in his eyes. But this Mycroft is one who is deep in thought, mirroring Sherlock’s own “thinking gesture”, hands together in silent prayer after he folds the paper away, the plan complete. It’s a lovely touch, and shows Mycroft scheming, strategizing, planning their next move.

…I really need series three to hurry up and put me out of my misery.

Now that we've met the parents

 (Sherlock Meta by ibelieveinmycroft)

Anonymous: I know you need time to mull it over, and I'm unlikely to be the first to ask this: what do you think of Mycroft and Sherlock's childhood, now that you've met their parents? No wonder they are constantly upsetting mummy!

ibelieveinmycroft: I loved that moment! They’re so delightfully ordinary, it makes their boys seem even stranger. I hope they crop up again at, say, a family dinner, so we can see the family dynamic.

Mark Gatiss once described the Holmes brothers as growing up like “hothouse flowers,” and I think this depiction of their parents and the revelations in this episode sit rather well with that. As Mycroft and Sherlock both thought Sherlock an idiot until they met other children, and Mycroft is seven years Sherlock’s senior, they must have been left on their own for a long time. Home-schooled, is likely then, and their home is probably quite remote. I’m still clinging on to the image of the rural country manor, with two mad, brilliant boys rattling around inside it, pouring through the books in their library, roaming the woods and conducting experiments on insects, educating themselves and each other rather than deigning to be taught.

Their parents allowed, even encouraged this, for years before trying to get their children to socialise more, and meet other children. That Sherlock was old enough to remember the event suggests that he was at least three or four and, thus, Mycroft had been allowed to remain alone for around ten or eleven years. It certainly seems that for a very long time they had no one else.

I can see what upset Mummy - she had a rather odd set of boys that sprung from nowhere. Mycroft was long a cuckoo in the nest, until Sherlock came along. I think it likely that their parents never really understood their slightly odd sons, but accepted them. Though the constant bickering can’t have been easy to live with!

Their parents certainly loved them, and Sherlock and Mycroft evidently love their parents too. Who else could get the British Government himself to suffer through Les Mis other than a devoted mother!

Family is all we have in the end

 (Sherlock Meta by ibelieveinmycroft)

Anonymous asked: So, in Scandal, we see Mycroft telling Mrs. Hudson to shut up, and after Sherlock yells at him and he gets looks from Mrs. Hudson, John, and Sherlock, she (Mrs. Hudson) says something along the lines of, ‘after all, family is all we have in the end, Mycroft Holmes.’ and Mycroft looks almost hurt. Do you think that it may be because of this comment? Because Mycroft is so detached from Sherlock, who very well may be the last of his family? So according to her he has nothing?

ibelieveinmycroft: Interesting one, this one. I don’t think Mrs Hudon’s comment was quite that barbed. Her intention was, obviously, to chastise Mycroft for putting Sherlock and John in a dangerous situation. I can’t imagine that she knows Mycroft very well and, like John, thinks of him only as Sherlock’s overbearing big brother. She probably didn’t realise that she was touching on something very close to Mycroft’s heart.

Mrs Hudson: It’s a disgrace, sending your little brother into danger like that. Family is all we have in the end, Mycroft Holmes.
Mycroft: Oh shut up, Mrs Hudson.

Mycroft is usually so polite, genteel, refined and sophisticated, even when threatening mild-mannered army doctors in the middle of warehouses, negotiating with scheming dominatrices or torturing criminal masterminds. His unassailable calm is a part of what makes him so threatening, so dangerous. It is so unlike Mycroft to be rude to anyone - apart from his brother, which is a whole other matter.

So what brought Mycroft’s defences crashing down like that? What made a man, who can stare down his enemies with a smile, snap at a pleasant little old lady?

Mrs Hudson is like a surrogate mother to Sherlock and John, and this scene sees her very much in this role - fussing over her boys, bringing them breakfast and scolding Mycroft for putting them in danger. Mycroft himself is quite obviously uncomfortable and displaced by the situation - he is standing separate from them all - they are gathered round the table, while he is stood by the fireplace - and he has kept his coat on. Watching his brother, seemingly his only family, secure among the urban family he has built for himself will obviously have an unsettling effect on Mycroft.

So, when Mrs Hudson says, “Family is all we have in the end, Mycroft Holmes!”, in that tone of voice, using his full name, as if chastising a child, he is not going to be able to keep his cool. I think the history between the brothers is as unbeknown to Mrs Hudson and John as it is to the viewers, so she doesn’t realise that she has just made a statement that will be extremely provocative to a man who cares very deeply for his brother (something that this episode went out of its way to prove.) Mycroft, who is already feeling off-balance due to the dynamics of the room, understandably snaps and tells her to shut up. Mycroft, a man in control of every situation, one of the most powerful, respected and feared men in the country and a master of subtlety and grace, can be knocked off-balance by one thing alone - his brother.

John and Mrs Hudson look shocked, affronted, as if they can’t believe it of Mycroft. Sherlock’s expression is slightly different - not at all surprised, despite his anger as he reprimands his brother.
Sherlock’s next line in this scene has been a bit contentious in the fandom, some seeing it as a joke, some reading a deeper meaning. I fall into the latter camp, as there are very few throwaway lines in this series. After shaming Mycroft into apology, Sherlock turns to Mrs Hudson and, half-jokingly, tells her “Although do, in fact, shut up”, which suggests, to me at any rate, that he understands what pushed his brother over the edge. Sherlock knows how Mycroft feels about family, even if they are both terrible at expressing those feelings, and knows that he doesn’t need any more blame for his missteps.

Mrs Hudson, like the rest of us, doesn’t quite understand the complicated relationship that exists between the Holmes brothers. They bite and scratch at each other, but neither want to actually do serious harm to the other - and each knows when the other has been deeply hurt, and attempts to remedy it. Their personalities do not allow for much familial sentiment, but it is there, underneath their protective, guarded layers.

Anthea, The Genius

 (Sherlock Meta by ibelieveinmycroft)

Anonymous: Slightly random ask, but is Anthea really smart? Plus isnt she Mycroft's assistant? I imagine to be working for Mycroft Holmes you'd have to be a genius.

ibelieveinmycroft: We have nothing concrete to go on in regards to Anthea’s intelligence, but I agree with you that, to work for Mycroft, she must be highly intelligent.

She has been working directly for Mycroft for at least four years, likely much longer, assuming that the series basically happens in real time. She may or may not be his PA, but is evidentially closer to him than any other employee. It is her he dispatches in his car to collect John Watson, and who accompanies him to the crime scene in A Study in Pink, and she is in his private office in the Diogenes in The Empty Hearse, not remotely surprised - indeed, rather pleased - to see Sherlock back from the dead.



But is she more than a secretary? One of her few lines of dialogue in The Empty Hearse hints at a role above filing, making coffee, escorting army doctors and dressing her boss’ younger brother:

One of our men died getting this information. All the chatter, all the traffic, concurs there’s going to be a terror strike on London – a big one.

These are not the words of a woman who makes the tea. These are the words of an intelligence operative privy to some confidential and delicate information. Her fingers never left her Blackberry in A Study in Pink because she’s busy woman with a great deal of work to do.



Her role in A Study in Pink is very interesting. Mycroft has had his brother’s new friend picked up and brought to an abandoned warehouse so he might intimidate, attempt to bribe and threaten him. This is clearly outside the order of normal government business. That Mycroft has involved Anthea suggests that he trusts her with his personal business.

On top of it all, I love how amused she is by the brothers in The Empty Hearse and by John in A Study in Pink. With John she is so above it all that she can afford to be glib, but with the brothers I suspect there is some fondness there. She steals side-glances at Mycroft when Sherlock is being difficult, and smiles when Sherlock sweeps out of the office in his most dramatic fashion. This is a woman who has been on the periphery of the Holmes brothers’ world for some time now.



For Mycroft to keep the same employee around for a number of years, to trust them not only with state secrets but also with secrets regarding his only ‘pressure point’, his brother, indicates, to me, that this person must necessarily be highly intelligent. She may not be able to keep up with Mycroft - even Sherlock can’t do that - but she is likely a genius in her own right too.

Mycroft and The Low Tar Cigarette

 (Sherlock Meta by ibelieveinmycroft and thenorwoodbuilder)

Sherlock: Do you ever wonder if there's something wrong with us?
Mycroft: All lives end, all hearts are broken. Caring is not an advantage, Sherlock.
Sherlock: This is low tar!

ibelieveinmycroft:

I love this scene. I love this moment. I love that the cigarettewas low tar.

Imagine Mycroft’s thinking: believing Irene dead, and knowing his brother would be upset, wants to both help and test Sherlock with that cigarette. But, well aware that Sherlock has been trying to quit and uses nicotine patches, and also thinking of his health, Mycroft acquires low tar cigarettes to that ends.

Of course, Sherlock notices.

thenorwoodbuilder:

Ok, folks. As I’ve been recklessly [;-)] encouraged to express a totally crazy speculation of mine about the “low tar cigarette affair”, I’m going to ramble - be warned.

However, I must make a preliminary remark: the saner part of my brain finds ibelieveinmycroft’s explanation of Mycroft’s choice of cigarettes perfectly reasonable and most probable. But the crazier, more bizarre part of my mind feels the need to build upon this simple choice of a low tar cigarette a whole castle of suppositions… which I’m now going to inflict upon you.

First question: does Mycroft himself smoke? Against: John tells him “you don’t smoke” and we actually don’t see him smoking in any other circumstance. For: he not only has cigarettes and lighter in the morgue (where he could well have brought them just to test Sherlock), but we see him smoking in front of Speedy’s in A Scandal in Belgravia. Besides, Sherlock doesn’t appear surprised when his brother produces a cigarette and a lighter, as if he knew that Mycroft, at least occasionally, smokes. Against: when he meets John in front of Speedy’s, Mycroft replies to John’s remark that he “also doesn’t frequent cafes”, meaning - presumably - that he USUALLY doesn’t frequent cafes, as well as he USUALLY doesn’t smoke; he also makes a quite disgusted face when inhaling the smoke from the cigarette, like he was not accustomed to smoking. For: he, after all, sometimes DOES frequent cafes, and therefore maybe he also sometimes smokes (as we see him doing in this case); his disgusted face may be caused by the same aversion to low tar tobacco that his little brother displayed in the morgue. Against: he could have just find in his pocket the same pack of cigarettes and the same lighter that he used to test Sherlock in the morgue and, being nervous or wanting to look nervous in Watson’s eyes, he just followed an impulse to light himself a cigarette. For: since the “test” at the morgue to the meeting at Speedy’s six months have passed, Mycroft doesn’t even wear the same suit and, in any case, a neat and fastidious person like him wouldn’t be still carrying in his pocket cigarettes and lighter from six months before, if he had not use for them, just out of distraction. Finally, and most of all, a friend of mine, a heavy smoker and acquainted with smokers of any sort, ensures me that only a smoker would take the pain to carry upon his person cigarettes and lighter.

So, all “fors” and “againsts” considered, my final assumption is that Mycroft is, after all, a smoker, albeit maybe just an occasional one, or one of those persons who smoke a couple of cigarettes per day.

But here we are still in the realm of (almost) sanity… Now, instead, I’m going to throw myself into more reckless and acrobatic speculations. Because the second question is: what might we deduce about Mycroft’s personality from the fact that he, as a smoker, chooses to smoke low tar cigarettes that he, quite apparently, doesn’t enjoy so much?

Ladies and gentlemen, enter the trapezist!

So, Mycroft - according to assumption N.1 - is a smoker. He’s not a heavy smoker, unlike his brother (we know that Sherlock Holmes is an heavy smoker from the Canon; but also from Sherlock’s attitude towards nicotine patches and cigarettes in the episodes, we can safely assume the same for his modern counterpart). Sherlock is probably the kind of person who either smokes 60 cigarettes per day, or needs to quit completely, because he is no man for half measures; Mycroft is more the kind of person who keeps the number of cigarettes he daily smokes quite low (2-4), but doesn’t even try to quit. He, besides, chooses low tar cigarettes, which he himself doesn’t enjoy any more than his little brother does, but that are - allegedly… - less harmful for the health. So he keeps doing an unhealty thing, but tries to limit the damage by smoking moderately and choosing low tar cigarettes (which he doesn’t like). Put this togheter with him being apparently on a permanent diet - but at the same time being significantly framed twice near a glass of alcohol; with him keeping an umbrella with every kind of weather; with him disliking and rejecting “legwork” - that is, unnecessary human interactions; with him always being the perfect, traditional, even stereotypical English gentleman; and what do you obtain?

I think you obtain the picture of a man who, consciously or (more probably) unconsciously decided to seclude himself from life. He is better at human interaction, on a superficial level, than his younger brother, but all his human relationships (with the only exception of the one with his brother, which is, however, “complicate”) are, actually, quite superficial and, ultimately, meaningless (useful, of course, but humanely meaningless). He retreated from life and he doesn’t ever knows (or doesn’t aknowledge anymore) that a part of him, deeply inside, regrets it. He doesn’t like risks - that is, not risks related to his work, but the kind of risks that life implies, that human relationships imply: the risk of suffering that is always inextricably linked to the pursuing of happiness. “Caring is not an advantage” also because, if you care for someone, you might lose someone, you might be hurt by someone. And Mycroft already cares - and can’t help caring - for one person, his little brother; but he doesn’t want to accord this kind of leverage upon himself to anyone else.

His personality is quite different from Sherlock’s: Sherlock, with all his difficulties in aknowledging his own feelings and emotions (a trait, however, from which Mycroft - the Ice Man - is not immune, even if he is more open about his sentiments when it comes to his concern for his little brother), is an extroverted person by nature: he is curious about persons, about how and why they do the things they do, about how they feel in given situations (he keeps being surprised by people’s different reactions to having just killed a person, for example, and constantly asks John why people should mind this or consider that…); he has chosen a profession which requires a lot of “legwork” - i.e., that implies, fundamentally, human interactions and the study of human interactions; he throws himself at people, like he were saying: “like me or not, this is how I am, and I’m not going to change: take me as I am or leave me” - but, in the end, while, at Christmas, he is surrounded by friends - John, Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson and, quite significantly, Molly - Mycroft, instead, is alone in his vast house, staring at the flames in the fireplace like a sort of Redlaw just hopped out of Dicken’s The Haunted Man.

As much as Sherlock is not a man for half measures, Mycroft is a man who, instead, keeps himself equally distanced from anything and anyone (the only exception being his little brother, with whom, anyway, his bound, albeit strong and affectionate, is all but simple and painless, looking quite like a sort of “rubber band”). He wants to be the strong man who needs no one and who can be completely autonomous; even with his brother, he is the one in charge, the one who watches over and protects, the one who cares and help (being his help required or not), the one who takes the weight of responsibilities upon his shoulders. He presents himself to the world (and probably to himself) as a cold, impassive, powerful, independent, totally autonomous man, forgetting that it’s in the nature of the human being to need other human beings, to be in relation to others, to be, at least to some degree, dependant from others; it’s like he were constantly wearing an armour, which, conceived to shield him from the dangers of emotion and sentiment, like every too rigid, too tight armour, ends up blocking his blood circulation and freezing him, without him even being aware of it.

Ok, I know that I’m depicting Mycroft like a sort of cross between Phileas Fogg, Professor Redlaw, and Mr. Stevens from Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day… (I’d say also Spock from Star Trek and Allanon from Terry Brooks’ fantasy books, if it weren’t TOO crazy, even for my standards), but I warned you that this was going to be a completely mental rambling… So, if you’ve kept reading it till now, you just got what you deserved!

Thirteen Instances Of Caring: Or, 

Why Mycroft Holmes Is An Amazing Big Brother

 (Sherlock Meta by ibelieveinmycroft and thenorwoodbuilder)

ibelieveinmycroft:

Mycroft Holmes bears the brunt of a lot of anger, both on our screens and off it. I understand; he’s a difficult character to get along with. We are given no black and white reason to like him. Sherlock, our titular character and protagonist, has an extremely antagonistic relationship with him. And the nature of narrative is that one is usually expected to side with the hero, so we side with Sherlock in their sibling war.

However, we cannot asses them and their fraternal bond in the same way we would ordinary people. The Holmes brothers, through an unpredictable quirk in genetics, have been gifted a strange and special kind of genius. Because of it, they are both difficult, damaged human beings who have trouble communicating on an emotional level. Both are so similar, each the only one really capable of understanding the other perfectly; and yet, I also think that this makes them more liable to misunderstand the other too. And, for the same reasons we sympathise with Sherlock’s anti-social bite and bile, we must pause to reassess Mycroft.

It’s easy to see why Sherlock does not get along with his brother. Mycroft is controlling and secretive and more than a little sinister. He has an enormous amount of wealth, privilege and influence that he exerts to keep tabs on his wayward little brother. He’s undemonstrative, he’s prosaic. Sometimes his behaviour is both morally and emotionally vague.

But are we to interpret these as the actions of a Machiavellian puppet-master, out to control his brother as though he were an asset to utilise or a weapon to be deployed? I’m not convinced; for this to be the case Mycroft’s every action would have to be a manipulation, and this simply doesn’t ring true. Furthermore, this would require Sherlock to continue a willing association with a brother solely out to control him – apart from anything else, this is an interpretation that doesn’t give our ever-perceptive hero much credit. The truth is likely more complex. Because, while Mycroft never allows Sherlock beyond the locus of his control, perhaps there is good reason for that. Their shared past has been left hazy, but what little we do know, such as Sherlock’s past addiction problems, indicate the rationale for Mycroft’s over protectiveness. There have been problems he does not want to see repeated, so uses his resources to help avert them. Sherlock pushes back against this, as well a grown man might, but never hard enough to actually push his brother away - it is in concession to his brother, a reluctant acknowledgement that maybe, just maybe, Brother Knows Best.

Ultimately, Mycroft gives a lot more than he takes. Although he says that caring is not an advantage, Mycroft can’t seem to stop. They are brothers; they have grown up and grown apart, and don’t really fit into each other’s worlds very well anymore, but brothers they remain. Maybe sometimes Mycroft takes it too far; he is a Holmes, after all. By virtue of their troubled intellect, their relationship is so much push and pull – a descent into childishness at one moment, an ascent onto a philosophical plane the next. But what permeates every facet of their sibling rivalry is the compassion and concern. The love there is quite real. It’s complicated and painful, as love often is, but never doubt its authenticity.

Although his role in The Reichenbach Fall may still be up for discussion (I’ll send you back here for my theories on that), Mycroft’s every other appearance on screen demonstrates a persistent, attentive and cautiously administered care on the part of the elder Holmes.

Reading Mycroft Holmes is difficult; maybe some of this is conjectural, born of reading between the lines and assuming double-meanings. But we’re Sherlockians, it’s what we do.

I’m afraid I’ve written another enormous thing, so please see under the cut:

1) A Study in Pink, The Warehouse

I wonder if all Holmeses have a flair for the dramatic? Because Mycroft’s kidnapping of John Watson was just that; carefully orchestrated theatrics, designed to intimidate. It’s also hinted that this is not the first time Mycroft has stepped in to assess, and attempt to bribe, Sherlock’s acquaintances. A creepy thing to be doing, certainly, but ultimately a caring one.

When John mentions his encounter to Sherlock, his immediate recognition of the situation - “Did he offer you money to spy on me?” - suggests that this is not the first time this has happened, although perhaps that Sherlock didn’t immediately twig that it was Mycroft who had picked up John, suggests that this is the first time he’s moved in so quickly. Mycroft already knows how swiftly the relationship between John and Sherlock has progressed, quipping, “since yesterday you’ve moved in with him and now you’re solving crimes together. Might we expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?” Perhaps Mycroft doesn’t always move with such expediency when Sherlock makes a new acquaintance, but how many people does Sherlock take into his confidences to quickly? It’s understandable why this behaviour would alarm Mycroft.

As to the bribery, Mycroft does assure John that he doesn’t want anything “indiscreet” or that John would be uncomfortable with. Although a monumentally unsettling action, I think all Mycroft wanted was to ensure someone stayed with his brother, and to pass him information of his well-being. Although sinister and immoral, I cannot read Mycroft’s offer as being in any way malevolent. I just think Holmeses sometimes need to be reminded when they’ve crossed a line. When John turns down his offer, Mycroft does not ask again – his whole expression changes, along with his manner. In many ways the conversation becomes a little more threatening, but Mycroft also becomes more thoughtful, as he begins to reassess John.

I think, perversely, this is the time when we see Mycroft at his most honest. True, John has no idea who he is, but Mycroft has good opportunity to reveal himself as Sherlock’s big brother – John asks directly, twice – and he chooses not to, even if John would be more inclined to help him if he knew his identity. I think the anonymity of the situation prompts Mycroft to be more open than he would be normally. He says that he worries about Sherlock, “constantly,” and I believe him. That he wants his “concern [to] go unmentioned” is, we will later discover, not an unreasonable thing for Mycroft to want. Sherlock pushes back against Mycroft at every opportunity, and I think it is evident that any previous overt attempts at care have failed for this reason.

thenorwoodbuilder:

Well, I agree with most of this, albeit Mycroft’s behaviour remains a bit too overprotective and, most of all, illegal, for my tastes.

We have also to admit, however, that, if Mycroft really is the Brithish Government, he then has many reasons to worry about the character and integrity of his brother’s flatmates: whoever can reach Sherlock, can reach him; and harming or kidnapping Sherlock could be a very effective way to harm Mycroft or gain leverage upon him, and therefore upon the Governement. So, a lot of people are potentially interested in harming or controlling Sherlock… Hence Mycroft’s need of having his little brother’s safety well and constantly monitored. Of course, in addition to the other reasons linked to Sherlock’s profession (and recklesness, and probable drug precedents, etc.).

And I can understand that this kind of surveillance would be hard to endure for almost everyone, and even more so for such a fiercely proud and stubborn young man as Sherlock is. So, here we have another possible reason for the “difficult relationship” the Holmes Brothers share: Mycroft’s work, and its repercussions on Sherlock, surely enough don’t help…

Anyway, coming back to this scene, I’m also under the impression that Mycroft is testing Watson: I’m not so sure that, if Watson had accepted the offered bribe, Mycroft would really have sent him back to Baker Street… I’m more under the impression that he would have him disposed of… After all, what kind of associate would he have been, for his brother? Not certainly a trustworthy one… So, the whole “chat” between Mycroft and Watson seems to me to have been conceived by the former in order to test John’s greed (or lack of it), John’s morality (or lack of it), and John’s courage (or lack of it), as well as his patience and self-control. All qualities that would be well needed, in an associate of Sherlock’s.

Of course Mycroft has done this before: he can’t afford untrustworthy people around his one little brother… As well as Sherlock is legitimate to get annoyed at this - as any adult human being would be - he probably understands his brother’s motivations: hence the light tone he uses when asking Watson about his abduction…

ibelieveinmycroft: 

2) A Study in Pink, The Crime Scene

Minutes after a fatal shooting that Sherlock was involved in, Mycroft’s car pulls up on the crime scene. We know not a lot of time can have passed between the shooting and this moment – John and Sherlock have just reunited, and Sherlock has just escaped the confines of the shock blanket. It’s fairly clear that Mycroft has rushed across London to the scene.

Mycroft doesn’t appear to be there for any other reason than to ensure his brother is well taken care of.  The situation appears to be an unusual one, as Sherlock asks, without irony, “What’re you doing here?” Evidently Mycroft doesn’t materialise at Sherlock’s every crime scene. But, presumably, Sherlock isn’t involved in fatal shootings that often and, otherwise, Mycroft normally keeps his distance. I can see why, knowing his brother as well as he does, Mycroft would be alarmed by the turn of events, involving two pills and a gunshot wound, and decide on a personal appearance. For once, I don’t think there’s anything other to the line, “As ever, I was concerned about you.”

Mycroft makes one last comment in this scene, indicating that he keeps Sherlock under surveillance. He ends the episode upgrading his surveillance to “Grade Three. Active.” Who knows how long Mycroft has been monitoring his brother – probably a very long time – but, until now and Sherlock’s sudden and unprecedented shift in behaviour, it wasn’t ‘active’ surveillance. I can see how this can be perceived as Mycroft prying, but I choose to interpret it as Holmesian flawed affection.

By the end of the episode, Mycroft has also reconsidered John – likely making the same deductions as his brother regarding the gunpowder burns on John’s fingers – and decides he may have a positive effect on Sherlock. In this, Mycroft is, as ever, correct.

thenorwoodbuilder:

Of course, Mycroft DEFINITELY shows up at the crime scene just out of (real) concern! So concerned is he for his little brother’s wellbeing, that he doesn’t care to be seen in a very public place, full of policemen and - presumably - reporters. He, who works in the shadows, who officially holds a “minor position” in the British Government, and whose favourite refuge is the unsociable Diogenes Club! Using the canonical words, “it is as if you met a tram-car coming down a country lane. Mycroft has his rails and he runs on them. What upheaval can possibly have derailed him?” - only an extreme concern at hearing about the dangers from which his little (and reckless) brother has just narrowly escaped!

… Speaking of which, who could possibly have informed Mycroft so soon about the whole business? Well, I’ve my suspicions about a certain detective inspector, who - certainly - doesn’t “just” do what Mycroft asks him (as he says to Sherlock in The hounds of Baskerville), but - probably - is not averse to cooperating with Mycroft when it comes to Sherlock’s safety…

ibelieveinmycroft:

3) The Great Game, 221b Baker Street

The flat opposite 221b explodes, and John rushes around in a panic as soon as he sees the story on the morning news. Even though this is very early in the morning, Mycroft is already there. In fact, he seems to have been there for a while – he has removed his coat and is well-settled into that chair. I think it is fairly evident that, upon hearing of the explosion, Mycroft rushed round to check on his brother.

The case file, relating to The Bruce Partington Plans, that Mycroft has brought with him is, in some ways, something of a pretence, or a secondary reason for the visit. I suspect that Mycroft had this file ready to give to his brother and, had a bomb not just gone off, would have delivered it at a more sociable hour. The previous scenes, in which we saw Sherlock in his dressing gown, arguing with John and sulking on the sofa, establishes Sherlock as idle, antsy and in need of a case. Mycroft, ever aware of Sherlock’s case load, provides.

thenorwoodbuilder:

Even more so, when you consider that this would really have been a perfect “armchair case” for Mycroft to handle personally, with all modern forensic reposrts… So, this WAS a pretence, if ever I’ve seen one!

And the look he gives to poor Watson, as soon as he enters the room! Mycroft doesn’t ever aknowledge his presence with a “good morning”, and instead looks at him as he was something vaguely disgusting… It’s like he’s trying to convey to him the message: “where were you, you useless sod, instead of being here to protect my precious litte brother with your own body, as a dutiful human shield?!”.

ibelieveinmycroft:

4) The Great Game, Mycroft’s Offices

When Mycroft leaves 221b, after Sherlock’s petulant rejection of his case, Mycroft says to John, with characteristic unnerving omniscience, “See you very soon.” John, as predicted, turns up at Mycroft’s offices later that day. Mycroft is incredibly busy at that moment – he had stated earlier in the day that he couldn’t possibly leave the office due to “the Korean elections,” and, when he enters the office he is still reading a file. John had been checking his watch; evidently, Mycroft had kept him waiting. But, in spite of the overload of work his department is presently burdened with, he made the time to see John, to give him the information his brother refused to accept that morning.

thenorwoodbuilder:

Sorry, but here I can’t appreciate our beloved Mycroft too much: the gesture he uses to ”ask” Watson to sit down is of the kind one would use with a well trained German Shepherd… Let’s speak openly: he is manipulating Watson, here, at his best - he is toying with him, and Watson himself knows it…

ibelieveinmycroft:

5) A Scandal in Belgravia, The Palace

This scene acts as a confirmation of Mycroft’s motives for delivering cases to Sherlock. Mycroft knows exactly which cases his brother has taken and, thus, when Sherlock is unemployed and in need of a distraction. This happened before in The Great Game and it’s happening again now. Their exchange regarding “the hiker and the backfire,” the solution to which Mycroft has deduced from merely glancing at the police reports, is evident of this. Seeing that the resolution to Sherlock’s case is “a bit obvious” – and, indeed, Sherlock has already solved it – Mycroft has him brought to the Palace to attend to something more worthy of his time.

This scene is also a window into their childhood, and, perhaps, the source of Mycroft’s role as his brother’s keeper. Their altercation on the subject of Sherlock’s attire, ending with the very parental “Sherlock Holmes, put your trousers on!” is very suggestive. As, indeed, is Sherlock’s response to Mycroft’s “I’ll be mother,” – just why is this a “whole childhood in a nutshell”? We may never learn much about their past, but this bit of dialogue prompts so many questions about their relationship as children.

I’ve discussed this recently, so I’ll leave this section here.

6) A Scandal in Belgravia, 221b Baker Street

Mycroft is round at 221b very early the next morning – the boys are still having breakfast. Although he is discussing the case, he learns nothing from their discussion, I rather do think he’s come to check up on his brother after the shooting at Irene Adler’s house. This is borne out by Mycroft’s reaction to Mrs Hudson’s admonishment, “Family is all we have in the end, Mycroft Holmes.” We have never seen Mycroft’s mask of calm superiority slip for anyone but Sherlock before, but it does here. He snaps at Mrs Hudson for that remark about family, as it’s clearly something he has rather taken to heart. Family is important to Mycroft, and he blames himself for what happens with the CIA assassins that threaten Sherlock and John. Indeed, the final time we see that CIA man, Mycroft has brought him to heel.

Although Sherlock scolds his brother for being rude to Mrs Hudson, Sherlock’s rejoinder, “Although do, in fact, shut up,” suggests that he understands what had made Mycroft snap. Sherlock knows how Mycroft feels about family, even if they are both terrible at expressing those feelings, and knows that he doesn’t need any more blame for his missteps.

thenorwoodbuilder:

Totally agree! AND the way Mycroft tells Sherlock he’ll be out of the case, the moment (as I presume) he learns (through the phone call he receives) exactly why and how much the CIA is involved with the Adler business, shows - according to me- how much he is worried about his brother’s safety, now that the case is no more a simple potential blackmail, but a much more international conundrum involving terrorist cells and CIA trained killers.

Also, this is one time when Sherlock understands, from his brother’s tone and glance, that he really has to give up, and stops arguing almost instantly. They CAN understand each other perfectly well, these brothers, when they really need and want to…

ibelieveinmycroft:

7) A Scandal in Belgravia, The Holmes Ancestral Home

When Sherlock rings his brother, Mycroft is seen sat in what is identified in the commentary as the Holmes Ancestral Home. The location of this house is unknown, but is certainly outside of London (Sussex is a likely contender, given Sherlock’s choice of location when he retires). Its countryside location is also confirmed by Mycroft’s attire – tweed is country wear, a fabric he would never wear in the city. Mycroft has evidently returned to the country house for the Christmas holiday.

But when Sherlock calls him with the Irene Adler problem, though surprised by the call, he immediately returns to work. Barely hours later (Molly and Lestrade have left 221b, but Mrs Hudson and Jeanette are still there), Mycroft has tracked down a body that could be Irene, had her sent to St. Bart’s, changed into suitable city attire and returned to London to escort Sherlock to the morgue.  Not only does he ensure that the body is sent somewhere that Sherlock is familiar with – a “home from home,” – but he also travels sixty miles on Christmas Eve to ensure his brother doesn’t have to face tragedy alone.

thenorwoodbuilder:

Could we mention the fact that SHERLOCK - when he understands that Irene is probably dead, or soon to be - CALLS HIS BROTHER while at the same time SHUTTING THE DOOR of his room in JOHN’s face?

I mean, John is his friend, Shelock clearly trusts him, and likes him, and is fond of him; BUT, he doesn’t thik John could really understand him, or could really help him, when he himself is probably too confused and upset. So he turns to the only person he think could really understand and help him - his big brother. The whole scene could be resumed with Sherlock asking Mycroft “help me”, and Mycroft replying “I’m here for you”.

ibelieveinmycroft:

8) A Scandal in Belgravia, The Morgue

This is everyone’s favourite scene for good reason. It’s the first and, so far, only time, we see Mycroft and Sherlock talk alone, as brothers. With no one else to impress, a lot of the immaturity, hostility and pettiness has been stripped away. When they’re not performing to anyone else, they speak to each other as equals, Sherlock does not shy away from asking his brother’s opinion, and Mycroft gives it without malice.

Although Mycroft’s declares “Caring is not an advantage,” this cannot be read as Mycroft saying that he doesn’t care. Quite the opposite: he is counselling Sherlock against becoming emotionally invested in Irene’s death, because caring has already been his own undoing. Mycroft also seems to half-deliver this line to himself, pausing significantly between uttering the words and saying Sherlock’s name. Certainly, Mycroft’s life may have been easier if he did not care for his younger brother. His resources wouldn’t be so divided, he wouldn’t have to pause in his affairs to clean up after Sherlock and he wouldn’t have the emotional fall out from when his brother gets in trouble. Without his love for his brother, he would truly be the Ice Man, and would probably run all of Europe by now. As it is, his caring has held him back and, eventually, exposes him to weakness. But he can’t seem to stop.

As if to reinforce that point, moments after that conversation, we see Mycroft contacting John to ensure Sherlock remains safe. We don’t know how long Mycroft has been colluding with John to keep Sherlock safe, but the “sock-index” line and that they obliquely refer to it as a “a danger night” indicates that this is not the first time this has happened. The saddest thing about the exchange between John and Mycroft is that Mycroft admits that he is never sure if a night is going to be a danger night. As omniscient as he is, Sherlock seems to remain a blind-spot for him.

9) A Scandal in Belgravia, Flight 007

Although the scene at the morgue was beautiful, I find this scene more moving, because it speaks volumes about the brothers’ relationship. When Sherlock arrives on the plane, he is his usual self – intrigued by the mystery. When Mycroft reveals his involvement, and Sherlock puts all the pieces into place, his small smile and remark of “Neat” shows that he’s duly impressed by what his brother has been masterminding. Sherlock remains quite indifferent, mocking Mycroft’s perceived failure at screening his MOD people, until Mycroft shouts at him. It is a genuine burst of anger, and the only one we have ever seen. Frustration and irritation, yes, but never anger. It is enough to stop Sherlock in his tracks.

Yet, in spite of this rare burst of anger, Mycroft immediately turn it back in on himself, blaming himself for underestimating Irene, and even apologising to Sherlock. That line, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know” kills me every time.

When Irene threatens to expose the source of the intelligence leak as Mycroft’s “own little brother,” the look on Mycroft’s face speaks volumes. Although I rather suspect Mycroft does not want his weaknesses exposed to his “masters,” I would interpret his expression quite differently. It’s a look of horror, but not one of selfish concern. He was staring her down until she brought up his brother; it’s only when Irene mentions Sherlock that he can no longer meet her gaze. His primary concern is, here, to protect Sherlock from charges of terrorism and, perhaps, treason, from an authority higher than Mycroft himself that he would not be able to circumvent.

(Incidentally, who else was alarmed to find out that Mycroft has masters? I suppose they are meant to be much younger in the BBC series, so Mycroft might not be quite so indispensable yet. I like to imagine Mycroft’s direct superior being played by Christopher Lee.)

10) A Scandal in Belgravia, The Holmes Ancestral Home, again

The negotiations with Irene prove how much he is willing to give away for Queen and Country; we don’t see Irene’s list, but one can assume she wanted millions. Mycroft was prepared to acquiesce to her demands to spare his brother. Had Sherlock not been part of the equation, one assumes Mycroft may have had more options open to him. But, even when faced with a threat like Irene, and asked to sacrifice so much – surely something that will damage his career irrevocably – he is still not prepared to sacrifice Sherlock to his masters.

Sherlock realises his mistakes in this scene, and what his brother does for him. When Sherlock cracks Irene’s code, saving the proverbial day, he hands the phone and its contents to Mycroft and calls him “Brother.” A small acknowledgement, maybe, but one I always find incredibly moving.

thenorwoodbuilder:

And he doesn’t even TRY to look at the phone’s contents… Considering how curious he is, this is probably another way to apologize to his brother… Besides, that “brother” he addresses Mycroft with, is probably a way of tellink “for how much we can disagree on many things, and don’t get along most the time, we really are on the same side when it comes to really important matters”.

ibelieveinmycroft:

11) A Scandal in Belgravia, Speedy’s Café

I find this scene a little confusing, and think it may be one that will have some light shed on it in series three, but, for now, let’s read it straight.

Mycroft has potentially upsetting information regarding Irene Adler and, knowing his brother’s feeling, resolves to hide it behind a nice, fairy-tale resolution, and have John, someone who Sherlock has very fond feelings for, deliver the information. Mycroft treats the situation with all the subtlety and grace that propelled him to the position that he currently occupies.

Additionally, we see here that Mycroft still understands his brother much better than John does. John thinks that the way Sherlock refers to Irene as “The Woman” is indicative of loathing. Mycroft is the one who reads it correctly, as “a salute” – as it is in the canon – to the one woman who matters.

The last thing about this scene is the most haunting. After mentioning that Sherlock initially “wanted to be a pirate,” he enters, what the commentary calls, a little fugue state. Blatantly, the memories of their childhood together still hang very heavily over him.

thenorwoodbuilder:

Could we mention the fact that Mycroft also deftly manoeuvres to let Sherlock have a little memento (the phone) of Miss Adler’s? Really, what other reason could he have had, to give John the Adler’s file - containing the now stripped phone - to bring up in the flat and then, soon after, back to himself? To bring it up for a nice little walk, in order to let it breathe a little mountain fresh air?

Of course Mycroft decided not to “lock up” Irene: he didn’t “feel kind” towards her, after all the trouble she had caused, and - most of all - after she had hurt his little brother. But neither he wanted his brother to be affected again by her death, Hence all this complex charade…

ibelieveinmycroft:

12) The Hounds of Baskerville, The Diogenes Club

In Mycroft’s brief appearance here, he receives the call about a security breach at Baskerville, and immediately deduces that it must be Sherlock and John. He send two texts in quick succession to Sherlock, both of which Sherlock ignores. Mycroft’s contact alerts Sherlock to the fact that his offices know and, therefore, that the building will soon enter code red, giving Sherlock time to escape. Had Sherlock responded, I think Mycroft may have somehow contrived some way to allow Sherlock continued access – after all, he was able to grant it later – but with no way of knowing for sure that it was his brother, it would have been foolish for Mycroft to override the system.

13) The Reichenbach Fall, The Diogenes Club

Mycroft’s first appearance in this final episode is just one last instance of Mycroft doing what he always does: watching Sherlock, combing for threats, trying to keep him safe. Summoning John, he hands over carefully prepared folders, likely full of all manner of classified information, just to keep his brother informed.

There’s not a lot more I can say about the events of Baskerville and Reichenbach, as it relates so closely to The Fall, and, frankly, has left us with a lot of question marks.  I’m certain all will be explained in series three and, as Messrs Moffat and Gatiss have promised us lots more Mycroft next series, I think that will lead to Mycroft either being vindicated or redeemed. His mistakes, if mistakes they were (I’m not buying it), will not have been borne of a selfish desire to manipulate his brother, but to save millions of people from a mad man with a key code that could do untold damage.

I would like to conclude with a recent quote from Mark Gatiss on the subject of the Holmes brothers’ relationship: “What I like best about Sherlock & Mycroft’s relationship (and it’s all inspired by ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes’) is the antagonism mixed up with genuine care. It feels like a very real family relationship!”

So, dear friends, if that doesn’t convince you, then I don’t know what will.

thenorwoodbuilder:

For how many changes they make, the Moftiss always stick to Canon’s core: as there the Holmes Brothers were allies, as (I bet) they’ll turn up to be in the tv series…