Completely agree - while an initial anger borne of grief is quite understandable, it was odd that John continued this as a reasoned decision later on. I wonder if we were meant to interpret it as guilt over his bus lady.
Spoilers Sherlock Series 4 Discussion Thread
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
Here's something I just realized in response to a discussion on another board: Mary's death isn't actually a "fridging" in the classic sense, in that she wasn’t killed by a male villain for the express purpose of bereaving and enraging the male hero, and in that her death grew out of Mary’s own backstory and her own choices rather than being something that was arbitrarily done to her as a plot point in someone else’s story. But what makes it feel fridgey to me is the way John is reacting to it, the way the writers are using it to create a rift between John and Sherlock. It makes me angry that John is dishonoring his own wife’s story by treating it as merely a plot point in his and Sherlock’s story. It isn’t objectively a fridging, but John is acting as though it is, and that’s my problem with his reaction.
Basically, the things John did in this story made him a pretty unlikeable character, which is a shame, since Martin Freeman is generally a very likeable and compelling screen presence.
Basically, the things John did in this story made him a pretty unlikeable character, which is a shame, since Martin Freeman is generally a very likeable and compelling screen presence.
Agreed - John's behaviour would lend credence to the EMP (extended mind palace)-theory as it started in the later half of HLV, continued over to TAB and now in TST.
It's not just John's anger and apparent at least emotional cheating I've troubles with - Molly is apparently in on it. Her quite cool meeting with Sherlock at the end, dismissing him (even if on John's behalf) doesn't really make sense, either, since so far she's always been closer to Sherlock due to her infatuation than John.
It's not just John's anger and apparent at least emotional cheating I've troubles with - Molly is apparently in on it. Her quite cool meeting with Sherlock at the end, dismissing him (even if on John's behalf) doesn't really make sense, either, since so far she's always been closer to Sherlock due to her infatuation than John.
At the time I assumed her unpredictable action would be to shoot the aquarium glass, why else set the scene in an aquarium?
Do we know for sure that John really gave Molly that note? Someone could be trying to drive John and Watson apart permanently, they just need to threaten Molly to get her to pass the note. John might think Sherlock has abandoned him, or maybe he got his own fake note.
What reason do we have to assume John didn't write the note given what we've seen in the episode?
I was expecting that myself, but since it's an actual location rather than a set, it might've been logistically or budgetarily unfeasible.
Also, aquarium glass has to be strong enough to withstand enormous water pressure. Looking around online a bit, it seems it would probably be a laminated acrylic, most likely bullet-resistant. So if she had fired at the glass and shattered it, that would've been... well, almost as unrealistic as what was actually shown with Mary outracing a bullet.
Actually, if they hadn't wanted to kill Mary, that could have been a great subversion. She tries to be unpredictable by shooting the glass and nothing happens because the glass is too strong.
Or, she shoots the glass and the ricochet gets Mary.
Nothing concrete, just her phrasing and mannerisms in the scene.
I didn't get that. I just saw her being awkward and uncomfortable about having to be a middleman. Since the note wasn't in an envelop or anything, it's almost assured she read it, hence the awkwardness.
I think the bullet would probably embed in the acrylic rather than ricocheting.
The same thought went through my mind watching the scene. Actually, was there any point to being in the aquarium, other than interesting visuals?
The episode used shark imagery right in the beginning, so I assume there's some thematic link -- maybe the old myth that a shark will die if it doesn't keep swimming, tying in with the "Appointment in Samarra" story about trying to stay moving to avoid death?
Does Watson have a job? Can't remember if he's a GP. If he is he seems to have a very flexible work schedule.
We've seen him work in "The Blind Banker" and "The Empty Hearse," while Magnussen's file lists him as a GP. But otherwise, yes, you're right. He does seem to have very flexible working hours as the story needs him to be.
Well Watson will not like the plans for the 7 day NHS.
Mark Gatiss has responded with a poem to the Guardian review of Sherlock.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/04/to-an-undiscerning-critic-from-mark-gatiss
Mark Gatiss has responded with a poem to the Guardian review of Sherlock.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/04/to-an-undiscerning-critic-from-mark-gatiss
I agreed with the Guardian's core point, especially their argument that it was with Mary that the show lost its way.
I compare the scene where he, for no good reason, decides to physically take on the criminal single handedly in a 007 action sequence rather than call the police, to the scene in A Study in Pink where Sherlock meets the cabbie in a game of wits, wanting to solve a puzzle even if he has to stake his life on being right. I can't help but feel the character and what made this show special has got buried under the razzmatazz of being 'event' TV.
I compare the scene where he, for no good reason, decides to physically take on the criminal single handedly in a 007 action sequence rather than call the police, to the scene in A Study in Pink where Sherlock meets the cabbie in a game of wits, wanting to solve a puzzle even if he has to stake his life on being right. I can't help but feel the character and what made this show special has got buried under the razzmatazz of being 'event' TV.
The most surprising and unpredictable thing to me about this story is that they used the most uncreative method of having a character die heroically. Monk even did a similar scene with the slow-motion bullet , only without the character dying. I just can't believe that the writers couldn't come up with something better.
Similar threads
