Drive by Sherlock flailing (***SPOILERS***)

[birdsofshore]

WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I have no time to compose anything coherent, but I NEED to splurge feels in your general direction.

OK, first of all I worried it was going to be all jokes. Now, god knows, I love a good joke. In fact the jokes in S3 were really some of my favourite things. But it seemed like it was all going to be jolly japes and sly tumblr digs, and, hmm. I wasn't really feeling satisfied. But then they managed to veer right into gothic creepiness, and then... *lip tremble*, oh GOD the rest of it. Oh god.

MOLLY IN DRAG is just fantastic. That moustache! *swoon* She doesn't shave for Sherlock Holmes, no sirree. And I thought it was interesting, if we take it that everything which happened in Victorian segments as Sherlock's subconscious having a field day, that Sherlock apparently thinks of Molly as a man? Relevant? Anyway, I loved the way he still acknowledged her as 'Hooper' when she was in female dress again. But basically, I LOVE Molly being all manly and gruff and moustached and just FABULOUS. *happy shivers*.

Fatcroft. Oh, god. I mean, don't get me wrong, I squealed, but it was too much. I think Mofftiss should STAY OFF TUMBLR. I thought it must have seemed hilarious when they were dreaming it up, but it just seemed cheap on screen. I felt uncomfortable about it.

Lestrade looked fucking awful with sideburns. It amazes me that Rupert Graves can ever look unattractive in any way, because having seen him in the flesh (and in the skinny jeans) last year, he is really even more STUNNINGLY good looking than you would expect. BUT, Lestrade sweatily digging up a grave with his sleeves rolled up and a pair of gloves on? *DEAD SO DEAD* THANK YOU GOD.

Mrs Hudson never speaking. *JOYOUS SNORT* BUT - "I'm your landlady, not a plot device." *wince* The first half hour kept making me cringe a bit. It was a bit too 'aren't we clever?' and a bit too meta (and I LIKE meta) and I couldn't really relax and enjoy it. It might be better when I watch it again and can feel reassured that 75% of the episode is actually Sherlock tripping and thinking about how gay he is, with only 25% jokes.

Mary being badass - YESSSSSS. In both time periods. John saying that they would be hungry later - HAHAHA! Don't worry Mary, I suspect you'll get your revenge on John and Sherlock in S4. God, I really hope Mary turns out to be as fucked up and evil as I fear she may. Not because I don't want John and Sherlock to get a HEA, but, just, wouldn't it be AMAZING?

I must say I wasn't crazy about the feminism stuff. I felt patronised. I enjoyed the stuff that was incidental and actually part of the story like Molly needing to pretend to be a bloke, and Mrs Hudson complaining she's ignored, and Mary having to stay at home and make them a bloody SNACK... but the avenging women, and then Sherlock's speech *cringe*. I thought they could have given a really strong message about inequality without standing there and saying, "And now we're going to give you a really strong message about inequality."

Ah well. Moving on.

ALL OF THE JOHNLOCK.

ALL OF IT.

I don't really know where to start? The man to man talk? The "that's your department" (or as it went in my head, "not my division", LOL) statement? The fact that Sherlock's subconscious spent so long discussing his sexuality with John that someone actually died while they were out there talking about why Sherlock was a virgin? O__O

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I GIVE YOU MORIARTY. I think I spent the entire time Andrew Scott was on screen flailing. I'm flailing right here just thinking about it. who_la_hoop and writcraft were kindly doing a flailalong with me, via text and they got subjected to some hideous photos of my shocked gurning. :D

writcraft: Did he basically just fellate a gun?
Me: I think he fellated my BRAIN.

HE SLEPT IN SHERLOCK'S BED. HE THINKS SHERLOCK'S FLAT SMELLS MANLY. *gibber* HE FELLATED MY BRAIN.

I know some people have a problem with Andrew Scott and find him offensively camp and over the top. I HAVE NO SUCH PROBLEM.

DEAD IS THE NEW SEXY.

DEAD IS THE NEW SEXY.

ASDFHJKLDFGJKL;DFGJKL;FGHKL;JKL;!!1112=!!!! What does it even mean? WHO CARES :D

I am upset because it does seem like Moriarty is dead, or, possibly, only existed in Sherlock's mind anyway, but as long as he hangs around, eating DUST and wearing a WEDDING DRESS and suggesting John and Sherlock ELOPE TOGETHER and *FLAIL* I just don't care. My Moriarty obsession is now RAMPANT again. I have had Staying Alive as my ringtone for 3 fucking years for this man. I was SO HAPPY he was even in it, my god, but all this, it was almost too much. *falls to knees in gratitude*

And I do ship Johnlock, but I was crying inside when John came in at the Falls and stomped on all the Sheriarty feels. On one hand - awesome - on the other hand - waaaaaaaah!

*sigh* I'm having a Sherlock comedown here. sorry.

My favourite favourite thing was probably during the Moriarty scene where he started to needle at Sherlock about the case seeming familiar, and the slow dawning horror of what this whole Victorian episode actually WAS began. OMG. Genius. They lied to us UTTERLY about it being a standalone, and I'm so glad they did. I had no idea. It got me right in the fucking feels. I'm not really coping with Sherlock's ongoing drug problem. Bastards! I can't believe the implications, that he took an OD before saying goodbye to John. AND THEN DECIDED TO SIT AND READ JOHN'S BLOG!!!111!!! And how many other times has he been on drugs without us / John knowing? John thought he was just in his Mind Palace... OMG. And all of the Mycroft business. I was stuffing my entire first into my mouth during all this. It has stomped on my heart. Brilliant. I don't know how I can deal with this. But I love it.

I liked parts of this review, especially this summary:

This episode will be derided as Steven Moffat trying too hard to outwit the viewer and twisting what should be a perfectly simple whodunit into a plot device of labyrinth complexity. But the secret is that it isn't that clever and it doesn't completely make sense, because it's not supposed to. Moffat and Gatiss just filmed 90 minutes of the internal monologue of a tortured queer genius drug addict off his tits on coke, wrapped it up in a gothic mystery, and then gave it to us as a late Christmas present.

Crikey, there were so many things I wanted to say. So many implications for S4. But this will have to do for now. Please come and flail. I need company. Gurn with me. Discuss theories. Quote your favourite lines. HOLD ME!

If I had to say one thing to Moffat and Gatiss today, I think it would be this: I really really liked your potato. ♥

Comments

[nia_kantorka]

HAhahahahahahahaha

I texted the entiere 90 min with a friend and we were like 'OMFG', 'did that happen?', 'he said that, didn't he?', 'I told you it was his mind palace', 'ANDREW SCOTT <3', 'Jesus, he really called him John', 'we only got about 5min real time, the wait for s4 is going to kill me', 'LORD have mercy' and such things.

It was great. LOL
I NEED MORE
*giggles madly*

Well, I'm downloading it (will take some hours), so I can wallow in all the Johnlock feels for the next 366 plus whatever it takes days.

[writcraft]

I'M GOING TO WATCH IT AGAIN. 500 TIMES :D

I basically agree with all of this, the good and the bad. Your thoughts on it are pretty much mine too, and Andrew Scott is my actual hero. On the feminism bit I do agree with you on that although I've also seen some interesting Tumblr theories (Tumblr is all over this shit today, don't know if you've had a look around yet) about the parallels between that and the fight for LGBT equality in current times and linking it back into the 'man ahead of his time' stuff. IDK. I'll have to find all the meta on it and just READ.



Hey, does this mean we can have Sherlock fic from you? :D *bats eyelashes*

I'm still all a-flail. Not sure I'm over it. Must rewatch <333

[writcraft]

It was so good! Us all waiting for Season 4:

[nia_kantorka]

Yes, Birds, write some Sherlock fic. It's great fun. :D

Sherlock fandom on tumblr is awesome, isn't it? The countdown was hilarious and now it's like a bee hive. A bee hive which found some great flowers and is now devouring its sweet, sweet blossoms. LOL

[nia_kantorka]

How did you know I sat like this yesterday? It took me hours to calm down and go to sleep. And just watching all the pics and posts makes me all giggly and jittery again. --> *is lost in Sherlockian madness*

[writcraft]

It's been SO MUCH FUN watching it all unfold on Tumblr. The pre-episode panic. The live feeds. The "WAIT, HE JUST SAID WHAT, NOW??" posts. I couldn't sleep at all last night *dances around*

[birdsofshore]

ANDREW SCOTT <3

This is my summary for the episode, really. :D

[birdsofshore]

YES. YES, OK. I FUCKING MISSED YOU, AND NOW I'M MISSING YOU AGAIN.

I have poked on tumblr but it tends to break my computer. Do link to anything worthwhile.

I don't think I'm ever going to write Johnlock. I can't even get very immersed in Sherlock fic, although I do read it occasionally. I don't know why - I think I can only get this level of involvement with one fandom? Or maybe Johnlock doesn't quite do it for me 100%... although I love them... I need enemy slash to really get my juices flowing, perhaps ;)

[birdsofshore]

LOL that's a great image. I love the way the Sherlock tumblr fandom is so excitable and so very immediate. It's quite joyful.

[writcraft]

I bet you would write some fabulous Sheriarty :D

I will definitely do a more detailed post at some point as soon as I've recovered and will track down anything from Tumblr. Lots of flailing, squeeing and live updates basically and a few decent reviews and ALL the screen grabs and gifs which are amazing. There's this one, I think you'll like <333

[birdsofshore]

Ahahaha! I do like.

I reckon I could probably write Sheriarty, in fact, I'm pretty certain I could. :D But I am emotionally invested in Johnlock, so it would be terribly fucked up. *sigh*

I think what I really ship is me/Moriarty or me/Sherlock. Or me/Moriarty/Sherlock. With a side of Lestrade :D

[writcraft]

LOL!!! OMG, Mary Sue foursome fic :D - I'd ship it. I'm the same with Sheriarty actually. I totally ship it but as a really angsty, fucked up sort of pairing with underlying Johnlock feels. I tell you what would be fun though, Sherlock obsessed Moriarty POV wanking fic. In his bed. Eating dust. Yesssss.

Shipping me/cross-dressing Molly right now if I'm honest :D

[cabinetcaligari.livejournal.com]

OMFG that gif! So provocative, rawr.

[cabinetcaligari.livejournal.com]

I feel you! I love love love the series, but the ships aren't jumping out to me, like Drarry is basically poking out all of the books like a sore thumb (so much UST there!). I think i tend to see Sherlock as asexual? And having a sort of deep emotional bond with John because that's the closest Sherlock will get to develop warm emotions for somebody, and then not because of the challenge (like he gets riled up from Moriarty or Irene), but something like caring. But that's to me entirely not the same as wanting the D. I love the enemy shipping though, but then maybe without fluff? And about the enemies, I was so disappointed at the Irene Adler episode when in the end, despite having been a super strong woman and a worthy opponent to Sherlock, she was tied up and at the mercy of some random guys, until Sherlock jumped in and like some Prince Charming saved the day. What what what with the independent woman thing :(

[cabinetcaligari.livejournal.com]

OMG I KNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!! I had SO MANY feelings and I was chatting with anemonen over all this but then her broadcast was behind on mine due to commercial breaks on her side, and then I couldn't say anything else except for 'OMGOMGOMG' because spoilers :(

But yeah I loved it, and I was so confused about the whole switching of time frames. Although to be honest I'm neither here nor there on the whole drug addict thing. It does make sense, maybe the mind palaces are even more only in his mind than we thought, like, a drug-fueled trip? I like that theory. But I hope, if they're gonna get along with the drug addict storyline, they're gonna work it out properly because now it reminded me a bit of House, you know, the troubled genius also doing drugs. And it felt a bit ripped-off to me.

Also I had this huge discussion about why they used suffragettes in this episode. And why they were chanting in Latin while wearing capes and all that. And my friend thought that was just in Sherlock's head so it didn't have to make sense; most important point was the positing of the idea that while Moriarty is dead, he's also alive because he lives on in the minds of people. But then, I said, aren't the suffragettes just something they thought fitting in the time, and not having a meaning on its own? Like, Sherlock says something along the lines of 'woman are all around us, behind is, doing our dishes, raising our children' and at the same time they are the 'evil' in this show. Does that mean the evil in S4 will be 'all around' too, like normal people leading a double life? Like normal people breaking down? Like normal people with evil streaks that come out every now and then? I was discussing this until way too late so I'm afraid I'm not making sense now, either, but yeah so many feelings.

Also: Mycroft in a fat suit noooooo!!!!!!! I ship Mycroft just as hard as Moriarty, or maybe even harder, but not in a fat suit :( Although his morality and look on life is interesting. Also I lost track a bit with the little notes, but what were your thoughts on that?

[birdsofshore]

Rick/Molly? *waggles eyebrows* YESSSS

Hmm. I could go a VERY dub con Moriarty/Sherlock, like with Sherlock captured and, er, probably tied up and being forced to get aroused by Moriarty fellating guns. *hides head in shame*

Or *nods* guilty fucked up Sherlock wanking, or sick fuck Moriarty in Sherlock's bed wanking.

I'm a sick sick woman.

I've really enjoyed the Johnlock I've read - in fact, fanfic basically got me into watching Sherlock - I read A Cure for Boredom. But it's really the UST in a relationship that I like, or the taboo aspects. Once John and Sherlock get over the fact they are both crazy about the other, there's not really anything WRONG with their relationship, LOL. So unless they're doing something fucked up like watching each other have sex with other people and making notes about it, I sort of lose interest :DDD

[cabinetcaligari.livejournal.com]

Hahaha yeah, the wrongness, it's so addictive! But I also feel like I need wronger and wronger things to keep me interested (that is, if I'm in the mood for hotwrongthings), like a drug addict who needs to up her dose over time... But wrongness with hate sex, yeah, always *sigh*

[birdsofshore]

I found the time periods the least confusing part, actually! That made a lot of sense to me at the time, although I feel really unsure how much was just drug-induced surrealness and how much was meaningful to Sherlock's subconscious. I mean, I'm assuming that everything Moriarty said was from Sherlock's psyche, and the apparently endless angsting about his sexuality - everything that fits in with my headcanon for Sherlock, I'm now taking as canon because I choose to believe the Victorian scenes were all manifestations of things he can't address directly when he's not on drugs. But there is loads of other stuff in there which just seems random.

I didn't enjoy the Suffragette storyline at all. It was hard to empathise with the group of women when they were basically creepy vengeful murderers. I think it would have been so much more powerful to just show the inequality of the Victorian age (as they did, effectively, several times) and not try to be all moralising about it. Not have a MAN explaining how wronged women are. I feel quite irritated about that.

I didn't enjoy Fatcroft - I thought they could have nodded to canon / fanon without being so, 'oh, hilarious, a fat person eating cake'. I loved Mycroft trying to protect Sherlock. I'm very worried about Mycroft, though. It seemed like Sherlock's subconscious thinks / knows that Mycroft is going to die soon. And Mycroft was very clear about asking John to look after Sherlock. MY HEART.

I found the drug addict story completely convincing - it's definitely plausible from canon, and the druggy angst from S3 hurt so goooooood. This was even more heart breaking. I thought it was great, honestly. I can't believe he must have got high in preparation for saying goodbye to John *choke* There is so much potential for fucking with our heads here. The angsty fanfic is going to be EPIC! :DD

[frnklymrshnkly.livejournal.com]

GAH! SO MUCH AGREEMENT! I felt exactly the same way about the proto-feminist storyline. It was so trite and also offensively obvious in terms of how predictable it was when Mrs. Hudson started speaking the first time.

MORIARTY! <3 <3 <3 Andrea Scott is absolutely my favourite this about Sherlock. High fives to a fellow Staying-Alive-ringtone-haver. ;) As soon as I heard his voice I started flailing around and wooting. He made the episode enjoyable for me. I love your assessment of the gun fellating. I reached nirvana when he said he'd slept in Sherlock's bed.

[lightofdaye]

Oh! So the thing were it was connected to the present was a surprise to the people in the know was it? I'd expected it to be all Victorian but I figured I might have missed something in the lead up that mentioned it. I did wonder why they'd included a 'previously on for an unconnected' episode

It was good, it actually seemed less meta and self-satisfied than the episodes in series 2 (and that series annoyed me greatly) but I haven't seen series 3 so I was perhaps a little more confused. But pulling ideas straight from tumblr.... wow.

Not enamoured of their Moriaty but each to their own.

Still it was plenty watchable, the 95 minutes whizzed by,

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I feel the need to defend NRK now, because there are no commercial breaks on NRK. But there was a 20 min break with the news. In fact I adore our national broadcaster a great deal normally, because it is, like the BBC, licence financed (which is the best thing in the world because I hate commercials with a passion). The problem, I think, was that they probably weren't allowed to show it earlier than bbc, and therefore it had to start at 10 local time, and 11 is newstime - hence break :((( I enjoyed the messages though!

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I'm so bad at putting words to what I'm thinking and at analysing, but basically what you said here sounded very right compared to my feelings throughout! I did enjoy the episode a lot! But I agree that they overdid the meta in the beginning. I think it's fun when they nod to fandom and meta, but the amount they did it in the beginning ruined the flow a little. From there on, though!! But agreed about the feminism thing, it seemed... I dunno. It felt a bit condescending, and I don't understand what they wanted to do with it. I did adore the changes in time, though, and that the episode tied in with the rest of the seasons! And my favourite parts were probably those on the plane! Agree with being worried for Mycroft and also feeling sorry for him and generally feeling a lot about his and Sherlock's relationship! And all the Johnlock! And I tend to think that Moriarty is quite perfect in this series!!! I like that they have a different take on him, and he's exciting. And apparenty gun-fellating.
All in all, thanks for the post, I enjoyed reading it! And great gif :D May we all be able to wait for S4!!

[bloodisshrp.livejournal.com]

Okay, firstly it was so hard for me to resist reading this post before watching the episode because I *like* torturing myself with spoilers.

I'M SO GLAD I WAITED!!

Oh my God. Oh my God. I have no words. Your post contains all my feels. The gun fellating. The Johnlock. Molly with a moustache . ALL THE MORIARTY!

*applauds* Well done Moffatiss. I was expecting a standalone that I would watch just 'cause it's Sherlock. And you give us this magnificence that I shall watch a hundred times because of all the awesome.
(Though I would probably skip all the bride scenes now.)

[birdsofshore]

Every Moriarty scene was like trippy fanfic. I was just hoping for a little SNIFF of him and they gave us all that. \o/ I'm actually scared to rewatch. It might be the slashiest thing I've ever seen.

[birdsofshore]

No, they totally fibbed and told us it was a standalone! I didn't start to twig Sherlock was in his mind palace until quite a way into the Moriarty scene. I was totally taken by surprise, and delighted about it. When we switched to modern day I felt like I was on drugs myself. I enjoyed the deception very much.

I would imagine it might be quite confusing without having seen S3... and if you found S2 self-satisfied and obsessed with meta then I probably couldn't recommend S3 :///

[birdsofshore]

Oh, gosh, I'm terrible at analysing, too, but I know what I like, and apprently what I like is Molly in drag and Jim in Sherlock's bed :DDD

Condescending. yes, I agree. I applaud them for thinking about issues like Suffrage, but not via a male character lecturing us, please...

Just going to leave this here:



:D

[birdsofshore]

I'm glad you waited, too! I think this episode would be far less enjoyable if you'd seen a lot of spoilers.

[nia_kantorka]

Ah, they didn't totally fib us. Mofftiss told us it'd be connected to the series and to season 3, but in a Victorian setting. It only made sense for it to be a) a drug trip, b) a dream, or c) both. :D

I wasn't surprised at all, but I had a hard time to get the cuts between the real scenes and Sherlock sinking back into his MP. Am still not sure if the scenes in the plane were all real or not. I'v started to re-watch it (in snippets of 10-15 minutes) to get more of the arrangement and the hints and whatnot everyone is talking about on tumblr. It's wonderful. LOL

[lightofdaye]

Well glad it worked for you. :)

I may be being unkind to S2 I remember not liking it but can't really remember why.

[lijahlover.livejournal.com]

Awwwwww I agree with you so much with everything :)))))

I adore Moriarty to pieces he is such a brilliant character. He is so awesome in all ways. :)

I expected the writers to lie to us cause they always do so no shock there LOL.

The visual beauty and costumes blew me away how gorgeous were their suits????

I am not a Sheriarty fan but loved their scenes together. He was in his bed and fellated the gun wow! Johnlock gets all my warm fuzzy thoughts and their was so many great Johnlock moments. I looooooved the waterfall scene with John saving Sherlock this time.

I was hoping for a bathouse scene though *sighs*

I was not a fan of Mycroft in a fat suit though yikes how awful. I am worried they will kill him off in the upcoming season.

I have been on tumblr a lot I watched the countdown then the explosion once everyone had watched it :) People are going crazy with thoughts and meta on what everything means :)

[geneva2010.livejournal.com]

I'm going to the movie theatre to see this in a couple days, so I skimmed your spoilers. I'm one of those who doesn't like Moriarty's character much. I hope to CHANGE MY MIND. Sounds like it was a transcendent experience and I'm looking forward to it.

[digthewriter]

Dead is the new sexy
and
Your bed is quite comfortable is where I pretty much lost it too.

Also the whole thing when you think about it later that in his DREAM he and John were discussing his sexual needs and release -- HAHA.

It was awesome.

I really didn't think I was going to enjoy it, but I ended up wishing it wouldn't end.

Yeah, I was kind of left tortured/disappointed --> not sure the right word by the drug use but Mycroft knowing was kinda brill, along with Sherlock being so annoyed by his "clever" brother that he dreamt of him being fat. made me LOL.

And of course,



"For the record, I already knew she was a woman."

[lauand.livejournal.com]

I'm late to the party, but I just avoided spoilers until I could find the right moment to see the episode. Things:

OMG, I completely agree about the feminism. My favourite part about it was actually the Watson's maid. She was acidid but intelligent and sort of subtle, showing through sarcasm the double standard for women and men. And I don't mind a little bit of meta, but too much of it can take me out of a story (I'm talking about Mr. Hudson here, because I think that the whole episode tries to make up for the obvious disregard for women in Sir ACD's books which are the base of this series and she's one of the characters who are not exactly pivotal to the plot). Anyway, I digress. What I wanted to say is that you can't say that women should have the same chances than men and then made them a collective mind of vengeful harpies willing to murder the men who have treated them or other women badly. That's not what a male protagonist does, that's not what a male hero does. That's not the way to win a fight for justice. I actually felt offended. But my biggest problem is not that, is that, in making it so obvious, I can't help thinking "pffffff, yeah, sure" and feminism actually deserves to be taken seriously and not provoke a "pffff, yeah, sure" reaction.

And it's a pity, because I think they were really getting there with Mary in season 3. I found myself liking her a lot. Because she doesn't feel threatened by John and Sherlock's especial relationship and doesn't demand his husband's complete attention. Because she likes Sherlock and understands him, which is difficult in any position, but even more when he's the one to put your beloved person's life always in danger. Because she's actually a badass spy and assassin. Because she has a character and a personality and she's not that beautiful or that young and she's still interesting and managed to steal John's heart. I really like Mary.

So yeah, not really satisfied with this beating up a dead horse with the stick of feminism. Stop telling me about inequality being wrong and start introducing more and better female characters in your shows.

More things: Moriarty. I usually detest overacting. But this is not overacting, is just Moriarty, the character, being totally over the top, not the actor. So I'm surprised to admit that I like Andrew Scott's work, it works for me.

And, even if I'm Johnlock shipper (which is beyond weird, because I like Mary on the one hand and I totally believe that Sherlock is asexual on the other), this episode gave me the biggest Sherlock/Moriarty vibe ever.

And I could ramble endlessly about all the other points you made, but I think that's enough for today.