The thought of Holmes having a breakdown sometime after capturing Moran, finally home and free from Moriarty’s claws – those three years of pain and weariness and longing that he kept pent up coming to surface is really something
Happy birthday, Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle! And as a birthday present and respect to you, sir, this shall be a day where I won’t say a peep about Sherlock Holmes :)
The most ironic lie ever told is that soldiers are prepared for battle knowing that they might die.
Nonsense. They may know, but they never truly bevieve in it. At least not completely, not in the depths of their souls, of their hearts. Even the most skeptical maintains that spark of faith, that animal instinct of survival as such as the human instinct of hope. The human being is, after all, a hopeless optimist. Everyone thinks they will be the exception, and it’s not until they feel the bullet piercing the skin, digging deep into the flesh and breaking the bones, or the bayonet digging into their lungs, that the penny drops.
With the blond medical officer it was different. He held out hope when the lead bullet had pierced his collarbone — even as he landed from the impact on a slashed rib from the chest of the soldier he was trying to mend; Even when the bone ruptured his femoral artery. The pain hadn’t been enough to knock him unconscious, and he’d been grateful for that. That way he could stake the blood until Murray arrived, he thought dizzily.
He knew he would make it through. He had to.
His ordinance arrived far too late.
They found the body leaning against a trench. It was already cold — they had to retreat, and were not able to return until days later. Flies surrounded it, attracted by the putrid smell of old blood, and the soldier hardly recognized him, so disfigured was his face, eternally anguished.
He had never seen him like this. The doctor had been always in a good mood, smiling or playing around. But that cerulean blue left no doubt.
They dug a shallow grave — Murray insisted he be buried alone, not roughly dumped in a communal grave, left to rot with dozens of other corpses. The commanders checked his credentials – an officer. They allowed it.
They wanted to break his fingers. His right hand was faithfully brandishing the scalpel with force. He had done his duty to the very end.
Murray did not allow it — let him be buried with it. The doctor in his element, he had said softly to the churned earth.
There were no honors, and the ordinance was the only one who prostrated beside the grave until he had finished the inscriptions on the makeshift wooden headstone. Then he got up, chased away the tears and left.
“Dr. John H. Watson
1851 - 1880
The kindest and bravest man I have ever known
Beloved comrade and illustrious doctor
May the Lord receive his soul”
——————————
Many miles away from that miserable place, an unremarkable consulting detective finishes a melancholy, pained tune. He was in his darkest mood, brooding and downcast. He had been like this for a few days, the housekeeper would tell his brother hours later, as a doctor carried a slender, unconscious, convulsing body into a hansom.
The young man gently lowers his violin into the comfortable armchair opposite to his — the one that had always been unoccupied. And, somehow he knew, would always remain that way.
He then picks up the syringe and draws the liquid up to the plunger.
———
Ways to die is a Sherlock Holmes fanfic of short — or not-so-short — one shots of some scenarios where either Mr. Sherlock Holmes or Dr. John Watson could have departed from this world.
Most fit in the canon context, but there will be exceptions. Each chapter will be a different scenario. Also on Ao3.
You know, the more I reread the canon, the more I have a hard time convincing myself that all the queer subtext was not deliberately written as so.
By God, there are more romantic passages than Basil confessing to have romantic feelings for Dorian in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, an explicitly queer book – or as explicit as a book could be in the XIX century – that was used as “evidence” at Oscar Wilde’s trial for ‘gross indecency’.
The story itself was written by ACD from the point of view, mainly, of a military doctor discharged with honors (who subsequently share rooms with his found companion for at least 7 uninterrupted years), and writes 60 stories to give justice to his genius detective.
If this isn’t a love letter itself, I don’t know what it is.
Note: please, this is MY interpretation of the canon, and as many other Holmesians may share this view, I would like to expose it. If you see them as just intimate, good friends, go for it. This was not written as an attack if your view of the stories is different.
The day I do not thirst for Solomin is the day I die. He is the OG Hotson. I relate with Holmes in that he repreatedly checks out Watson’s ass throughout the series and asks him out on a date immediately after getting acquainted with him. As nekosmuse.comsaid:
It should also be noted that Solomin is hot. Ridiculously hot. Walking wet dream hot. Especially in uniform.
Fuckability: 10000/10
Ritchieverse
Though Solomin is the first Hotson, Jude Law is the origin of the term Hotson. I only hold on to the promise of SH3 for the possibility of dilf Law!Watson. The only Watson actor who’s hotter with the moustache than without. Also a r m s.
Fuckability: 10000/10
The Irregulars
Royce Pierreson is hot ok, especially when he rolls his sleeves up to his biceps. Also his Watson’s actually gay. Fuckability: 10/10.
My ideal sugar daddy, he looks so adorable and kind, look how that suit fits him.
And I agree. Fuckability: 10/10.
Granada Holmes (Burke era)
I’d die for his sass. Whatever he does, his hair never ever ever gets messy. Fuckability: 10/10.
New Russian Holmes
Panin!Watson is every bit my type. And the hat chuck? That snipe from a window? His steady hand? Fuck. Fuckability: 8/10.
Canon Watson
I’d fuck him, but I gotta get him a therapist first. Fuckability: 7/10.
BBC Sherlock
His hair and wardrobe in S4 is the only reason I pulled through that season. Also when he licks his lips holy shit.Fuckability in S1-S3: 7/10. The wardrobe was shit. Fuckability in S4: 10/10. Those button-ups are gonna drive me mad.
Nigel Bruce | Nigel Stock | James Mason | Ben Kingsley
Nigel Bruce
Sorry sir. Your character was not written to be fuckable. Fuckability: 1/10.
Nigel Stock
I don’t really know. Fuckability: 1/10.
Murder by Decree
Sir. I cannot fuck someone who, when he has a leftover pea, tries to stab it with a fork. I cannot fuck a man too cowardly to eat with his fingers. Fuckability: 0/10.
Without A Clue
Hell yeah I’d fuck him. Look at those shirtsleeves. And a Watson with Indian descent? Sign me up. Fuckability: 9/10.
Colin Blakely | John C. Reilly | H. Marion Crawford | Donald Pickering
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
He’s adorable with the flower behind his ear. But he’s homophobic. Even if I wanted to, he wouldn’t fuck me back coz I’m gay. Fuckability: 2/10.
Holmes & Watson
NOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuckability: -1000000000000/10
1954 Holmes (Crawford)
Nope. He’s a smol bean that I’d rather cuddle. Precious boii. Fuckability: 2/10.
1979 Holmes (Pickering)
Hell yeah I’d fuck him! His wardrobe and his hair is a big UGH. I will also die for his sass. Fuckability: 10/10.
thank you @mr-nauseam for helping me! lucy liu’s joan watson not included because she is above these mere mortals.
So, since I’m currently in the process of uploading all my EMP metas to AO3 (here), it just occurred to me that we might need a summary post of all the different proposed EMP starting points. So here goes:
If I remember correctly, the three founders of EMP theory, @monikakrasnorada,@the-7-percent-solutionand@gosherlocked originally proposed (in 2016) that Sherlock’s EMP (extended mind palace) starts at the moment Mary shot Sherlock in HLV.
Then there were a lot of people in the fandom who had all sorts of earlier or later EMP starting point ideas (e.g., Sherlock actually jumped off the roof in TRF, Sherlock OD’d on the plane at the end of HLV, Sherlock only slips into his EMP sometime during s4, etc.)
@ebaeschnbliah and a couple of others were proposing very, very early EMP scenarios (i.e. everything we see right from the start of ASiP is already happening in Sherlock’s mind). And @ebaeschnbliah and a few other fans are also playing around with PILOT!verse (i.e. the unaired Pilot is real; the show is not. Or: Sherlock actually slips into his EMP at some point during the Pilot).
In 2017 @possiblyimbiassed had a completely different idea: EMP starts in the gap between TSoT and HLV as Sherlock OD’s off-screen after the wedding at home in his 221b flat. Everything we see at the start of HLV is already EMP.
Shortly after that @possiblyimbiassed re-worked that theory under the influence of an idea that @raggedyblue had come up with. @raggedyblue had proposed that, while Sherlock indeed OD’s (probably in the gap between TSoT and HLV), what we’re seeing on the entire show right from the start (!) is actually not what really happened, what we are seeing is instead Sherlock re-imagining his entire friendship with John right from the start in his mind due to the fact that he read John’s (not entirely factual) blog right before putting that needle in his arm. (This theory that @raggedyblue originally put forward and @possiblyimbiassed has worked out in intricate detail is something I refer to as the raggedypossibly-theory.;))
As for myself: I am not that creative, so I haven’t really come up with EMP starting points of my own. :D While I like all EMP starting points and think they’re all fun to play with, I mostly go back and forth between two ideas:
1. TRF: I.e. Sherlock actually jumped off that hospital roof at the end of TRF.
2.@possiblyimbiassed’s original theory from 2017 was right, and Sherlock OD’d after the wedding. Everything we see at the beginning of HLV is already EMP.
Both theories aren’t originally mine (obviously), but this argument in favour of them is something that just occurred to me:
Both scenarios have one big advantage over all other EMP starting points, the advantage of being closely tied to ACD’s canon!Holmes stories!
1) There was actually a Reichenbach moment in ACD!canon, after which Holmes’ disappeared for years hiding from both the public eye and Watson. 2) And the fact that Holmes’ gayheartbreak and sorrow find their expression in his drug use is canonical in SIGN and also massively hinted at in the film TPLoSH (Mofftiss’s favourite film).
So, that’s what those two theories have got going for them: Their deep foundation in ACD!canon.
Mostly, I believe in theory 1, though. (I mean, theory 2 has its merits, what with Holmes’s canonical drug use, but it has the drawback of putting the starting point into an off-screen gap between TSoT and HLV.)
Theory 1 is the simplest, really: Sherlock jumped.
There’s a reason why we never got an actual explanation of how Sherlock supposedly ‘tricked’ everyone at the end of TRF and how the jump worked out well for him. (Hint: It didn’t.)
There’s a reason why the last episode of s4, which, on a meta level, pushed us into the same void as the original readers of the ACD!stories after the Reichenbach Fall, is called ‘The Final Problem’ linking it back to TRF (which in canon was actually called ‘The Final Problem’).
There’s a reason why Mycroft’s weird bunker office starts to appear in TEH, etc., etc., etc. …
Sherlock actually jumping and everything being in his head starting with TEH would explain all of that.
It would tie the whole EMP idea to the ACD!stories, and it might even have the advantage of making Mary a figment of Sherlock’s imagination, some nurse he hears (in his coma), a nurse coming into Sherlock’s hospital room and flirting with John. Obviously comatose, jealous Sherlock has to turn her into a great villain after that.:D
So, yeah, theory 1 has a lot of things going for it.
But, as I said, theory 2 (OD in the gap between TSoT and HLV) is also very close to my heart, for various reasons (Holmes’ drug use in SIGN, his symptoms fitting a cocaine overdose, as I pointed out at the end of this thread here: x).
In short, I keep bouncing back and forth between these two theories, basically.
So, this is it. My EMP summary post. Feel free to add more EMP starting points of your own in the comments, if you like.:)
P.S. And then there are obviously those of us who believe that all EMP starting points are true because it’s an ‘Inception’ style dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream scenario, which Mofftiss have, after all, hinted at in both the Sherlocky ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Last Christmas’ and the massively Sherlocky show ‘Dracula’…This has been proposed by many different people over time, I believe.
as a both-and meta reader, they all work for me! i loved @kateis-cakeis ’s video meta comparing the pilot to the finished ASIP.
i remember when EMP theory first emerged, back when i was a lurker, and it helped make sense of some of the most nonsensical parts of s3, especially HLV. but then reflecting on how much of HLV didn’t make sense, and how much of TSOT was also mind palace (sadly, deducingbbcsherlock, who sorted out a great deal of that, has deleted, but some of @heimishtheidealhusband ’s meta also covers it), and how much fake bs was in TEH, made me start to question the earlier series. other fans began to compare the blog entries with the show, too. did john not mention running across rooftops because it didn’t happen like that? how much is just tv story telling, suspension of disbelief, and how much is just pure fantasy?
maybe the reason the metaphorical reading works, every single time, is because the show is the meta. or maybe, like the original Great Game, there is no One Unifying Theory. i don’t know. but it is fun to play around with!
Thanks for an interesting read, @sagestreet, and nice to hear that you’re uploading your work to AO3! I do love that someone is ready to actually compare several theories and try to work out which one they think fits best with what we see on screen. And I agree @sarahthecoat: trying to play the Great Game is a lot of fun! Maybe you’re right that there is no One Unifying theory; maybe it’s all just a game of mirrors. :) But I still can’t help mulling these things over all the time and try to figure out what I think would be the most plausible explanation to the mysteries of this show, out of various alternatives. Somehow I believe it all comes down to which kind of assumptions you’re ready to make for your theory to work.
rb for discussion. i kind of find myself leaning into the EMP from ASIP on theory, if pressed to explain the surface story (which i am less and less fussed about as time goes by). and well do i remember the “arguments” against EMP that mainly consisted of But They Wouldn’t Do That, when they clearly did in Dr Who and Dracula.
the mention of TPLOSH, which ASIB is an adaptation of, kindasorta introduces that as another entry point, or at least raises the possibility that parts of ASIB could be MP. In addition to the deduction scene in the field, which is clearly not real.
Thank you @sagestreet for this EMP summary. It’s always thrilling to contemplate that topic. This case - pink and ablaze - is still unsolved and most likely this is a main reason for the enduring interest in the show.
The hospital scene in HLV with the backwards running heart monitor has been suspected a long time ago as possible starting point for an EMP scenario that continues in TAB (and beyond) because Sherlock still hasn’t come back from coma. The also very interesting ‘raggedypossibly-theory’ on the other hand (thoroughly explained in @possiblyimbiassed ‘s meta series What happened to Sherlock?) persues the idea of a much deeper EMP scenario. It sets the time of John’s and Mary’s honeymoon as the centre point, when Sherlock overdoses on drugs. It runs backwards as well as forwards and covers the whole show. Identical to both theories are drugs which severely affect Sherlock’s consciousness.
In my old post The stage is set I wrote about Reichenbach, the Pool and the Pilot as possible starting points for a mind palace scenario.
Thank you so much for all your great thoughts and ideas. I love this puzzle, it gives us so much food for thought even if we may never learn its solution. Possibly because there is not just one solution to be found.
When we originally coined the idea of EMP theory, my idea was that the one crucial point of no return where Mofftiss veer from Canon is the moment Mary Watson shoots Sherlock and John decides to stay with her, changing the character of John Watson to a point where I cannot follow.
But all your theories have lots of merits and by now I think that virtually all of them might be true in some way.
In the meantime, thanks @staff for NOT tagging me this time either.
The idea of having a theory named after me fills me with ridiculous pride every time.
There are so many EMP starting points and they have the unpleasant characteristic of being all plausible, I say unpleasant because part of me hates not having confirmation. But precisely this being multiple and above all credible, is one of the reasons why I think there is this strange circularity in history, that what we see as the beginning, ASIP, is not the beginning but the beginning is probably a scene in which , locked up in his house after the wedding (confirmed in in TLD) as @possiblyimbiassed puts it, Sherlock falls into his “dream” and relives the story from the beginning. There was one thing that went around during the filming of S4, which was that the actors were told to read the script backwards and then everyone was moved because they had finally understood (it seems strange to me this thing of revealing something like this to the actors late, but I really don’t know anything about how these things go). My theory does not literally provide a reverse reading, but conceptually it comes close.
The different points of entry of EMP, and I agree that TRF is the most canonical, could signal deeper and deeper states of consciousness that Sherlock reaches. So here I also embrace the “inception” theory. Not for anything else, the superficial and coherent narrative unravels more and more, and even if there are really implausible things from the beginning, they become gradually more evident as the episodes and Sherlock’s journey proceed. A journey that I read as interior and that increasingly assumes the characteristics of the dream. S4 is definitely dreamlike. I probably seem a little crazy because I put all the theories together, but isn’t it likely that everyone is partly right, that everyone has seen a part of the puzzle and that the solution is not to deny a part, but to try to put them all together?
The concept of a dream ties in well with your coma theory @sagestreet, for which you have found numerous signs that would otherwise be inexplicable.
Theory 1, albeit canonical, contains all those non-answers that @possiblyimbiassed as usual, has identified and highlighted so well, once again I can only find myself in agreement with her.
And although I agree with the impossibility that we have to know the deeper authorial intent, I cannot help but think that this “dreamlike” choice was a good basis for using the mirror technique that was already present in the Canon, I think it made it easier to use the huge number of metaphors and allegories, I think it made it possible to highlight Sherlock Holmes’ modus pensandi and his Mind Theater, I think it opened up the possibility of inserting a large number of metatextual references that in a more realistic narrative would have struggled to blend.
@raggedyblue I think our theory might be tied to canon in more ways than just the fact that Holmes sometimes used drugs - at least considering this post: X. From canon one can get the impression that he’s on crack almost all the time And speaking of circularity and timelines, I think this might be the central issue to try to make some sense out of BBC Sherlock. It’s true that the show offers a series of possible starting points - not only for Sherlock’s EMP, but for the story arc as such - unless there is no actual ‘arc’ but rather a circle?
No less than four episodes - ASiP, HLV TAB and TLD - have John waking up from a dream in the beginning (well, in TLD he didn’t even wake up - he stopped lying down!). Each of them seems to mark the beginning of a new story. While this seems to show us the story from John’s perspective, I think it would also be consistent with Sherlock - being obsessed with John - repeatedly trying to imagine things from John’s perspective. Which is exactly what he says he’s been doing in one of the (supposedly) ’real’ scenes in TAB:
MARY: You’ve been reading John’s blog – the story of how you met.
SHERLOCK: Helps me if I see myself through his eyes sometimes. I’m so much cleverer.
(Sorry for taking so long to reply to all of these, guys. I’m really trying to keep up with all of them. And I love everyone in this bar.:))
“I think our theory might be tied to canon in more ways than just the fact that Holmes sometimes used drugs”
I absolutely agree, @possiblyimbiassed. In fact, I might have worded that badly in my OP. ACD!Holmes didn’t just take drugs sometimes, after all. No! SIGN makes it pretty obvious how important that whole drug-taking thing is metaphorically: Drugs are metaphorically presented in that story as Holmes’ wife. (After all, it’s said that Watson gets a wife out of this whole business, and Holmes gets…well, you know, his drugs.) So, drugs are an ‘ersatz’ spouse for Holmes. Drugs are his ‘wife’. And isn’t that just the most heartbreaking thing you’ve ever heard?!
In other words, the canon ACD!story SIGN directly ties the drugs to Watson’s impending wedding, which, on the show ‘Sherlock’, lends further credence to an EMP starting point somewhere around the time of the wedding and links it all to Sherlock’s drug problem.
That’s what I meant in my OP when I said there’s a link to ACD!canon to be found in an OD’d-after-the-wedding scenario. Sorry for the confusion.:)
Sherlock Holmes is not a religious nor particularly spiritual man. For this reason “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” is a rarity much like the blue carbuncle itself is a rarity. The story not only features Christmas, but is also keeping with the Christian themes of the holiday. Luckily, unlike the blue carbuncle, there is not a sinister history behind it. As soon as I saw the Holmesian Holiday calendar I knew I wanted to write a meta comparing the ACD canon story to the Granada Holmes adaptation. I found a cheap audio edition of three unabridged stories including “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” read by Edward Hardwicke at a charity store.
As any Granada Holmes fan knows David Burke played Watson in the adaptation of “The Blue Carbuncle”. I think that both David Burke and Edward Hardwicke are excellent Watsons. Recording an audiobook is not the same as playing a character on a TV show. With audiobooks more attention is paid to clarity than emotion. Obviously with an audiobook the actor only has their voice to convey meaning as opposed to body language and facial expressions. Despite the limitations I thought it would be interesting to compare not only the content of the canon story versus the Granada Holmes adaptation, but David Burke playing Watson versus Edward Hardwicke reading the story.
Edward Hardwicke does an excellent job with the audiobook. His voices for the minor characters are particularly noteworthy, but he conveys Holmes’ emotions well and, not surprisingly, does an excellent job with Watson’s lines. However, even based on voice alone, Burke’s Watson is a more energetic Watson.
David Burke is a master at the physical components of acting, but for the comparison I tried to focus solely on how he verbalized Watson. Although I have no complaints about Hardwicke’s reading of the betting scene, it was far more enjoyable with the expressions and physical comedy that Brett and Burke brought to their characters.
As stated above reading an audiobook is not the same as playing a character, but it was still a bit weird to hear Hardwicke reading Holmes’ dialogue. There was a part of my brain going “No, you are Watson.” It also reminded me just how much Brett’s physicality brought to the character of Holmes. His “oh you scared me gesture” to Peterson or the look in his eyes as he watches Watson try to deduce the hat and then lists his deductions based on the hat brings so much more than can be shown with the written word or an audiobook. Brett was a brilliant actor and it is unfortunate that he did not receive more recognition for his work as Holmes.
Granada Holmes especially in the earlier episodes tried to stay as close as possible to the original canon stories. Jeremy Brett was a strong proponent of being as true to Doyle as possible within the constraints that come with translating a written story into a filmed episode. “The Blue Carbuncle” is one the closest episodes to the canon stories. A large portion of the dialogue is taken straight from the story. In cases when the physicality of the actors, scenery, and props eliminated the need for some canon text the rest of the dialogue is frequently retained.
This being said there are some noteworthy differences between the stories. In the canon story Watson visits Holmes after Christmas and finds him contemplating Henry Baker’s hat. As Watson is telling the story in canon it is necessary that he be present or told about something in order for it to be included in the story. In Granada Holmes we are seeing the story unfold and, thus, scenes that Watson doesn’t know the details about can be included. On Granada Holmes Watson never marries and Watson comes home from Christmas shopping to find Holmes contemplating the hat. We are also treated to Mrs. Hudson waking up a very grumpy Holmes. There is a certain irony to Holmes’ grumpiness at being woken up considering how he expects Watson to be cheerful whenever Holmes wakes him up. .
As Watson is not the narrator on Granada Holmes we also get the treat of the humourous first scene between Peterson and Holmes. Compared to many other stories “The Adventures of the Blue Carbuncle” is a light one, but this scene is just plain fun while still contributing to the plot. These scenes are great examples of an adaptation enhancing the story in the telling rather than changing the story in the telling. Happiness and humour have a place in Sherlock Holmes stories.
In light of Holmes’ general lack of religious belief the ending is surprisingly overtly Christian. “I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to jail now, and you make him a jail-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward.” Brett delivers the line “I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies” with much more anger than in Hardwicke’s does in the audiobook.
Another change made for dramatic reasons is that Watson says he cannot enjoy dinner while knowing that John Horner is still falsely imprisoned. Holmes sighs and he and Watson leave immediately go to the authorities to make sure that Horner is reunited with his family. The episode ends with the heartwarming scene of Horner being reunited with his wife and children.
On a less positive note Brett’s Holmes, in contrast to the canon story in which Holmes sends word to the Countess that he has the blue carbuncle, says he is keeping it for his museum. It is unclear whether Holmes is entirely serious. If so, Peterson would no longer be receiving the award from the Countess. One would hope that in that case Holmes would be giving Peterson a reward.
It is not often that one has the opportunity to appreciate ACD canon, Jeremy Brett, David Burke, and Edward Hardwicke in the same story. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” and the Granada Holmes adaptation of it give fans that opportunity.
